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

• US 20160295521A1
• Filed: 04/15/2015
• 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: Anantha, Swaminathan A., Grayson, Mark, Okmyanskiy, Anton, Nuss, Ziv, Giustina, Andrea, Graham, Mickael James, Patil, Santosh Ramrao
• Granted Patent: US 10,080,097 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 that a user equipment (UE) in cell paging channel (CELL_PCH) 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, at least in part, on a presence of the UE in a surrounding macro cell coverage area of the small cell radio.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the small cell radio is in the vicinity of the macro cell coverage area of the selected macro cell if the small cell radio has a small cell coverage area that is within or neighbors the macro cell coverage area of the selected macro cell radio.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining one or more surrounding macro cell radios of the small cell radio; and

determining one or more dominant macro cell radios from the one or more surrounding macro cell radios, wherein the one or more dominant macro cell radios are determined based on having a coverage area overlap with an intended coverage area of the small cell radio that is strongest among the one or more surrounding macro cell radios or that have a strongest coverage area that is near the intended coverage area of the small cell radio.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the one or more dominant macro cells is based on at least one of:

a geographical location of the small cell radio and one or more macro cell radios surrounding the small cell radio;

a network listen performed by the small cell radio;

a re-selection history of the UE; and

a handover history of the UE.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the adjusting includes reducing the transmit power of the small cell radio when the presence of all of the UE is determined to be outside the surrounding macro cell coverage area.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the adjusting includes increasing the transmit power from a reduced transmit power when the presence of the UE is determined to enter the surrounding macro cell coverage area from an area outside the surrounding macro cell coverage area.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether 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 further comprises:

determining whether one or more small cell radios are in the vicinity of the macro cell coverage area of the selected macro cell radio;

recovering an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) for the UE; and

determining whether the IMSI of the UE is included in a corresponding whitelist for any of the one or more small cell radios in the vicinity of the macro cell coverage area of the selected macro cell radio.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed, at least in part, using a self-organizing network (SON) management system configured to interface with a small cell network and a macro network.

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

determining that a user equipment (UE) in cell paging channel (CELL_PCH) 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, at least in part, on a presence of the UE in a surrounding macro cell coverage area of the small cell radio.

10. The media of claim 9, the operations further comprising:

determining one or more surrounding macro cell radios of the small cell radio; and

determining one or more dominant macro cell radios from the one or more surrounding macro cell radios, wherein the one or more dominant macro cell radios are determined based on having a coverage area overlap with an intended coverage area of the small cell radio that is strongest among the one or more surrounding macro cell radios or that have a strongest coverage area that is near the intended coverage area of the small cell radio.

11. The media of claim 10, wherein determining the one or more dominant macro cells is based on at least one of:

a geographical location of the small cell radio and one or more macro cell radios surrounding the small cell radio;

a network listen performed by the small cell radio;

a re-selection history of the UE; and

a handover history of the UE.

12. The media of claim 9, wherein the adjusting includes reducing the transmit power of the small cell radio when the presence of all of the UE is determined to be outside the surrounding macro cell coverage area.

13. The media of claim 9, wherein the adjusting includes increasing the transmit power from a reduced transmit power when the presence of the UE is determined to enter the surrounding macro cell coverage area from an area outside the surrounding macro cell coverage area.

14. The media of claim 9, wherein the determining whether 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 further comprises:

determining whether one or more small cell radios are in the vicinity of the macro cell coverage area of the selected macro cell radio;

recovering an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) for the UE; and

determining whether the IMSI of the UE is included in a corresponding whitelist for any of the one or more small cell radios in the vicinity of the macro cell coverage area of the selected macro cell radio.

15. A self-organizing network (SON) management system comprising:

at least one memory element for storing data; and

at least one processor that executes instructions associated with the data, wherein the processor and the memory element cooperate such that the SON management system is configured for;

determining that a user equipment (UE) in cell paging channel (CELL_PCH) 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, at least in part, on a presence of the UE in a surrounding macro cell coverage area of the small cell radio.

16. The SON management system of claim 15, wherein the SON management system is further configured for:

determining one or more surrounding macro cell radios of the small cell radio; and

determining one or more dominant macro cell radios from the one or more surrounding macro cell radios, wherein the one or more dominant macro cell radios are determined based on having a coverage area overlap with an intended coverage area of the small cell radio that is strongest among the one or more surrounding macro cell radios or that have a strongest coverage area that is near the intended coverage area of the small cell radio.

17. The SON management system of claim 16, wherein determining the one or more dominant macro cells is based on at least one of:

a geographical location of the small cell radio and one or more macro cell radios surrounding the small cell radio;

a network listen performed by the small cell radio;

a re-selection history of the UE; and

a handover history of the UE.

18. The SON management system of claim 15, wherein the adjusting includes reducing the transmit power of the small cell radio when the presence of all of the UE is determined to be outside the surrounding macro cell coverage area.

19. The SON management system of claim 15, wherein the adjusting includes increasing the transmit power from a reduced transmit power when the presence of the UE is determined to enter the surrounding macro cell coverage area from an area outside the surrounding macro cell coverage area.

20. The SON management system of claim 15, wherein the determining whether 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 further comprises:

determining whether one or more small cell radios are in the vicinity of the macro cell coverage area of the selected macro cell radio;

recovering an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) for the UE; and

determining whether the IMSI of the UE is included in a corresponding whitelist for any of the one or more small cell radios in the vicinity of the macro cell coverage area of the selected macro cell radio.