Cell load balancing method, cell load measuring method, and devices thereof

• US 8,676,186 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2011
• Issued: 03/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snaptrack Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Niu, Weiguo
• Primary Examiner(s): WASHINGTON, ERIKA ALISE
• Application Number:
  US13/069,802
• Publication Number:
  US 20110171952A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,091 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 455/422.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0861 between base stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/22 for handling the traffic

Abstract

A cell load balancing method, a cell load measuring method, and devices thereof are provided. The cell load balancing method includes: acquiring information of the load of a current cell and information of the load an adjacent cell; determining a target cell in which a mobility parameter needs to be modified thereof according to the information of the load of the current cell and the information of the load of the adjacent cell; sending a parameter modification request to the determined target cell; and performing a corresponding operation according to information indicating whether the parameter is successfully modified and fed back from the adjacent cell. With the above solution, a load balancing solution can be better implemented in a network, thereby improving a capacity of the network, improving a success rate of user access, and reducing access delay.

Claims

1. A cell load balancing method, comprising:

acquiring information of load of a current cell and information of load of an adjacent cell;

determining a target cell in which a mobility parameter needs to be modified according to the information of the load of the current cell and the information of the load of the adjacent cell;

sending a parameter modification request to the determined target cell; and

performing a corresponding operation according to information indicating whether the mobility parameter is successfully modified and feedback from the adjacent cell;

wherein the mobility parameter contains one or more of a cell handover parameter or a cell reselection parameter;

wherein the acquiring the information of the load of the adjacent cell comprises;

sending a resource status request message carrying an indication parameter to the adjacent cell, wherein the indication parameter is configured to indicate that the adjacent cell reports the information of the load if an event threshold is satisfied, or that the adjacent cell reports the information of the load if a report period is reached and an event threshold is satisfied; and

receiving the information of the load sent from the adjacent cell; and

wherein the sending the resource status request message to the adjacent cell comprises one or more of;

sending the resource status request message through an interface with a node to which the adjacent cell belongs;

transmitting the resource status request message through a mobility management entity (MME) to which the current cell belongs;

transmitting the resource status request message through an MME to which the current cell belongs and a core network entity to which the adjacent cell belongs;

or

transmitting the resource status request message through an element management system (EMS) or a network management system (NMS).

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring of the information of the load of the adjacent cell comprises one or more of:

acquiring the information of the load of the adjacent cell according to an air interface resource load, a hardware resource load, or a transmission resource load of the current cell;

or

acquiring a synthetic load of the current cell according to one or more of an air interface resource load, a hardware resource load, or a transmission resource load of the current cell, and acquiring the information of the load of the adjacent cell according to the synthetic load of the current cell.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the acquiring of the information of the load of the adjacent cell according to one or more of the air interface resource load, the hardware resource load, or the transmission resource load of the current cell comprises one or more of:

performing the information of the load exchange with the adjacent cell to acquire the information of the load of the adjacent cell, if a proportion of used air interface resources in total air interface resources of the current cell reaches a first threshold;

performing the information of the load exchange with the adjacent cell to acquire the information of the load of the adjacent cell, if a proportion of a used hardware resource load in total hardware resources of the current cell reaches a second threshold;

performing the information of the load exchange with the adjacent cell to acquire the information of the load of the adjacent cell, if a proportion of transmission resources in total transmission resources reaches a third threshold;

or

performing the information of the load exchange with the adjacent cell to acquire the information of the load of the adjacent cell, if the air interface resource load, the hardware resource load, or the transmission resource load of the current cell is in an overload status.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the synthetic load of the current cell is a sum of a product of the air interface resource load and a first coefficient, a product of the hardware resource load and a second coefficient, and a product of the transmission resource load and a third coefficient.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining the target cell in which the mobility parameter needs to be modified thereof comprises:

acquiring a set of candidate target cells according to a handover-related performance parameter between the current cell and the adjacent cell; and

determining that a candidate target cell is the target cell in which the mobility parameter need to be modified thereof, if a difference between a load of the candidate target cell and a load of the current cell exceeds a threshold.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the event threshold is that a change of a cell load satisfies a threshold value.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

acquiring resource use information of the current cell; and

calculating the load of the current cell according to the resource use information of the current cell.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

acquiring physical resource block (PRB) use rates of guaranteed bit rate (GBR) services, signaling bearers, and common channels, and

wherein the calculating the load of the current cell is based on following formula if influence of non-GBR services on system load is not calculated;

