Method and apparatus for controlling the transmission power of a base station in a wireless communication system

• US 9,357,502 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2011
• Issued: 05/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Postech Academy-Industry Foundation, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Postech Academy-Industry Foundation, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lim, Chae Gwon, Suh, Young Joo, Choi, Sung Ho, Bae, Beom Sik, Cho, Song Yean, Kim, Dong Wook, Lee, Jeong Yoon, Lim, Wan Seon, Jung, Kyoung Hak
• Primary Examiner(s): HAN, CLEMENCE S
• Application Number:
  US13/885,798
• Publication Number:
  US 20130242791A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,650 Days
• Field of Search: 370/252, 370/328, 455/422.1, 455/522
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/143 Downlink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/223 predicting future states of the transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/24 using SIR [Signal to Interference Ratio] or other wireless path parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/241 taking into account channel quality metrics, e.g. SIR, SNR, CIR, Eb/lo
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/242 taking into account path loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/243 taking into account interferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/245 taking into account received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/40 during macro-diversity or soft handoff

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling transmission power of the base station in a wireless communication system and includes calculating signal-to-noise ratio of a target component carrier and recovering the signal-to-noise ratio to be equal to or greater than a threshold by increasing a transmission power to a predetermined level and requesting, when the signal-to-noise ratio is less than a predetermined threshold, a neighbor base station to decrease the transmission power. According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress the inter-cell interference and improve channel utilization efficiency, resulting in improvement of the throughput of the wireless communication system.

Claims

1. A transmission power control method of a base station in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

calculating signal-to-noise ratio of a target component carrier; and

if the signal-to-noise ratio is less than a predetermined threshold, increasing a transmission power of the base station to a first predetermined level or requesting a neighbor base station to decrease a transmission power of the neighbor base station,

wherein the neighbor base station is requested to decrease the transmission power of the neighbor base station if a neighbor signal-to-noise ratio calculated at the neighbor base station in correspondence to the component carrier is equal to or greater than a predetermined neighbor threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the neighbor base station is requested to reduce the neighbor transmission power if the neighbor signal-to-noise ratio is greater than the neighbor threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the increasing of the transmission power of the base station comprises:

collecting power increase values allowed at the neighbor base station; and

increasing the transmission power of the base station by adding a minimum value of power increase values.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the increasing of the transmission power of the base station comprises requesting the neighbor base station for the power increase value.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the signal-to-noise ratio is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold, increasing a transmission power to a second predetermined level which is allowed by the neighbor base station.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the second predetermined level is determined based on a signal-to-noise ratio of the neighbor base station.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the increasing of the transmission power of the base station comprises:

collecting power increase values allowed at the neighbor base station; and

increasing the transmission power by adding a minimum value of the power increase values.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the increasing of the transmission power of the base station comprises requesting the neighbor base station for the power increase value.

9. A transmission power control apparatus of a base station in a wireless communication system, the apparatus comprising:

a signal-to-noise ratio calculator configured to calculate a signal-to- noise ratio of a target component carrier; and

a power regulator configured to increase a transmission power of the base station to a first predetermined level or to request a neighbor base station to decrease a transmission power of the neighbor base station, if the signal-to- noise ratio is less than a predetermined threshold,

wherein the power regulator is configured to request a neighbor base station to decrease a transmission power of the neighbor base station if a neighbor signal-to-noise ratio calculated at the neighbor base station in correspondence to the component carrier is equal to or greater than a predetermined neighbor threshold.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the power regulator is configured to request the neighbor base station to reduce the neighbor transmission power if the neighbor signal-to-noise ratio is greater than the neighbor threshold.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the power regulator is configured to collect power increase values allowed at the neighbor base station and to increase the transmission power by adding a minimum value of power increase values.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a communication unit configured to request the neighbor base station for the power increase value.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the power regulator is configured to increase a transmission power to a second predetermined level which is allowed by the neighbor base station, if the signal-to-noise ratio is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the second predetermined level is determined based on a signal-to-noise ratio of the neighbor base station.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the power regulator is configured to collect power increase values allowed at the neighbor base station and to increase the transmission power by adding a minimum value of the power increase values.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a communication unit configured to request the neighbor base station for the power increase value.