Congestion Control Method For Wireless Communication System and Base Station Control Apparatus

• US 20070293235A1
• Filed: 06/15/2007
• Published: 12/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Inayoshi, Hirokazu, Sakaguchi, Tomoyasu, Yano, Masaaki, Kasai, Daiho, Moritomo, Takanori
• Granted Patent: US 7,864,727 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/455
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/10 Flow control between communication endpoints
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/06 Reselecting a communication resource in the serving access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/18 for allowing seamless reselection, e.g. soft reselection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/185 using make before break
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/12 Access point controller devices

Abstract

If a wireless resource congestion occurs, the wireless resources of the entire system are used efficiently to reduce a disconnection of communication with a congested sector and a state in which a new call cannot be originated nor terminated. A base station control apparatus compares the wireless resource usage amount of each sector of each base station with values stored in a wireless resource threshold table. If a sector of a base station is in the light congestion state, the neighbor search window size of a sector specifying the congested sector as a neighbor is changed to restrict a soft hand-over to the congested sector. If a sector of a base station is in the heavy congestion state, a mobile station which is communicating in the congested sector and receiving radio waves of another sector with stability is subjected to a forced soft hand-over.

Claims

1. A congestion control method for a wireless communication system having a plurality of base stations for performing code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless communication and a base station control apparatus for controlling the plurality of base stations, the congestion control method comprising the steps of:

the base station control apparatus determining whether a sector is in a light congestion state or a heavy congestion state in accordance with at least two different congestion levels, with reference to a wireless resource usage amount data base having stored a wireless resource usage amount for each sector, based on the wireless resource usage amount;

(1) if a sector is determined to be in the light congestion state, the base station control apparatus referencing a neighbor list database having stored, on a sector basis, a neighbor sector and a neighbor search window size indicating the size of an area or the number of chips by which a wireless terminal searches for the neighbor sector, and the wireless resource usage amount database;

extracting a sector which has specified the congested sector as a neighbor sector and is not congested itself; and

reducing the neighbor search window size of the congested sector with respect to the data of the extracted sector in the neighbor list database to suppress a soft hand-over from the extracted sector to the congested sector; and

(2) if a sector is determined to be in the heavy congestion state, the base station control apparatus referencing a radio wave capture state database having stored time-series data of a radio wave capture state of each wireless terminal on a sector basis and the wireless resource usage amount database;

extracting a wireless terminal which specifies the congested sector as a neighbor sector and keeps capturing radio waves of a plurality of sectors for a predetermined period of time or longer and sectors serving the wireless terminal; and

selecting a sector having a relatively small wireless resource usage amount, from the extracted sectors, and causing forced soft hand-over of the wireless terminal to the selected sector.

2. A congestion control method for a wireless communication system according to claim 1,

wherein the plurality of base stations report the wireless resource usage amount for each sector and time-series data of the radio wave capture state of the wireless terminal, to the base station control apparatus;

and

the base station control apparatus updates the wireless resource usage amount database and the radio wave capture state database in accordance with the reported information.

3. A congestion control method for a wireless communication system according to claim 1,

wherein the base station control apparatus reports an updated neighbor search window size to a base station serving a sector for which the neighbor search window size has been updated in the neighbor list database;

and

the base station reports the updated neighbor search window size to each wireless terminal under it.

4. A congestion control method for a wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the base station control apparatus gives an instruction of forced hand-over to the base station serving the extracted sector and the wireless terminal.

5. A congestion control method for a wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the base station control apparatus returns the neighbor search window size to the former size when the wireless resource usage amount becomes lower than a light congestion state restoration threshold.

6. A congestion control method for a wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the base station control apparatus suppresses the forced soft hand-over control when the wireless resource usage amount becomes lower than a heavy congestion state restoration threshold.

7. A base station control apparatus for controlling a plurality of base stations that perform code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless communication, the base station control apparatus comprising:

a wireless resource usage amount database which has stored a wireless resource usage amount for each sector;

a neighbor list database which has stored, on a sector basis, a neighbor sector and a neighbor search window size indicating the size of an area or the number of chips by which a wireless terminal searches for the neighbor sector;

a radio wave capture state database which has stored time-series data of a radio wave capture state of each wireless terminal on a sector basis; and

a base station control block for determining a congested sector, changing the neighbor search window size, and determining a wireless terminal and/or a sector to be the target of a forced soft hand-over;

wherein the base station control block determines whether a sector is in the light or heavy congestion state in accordance with two different congestion levels on the basis of the wireless resource usage amount with reference to the wireless resource usage amount database;

(1) if a sector is determined to be in the light congestion state, the base station control block references the neighbor list database and the wireless resource usage amount database;

extracts a sector which specifies the congested sector as a neighbor sector and is not congested itself; and

suppresses a soft hand-over from the extracted sector to the congested sector by reducing the neighbor search window size of the congested sector with respect to the data of the extracted sector in the neighbor list database; and

(2) if a sector is determined to be in the heavy congestion state, the base station control block references the radio wave capture state database and the wireless resource usage amount database;

extracts a wireless terminal which specifies the congested sector as a neighbor sector and keeps capturing radio waves of a plurality of sectors for a predetermined period of time or longer and sectors serving the wireless terminal; and

selects a sector having a relatively small wireless resource usage amount from the extracted sectors and causes a forced soft hand-over of the wireless terminal to the selected sector.

8. A base station control apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the base station control apparatus updates the wireless resource usage amount database and the radio wave capture state database in accordance with the wireless resource usage amount for each sector and the time-series data of the radio wave capture state of the wireless terminal, reported from the plurality of base stations.

9. A base station control apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the base station control apparatus reports an updated neighbor search window size to a base station serving a sector for which the neighbor search window size has been updated in the neighbor list database.

10. A base station control apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the base station control apparatus gives an instruction of forced hand-over to the base station serving the extracted sector and the wireless terminal.