NETWORK COORDINATION FOR IMPROVED INTERFERENCE CANCELLATION

• US 20130044697A1
• Filed: 02/02/2012
• Published: 02/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Yoo, Taesang, Schoeneich, Hendrik, Rajih, Myriam, Luo, Tao, Mallik, Siddhartha
• Granted Patent: US 9,497,765 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0003 by switching between different modulation schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0606 Space-frequency coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference

Abstract

Communications by base stations in wireless communication networks may be coordinated in a manner to improve performance by mobile devices experiencing interference from non-serving base stations. In particular, base station communications may be coordinated to improve the performance of interference cancellation by mobile devices. If a user equipment (UE) experiencing interference is capable of interference cancellation, then the base stations may coordinate to increase interference to that user equipment so as to improve that UE'"'"'s ability to perform interference cancellation. Base stations may also coordinate to reduce interference for a UE, regardless of the UE'"'"'s ability to perform interference cancellation. Mobile device performance improvements may also be achieved by coordinating scheduling of resources by the non-serving base stations, by using communication formats compatible with interference cancellation, by spatial coordination.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

determining that a victim user equipment (UE) is experiencing interference from a neighbor base station;

determining an ability of the victim user equipment to perform interference cancellation;

coordinating with a serving base station to adjust a level of interference experienced by the victim user equipment,

wherein when the victim user equipment is capable of interference cancellation, the coordinating with the serving base station comprises at least one of;

adjusting the level of interference experienced by the victim user equipment and selecting a known transmission format, and

wherein when the victim user equipment is not capable of interference cancellation, the coordinating with the serving base station comprises coordinating to decrease interference to the victim user equipment.

2. The method of claim 1, in which adjusting the level of interference experienced by the victim user equipment comprises reallocating resources between the neighbor base station and the serving base station.

3. The method of claim 1 in which adjusting the level of interference to the victim user equipment comprises coordinating beamforming to either improve the ability of the victim user equipment to cancel the interference or to decrease interference.

4. The method of claim 3 in which coordinating beamforming comprises beamforming to the victim user equipment to improve the ability of the victim user equipment to perform interference cancellation, when the victim user equipment is capable of interference cancellation.

5. The method of claim 3 in which coordinating beamforming comprises beamforming away from the victim user equipment when the victim user equipment is not capable of interference cancellation.

6. The method of claim 1 in which adjusting the level of interference to the victim user equipment comprises adjusting a power level of downlink communications to either improve the ability of the victim user equipment to cancel the interference or to decrease interference.

7. The method of claim 6 in which adjusting the power level of downlink communications comprises increasing interference to the victim user equipment to improve the ability of the victim user equipment to perform interference cancellation, based at least in part on the ability of the victim user equipment to perform interference cancellation.

8. The method of claim 6 in which adjusting the power level of downlink communications comprises decreasing interference to the victim user equipment.

9. The method of claim 8 in which adjusting the power level comprises reducing a power of downlink communications.

10. The method of claim 1 in which the coordinating with the serving base station occurs dynamically or semi-statically.

11. The method of claim 1 in which the known transmission format communicated to the victim user equipment to perform interference cancellation.

12. The method of claim 1 in which the known transmission format is selected to improve the ability of the victim user equipment to perform interference cancellation.

13. The method of claim 1 in which the known transmission format is communicated to the victim user equipment.

14. The method of claim 1 in which the known transmission format comprises a spatial scheme.

15. The method of claim 14 in which the spatial scheme is space-frequency block coding.

16. The method of claim 1 in which the known transmission format comprises a modulation order.

17. The method of claim 16 in which the modulation order is quadrature phase-shifted keying.

18. The method of claim 16 in which the known transmission format comprises a traffic-to-pilot ratio.

19. The method of claim 1 in which adjusting the level of interference comprises scheduling the victim user equipment to communicate using resource blocks which result in higher interference to the victim user equipment.

20. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

means for determining that a victim user equipment (UE) is experiencing interference from a neighbor base station;

means for determining an ability of the victim user equipment to perform interference cancellation; and

means for coordinating with a serving base station to adjust a level of interference experienced by the victim user equipment,

wherein when the victim user equipment is capable of interference cancellation, the means for coordinating with the serving base station comprises at least one of;

means for adjusting the level of interference experienced by the victim user equipment and means for selecting a known transmission format, and

wherein when the victim user equipment is not capable of interference cancellation, the means for coordinating with the serving base station comprises means for coordinating to decrease interference to the victim user equipment.

21. A computer program product for wireless communications, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon, the program code comprising;

program code to determine that a victim user equipment (UE) is experiencing interference from a neighbor base station;

program code to determine an ability of the victim user equipment to perform interference cancellation; and

program code to coordinate with a serving base station to adjust a level of interference experienced by the victim user equipment,

wherein when the victim user equipment is capable of interference cancellation, the program code to coordinate with the serving base station comprises at least one of;

program code to adjust the level of interference experienced by the victim user equipment and program code to select a known transmission format, and

wherein when the victim user equipment is not capable of interference cancellation, the program code to coordinate with the serving base station comprises program code to coordinate to decrease interference to the victim user equipment.

22. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor being configured;

to determine that a victim user equipment (UE) is experiencing interference from a neighbor base station;

to determine an ability of the victim user equipment to perform interference cancellation; and

to coordinate with a serving base station to adjust a level of interference experienced by the victim user equipment,

wherein when the victim user equipment is capable of interference cancellation, the at least one processor configured to coordinate with the serving base station comprises at least one of;

the at least one processor configured to adjust the level of interference experienced by the victim user equipment and the at least one processor configured to select a known transmission format, and

wherein when the victim user equipment is not capable of interference cancellation, the at least one processor configured t coordinate with the serving base station comprises the at least one processor configured to coordinate to decrease interference to the victim user equipment.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, in which the at least one processor is configured to adjust the level of interference experienced by the victim user equipment by configuring to reallocate resources between the neighbor base station and the serving base station.

24. The apparatus of claim 22 in which the at least one processor is configured to adjust the level of interference to the victim user equipment by coordinating beamforming to either improve the ability of the victim user equipment to cancel the interference or to decrease interference.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 in which the at least one processor is configured to coordinate beamforming to the victim user equipment to improve the ability of the victim user equipment to perform interference cancellation, when the victim user equipment is capable of interference cancellation.

26. The apparatus of claim 24 in which the at least one processor is configured to coordinate beamforming away from the victim user equipment when the victim user equipment is not capable of interference cancellation.

27. The apparatus of claim 22 in which the at least one processor is configured to adjust the level of interference to the victim user equipment by adjusting a power level of downlink communications to either improve the ability of the victim user equipment to cancel the interference or to decrease interference.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 in which the at least one processor is configured to adjust the power level of downlink communications by increasing interference to the victim user equipment to improve the ability of the victim user equipment to perform interference cancellation, based at least in part on the ability of the victim user equipment to perform interference cancellation.

29. The apparatus of claim 27 in which the at least one processor is configured to adjust the power level of downlink communications by decreasing interference to the victim user equipment.

30. The apparatus of claim 29 in which the at least one processor is configured to adjust the power level by reducing a power of downlink communications.

31. The apparatus of claim 22 in which the at least one processor is configured to coordinate with the serving base station dynamically or semi-statically.

32. The apparatus of claim 22 in which the known transmission format comprises a spatial scheme.

33. The apparatus of claim 32 in which the spatial scheme is space-frequency block coding.

34. The apparatus of claim 22 in which the known transmission format comprises a modulation order.

35. The apparatus of claim 34 in which the modulation order is quadrature phase-shifted keying.

36. The apparatus of claim 34 in which the known transmission format comprises a traffic-to-pilot ratio.

37. The apparatus of claim 22 in which the at least one processor is configured to adjust the level of interference by scheduling the victim user equipment to communicate using resource blocks which result in higher interference to the victim user equipment.