Method and apparatus for signal interference processing

• US 9,749,114 B2
• Filed: 06/02/2015
• Issued: 08/29/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ISCO International Inc.
• Original Assignee: ISCO International Inc.
• Inventors: Abdelmonem, Amr, Cordone, Sean S., Myers, Bill
• Primary Examiner(s): Bhattacharya, Sam
• Application Number:
  US14/728,321
• Publication Number:
  US 20150304876A1
• Time in Patent Office: 819 Days
• Field of Search: 455436, 4554561, 4554562, 4554565, 455561, 370252, 370328, 370331
• 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 include, for example, a device comprising a memory to store instructions and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, the processor performs operations. The operations comprise receiving signals over a spectrum of frequencies, providing location data of the device to a base station, receiving a request from a base station to perform a spectral analysis of the signals, detecting an interference among the signals, and providing, in response to the request, data to the base station regarding a source of the interference, wherein the data comprises a location of the source relative to the device, spectral data for identifying the source, and a time a frequency of occurrence of the interference. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A mobile device comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

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

receiving a request from a base station to perform a spectral analysis of signals over a spectrum of frequencies, wherein the mobile device is selected by the base station from among a plurality of mobile devices for performing the spectral analysis based on a location of the mobile device;

detecting an interference among the signals based on a threshold relative to a baseline power level; and

providing, in response to the request, data to the base station regarding a source of the interference, wherein the data comprises spectral data for identifying the source of the interference, a time of occurrence of the interference, a frequency of occurrence of the interference or any combination thereof.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise providing location data to the base station, and wherein the location of the mobile device is determined by the base station according to the location data.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of mobile devices provides location information to the base station, and wherein the base station determines the location of the source of the interference according to a triangulation procedure utilizing at least some of the location information.

4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of mobile devices and the base station comprise a diagnostic system having access to a database of interference sources including spectral profiles.

5. The mobile device of claim 4, wherein the diagnostic system identifies the source of the interference based on a comparison of the spectral data and the spectral profiles.

6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the signals are received over a communication channel, and wherein the operations further comprise performing a severity analysis of the interference with respect to the communication channel.

7. The mobile device of claim 6, wherein the severity analysis comprises determining a bit error rate of the communication channel, a packet loss rate of the communication channel, traffic analysis for the communication channel, or a combination thereof.

8. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the mobile device and a second mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices are located within a predetermined distance from each other, and the mobile device is selected according to a random selection between the mobile device and the second mobile device.

9. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the data regarding the source of the interference further comprises a strength of the interference, and the time of occurrence and the frequency of occurrence of the interference are based on a time stamp provided by the mobile device.

10. A base station comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

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

selecting a mobile device for performing a spectral analysis according to a location of the mobile device;

sending a request to the mobile device to perform the spectral analysis of signals;

receiving data, provided by the mobile device in response to the request, wherein the data comprises spectral data for identifying a source of interference detected among the signals;

accessing a database of interference source information;

identifying the source of the interference based on a comparison of the spectral data and the interference source information; and

generating a report including information regarding the interference, wherein the report is provided to a diagnostic system to mitigate effects of the interference.

11. The base station of claim 10, wherein the interference source information includes spectral profiles, wherein the mobile device is one of a plurality of mobile devices in communication with the base station, and wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from the plurality of mobile devices, location information; and

determining the location of the interference source utilizing a triangulation procedure according to at least some of the location information.

12. The base station of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise selecting the mobile device from the plurality of devices, in accordance with the location information.

13. The base station of claim 12, wherein the mobile device and a second mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices are located within a predetermined distance from each other, and wherein the operations further comprise selecting the mobile device according to a random selection between the mobile device and the second mobile device.

14. The base station of claim 10, wherein the signals are detected over a communication channel, and wherein the operations further comprise receiving, from the mobile device, a severity analysis of the interference with respect to the communication channel, comprising a bit error rate of the communication channel, a packet loss rate of the communication channel, traffic information for the communication channel, or any combination thereof.

15. The base station of claim 10, wherein the data regarding the source of the interference further comprises a strength of the interference, a time of occurrence of the interference, a frequency of occurrence of the interference, or any combination thereof, and wherein the time of occurrence of the interference or the frequency of occurrence of the interference are based on a time stamp from the mobile device.

16. The base station of claim 10, wherein the base station comprises a mobile device in communication with the diagnostic system, and wherein the data further comprises a time of occurrence of the interference, a frequency of occurrence of the interference, or any combination thereof.

17. A method, comprising:

selecting, by a system comprising a processor, a set of mobile devices from among a plurality of mobile devices;

sending, by the system, a request to the set of mobile devices to perform a spectral analysis of signals;

receiving, by the system, data provided by the set of mobile devices in response to the request and in accordance with the spectral analysis performed by the set of mobile devices, wherein the data comprises location data and spectral data;

determining, by the system, a location of a source of interference from the location data;

accessing, by the system, a database of interference sources including spectral profiles; and

identifying, by the system, the source of the interference based on a comparison of the spectral data and the spectral profiles.

18. The method of claim 17, comprising generating, by the system, a report including information regarding the interference, wherein the report is provided to a diagnostic system to mitigate effects of the interference, wherein the selecting further comprises using a random selection procedure to select a mobile device from plural mobile devices located within a predetermined distance from each other.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the system comprises a mobile device in communication with the diagnostic system, and wherein the data further comprises a time of occurrence of the interference, a frequency of occurrence of the interference, or any combination thereof.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the signals are detected over a communication channel, and further comprising receiving, by the system, a severity analysis of the interference performed by the set of mobile devices with respect to the communication channel, the severity analysis comprising a bit error rate of the communication channel, a packet loss rate of the communication channel, traffic information for the communication channel, or any combination thereof.