Wireless network resource allocation

• US 6,459,901 B1
• Filed: 12/03/1999
• Issued: 10/01/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sollenberger, Nelson Ray, Qiu, Xiaoxin, Chawla, Kapil K., Chuang, Justin Che-I
• Primary Examiner(s): Trost, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Simon
• Application Number:
  US09/453,566
• Time in Patent Office: 1,033 Days
• Field of Search: 455/422, 455/450, 455/451, 455/452, 455/453, 455/454, 455/509, 455/515, 455/62-63, 455/67.1, 455/67.3, 455/423, 455/424, 370/341
• US Class Current: 455/450
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/20 between access points

Abstract

This invention provides wireless resource allocation techniques where the wireless network resource allocation is based on maximum system gain. System gain may be the difference between a maximum performance (e.g., throughput rate) for a requested link and a performance loss of all currently active links affected by the requested link. A currently active link is affected if the requested link is within its link neighborhood. Wireless network resources are allocated to optimize system performance. Inter-base communication may be used to facilitate information exchange among base stations to optimize system performance. The performance loss experienced by any currently active link is called damage to that link. Damage may be determined in a pair-wise fashion based on a nominal performance which may be defined as the performance of a link if interference is experienced only from links which are outside the link neighborhood of the link or as a system parameter. The damage is the difference between the nominal performance and the performance for the link if experiencing interference only from the requested link. Determining damage is computationally efficient because it only requires consideration of the nominal performance and the performance of the requested link. Link neighborhoods limit inter-base station communications and reduces base station interconnect costs.

Claims

1. A method for allocating wireless communication network resources of a wireless network system that includes a plurality of base stations, the method comprising:

generating an estimate of a first system performance for a first system state based on information exchanged between two or more base stations of the wireless network system;

generating an estimate of a second system performance that includes an estimate of a damaged system performance caused by a change to the first system state to form a second system state; and

changing to the second system state if the estimate of the second system performance exceeds the estimate of the first system performance by a gain threshold, wherein the generating an estimate of a second system performance comprises;

selecting a group of system parameters;

permuting the group of system parameters through possible values to generate a plurality of possible system states;

generating estimate of damaged system performances based on link quality parameters, each of the damaged system performances corresponding to one of the possible system states based on one or more system parameters that are not changed;

generating estimates of possible system performances based on the link quality parameters, each of the possible system performances corresponding to one of the possible system states, based on one or more system parameters that are changed; and

setting the second system performance to a largest one of differences between the possible system performances and the damaged system performances for each of the corresponding possible system states.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the link quality parameters includes signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratios, block error rate, frame error rate and bit error rate measure.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein system performance is measured by one or more communication parameters including throughput, power consumption, transmission power, error rate, predetermined bit rate, end-to-end delay and noise.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the system performance is measured by throughput, the generating an estimate of the first system performance comprising:

generating the link quality parameters for a portion of currently active links in the system based on power and path gain measurements for mobile wireless devices associated with the portion of currently active links;

generating current throughput estimates for the portion of currently active links based on the link quality parameters and current modes assigned to the portion of currently active links; and

summing the current throughput estimates to obtain a current system throughput estimate as the estimate of the first system performance.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving a request for resource allocation for a user;

selecting available channels as one of the system parameters;

permuting a selected link to the user through the available channels, each permutation of the link through an available channel corresponding to one of the possible system states;

selecting one of the available channels that corresponds to an optimum system performance, or none of the available channels if an optimum system performance cannot be obtained, for the selected link.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the generating the estimate of the damaged system performance comprises:

generating permutation link quality parameters corresponding to permutations of the selected link through the available channels based on power and path gain measurements for mobile wireless devices associated with the portion of currently active links having link neighborhoods that include the selected link, and assuming that the selected link is allocated resources of the wireless network system;

generating current system performance estimates for the portion of currently active links corresponding to the permutations of the selected link through the available channels based on the permutation link quality parameters and modes assigned to the portion of currently active links;

generating system performance damage estimates by subtracting the current system performance estimates from estimates of nominal system performances; and

setting the estimate of the damaged system performance to a sum of the system performance damage estimates.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the nominal system performance includes one of a performance of a first link having interference only from a second link that is outside a link neighborhood of the first link, a specified system parameter, or a parameter generated based on an audio or video codec rate.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the generating an estimate of possible system performances comprises:

generating possible link quality parameters corresponding to the available channels for the selected link; and

generating estimates of the possible system performances for the selected link based on the possible link parameters corresponding to the available channels for the selected link to the user.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

generating differences between the estimates of the possible system performances and the estimate of the damaged system performances;

selecting a largest difference from the differences; and

assigning an available channel corresponding to the largest difference to the selected link if the largest difference exceeds the gain threshold.

10. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

selecting available channels as one of the system parameters;

selecting one of the currently active links as a selected link;

permuting the selected link through the available channels, each permutation of the selected link through an available channel corresponding to one of the possible system states;

selecting one of the available channels that corresponds to an optimum system performance for the link.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the generating the estimates of the damaged system performances comprises:

generating permutation link quality parameters corresponding to permutations of the selected link through the available channels based on power and path gain measurements for mobile wireless devices associated with a portion of currently active links;

generating current system performance estimates for a portion of non- selected currently active links corresponding to the permutations of the selected link through the available channels based on the permutation link quality and modes assigned to the portion of currently active links, the portion of currently active links having link neighborhoods that include the selected link;

generating system performance damage estimates by subtracting the current system performance estimates from estimates of nominal system performances for the portion of the non-selected currently active links; and

setting the estimates of the damaged system performances to a sum of the system performance damage estimates.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

generating differences between the estimates of the possible system performances and the estimate of the damaged system performances;

selecting a largest difference of the differences; and

assigning an available channel corresponding to the largest difference to the selected link if the largest difference exceeds the gain threshold.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the generating estimates of possible system performances comprises:

generating link quality parameters of the selected link corresponding to the available channels for the selected link; and

generating the estimates of possible system performances for the selected link based on the link quality parameters of the selected link corresponding to the available channels for the selected link.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimates of the first and the second performances are generated based on link neighborhoods, each of the link neighborhoods being defined by one or more of geographically, interference and/or noise thresholds, and N largest interference and/or noise sources.

15. A wireless communication system that includes a plurality of base stations, comprising:

a wireless network interface;

a network interface; and

a controller coupled to the wireless network interface and the network interface, the controller generates an estimate of a first system performance for a first system state based information exchanged between two or more base stations of the wireless network system, generates an estimate of a second system performance that includes an estimate of a damaged system performance caused by a change to the first system state to form a second system state, and changes to the second system state if the estimate of the second system performance exceeds the estimate of the first system performance by a gain threshold,

wherein the controller selects a group of system parameters, permutes the group of system parameters through possible values to generate a plurality of possible system states, generates estimates of damaged system performances based on link quality parameters, each of the damaged system performances corresponding to one of the possible system states based on one or more system parameters that are not changed, generates estimates of possible system performances, each of the possible system performances corresponding to one of the possible system states based on one or more system parameters that are changed, and sets the second system performance to a largest one of differences between the possible system performances and the damaged system performances for each of the corresponding possible system states.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the link quality parameters includes signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratios, block error rate, frame error rate and bit error rate measure.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein system performance is measured by one or more communication parameters including throughput, power consumption, transmission power, error rate, predetermined bit rate, end-to-end delay and noise.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the system performance is measured by throughput, the controller generating the link quality parameters for a portion of currently active links in the system based on power and path gain measurements for mobile wireless devices associated with the portion of currently active links, generating current throughput estimates for the portion of currently active links based on the link quality parameters and current modes assigned to the portion of currently active links, and summing the current throughput estimates to obtain a current system throughput estimate as the current system performance.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the controller receives a request for resource allocation from a user, selects available channels as one of the system parameters, permutes a selected link to the user through the available channels, each permutation of the link through an available channel corresponding to one of the possible system states, selects one of the available channels that corresponds to an optimum system performance, or none of the available channels if the optimum system performance cannot be obtained, for the selected link.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the controller generates permutation link quality parameters corresponding to permutations of the link through the available channels based on power and path gain measurements for mobile wireless devices associated with the portion of currently active links having link neighborhoods that include the selected link, and assuming that the selected link is allocated resources of the wireless network system, generates current system performance estimates for the portion of currently active links corresponding to the permutations of the link through the available channels based on the permutation link quality parameters and modes assigned to the portion of currently active links, generates system performance damage estimates by subtracting the current system performance estimates from estimates of nominal system performances, and sets the estimate of the damaged system performance to a sum of the system performance damage estimates.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the nominal system performance includes one of a performance of a first link having interference only from a second link that is outside a link neighborhood of the first link, a specified system parameter, or a parameter generated based on an audio or video codec rate.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the controller generates permutation link quality parameters corresponding to permutations of the selected link through the available channels based on power and path gain measurements for mobile wireless devices associated with a portion of currently active links, generates current system performance estimates for a portion of non-selected currently active links corresponding to the permutations of the selected link through the available channels based on the permutation link quality parameters and modes assigned to the portion of currently active links, generates system performance damage estimates by subtracting the current system performance estimates from estimates of nominal system performances for the portion of non-selected currently active links, and sets the estimates of the damaged system performances to a sum of the system performance damage estimates, the portion of currently active links having link neighborhoods that include the selected link.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the controller generates differences between the estimates of the possible system performances and the estimate of the damaged system performances, selects a largest difference of the differences, and assigns an available channel corresponding to the largest difference to the selected link if the largest difference exceeds the gain threshold.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein the controller generates possible link quality parameters corresponding to the available channels for the selected link, and generates estimates of possible system performances for the selected link based on the possible link quality parameters corresponding to the available channels for the selected link.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the controller generates differences between the estimates of the possible system performances and the estimates of the damaged system performances, selects a largest difference from the differences and assigns an available channel corresponding to the largest difference to the selected link if the largest difference exceeds the gain threshold.

26. The system of claim 17, wherein the controller selects available channels as one of the system parameters, selects one of the currently active links as a selected link, permutes the selected link through the available channels, each permutation of the selected link through an available channel corresponding to one of the possible system states, and selects one of the available channels that corresponds to an optimum system performance for the link.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the controller generates link quality parameters corresponding to the available channels for the selected link, and generates estimates of the possible system performances for the selected link based on the link quality parameters corresponding to the available channels for the selected link.

28. The system of claim 15, wherein the estimates of the first and the second performances are generated based on link neighborhoods, each of the link neighborhoods being defined by one or more of geographically, interference and/or noise thresholds, and N largest interference and/or noise sources.