Network coordination for improved interference cancellation

• US 9,497,765 B2
• Filed: 02/02/2012
• Issued: 11/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Yoo, Taesang, Schoeneich, Hendrik, Rajih, Myriam, Luo, Tao, Mallik, Siddhartha
• Primary Examiner(s): Sefcheck, Gregory
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ulysse, Jael
• Application Number:
  US13/364,891
• Publication Number:
  US 20130044697A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,748 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0003 by switching between different modulation schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0606 Space-frequency coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference

Abstract

Communications by base stations in wireless communication networks may be coordinated in a manner to improve performance by mobile devices experiencing interference from non-serving base stations. In particular, base station communications may be coordinated to improve the performance of interference cancellation by mobile devices. If a user equipment (UE) experiencing interference is capable of interference cancellation, then the base stations may coordinate to increase interference to that user equipment so as to improve that UE'"'"'s ability to perform interference cancellation. Base stations may also coordinate to reduce interference for a UE, regardless of the UE'"'"'s ability to perform interference cancellation. Mobile device performance improvements may also be achieved by coordinating scheduling of resources by the non-serving base stations, by using communication formats compatible with interference cancellation, by spatial coordination.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

determining that a victim user equipment (UE) is experiencing moderate interference from a neighbor base station;

determining whether the victim UE is capable of performing interference cancellation; and

coordinating with a serving base station to adjust a level of interference experienced by the victim UE in response to the level of interference being;

greater than a first threshold such that the level of interference disrupts performance of the victim UE, and

less than a second threshold such that the level of interference cannot be reliably canceled with interference cancellation,

wherein when the victim UE is capable of performing the interference cancellation, the level of interference is adjusted by scheduling the victim UE to communicate on at least one resource block with a greater level of interference in comparison to other resource blocks such that the level of interference is increased, an ability of the victim UE to perform interference cancellation being increased based on the increase in the level of interference, and

wherein when the victim UE is not capable of performing the interference cancellation, the level of interference is adjusted by decreasing the level of interference.

2. The method of claim 1, in which adjusting the level of interference further comprises reallocating resources between the neighbor base station and the serving base station.

3. The method of claim 1 in which adjusting the level of interference further comprises coordinating beamforming to improve the ability of the victim UE to cancel the interference.

4. The method of claim 1 in which decreasing the level of interference comprises beamforming away from the victim UE when the victim UE is not capable of performing the interference cancellation.

5. The method of claim 1 in which adjusting the level of interference further comprises adjusting a power level of downlink communications to improve the ability of the victim UE to cancel the interference.

6. The method of claim 5 in which adjusting the power level of downlink communications comprises increasing the level of interference.

7. The method of claim 1 in which the coordinating with the serving base station occurs dynamically or semi-statically.

8. The method of claim 1 in which a transmission format of the interference is selected to improve the ability of the victim UE to perform interference cancellation.

9. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

means for determining that a victim user equipment (UE) is experiencing moderate interference from a neighbor base station;

means for determining whether the victim UE is capable of performing interference cancellation; and

means for coordinating with a serving base station to adjust a level of interference experienced by the victim UE in response to the level of interference being;

greater than a first threshold such that the level of interference disrupts performance of the victim UE, and

less than a second threshold such that the level of interference cannot be reliably canceled with interference cancellation,

wherein when the victim UE is capable of performing the interference cancellation, the level of interference is adjusted by scheduling the victim UE to communicate on at least one resource block with a greater level of interference in comparison to other resource blocks such that the level of interference is increased, an ability of the victim UE to perform interference cancellation being increased based on the increase in the level of interference, and

wherein when the victim UE is not capable of performing the interference cancellation, the level of interference is adjusted by decreasing the level of interference.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon for wireless communications, the program code comprising:

program code to determine that a victim user equipment (UE) is experiencing moderate interference from a neighbor base station;

program code to determine whether the victim UE is capable of performing interference cancellation; and

program code to coordinate with a serving base station to adjust a level of interference experienced by the victim UE in response to the level of interference being;

greater than a first threshold such that the level of interference disrupts performance of the victim UE, and

less than a second threshold such that the level of interference cannot be reliably canceled with interference cancellation,

wherein when the victim UE is capable of performing the interference cancellation, the level of interference is adjusted by scheduling the victim UE to communicate on at least one resource block with a greater level of interference in comparison to other resource blocks such that the level of interference is increased, an ability of the victim UE to perform interference cancellation being increased based on the increase in the level of interference, and

wherein when the victim UE is not capable of performing the interference cancellation, the level of interference is adjusted by decreasing the level of interference.

11. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor being configured;

to determine that a victim user equipment (UE) is experiencing moderate interference from a neighbor base station;

to determine whether the victim UE is capable of performing interference cancellation; and

to coordinate with a serving base station to adjust a level of interference experienced by the victim UE in response to the level of interference being;

greater than a first threshold such that the level of interference disrupts performance of the victim UE, and

less than a second threshold such that the level of interference cannot be reliably canceled with interference cancellation,

wherein when the victim UE is capable of performing the interference cancellation, the level of interference is adjusted by scheduling the victim UE to communicate on at least one resource block with a greater level of interference in comparison to other resource blocks such that the level of interference is increased, an ability of the victim UE to perform interference cancellation being increased based on the increase in the level of interference, and

wherein when the victim UE is not capable of performing the interference cancellation, the level of interference is adjusted by decreasing the level of interference.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, in which the at least one processor is further configured to adjust the level of interference by reallocating resources between the neighbor base station and the serving base station.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 in which the at least one processor is further configured to adjust the level of interference by beamforming to improve the ability of the victim UE to cancel the interference.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 in which the at least one processor is configured to beamform away from the victim UE when the victim UE is not capable of performing the interference cancellation.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 in which the at least one processor is further configured to adjust the level of interference by adjusting a power level of downlink communications to improve the ability of the victim UE to cancel the interference.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 in which the at least one processor is further configured to adjust the power level of downlink communications by increasing the level of interference.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 in which the at least one processor is further configured to coordinate with the serving base station dynamically or semi-statically.