Method and system for dynamic power control for base stations

• US 9,357,482 B2
• Filed: 07/13/2011
• Issued: 05/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Khawer, Mohammad R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hai V
• Application Number:
  US13/181,608
• Publication Number:
  US 20130017854A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,784 Days
• Field of Search: 455/522, 455/69
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/143 Downlink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/267 taking into account the information rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/343 taking into account loading or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method and system for dynamic power control for next generation LTE base stations are described herein. More particularly, a dynamic power control management process may run, for example, in an OA&M module on the control plane core of the base station. The dynamic power control management process collaborates with various components, such as a call management processing module and a transport process module, to periodically obtain information regarding the number of active calls as well as the uplink and downlink data rates for a given interval for a particular cell. The dynamic power control management process polls the call management processing module and transport process module periodically according to a tunable parameter for the key values. Based on this information, the dynamic power control management process determines whether a particular cell on the base station is running below a threshold at which dynamic power control could be triggered.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented dynamic power control management (DPCM) method for a base station, the method comprising:

collaborating with a plurality of components operating on at least one core of a multi-core processor to periodically obtain information for a plurality of cells supported by a base station over a specified interval, wherein the information comprises at least a call load, an uplink data rate, and a downlink data rate for the cells, and wherein the multi-core processor comprises a plurality of processor cores configured under a single symmetric multiprocessing partition and served by a single operating system instance that serves a shared control plane core and N cell specific data plane cores, where N is the number of configured cells on the base station;

using the information obtained from the components to determine if individual cells are operating at or below a threshold off-peak capacity over the specified interval;

using the information obtained from the components to determine if the base station is operating at or below a threshold off-leak capacity, over the specified interval;

implementing a plurality of state machines comprising a first type state machine and a second type state machine, wherein the first type state machine is configured to manipulate a processor core frequency of a respective one of the cell specific data plane cores and the second type state machine is configured to manipulate a processor core frequency of the shared data plane core used by the configured cells on the base station;

asynchronously sending at least one state transition trigger to a DCPM module for a first of the first type state machines wherein the at least one state transition trigger is based at least upon a first threshold determination for a first of the configured cells;

asynchronously sending at least one state transition trigger to a DCPM module for the second type state machine, wherein the at least one state transition trigger is based at least upon the threshold determination for the cumulative base station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed by an Operations, Administration, and Management process module on the shared control plane core of the multi-core processor.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of components comprises at least a call management processing module and a transport processing module.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining call load information for at least one cell from a call management processing module on the shared control plane core of the multi-core processor;

obtaining uplink and downlink data rates for at least one cell from a transport process module on the shared control plane core of the multi-core processor.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first type state machine governs dedicated cores of the multi-core processor and includes at least a normal state, a dynamic frequency scaling (DFS) state, a doze state, and a nap state.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first type state machine operates in the following manner:

the first type state machine transitions to the DFS state when the system load is less than or equal to specified threshold P such as half the full system capacity for a number of consecutive polling cycles C;

the first type state machine transitions to the doze state when there is no system load for a particular cell while the cell is in the DFS state for a number of consecutive polling cycles D;

the first type state machine transitions to the nap state when there is no system activity for a consecutive number of polling cycles E while the cell is in the doze state;

the first type state machine transitions from the doze state to the DFS state when a call is received on the cell;

the first type state machine transitions from the nap state to the DFS state when a call is received on the cell;

when the first type state machine is in DFS state and the system load increases above the threshold P for a number of consecutive polling cycles M, the first type state machine reverts back to the normal state.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second type state machine governs shared cores of the multi-core processor and includes at least a normal state and a dynamic frequency scaling (DFS) state.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second type state machine operates in the following manner:

the second type state machine transitions to the DFS state when the system load is less than or equal to the specified threshold P for a number of consecutive polling cycles C, wherein the specified threshold P is half the full system capacity;

when the system load increases above the threshold P for a number of consecutive polling cycles M, the second type state machine reverts back to the normal state.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the second type state machine governs shared cores of the multi-core processor.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first type state machine includes at least a normal state, a dynamic frequency scaling (DFS) state, a doze state, and a nap state and the second state machine includes at least a normal state and a DFS state.

