Small cell thermal control

• US 10,334,520 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2016
• Issued: 06/25/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Jibing, Statezni, Dieter
• Primary Examiner(s): Schwartz, Joshua L
• Application Number:
  US15/265,103
• Publication Number:
  US 20180077640A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,014 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0212 managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 based on terminal or device properties
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method of controlling a temperature of a femtocell includes receiving, at data processing hardware of the femtocell, temperature measurements from a temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature of at least one of the data processing hardware or a power amplifier of the femtocell. The method further includes determining, by the data processing hardware, whether the femtocell is operating above a threshold temperature based on the temperature measurements. When the femtocell is operating above the threshold temperature, the method includes modifying, by the data processing hardware, a power consumption characteristic of the femtocell that results in a power consumption reduction of at least one of the data processing hardware or the power amplifier.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at data processing hardware of a femtocell, temperature measurements from a temperature sensor of the femtocell configured to measure a temperature of at least one of the data processing hardware or a power amplifier of the femtocell, the femtocell comprising an access point configured to route mobile phone traffic through a mobile operator network to multiple user equipment devices;

determining, by the data processing hardware, whether the femtocell is operating above a threshold temperature based on the temperature measurements; and

when the femtocell is operating above the threshold temperature, modifying, by the data processing hardware, a power consumption characteristic of the femtocell based on a media access control layer schedule of the femtocell by;

denying access requests from user equipment devices requesting to communicate with the femtocell; and

at least one of

reducing frequency resources or adjusting time slots allocated to user equipment devices for use by the user equipment devices when communicating with the femtocell, the modified power consumption characteristic resulting in a power consumption reduction of at least one of the data processing hardware or the power amplifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein reducing frequency resources comprises reducing a physical downlink shared channel frequency resource and/or a physical uplink shared channel frequency resource to communicate with the user equipment devices.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein reducing the physical downlink shared channel frequency resource comprises scheduling a fewer number of user equipment devices per downlink subframe of a corresponding downlink communication frame, and reducing the physical uplink shared channel frequency resource to communicate with user equipment devices comprises scheduling a fewer number of user equipment devices per uplink subframe of a corresponding uplink communication frame.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein reducing the physical downlink shared channel frequency resource and/or the physical uplink shared channel frequency resource comprises scheduling a fewer number of resource blocks per user equipment device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the power consumption characteristic is further modified by reducing a power spectral density of the power amplifier.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the power spectral density is a measure of a physical downlink shared channel.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the power consumption characteristic is further modified by reducing a number of user equipment devices communicating with the femtocell.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting time slots comprises changing a reception mode of one or more user equipment devices communicating with the femtocell to a discontinuous mode.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting time slots comprises reducing a transmission duty cycle of the femtocell.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting time slots comprises reducing a reception duty cycle of the femtocell.

11. A femtocell comprising:

a power amplifier;

data processing hardware, the data processing hardware configured to operate an access point, the access point routing mobile phone traffic through a mobile operator network to multiple user equipment devices;

a temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature of at least one of the data processing hardware or the power amplifier; and

memory hardware in communication with the data processing hardware, the memory hardware storing instructions that when executed on the data processing hardware cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising;

receiving temperature measurements from the temperature sensor;

determining whether the femtocell is operating above a threshold temperature based on the temperature measurements; and

when the femtocell is operating above the threshold temperature, modifying a power consumption characteristic of the femtocell based on a media access control layer schedule of the femtocell by;

denying access requests from user equipment devices requesting to communicate with the femtocell; and

at least one of

reducing frequency resources or adjusting time slots allocated to user equipment devices for use by the user equipment devices when communicating with the femtocell, the modified power consumption characteristic resulting in a power consumption reduction of at least one of the data processing hardware or the power amplifier.

12. The femtocell of claim 11, wherein reducing frequency resources comprises reducing a physical downlink shared channel frequency resource and/or a physical uplink shared channel frequency resource to communicate with the user equipment devices.

13. The femtocell of claim 12, wherein reducing the physical downlink shared channel frequency resource comprises scheduling a fewer number of user equipment devices per downlink subframe of a corresponding downlink communication frame, and reducing the physical uplink shared channel frequency resource to communicate with user equipment devices comprises scheduling a fewer number of user devices per uplink subframe of a corresponding uplink communication frame.

14. The femtocell of claim 12, wherein reducing the physical downlink shared channel frequency resource and/or the physical uplink shared channel frequency resource comprises scheduling a fewer number of resource blocks per user equipment device.

15. The femtocell of claim 11, wherein the power consumption characteristic is further modified by reducing a power spectral density of the power amplifier.

16. The femtocell of claim 15, wherein the power spectral density is a measure of a physical downlink shared channel.

17. The femtocell of claim 11, wherein the power consumption characteristic is further modified by reducing a number of user equipment devices communicating with the femtocell.

18. The femtocell of claim 11, wherein adjusting time slots comprises changing a reception mode of one or more user equipment devices communicating with the femtocell to a discontinuous mode.

19. The femtocell of claim 11, wherein adjusting time slots comprises reducing a transmission duty cycle of the femtocell.

20. The femtocell of claim 11, wherein adjusting time slots comprises reducing a reception duty cycle of the femtocell.