METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MEASURING CELLS IN THE PRESENCE OF INTERFERENCE

• US 20120108239A1
• Filed: 10/06/2011
• Published: 05/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Damnjanovic, Aleksandar, Tenny, Nathan Edward
• Granted Patent: US 8,886,190 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/436
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0035 Resource allocation in a cooperative multipoint environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/006 Quality of the received signal, e.g. BER, SNR, water filling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0073 Allocation arrangements that take into account other cell interferences for intercell interference mitigation or co-ordination in orthogonal multiplex systems H04J11/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/04 Error control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0085 Hand-off measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/08 Reselecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/302 due to low signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/00 Local resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses are provided that include determining measurement values for base stations based on signal measurements obtained over resources protected from interference by neighboring cells. The protected resources can be determined based on at least one of detecting at least a bimodal disparity in signal measurements received over the resources, receiving an indication of the protected resources, determining the resources as used for transmitting paging signals, determining the resources from a previous resource assignment, and/or the like. Thus, where a device is measuring cells for idle-mode reselection, such measurement of protected resources can provide for a more accurate measurement of characteristics of signals received from the base station.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

determining a portion of protected resources from a set of resources related to a base station;

obtaining signal measurements of one or more signals from the base station over at least the portion of protected resources; and

generating a measurement value of the base station for cell reselection based on the signal measurements.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining the signal measurements further comprises obtaining the signal measurements of the one or more signals from the base station over the set of resources, and wherein the determining the portion of protected resources is based in part on the signal measurements over the set of resources.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining the portion of protected resources comprises determining the portion of protected resources corresponding to a portion of the signal measurements over the set of resources that are above a threshold signal quality.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising utilizing the portion of protected resources in generating a subsequent measurement value of the base station.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the portion of protected resources includes receiving an indication of the portion of protected resources from the base station.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining the signal measurements over at least the portion of protected resources is based in part on the determining the portion of protected resources.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the obtaining the signal measurements over at least the portion of protected resources is further based in part on determining that a femto node that implements restricted association has a higher signal quality than the base station.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the obtaining the signal measurements over at least the portion of protected resources is further based in part on determining that a signal quality of the base station is degrading based in part on one or more previous signal measurements.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the portion of protected resources comprises determining the portion of protected resources as utilized by the base station for transmitting paging signals.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the portion of protected resources comprises determining the portion of protected resources based on a previous resource assignment from the base station.

11. An apparatus for measuring base station signals, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

determine a portion of protected resources from a set of resources related to a base station;

obtain signal measurements of one or more signals from the base station over at least the portion of protected resources; and

generate a measurement value of the base station for cell reselection based on the signal measurements; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor obtains the signal measurements of the one or more signals from the base station over the set of resources, and wherein the at least one processor determines the portion of protected resources based in part on the signal measurements over the set of resources.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor determines the portion of protected resources as corresponding to a portion of the signal measurements over the set of resources that are above a threshold signal quality.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to utilize the portion of protected resources in generating a subsequent measurement value of the base station.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor determines the portion of protected resources based in part on receiving an indication of the portion of protected resources from the base station.

16. An apparatus for measuring base station signals, comprising:

means for determining a portion of protected resources from a set of resources related to a base station;

means for obtaining signal measurements of one or more signals from the base station over at least the portion of protected resources; and

means for generating a measurement value of the base station for cell reselection based on the signal measurements.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the means for obtaining obtains the signal measurements of the one or more signals from the base station over the set of resources, and wherein the means for determining determines the portion of protected resources based in part on the signal measurements over the set of resources.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the means for determining determines the portion of protected resources as resources corresponding to a portion of the signal measurements over the set of resources above a threshold signal quality.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the means for determining specifies the portion of protected resources to the means for obtaining signal measurements for measuring subsequent signals from the base station.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the means for determining receives an indication of the portion of protected resources from the base station.

21. A computer program product for measuring signals from one or more base stations, comprising:

a computer-readable medium, comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to determine a portion of protected resources from a set of resources related to a base station;

code for causing the at least one computer to obtain signal measurements of one or more signals from the base station over at least the portion of protected resources; and

code for causing the at least one computer to generate a measurement value of the base station for cell reselection based on the signal measurements.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the code for causing the at least one computer to obtain obtains the signal measurements of the one or more signals from the base station over the set of resources, and wherein the code for causing the at least one computer to determine determines the portion of protected resources based in part on the signal measurements over the set of resources.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the code for causing the at least one computer to determine determines the portion of protected resources as resources corresponding to a portion of the signal measurements over the set of resources that are above a threshold signal quality.

24. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises code for causing the at least one computer to utilize the portion of protected resources in generating a subsequent measurement value of the base station.

25. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the code for causing the at least one computer to determine determines the portion of protected resources based in part on receiving an indication of the portion of protected resources from the base station.

26. An apparatus for measuring base station signals, comprising:

a protected resource determining component for determining a portion of protected resources from a set of resources related to a base station;

a resource measuring component for obtaining signal measurements of one or more signals from the base station over at least the portion of protected resources; and

a measurement value generating component for generating a measurement value of the base station for cell reselection based on the signal measurements.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the resource measuring component obtains the signal measurements of the one or more signals from the base station over the set of resources, and wherein the protected resource determining component determines the portion of protected resources based in part on the signal measurements over the set of resources.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the protected resource determining component determines the portion of protected resources as resources corresponding to a portion of the signal measurements over the set of resources above a threshold signal quality.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the protected resource determining component specifies the portion of protected resources to the resource measuring component for measuring subsequent signals from the base station.

30. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the protected resource determining component receives an indication of the portion of protected resources from the base station.

31. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the resource measuring component obtains the signal measurements over at least the portion of protected resources based in part on the determining the portion of protected resources.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the resource measuring component obtains the signal measurements over at least the portion of protected resources further based in part on determining that a femto node that implements restricted association has a higher signal quality than the base station.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the resource measuring component obtains the signal measurements over at least the portion of protected resources further based in part on determining that a signal quality of the base station is degrading based in part on one or more previous signal measurements.

34. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the protected resource determining component determines the portion of protected resources as utilized by the base station for transmitting paging signals.

35. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the protected resource determining component determines the portion of protected resources based on a previous resource assignment from the base station.