METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO POWER CONTROL AND/OR INTERFERENCE MANAGEMENT IN A MIXED WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM SUPPORTING WAN SIGNALING AND PEER TO PEER SIGNALING

• US 20080069039A1
• Filed: 07/10/2007
• Published: 03/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Laroia, Rajiv, Li, Junyi
• Granted Patent: US 8,452,317 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/02 Buffering or recovering information during reselection ; Modification of the traffic flow during hand-off
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/08 Closed loop power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/10 Open loop power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/146 Uplink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/383 power control in peer-to-peer links
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

Methods and apparatus related to the sharing of wide area network (WAN) uplink bandwidth with peer to peer communication signaling usage are described. The base station regulates the level of interference from the peer to peer signaling by generating and transmitting peer to peer transmission power control signals intended for peer to peer wireless terminals in the local vicinity. A base station transmits into a downlink frequency band a signal, e.g., a beacon or broadcast channel signal, to be used by a peer to peer wireless terminal in controlling its peer to peer transmit power level into the corresponding uplink frequency band. The peer to peer wireless terminal receives and evaluates the base station signal. The determined information from the evaluation is used in determining whether or not peer to peer signal transmission is permitted and/or in determining a peer to peer transmission power level.

Claims

1. A method of operating a wireless communications device supporting peer to peer communications in a base station uplink frequency band, the method comprising:

receiving a first signal from a base station in a downlink frequency band;

performing an evaluation on the received signal; and

controlling peer to peer transmission power for at least some peer to peer signal transmissions in said uplink frequency band as a function of the result of the evaluation of said first received signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said evaluation is a signal power measurement.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said evaluation is an extraction of encoded information conveyed in the received signal.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said evaluation includes obtaining information from both the received power level of the received signal and extracted encoded information conveyed in the received signal.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second signal from said base station in said downlink frequency band at a time which is different from the time at which said first signal is received;

performing an evaluation on the second received signal; and

determining from the evaluation of the second received signal that said wireless communications device should refrain from transmitting peer to peer communications signals in said uplink frequency band.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

refraining from transmitting peer to peer communications signals in said uplink frequency band after determining that the communications device should refrain from transmitting peer to peer communications signals until determining from evaluating another signal from said base station that said wireless communications device is permitted to transmit peer to peer signals.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said first signal is a beacon signal.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said beacon signal includes at most three OFDM tones, and wherein tones of the beacon signal have a per tone transmission power level that is at least 10 dBs higher than the average per tone transmission power level of a non-null tone of a peer to peer signal.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said first signal is a broadcast channel signal.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said broadcast channel signal includes a set of OFDM tones, and wherein tones of the broadcast channel signal have a per tone transmission power level that is at least 3 dBs higher than the average per tone transmission power level of a non-null tone of a peer to peer signal.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said first signal is a CDMA pilot signal.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said uplink and downlink frequency bands correspond to different non-overlapping frequency division duplex (FDD) WAN base station communications bands.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said uplink frequency band corresponds to a base station time division duplex (TDD) band during uplink time slots and wherein said downlink frequency band corresponds to the same base station TDD band during downlink time slots.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein controlling peer to peer transmission power includes using a first function, and

wherein said first function limits peer to peer transmission power to a lower level for a first received signal power level than for a second received signal power level which is higher than said first received signal power level.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said first function determines a maximum permitted peer to peer transmission power level.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a processor for use in a wireless communications device supporting peer to peer communications in a base station uplink frequency band, the processor configured to;

receive a first signal from a base station in a downlink frequency band;

perform an evaluation on the received signal; and

control peer to peer transmission power for at least some peer to peer signal transmissions in said uplink frequency band as a function of the result of the evaluation of said first received signal.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said evaluation is a signal power measurement.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said evaluation is an extraction of encoded information conveyed in the received signal.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said processor is further configured to:

receive a second signal from said base station in said downlink frequency band at a time which is different from the time at which said first signal is received;

perform an evaluation on the second received signal; and

determine from the evaluation of the second received signal that said wireless communications device should refrain from transmitting peer to peer communications signals in said uplink frequency band.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said processor is further configured to:

control the communications device to refrain from transmitting peer to peer communications signals in said uplink frequency band after determining that the communications device should refrain from transmitting peer to peer communications signals until determining from evaluating another signal from said base station that said wireless communications device is permitted to transmit peer to peer signals.

