Methods of allocating a channel to baseband processing units in a communication system

• US 20050245267A1
• Filed: 04/30/2004
• Published: 11/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Guethaus, Roland J.
• Application Number:
  US10/835,114
• Publication Number:
  US 20050245267A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/450
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

In a method of allocating a channel to a baseband processing unit (BBU) in a wireless communication system to establish a call, a BBU from one of first or second pools is selected to support a new channel for establishing a call. Alternatively, a channel may be allocated to a BBU in the first or second pools based on system demand. In another aspect, a pool of BBUs may be searched for allocating a channel to a BBU in the pool, in which the first BBU in the pool determined as having free and/or available capacity to support the channel is selected, or a BBU having the lowest available free capacity is selected. Further, a channel may be allocated to a BBU in the pool having received the most recent channel, or to a BBU having the greatest available capacity, if the BBU having received the most recent channel is full.

Claims

1. A method of allocating a channel to a given baseband processing unit (BBU) for establishing a call in a wireless communication system, comprising:

determining whether a given BBU in a first pool of BBUs has available capacity to accept the channel; and

selecting a BBU from one of the first pool and a second pool based on the determination, so that the channel is allocated to the selected BBU.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting includes allocating the channel to a BBU in the first pool, if a BBU in the first pool has available capacity.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting includes allocating the channel to a BBU in the second pool, if no BBU in the first pool has available capacity to process the received request.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising adding the selected BBU from the second pool to the first pool, prior to allocating the channel to the selected BBU.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising returning the selected BBU to the second pool after the channel has been released, if the selected BBU is supporting no channels after channel release.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first pool is a dedicated pool of BBUs, each BBU in the first pool configured to support a given set of data rates.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second pool is an idle pool of BBUs, each BBU supporting no channels but having available capacity to support a channel for establishing a call that is received at any given data rate.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a channel is allocated to a given BBU in one of the first and second pools based on user demand in the system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the channel for establishing the call is configured to support one of a voice connection and a data connection.

12. In a wireless communication system, a base station including one of more BBUs to be allocated a channel for establishing a call between a user and the system in accordance with the method of claim 1.

10. A method of allocating a channel to a given baseband processing unit (BBU) for establishing a call in a wireless communication system, in which a new received channel to be used for establishing a call between a user and the system is allocated to a given BBU from one of a first pool of BBUs and a second pool of BBUs based on system demand.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the numbers of BBUs in one or more of the first pool and second pool changes based on changes in system demand.

13. In a wireless communication system, a base station including one of more BBUs to be allocated a channel for establishing a call between a user and the system in accordance with the method of claim 10.

14. A method of allocating a channel to a given baseband processing unit (BBU) for establishing a call in a wireless communication system, comprising:

searching a given pool of BBUs to selected a BBU for supporting the channel; and

allocating the channel to the first BBU in the pool determined as having available capacity to support the channel.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein

the pool has a first end and a second end, and

searching includes searching from the first end to the second end until the first BBU having available capacity is found.

20. In a wireless communication system, a base station including one of more BBUs to be allocated a channel for establishing a call between a user and the system in accordance with the method of claim 14.

16. A method of allocating a channel to a given baseband processing unit (BBU) for establishing a call in a wireless communication system, comprising:

searching a given pool of BBUs to select a BBU for supporting the channel; and

allocating the channel to the selected BBU, the selected BBU representing a BBU in the pool having the lowest available free capacity to support the channel.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein

the pool has a first end and a second end, and

searching includes searching from the first end to the second end until a BBU having the lowest available capacity is found, so that upon acceptance of the channel the BBU is full or substantially full.

21. In a wireless communication system, a base station including one of more BBUs to be allocated a channel for establishing a call between a user and the system in accordance with the method of claim 16.

18. A method of allocating a channel to a given baseband processing unit (BBU) for establishing a call in a wireless communication system, comprising:

searching a given pool of BBUs to select a BBU for supporting the channel; and

checking the BBU in the pool that has most recently been allocated a channel, and

allocating the channel to the BBU supporting the most recently allocated channel, if that BBU has available capacity, else

allocating the channel to the BBU in the pool having the greatest available capacity to support the channel.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein

the pool has a first end and a second end, and searching includes searching from the first end to the second end until a BBU having most recently been allocated a channel or a BBU having the greatest available capacity is found.

22. In a wireless communication system, a base station including one of more BBUs to be allocated a channel for establishing a call between a user and the system in accordance with the method of claim 18.