NETWORK SHARING

• US 20140148165A1
• Filed: 05/01/2012
• Published: 05/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Serravalle, Francesca, Noma, Satoshi, Gupta, Neeraj, Paterson, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 9,974,083 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/436
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/08 Load balancing or load distribution transferring a connection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0861 between base stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/22 for handling the traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/10 using broadcasted information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/52 based on load
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

A wireless communication system includes one or more base stations able to divide resources between multiple network operators sharing the base station. A shared base station is configured to monitor a contribution to the load on the base station associated with network operators sharing the base station resources and to provide the determined contribution to the load to one or more other base stations for use in load balancing between the base stations.

Claims

1. A base station operable to share resources between at least two network operators, the base station comprising:

means for determining a contribution to a load on the base station associated with a one of the network operators; and

means for providing the determined contribution to the load on the base station associated with the one network operator to a further base station for use in load balancing between the base stations.

2. The base station of claim 1, wherein each of the at least two network operators are associated with a unique PLMN id value.

3. The base station of claim 1, further comprising means for receiving from the further base station contributions to the load on the further base station associated with each network operator.

4. The base station of claim 1, further comprising:

means for determining if the contribution to the load for the one network operator is above a threshold load for that network operator; and

means operable, in response to determining that the contribution to load is above the threshold level for that network operator, to cause at least one connection associated with the one service provider to be handed over to the further base station.

5. The base station of claim 4, wherein the means operable to cause at least one connection to be handed over does so if such handover does not overload the further base station.

6. The base station of claim 1, further comprising:

means for communicating an available capacity associated with each network operator on the base station to the further base station.

47. A computer implementable instructions product comprising computer implementable instructions for causing a programmable computer device to become configured as the base station of claim 1.

7. A base station operable to share resources between at least two network operators, the base station comprising:

means for receiving a message from a further base station, the message comprising information relating to a contribution to a load on the further base station associated with a one of the network operators; and

means for performing load balancing between the base station and the further base station based on the received information.

8. The base station of claim 7, wherein the means for performing load balancing are configured to adjust a handover trigger level associated with the one network operator, the handover trigger level used to control handover of connections associated with the one network operator between the base station and the further base station.

9. The base station of claim 7, wherein the means for receiving comprises an X2 network interface.

10. A base station operable to share resources between at least two network operators, the base station comprising:

means for handing over a connection associated with one of the at least two network operators between the base station and another base station based on a handover trigger level associated with the one network operator; and

means for adjusting handover trigger levels independently for each network operator.

11. The base station of claim 10, wherein the means for adjusting the handover trigger levels are configured to adjust the handover trigger levels in dependence on a contribution to load on the base station for each network operator.

12. The base station of claim 10, further comprising means for receiving information from a neighbouring base station relating to a contribution to load on the neighbouring base station for each network operator;

wherein the means for adjusting the handover trigger levels are further configured to adjust the handover trigger levels in dependence on the contribution to load on the neighbouring base station for each network operator.

13. A base station operable to share resources between at least two network operators, the base station comprising:

means for determining a contribution to load on the base station associated with a one of the at least two network operators; and

means for transmitting a request to a further base station to advance or delay handover of connections associated with the one network operator from the further base station to the base station based on the determined contribution to load.

14. The base station of claim 13, wherein the request comprises a mobility change request message.

15. The base station of claim 13, wherein the means for transmitting is further configured to transmit a request to delay handover of connections associated with the one network operator when it is determined that the load associated with the one network provider is above a threshold load level.

16. The base station of claim 13, wherein the means for transmitting is further configured to transmit a request to advance handover of connections associated with the one network operator when it is determined that the load associated with the one network provider drops below a threshold load level.

17. A base station operable to share resources between at least two network operators, the base station comprising:

means for receiving a request to advance or delay handover of connections associated with a one of the network operators from the base station to a further base station; and

means for adjusting one or more handover parameters associated with the one network operator based on the received request.

18. The base station of claim 17, wherein the means for receiving a request comprises a X2 network interface.

19. A mobility management entity for use in a wireless communication network configured to share core network capacity between at least two network operators, the mobility management entity comprising:

means for communicating for at least one of the network operators an available capacity at the mobility management entity for that network operator to at least one base station.

20. The mobility management entity of claim 19, wherein each network operator is associated with a unique PLMN id value.

21. The mobility management entity of claim 20, wherein the means for communicating is further configured to communicate the available capacity for each network operator to the at least one base station in a Relative MME Capacity information element per PLMN id value.

48. A computer implementable instructions product comprising computer implementable instructions for causing a programmable computer device to become configured as the mobility management entity of claim 19.

22. A base station for use in a wireless communication network configured to share core network capacity between at least two network operators, the base station comprising:

means for receiving information relating to an available core network capacity associated with one of the network operators; and

means for generating a new connection request associated with the one network operator based on the received information.

23. The base station of claim 22, wherein the information relating to available core network capacity comprises information relating to available capacity at a mobility management entity shared by the at least two network operators.

24. The base station of claim 22, wherein the means for generating a new connection request for a particular network operator are further configured to select a mobility management entity from a plurality of mobility management entities to register the new connection based on the available core network capacity for the particular network operator associated with the mobility management entities.