21. A computer readable medium embodying machine executable instructions for controlling a wireless communications device supporting peer to peer communications in a base station uplink frequency band to implement a method of communicating with another communications device, the method comprising:

receiving a first signal from a base station in a downlink frequency band;

performing an evaluation on the received signal; and

controlling peer to peer transmission power for at least some peer to peer signal transmissions in said uplink frequency band as a function of the result of the evaluation of said first received signal.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein said evaluation is a signal power measurement.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein said evaluation is an extraction of encoded information conveyed in the received signal.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 21, further embodying machine executable instructions for:

receiving a second signal from said base station in said downlink frequency band at a time which is different from the time at which said first signal is received;

performing an evaluation on the second received signal; and

determining from the evaluation of the second received signal that said wireless communications device should refrain from transmitting peer to peer communications signals in said uplink frequency band.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 24, further embodying machine executable instructions for:

refraining from transmitting peer to peer communications signals in said uplink frequency band after determining that the communications device should refrain from transmitting peer to peer communications signals until determining from evaluating another signal from said base station that said wireless communications device is permitted to transmit peer to peer signals.

26. A method of operating a base station to control interference from peer to peer communications in a first communications band, the method comprising:

generating a peer to peer transmission power control signal; and

transmitting said peer to peer transmission power control signal in a second communications band, said second communications band being different from said first communications band.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein said first communications band is utilized for both:

(i) wide area network uplink signaling directed from a wide area network wireless terminal to said base station and (ii) peer to peer communications signaling between two peer to peer wireless terminals.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein said second communications band is utilized for conveying both:

(i) a downlink signal from said base station directed to said wide area network wireless terminal and (ii) said peer to peer power control signal to a peer to peer communications device.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

generating a wide area network uplink transmission power control signal; and

transmitting said generated wide area network transmission power control signal in said second communications band to said wide area network wireless terminal.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein said first communications band is a frequency division duplex (FDD) wide area network (WAN) uplink frequency band, and wherein said second communications band is a frequency division duplex (FDD) wide area network downlink frequency band.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein said uplink frequency band and said downlink frequency band are non-overlapping and form a corresponding pair.

32. The method of claim 28, wherein the first communications band is a base station time division duplex (TDD) band during uplink time slots and wherein said second communications band is the same base station TDD band during downlink time slots.

33. The method of claim 28, wherein said peer to peer transmission power control signal is a beacon signal.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein said beacon signal includes at most three OFDM tones, and wherein the tones of the beacon signal have a per tone transmission power level that is at least 10 dBs higher than the average per tone transmission power level of a non-null tone of a peer to peer signal.

35. The method of claim 28, wherein said peer to peer transmission power control signal is a broadcast channel signal.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein said broadcast channel signal includes a set of OFDM tones, and wherein tones of the broadcast channel signal have a per tone transmission power level that is at least 3 dBs higher than the average per tone transmission power level of a non-null tone of a peer to peer signal.

37. The method of claim 28, wherein said peer to peer transmission power control signal is a CDMA pilot signal.

38. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

transmitting a second peer to peer transmission power control signal at a different transmission power level than said first peer to peer transmission power level, and wherein the received power level of a peer to peer transmission power control signal is to be used by a peer to peer wireless terminal in regulating its peer to peer transmission power level.

39. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

transmitting a second peer to peer transmission power control signal conveying different encoded control information than said first peer to peer transmission power control signal, and wherein said encoded information is to be used by a peer to peer wireless terminal in regulating its peer to peer transmission power level.

40. An apparatus comprising:

a processor for use in a base station to control interference from peer to peer communications in a first communications band, the processor configured to;

generate a peer to peer transmission power control signal; and

transmit said peer to peer transmission power control signal in a second communications band, said second communications band being different from said first communications band.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein said first communications band is utilized for both:

(i) wide area network uplink signaling directed from a wide area network wireless terminal to said base station and (ii) peer to peer communications signaling between two peer to peer wireless terminals.

42. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein said second communications band is utilized for conveying both:

(i) a downlink signal from said base station directed to said wide area network wireless terminal and (ii) said peer to peer power control signal to a peer to peer communications device.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein said first communications band is a frequency division duplex (FDD) wide area network (WAN) uplink frequency band, and wherein said second communications band is a frequency division duplex (FDD) wide area network downlink frequency band.

44. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the first communications band is a base station time division duplex (TDD) band during uplink time slots and wherein said second communications band is the same base station TDD band during downlink time slots.

45. A computer readable medium embodying machine executable instructions for controlling a base station to implement a method to control interference from peer to peer communications in a first communications band, the method comprising:

generating a peer to peer transmission power control signal; and

transmitting said peer to peer transmission power control signal in a second communications band, said second communications band being different from said first communications band.

46. The computer readable medium of claim 45, wherein said first communications band is utilized for both:

(i) wide area network uplink signaling directed from a wide area network wireless terminal to said base station and (ii) peer to peer communications signaling between two peer to peer wireless terminals.

47. The computer readable medium of claim 46, wherein said second communications band is utilized for conveying both:

(i) a downlink signal from said base station directed to said wide area network wireless terminal and (ii) said peer to peer power control signal to a peer to peer communications device.

