Method and apparatus for supporting communications in a heterogeneous network

• US 9,226,288 B2
• Filed: 04/12/2011
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Barbieri, Alan, Ji, Tingfang, Luo, Tao, Vajapeyam, Madhavan Srinivasan, Song, Osok, Damnjanovic, Aleksandar, Wei, Yongbin, Agashe, Parag Arun, Malladi, Durga Prasad
• Primary Examiner(s): Thompson, Jr., Otis L
• Application Number:
  US13/085,080
• Publication Number:
  US 20120093095A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,722 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/27 between access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 Resource management for broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality

Abstract

A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for wireless communication are provided in which an apparatus may determine broadcast channel scheduling information for one or more broadcasts of a payload by a broadcast channel associated with a first base station based on one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes, wherein reception of the broadcast channel associated with the first base station is interfered at least in part based on one or more transmissions from a second base station, and receive the payload based on the determined broadcast channel scheduling information.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communications, comprising:

determining broadcast channel scheduling information for one or more broadcasts of a payload by a broadcast channel associated with a first base station based on one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes, wherein reception of the broadcast channel associated with the first base station is interfered at least in part based on one or more transmissions from a second base station; and

receiving the payload based on the determined broadcast channel scheduling information,

wherein one of the one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes comprises receiving the broadcast channel scheduling information in a broadcast by the second base station, wherein the broadcast from the second base station includes broadcast information associated with the second base station and the broadcast channel scheduling information associated with the first base station, the broadcast channel scheduling information associated with the first base station includes a cross subframe scheduling identifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second base station obtains the broadcast channel scheduling information from the first base station over a back-haul network connection.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes comprises:

receiving the broadcast channel scheduling information for the payload in a first subframe; and

receiving the payload in a second subframe using the broadcast channel scheduling information received in the first subframe.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first subframe occurs before the second subframe, wherein the first subframe is a protected subframe for the first base station, and wherein a user equipment (UE) experiences interference lower than a threshold value from the second base station during the protected subframe.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first subframe occurs within a defined window of subframes before the second subframe, and wherein the defined window comprises at least one protected subframe.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes comprises:

receiving a first instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information in a first subframe;

receiving a second instance of the broadcast scheduling information in a second subframe;

determining that the first instance and the second instance of the broadcast scheduling information are different; and

obtaining a third instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information, wherein the third instance is obtained by at least one of;

selecting either the first instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information or the second instance of the broadcast and ignoring the non-selected instance;

applying a likelihood metric to both the first instance and the second instance of the broadcast scheduling information to determine the more likely instance;

or

soft-combining the first instance and the second instance of the broadcast scheduling information to generate the third instance.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the payload associated with the first base station is received based on default broadcast scheduling information, wherein the default broadcast scheduling information is hard coded into a UE.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the default broadcast scheduling information depends on at least one of a power class or cell identity of the first base station.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second payload, wherein the second payload is transmitted in a first subframe, wherein the first subframe is a protected subframe for the first base station, and wherein the second payload comprises at least one of;

a SIB2, SIB3, SIB4 or SIB5.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes comprises:

receiving a second instance of the payload in a first subframe, wherein the first subframe is not a protected subframe for the first base station.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the second base station backs off to allow the second instance of the payload to be received, and wherein the back-off is configured for one or more subframes used by the first base station to broadcast the second instance of the payload.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the second base station backs off to allow the second instance of the payload to be received, and wherein the back-off is configured for at least one of:

reducing transmission power by the second base station, or

avoiding transmissions by the second base station on one or more subframes used by the first base station to transmit the second instance of the payload.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes comprises receiving a second instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information using a data channel.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the data channel is a PDSCH and the second instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information is embedded in the PDSCH at a location, the broadcast channel scheduling information being orthogonally distinct from content being transmitted by the second base station.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the location for the second instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information is negotiated between the first and second base stations.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the second instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information is embedded in a Multi-Media Broadcast over a Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) subframe for the first base station.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the MBSFN subframe for the first base station is aligned with a MBSFN subframe for the second base station.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving further comprises receiving the payload associated with the first base station during a first subframe, wherein a payload associated with the second base station is received from the second base station during the first subframe, and wherein the payload associated with first base station and the payload associated with the second base station are allocated to separate frequency resources.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the separate frequency resources are statically allocated.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the separate frequency resources are negotiated between the first base station and second base station over a back-haul network connection.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the payload comprises either a system information block type 1 (SIB1) or a paging message.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein a received power from the first base station is less than a received power from the second base station.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the first base station is a pico cell and the second base station is a macro cell.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the first base station is a macro cell and the second base station is a femto cell.

25. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for determining broadcast channel scheduling information for one or more broadcasts of a payload by a broadcast channel associated with a first base station based on one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes, wherein reception of the broadcast channel associated with the first base station is interfered at least in part based on one or more transmissions from a second base station; and

means for receiving the payload based on the determined broadcast channel scheduling information,

wherein one of the one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes comprises receiving the broadcast channel scheduling information in a broadcast by the second base station, wherein the broadcast from the second base station includes broadcast information associated with the second base station and the broadcast channel scheduling information associated with the first base station, the broadcast channel scheduling information associated with the first base station includes a cross subframe scheduling identifier.

26. A

non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising code for:

determining broadcast channel scheduling information for one or more broadcasts of a payload by a broadcast channel associated with a first base station based on one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes, wherein reception of the broadcast channel associated with the first base station is interfered at least in part based on one or more transmissions from a second base station; and

receiving the payload based on the determined broadcast channel scheduling information,

wherein one of the one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes comprises receiving the broadcast channel scheduling information in a broadcast by the second base station, wherein the broadcast from the second base station includes broadcast information associated with the second base station and the broadcast channel scheduling information associated with the first base station, the broadcast channel scheduling information associated with the first base station includes a cross subframe scheduling identifier.

27. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

a processing system configured to;

determine broadcast channel scheduling information for one or more broadcasts of a payload by a broadcast channel associated with a first base station based on one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes, wherein reception of the broadcast channel associated with the first base station is interfered at least in part based on one or more transmissions from a second base station;

receive the payload based on the determined broadcast channel scheduling information; and

receive the broadcast channel scheduling information in a broadcast by the second base station, wherein the broadcast from the second base station includes broadcast information for the second base station and the broadcast channel scheduling information associated with the first base station, the broadcast channel scheduling information associated with the first base station includes a cross subframe scheduling identifier.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the second base station obtains the broadcast channel scheduling information from the first base station over a back-haul network connection.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the processing system is further configured to:

receive the broadcast channel scheduling information for the payload in a first subframe; and

receive the payload in a second subframe using the broadcast channel scheduling information received in the first subframe.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the first subframe occurs before the second subframe, wherein the first subframe is a protected subframe for the first base station, and wherein a user equipment (UE) experiences interference lower than a threshold value from the second base station during the protected subframe.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the first subframe occurs within a defined window of subframes before the second subframe, and wherein the defined window comprises at least one protected subframe.

32. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the processing system is further configured to:

receive a first instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information in a first subframe;

receive a second instance of the broadcast scheduling information in a second subframe;

determine that the first instance and the second instance of the broadcast scheduling information are different; and

obtain a third instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information, wherein the third instance is obtained by at least one of;

selecting either the first instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information or the second instance of the broadcast and ignoring the non-selected instance;

applying a likelihood metric to both the first instance and the second instance of the broadcast scheduling information to determine the more likely instance;

or

soft-combining the first instance and the second instance of the broadcast scheduling information to generate the third instance.

33. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the payload associated with the first base station is received based on default broadcast scheduling information, wherein the default broadcast scheduling information is hard coded into a UE.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the default broadcast scheduling information depends on at least one of a power class or cell identity of the first base station.

35. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the processing system is further configured to:

receive a second payload, wherein the second payload is transmitted in a first subframe, wherein the first subframe is a protected subframe for the first base station, and wherein the second payload comprises at least one of;

a SIB2, SIB3, SIB4 or SIB5.

36. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the processing system is further configured to:

receive a second instance of the payload in a first subframe, wherein the first subframe is not a protected subframe for the first base station.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the second base station backs off to allow the second instance of the payload to be received, and wherein the back-off is configured for one or more subframes used by the first base station to broadcast the second instance of the payload.

38. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the second base station backs off to allow the second instance of the payload to be received, and wherein the processing system is further configured for at least one of:

reducing transmission power by the second base station, or

avoiding transmissions by the second base station on one or more subframes used by the first base station to transmit the second instance of the payload.

39. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein one of the one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes comprises receiving a second instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information using a data channel.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the data channel is a PDSCH, and the second instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information is embedded in the PDSCH at a location, the broadcast channel scheduling information being orthogonally distinct from content being transmitted by the second base station.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the location for the second instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information is negotiated between the first and second base stations.

42. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the second instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information is embedded in a Multi-Media Broadcast over a Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) subframe for the first base station.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the MBSFN subframe for the first base station is aligned with a MBSFN subframe for the second base station.

44. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the processing system is further configured to receive the payload associated with the first base station during a first subframe, wherein a payload associated with the second base station is received from the second base station during the first subframe, and wherein the payload associated with first base station and the payload associated with the second base station are allocated to separate frequency resources.

45. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the separate frequency resources are allocated either statically, or negotiated between the first base station and second base station over a back-haul network connection.

46. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the separate frequency resources are negotiated between the first base station and second base station over a back-haul network connection.

47. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the payload comprises either a system information block type 1 (SIB1) or a paging message.

48. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein a received power for the first base station is less than a received power for the second base station.

49. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the first base station is a pico cell and the second base station is a macro cell.

50. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the first base station is a macro cell and the second base station is a femto cell.

51. A method of wireless communications for a first base station, comprising:

transmitting, by the first base station, broadcast channel scheduling information for a payload associated with the first base station based on one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes, wherein interference from a second base station interferes with reception of the broadcast channel scheduling information broadcast by the first base station; and

transmitting the payload based on the one or more broadcast channel interference schemes,

wherein one of the one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes comprises transmitting the broadcast channel scheduling information to the second base station over a back-haul connection, wherein a broadcast from the second base station includes broadcast information for the second base station and the broadcast channel scheduling information associated with the first base station, the broadcast channel scheduling information associated with the first base station including a cross subframe scheduling identifier.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein one of the one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes comprises:

transmitting the broadcast channel scheduling information for the payload in a first subframe; and

transmitting the payload in a second subframe based on the broadcast channel scheduling information transmitted in the first subframe.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein the first subframe occurs before the second subframe, and wherein the first subframe is a protected subframe for the first base station.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein the first subframe occurs within a defined window of subframes before the second subframe, and wherein the defined window comprises at least one protected subframe.

55. The method of claim 51, wherein the payload associated with the first base station is broadcast based on default broadcast scheduling information, wherein the default broadcast scheduling information is hard coded into a UE.

56. The method of claim 55, wherein the default scheduling information depends on at least one of a power class or cell identity for the first base station.

57. The method of claim 51, further comprising:

transmitting a second payload, wherein the second payload is transmitted in a first subframe, wherein the first subframe is a protected subframe for the first base station, and wherein the second payload comprises at least one of;

a SIB2, SIB3, SIB4 or SIB5.

58. The method of claim 51, wherein one of the one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes comprises:

transmitting a second instance of the payload in a first subframe, wherein the first subframe is not a protected subframe for the first base station.

59. The method of claim 58, wherein the second base station backs off to allow the second instance of the payload to be received, and wherein the back-off is configured for one or more subframes used by the first base station to broadcast the second instance of the payload.

60. The method of claim 58, wherein the second base station backs off to allow the second instance of the payload to be received, and wherein the back-off configuration further comprises transmitting a request to the second base station to either:

reduce transmission power during the first subframe;

or

avoid transmissions during the first subframe.

61. The method of claim 51, wherein one of the one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes comprises transmitting a second instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information using a data channel.

62. The method of claim 61, wherein the data channel is a PDSCH and the second instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information is embedded in the PDSCH in a location, the broadcast channel scheduling information being orthogonally distinct from content being transmitted by the second base station.

63. The method of claim 62, further comprising negotiating the location for the second instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information with the second base station.

64. The method of claim 61, wherein the second instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information is embedded in a MBSFN subframe for the first base station.

65. The method of claim 64, wherein the MBSFN subframe for the first base station is aligned with a MBSFN subframe for the second base station.

66. The method of claim 51, wherein the transmitting further comprises transmitting the payload associated with first base station during a first subframe, wherein a payload associated with the second base station is transmitted by the second base station during the first subframe, and wherein the payload associated with first base station and the payload associated with the second base station are allocated to separate frequency resources.

67. The method of claim 66, wherein the separate frequency resources are allocated either statically, or negotiated between the first base station and second base station over a back-haul network connection.

68. The method of claim 51, wherein the payload comprises either a system information block type 1 (SIB1) or a paging message.

