Method and apparatus for avoiding interference

• US 9,357,426 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2015
• Issued: 05/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ISCO International Inc.
• Original Assignee: ISCO International Inc.
• Inventors: Abdelmonem, Amr
• Primary Examiner(s): Bhattacharya, Sam
• Application Number:
  US14/718,297
• Publication Number:
  US 20150257036A1
• Time in Patent Office: 376 Days
• Field of Search: 455/63.1, 455/432.1, 455/433, 455/450, 455/452.1, 455/423, 370/248, 370/252, 370/253
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 1/709 Correlator structure
• 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 17/00 Monitoring; Testing of line transmission systems H04B3/46; arrangements for monitoring or testing transmission systems employing electromagnetic waves other than radio waves H04B10/07
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/21 for calibration; for correcting measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/26 using historical data, averaging values or statistics
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/327 Received signal code power [RSCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/345 Interference values signal-to-interference ratio [SIR] or carrier-to-interference ratio [CIR] H04B17/336
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/373 Predicting channel quality or other radio frequency [RF] parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2201/709709 Methods of preventing interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2201/709745 Iterative interference mitigation schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2634 for channel frequency control
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 11/0066 of narrowband interference narrowband interference reduction H04B1/1036
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/069 using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0026 Division using four or more dimensions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0032 Distributed allocation, i.e. involving a plurality of allocating devices, each making partial allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/006 : Quality of the received signal, e.g. BER, SNR, water filling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0073 : Allocation arrangements that take into account other cell interferences for intercell interference mitigation or co-ordination in orthogonal multiplex systems H04J11/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 : using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 : Arrangements for optimising 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 28/0236 : radio quality, e.g. interference, losses or delay
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/04 : Error control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 : Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 : using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 : Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/16 : based on interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/04 : TPC
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/14 : Separate analysis of uplink or downlink
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/243 : taking into account interferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 : Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 : with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0446 : Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 : Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/52 : based on load
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/54 : based on quality criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 : using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 : using measured or perceived quality

Abstract

A system that incorporates the subject disclosure may perform, for example, a method that determines at least one threshold for detecting signal interference in a first plurality of segments occurring in a first radio frequency spectrum of a first wireless communication system, detecting a pattern of recurrence over time of signal interference in a segment of the first plurality of resource blocks according to the at least one threshold, and performing one or more mitigation steps to mitigate the signal interference without filtering the signal interference where the one or more mitigation steps include at least one of transmitting signals out of phase from the signal interference, adjusting transmit power, increasing power in a resource block of a long term evolution communication session, performing beam steering, or changing time parameters for the resource block without changing to a new resource block. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

detecting, by a system including a processor, signal interference in a first resource block of a first plurality of resource blocks of a first radio frequency spectrum according to a first threshold;

detecting, by the system, a pattern of recurrence over time of the signal interference in the first resource block of the first plurality of resource blocks according to a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is based at least in part on a frequency of occurrence of the signal interference; and

responsive to the detecting of the pattern of recurrence, transmitting, by the system, instructions to a wireless communication device experiencing the pattern of recurrence over time of the signal interference, wherein the instructions include one or more first mitigation steps to be performed by the wireless communication device to mitigate the signal interference.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more first mitigation steps include increasing power in a resource block of a long term evolution communication session.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more first mitigation steps do not include filtering of the signal interference.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

obtaining, by the system, interference identification data associated with the signal interference;

accessing, by the system, a group of profiles corresponding to a plurality of interferers, wherein each profile describes characteristics of each of the plurality of interferers; and

selecting, by the system, a target profile from the group of profiles based on the interference identification data,

wherein the detecting of the pattern of recurrence over time of the signal interference is based on the target profile.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more first mitigation steps include transmitting signals out of phase from the signal interference, adjusting at least one of transmit power or phase at the wireless communication device, increasing power in a resource block of a long term evolution communication session, or a combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the pattern of recurrence over time of the signal interference is a non-uniform pattern.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a profile associated with the signal interference.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising, in response to the detecting of the pattern of recurrence over time of the signal interference, performing one or more second mitigation steps at a base station to mitigate the signal interference without performing filtering of the interference.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more second mitigation steps include performing beam steering at the base station.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more second mitigation steps include changing time parameters for a resource block of a long term evolution communication session of the wireless communication device without changing to a new resource block.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device comprising computer instructions which, responsive to being executed by a processor of a wireless communication device, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

accessing instructions associated with a detection of a pattern of recurrence over time of signal interference in a segment of a first plurality of segments occurring in a first radio frequency spectrum of a first wireless communication system, wherein the detection is according to at least one threshold based on a frequency of occurrence of the signal interference; and

performing one or more mitigation steps at the wireless communication device to mitigate the interference, wherein the one or more mitigation steps include transmitting signals out of phase from the interference.

12. The computer-readable storage device of claim 11, wherein the one or more mitigation steps are performed by the wireless communication device without performing filtering of the interference, and wherein the instructions are received from a base station.

13. The computer-readable storage device of claim 11, wherein the one or more mitigation steps are performed by the wireless communication device in conjunction with beam steering being performed by a base station to mitigate the interference.

14. A communication device comprising:

a memory that stores computer instructions; and

a processor coupled with the memory, wherein the processor, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising;

detecting signal interference in a segment of a first plurality of segments according to a first threshold;

detecting a pattern of recurrence over time of the signal interference in the segment of the first plurality of segments according to a second threshold, wherein the second threshold is based at least in part on a frequency of occurrence of the signal interference; and

responsive to detecting the pattern of recurrence, performing one or more mitigation steps to mitigate the signal interference without filtering the signal interference, wherein the one or more mitigation steps include at least one of transmitting signals out of phase from the signal interference, adjusting transmit power, increasing power in a resource block of a long term evolution communication session, performing beam steering, or changing time parameters for the resource block without changing to a new resource block.

15. The communication device of claim 14, wherein the communication device corresponds to a mobile device, and wherein the one or more mitigation steps are performed according to mitigation instructions received from a base station.

16. The communication device of claim 14, wherein the communication device corresponds to a base station.

17. The communication device of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting mitigation instructions to a mobile device, and wherein the mitigation instructions describe the one or more mitigation steps.

18. The communication device of claim 14, wherein the detecting of the pattern of recurrence over time of the signal interference is based on interference information received from a base station.

19. The communication device of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

obtaining interference identification data associated with the signal interference;

accessing a group of profiles corresponding to a plurality of interferers, wherein each profile describes characteristics of each of the plurality of interferers; and

selecting a target profile from the group of profiles based on the interference identification data,

wherein the detecting of the pattern of recurrence over time of the interference is based on the target profile.

20. The communication device of claim 14, wherein the detecting of the signal interference is based on detecting a co-channel interferer at a constant phase.