48. The computer readable medium of claim 47, wherein said first communications band is a frequency division duplex (FDD) wide area network (WAN) uplink frequency band, and wherein said second communications band is a frequency division duplex (FDD) wide area network downlink frequency band.

49. The computer readable medium of claim 47, wherein the first communications band is a base station time division duplex (TDD) band during uplink time slots and wherein said second communications band is the same base station TDD band during downlink time slots.

50. A wireless communications device supporting peer to peer communications in a base station uplink frequency band, the wireless communications device comprising:

a receiver module for receiving a first signal from a base station in a downlink frequency band;

a signal processing module for performing an evaluation on the received signal; and

a peer to peer transmission power control module for controlling peer to peer transmission power for at least some peer to peer signal transmissions in said uplink frequency band as a function of the result of the evaluation of said first received signal.

51. The wireless communications device of claim 50, wherein said signal processing module includes a power measurement module for measuring the received power level of the received signal.

52. The wireless communications device of claim 50, wherein said signal processing module includes a decoder module for extracting encoded information conveyed in the received signal.

53. The wireless communications device of claim 50, wherein said signal processing module includes both a power measurement module which measures the received power level of the received signal and a decoder module which extracts encoded information conveyed in the received signal.

54. The wireless communications device of claim 50, further comprising:

a peer to peer authorization module for determining from the evaluation of the received signal whether the wireless communications device is permitted to transmit peer to peer communications signals in said uplink frequency band or whether the wireless terminal is restricted from transmitting peer to peer communications signals in said uplink frequency band.

55. The wireless communications device of claim 50, wherein said first signal is a beacon signal.

56. The wireless communications device of claim 55, wherein said beacon signal includes at most three OFDM tones, and wherein tones of the beacon signal have a per tone transmission power level that is at least 10 dBs higher than the average per tone transmission power level of a non-null tone of a peer to peer signal, the apparatus further comprising:

a memory including stored information characterizing a base station sourced beacon signal which is used for peer to peer transmission power control; and

a peer to peer transmission power control beacon identification module for identifying said beacon signal.

57. The wireless communications device of claim 50, wherein said first signal is a broadcast channel signal.

58. The wireless communications device of claim 57, wherein said broadcast channel signal includes a set of OFDM tones, and wherein tones of the broadcast channel signal have a per tone transmission power level that is at least 3 dBs higher than the average per tone transmission power level of a non-null tone of a peer to peer signal, the wireless communications device further comprising:

a memory including stored information characterizing a base station sourced broadcast channel signal used for peer to peer transmission power control; and

a peer to peer transmission power control broadcast identification module for identifying said broadcast channel signal.

59. The wireless communications device of claim 50, wherein said first signal is a CDMA pilot signal.

60. The wireless communications device of claim 50 wherein said uplink and downlink frequency bands correspond to different non-overlapping frequency division duplex (FDD) WAN base station communications bands, the wireless communications device further comprising:

a memory including stored FDD air link resource structure information.

61. The wireless communications device of claim 50, wherein said uplink frequency band corresponds to a base station time division duplex (TDD) band during uplink time slots and wherein said downlink frequency band corresponds to the same base station TDD band during downlink time slots, the wireless communications device further comprising:

a memory included stored TDD air link resource structure information.

62. The wireless communications device of claim 51, wherein said peer to peer transmission power control module controls peer to peer transmission power using a first function which limits peer to peer transmission power to a lower level for a first received signal power level than for a second received signal power level which is higher than said first received signal power level.

63. The wireless communications device of claim 62, wherein said first function determines a maximum permitted peer to peer transmission power level.

64. A wireless communications device supporting peer to peer communications in a base station uplink frequency band, the wireless communications device comprising:

receiver means for receiving a first signal from a base station in a downlink frequency band;

means for performing an evaluation on the received signal; and

means for controlling peer to peer transmission power for at least some peer to peer signal transmissions in said uplink frequency band as a function of the result of the evaluation of said first received signal.

65. The wireless communications device of claim 64, wherein said means for performing an evaluation on the received signal includes means for measuring the received power level of the received signal.

66. The wireless communications device of claim 64, wherein said means for performing an evaluation on the received signal includes means for extracting encoded information conveyed in the received signal.

67. The wireless communications device of claim 64, further comprising:

means for determining from the evaluation of the received signal whether the wireless communications device is permitted to transmit peer to peer communications signals in said uplink frequency band or whether the wireless terminal is restricted from transmitting peer to peer communications signals in said uplink frequency band.

68. The wireless communications device of claim 65, wherein said means for controlling controls peer to peer transmission power using a first function which limits peer to peer transmission power to a lower level for a first received signal power level than for a second received signal power level which is higher than said first received signal power level.

