METHODS OF OBTAINING MEASUREMENTS IN THE PRESENCE OF STRONG AND/OR HIGHLY VARYING INTERFERENCE

• US 20140126403A1
• Filed: 10/31/2013
• Published: 05/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corporation Limited
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Siomina, Iana
• Granted Patent: US 9,398,480 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 11/005 of intercell interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/244 Interferences in heterogeneous networks, e.g. among macro and femto or pico cells or other sector / system interference [OSI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B

Abstract

Systems and methods for obtaining effective measurements in a cellular communications network are disclosed. In one embodiment, a node (i.e., a measuring node) in a cellular communications network performs a reference measurement at the node, where the reference measurement contains one or more interference components. The node then mitigates at least one of the interference components contained in the reference measurement to thereby provide an effective measurement. In one embodiment, the effective measurement is used by the measuring node, reported to another node, or both used by the measuring node and reported to another node.

Claims

1. A method of operation of a node in a cellular communications network, comprising:

performing a reference measurement at the node, the reference measurement containing one or more interference components;

mitigating at least one interference component of the one or more interference components contained in the reference measurement at the node to thereby provide an effective measurement; and

signaling of the effective measurement to another node.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein at least two of a bandwidth of the reference measurement, a bandwidth of the effective measurement, and a bandwidth of the at least one interference component are different.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, from another node, a request for an effective measurement.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein signaling the effective measurement comprises selectively signaling the effective measurement to the other node based on a condition.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one interference component comprises an interference generated by a radio signal transmission by another node.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the node is a radio network node in the cellular communications network.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the node is a wireless device in the cellular communications network.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the node is equipped with an enhanced receiver capable of mitigating interference such that the one or more interference components contained in the reference measurement performed by the node are one or more residual interference components; and

mitigating the at least one interference component comprises mitigating at least one residual interference component of the one or more residual interference components contained in the reference measurement to thereby provide the effective measurement.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the reference measurement is on a first cell, and both the one or more residual interference components contained in the reference measurement and the at least one residual interference component mitigated comprise one or more residual interference components received from at least one second cell.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein mitigating the at least one residual interference component contained in the reference measurement comprises:

obtaining at least one compensation value for mitigating the at least one residual interference component contained in the reference measurement; and

applying the at least one compensation value to the reference measurement at the node to provide the effective measurement.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein:

performing the reference measurement comprises performing the reference measurement at the node on one or more radio resources for an interference mitigation function of the enhanced receiver is at least partially deactivated such that the one or more residual interference components contained in the reference measurement are one or more residual interference components that could have been but were not mitigated by the enhanced receiver; and

obtaining the at least one compensation value comprises determining the at least one compensation value based on a reference value that is indicative of an amount of residual interference that can be mitigated by the enhanced receiver of the node.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein obtaining the at least one compensation value comprises determining the at least one compensation value such that the at least one compensation value at least partially cancels the at least one residual interference component.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one compensation value is at least one predefined compensation value.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one compensation value is at least one of a predefined set of compensation values.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one compensation value is based on a reference value that is indicative of an amount of residual interference that can be mitigated by the enhanced receiver of the node.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one compensation value is based on one or more previous radio measurements performed by the node.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one compensation value is based on at least one of a group consisting of:

radio measurement statistics for a plurality of previous measurements performed by a plurality of nodes and historical data for a plurality of previous radio measurements performed by a plurality of nodes.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one compensation value is based on a manner in which the reference radio measurement is performed.

19. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one compensation value is based on a bandwidth of a signal measured at the node when performing the reference measurement.

20. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one compensation value is based on a bandwidth for interference estimation.

21. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one compensation value is based on one or more interference conditions at the node.

22. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one compensation value is based on information indicative of whether an interference handling technique was used at the node when performing the reference measurement.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein, if one or more interference handling techniques were used at the node when performing the reference measurement, the at least one compensation value is based on information that identifies the one or more interference handling techniques.

24. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one compensation value is based on a number of aggressor cells at the node.

25. The method of claim 9 wherein:

performing the reference measurement comprises performing a plurality of sub-measurements on a plurality of radio resources; and

mitigating the at least one residual interference component contained in the reference measurement comprises;

determining a plurality of radio resources in which the at least one residual interference component is present;

determining the plurality of radio resources used for performing the reference measurement;

determining a plurality of radio resources for the effective measurement;

determining an impact of the at least one residual interference component on the reference measurement based on an overlap between the plurality of radio resources in which the at least one residual interference component is present and the plurality of radio resources used for performing the reference measurement; and

counteracting the impact of the at least one residual interference component on the reference measurement within the plurality of radio resources for the effective measurement to thereby provide the effective measurement.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein:

determining the impact comprises determining a set of radio resources in which the plurality of radio resources in which the at least one residual interference component is present overlap the plurality of radio resources used for performing the reference measurement; and

counteracting the impact comprises;

for each radio resource in the set of radio resources that is within the plurality of resources for the effective measurement, subtracting a compensation value from a corresponding one of the plurality of sub-measurements for the reference measurement to thereby provide a compensated sub-measurement; and

providing the effective measurement based on the compensated sub-measurements.

27. The method of claim 9 wherein mitigating the at least one residual interference component comprises:

obtaining information indicative of at least one of a group consisting of;

a configuration of at least one interfering signal corresponding to the at least one residual interference component and characteristic data for the at least one interfering signal corresponding to the at least one residual interference component; and

mitigating the at least one residual interference component based on the information.

28. The method of claim 1 wherein mitigating the at least one interference component is mitigating the at least one interference component in such a manner that one or more predefined requirement tests are satisfied.

29. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

signaling capability information to a network node, the capability information being related to a capability of the node to provide effective measurements.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the capability information comprises at least one of a group consisting of:

information indicative of an ability of the node to receive a request associated with an effective measurement, information indicative of an ability of the node to obtain an effective measurement, information indicative of an ability of the node to obtain at least one type of effective measurement, information indicative of an ability of the node to obtain an effective measurement for at least one signal type, information indicative of an ability of the node to obtain an effective measurement by mitigating at least one interference type, and information indicative of an ability of the node to signal an effective measurement to another node.

31. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining that an effective radio measurement rather than a reference measurement is to be reported to the other node;

wherein signaling the effective measurement comprises signaling the effective measurement to the other node in response to determining that an effective measurement is to be reported to the other node.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein mitigating the at least one interference component comprises mitigating the at least one interference component to thereby provide the effective measurement in response to determining that an effective measurement is to be reported to the other node.

33. The method of claim 31 wherein determining that an effective measurement rather than a reference measurement is to be reported to the other node comprises determining that an effective measurement is to be reported to the other node based on a predefined rule.

34. The method of claim 31 wherein determining that an effective measurement rather than a reference measurement is to be reported to the other node comprises determining that an effective measurement is to be reported to the other node in response to one of a group consisting of:

a triggering event and a triggering condition.

35. The method of claim 31 wherein determining that an effective measurement rather than a reference measurement is to be reported to the other node comprises determining that an effective measurement is to be reported to the other node based on a measurement purpose.

36. A node for operation in a cellular communications network, comprising:

a radio subsystem configured to provide wireless communication in the cellular communications network; and

a processing subsystem associated with the radio subsystem, the processing subsystem being configured to;

perform a reference measurement at the node, the reference measurement containing one or more interference components;

mitigate at least one interference component of the one or more interference components contained in the reference measurement at the node to thereby provide an effective measurement; and

signal the effective measurement to another node.