Cell load=PRB use rate of GBR services+PRB use rate of signaling bearers+PRB use rate of common channels.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

acquiring PRB use rates of GBR services, signaling bearers, and common channels, and

wherein the calculating the load of the current cell based on following formula if load of non-GBR services is calculated according to a minimum guaranteed rate;

10. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

acquiring PRB use rates of GBR services, signaling bearers, and common channels, and

wherein the calculating the load of the current cell based on following formula if load of non-GBR services is calculated according to a minimum guaranteed rate;

Cell load=PRB use rate of GBR services+PRB use rate of signaling bearers+PRB use rate of common channels+PRB use rate of non-GBR services*load proportion factor.

11. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

acquiring PRB use rates of GBR services, signaling bearers, and common channels, and

wherein the calculating the load of the current cell based on following formula if load of non-GBR services is calculated according to a minimum guaranteed rate;

Cell load=PRB use rate of GBR services+PRB use rate of signaling bearers+PRB use rate of common channels+PRB use rate of service having minimum guaranteed rate in non-GBR services*number of services in non-GBR services.

12. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

acquiring PRB use rates of GBR services, signaling bearers, and common channels, and

wherein the calculating the load of the current cell based on following formula if load of non-GBR services is calculated according to a minimum guaranteed rate;

13. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

setting a minimum service unit, and

determining a load of a total number of minimum service units equivalent to all services in the cell as the load of the current cell.

14. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

acquiring information of service types supported by the current cell, and

wherein the calculating the load of the current cell according to the resource use information of the current cell comprises;

calculating the load of the current cell according to priorities of QCIs of service types supported by the current cell.

15. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

acquiring performance parameters of the current cell, and

wherein the calculating the load of the current cell according to the resource use information of the current cell comprises;

calculating the load of the current cell according to the performance parameters of the current cell.

16. A cell load balancing device, comprising:

a load information acquisition processor, configured to acquire information of load of a current cell and information of load of an adjacent cell;

a sending processor, configured to send a parameter modification request to the adjacent cell if determining that a mobility parameter needs to be modified according to the information of the load of the current cell and the information of the load of the adjacent cell acquired by the load information acquisition processor; and

a balancing processor, configured to perform a corresponding operation according to received information indicating whether the mobility parameter is successfully modified and feedback from the adjacent cell;

wherein the mobility parameter contains one or more of a cell handover parameter or a cell reselection parameter;

wherein the sending processor is further configured to send a resource status request message carrying an indication parameter to the adjacent cell, wherein the indication parameter is configured to indicate that the adjacent cell reports the information of the load if an event threshold is satisfied, or that the adjacent cell reports the information of the load if a report period is reached and an event threshold is satisfied;

wherein the cell load balancing device further comprises a receiver configured to receive the information of the load sent from the adjacent cell; and

wherein the sending processor is further configured to perform one or more of;

sending the resource status request message through an interface with a node to which the adjacent cell belongs;

transmitting the resource status request message through a mobility management entity (MME) to which the current cell belongs;

transmitting the resource status request message through an MME to which the current cell belong s and a core network entity to which the adjacent cell belongs;

or

transmitting the resource status request message through an element management system (EMS) or a network management system (NMS).

17. The device according to claim 16, wherein

the load information acquisition processor is further configured to acquire information of the load of the adjacent cell according to one or more of an air interface resource load, a hardware resource load, or a transmission resource load of the current cell.

18. The device according to claim 16, wherein

the load information acquisition processor is further configured to acquire the information of the load of the adjacent cell according to a synthetic load of the current cell, wherein the synthetic load of the current cell is acquired according to one or more of an air interface resource load, a hardware resource load, or a transmission resource load of the current cell.

