ACCESS POINT RESOURCE NEGOTIATION AND ALLOCATION OVER A WIRELESS INTERFACE

• US 20100202391A1
• Filed: 02/05/2010
• Published: 08/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Agashe, Parag A., Palanki, Ravi, Khandekar, Aamod D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,693,316 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/27 between access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/18 Management of setup rejection or failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/20 between access points

Abstract

Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate communicating between access points using the same air interface as for serving wireless devices. Access points can communicate with one another over the air interface to exchange interference management messages related to negotiating and/or allocating resources among the access points or other messages. In addition, access points can prepare served wireless devices for time periods where the access points communicate with disparate access points over the air interface to mitigate confusion or radio link failure detection by the served wireless devices.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

communicating with one or more UEs over an air interface; and

communicating with one or more eNBs over the air interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating with the one or more eNBs over the air interface comprises exchanging one or more interference management messages with the one or more eNBs over the air interface.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the exchanging the one or more interference management messages includes requesting blanking from the one or more eNBs over the air interface for communicating with the one or more UEs or receiving an indication of a set of resources blanked by the one or more eNBs over the air interface.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining to exchange the one or more interference management messages with the one or more eNBs based at least in part on one or more parameters related to the one or more eNBs.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more parameters include an identifier of the one or more eNBs, an assigned priority of the one or more eNBs, a type of the one or more eNBs, or a communications load on the one or more eNBs.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the exchanging the one or more interference management messages includes receiving a blanking request from the one or more eNBs over the air interface.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising blanking transmission over a set of blanked resources based at least in part on the one or more interference management messages.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising providing an indication of the set of blanked resources to the one or more eNBs over the air interface in response to exchanging the one or more interference management messages with the one or more eNBs over the air interface.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining the set of blanked resources based at least in part on a buffer level of a disparate UE, wherein the exchanging the one or more interference management messages with the one or more eNBs over the air interface further comprises receiving the buffer level of the disparate UE from the one or more eNBs over the air interface.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining the set of blanked resources and a disparate set of resources for blanking for one or more disparate eNBs based at least in part on an assigned priority of the one or more eNBs, wherein the exchanging the one or more interference management messages with the one or more eNBs over the air interface further comprises receiving the assigned priority of the one or more eNBs from the one or more eNBs over the air interface.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining the set of blanked resources based at least in part on one or more parameters regarding interference of one or more disparate eNBs to the one or more eNBs over the air interface, wherein the exchanging the one or more interference management messages with the one or more eNBs over the air interface further comprises receiving the one or more parameters regarding the interference.

12. The method of claim 2, wherein the exchanging the one or more interference management messages with the one or more eNBs over the air interface includes providing an identifier, a type, or a communications load to the one or more eNBs over the air interface.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating with the one or more eNBs includes communicating with a co-located UE of the one or more eNBs.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the communicating with the one or more eNBs includes receiving a resource allocation request from the co-located UE.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating with the one or more eNBs over the air interface includes communicating with the one or more eNBs using a co-located UE.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the communicating with the one or more eNBs using the co-located UE includes requesting a resource allocation from the one or more eNBs using the co-located UE.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating with the one or more eNBs over the air interface further comprises transmitting a buffer level related to communicating with the one or more UEs to the one or more eNBs over the air interface.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating with the one or more eNBs over the air interface comprises providing one or more parameters relating to interference from one or more disparate eNBs to the one or more eNBs over the air interface.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating with the one or more eNBs over the air interface comprises providing an assigned priority to the one or more eNBs over the air interface.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating with the one or more UEs over the air interface comprises indicating a measurement gap to the one or more UEs related to communicating with the one or more eNBs.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating with the one or more UEs over the air interface comprises signaling the one or more UEs to enter a discontinuous receive mode when communicating with the one or more eNBs.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising fading transmission power to the one or more UEs prior to communicating with the one or more eNBs.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating with the one or more UEs over the air interface comprises providing one or more radio link failure timers to the one or more UEs prior to communicating with the one or more eNBs.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating with the one or more UEs over the air interface comprises indicating one or more parameters regarding time periods or time intervals related to communicating with the one or more eNBs.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating with the one or more eNBs additionally over a wired backhaul link.

26. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

transmit one or more data signals to one or more UEs over an air interface; and

communicate with one or more eNBs over the air interface; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

27. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one processor communicates with the one or more eNBs at least in part by communicating one or more interference management messages with the one or more eNBs over the air interface.

28. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 27, wherein the one or more interference management messages includes a blanking request.

29. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 27, wherein the one or more interference management messages includes an indication of a set of resources blanked by the one or more eNBs.

30. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 27, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine to exchange the one or more interference management messages with the one or more eNBs based at least in part on one or more parameters related to the one or more eNBs.

31. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 27, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to blank transmission over a set of blanked resources based at least in part on the one or more interference management messages.

32. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 31, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to communicate an indication of the set of blanked resources to the one or more eNBs.

33. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 32, wherein the one or more interference management messages includes a buffer level of a disparate UE, an assigned priority of the one or more eNBs, or one or more interference parameters, and the at least one processor is further configured to determine the set of blanked resources based at least in part on the buffer level of the disparate UE, the assigned priority of the one or more eNBs, or the one or more interference parameters.

34. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 33, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine a disparate set of blanked resources for blanking for one or more disparate eNBs based at least in part on the buffer level of the disparate UE, the assigned priority of the one or more eNBs, or the one or more interference parameters.

35. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one processor communicates with the one or more eNBs by communicating with a co-located UE of the one or more eNBs.

36. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 35, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive a resource allocation request from the co-located UE.

37. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one processor communicates with the one or more eNBs using a UE that is co-located with the wireless communications apparatus.

38. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 37, wherein the at least one processor communicates a resource allocation request to the one or more eNBs using the UE that is co-located with the wireless communications apparatus.

39. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one processor communicates with the one or more eNBs at least in part by communicating a buffer level related to the one or more UEs, an assigned priority related to the wireless communications apparatus, or one or more parameters relating to interference from one or more disparate eNBs to the one or more eNBs over the air interface.

40. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 26, wherein the one or more data signals includes a measurement gap related to communicating with the one or more eNBs, a command to enter a discontinuous receive mode over one or more time periods during which the at least one processor communicates with the one or more eNBs, or one or more parameters regarding time periods or time intervals during which the at least one processor communicates with the one or more eNBs.

41. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to fade transmission power for transmitting the one or more data signals to the one or more UEs over a period of time before communicating with the one or more eNBs.

42. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 26, wherein the one or more data signals includes one or more radio link failure timers, and the at least one processor transmits the one or more radio link failure timers to the one or more UEs before communicating with the one or more eNBs.

43. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to communicate with the one or more eNBs additionally over a wired backhaul link.

44. An apparatus, comprising:

means for generating a message for one or more eNBs; and

means for communicating the message to the one or more eNBs over an air interface and communicating one or more disparate messages to one or more UEs over the air interface.

45. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the message includes one or more interference management messages.

46. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the one or more interference management messages comprise a request for blanking or an indication of a set of resources blanked by the one or more eNBs.

47. The apparatus of claim 45, further comprising means for determining to communicate the one or more interference management messages to the one or more eNBs based at least in part on one or more parameters related to the one or more eNBs.

48. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the one or more parameters related to the one or more eNBs include an identifier of the one or more eNBs, an assigned priority of the one or more eNBs, a type of the one or more eNBs, or a communications load on the one or more eNBs, and the one or more interference management messages include a request for a resource allocation.

49. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the means for communicating the message to the one or more eNBs further receives a blanking request from the one or more eNBs over the air interface.

50. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the means for communicating the message to the one or more eNBs blanks transmission over a set of blanked resources based at least in part on one or more disparate interference management messages received from the one or more eNBs.

