ACCESS MECHANISMS FOR BASE STATIONS IN HETEROGENEOUS ACCESS POINT NETWORKS

• US 20100008230A1
• Filed: 07/07/2009
• Published: 01/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Bhushan, Naga, Agrawal, Avneesh, Khandekar, Aamod D., Borran, Mohammad J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,737,229 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/237
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/10 Dynamic resource partitioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/12 using downlink control channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference

Abstract

Providing for improved access communication for wireless systems is described herein. By way of example, wireless devices can employ wireless resource re-use in selecting a subset of access communication resources, to mitigate interference on uplink access requests. Re-use can be based on current network conditions, or on a type of base station facilitating the wireless communication. In some aspects, planned resource re-use can be facilitated by an access terminal. The access terminal requests neighboring or interfering network access points to reserve a set of resources for a serving access point. Reserved resources can be conveyed to the serving access point with an uplink access probe, to further mitigate interference.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating access to a wireless communication environment comprising diverse types of wireless access points, comprising:

employing a processor to parse a set of wireless resources dedicated for access communication and employ a re-use algorithm to generate a subset of the wireless resources reserved for a particular network access point if interference at the access point is above a minimum threshold; and

outputting the generated subset to a wireless transmitter for broadcast transmission to facilitate terminal access to the particular network access point.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a network access request on the subset of the wireless resources; and

extracting information from the access request indicative of at least one downlink (DL) wireless resource reserved for the particular network access point by an access point neighboring or causing interference to the particular access point.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising employing the reserved DL wireless resource to transmit an access grant in response to the access request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the subset of the wireless resources further comprises selecting a sub-band or sub-slot of a wireless signal based at least in part on a measure of channel interference or network load.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the subset of the wireless resources further comprises selecting a common time segment specified for network access points within a macro coverage area if network load within the coverage area is below a threshold level.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the subset of the wireless resources further comprises random selection of a time sub-slot or frequency sub-band of the set of wireless resources.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the subset of the wireless resources further comprises negotiating with a neighboring or interfering access point to secure the subset for the particular access point for a limited time.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein negotiating is based at least on quality of service (QoS) commitments of the particular network access point.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an access type or transmit power type of the particular access point; and

generating the subset of the wireless resources based at least in part on the access or transmit power type.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining network load for the wireless communication environment relative a set of load thresholds; and

dynamically selecting the re-use algorithm based on UL or DL interference on the set of resources.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

selecting a natural re-use algorithm if the current network load is below a minimum load threshold;

selecting a random or pseudo-random re-use algorithm if the current network load is above the minimum load threshold and below a maximum threshold; and

selecting a planned re-use algorithm and negotiation scheme if the if the current network load is above the maximum threshold.

12. An apparatus that facilitates communication with a network, comprising:

memory that includes stored protocols that identify wireless signal resources for network access communication involving the apparatus;

a wireless transmitter for broadcasting a subset of wireless resources employed for access communication with the apparatus; and

a data processor that executes the following modules;

a re-use module that establishes a re-use scheme for access resource selection based at least on network load or interference conditions;

a selection module that employs the re-use scheme to generate the subset of wireless resources from a set of network access resources.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising an interface module that obtains a measurement of the network load conditions from a high layer component of the network.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the selection module compares the network load conditions with a set of load thresholds to establish the re-use scheme.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein at least one of:

the selection module employs a natural re-use scheme if the network load measurement is below a minimum threshold;

the selection module employs a random re-use scheme if the network load measurement is below an upper threshold and above a minimum threshold;

or

the selection module employs a planned re-use scheme if the network load measurement is above an upper threshold.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising a negotiation module that manages communication between the apparatus and a neighboring or interfering network access point to reduce interference on the subset of wireless resources if the re-use scheme is a planned re-use scheme.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the negotiation module requests the network access point to blank or employ reduced power on the subset of wireless resources.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the negotiation module conveys the request via a wired or wireless backhaul between the apparatus and the network access point.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the negotiation module obtains an over-the-air (OTA) message from an access terminal that specifies resources reserved by the network access point for the apparatus.

20. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising a classification module that selects the set of network access resources from a superset of access resources based on a transmit power type or access type of the apparatus.

21. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising a dynamic resource module that monitors changes in subsequent load or interference conditions and updates the re-use module with current conditions.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the re-use module changes the re-use scheme and the selection module generates a new subset of wireless resources based on the current conditions.

23. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for employing a processor to obtain a set of wireless resources employed for access communication with a particular network access point;

means for employing the processor to modify the set of wireless resources based on changes in network load or interference conditions; and

means for employing a wireless transmitter to broadcast the set of wireless resources to facilitate terminal access to the particular network access point.

