SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CLUSTERING OPTIMIZATION TO HELP RESOLVE BOUNDARY PROBLEMS IN COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

• US 20140019619A1
• Filed: 07/12/2012
• Published: 01/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Senarath, Gamini, Callard, Aaron, Baligh, Mohammadhadi, Zarifi, Keyvan, Cheng, Ho Ting, Zhang, Liqing
• Granted Patent: US 9,668,141 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/12 Fixed resource partitioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/24 Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/32 for defining a routing cluster membership

Abstract

Various devices and methods are disclosed to support clustering optimization in a communication system. For example, multiple nodes of the communication system can be segmented into multiple clustering plans. Each clustering plan can include multiple clusters that do not overlap with one another within that clustering plan. At least one of the clusters of one clustering plan can overlap at least one of the clusters of at least one other clustering plan. Each node could be a non-boundary node in at least one cluster of at least one clustering plan. Multiple nodes of the communication system can alternatively be segmented into clusters having expanding and contracting borders.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

segmenting multiple nodes of a communication system into multiple clustering plans, each clustering plan comprising multiple clusters that do not overlap with one another within that clustering plan, at least one of the clusters of one clustering plan overlapping at least one of the clusters of at least one other clustering plan; and

assigning different portions of network resources to the different clustering plans.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each node is a boundary node in at least one cluster of at least one clustering plan and a non-boundary node in at least one other cluster of at least one other clustering plan.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein assigning the portions of the network resources to the clustering plans comprises:

dividing at least some of the network resources among the clustering plans so that each clustering plan has adequate network resources for serving the non-boundary nodes within the clusters of that clustering plan.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

assigning another portion of the network resources as common network resources to all of the clustering plans.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the common network resources are used only to serve non-boundary users in the clustering plans during optimization of the clustering plans, each non-boundary user representing a user in a cluster that does not excessively interfere with other clusters and that does not receive excessive interference from other clusters in the same clustering plan.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein segmenting the nodes into the clustering plans comprises segmenting the nodes based on geographical locations of the nodes and each node'"'"'s wireless coverage area.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein segmenting the nodes into the clustering plans comprises segmenting the nodes based on mutual interference between the nodes.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein nodes are added to a common cluster to increase a total mutual interference among the nodes within that common cluster and to minimize total interference between the common cluster and other clusters.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a boundary between two clusters in one clustering plan is at or near a center of a cluster in another clustering plan.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a cluster controller for each cluster in each clustering plan to perform optimization for that cluster.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a cluster controller to perform optimization for adjacent clusters in different clustering plans.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein segmenting the multiple nodes into the multiple clustering plans comprises:

segmenting cells of the communication system into the non-overlapping clusters of each clustering plan, each cluster having a central cell and multiple peripheral cells located around the central cell.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein each peripheral cell in a cluster of one clustering plan is a central cell in a cluster of another clustering plan.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the network resources comprise at least one of:

frequency bands, carriers, time frequency blocks, broadcast channels, data channels, control channels, encrypting codes, pseudo-random codes, memory storage, and antennas.

15. A method comprising:

receiving an indication that a node in a communication system has been selected as a first cluster controller for a first cluster of nodes in the communication system, the first cluster comprising one of multiple non-overlapping clusters in a first clustering plan, the first clustering plan comprising one of multiple clustering plans; and

performing optimization for network resources in the communication system assigned to the first clustering plan using the first cluster controller.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

performing optimization for network resources in the communication system assigned to a second clustering plan using a second cluster controller associated with a second cluster in the second clustering plan.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the cluster controllers perform the optimizations in parallel at the same time.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the cluster controllers perform the optimizations sequentially at different times.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein one cluster controller calculates its optimization during times when another cluster controller implements its optimization.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the cluster controllers perform the optimizations a specified amount of time prior to implementation of the optimizations.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the cluster controllers optimize different portions of the network resources that are assigned to the different clustering plans.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the cluster controllers optimize common portions of the network resources at different times, the different times assigned to the different clustering plans.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein:

a specified node in the communication system comprises a node in the first clustering plan; and

the specified node determines its users for transmission at a given resource unit belonging to the first clustering plan and determines an associated modulation and coding scheme (MCS) level based on at least one of power levels and precodings identified by adjacent nodes belonging to the same cluster controller or other cluster controllers in the first clustering plan, wherein the users and MCS level are determined using an optimization algorithm for neighboring nodes within and outside the specified node'"'"'s cluster.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein:

a specified node in the communication system comprises a node in the first clustering plan; and

the specified node determines its users for transmission at a given resource unit belonging to the first clustering plan and determines an associated modulation and coding scheme (MCS) level, a precoding value, and a power level based on interference levels or rules provided for adjacent nodes belonging to the same cluster controller or other cluster controllers in the first clustering plan, wherein the users, MCS level, precoding value, and power level are determined using an optimization algorithm for neighboring nodes within and outside the specified node'"'"'s cluster.

25. The method of claim 16, wherein:

a specified node in the communication system comprises a node in the first clustering plan; and

performing the optimizations comprises performing optimization for the network resources assigned to the first clustering plan that are associated only with non-boundary users in the first clustering plan, each non-boundary user representing a user in a cluster that does not excessively interfere with other clusters and that does not receive excessive interference from other clusters in the first clustering plan.

26. A method comprising:

receiving multiple messages at a specified node in a communication system, the messages identifying operating parameters to be used by different portions of network resources in the communication system; and

operating the specified node using the operating parameters for the network resources;

wherein the messages are received from different cluster controllers associated with different clusters of nodes in the communication system, the different clusters associated with different clustering plans; and

wherein the different portions of the network resources are assigned to the different clustering plans.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein operating the specified node comprises starting use of the operating parameters a specified time after receiving the multiple messages.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the specified node is a boundary node in at least one cluster of at least one clustering plan and a non-boundary node in at least one other cluster of at least one other clustering plan.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the different portions of the network resources are optimized to address boundary problems associated with the different clusters in which the specified node resides.

30. A method comprising:

segmenting multiple nodes of a communication system into multiple clusters to form first cluster instances, the first cluster instances having associated cluster controllers;

modifying boundaries of the clusters to form second cluster instances, wherein a boundary node in at least one cluster instance is a non-boundary node in at least one other cluster instance; and

assigning different portions of network resources to the different cluster instances, the cluster controllers configured to optimize the different portions of the network resources for the different cluster instances.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein modifying the boundaries of the clusters comprises:

expanding at least one boundary of each cluster and contracting at least one other boundary of each cluster.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein:

at least some of the nodes reside in multiple cluster instances; and

assigning the different portions of the network resources comprises dividing at least some of the network resources among the cluster instances so that each cluster instance has adequate network resources for serving the non-boundary nodes within that cluster instance.