Method and system for adaptive modification of cell boundary

• US 7,822,413 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2006
• Issued: 10/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Xylon LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Durham Logistics LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Brunner, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Phu; Sanh D
• Application Number:
  US11/469,031
• Publication Number:
  US 20070109999A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,517 Days
• Field of Search: 455/67.11, 455/63.1, 455/522, 455/436, 455/63.2, 455/67.13, 455/442, 455/422.1
• US Class Current: 455/422.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/06 Hybrid resource partitioning, e.g. channel borrowing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/08 Load shedding arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/20 for optimising the interference level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/22 for handling the traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/143 Downlink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/241 taking into account channel quality metrics, e.g. SIR, SNR, CIR, Eb/lo
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/243 taking into account interferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/283 Power depending on the position of the mobile
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/325 Power control of control or pilot channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/343 taking into account loading or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/40 during macro-diversity or soft handoff

Abstract

A method and system for reducing interference in a cellular radio communications network. At least one parameter affecting user terminals within a cell is adjusted such that the cell boundary is modified, such that interference in the network is reduced. In alternative embodiments the at least one parameter is adjusted adaptively.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

identifying two mutually interfering terminals associated with at least two corresponding cells;

modifying at least one parameter of at least one cell associated with at least one of the two mutually interfering terminals; and

restoring the at least one parameter to a value prior to the modifying responsive to detecting that one of the two mutually interfering terminals leaves any of the at least two corresponding cells.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising adaptively adjusting the at least one parameter.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein adaptively adjusting the at least one parameter includes:

determining, from among the at least two corresponding cells serving the two mutually interfering terminals, a cell that is providing the least resources; and

modifying a cell boundary of the cell providing the least resources, such that neither of the two mutually interfering terminals are served by the cell providing the least resources.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

adaptively adjusting the at least one parameter of one of the at least two corresponding cells, thereby modifying a cell boundary of the two corresponding cells, such that the two mutually interfering terminals are no longer served by the one of the at least two corresponding cells.

5. The method of claim 3,

wherein the at least one parameter includes pilot power;

and

wherein modifying the cell boundary reduces total pilot power transmitted from the at least two corresponding cells.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the adaptively adjusting the at least one parameter includes:

determining that at least one of the two mutually interfering terminals is being served by two of the at least two corresponding cells that provide substantially equal resources; and

adaptively adjusting at least one parameter of a randomly selected cell from among the two of the at least two corresponding cells, thereby modifying a cell boundary of the two of the at least two corresponding cells, such that the at least one terminal is served by the randomly selected cell.

7. The method of claim 6,

wherein the at least one parameter of the randomly selected cell includes pilot power;

and

wherein modifying the cell boundary of the two of the at least two corresponding cells reduces total pilot power transmitted from the at least two corresponding cells.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one parameter includes an antenna parameter.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the antenna parameter includes one selected from the group consisting of an antenna downtilt, an antenna azimuth, an antenna pattern, an antenna height, and an antenna location.

10. A method, comprising:

identifying two mutually interfering terminals associated with at least two distinct cells;

causing an adjustment of at least one parameter associated with at least one of the at least two cells responsive to identifying the two mutually interfering terminals such that the at least one of the at least two cells serves the two mutually interfering terminals; and

causing a restoration of the least one parameter to a value prior to the adjustment responsive to detecting that one of the two mutually interfering terminals is no longer served by either of the at least two cells.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one parameter is selected from the group consisting of an antenna downtilt, an antenna direction, an antenna pattern, an antenna height, or an antenna location.

12. A cellular radio communications network, comprising:

at least one base station controller; and

a plurality of base stations configured to be controlled by the at least one base station controller;

wherein the at least one base station controller is configured to cause modification of a boundary of a cell associated with one or more of the plurality of base stations such that the cell serves at least two mutually interfering terminals previously served by two distinct cells;

wherein one or more of the plurality of base stations are configured to provide the two distinct cells and are controlled by different ones of the at least one base station controller; and

wherein at least one parameter of the cell is adjusted at different ones of the at least one base station controller.

