Method and device for controlling radio access

• US 7,991,413 B2
• Filed: 10/07/2009
• Issued: 08/02/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Katajainen, Pasi, Kiukkonen, Niko, Kasslin, Mika, Honkanen, Mauri
• Primary Examiner(s): FERGUSON, KEITH
• Application Number:
  US12/575,025
• Publication Number:
  US 20100029215A1
• Time in Patent Office: 664 Days
• Field of Search: 455/550.1, 455/501, 455/552.1, 455/553.1, 455/500, 455/67.11, 455/422.1, 455/403, 455/426.1, 455/426.2, 455/435.1, 455/435.2, 455/455, 455/466, 455/515, 455/67.13, 455/68, 455/69, 455/517, 455/41.1, 455/41.2, 370/310, 370/329, 370/328, 370/343
• US Class Current: 455/501
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1027 assessing signal quality or detecting noise/interference for the received signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3805 with built-in auxiliary receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 15/00 Suppression or limitation of noise or interference by means associated with receiver H04B1/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/346 distributing total power among users or channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/50 at the moment of starting communication in a multiple access environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A method for controlling a number of simultaneous radio connections in a communication device is presented. The control of a number of simultaneous radio connections is carried out in the communication device. Parameters of the radio connections are controlled such that interference between the radio connections is minimized.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining an interference between radio parameters of an existing radio connection and radio parameters of a new radio connection created,

wherein the radio parameters comprise at least one of frequency, time, and space domain parameters, and

wherein the existing radio connection utilizes a radio access technology different from a radio access technology of the new radio connection;

adjusting at least one of frequency and space domain radio parameters of the existing radio connection so as to reduce interference between the at least one existing radio connection and the new radio connection; and

initiating establishment of the new radio connection after the adjustment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the adjustment further comprises releasing radio parameters of the at least one existing radio connection for the new radio connection to use.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining the parameters of the new connection such that the new radio connection does not use the same radio resources as the existing radio connection.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the parameters of the new connection are defined such that the new radio connection does not transmit or receive data at a same time as the existing radio connection.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the parameters of the new connection are defined such that the new radio connection does not transmit or receive data at a same frequency band as the existing radio connection.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, whether the new connection may be allocated with at least partly the same radio resources as the existing connection with a tolerable level of interference between the new connection and the existing connection;

defining the parameters of the new connection such that the new radio connection uses at least partly the same radio resources as the existing radio connection, when it has been determined that the new connection and the existing connection may be allocated with at least partly the same radio resources.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the existing radio connection and the new radio connection employ the same radio access technology.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adjusting the parameters of the existing radio connection in order to minimize interference between the new radio connection and the existing radio connection.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of whether or not the existing radio connection and the new radio connection interfere with one another is based on pre-information on properties of the existing radio connection and the new radio connection.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of whether or not the existing radio connection and the new radio connection interfere with one another is based on detected or measured properties of the existing radio connection.

11. A method, comprising:

detecting interference between two simultaneous operating radio connections in a communication device;

comparing transmission timings of one other radio connection to determine whether a poor performance in at least one of the two radio connections is due to simultaneous transmission; and

adjusting at least one parameter of at least one radio connection of the two radio connections so that interference between the at least two radio connections is reduced when interference is determined due to the simultaneous transmission.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

monitoring properties describing a performance of the radio connections in order to detect interference between the at least two radio connections.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

adjusting the at least one parameter of the at least one radio connection such that the two radio connections do not use the same radio resources.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

adjusting parameters of the at least one radio connection such that the two radio connections interfering with one another use at least partially the same radio resources, when not enough radio resources are available for the two radio connections.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

adjusting the parameters of the radio connections that use at least partially the same radio resources in order for the radio connections to sustain interference.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

terminating or putting on a stand-by state the at least one radio connection when the two radio connections cannot be arranged to operate simultaneously.

17. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory including computer program code,

the memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to create at least one radio connection as an existing radio connection,

process a request to create a new radio connection,

determine whether or not the existing radio connection utilizing a first radio access technology and the new radio connection being created and utilizing a second radio access technology interfere with one another on the basis of comparison of radio parameters of the existing radio connection and the new radio connection, wherein the radio parameters relate to at least one of frequency, time, and space domain parameters,

adjust at least one of frequency domain and space domain radio parameters of the existing radio connection so as to reduce interference between the existing radio connection and the new radio connection, when it has been determined that the creation of the new radio connection will cause too high interference between the radio connections, and

establish the new radio connection after the adjustment of the at least one radio parameter of the existing radio connection.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory and the computer program code further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to carry out the adjustment by releasing radio parameters of the at least one existing radio connection for the new radio connection to use.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory and the computer program code further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to define the parameters of the new radio connection such that the new radio connection does not use the same radio resources as the existing radio connection.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the memory and the computer program code further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to define the parameters of the new radio connection such that the new radio connection is not transmitting or receiving data at a same time as the existing radio connection.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the memory and the computer program code further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to define the parameters of the new radio connection such that the new radio connection does not transmit or receive data at a same frequency band as the existing radio connection.

22. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory and the computer program code further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to determine, whether the new connection may be allocated with at least partly the same radio resources as the existing connection with a tolerable level of interference between the new connection and the existing connection, and to define the parameters of the new connection such that the new radio connection uses at least partly the same radio resources as the existing radio connection, when it has been determined that the new connection and the existing connection may be allocated with at least partly the same radio resources.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory and the computer program code further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to create radio connections which employ the same radio access technology.

24. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory and the computer program code further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to adjust the parameters of the existing radio connection in order to minimize interference between the new radio connection and the existing radio connection.

25. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory and the computer program code further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to determine, whether or not the existing radio connection and the new radio connection interfere with one another, based on pre-information on properties of the existing radio connection and the new radio connection.

26. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory and the computer program code further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to determine, whether or not the existing radio connection and the new radio connection interfere with one another, based on detected or measured properties of the existing radio connection.

27. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory and the computer program code further configured to, with the processor, cause the communication device at least to assign the same frequency and time resources to the new radio connection and the existing radio connection when it is determined that utilization of the same frequency and time resources results in tolerable level of interference between the existing radio connection and the new radio connection.

28. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the apparatus is a communication device.

29. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the apparatus is a mobile communication device.

30. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory including computer program code,

the memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to

monitor properties of the radio connections in order to detect interference between at least two radio connections, wherein the radio connections operate simultaneously,

compare, upon detection of poor performance in at least one of the at least two radio connections, transmission timings of at least one other radio connection in order to determine whether or not the poor performance in the at least one of the at least two radio connections is linked to simultaneous transmission, and

adjust at least one parameter of at least one radio connection so that the interference between the at least two radio connections is reduced, when interference linked to the simultaneous transmission between the at least two radio connections is determined to exist.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the memory and the computer program code further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to monitor properties describing a performance of the radio connections in order to detect interference between the at least two radio connections.

32. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the memory and the computer program code further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to adjust the at least one parameter of at least one radio connection of the at least two radio connections in a way that the at least two radio connections do not use the same radio resources.

33. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the memory and the computer program code further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to adjust parameters of at least one radio connection of the at least two radio connections such that the at least two radio connections interfering with one another use at least partially the same radio resources, when there are not enough radio resources available for the at least two radio connections.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the memory and the computer program code further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to adjust the parameters of the at least two radio connections using at least partially the same radio resources in order for the at least two radio connections to sustain interference.

35. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the memory and the computer program code further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to terminate or put on a stand-by state at least one radio connection of the at least two radio connections when the at least two radio connections interfering with one another cannot be arranged to operate simultaneously.

36. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the memory and the computer program code further configured to, with the processor, cause the communication device at least to assign the same frequency and time resources to the two radio connections when it is determined that utilization of the same frequency and time resources results in tolerable level of interference between the radio connections.

37. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the apparatus is a communication device.

38. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the apparatus is a mobile communication device.

39. An apparatus, comprising:

determining means for determining an interference between radio parameters of an existing radio connection and the radio parameters of a new radio connection created,

wherein the radio parameters comprise at least one of frequency, time, and space domain parameters, and

wherein the existing radio connection utilizes a radio access technology different from a radio access technology of the new radio connection;

adjusting means for initiating an adjustment of at least one of frequency domain and space domain radio parameters of the existing radio connection so as to reduce interference between the existing radio connection and the new radio connection; and

initiating means for initiating establishment of the new radio connection after the adjustment.

40. An apparatus, comprising:

communication means to provide at least two radio connections;

monitoring means for monitoring properties of the radio connections in order to detect interference between at least two radio connections, wherein the radio connections operate simultaneously;

comparing means for comparing, upon detection of poor performance in at least one of the at least two radio connections, transmission timings of at least one other radio connection in order to determine whether or not the poor performance in the at least one of the at least two radio connections is linked to simultaneous transmission; and

adjusting means for causing adjusting of at least one parameter of at least one radio connection of the at least two radio connections so that the interference between the at least two radio connections is reduced, when interference linked to the simultaneous transmission between the at least two radio connections is determined to exist.

41. A computer program distribution medium readable by a computer and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process, comprising:

determining an interference between radio parameters of an existing radio connection and radio parameters of a new radio connection created,

wherein the radio parameters comprise at least one of frequency, time, and space domain parameters, and

wherein the existing radio connection utilizes a radio access technology different from a radio access technology of the new radio connection;

adjusting at least one of frequency and space domain radio parameters of the existing radio connection so as to reduce interference between the at least one existing radio connection and the new radio connection; and

initiating establishment of the new radio connection after the adjustment.

42. The computer program distribution medium of claim 41, the distribution medium comprising at least one of a computer readable medium, a program storage medium, a record medium, a computer readable memory, a computer readable software distribution package, a computer readable signal, a computer readable telecommunications signal, and a computer readable compressed software package.

43. A computer program distribution medium readable by a computer and encoding a computer program of instructions for executing a computer process, comprising:

detecting interference between two simultaneous operating radio connections in a communication device;

comparing transmission timings of one other radio connection to determine whether a poor performance in at least one of the two radio connections is due to simultaneous transmission; and

adjusting at least one parameter of at least one radio connection of the two radio connections so that interference between the at least two radio connections is reduced when interference is determined due to the simultaneous transmission.

44. The computer program distribution medium of claim 43, the distribution medium comprising at least one of a computer readable medium, a program storage medium, a record medium, a computer readable memory, a computer readable software distribution package, a computer readable signal, a computer readable telecommunications signal, and a computer readable compressed software package.