19. The device according to claim 16, wherein the sending processor is further configured to acquire a set of candidate target cells according to a handover-related performance parameter between the current cell and the adjacent cell, if a difference between a load of a candidate target cell and the load of the current cell exceeds a threshold, determine that the candidate target cell is a target cell in which the mobility parameter needs to be modified thereof, and send the parameter modification request message to the adjacent cell.

20. A cell load balancing system, comprising a first cell node, a second cell node, and a cell load balancing device, wherein the first cell node and the second cell node are respectively located in a current cell and an adjacent cell, and the first cell node and the cell load balancing device are located in a same cell;

the cell load balancing device is configured to acquire information of load of the current cell from the first cell node, and acquire information of load of the adjacent cell from the second cell node; and

send a parameter modification request to the second cell node if determining that a mobility parameter requires to be modified according to the acquired load information of the current cell and the acquired load information of the adjacent cell;

the second cell node is configured to modify the mobility parameter of the current cell according to the parameter modification request sent from the cell load balancing device, and feed information indicating whether the parameter is successfully modified back to the cell load balancing device; and

the cell load balancing device is configured to modify the mobility parameter of the current cell according to the information indicating whether the parameter is successfully modified and feedback from the second cell node;

wherein the mobility parameter contains one or more of a cell handover parameter or a cell reselection parameter;

wherein the cell load balancing device is further configured to send a resource status request message carrying an indication parameter to the adjacent cell and receive the information of the load sent from the adjacent cell, wherein the indication parameter is configured to indicate that the adjacent cell reports the information of the load if an event threshold is satisfied, or that the adjacent cell reports the information of the load if a report period is reached and an event threshold is satisfied; and

wherein the cell load balancing device is further configured to perform one or more of;

sending the resource status request message through an interface with a node to which the adjacent cell belongs;

transmitting the resource status request message through a mobility management entity (MME) to which the current cell belongs;

transmitting the resource status request message through an MME to which the current cell belong s and a core network entity to which the adjacent cell belongs;

or

transmitting the resource status request message through an element management system (EMS) or a network management system (NMS).

21. The system according to claim 20, wherein

the cell load balancing device is further configured to acquire one or more of an air interface resource load, a hardware resource load, or a transmission resource load of the current cell from the first cell node, and acquire information of the adjacent cell according to one or more of the air interface resource load, the hardware resource load, or the transmission resource load of the current cell.

22. The system according to claim 20, wherein

the cell load balancing device is further configured to acquire a synthetic load of the current cell from the first cell node, and acquire the information of the load of the adjacent cell according to the synthetic load of the current cell, and the synthetic load of the current cell is acquired according to one or more of an air interface resource load, a hardware resource load, or a transmission resource load of the current cell.

23. The system according to claim 20, wherein

the cell load balancing device is further configured to acquire a set of candidate target cells according to a handover-related performance parameter between the current cell and the adjacent cell, and if a difference between a load of a candidate target cell and a load of the current cell exceeds a threshold, determine that the candidate target cell is a target cell in which the mobility parameter needs to be modified thereof, and send a parameter modification request message to the second cell node.

24. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon, a computer program comprising at least one code section for distributing data, the at least one code section being executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform acts of:

acquiring information of load of a current cell and information of load of an adjacent cell;

determining a target cell in which a mobility parameter needs to be modified according to the information of the load of the current cell and the information of the load of the adjacent cell;

sending a parameter modification request to the determined target cell; and

performing a corresponding operation according to information indicating whether the mobility parameter is successfully modified and feedback from the adjacent cell;

wherein the mobility parameter contains one or more of a cell handover parameter or a cell reselection parameter;

wherein the acquiring the information of the load of the adjacent cell comprises;

sending a resource status request message carrying an indication parameter to the adjacent cell, wherein the indication parameter is configured to indicate that the adjacent cell reports the information of the load if an event threshold is satisfied, or that the adjacent cell reports the information of the load if a report period is reached and an event threshold is satisfied; and

receiving the information of the load sent from the adjacent cell; and

wherein the sending the resource status request message to the adjacent cell comprises one or more of;

sending the resource status request message through an interface with a node to which the adjacent cell belongs;

transmitting the resource status request message through a mobility management entity (MME) to which the current cell belong;

transmitting the resource status request message through an MME to which the current cell belongs and a core network entity to which the adjacent cell belongs;

or

transmitting the resource status request message through an element management system (EMS) or a network management system (NMS).

