Method and apparatus for avoiding interference among multiple radios

• US 9,125,216 B1
• Filed: 09/19/2012
• Issued: 09/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: Marvell International Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Choi, Jihwan P., Cai, Ying, Lou, Hui-Ling, Shen, Manyuan
• Primary Examiner(s): TRINH, TAN H
• Application Number:
  US13/622,916
• Time in Patent Office: 1,077 Days
• Field of Search: 455/501, 455/63, 455/67.3, 455/41.2, 455/509, 455/67.11, 455/78, 455/73, 455/41.3, 455/553.1, 455/166.1, 455/88, 455/550.1, 455/522.1, 455/436, 455/437, 455/442, 370/329, 370/328, 370/331, 370/338, 370/334
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/00 Local resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference

Abstract

The present disclosure describes techniques for avoiding interference among multiple radios. In some aspects a communication channel of a first wireless interface of a device is determined to be adjacent to a frequency band in which a second wireless interface of the device is configured to communicate and channel measurement results are altered prior to transmission by the first wireless interface to a base station, effective to prevent the base station from selecting, for use by the first wireless interface, the channel adjacent to the frequency band of the second wireless interface.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining whether a communication channel of a first wireless interface of a device is adjacent to a frequency band in which a second wireless interface of the device is configured to communicate, wherein the communication channel is one of a plurality of communication channels available to the first wireless interface, and wherein the first wireless interface is configured to communicate using one of the plurality of communication channels as selected by a base station with which the first wireless interface is associated;

altering, responsive to the act of determining, a channel measurement report generated by the first wireless interface by degrading channel measurement results of the channel measurement report by a predetermined factor; and

transmitting, via the first wireless interface, the altered channel measurement report to the base station associated with the first wireless interface effective to prevent the base station from selecting, for subsequent use by the first wireless interface, the communication channel adjacent to the frequency band in which the second wireless interface is configured to communicate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the base station is a first base station;

the communication channel of the first wireless interface is a first communication channel of the plurality of communication channels;

the first wireless interface of the device communicates with the first base station using the first communication channel; and

transmitting the altered channel measurement report is effective to cause the first base station to initiate a handover of the first wireless interface of the device to a second base station that communicates via a second communication channel of the plurality of communication channels, wherein the second communication channel is different from the first communication channel.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the base station is a first base station;

the communication channel of the first wireless interface is a first communication channel of the plurality of communication channels;

the first wireless interface of the device communicates with the first base station using a second communication channel of the plurality of communication channels; and

transmitting the altered channel measurement report is effective to prevent the first base station from initiating a handover of the first wireless interface of the device to a second base station that communicates via the first communication channel.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication channel of the first wireless interface of the device is an uplink communication channel and the channel measurement results are for a downlink communication channel with which the uplink communication channel is associated.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the channel measurement results that are degraded by the predetermined factor include at least one of a reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or channel quality indicator (CQI).

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a request from the base station to generate the channel measurement report for one or more of the plurality of communication channels.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising performing channel measurements on one or more of the plurality of communication channels to provide the channel measurement results for the channel measurement report.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of communication channels are compliant with a 3rd Generation Partnership Project Long-Term Evolution (3GPP LTE) standard and the frequency band in which the second wireless interface is configured to communicate is the industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting performed by the base station is associated with a handover process.

10. A system comprising:

a first wireless interface configured to communicate using a communication channel selected from a plurality of communication channels, the communication channel selected by a base station with which the first wireless interface is associated;

a second wireless interface configured to communicate in a frequency band; and

an interference manager configured to;

determine whether the channel selected for communications of the first wireless interface is adjacent to the frequency band in which the second wireless interface of the system is configured to communicate;

alter, responsive to the act of determining, a channel measurement report generated by the first wireless interface by degrading channel measurement results of the channel measurement report by a predetermined factor; and

transmit, via the first wireless interface, the altered channel measurement report to the base station associated with the first wireless interface effective to prevent the base station from selecting, for subsequent use by the first wireless interface, the communication channel adjacent to the frequency band in which the second wireless interface is configured to communicate.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the channel measurement results that are degraded include one of a reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or channel quality indicator (CQI).

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the first wireless interface is a cellular radio and the second wireless interface is a short-range wireless network radio or a wireless-local-area network (WLAN) radio.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of communication channels of the first wireless interface are communication channels for uplink and downlink communications.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the system is embodied as a smart-phone, laptop computer, tablet computer, or cellular broadband router.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable memory device comprising computer-executable instructions that, responsive to execution by one or more processors, implement an interference manager to:

determine whether a communication channel of a first wireless interface of a device is adjacent to a frequency band in which a second wireless interface of the device is configured to communicate, wherein the communication channel is one of a plurality of communication channels available to the first wireless interface, and wherein the first wireless interface is configured to communicate using one of the plurality of communication channels as selected by a base station with which the first wireless interface is associated;

alter, responsive to the act of determining, a channel measurement report generated by the first wireless interface by degrading channel measurement results of the channel measurement report by a predetermined factor; and

transmit, via the first wireless interface, the altered channel measurement report to the base station associated with the first wireless interface effective to prevent the base station from selecting, for subsequent use by the first wireless interface, the communication channel adjacent to the frequency band in which the second wireless interface is configured to communicate.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable memory device of claim 15, wherein the communication channel of the first wireless interface of the device is an uplink communication channel and the channel measurement results are for a downlink communication channel with which the uplink communication channel is associated.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable memory device of claim 15, wherein the interference manager is further configured to perform the channel measurements on one or more of the plurality of communication channels effective to provide the channel measurement results for the channel measurement report.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable memory device of claim 15, wherein the plurality of communication channels are compliant with a 3rd Generation Partnership Project Long-Term Evolution (3GPP LTE) standard and the frequency band in which the second wireless interface is configured to communicate is the industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable memory device of claim 15, wherein the channel measurement results that are degraded include one of a reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or channel quality indicator (CQI).

20. The non-transitory computer-readable memory device of claim 19, wherein the channel measurement results that are degraded include the RSRP or RSRQ, and the predetermined factor is approximately three to five decibels (dB).