METHOD AND NETWORK ENTITY FOR REDUCING INTER-NETWORK INTERFERENCE

• US 20140378180A1
• Filed: 12/19/2013
• Published: 12/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Schwent, Dale G., Love, Robert T.
• Granted Patent: US 9,781,684 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/522
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/146 Uplink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/241 taking into account channel quality metrics, e.g. SIR, SNR, CIR, Eb/lo
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/243 taking into account interferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/247 where the output power of a terminal is based on a path parameter sent by another terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/283 Power depending on the position of the mobile
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Wireless networks share UE location information in order to identify possible inter-network aggressors. If a first network determines, based on the location data it receives from a second network, that one of the first network'"'"'s UEs may cause excessive interference to one or more of the second network'"'"'s UEs, the first network grants A-MPR to its UE (e.g., by signaling the UE). The first network'"'"'s UE can then lower its transmit power in order avoid interfering with the second network'"'"'s UE.

Claims

1. A method, on a network entity of a first wireless network, the method comprising:

communicating with a first User Equipment (“

UE”

) that is connected to the first wireless network;

receiving, from a second wireless network, information regarding the location of a second UE connected a second wireless network;

determining the distance between the first UE) and the second UE;

based on the determined distance, determining the level of interference that the first UE would cause to the second UE;

determining an amount by which the first UE needs to reduce its transmit power in order to bring the determined interference to a predetermined level; and

granting the first UE permission to reduce its transmit power by the determined amount.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the level of interference comprises:

determining the path loss of signals transmitted from the first UE to the second UE; and

determining the out of band emissions characteristics of the first UE.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a transmission sub-band of the first UE is adjacent to a reception sub-band of the second UE.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the signaled transmit power reduction amount is the maximum amount of transmit power that the first UE is permitted to reduce.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a second amount by which the first UE would need to reduce its transmit power in order to bring the determined interference to predetermined level; and

signaling the second transmit power reduction amount to the first UE.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein frequencies used for UEs to communicate on the first network do not overlap with those used by UEs to communicate on the second network.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining time-frequency resource blocks that are not being used by the second UE;

ordering the first UE to communicate only on the determined time-frequency resource blocks.

8. A method, on a first User Equipment (“

UE”

) connected to a first wireless network, the method comprising;

detecting a beacon signal of a second UE that is connected to a second wireless network;

determining the distance between the first UE and the second UE based on the beacon signal;

based on the determined distance, determining the level of interference the first UE would cause to the second UE if the first UE transmits at a first power level;

determining an amount by which the first UE would need to reduce its transmit power in order to bring the determined interference to predetermined level; and

lowering the transmit power of the first UE by the determined amount to a second transmit power level.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining, based on the determined distance, the path loss of signals transmitted from the first UE to the second UE,

wherein the level of interference is determined based at least in part on the determined path loss.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the level of interference further comprises:

determining the path loss of signals transmitted from the first UE to the second UE based on the out of band emissions characteristics of the first UE.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein a transmission sub-band of the first UE transmits is adjacent to a reception sub-band of the second UE.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the beacon signal includes information about the location of the second UE.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the beacon signal only contains synchronization data.

14. A network entity, operating as part of a first wireless network, the network entity comprising:

a network interface configured to;

receive, via a backhaul network, signals from a second wireless network; and

wherein the signals contain information indicating the location of a User Equipment (“

UE”

) of the second wireless network; and

a processor communicatively linked to the network interface and configured to;

receive the location information via the network interface;

determine the distance between a UE of the first wireless network and a UE of the second wireless network based on the location information;

based on the determined distance, determine the level of interference the first UE causes to the second UE;

determine an amount by which the first UE needs to reduce its transmit power in order to bring the determined interference to an acceptable level; and

grant the first UE permission to reduce its transmit power by the determined amount.

15. The network entity of claim 14, wherein the processor determines the level of interference further based on the out-of-band emissions characteristics of the first UE.

16. The network entity of claim 14, wherein a transmission sub-band on which the first UE transmits is adjacent to a reception sub-band of the second UE.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining a maximum power reduction amount based on the determined transmit power amount, wherein the determined transmit power amount is less than the determined maximum transmit power reduction amount.