25. A cell load measuring method, comprising:

acquiring air interface load information of a cell according to a resource usage of the cell; and

acquiring a resource load of the cell according to remaining air interface resources of the cell,

wherein the acquiring of the air interface load information of the cell according to the resource usage of the cell comprises one or more of;

processing a physical resource block (PRB) use rate of non-guaranteed bit rate (GBR) services, wherein the air interface load of the cell is a sum of the processed PRB use rate of the non-GBR services, a PRB use rate of GBR services, a PRB use rate of signaling bearers, and a PRB use rate of common channels;

or

setting a minimum service process, wherein the air interface load of the cell is a total number of minimum service processes equivalent to all services in the cell.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein the processing the PRB use rate of the non-GBR services comprises:

determining prioritized bit rates (PBRs) satisfying a quality of experience (QoE) as minimum guaranteed rates;

or determining uplink PBRs in a process of uplink rate control of a user equipment (UE) as PBRs of different QCIs; and

processing the PRB use rate of the non-GBR services according to the minimum guaranteed rates or the PBRs.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein the processing the PRB use rate of the non-GBR services according to the minimum guaranteed rates or the PBRs comprises one or more of:

acquiring coefficients of the PRB use rate of the non-GBR services according to ratios of the minimum guaranteed rates to average rates of the non-GBR services, wherein the processed PRB use rate of the non-GBR services is products of the PRB use rate of the non-GBR services and the coefficients;

or

acquiring coefficients of the PRB use rate of the non-GBR services of different QCI levels according to one or more of ratios of the minimum guaranteed rates of the non-GBR services of different QCI levels to average rates of the non-GBR services of all QCI levels, or ratios of the PBRs to the average rates of the non-GBR services of different QCIs, wherein the processed PRB use rate of the non-GBR services is a sum of products of the PRB use rate of the non-GBR services of all QCI levels and the corresponding coefficients.

28. A cell load measuring device, comprising:

a use information acquisition processor, configured to acquire a resource load of a cell according to remaining air interface resources of the cell,

wherein the use information acquisition processor further comprises one or more of;

a physical resource block (PRB) use rate calculation processor, configured to process a PRB use rate of non-guaranteed bit rate (GBR) services and calculate a cell load, and the air interface load of the cell is a sum of the processed PRB use rate of the non-GBR services, a PRB use rate of GBR services, a PRB use rate of signaling bearers, and a PRB use rate of common channels;

or

a minimum service process calculation processor, configured to set a minimum service process, wherein the air interface load of the cell is a total number of minimum service processes equivalent to all services in the cell.

29. The device according to claim 28, wherein the PRB use rate calculation processor is further configured to determine prioritized bit rates (PBRs) satisfying a quality of experience (QoE) as minimum guaranteed rates, determine uplink PBRs in the process of uplink rate control of a user equipment (UE) as PBRs of different QCIs, and process the PRB use rate of the non-GBR services according to the minimum guaranteed rates or the PBRs.

30. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon, a computer program comprising at least one code section for distributing data, the at least one code section being executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform acts of:

acquiring air interface load information of a cell according to a resource usage of the cell; and

acquiring a resource load of the cell according to remaining air interface resources of the cell,

wherein the acquiring of the air interface load information of the cell according to the resource usage of the cell comprises one or more of;

processing a physical resource block (PRB) use rate of non-guaranteed bit rate (GBR) services, wherein the air interface load of the cell is a sum of the processed PRB use rate of the non-GBR services, a PRB use rate of GBR services, a PRB use rate of signaling bearers, and a PRB use rate of common channels;

or

setting a minimum service process, wherein the air interface load of the cell is a total number of minimum service processes equivalent to all services in the cell.