Apparatus and method in wireless communication system

• US 10,555,320 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2015
• Issued: 02/04/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Guo, Xin
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Khoa
• Application Number:
  US15/316,771
• Publication Number:
  US 20170202001A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,694 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/006 Quality of the received signal, e.g. BER, SNR, water filling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/10 Small scale networks; Flat hierarchical networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/20 Master-slave selection or change arrangements

Abstract

An apparatus and method in a wireless communication system. The apparatus includes a dynamic network planning trigger unit and a master user equipment selecting unit. The dynamic network planning trigger unit triggers, based on a predetermined trigger event, a dynamic network planning in an area managed by the apparatus. The dynamic network planning includes selection of a master user equipment used for device-to-device communication, and the master user equipment receives signals from a base station during the device-to-device communication process and relays signals between the base station and a slave user equipment. The master user equipment selecting unit selects, from user equipment in the area according to quality of channels between the user equipment and the base station, one or more user equipment as master user equipment, distances between the master user equipment being greater than the intervals.

Claims

1. An apparatus in a wireless communication system, comprising:

circuitry, where the circuitry is configured to;

trigger a dynamic network planning for a plurality of user equipments in a region managed by the apparatus based on a predetermined trigger event;

estimate a distribution status of the plurality of user equipments in the region based on position information of the plurality of user equipments in the region;

calculate an interval distance at least in part based on the distribution status; and

in response to the predetermined trigger event, select a first master user equipment at least in part based on the distribution status and such that a distance between the first master user equipment and a second master user equipment is larger than the interval distance,

wherein the first master user equipment receives a signal from a base station and relays a signal between the base station and a slave user equipment during a device to device communication.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

acquire performance parameter information comprising a transmission power and a Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio requirement of each of the plurality of user equipments in the region; and

calculate the interval distance at least in part based on the acquired performance parameter information.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the slave user equipment associated with the first master user equipment has a higher signal reception quality than a predetermined threshold for signals relayed by the first master user equipment.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first and the second master user equipment reuse communication resources to provide services to an associated plurality of slave user equipments, and a service collectively provided by the apparatus and the first and the second master user equipment is able to realize an optimized network capacity.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to send a reconfiguration instruction to network nodes involved in the dynamic network planning, including the master user equipment and the base station, to instruct the network nodes to change current network connections.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, for a circular region having a predetermined radius within an entirety of the region, if a node distribution density in the circular region is higher than a node distribution density in the entirety of the region, the distribution status estimating unit estimates that the distribution status of the plurality of user equipments is Cluster with respect to the predetermined radius, otherwise, the distribution status estimating unit estimates that the distribution status of the plurality of user equipments is Regular.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the predetermined radius is smaller than or equal to an effective transmission distance between the first master user equipment and the slave user equipment.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

determine, for each of a plurality of master user equipments comprising the first and the second master user equipment, a slave user equipment to be served by each master user equipment, based on positions of the plurality of user equipments other than the plurality of master user equipments in the region and a data relaying capability of the plurality of master user equipments; and

determine a user equipment other than the plurality of master user equipments and the determined slave user equipment in the region as a direct user equipment, which directly obtains service from the base station.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

judge, in response to an occurrence of the predetermined trigger event in the region, whether to activate the dynamic network planning by comparing an expected maximum network capacity achieved by the dynamic network planning based on the interval distance with a current network capacity.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined trigger event comprises at least one of:

a predetermined timer for triggering the dynamic network planning having expired, network performance degrading and thus failing to meet requirements of the plurality of user equipments, network performance parameters reported by the plurality of user equipments indicating a poor channel quality, and a change of a network structure.

11. A method in a wireless communication system, comprising:

a dynamic network planning triggering step of triggering a dynamic network planning in a region comprising a plurality of user equipments, based on a predetermined trigger event;

estimating a distribution status of the plurality of user equipments in the region based on position information of the plurality of user equipments in the region;

calculating an interval distance at least in part based on the distribution status; and

in response to the predetermined trigger event, selecting a first master user equipment at least in part based on the distribution status and such that a distance between the first master user equipment and a second master user equipment is larger than the interval distance,

wherein the first master user equipment receives a signal from a base station and relays a signal between the base station and a slave user equipment during a device to device communication.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

acquiring performance parameter information, including a transmission power and a Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio requirement, of each of the plurality of user equipments in the region;

calculating the interval distance at least in part based on the acquired information.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the slave user equipment associated with the first master user equipment has a higher signal reception quality than a predetermined threshold for signals relayed by the first master user equipment.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the master user equipment reuse communication resources to provide services to an associated plurality of slave user equipments, and a service collectively provided by the base station and the first and the second master user equipment is able to realize an optimized network capacity.

15. The method according to claim 11, wherein estimating the distribution status further comprises, for a circular region having a predetermined radius within an entirety of the region, if a node distribution density in the circular region is higher than a node distribution density in the entirety of the region, it is estimated that the distribution status of the plurality of user equipments is Cluster with respect to the predetermined radius, otherwise, it is estimated that the distribution status of the plurality of user equipments is Regular.

16. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

a slave user equipment selecting step of determining, for each of a plurality of master user equipments comprising the first and the second master user equipment, a slave user equipment to be served by each master user equipment, based on positions of the plurality of user equipments other than the plurality of master user equipments in the region and a data relaying capability of the plurality of master user equipments; and

a direct user equipment determining step of determining a user equipment other than the plurality of master user equipments and the determined slave user equipment in the region as a direct user equipment, which directly obtains service from the base station.

17. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

a judging step of judging, in response to an occurrence of the predetermined trigger event in the region, whether to activate the dynamic network planning by comparing an expected maximum network capacity achieved by the dynamic network planning based on the interval distance with a current network capacity.

18. The method according to claim 11, wherein the predetermined trigger event comprises at least one of:

a predetermined timer for triggering the dynamic network planning having expired, network performance degrading and thus failing to meet requirements of the plurality of user equipments, network performance parameters reported by the plurality of user equipments indicating a poor channel quality, and a change of a network structure.

19. The method according to claim 11, wherein the first master user equipment is selected at least in part based on a channel quality between the base station and the plurality of user equipments.