Systems and Methods for Adaptation and Reconfiguration in a Wireless Network

• US 20140133333A1
• Filed: 11/14/2013
• Published: 05/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Liu, Jialing, Xiao, Weimin
• Granted Patent: US 9,326,177 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B

Abstract

An embodiment method for adaptation and reconfiguration in a wireless network includes base stations coordinating and setting aside a set of time-frequency resources for probing purposes, the base stations coordinating a set of probing transmissions and timings to be used to synchronize base stations/UEs actions, the base stations signaling the resources and timings to UEs, the base stations performing coordinated operations on the resources according to the timings, the base stations receiving feedback reports from UEs based on UE measurements on the signaled resources according to the signaled timings, and the base stations further coordinating the operations for further probing or to apply probing transmissions on broader time-frequency resources.

Claims

1. A method of user equipment (UE) operation, the method comprising:

receiving, by a UE from a first network controller, a measurement process configuration for a measurement process;

receiving, by the UE from the first network controller, a first measurement resources configuration of configured measurement resources associated with the measurement process;

receiving, by the UE from the first network controller, a first time interval configuration of a configured time interval associated with the measurement process; and

receiving, by the UE from the first network controller, a reporting configuration for a report associated with the measurement process.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

performing a measurement in accordance with the measurement process configuration using the configured measurement resources within the configured time interval;

generating a report of the measurement in accordance with the measurement process configuration and the reporting configuration; and

sending the report to the first network controller in accordance with the reporting configuration.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising a second UE:

receiving from a second network controller a second measurement process configuration of a second measurement process;

receiving from the second network controller a second measurement resources configuration of second configured measurement resources associated with the second measurement process;

receiving from the second network a second time interval configuration for the configured time interval associated with the second measurement process; and

receiving from the second network a second reporting configuration for a second report associated with the second measurement process.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first time interval configuration is the same as the second time interval configuration.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

configuring one or more of measurement of a received power of a reference signal (RSRP), measurement of a received quality of a reference signal (RSRQ), measurement of a received power over a set of resource elements, measurement of a channel state information (CSI), and measurement of a signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR), in accordance with the measurement process configuration.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

configuring a first subset of resources in the configured measurement resources associated with measurements of a signal in accordance with the first measurement resources configuration, and configuring a second subset of resources in the configured measurement resources associated with measurements of an interference, or a received total power, in accordance with the first measurement resources configuration.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

performing a reference signal-based measurement in accordance with the measurement process configuration using the first subset of resources within the configured time interval; and

performing an interference measurement in accordance with the measurement process configuration using the second subset of resources within the configured time interval.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first time interval configuration comprises one or more of a starting time, a duration, and an ending time.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the starting time is indicated by a starting trigger signal, and the ending time is indicated by an ending trigger signal.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the ending time is indicated by a second starting trigger signal, and wherein the second starting trigger signal indicates a restart of the measurement process or a start of a second measurement process.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the starting time is indicated by an immediate previous starting time and a signaling indicating a periodicity.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the first time interval configuration to configure multiple time intervals, wherein the first time interval configuration comprises a starting time and a period.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

generating multiple measurement reports in accordance with the measurement process configuration and the reporting configuration, wherein each measurement report is in accordance with a respective measurement over the configured measurement resources within a respective single time interval of the multiple time intervals.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the time interval is configured according to a starting time, a periodicity, and an ending time.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

configuring one or more of RSRP reporting, RSRQ reporting, RSSI reporting, CSI reporting, and SINR reporting, in accordance with the reporting configuration.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

using the reporting configuration to configure periodic reporting with reporting timing information or to configure aperiodic reporting with reporting trigger information.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the measurement process configuration includes information about the first measurement resources configuration.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the reporting configuration includes information about the measurement process configuration, information about the first measurement resources configuration, or both.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the first time interval configuration comprises configuration information for multiple concurrent time intervals for multiple concurrent measurement processes.

20. A method for operating a wireless network, the method comprising:

coordinating and setting aside a set of time-frequency resources for base stations;

coordinating a set of transmissions and timings for use in synchronizing base station and UE actions;

the base stations signaling the resources and the timings to UEs;

the base stations performing coordinated communications with the UEs on the resources according to the timings;

the base stations receiving feedback reports from the UEs about UE measurements on the signaled resources according to the signaled timings; and

the base stations further coordinating the operations for further probing or for applying probing transmissions on broader time-frequency resources.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

a first base station signaling to a second base station a configuration of the set of time-frequency resources and a configuration of the timings regarding synchronized base station and UE actions are associated with the set of time-frequency resources and timings.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the coordinating steps are performed by a coordination entity above the base stations.

23. A method for backhaul signaling in a wireless network, the method comprising:

signaling, by a first base station to a second base station, a CSI-IM resource or a CSI-RS resource, together with a timing;

the first and second base stations adapting their PDSCH transmissions according to the transmissions on the signaled CSI-IM resource or CSI-RS resource at the signaled timing; and

the first and second base stations signaling to UEs to stop the measurements and the associated feedback.

24. A user equipment (UE) comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to;

receive, from a first network controller, a measurement process configuration for a measurement process;

receive, from the first network controller, a first measurement resources configuration for configured measurement resources associated with the measurement process;

receive, from the first network controller, a first time interval configuration for a configured time interval associated with the measurement process; and

receive, from the first network controller, a reporting configuration for a report associated with the measurement process.

25. A network controller comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to;

transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a measurement process configuration for a measurement process;

transmit, to the UE, a first measurement resources configuration for configured measurement resources associated with the measurement process;

transmit, to the UE, a first time interval configuration for a configured time interval associated with the measurement process; and

transmit, to the UE, a reporting configuration for a report associated with the measurement process.