51. The apparatus of claim 50, further comprising means for creating an indication of the set of blanked resources in response to the one or more disparate interference management messages, wherein the one or more interference management messages includes the indication of the set of blanked resources.

52. The apparatus of claim 51, further comprising means for determining the set of blanked resources based at least in part on a buffer level of a disparate UE, wherein the one or more disparate interference management messages received from the one or more eNBs includes the buffer level of the disparate UE.

53. The apparatus of claim 51, further comprising means for determining the set of blanked resources based at least in part on an assigned priority of the one or more eNBs, wherein the one or more disparate interference management messages received from the one or more eNBs includes the assigned priority of the one or more eNBs.

54. The apparatus of claim 51, further comprising means for determining the set of blanked resources based at least in part on one or more parameters regarding interference at the one or more eNBs from one or more disparate eNBs, wherein the one or more disparate interference management messages received from the one or more eNBs includes the one or more parameters regarding the interference.

55. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the one or more interference management messages comprises an identifier, a type, or a communications load of the one or more eNBs.

56. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the means for communicating the message to the one or more eNBs further receives a disparate message from a UE co-located at the one or more eNBs.

57. The apparatus of claim 56, wherein the disparate message is a resource allocation.

58. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the means for communicating the message to the one or more eNBs includes a UE co-located at the apparatus.

59. The apparatus of claim 58, wherein the one or more interference management messages is a resource allocation request.

60. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the message comprises a buffer level related to communicating with the one or more UEs.

61. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the message comprises one or more parameters related to interference from one or more disparate eNBs to the apparatus.

62. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the message comprises a priority assigned to the apparatus.

63. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the one or more disparate messages comprise a measurement gap indication corresponding to communicating with the one or more eNBs, a command to enter a discontinuous receive mode, one or more radio link failure timers, or one or more parameters regarding a time period or time interval when the means for communicating communicates the message to the one or more eNBs.

64. The apparatus of claim 44, further comprising means for fading transmission power to the one or more UEs before the means for communicating communicates the message the one or more eNBs.

65. The apparatus of claim 44, further comprising means for transmitting data to the one or more eNBs over a wired backhaul link.

66. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to transmit one or more data signals to one or more UEs over an air interface; and

code for causing the at least one computer to communicate a message with one or more eNBs over the air interface.

67. The computer program product of claim 66, wherein the message comprises one or more interference management messages.

68. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein the one or more interference management messages includes a blanking request.

69. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein the one or more interference management messages includes an indication of a set of resources blanked by the one or more eNBs.

70. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at least one computer to determine to exchange the one or more interference management messages with the one or more eNBs based at least in part on one or more parameters related to the one or more eNBs.

71. The computer program product of claim 67, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at least one computer to blank transmission over a set of blanked resources based at least in part on the one or more interference management messages.

72. The computer program product of claim 71, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at least one computer to communicate an indication of the set of blanked resources to the one or more eNBs.

73. The computer program product of claim 72, wherein the one or more interference management messages includes a buffer level of a disparate UE communicating with the one or more eNBs, an assigned priority of the one or more eNBs, or one or more interference parameters related to the one or more eNBs, and the computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at least one computer to determine the set of blanked resources based at least in part on the buffer level of the disparate UE, the assigned priority of the one or more eNBs, or the one or more interference parameters.

74. The computer program product of claim 73, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at least one computer to determine a disparate set of blanked resources for blanking for one or more disparate eNBs based at least in part on the buffer level of the disparate UE, the assigned priority of the one or more eNBs, or the one or more interference parameters.

75. The computer program product of claim 66, wherein the code for causing the at least one computer to communicate with the one or more eNBs communicates with a co-located UE of the one or more eNBs.

76. The computer program product of claim 75, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at least one computer to receive a resource allocation request from the co-located UE.

77. The computer program product of claim 66, wherein the code for causing the at least one computer to communicate with the one or more eNBs communicates with the one or more eNBs using a UE co-located.

78. The computer program product of claim 77, wherein the message is a resource allocation request.

79. The computer program product of claim 66, wherein the message includes a buffer level related to the one or more UEs, an assigned priority relative to the one or more eNBs, or one or more parameters relating to interference from one or more disparate eNBs.

