METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR LIMITING COLLISIONS IN CELLULAR NETWORKS

• US 20180367999A1
• Filed: 12/23/2015
• Published: 12/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telecom Italia S.p.A.
• Original Assignee: Telecom Italia S.p.A.
• Inventors: BARBERIS, Sergio, CALOCHIRA, Giorgio, MURATORE, Flavio
• Granted Patent: US 10,721,626 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/10 Dynamic resource partitioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 based on terminal or device properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference

Abstract

A method assigning frequency bands on a cellular network including plural network nodes each configured to activate transmission links between pairs of corresponding network nodes to exchange traffic. The method includes, in response to assessment of a new transmission link to be activated between first and second network nodes: retrieving an indication of coordinates of first and second network nodes within a geographical area; retrieving an indication of resource sharing clusters, of the cellular network, each including a group of transmission links considered to potentially cause transmission collisions; selecting a set of the resource sharing clusters according to a comparison of coordinates of the first network node with coordinates of the network nodes corresponding to the transmission links of the resource sharing clusters; if the selected set of resource sharing clusters is not empty, carrying out operations including: activating a new transmission link by exploiting an assigned frequency band.

Claims

1-10. -10. (canceled)

11. A method for assigning frequency bands on a cellular network deployed in a geographical area, the cellular network including a plurality of network nodes each including at least one antenna having a corresponding radiation pattern and configured to activate transmission links between pairs of corresponding network nodes to exchange traffic, the method comprising, in response to assessment of a new transmission link to be activated between a first network node and a second network node:

retrieving an indication of coordinates of the first and second network nodes within the geographical area;

retrieving an indication of resource sharing clusters of the cellular network, each resource sharing cluster comprising a group of transmission links considered as potentially cause of transmission collisions to each other;

selecting a set of the resource sharing clusters according to a comparison of the coordinates of the first network node with the coordinates of the network nodes corresponding to the transmission links of the resource sharing clusters;

if the selected set of resource sharing clusters is not empty, carrying out a)-c);

a) identifying possible transmission collisions between the new transmission link and the transmission links of the selected set of resource sharing clusters according to a comparison of the coordinates of the network nodes corresponding to the transmission links of the selected set of resource sharing clusters with the radiation pattern of the first network node;

b) assigning one of the frequency bands to the new transmission link according to the identification of the possible transmission collisions;

c) activating the new transmission link by exploiting the assigned frequency band.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein if the selected set of resource sharing clusters is not empty, and a possible transmission collision is identified between the new transmission link and a transmission link of a selected resource sharing cluster of the selected set of resource sharing clusters, the method further comprises inserting the new transmission link in the selected resource sharing cluster.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein, if the selected set of resource sharing clusters is not empty, and a possible transmission collision is identified between the new transmission link and a transmission link of a selected resource sharing cluster of the selected set of resource sharing clusters, the assigning one of the frequency bands to the new transmission link comprises assigning the frequency band by sharing it with the transmission links of the selected resource sharing cluster.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein, if one of the following two conditions i) ii) is verified:

i) the selected set of resource sharing clusters is empty,

ii) the selected set of resource sharing clusters is not empty, but no possible transmission collision is identified;

the method further comprises generating a new resource sharing cluster comprising the new transmission link.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein if one of the conditions i), ii) is verified, the method further comprises:

assigning an available frequency band among the frequency bands to the new transmission link; and

activating the new transmission link by exploiting the assigned frequency band.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein:

each pair of network nodes corresponding to a transmission link comprises a transmitting node and a receiving node, the first network node being a transmitting node and the second network node being a receiving node;

the comparison of the coordinates of the network nodes corresponding to the transmission links of the selected set of resource sharing clusters with the radiation pattern of the first network node comprises, for at least one of the transmission links of the selected set of resource sharing clusters;

calculating a first distance between the receiving node corresponding to the transmission link and a straight line connecting the first network node with the second network node;

comparing the first distance with an interference distance threshold;

identifying a possible transmission collision based on the comparison between the first distance and the interference distance threshold.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising calculating the interference distance threshold based on:

a second distance between the first network node and a projection of the receiving node corresponding to the transmission link on the straight line connecting the first network node and the second network node;

a directivity of the antenna of the first network node;

a directivity of the antenna of the receiving node corresponding to the transmission link.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the frequency bands comprise at least one frequency band corresponding to mm-wave frequency range.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the network nodes of the plurality of network nodes comprise fixed transceiver stations and mobile user equipment.

20. A cellular network deployed in a geographical area, comprising:

a plurality of network nodes each including at least one antenna having a corresponding radiation pattern and configured to activate transmission links between pairs of corresponding network nodes to exchange traffic;

a controller module configured to carry out the following sequence of operations in response to the assessment of a new transmission link to be activated between a first network node and a second network node;

retrieving an indication of coordinates of the first and second network nodes within the geographical area;

retrieving an indication of resource sharing clusters of the cellular network, each resource sharing cluster comprising a group of transmission links considered as potentially cause of transmission collisions to each other;

selecting a set of the resource sharing clusters according to a comparison of the coordinates of the first network node with the coordinates of the network nodes corresponding to the transmission links of the resource sharing clusters;

if the selected set of resource sharing clusters is not empty, carrying out a)-c);

a) identifying possible transmission collisions between the new transmission link and the transmission links of the selected set of resource sharing clusters according to a comparison of the coordinates of the network nodes corresponding to the transmission links of the selected set of resource sharing clusters with the radiation pattern of the first network node;

b) assigning one of the frequency bands to the new transmission link according to the identification of the possible transmission collisions;

c) activating the new transmission link by exploiting the assigned frequency band.