COMMUNICATION CONTROL DEVICE, COMMUNICATION CONTROL METHOD, AND TERMINAL DEVICE

• US 20160183152A1
• Filed: 06/24/2014
• Published: 06/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: YOSHIZAWA, Atsushi
• Granted Patent: US 9,807,665 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/00 Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received correcting synchronisation H04L7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/32 Hierarchical cell structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/30 by measured or perceived connection quality data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/302 due to low signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/00 Access restriction access security to prevent unauthorised access H04W12/08; Network selection; Access point selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/27 Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

[Object] To make it possible to suppress deterioration in communication quality of radio communication in a small cell while power consumption of a base station of the small cell is reduced.

[Solution] Provided is a communication control device including: an acquisition unit configured to acquire a result of measurement performed by a terminal device with regard to one or more small cells which are partly or entirely overlapped by a macrocell; and a selection unit configured to select a base station which is not to be set in an idle state from base stations of the one or more small cells based on the result of the measurement.

Claims

1. A communication control device comprising:

an acquisition unit configured to acquire a result of measurement performed by a terminal device with regard to one or more small cells which are partly or entirely overlapped by a macrocell; and

a selection unit configured to select a base station which is not to be set in an idle state from base stations of the one or more small cells based on the result of the measurement.

2. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein the one or more small cells are small cells selected based on position information which indicates a position of the terminal device.

3. The communication control device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a control unit configured to control the base stations of the one or more small cells,

wherein the control unit refrains from causing the selected base station to be in the idle state, and causes a base station other than the selected base station among the base stations of the one or more small cells to be in the idle state.

4. The communication control device according to claim 3, wherein the control unit causes the base stations of the one or more small cells to transmit a signal for the measurement.

5. The communication control device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a providing unit configured to provide information regarding the one or more small cells to the terminal device.

6. The communication control device according to claim 5, wherein the information regarding the one or more small cells includes information which indicates a frequency channel on which a signal for the measurement is transmitted by each of the base stations of the one or more small cells.

7. The communication control device according to claim 5, wherein the information regarding the one or more small cells includes information which indicates a timing at which a signal for the measurement is transmitted by each of the base stations of the one or more small cells.

8. The communication control device according to claim 7, wherein the timing depends on time taken for each of the base stations of the one or more small cells to be activated from the idle state.

9. The communication control device according to claim 7, wherein the signal for the measurement is a reference signal.

10. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein the result of the measurement includes information regarding reception power or quality of a signal for the measurement.

11. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein the result of the measurement is information regarding part of the one or more small cells.

12. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein, when reception power or quality of a signal for the measurement with regard to all of the one or more small cells does not exceed a predetermined threshold value, the result of the measurement includes information which indicates that the reception power or the quality with regard to all of the small cells does not exceed the predetermined threshold value.

13. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the selection unit selects the base station that is not to be set in the idle state when notification of a demand for performing radio communication in a small cell is given by the terminal device.

14. The terminal device according to claim 1,

wherein the terminal device is able to perform radio communication using one principal frequency band and one or more auxiliary frequency bands, and

wherein the communication control device further includes a communication control unit configured to control the terminal device to use a frequency band for the macrocell as the one principal frequency band and to use a frequency band for the small cell of the selected base station as one of the one or more auxiliary frequency bands.

15. A communication control method comprising:

acquiring a result of measurement performed by a terminal device with regard to one or more small cells which are partly or entirely overlapped by a macrocell; and

selecting, using a processor, a base station which is not to be set in an idle state from base stations of the one or more small cells based on the result of the measurement.

16. A communication control device comprising:

a communication control unit configured to control transmission of a signal for measurement performed by a terminal device with regard to a small cell which is partly or entirely overlapped by a macrocell; and

a state control unit configured to refrain from causing a base station of the small cell to be in an idle state when the base station of the small cell is selected as a base station that is not to be set in the idle state based on a result of the measurement.

17. A terminal device comprising:

an acquisition unit configured to acquire a result of measurement with regard to one or more small cells which are partly or entirely overlapped by a macrocell; and

a providing unit configured to provide the result of the measurement to a communication control device which selects a base station which is not to be set in an idle state from base stations of the one or more small cells based on the result of the measurement.