25. A mobility management entity for use in a wireless communication network configured to share core network capacity between at least two network operators, wherein each network operator is assigned a proportion of a capacity of the mobility management entity, the mobility management entity comprising:

means for determining if an overload condition has been reached at the mobility management entity based on a load on the mobility management entity; and

means operable, in response to determining an overload condition has been reached, to determine if a one of the network operators is exceeding the proportion of the capacity of the mobility management entity assigned to the one network operator, and if so to transmit a message to a base station indicating that new connection requests associated with the one network operator should be rejected or routed through another mobility management entity.

26. The mobility management entity of claim 25, wherein the message transmitted to the base station comprises a MME Overload Start message associated with the one network provider.

27. The mobility management entity of claim 25, further comprising means operable to determine whether the one network operator is no longer exceeding the proportion of the capacity assigned to that network operator and, if so, to transmit a further message to the base station indicating that new connection requests associated with that network operator may be accepted.

28. The mobility management entity of claim 27, wherein the further message comprises a MME Overload Stop message associated with the one network provider.

29. A base station for use in a wireless communication network configured to share core network capacity between at least two network operators, the base station comprising:

means for receiving a message from a mobility management entity indicating that new connection requests associated with a one of the network operators should be rejected or routed through another mobility management entity; and

means operable to reject new connection requests associated with the one network operator or to route new connection requests associated with the one network operator through another mobility management entity, in response to receiving the message.

30. A method of providing information for use in balancing a network load between a base station and a neighbouring base station, wherein the capacity of the base station is shared between at least two network operators, the method comprising:

determining a contribution to a load on the base station associated with a one of the network operators; and

providing the determined contribution to the load on the base station associated with the one network operator to the neighbouring base station for use in load balancing between the base stations.

31. A method of balancing a load between a base station and a neighbouring base station, wherein the capacity of the base station is shared between at least two network operators, the method comprising:

receiving a message from the neighbouring base station, the message comprising information relating to a contribution to a load on the neighbouring base station associated with a one of the network operators; and

performing load balancing between the base station and the neighbouring base station based on the received information.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein performing load balancing further comprises performing load balancing for connections associated with the one network operator based on the received information independently of any load balancing for connections associated with any other of the network operators.

33. A method of controlling handover at a base station shared between at least two network operators, the method comprising:

adjusting handover parameters used to control handover independently for each network operator sharing the base station; and

handing over a connection associated with a one of the network operators between the base station and a neighbouring base station based on a handover parameter associated with the one network operator.

34. A method of load balancing between a base station and a neighbouring base station, wherein the base station is shared between at least two network operators, the method comprising:

determining a contribution to load on the base station associated with a one of the at least two network operators; and

transmitting a request to the neighbouring base station to advance or delay handover of connections associated with the one network operator from the neighbouring base station to the base station based on the determined contribution to load.

35. A method of load balancing between a base station and a neighbouring base station, wherein the base station is shared between at least two network operators, the method comprising:

receiving a request to advance or delay handover of connections associated with a one of the network operators from the base station to the neighbouring base station; and

adjusting a handover parameter associated with the one network operator based on the received request.

36. A method comprising:

communicating, for at least one network operator, an available capacity at a mobility management entity for that network operator to at least one base station, wherein the capacity of the mobility management entity is shared between at least two network operators.

37. A method of generating a new connection request at a base station in a wireless communication network configured to share core network capacity between at least two network operators, the method comprising:

receiving information relating to an available core network capacity associated with one of the network operators; and

generating a new connection request for a connection associated with the one network operator based on the received information.

38. A method of controlling admittance of new connection requests in a wireless communication network configured to share core network capacity between at least two network operators, the method comprising:

determining if an overload condition has been reached at a mobility management entity in the core network based on a load on the mobility management entity; and

in response to determining that an overload condition has been reached, determining if a one of the network operators is exceeding a proportion of the capacity of the mobile management entity assigned to the one network operator and, if so, transmitting a message to a base station indicating that new connection requests associated with the one network operator should not be routed through the mobility management entity.

39. A method of controlling admittance of new connection requests in a wireless communication network configured to share core network capacity between at least two network operators, the method comprising:

receiving at a base station a message indicating that new connection requests associated with a one of the network operators should be rejected; and

rejecting new connection requests associated with the one network operator at the base station.

40. A base station operable to share resources between at least two network operators, the base station comprising:

means for determining resource usage of the base station associated with a one of the network operators; and

means for managing the rate of incoming connection requests associated with the one network operator in dependence upon the determined resource usage.

41. The base station of claim 40, wherein the determined resource usage is compared with a threshold value and the means for managing the rate of incoming connection requests is arranged to reduce the rate of incoming connection requests if the determined resource usage is above the threshold.

42. The base station of claim 41, wherein the means for managing the rate of incoming connection requests comprises means for blocking one or more connection requests associated with the one network operator.

43. The base station of claim 42, wherein the means for blocking are further configured to broadcast an indication that new connections associated with the one network operator are blocked.

44. The base station of claim 42, wherein the means for blocking are further configured to set an ac-Barring information element for the one network operator based on the comparison of the determined resource usage with the load threshold value.

45. A method of controlling the sharing of resources on a base station that is shared between at least two network operators, the method comprising:

determining a contribution to a load on the base station associated with a one of the network operators; and

blocking a new connection associated with the one network operator in dependence upon the determined contribution to the load.

46. A method according to claim 45, further comprising comparing the determined contribution to the load on the base station with a load threshold value associated with the one network operator;

and wherein blocking includes blocking the new connection in dependence upon a result of the comparison.