SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING INTERFERENCE IN A NETWORK ENVIRONMENT BASED ON USER PRESENCE

• US 20160295357A1
• Filed: 04/06/2015
• Published: 10/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Grayson, Mark, Okmyanskiy, Anton, Nuss, Ziv, Anantha, Swaminathan A., Giustina, Andrea, Graham, Mickael James, Patil, Santosh Ramrao
• Granted Patent: US 9,699,601 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/165 for reducing network power consumption H04W36/18 - H04W36/22 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• 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 52/283 Power depending on the position of the mobile
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/02 Arrangements for increasing efficiency of notification or paging channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

An example method is provided in one example embodiment and may include determining a presence of user equipment (UE) in relation to small cell radio(s) of a small cell network based on information obtained through the small cell network and one or more parallel networks; and adjusting transmit power for the small cell radio(s) based on the presence of UE in relation to the small cell radio(s). Another example method can include determining that a UE in cell paging channel mode has changed its selected macro cell radio; determining that the UE is allowed service on a small cell radio located in a vicinity of a macro cell coverage area of a selected macro cell radio; and adjusting a transmit power of the small cell radio based on a presence of the UE in a surrounding macro cell coverage area of the small cell radio.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a presence of one or more user equipment (UE) in relation to one or more small cell radios of a small cell network based on information obtained through the small cell network and one or more parallel networks, wherein the one or more parallel networks include, at least in part, a wireless local area network (WLAN); and

adjusting transmit power for one or more small cell radios of the small cell network based, at least in part, on the presence of one or more UE in relation to the one or more small cell radios of the small cell network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the presence of the one or more UE presence includes detecting one or more location updates for the one or more UE within the small cell network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the presence of the one or more UE includes detecting one or more wireless beacons of the one or more UE being received by one or more wireless radios of the wireless local area network.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the presence of a particular UE in relation to one or more wireless radios of the WLAN;

determining whether the particular UE is within a potential coverage area of a particular small cell radio based, at least in part, on a location of the one or more wireless radios of the WLAN; and

increasing the transmit power for the particular small cell radio from a reduced transmit power level if the particular UE is within the potential coverage area of the particular small cell radio.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the potential coverage area of the particular small cell radio is determined based, at least in part, on a coverage area provided by the particular small cell radio at a maximum transmit power, a normal transmit or a nominal transmit power.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein determining presence of the particular UE in relation to one or more wireless radio access points further comprises:

receiving one or more wireless beacons transmitted by the particular UE at the one or more wireless radio access points of the WLAN;

identifying a user associated with the particular UE based, at least in part, on a relationship between an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of the user and a Media Access Control (MAC) address for the particular UE; and

determining whether the user is authorized to connect to the particular small cell radio, wherein the transmit power is increased if the particular UE is authorized to connect to the particular small cell radio.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the transmit power includes adjusting a pilot channel transmit power for each of the one or more small cell radios.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the transmit power includes reducing the transmit power for a particular small cell radio when no UE are determined to be present within a coverage area of the particular small cell radio.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the transmit power further comprises:

determining whether one or more UE are present in a coverage area of a particular small cell radio upon expiration of each of a plurality of timers; and

reducing the transmit power for the particular small cell radio if no UE are present within the coverage area of the small cell radio at expiration of each of the plurality of timers.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the transmit power includes increasing the transmit power for a particular small cell radio from a reduced level to one or more increased levels upon determining the presence of a plurality of UEs near a potential coverage area that the particular small cell radio is capable of providing.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the transmit power includes increasing the transmit power for a particular small cell radio from a reduced level to normal level upon determining that the presence of a plurality of UEs near a potential coverage area that the particular small cell radio is capable of providing reaches a threshold number of UEs.

12. One or more non-transitory tangible media encoding logic that include instructions for execution that, when executed by a processor, is operable to perform operations comprising:

determining a presence of one or more user equipment (UE) in relation to one or more small cell radios of a small cell network based on information obtained through the small cell network and one or more parallel networks, wherein the one or more parallel networks include, at least in part, a wireless local area network (WLAN); and

adjusting transmit power for one or more small cell radios of the small cell network based, at least in part, on the presence of one or more UE in relation to the one or more small cell radios of the small cell network.

13. The media of claim 12, wherein determining the presence of the one or more UE presence includes detecting one or more location updates for the one or more UE within the small cell network.

14. The media of claim 12, wherein determining the presence of the one or more UE includes detecting one or more wireless beacons of the one or more UE being received by one or more wireless radios of the wireless local area network.

15. The media of claim 12, the operations further comprising:

determining the presence of a particular UE in relation to one or more wireless radios of the WLAN;

determining whether the particular UE is within a potential coverage area of a particular small cell radio based, at least in part, on a location of the one or more wireless radios of the WLAN; and

increasing the transmit power for the particular small cell radio from a reduced transmit power level if the particular UE is within the potential coverage area of the particular small cell radio.

16. The media of claim 15, wherein the potential coverage area of the particular small cell radio is determined based, at least in part, on a coverage area provided by the particular small cell radio at a maximum transmit power, a normal transmit or a nominal transmit power.

17. The media of claim 15, wherein determining presence of the particular UE in relation to one or more wireless radio access points further comprises:

receiving one or more wireless beacons transmitted by the particular UE at the one or more wireless radio access points of the WLAN;

identifying a user associated with the particular UE based, at least in part, on a relationship between an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of the user and a Media Access Control (MAC) address for the particular UE; and

determining whether the user is authorized to connect to the particular small cell radio, wherein the transmit power is increased if the particular UE is authorized to connect to the particular small cell radio.

18. A communication system comprising:

a self-organizing network (SON) management system, comprising;

a memory element for storing data; and

a processor that executes instructions associated with the data, wherein the processor and memory element cooperate such that the communication system is configured for;

determining a presence of one or more user equipment (UE) in relation to one or more small cell radios of a small cell network based on information obtained through the small cell network and one or more parallel networks, wherein the one or more parallel networks include, at least in part, a wireless local area network (WLAN); and

adjusting transmit power for one or more small cell radios of the small cell network based, at least in part, on the presence of one or more UE in relation to the one or more small cell radios of the small cell network.

19. The communication system of claim 18, wherein determining the presence of the one or more UE presence includes detecting one or more location updates for the one or more UE within the small cell network.

20. The communication system of claim 18, wherein the communication system is further configured for:

determining the presence of a particular UE in relation to one or more wireless radios of the WLAN;

determining whether the particular UE is within a potential coverage area of a particular small cell radio based, at least in part, on a location of the one or more wireless radios of the WLAN; and

increasing the transmit power for the particular small cell radio from a reduced transmit power level if the particular UE is within the potential coverage area of the particular small cell radio.