Wireless control apparatus and communication method

• US 20070021151A1
• Filed: 07/24/2006
• Published: 01/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Inventors: Umeda, Narumi, Sugiyama, Takatoshi, Mori, Shinichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,229,418 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/562.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 using beam steering

Abstract

A wireless control apparatus is disclosed that forms and controls an area of a base station according to an antenna pattern. The wireless control apparatus includes an area formation information gathering part that gathers area formation information pertaining to area formation of a neighboring base station; and an antenna pattern control part that controls and directs at least one of a main lobe, a side lobe, and a null point between the main lobe and the side lobe of the antenna pattern based on the area formation information to reduce frequency interference between a current cell formed by a current base station and a neighboring cell formed by the neighboring base station.

Claims

1. A wireless control apparatus that forms and controls an area of a base station according to an antenna pattern, the apparatus comprising:

an area formation information gathering part that gathers area formation information pertaining to area formation of a neighboring base station; and

an antenna pattern control part that controls and directs at least one of a main lobe, a side lobe, and a null point between the main lobe and the side lobe of the antenna pattern based on the area formation information to reduce frequency interference between a current cell formed by a current base station and a neighboring cell formed by the neighboring base station.

2. The wireless control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

an adjacency calculating part that calculates adjacency representing an extent to which an electromagnetic space is shared between the current cell and the neighboring cell based on the area formation information;

wherein the antenna pattern control part controls and directs at least one of the main lobe, the side lobe, and the null point between the main lobe and the side lobe of the antenna pattern based on the adjacency to reduce frequency interference between the current cell and the neighboring cell.

3. The wireless control apparatus as claimed in claim 2, further comprising:

a wireless resource monitoring part that determines a state of wireless resources;

wherein the antenna control part controls and directs at least one of the main lobe, the side lobe, and the null point between the main lobe and the side lobe of the antenna pattern based on the state of wireless resources to reduce frequency interference between the current cell and the neighboring cell.

4. The wireless control apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein

the antenna pattern control part controls an antenna pattern tilt angle of at least one of the current base station and the neighboring base station based on at least one of the adjacency and the state of wireless resources.

5. The wireless control apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein

the antenna pattern control part controls an antenna pattern azimuth of at least one of the current base station and the neighboring base station based on at least one of the adjacency and the state of wireless resources.

6. The wireless control apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein

the current base station includes a set of counter values representing the adjacency of a plurality of the neighboring cells formed by a plurality of the neighboring base stations;

the adjacency calculating part determines a main branch switching destination base station forming a corresponding neighboring cell from the neighboring base stations, and increments a corresponding adjacency counter value representing the adjacency of said corresponding neighboring cell by a predetermined value; and

the antenna pattern control part controls at least one of the antenna pattern tilt angle and the antenna pattern azimuth of at least one of the current base station and the neighboring base stations based on the adjacency counter values.

7. The wireless control apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein

the current base station includes a set of counter values representing the adjacency of a plurality of the neighboring cells formed by a plurality of the neighboring base stations;

the adjacency calculating part determines a change in an active set including the current base station as a main branch and one or more of the neighboring base stations as a major branch forming one or more corresponding neighboring cells, and increments one or more corresponding adjacency counter values representing the adjacency of said one or more corresponding neighboring cells by a predetermined value; and

the antenna pattern control part controls at least one of the antenna pattern tilt angle and the antenna pattern azimuth of at least one of the current base station and the neighboring base stations based on the adjacency counter values.

8. The wireless control apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein

the current base station includes a set of counter values representing the adjacency of a plurality of the neighboring cells formed by a plurality of the neighboring base stations;

the adjacency calculating part determines a change in a monitored set including the current base station as a main branch and one or more of the neighboring base stations as handover destination candidates forming one or more corresponding neighboring cells, and increments one or more corresponding adjacency counter values representing the adjacency of said one or more corresponding neighboring cells by a predetermined value; and

the antenna pattern control part controls at least one of the antenna pattern tilt angle and the antenna pattern azimuth of at least one of the current base station and the neighboring base stations based on the adjacency counter values.

9. A communication method used in a mobile communication system that forms and controls an area of a base station according to an antenna pattern, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving an uplink wireless channel from a mobile station;

gathering area formation information pertaining to area formation of a neighboring base station;

controlling and directing at least one of a main lobe, a side lobe, and a null point between the main lobe and the side lobe of the antenna pattern to reduce frequency interference between a current cell formed by a current base station and a neighboring cell formed by the neighboring base station.

10. The communication method as claimed in claim 9, further comprising the step of:

calculating an adjacency representing an extent to which an electromagnetic space is shared between the current cell and the neighboring cell based on the area formation information;

wherein the controlling step includes controlling and directing at least one of the main lobe, the side lobe, and the null point of the antenna pattern based on the adjacency.

11. The communication method as claimed in claim 10, further comprising the step of:

determining and monitoring a state of wireless resources;

wherein the controlling step includes controlling and directing at least one of the main lobe, the side lobe, and the null point of the antenna pattern based on the state of the wireless resources.

12. The communication method as claimed in claim 11, further comprising the step of:

controlling an antenna pattern tilt angle of at least one of the current base station and the neighboring base station based on at least one of the adjacency and the state of wireless resources.

13. The communication method as claimed in claim 12, further comprising the step of:

controlling an antenna pattern azimuth of at least one of the current base station and the neighboring base station based on at least one of the adjacency and the state of the wireless resources.