69. A base station which controls interference from peer to peer communications in a first communications band, the base station comprising:

a peer to peer transmission power control signal generation module for generating a peer to peer transmission power control signal; and

a transmitter module for transmitting said peer to peer transmission power control signal in a second communications band, said second communications band being different from said first communications band.

70. The base station of claim 69, wherein said first communications band is utilized for both:

(i) wide area network uplink signaling directed from a wide area network wireless terminal to said base station and (ii) peer to peer communications signaling between two peer to peer wireless terminals.

71. The base station of claim 70, wherein said second communications band is utilized for conveying both:

(i) a downlink signal from said base station directed to said wide area network wireless terminal and (ii) said peer to peer power control signal to a peer to peer communications device.

72. The base station of claim 71, further comprising:

a wide area network transmission power control signal generation module for generating a wide area network uplink transmission power control signal; and

wherein said transmitter module is also used for transmitting said generated wide area network transmission power control signal in said second communications band to said wide area network wireless terminal.

73. The base station of claim 71, wherein said first communications band is a frequency division duplex (FDD) wide area network (WAN) uplink frequency band, and wherein said second communications band is a frequency division duplex (FDD) wide area network downlink frequency band, the base station further comprising:

a memory including stored FDD air link resource structure information including information identifying which air link resources of the downlink band are used for communicating a peer to peer transmission power control signal.

74. The base station of claim 73, wherein said uplink frequency band and said downlink frequency band are non-overlapping and form a corresponding pair.

75. The base station of claim 71, wherein the first communications band is a base station time division duplex (TDD) band during uplink time slots and wherein said second communications band is the same base station TDD band during downlink time slots, the base station further comprising:

a memory including stored TDD air link resource structure information including information identifying air link resources in a downlink time slot of the TDD band used for communicating a peer to peer transmission power control signal.

76. The base station of claim 71, wherein said peer to peer transmission power control signal is a beacon signal.

77. The base station of claim 76, wherein said beacon signal includes at most three OFDM tones, and wherein the tones of the beacon signal have a per tone transmission power level that is at least 10 dBs higher than the average per tone transmission power level of a non-null tone of a peer to peer signal, the base station further comprising:

a memory including peer to peer transmission power control beacon characteristic information.

78. The base station of claim 71, wherein said peer to peer transmission power control signal is a broadcast channel signal.

79. The base station of claim 78, wherein said broadcast channel signal includes a set of OFDM tones, and wherein tones of the broadcast channel signal have a per tone transmission power level that is at least 3 dBs higher than the average per tone transmission power level of a non-null tone of a peer to peer signal, the base station further comprising:

a memory including peer to peer transmission power control broadcast channel signal characteristic information.

80. The base station of claim 71, wherein said peer to peer transmission power control signal is a CDMA pilot signal.

81. The base station of claim 71, further comprising:

a transmission power control module for controlling the transmitter module to transmit a second peer to peer transmission power control signal at a different transmission power level than a first peer to peer transmission power level, and wherein the received power level of a peer to peer transmission power control signal is to be used by a peer to peer wireless terminal in regulating its peer to peer transmission power level.

82. The base station of claim 71, wherein said peer to peer transmission power control signal generation module includes:

an encoder module for encoding in a second peer to peer transmission power control signal different encoded control information than in a first peer to peer transmission power control signal, and wherein said encoded information is to be used by a peer to peer wireless terminal in regulating its peer to peer transmission power level.

83. The base station of claim 71, further comprising:

a peer to peer signaling restriction determination module for determining whether peer to peer signaling is to be allowed in said first communications band or whether peer to peer signaling is to be restricted in said first communications band.

84. A base station which controls interference from peer to peer communications in a first communications band, the base station comprising:

peer to peer transmission power control signal generation means for generating a peer to peer transmission power control signal; and

means for transmitting said peer to peer transmission power control signal in a second communications band, said second communications band being different from said first communications band.

85. The base station of claim 84, wherein said first communications band is utilized for both:

(i) wide area network uplink signaling directed from a wide area network wireless terminal to said base station and (ii) peer to peer communications signaling between two peer to peer wireless terminals.

86. The base station of claim 85, wherein said second communications band is utilized for conveying both:

(i) a downlink signal from said base station directed to said wide area network wireless terminal and (ii) said peer to peer power control signal to a peer to peer communications device.

87. The base station of claim 86, further comprising:

means for controlling the means for transmitting to transmit a second peer to peer transmission power control signal at a different transmission power level than a first peer to peer transmission power level, and wherein the received power level of a peer to peer transmission power control signal is to be used by a peer to peer wireless terminal in regulating its peer to peer transmission power level.

88. The base station of claim 86, further comprising:

means for determining whether peer to peer signaling is to be allowed in said first communications band or whether peer to peer signaling is to be restricted in said first communications band.