Power control in wireless communications

• US 10,624,034 B2
• Filed: 12/13/2016
• Issued: 04/14/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Altiostar Networks, Inc. (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Altiostar Networks, Inc. (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rajagopal, Sriram, Hariharan, Raghunath, Yaniv, Ran
• Primary Examiner(s): Ly, Anh Vu H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Reyes, Hector
• Application Number:
  US15/377,551
• Publication Number:
  US 20180167889A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,218 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0032 Distributed allocation, i.e. involving a plurality of allocating devices, each making partial allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• 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 52/146 Uplink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/40 during macro-diversity or soft handoff
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/085 Access point devices with remote components

Abstract

A system, a method, and a computer program product for power control using uplink coordinated multi-point transmission in a wireless communications system are provided. Using a first node, at least one second node configured to provide an uplink support to user equipment communicating with the first node is detected. The first node receives a confirmation from the second node indicating availability of uplink support by the second node to the user equipment. Based on the received confirmation, communicating with the user equipment on an uplink using the second node is established.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, using a first node, signal quality reports on a downlink and signal quality reports on an uplink from a plurality of user equipments;

determining, using the first node, based on the received signal quality reports, at least one user equipment in the plurality of user equipments requiring uplink support;

accessing, using the first node, a list of second nodes communicatively coupled to the first node and capable of providing an uplink support to the at least one user equipment, the list of second nodes being determined based on the at least one user equipment;

communicating, using the first node, with second nodes in the list of second nodes to determine availability of one or more second nodes for providing the uplink support to the at least one user equipment communicating with the first node;

receiving, by the first node, a confirmation from the one or more second nodes indicating availability of uplink support by the one or more second nodes to the at least one user equipment;

selecting, by the first node, based on the receiving, at least one second node from the one or more second nodes for providing uplink support to the at least one user equipment, the selection is based on at least a combination of received signal quality reports on the uplink as measured by the one or more second nodes, signal quality reports on the downlink as reported by one or more user equipments in the plurality of user equipments, latency between nodes, and bandwidth between nodes; and

communicating, using the selected second node, with the at least one user equipment on the uplink and communicating, using the first node, with the at least one user equipment on the downlink.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first node and the at least one second node are evolved node B nodes having a base band unit and a remote radio head.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein at least one of the communicating with second nodes and the receiving the confirmation is performed using a communication interface between a remote radio head of the first node and the second nodes using a coordinated multipoint transmission.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the communicating with the at least one user equipment further comprises reducing transmission power of the at least one user equipment using the uplink support provided by the selected second node.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the communicating with the at least one user equipment further comprises reducing interference caused by the at least one user equipment and affecting the selected second node using the uplink support provided by the selected second node.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining is performed based on a signal received by the first node requesting the uplink support for the at least one user equipment.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first node and the second nodes include at least one of the following:

a macro base station, a micro base station, a femto base station, a pico base station, and any combination thereof.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first node and the at least one second node are not co-located.

9. A system comprising:

at least one programmable processor; and

a non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one programmable processor, cause the at least one programmable processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, using a first node, signal quality reports on a downlink and signal quality reports on an uplink from a plurality of user equipments;

determining, using the first node, based on the received signal quality reports, at least one user equipment in the plurality of user equipments requiring uplink support;

accessing, using the first node, a list of second nodes communicatively coupled to the first node and capable of providing an uplink support to the at least one user equipment, the list of second nodes being determined based on the at least one user equipment;

communicating, using the first node, with second nodes in the list of second nodes to determine availability of one or more second nodes for providing the uplink support to the at least one user equipment communicating with the first node;

receiving, by the first node, a confirmation from the one or more second nodes indicating availability of uplink support by the one or more second nodes to the at least one user equipment;

selecting, by the first node, based on the receiving, at least one second node from the one or more second nodes for providing uplink support to the at least one user equipment, the selection is based on at least a combination of received signal quality reports on the uplink as measured by the one or more second nodes, signal quality reports on the downlink as reported by one or more user equipments in the plurality of user equipments, latency between nodes, and bandwidth between nodes; and

communicating, using the selected second node, with the at least one user equipment on the uplink and communicating, using the first node, with the at least one user equipment on the downlink.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the first node and the at least one second node are evolved node B nodes having a base band unit and a remote radio head.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein at least one of the communicating with second nodes and the receiving the confirmation is performed using a communication interface between a remote radio head of the first node and the second nodes using a coordinated multipoint transmission.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the communicating with the at least one user equipment further comprises reducing transmission power of the at least one user equipment using the uplink support provided by the selected second node.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the communicating with the at least one user equipment further comprises reducing interference caused by the at least one user equipment and affecting the selected second node using the uplink support provided by the selected second node.

14. The system according to claim 9, wherein the determining is performed based on a signal received by the first node requesting the uplink support for the at least one user equipment.

15. The system according to claim 9, wherein the first node and the second nodes include at least one of the following:

a macro base station, a micro base station, a femto base station, a pico base station, and any combination thereof.

16. The system according to claim 9, wherein the first node and the at least one second node are not co-located.

17. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one programmable processor, cause the at least one programmable processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, using a first node, signal quality reports on a downlink and signal quality reports on an uplink from a plurality of user equipments;

determining, using the first node, based on the received signal quality reports, at least one user equipment in the plurality of user equipments requiring uplink support;

accessing, using the first node, a list of second nodes communicatively coupled to the first node and capable of providing an uplink support to the at least one user equipment, the list of second nodes being determined based on the at least one user equipment;

communicating, using the first node, with second nodes in the list of second nodes to determine availability of one or more second nodes for providing the uplink support to the at least one user equipment communicating with the first node;

receiving, by the first node, a confirmation from the one or more second nodes indicating availability of uplink support by the one or more second nodes to the at least one user equipment;

selecting, by the first node, based on the receiving, at least one second node from the one or more second nodes for providing uplink support to the at least one user equipment, the selection is based on at least a combination of received signal quality reports on the uplink as measured by the one or more second nodes, signal quality reports on the downlink as reported by one or more user equipments in the plurality of user equipments, latency between nodes, and bandwidth between nodes; and

communicating, using the selected second node, with the at least one user equipment on the uplink and communicating, using the first node, with the at least one user equipment on the downlink.

18. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein the first node and the at least one second node are evolved node B nodes having a base band unit and a remote radio head.

19. The computer program product according to claim 18, wherein at least one of the communicating with second nodes and the receiving the confirmation is performed using a communication interface between a remote radio head of the first node and the second nodes using a coordinated multipoint transmission.

20. The computer program product according to claim 19, wherein the communicating with the at least one user equipment further comprises reducing transmission power of the at least one user equipment using the uplink support provided by the selected second node.

21. The computer program product according to claim 19, wherein the communicating with the at least one user equipment further comprises reducing interference caused by the at least one user equipment and affecting the selected second node using the uplink support provided by the selected second node.

22. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein the determining is performed based on a signal received by the first node requesting the uplink support for the at least one user equipment.

23. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein the first node and the second nodes include at least one of the following:

a macro base station, a micro base station, a femto base station, a pico base station, and any combination thereof.

24. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein the first node and the at least one second node are not co-located.