Method and device for maintaining the performance quality of a communication system in the presence of narrow band interference

• US 8,576,808 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2012
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ISCO International Inc.
• Original Assignee: ISCO International Inc.
• Inventors: Jagger, Charles E., Willetts, Mark N., Tobia, Micolino
• Primary Examiner(s): Hamza, Faruk
• Assistant Examiner(s): DECKER, CASSANDRA L
• Application Number:
  US13/551,440
• Publication Number:
  US 20120282919A1
• Time in Patent Office: 476 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/335
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/10 Means associated with receiver for limiting or suppressing noise or interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1036 with automatic suppression of narrow band noise or interference, e.g. by using tuneable notch filters H04B1/123 takes precedence; filter circuits H03H
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/71 the interference being narrowband interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/7103 the interference being multiple access interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 15/00 Suppression or limitation of noise or interference by means associated with receiver H04B1/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/1063 using a notch filter
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2201/709709 Methods of preventing interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2201/709718 Determine interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/005 Control of transmission; Equalising
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/04 Error control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/20 Negotiating bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/243 taking into account interferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/245 taking into account received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 : using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 : using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 : Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 : Access point devices

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method for analyzing a wide frequency band with respect to signal power levels in specified narrow frequency bands, detecting narrow band signal power levels received in the specified narrow frequency bands, determining an average composite wideband power level from the narrow band signal power levels, and determining an adaptive threshold from the narrow band signal power levels for detecting narrow band interferers in the wide frequency band. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

analyzing a wide frequency band with respect to signal power levels in specified narrow frequency bands;

detecting narrow band signal power levels received in the specified narrow frequency bands;

determining an average wideband power level from the narrow band signal power levels; and

determining an adaptive threshold from the narrow band signal power levels for detecting narrow band interferers in the wide frequency band,

wherein the adaptive threshold is calculated without utilizing a subset of signal power levels of the narrow band signal power levels, and

wherein the subset of signal power levels includes a group of highest power levels corresponding to a number of channels that equals a number of notch modules of a filter for filtering narrow band interferers.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising detecting the narrow band interferers according to the adaptive threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting of the narrow band signal power levels received in the specified narrow frequency bands is performed in a sequential order of the specified narrow frequency bands.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the adaptive threshold has a power level that exceeds the average wideband power level.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising deassigning notch modules from the narrow band interferers based on a hysteresis function.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified narrow frequency bands are selected based on an interference probability determined from historical information associated with the specified narrow frequency bands.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising detecting a plurality of narrow band interferers having power levels that exceed the adaptive threshold, wherein the detecting of the narrow band signal power levels includes applying frequency shifting to a portion of the wide frequency band to generate RSSI measurements.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the analyzing of the wide frequency band, the detecting of the narrow band signal power levels, the determining of the average wideband power level, and the determining of the adaptive threshold are performed by a base station.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the base station is a cellular base station.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein an order of channel scanning is selected based on an interference probability determined from historical information associated with the specified narrow frequency bands.

11. A device, comprising:

a radio frequency receiver;

a circuit coupled to the radio frequency receiver, wherein execution of instructions by the circuit causes the circuit to perform operations comprising;

causing the radio frequency receiver to scan a wide frequency band;

measuring power levels in narrow frequency bands from signals provided by the radio frequency receiver;

determining a wideband power level from at least a portion of the power levels in the narrow frequency bands;

determining a threshold from the at least a portion of the power levels in the narrow frequency bands, wherein the threshold is calculated without utilizing a subset of signal power levels of the at least a portion of the power levels in the narrow frequency bands, wherein the subset of signal power levels corresponds to a number of channels that equals a number of notch modules of a filter for filtering narrow band interference; and

detecting from the signals the narrow band interference according to the threshold.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the device is a base station, and wherein the narrow frequency bands are selected based on an interference probability determined from historical information associated with the narrow frequency bands.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the base station comprises a cellular base station.

14. The device of claim 11, wherein the circuit comprises a processor, wherein the instructions comprise computer instructions executed by the processor.

15. The device of claim 11, wherein the circuit further performs operations comprising updating the threshold, the wideband power level, or both according to subsequent measurements of power levels in the narrow frequency bands.

16. The device of claim 11, wherein deassigning the notch modules from narrow band interferers is controlled by a hysteresis function,

wherein the operations further comprise collecting interference data for a particular channel satisfying the threshold until the threshold is no longer satisfied.

17. The device of claim 11, wherein the detecting from the signals the narrow band interference comprises detecting a plurality of narrow band interferers having power levels that exceed the threshold.

18. The device of claim 11, wherein the subset of signal power levels is a group of highest power levels of the at least a portion of the power levels in the narrow frequency bands.

19. A memory device, comprising instructions, which when executed by a circuit, cause the circuit to perform operations comprising:

scanning at least some narrowband channels disposed in a wideband communication signal;

determining signal strengths in the at least some of the narrowband channels;

determining a threshold based on the signal strengths in the at least some of the narrowband channels,

wherein the threshold is calculated without utilizing a subset of signal power levels of the at least some narrowband channels, wherein the subset of signal power levels corresponds to a number of channels that equals a number of notch modules of a filter for filtering narrow band interference; and

detecting narrow band interference in the wideband communication signal according to the threshold.

20. The memory device of claim 19, wherein the subset of signal power levels is a group of highest power levels of the at least some narrowband channels, and wherein the at least some of the narrowband channels are selected based on an interference probability determined from historical information associated with the at least some of the narrowband channels.