Systems, apparatus and methods for interference management in wireless networks

• US 9,402,193 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2010
• Issued: 07/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Sampath, Ashwin, Rangan, Sundeep, Bachu, Raja Sekhar
• Primary Examiner(s): Phillips, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): RAHGOZAR, OMEED DANIEL
• Application Number:
  US12/727,155
• Publication Number:
  US 20100238901A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,322 Days
• Field of Search: 370/331, 455/509
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• 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 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B

Abstract

Systems, apparatus, methods and computer program products are provided. In some embodiments, a method for facilitating interference management in an unplanned wireless communication system is provided. The method can include a non-serving base station obtaining information about a user equipment served by a serving base station; and determining signal information based, at least, in part, on the information. The method can also include the non-serving base station disallowing access to the user equipment due to restricted access rules for the non-serving base station. The method can also include the non-serving base station performing interference management of the user equipment served by the serving base station. The interference management can be performed based, at least, in part, on the determined signal information.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating interference management in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

receiving a message at a non-serving base station pertaining to a user equipment, wherein the user equipment is served by a serving base station and is not allowed to connect to the non-serving base station;

disallowing access to the user equipment in response to the message, by the non-serving base station, due to restricted access rules for the non-serving base station indicating that the user equipment is not part of a subscriber group authorized to associate with the non-serving base station;

processing the message at the non-serving base station to obtain information about the user equipment served by the serving base station and disallowed access to the non-serving base station; and

determining signal information at the non-serving base station based, at least, in part, on the information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information is slow time scale information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the slow time scale information is provided in coordination information signaling, wherein coordination information is handover signaling.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the message is received in response to at least one of:

the serving base station receiving, from the user equipment served by a serving base station, a measurement report about the non-serving base station, or

the user equipment served by the serving base station attempting to connect to the non-serving base station, and the non-serving base station initiating steps to obtain the information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the measurement report includes at least one of:

received signal strength indicator measurements, reference signal received power measurements or reference signal received quality measurements, and wherein the measurement report is indicative of at least one of the;

received signal strength indicator measurements, reference signal received power measurements or reference signal received quality measurements being greater than a threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing interference management at the non-serving base station of the user equipment served by the serving base station, wherein the interference management is performed based, at least, in part, on a determined signal information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein performing interference management comprises at least one of:

canceling an uplink signal transmitted from the user equipment served by the serving base station, scheduling transmission of a signal on a carrier different than a carrier on which an uplink signal is scheduled from the user equipment served by the serving base station or performing power control for a user equipment served by the non-serving base station.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the slow time scale information is at least one of:

a scrambling code used by the user equipment or uplink channel configuration information for the user equipment, and wherein the uplink channel configuration information comprises at least one of an uplink dedicated physical channel or an enhanced dedicated physical channel, and wherein the wireless communication system is a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the slow time scale information is at least one of:

a cell radio network temporary identifier associated with the user equipment, persistent assignment information for the user equipment, physical channel configuration information about the user equipment or a number of control channel symbols being used by the serving base station, and wherein the wireless communication system is a Long-Term Evolution system.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the persistent assignment information for the user equipment is at least one of:

assigned resource blocks, information indicative of periodicity of a persistent assignment associated with the user equipment, information indicative of modulation used in a persistent assignment associated with the user equipment, information indicative of a coding rate applicable to a persistent assignment associated with the user equipment or information indicative of hopping of a persistent assignment associated with the user equipment,

and wherein physical channel configuration information about the user equipment comprises at least one of;

a physical uplink control channel, a physical uplink shared channel or a sounding reference signal.

41. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-serving base station serves a closed subscriber group (CSG) that does not include the user equipment and prevents the non-serving base station from allowing an association with the user equipment.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, comprising:

codes for causing a computer to receive a message at a non-serving base station pertaining to a user equipment, wherein the user equipment is served by a serving base station and is not allowed to connect to the non-serving base station;

codes for causing the computer to disallow access to the user equipment in response to the message, by the non-serving base station, due to restricted access rules for the non-serving base station indicating that the user equipment is not part of a subscriber group authorized to associate with the non-serving base station;

codes for causing the computer to process the message at the non-serving base station to obtain information about the user equipment served by the serving base station and disallowed access to the non-serving base station; and

codes for causing the computer to determine signal information at the non-serving base station based, at least, in part, on the information.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the information is slow time scale information.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the slow time scale information is provided in coordination information signaling, wherein coordination information is handover signaling.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the message is received in response to at least one of:

the serving base station receiving, from the user equipment, a measurement report about the non-serving base station or the user equipment served by the serving base station attempting to connect to the non-serving base station, and the non-serving base station initiating steps to obtain the information.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the measurement report includes at least one of:

received signal strength indicator measurements, reference signal received power measurements or reference signal received quality measurements, and wherein the measurement report is indicative of at least one of the;

received signal strength indicator measurements, reference signal received power measurements or reference signal received quality measurements being greater than a threshold.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising:

codes for causing the computer to perform interference management at the non-serving base station of the user equipment served by the serving base station, wherein the interference management is performed based, at least, in part, on a determined signal information.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the codes for causing the computer to perform interference management comprise at least one of:

codes for causing the computer to cancel an uplink signal transmitted from the user equipment served by the serving base station, codes for causing the computer to schedule transmission of a signal on a carrier different than a carrier on which an uplink signal is scheduled from the user equipment served by the serving base station or codes for causing the computer to perform power control for a user equipment served by the non-serving base station.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the slow time scale information is at least one of:

a scrambling code used by the user equipment or uplink channel configuration information for the user equipment, and wherein the uplink channel configuration information comprises at least one of;

an uplink dedicated physical channel or an enhanced dedicated physical channel, and wherein a wireless communication system providing the slow time scale information is a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the slow time scale information is at least one of:

a cell radio network temporary identifier associated with the user equipment, persistent assignment information for the user equipment, physical channel configuration information about the user equipment or a number of control channel symbols being used by the serving base station, and wherein a wireless communication system providing the slow time scale information is a Long-Term Evolution system.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the persistent assignment information for the user equipment is at least one of assigned resource blocks, information indicative of periodicity of a persistent assignment associated with the user equipment, information indicative of modulation used in a persistent assignment associated with the user equipment, information indicative of a coding rate applicable to a persistent assignment associated with the user equipment or information indicative of hopping of a persistent assignment associated with the user equipment,

and wherein physical channel configuration information about the user equipment comprises at least one of:

a physical uplink control channel, a physical uplink shared channel or a sounding reference signal.

21. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving a message at a non-serving base station pertaining to a user equipment, wherein the user equipment is served by a serving base station and is not allowed to connect to the non-serving base station;

means for disallowing access to the user equipment in response to the message due to restricted access rules for the non-serving base station indicating that the user equipment is not part of a subscriber group authorized to associate with the non-serving base station;

means for processing the message at the non-serving base station to obtain information about the user equipment served by the serving base station and disallowed access to the non-serving base station; and

means for determining signal information at the non-serving base station based, at least, in part, on the information.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the information is slow time scale information.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the slow time scale information is provided in coordination information signaling, wherein coordination information is handover signaling.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the message is received in response to at least one of:

the serving base station receiving, from the user equipment, a measurement report about the apparatus, and the serving base station transmitting the information to the non-serving base station, or

the user equipment served by the serving base station attempting to connect to the apparatus, and the apparatus initiating steps to obtain the information.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the measurement report includes at least one of:

received signal strength indicator measurements, reference signal received power measurements or reference signal received quality measurements, and wherein the measurement report is indicative of at least one of the;

received signal strength indicator measurements, reference signal received power measurements or reference signal received quality measurements being greater than a threshold.

26. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising means for performing interference management of the user equipment served by the serving base station, wherein the interference management is performed based, at least, in part, on a determined signal information.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the means for performing interference management at the non-serving base station comprises at least one of:

means for canceling an uplink signal transmitted from the user equipment served by the serving base station, means for scheduling transmission of a signal on a carrier different than a carrier on which an uplink signal is scheduled from the user equipment served by the serving base station or means for performing power control for a user equipment served by the serving base station.

28. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the slow time scale information is at least one of a scrambling code used by the user equipment or uplink channel configuration information for the user equipment, and wherein the uplink channel configuration information comprises at least one of:

an uplink dedicated physical channel or an enhanced dedicated physical channel, and wherein a wireless communication system providing the slow time scale information is a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System.

29. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the slow time scale information is at least one of:

a cell radio network temporary identifier associated with the user equipment, persistent assignment information for the user equipment, physical channel configuration information about the user equipment or a number of control channel symbols being used by the serving base station, and wherein a wireless communication system providing the slow time scale information is a Long-Term Evolution system.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the persistent assignment information for the user equipment is at least one of assigned resource blocks, information indicative of periodicity of a persistent assignment associated with the user equipment, information indicative of modulation used in a persistent assignment associated with the user equipment, information indicative of a coding rate applicable to a persistent assignment associated with the user equipment or information indicative of hopping of a persistent assignment associated with the user equipment,

and wherein physical channel configuration information about the user equipment comprises at least one of:

a physical uplink control channel, a physical uplink shared channel or a sounding reference signal.

31. An apparatus, comprising:

a non-serving base station configured to;

receive a message pertaining to a user equipment, wherein the user equipment is served by a serving base station and is not allowed to connect to the non-serving base station;

disallow access to the user equipment in response to the message due to restricted access rules for the non-serving base station indicating that the user equipment is not part of a subscriber group authorized to associate with the non-serving base station;

process the message to obtain information about the user equipment served by the serving base station and disallowed access to the non-serving base station; and

determine signal information based, at least, in part, on the information.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the information is slow time scale information.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the slow time scale information is provided in coordination information signaling, wherein coordination information is handover signaling.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the message is received in response to at least one of:

the serving base station receiving, from the user equipment, a measurement report about the non-serving base station, and the serving base station transmitting the information to the non-serving base station or the user equipment served by the serving base station attempting to connect to the non-serving base station, and the non-serving base station initiating steps to obtain the information.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the measurement report includes at least one of:

received signal strength indicator measurements, reference signal received power measurements or reference signal received quality measurements, and wherein the measurement report is indicative of at least one of the;

received signal strength indicator measurements, reference signal received power measurements or reference signal received quality measurements being greater than a threshold.

36. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the non-serving base station is further configured to perform interference management at the non-serving base station of the user equipment served by the serving base station, wherein the interference management is performed based, at least, in part, on a determined signal information.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the non-serving base station being configured to perform the interference management comprises at least one of:

the non-serving base station being configured to cancel an uplink signal transmitted from the user equipment served by the serving base station, the non-serving base station being configured to schedule transmission of a signal on a carrier different than a carrier on which an uplink signal is scheduled from the user equipment served by the serving base station or the non-serving base station being configured to perform power control for a user equipment served by the serving base station.

38. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the slow time scale information is at least one of a scrambling code used by the user equipment or uplink channel configuration information for the user equipment, and wherein the uplink channel configuration information comprises at least one of:

an uplink dedicated physical channel or an enhanced dedicated physical channel, and wherein a wireless communication system providing the slow time scale information is a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System.

39. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the slow time scale information is at least one of:

a cell radio network temporary identifier associated with the user equipment, persistent assignment information for the user equipment, physical channel configuration information about the user equipment or a number of control channel symbols being used by the serving base station, and wherein a wireless communication system providing the slow time scale information is a Long-Term Evolution system.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the persistent assignment information for the user equipment is at least one of assigned resource blocks, information indicative of periodicity of a persistent assignment associated with the user equipment, information indicative of modulation used in a persistent assignment associated with the user equipment, information indicative of a coding rate applicable to a persistent assignment associated with the user equipment or information indicative of hopping of a persistent assignment associated with the user equipment,

and wherein physical channel configuration information about the user equipment comprises at least one of:

a physical uplink control channel, a physical uplink shared channel or a sounding reference signal.