Divide-and-conquer Approach to Mitigating Relay-to-Relay Interference

• US 20130344801A1
• Filed: 03/04/2011
• Published: 12/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks US LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Redana, Simone, Bou Saleh, Abdallah, Bulakci, Omer, Raaf, Bernhard
• Granted Patent: US 9,503,174 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/9
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15528 Control of operation parameters of a relay station to exploit the physical medium
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15564 Relay station antennae loop interference reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15585 by interference cancellation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2606 Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/04 Error control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/20 for optimising the interference level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/047 using dedicated repeater stations

Abstract

An apparatus and a method are described, by which interference related detection results of a plurality of relay nodes are obtained, wherein each relay node to the radio access network, wherein a connection between the relay node and its serving access node is an access node—relay node connection. The relay nodes are grouped according to the obtained detection results such that the access node—relay node connection can be configured for each group in order to mitigate interference to mitigate interference between transmissions to and from different relay nodes in each group.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;

obtain interference related detection results of interference caused at least between a plurality of relay nodes, wherein each relay node is capable of being wirelessly connected to a radio access network, is associated with an access node of the radio access network, and serves to connect at least one user equipment which is wirelessly connected via the at least one relay node to the radio access network, wherein a connection between the relay node and its serving access node is an access node—

relay node connection, and

group the relay nodes according to the obtained interference related detection results such that the access node—

relay node connection can be configured for each group in order to mitigate interference between transmissions to user equipment and to different relay nodes in each group or from user equipment and from different relay nodes in each group.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:

group the relay nodes also based on connection requirements for the access node—

relay node connection.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is or is a part of a network management entity.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:

inform the access nodes and the relay nodes about the group.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is the access node or is a part of the access node, or is one of the relay nodes or a part of one of the relay nodes.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:

identify relay nodes causing interference to other relay nodes based on the obtained interference related detection results, and

inform a neighbour access node serving a relay node causing interference to group the relay nodes within one group.

7. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:

negotiate with one or more neighbour access nodes or one or more relay nodes in order to form at least one group.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:

decide on a configuration of the access node—

relay node connection for each group in order to mitigate the interference between transmissions to the user equipment and to the different relay nodes in each group or from the user equipment and from the different relay nodes in each group.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:

obtain information regarding the condition of the access node—

relay node connections,

decide on a configuration of the access node—

relay node connections for each group according to the obtained information, and

to inform the access nodes about the configuration for each relay node.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:

negotiate configuration of the access node—

relay node connections with at least one neighbour access node serving relay nodes of a same group or with the relay nodes of the same group.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;

negotiate said configuration of access node—

relay node connections with one or more other neighbour access node serving relay nodes and taking the result of the negotiation into account for said relay node grouping and configuration of the access node—

relay node connection.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the control unit is configured to send a configuration proposal message including a proposed configuration to a neighbour access node with a relay node in the same group or to a relay node in the same group, to receive a response message in response to the configuration proposal message including confirmation of the proposed configuration or a new proposed configuration, and to decide on a configuration based on the response message.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the control unit is configured to to send a confirmation of a decision on a configuration in response to a confirmation message of a configuration.

14. The apparatus according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the control unit is configured to receive a configuration proposal message including a proposal for a configuration from the neighbour access node or relay node belonging to a same group, to decide whether the proposed configuration is accept-able or not, and to send a response message in response to the configuration proposal message including confirmation of the proposed configuration or a new proposed configuration based on the result of the decision.

18. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the interference related detection results comprise interference measurement results, interference estimation results and/or received power measurement or estimation results.

15. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;

provide interference related detection results of at least one relay node associated with the apparatus, wherein the interference related detection results comprise indication of interference caused at least between the at least one relay node and one or more other relay nodes, wherein the relay node is capable of being wirelessly connected to a radio access network and serves to connect at least one user equipment which is wirelessly connected via the at least one relay node to the radio access network,

send the interference related detection results to a network management entity for grouping the relay nodes according to the obtained detection results, and

receive information about the group to which the apparatus and the at least one relay node belong.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein:

the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;

receive a request from a neighbour access node to group the relay nodes within at least one group,

decide whether the proposed grouping is acceptable or not, and

send a response message in response to the grouping proposal including confirmation of the proposed grouping or a new proposed grouping based on result of the decision.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:

negotiate with one or more neighbour access nodes or one or more relay nodes in order to form at least one group.

19. (canceled)

20. A method comprising:

obtaining interference related detection results of interference caused at least between a plurality of relay nodes, wherein each relay node is capable of being wirelessly connected to a radio access network, is associated with an access node of the radio access network, and serves to connect at least one user equipment which is wirelessly connected via the at least one relay node to the radio access network, wherein a connection between the relay node and its serving access node is an access node−

relay node connection, and

grouping the relay nodes according to the obtained interference related detection results such that the access node—

relay node connection can be configured for each group in order to mitigate interference between transmissions to user equipment and to different relay nodes in each group or from user equipment and from different relay nodes in each group.

25. The method according to claim 20, further comprising

identifying relay nodes causing interference to other relay nodes based on the obtained interference related detection results, and

informing a neighbour access node serving a relay node causing interference to group the relay nodes within one group.

26. The method according to claim 25, further comprising negotiating with one or more neighbour access nodes or one or more relay nodes in order to form at least one group.

27. The method according to claim 20, further comprising

deciding on a configuration of the access node—

relay node connection for each group in order to mitigate the interference between transmissions to the user equipment and

to the different relay nodes in each group or from the user equipment and from the different relay nodes in each group.

28. The method according to claim 20, further comprising

obtaining information regarding the condition of the access node—

relay node connections,

deciding on a configuration of the access node—

relay node connections for each group according to the obtained information, and

informing the access nodes about the configuration for each relay node.

29. The method according to claim 20, further comprising

negotiating configuration of the access node—

relay node connections with at least one neighbour access node serving relay nodes of a same group or with the relay nodes of the same group.

39. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium for performing a method according to claim 20 when run on a computer system.

21-24. -24. (canceled)

30-38. -38. (canceled)

40. (canceled)