SYSTEM AND METHOD TO PROVIDE UPLINK INTERFERENCE COORDINATION IN A NETWORK ENVIRONMENT

• US 20170164206A1
• Filed: 12/07/2015
• Published: 06/08/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Madan, Ritesh K., Nabar, Rohit Umesh
• Granted Patent: US 9,826,408 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/10 Dynamic resource partitioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0236 radio quality, e.g. interference, losses or delay
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/04 Error control

Abstract

A method is provided in one example embodiment and may include determining for each of one or more macro cell radios, a corresponding set of one or more small cell radios that are under a coverage area of each of the one or more macro cell radios, wherein each corresponding set is associated with a corresponding macro cell radio; calculating interference coordination parameters for each small cell radio belonging to each corresponding set, wherein the interference coordination parameters for each small cell radio belonging to each corresponding set comprises an uplink interference budget for each small cell radio; and communicating the interference coordination parameters to each small cell radio belonging to each corresponding set.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining for each of one or more macro cell radios, a corresponding set of one or more small cell radios that are under a coverage area of each of the one or more macro cell radios, wherein each corresponding set is associated with a corresponding macro cell radio;

calculating interference coordination parameters for each small cell radio belonging to each corresponding set, wherein the interference coordination parameters for each small cell radio belonging to each corresponding set comprises an uplink interference budget for each small cell radio; and

communicating the interference coordination parameters to each small cell radio belonging to each corresponding set.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the interference coordination parameters for each small cell radio belonging to each corresponding set further comprises:

a maximum uplink interference level that can be caused towards a corresponding macro cell radio associated with a corresponding set for any uplink resource block to be transmitted by user equipment served by each small cell radio belonging to each corresponding set.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a particular uplink interference budget for a particular small cell radio belonging to a particular set associated with a particular corresponding macro cell radio indicates an average uplink interference budget that can be caused toward the particular corresponding macro cell radio by user equipment served by the particular small cell radio.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving one or more interference budget parameters from each of the one or more macro cell radios.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein particular interference budget parameters received for a particular macro cell radio includes one or more of:

an identity of one or more small cell radios considered to be within a coverage area of the particular macro cell radio;

an average interference caused to one or more small cell radios considered to be within a coverage area of the particular macro cell radio;

measurement report information reported to the particular macro cell radio by one or more user equipment served by the particular macro cell radio;

a total sum of utility of uplink user equipment throughput rates for one or more user equipment served by the particular macro cell radio; and

a maximum interference that can be caused toward the particular macro cell radio for any uplink resource block transmitted by one or more user equipment served by one or more small cell radios considered to be within a coverage area of the particular macro cell radio.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving utility feedback information from each small cell radio belonging to each set, wherein the utility feedback information received for a particular small cell radio includes at least one of;

a range of maximized utility values corresponding to a range of candidate average interference budget values that can be set for the small cell radio for each of a macro cell radio that the small cell radio is considered to be under; and

a range of marginal utility values based on a range of maximized utility values calculated for each of a given macro cell radio that the small cell radio is considered to be under.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein for each of one or more particular small cell radios belonging to a particular set associated with a particular corresponding macro cell radio, calculating interference coordination parameters further comprises:

determining, for a predetermined range of total average uplink interference budget values for the particular corresponding macro cell radio, an optimum total average uplink interference budget value for the particular corresponding macro cell radio and an optimum average interference budget value for each particular small cell radio that corresponds to a combination of a maximized total utility of uplink user equipment throughput for user equipment served by the particular corresponding macro cell radio and a maximized total utility of uplink user equipment throughput for user equipment served by each particular small cell radio.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining, for each total average uplink interference budget value for the particular corresponding macro cell radio, an optimum distribution of a corresponding total average uplink interference budget value across each of the one or more particular small cell radios based, at least in part, on marginal values associated with each particular small cell radio.

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 for each of one or more macro cell radios, a corresponding set of one or more small cell radios that are under a coverage area of each of the one or more macro cell radios, wherein each corresponding set is associated with a corresponding macro cell radio;

calculating interference coordination parameters for each small cell radio belonging to each corresponding set, wherein the interference coordination parameters for each small cell radio belonging to each corresponding set comprises an uplink interference budget for each small cell radio; and

communicating the interference coordination parameters to each small cell radio belonging to each corresponding set.