80. The computer program product of claim 66, wherein the one or more data signals includes a measurement gap related to communicating with the one or more eNBs, a command to enter a discontinuous receive mode over one or more time periods during which the code for causing the at least one computer to communicate communicates the message with the one or more eNBs, one or more radio link failure timers, or one or more parameters regarding a time period or time interval during which the code for causing the at least one computer to communicate communicates the message with the one or more eNBs.

81. The computer program product of claim 66, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at least one computer to fade transmission power for transmitting the one or more data signals to the one or more UEs over a period of time before communicating with the one or more eNBs.

82. The computer program product of claim 66, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at least one computer to communicate with the one or more eNBs additionally over a wired backhaul link.

83. An apparatus, comprising:

an inter-access point message generating component that creates a message for one or more eNBs; and

an air interface communicating component that communicates the message to the one or more eNBs over an air interface and communicates one or more disparate messages to one or more UEs over the air interface.

84. The apparatus of claim 83, wherein the message includes one or more interference management messages.

85. The apparatus of claim 84, wherein the one or more interference management messages comprise a request for blanking or an indication of a set of resources blanked by the one or more eNBs.

86. The apparatus of claim 84, further comprising a parameter measuring component that determines to communicate the one or more interference management messages to the one or more eNBs based at least in part on one or more parameters related to the one or more eNBs and one or more similar parameters related to the apparatus.

87. The apparatus of claim 86, wherein the one or more parameters related to the one or more eNBs include an identifier of the one or more eNBs, an assigned priority of the one or more eNBs, a type of the one or more eNBs, or a communications load on the one or more eNBs, and the one or more interference management messages include a request for a resource allocation.

88. The apparatus of claim 84, wherein the air interface communicating component further receives a blanking request from the one or more eNBs over the air interface.

89. The apparatus of claim 84, wherein the air interface communicating component blanks transmission over a set of blanked resources based at least in part on one or more disparate interference management messages received from the one or more eNBs.

90. The apparatus of claim 89, further comprising a resource scheduling component that generates an indication of the set of blanked resources in response to the one or more disparate interference management messages, wherein the one or more interference management messages includes the indication of the set of blanked resources.

91. The apparatus of claim 90, further comprising a resource allocating component that determines the set of blanked resources based at least in part on a buffer level of a disparate UE, an assigned priority of the one or more eNBs, or one or more parameters related to interference at the one or more eNBs, wherein the one or more disparate interference management messages received from the one or more eNBs includes the buffer level of the disparate UE, the assigned priority of the one or more eNBs, or the one or more parameters related to the interference at the one or more eNBs.

92. The apparatus of claim 84, wherein the one or more interference management messages comprises an identifier, a type, an assigned priority, or a communications load of the one or more eNBs.

93. The apparatus of claim 83, wherein the air interface communicating component further receives a disparate message from a UE co-located at the one or more eNBs.

94. The apparatus of claim 83, wherein the air interface communicating component is included within a UE co-located at the apparatus.

95. The apparatus of claim 83, wherein the message comprises a buffer level related to communicating with the one or more UEs.

96. The apparatus of claim 83, wherein the message comprises one or more parameters related to interference from one or more disparate eNBs to the apparatus.

97. The apparatus of claim 83, wherein the message comprises a priority assigned to the apparatus.

98. The apparatus of claim 83, wherein the one or more disparate messages comprise a measurement gap indication corresponding to communicating with the one or more eNBs, a command to enter a discontinuous receive mode, one or more radio link failure timers, or one or more parameters regarding a time period or time interval when the air interface communicating component communicates the message to the one or more eNBs.

99. The apparatus of claim 83, further comprising a power fading component that decreases transmission power to the one or more UEs over a period of time before the air interface communicating component communicates the message the one or more eNBs.

100. The apparatus of claim 83, further comprising a backhaul communicating component that communicates with the one or more eNBs over a wired backhaul link.