69. The method of claim 51, wherein the first base station is a pico cell and the second base station is a macro cell.

70. The method of claim 51, wherein the first base station is a macro cell and the second base station is a femto cell.

71. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for transmitting, by a first base station, broadcast channel scheduling information for a payload associated with the first base station based on one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes, wherein interference from a second base station interferes with reception of the broadcast channel scheduling information broadcast by the first base station; and

means for transmitting the payload based on the one or more broadcast channel interference schemes,

wherein one of the one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes comprises transmitting the broadcast channel scheduling information to the second base station over a back-haul connection, wherein a broadcast from the second base station includes broadcast information for the second base station and the broadcast channel scheduling information associated with the first base station, the broadcast channel scheduling information associated with the first base station including a cross subframe scheduling identifier.

72. A

non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising code for:

transmitting, by a first base station, broadcast channel scheduling information for a payload associated with the first base station based on one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes, wherein interference from a second base station interferes with reception of the broadcast channel scheduling information broadcast by the first base station; and

transmitting the payload based on the one or more broadcast channel interference schemes,

wherein one of the one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes comprises transmitting the broadcast channel scheduling information to the second base station over a back-haul connection, wherein a broadcast from the second base station includes broadcast information for the second base station and the broadcast channel scheduling information associated with the first base station, the broadcast channel scheduling information associated with the first base station including a cross subframe scheduling identifier.

73. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

a processing system configured to;

transmit, by a first base station, broadcast channel scheduling information for a payload associated with the first base station based on one or more broadcast channel interference coordination schemes, wherein interference from a second base station interferes with reception of the broadcast channel scheduling information broadcast by the first base station;

transmit the payload based on the one or more broadcast channel interference schemes; and

transmit the broadcast channel scheduling information to the second base station over a back-haul connection, wherein a broadcast from the second base station includes broadcast information for the second base station and the broadcast channel scheduling information associated with the first base station, the broadcast channel scheduling information associated with the first base station including a cross subframe scheduling identifier.

74. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the processing system is further configured to:

transmit the broadcast channel scheduling information for the payload in a first subframe; and

transmit the payload in a second subframe based on the broadcast channel scheduling information transmitted in the first subframe.

75. The apparatus of claim 74, wherein the first subframe occurs before the second subframe, and wherein the first subframe is a protected subframe for the first base station.

76. The apparatus of claim 75, wherein the first subframe occurs within a defined window of subframes before the second subframe, and wherein the defined window comprises at least one protected subframe.

77. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the payload associated with the first base station is broadcast based on default scheduling information, wherein the default broadcast scheduling information is hard coded into a UE.

78. The apparatus of claim 77, wherein the default scheduling information depends on at least one of a power class or cell identity for the first base station.

79. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the processing system is further configured to:

transmit a second payload, wherein the second payload is transmitted in a first subframe, wherein the first subframe is a protected subframe for the first base station, and wherein the second payload comprises at least one of;

a SIB2, SIB3, SIB4 or SIB5.

80. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the processing system is further configured to:

transmit a second instance of the payload in a first subframe, wherein the first subframe is not a protected subframe for the first base station.

81. The apparatus of claim 80, wherein the second base station backs off to allow the second instance of the payload to be received, and wherein the back-off is configured for one or more subframes used by the first base station to broadcast the second instance of the payload.

82. The apparatus of claim 80, wherein the second base station backs off to allow the second instance of the payload to be received, and wherein the processing system is further configured to:

reduce transmission power during the first subframe;

or

avoid transmissions during the first subframe.

83. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the processing system is further configured to transmit a second instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information using a data channel.

84. The apparatus of claim 83, wherein the data channel is a PDSCH, and the second instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information is embedded in the PDSCH in a location, the broadcast channel scheduling information being orthogonally distinct from content being transmitted by the second base station.

85. The apparatus of claim 84, wherein the processing system is further configured to negotiate the location for the second instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information with the second base station.

86. The apparatus of claim 83, wherein the second instance of the broadcast channel scheduling information is embedded in a MBSFN subframe for the first base station.

87. The apparatus of claim 86, wherein the MBSFN subframe for the first base station is aligned with a MBSFN subframe for the second base station.

88. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the processing system is further configured to transmit the payload associated with first base station during a first subframe, wherein a payload associated with the second base station is transmitted by the second base station during the first subframe, and wherein the payload associated with first base station and the payload associated with the second base station are allocated to separate frequency resources.

89. The apparatus of claim 88, wherein the separate frequency resources are allocated either statically, or negotiated between the first base station and second base station over a back-haul network connection.

90. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the payload comprises either a system information block type 1 (SIB1) or a paging message.

91. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the first base station is a pico cell and the second base station is a macro cell.

92. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the first base station is a macro cell and the second base station is a femto cell.