13. The cellular radio communications network of claim 12, wherein the base station controller is further configured to redistribute a cell load to reduce the interference.

14. The cellular radio communications network of claim 12,

wherein one or more of the plurality of base stations are configured to provide the two distinct cells and are controlled by a common one of the at least one base station controller.

15. The cellular radio communications network of claim 12,

wherein one or more of the plurality of base stations are configured to provide the two distinct cells and are controlled by different ones of the at least one base station controller.

16. The cellular radio communications network of claim 12, wherein the at least one base station controller is configured to modify the boundary of the cell by adjusting at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of a pilot power, an antenna elevation, an antenna azimuth, an antenna pattern, an antenna height, or an antenna location.

17. A cellular radio communications network, comprising:

a plurality of cells configured to communicate with a plurality of terminals; and

a controller configured to modify at least one parameter associated with at least one of the plurality of cells responsive to identifying two or more mutually interfering terminals such that the at least one of the plurality of cells is configured to communicate with the two or more mutually interfering terminals after modifying the at least one parameter and configured to restore the least one parameter to a value prior to the modification responsive to detecting that one of the two or more mutually interfering terminals is no longer served by the at least one of the plurality of cells.

18. The cellular radio communications network of claim 17, wherein the at least one parameter is selected from the group consisting of an antenna elevation, an antenna azimuth, an antenna pattern, antenna height, or at least one antenna location.

19. A machine-readable medium having one or more executable instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computing device, caused the computing device to perform operations comprising:

identifying two mutually interfering terminals associated with at least two corresponding cells;

modifying at least one parameter of at least one cell associated with at least one of the two mutually interfering terminals; and

restoring the at least one parameter to a value prior to the modifying responsive to detecting that one of the two mutually interfering terminals leaves any of the at least two corresponding cells.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the operations further comprise adaptively adjusting the at least one parameter.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 20, wherein adaptively adjusting the at least one parameter includes:

determining, from among the at least two corresponding cells serving the two mutually interfering terminals, a cell that is providing the least resources; and

modifying a cell boundary of the cell providing the least resources, such that neither of the two mutually interfering terminals are served by the cell providing the least resource.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the operations further comprise:

adaptively adjusting the at least one parameter of one of the at least two corresponding cells, thereby modifying a cell boundary of the at least two corresponding cells, such that the two mutually interfering terminals are no longer served by the one of the at least two corresponding cells.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 22,

wherein the at least one parameter includes pilot power;

and

wherein modifying the cell boundary reduces total pilot power transmitted from the at least two corresponding cells.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 20, wherein adaptively adjusting the at least one parameter includes:

determining that at least one of the two mutually interfering terminals is being served by two of the at least two corresponding cells that provide substantially equal resources; and

adaptively adjusting at least one parameter of a randomly selected cell from among the at least two corresponding cells, thereby modifying a cell boundary of the at least two corresponding cells, such that the at least one terminal is served by the randomly selected cell.

25. The machine-readable medium of claim 24,

wherein the at least one parameter of the randomly selected cell includes pilot power;

and

wherein modifying the cell boundary of the two of the at least two corresponding cells reduces total pilot power transmitted from the at least two corresponding cells.

26. The machine-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the at least one parameter includes an antenna parameter.

27. The machine-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the antenna parameter includes one selected from the group consisting of an antenna elevation, an antenna azimuth, an antenna pattern, an antenna height, and an antenna location.

28. A machine-readable medium having one or more executable instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computing device, caused the computing device to perform operations comprising:

identifying two mutually interfering terminals associated with at least two cells;

causing an adjustment of at least one parameter associated with at least one antenna associated with one of the at least two cells responsive to identifying the two mutually interfering terminals such that the one of the at least two cells serves the two mutually interfering terminals; and

causing a restoration of the least one parameter to a value prior to the adjustment responsive to detecting that one of the two mutually interfering terminals is no longer served by either of the at least two cells.

29. The machine-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the operations further comprise increasing network capacity by redistributing a cell load.

30. The machine-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the at least one parameter is selected from the group consisting of an antenna elevation, an antenna azimuth, an antenna pattern, an antenna height, or an antenna location.