11. A non-transitory computer-usable data carrier storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a dynamic power control management (DPCM) method for a multi-cell base station, the method comprising:

collaborating with a plurality of components operating on at least one core of a multi-core processor to periodically obtain information for a plurality of cells supported by a base station over a specified interval, wherein the information comprises at least a call load, an uplink data rate, and a downlink data rate for the cells and wherein the multi-core processor comprises a plurality of processor cores configured under a single symmetric multiprocessing partition and served by a single operating system instance that serves a shared control plane core and N cell specific data plane cores, where N is the number of configured cells on the base station;

using the information obtained from the components to determine if individual cells are operating at or below a threshold off-peak capacity over the specified interval;

using the information obtained from the components to determine if the base station is operating at or below a threshold off-peak capacity over the specified interval;

implementing a plurality of state machines comprising a first type state machine and a second type state machine, wherein the first type state machine is configured to manipulate a processor core frequency of a respective one of the cell specific data plane cores and the second type state machine is configured to manipulate a processor core frequency of the shared data plane core used by the configured cells on the base station;

asynchronously sending at least one state transition trigger to a DCPM module for a first of the first type state machines wherein the at least one state transition trigger is based at least upon a first individual cell threshold determination for a first of the configured cells;

asynchronously sending at least one state transition trigger to a DCPM module for the second type state machine, wherein the at least one state transition trigger is based at least upon the cumulative base station threshold determination.

12. The non-transitory computer-usable data carrier of claim 11, wherein the method is performed by an Operations, Administration, and Management process module on the shared control plane core of the multi-core processor.

13. The non-transitory computer-usable data carrier of claim 11, wherein the plurality of components comprises at least a call management processing module and a transport process module.

14. The non-transitory computer-usable data carrier of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

obtaining call load information for at least one cell from a call management processing module on the shared control plane core of the multi-core processor;

obtaining uplink and downlink data rates for at least one cell from a transport process module on the shared control plane core of the multi-core processor.

15. The non-transitory computer-usable data carrier of claim 11, wherein the first type state machine governs dedicated cores of the multi-core processor and the second type state machine governs shared cores of the multi-core processor.

16. The non-transitory computer-usable data carrier of claim 15, wherein the first type state machine includes at least a normal state, a dynamic frequency scaling (DFS) state, a doze state, and a nap state and the second type state machine includes at least a normal state and a DFS state.

17. The non-transitory computer-usable data carrier of claim 11, wherein the first type state machine governs dedicated cores of the multi-core processor and includes at least a normal state, a dynamic frequency scaling (DFS) state, a doze state, and a nap state.

18. The non-transitory computer-usable data carrier of claim 17, wherein the first type state machine operates in the following manner:

the first type state machine transitions to the DFS state when the system load is less than or equal to a specified threshold such as half the full system capacity for a number of consecutive polling cycles C;

the first type state machine transitions to the doze state when there is no system load for a particular cell while the cell is in the DFS state for a number of consecutive polling cycles D;

the first type state machine transitions to the nap state when there is no system activity for a consecutive number of polling cycles E while the cell is in the doze state;

the first type state machine transitions from the doze state to the DFS state when a call is received on the cell;

the first type state machine transitions from the nap state to the DFS state when a call is received on the cell;

when the first type state machine is in DFS state and the system load increases above the threshold P for a number of consecutive polling cycles M, the first type state machine reverts back to the normal state.

19. The non-transitory computer-usable data carrier of claim 11, wherein the second type state machine governs shared cores of the multi-core processor and includes at least a normal state and a dynamic frequency scaling (DFS) state.

20. The non-transitory computer-usable data carrier of claim 19, wherein the second type state machine operates in the following manner:

the second type state machine transitions to the DFS state when the system load is less than or equal to the specified threshold P for a number of consecutive polling cycles C, wherein the specified threshold P is half the full system capacity;

when the system load increases above the threshold P for a number of consecutive polling cycles M, the second type state machine reverts back to the normal state.