10. The media of claim 9, wherein the interference coordination parameters for each small cell radio belonging to each corresponding set further comprises:

a maximum uplink interference level that can be caused towards a corresponding macro cell radio associated with a corresponding set for any uplink resource block to be transmitted by user equipment served by each small cell radio belonging to each corresponding set.

11. The media of claim 9, wherein a particular uplink interference budget for a particular small cell radio belonging to a particular set associated with a particular corresponding macro cell radio indicates an average uplink interference budget that can be caused toward the particular corresponding macro cell radio by user equipment served by the particular small cell radio.

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

receiving one or more interference budget parameters from each of the one or more macro cell radios.

13. The media of claim 12, wherein particular interference budget parameters received for a particular macro cell radio includes one or more of:

an identity of one or more small cell radios considered to be within a coverage area of the particular macro cell radio;

an average interference caused to one or more small cell radios considered to be within a coverage area of the particular macro cell radio;

measurement report information reported to the particular macro cell radio by one or more user equipment served by the particular macro cell radio;

a total sum of utility of uplink user equipment throughput rates for one or more user equipment served by the particular macro cell radio; and

a maximum interference that can be caused toward the particular macro cell radio for any uplink resource block transmitted by one or more user equipment served by one or more small cell radios considered to be within a coverage area of the particular macro cell radio.

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

receiving utility feedback information from each small cell radio belonging to each set, wherein the utility feedback information received for a particular small cell radio includes at least one of;

a range of maximized utility values corresponding to a range of candidate average interference budget values that can be set for the small cell radio for each of a macro cell radio that the small cell radio is considered to be under; and

a range of marginal utility values based on a range of maximized utility values calculated for each of a given macro cell radio that the small cell radio is considered to be under.

15. The media of claim 9, wherein for each of one or more particular small cell radios belonging to a particular set associated with a particular corresponding macro cell radio, calculating interference coordination parameters further comprises:

determining, for a predetermined range of total average uplink interference budget values for the particular corresponding macro cell radio, an optimum total average uplink interference budget value for the particular corresponding macro cell radio and an optimum average interference budget value for each particular small cell radio that corresponds to a combination of a maximized total utility of uplink user equipment throughput for user equipment served by the particular corresponding macro cell radio and a maximized total utility of uplink user equipment throughput for user equipment served by each particular small cell radio.

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

determining, for each total average uplink interference budget value for the particular corresponding macro cell radio, an optimum distribution of a corresponding total average uplink interference budget value across each of the one or more particular small cell radios based, at least in part, on marginal values associated with each particular small cell radio.

17. A 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 system is configured for;

determining for each of one or more macro cell radios, a corresponding set of one or more small cell radios that are under a coverage area of each of the one or more macro cell radios, wherein each corresponding set is associated with a corresponding macro cell radio;

calculating interference coordination parameters for each small cell radio belonging to each corresponding set, wherein the interference coordination parameters for each small cell radio belonging to each corresponding set comprises an uplink interference budget for each small cell radio; and

communicating the interference coordination parameters to each small cell radio belonging to each corresponding set.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein a particular uplink interference budget for a particular small cell radio belonging to a particular set associated with a particular corresponding macro cell radio indicates an average uplink interference budget that can be caused toward the particular corresponding macro cell radio by user equipment served by the particular small cell radio.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein for each of one or more particular small cell radios belonging to a particular set associated with a particular corresponding macro cell radio, calculating interference coordination parameters further comprises:

determining, for a predetermined range of total average uplink interference budget values for the particular corresponding macro cell radio, an optimum total average uplink interference budget value for the particular corresponding macro cell radio and an optimum average interference budget value for each particular small cell radio that corresponds to a combination of a maximized total utility of uplink user equipment throughput for user equipment served by the particular corresponding macro cell radio and a maximized total utility of uplink user equipment throughput for user equipment served by each particular small cell radio.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the system is further configured for:

determining, for each total average uplink interference budget value for the particular corresponding macro cell radio, an optimum distribution of a corresponding total average uplink interference budget value across each of the one or more particular small cell radios based, at least in part, on marginal values associated with each particular small cell radio.