24. At least one processor configured for wireless communication, comprising:

a first module that parses a set of wireless resources dedicated for access communication;

a second module that employs a re-use algorithm to generate a subset of the wireless resources reserved at least for a particular network access point; and

a third module that outputs the generated subset for broadcast transmission to facilitate terminal access to the particular network access point.

25. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium, comprising;

a set of codes for causing a computer to parse a set of wireless resources dedicated for access communication;

an additional set of codes for causing the computer to employ a re-use algorithm to generate a subset of the wireless resources reserved at least for a particular network access point; and

a further set of codes for causing the computer to output the generated subset for broadcast transmission to facilitate terminal access to the particular network access point.

26. A method of accessing a wireless network, comprising:

employing a wireless receiver to obtain a set of wireless signal access resources employed by a wireless network access point;

employing a data processor to select a subset of the wireless signal access resources for transmission of an access probe to the wireless network, wherein the selected subset are reserved by a second wireless network access point; and

employing a wireless transmitter to deliver the access probe to the wireless network access point.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein selecting the subset further comprises selecting a subset of signal access resources employed by a particular type of access point.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the particular type of access point is a restricted association access point or a low power access point.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein selecting the subset further comprises employing a random function to select a time-frequency segment of the access resources.

30. The method of claim 26, further comprising specifying DL resources reserved by the second wireless network access point in the access probe.

31. The method of claim 26, further comprising obtaining an indication of DL interference at the wireless receiver and selecting the subset to mitigate the interference.

32. The method of claim 26, further comprising requesting an interfering access point to reduce power or blank signal resources on the selected subset of resources, wherein selection of the subset results from the interfering access point responding in agreement to the request.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising forwarding the agreement to the request to the wireless network access point and obtaining a response from such access point indicating resources to select for the subset.

34. The method of claim 26, further comprising receiving an indication of current network load from the wireless network access point for selection of the subset.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising employing a resource re-use scheme for selection of the subset based at least in part on the current network load.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising employing a natural re-use scheme, random re-use scheme or planned re-use scheme for the resource re-use scheme, wherein the re-use scheme provides a distinct manner for selection of the subset of resources.

37. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

a wireless transceiver for sending and receiving wireless signals;

memory that stores network protocols for identifying access channels employed by network access points; and

a data processor configured to execute the following modules;

a preference module that monitors received DL signals and identifies a preferred network access point from the signals;

an access module that employs the stored protocols to obtain access communication resources reserved by a non-preferred network access point for the preferred network access point;

a signaling module that generates an access probe to be transmitted by the wireless transceiver over the reserved resources.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the access module references the network protocols stored in memory to obtain the specified resources.

39. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the access module analyzes a transmission from the preferred network access point identifying the specified resources.

40. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the access module analyzes a transmission received from the non-preferred network access point identifying the specified resources.

41. The apparatus of claim 37, further comprising a measurement module that calculates interference on access channels employed by the network access points, wherein the specified resources are referenced at least in part based on the calculated interference.

42. The apparatus of claim 37, further comprising a mediation module that requests the non-preferred access point to reduce transmit power on the specified resources employed by the preferred network access point.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein a response to the transmit power reduction request is conveyed to the preferred network access point to select DL access resources.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein:

the wireless transceiver obtains a DL resource selection as a result of conveying the response to the transmit power reduction request; and

the wireless transceiver tunes to the selected DL resource to obtain an access grant/denial.

45. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the stored protocols include a re-use protocol specifying particular access channel resources to be employed based on network load or interference conditions.

46. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the re-use protocol instructs the access module to at least one of:

employ a common segment of an access channel for low network interference or load;

employ a random or pseudo-random algorithm to select a subset of access channel resources for moderate network interference or load;

or

request the preferred network access point to identify access resources based on negotiations with neighboring access points for high interference or load.

47. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the apparatus provides OTA communication with the non-preferred access point to facilitate the negotiations.

48. An apparatus for accessing a wireless network, comprising:

means for employing a wireless receiver to obtain a set of wireless signal access resources employed by a wireless network access point;

means for employing a data processor to negotiate with a neighboring or interfering access point for reserved resources for access communication involving the wireless network access point; and

means for employing a wireless transmitter to deliver the access probe and reserved resources to the wireless network access point.

49. At least one processor configured for wireless communication, comprising:

a first module that obtains a set of wireless signal access resources employed by a wireless network access point;

a second module that negotiates with a neighboring or interfering access point for reserved resources for access communication involving the wireless network access point; and

a third module that delivers the access probe to the wireless network access point.

50. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium, comprising;

a set of codes for causing a computer to obtain a set of wireless signal access resources employed by a wireless network access point;

an additional set of codes for causing the computer to negotiate with a neighboring or interfering access point for reserved resources for access communication involving the wireless network access point; and

a further set of codes for causing the computer to deliver the access probe to the wireless network access point.