Resource allocation method and apparatus for relay node under the condition of carrier aggregation

• US 9,807,745 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2012
• Issued: 10/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Company Limited (China Information Communication Technology Group Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: China Academy of Telecom Technology (China Information Communication Technology Group Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Zhao, Yali, Bao, Wei
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Steven H
• Application Number:
  US13/691,744
• Publication Number:
  US 20130182635A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,795 Days
• Field of Search: 370252, 455 9, 455423
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15507 Relay station based processing for cell extension or control of coverage area, network planning with network coordinated processing with regard to cell extension H04W16/26; network topologies using dedicated repeater stations H04W84/047; terminal devices adapted for relaying to or from an other terminal H04W88/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0032 Distributed allocation, i.e. involving a plurality of allocating devices, each making partial allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0044 allocation of payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0094 Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/047 using dedicated repeater stations

Abstract

A resource allocation method and apparatus for a relay node under the condition of carrier aggregation are disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention. By applying the technical solution of the embodiments of the present invention, a relay node can determine information of cells, which are currently available for allocation, of a Un interface, and report the information to an eNB, so that the eNB can allocate corresponding Un interface resources for the relay node according to the information. Thus the eNB side can accurately obtain the information of the cell resources, which are available for allocation and currently correspond to the relay node, of the Un interface. Thus the problem is solved that the relay node cannot properly work under the condition of the carrier aggregation caused by the mismatching between the Un interface resources directly allocated by the eNB and the relay node in the prior art.

Claims

1. A resource allocation method of a relay node under a carrier aggregation scene, comprising:

acquiring, by the relay node, information of an available cell of a Un interface;

determining, by the relay node, its relay node type according to the information of the available cell of the Un interface;

determining, by the relay node, information of a current cell available for allocation of the Un interface according to the information of the available cell of the Un interface and the relay node type;

sending, by the relay node, the determined information of the current cell available for allocation of the Un interface to an eNB that the relay node is affiliated to, in order to make the eNB allocate Un interface resource for the relay node according to the information of the current cell available for allocation of the Un interface.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the acquiring, by the relay node, information of an available cell of a Un interface comprises:

determining, the relay node, affiliation relationship between each cell and the eNB that the relay node is affiliated to according to cell list information downloaded from OAM of the relay node; and

determining, by the relay node, a cell as the available cell of its Un interface when the cell and the cell that the relay node is accessed to are affiliated to the same eNB.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the acquiring, by the relay node, information of an available cell of a Un interface further comprises:

acquiring, by the relay node, information of a available cell of a Uu interface.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the acquiring, by the relay node, information of an available cell of a Uu interface comprises:

acquiring, by the relay node, information of an available cell of its Uu interface according to a cell list information of the Uu interface downloaded from the OAM of the relay node.

5. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the determining, by the relay node, its relay node type according to the information of the available cell of the Un interface comprises:

determining, by the relay node, its relay node type according to the information of the available cell of the Un interface, the information of the available cell of the Uu interface and its own software/hardware capacity information.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the determining, by the relay node, its relay node type according to the information of the available cell of the Un interface comprises:

When the software/hardware capacity information of the relay node only supports resource division, determining, by the relay node, the relay node type as “

Requiring resource division”

;

When the software/hardware capacity information of the relay node only supports “

Not requiring resource division”

, determining, by the relay node, the relay node type as “

Not requiring resource division”

;

When the software/hardware capacity information of the relay node supports both “

Not requiring resource division” and

“

Requiring resource division”

, and both the cells corresponding to information of the available cell of the Un interface and information of the available cell of the Uu interface cannot meet the requirement of not requiring resource division, determining, by the relay node, the relay node type as “

Requiring resource division”

;

When the software/hardware capacity information of the relay node supports both “

Not requiring resource division” and

“

Requiring resource division”

, and a part of the cells corresponding to information of the available cell of the Un interface and information of the available cell of the Uu interface can meet the requirement of not requiring resource division, determining, by the relay node, the relay node type as “

Requiring resource division”

or “

Not requiring resource division”

according to demand of the relay node;

When the software/hardware capacity information of the relay node supports both “

Not requiring resource division” and

“

Requiring resource division”

, and both the cells corresponding to information of the available cell of the Un interface and information of the available cell of the Uu interface meet the requirement of not requiring resource division, determining, by the relay node, the relay node type as “

Not requiring resource division”

.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, after the relay node determines its relay node type according to information of the available cell of the Un interface, the relay node determines information of the current cell available for allocation of its Uu interface according to the relay node type.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein sending, by the relay node, the determined information of the current cell available for allocation of the Un interface to an eNB that the relay node is affiliated to, in order to make the eNB allocate Un interface resource for the relay node according to the information of the current cell available for allocation of the Un interface comprises:

reporting, by the relay node, the information of the current cell available for allocation of the Un interface to an eNB that the relay node is affiliated to through an RRC message;

allocating, by the eNB, Un interface resource for the relay node according to information of the current cell available for allocation of the Un interface and current service demand.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein, when the relay node reports the information of the current cell available for allocation of the Un interface to the eNB that the relay node is affiliated to through the RRC message, the relay node reports its relay node type to the eNB that the relay node is affiliated to through the RRC message.

10. A relay node, comprising at least one processor and a memory, wherein program instructions stored in the memory are executed by the at least one processor so that the at least one processor is to:

acquire information of an available cell of a Un interface;

determine a relay node type according to the information of the available cell of the Un interface;

determine information of a current cell available for allocation of the Un interface of the relay node according to the information of the available cell of the Un interface and the relay node type;

send the information of the current cell available for allocation of the Un interface to the eNB that the relay node is affiliated to in order to make the eNB allocate Un interface resource for the relay node according to the information of the current cell available for allocation of the Un interface.

11. The relay node as claimed in claim 10, wherein, the at least one processor is used to:

determine affiliation relationship between each cell and the eNB that the relay node is affiliated to according to cell list information downloaded from OAM of the relay node; and

determine a cell as the available cell of the Un interface of the relay node when the cell and the cell that the relay node is accessed to are affiliated to the same eNB.

12. The relay node as claimed in claim 10, wherein, the at least one processor is also used to acquire information of an available cell of a Uu interface of the relay node according to cell list information of the Uu interface downloaded from the OAM of the relay node.

13. The relay node as claimed in claim 12, wherein, the at least one processor is used to determine the relay node type according to the information of the available cell of the Un interface, the information of the available cell of the Uu interface and software/hardware capacity information of the relay node.

14. The relay node as claimed in claim 13, wherein, the at least one processor is used to:

determine the relay node type as “

Requiring resource division”

when the software/hardware capacity information of the relay node only supports resource division;

determine the relay node type as “

Not requiring resource division”

when the software/hardware capacity information of the relay node only supports “

Not requiring resource division”

;

determine the relay node type as “

Requiring resource division”

when the software/hardware capacity information of the relay node supports both “

Requiring resource division” and

“

Not requiring resource division” and

both the cells corresponding to information of the available cell of the Un interface and information of the available cell of the Uu interface cannot meet the requirement of not requiring resource division;

determine the relay node type as “

Requiring resource division”

or “

Not requiring resource division”

according to demand of the relay node when the software/hardware capacity information of the relay node supports both “

Not requiring resource division” and

“

Requiring resource division” and

a part of the cells corresponding to information of the available cell of the Un interface and information of the available cell of the Uu interface can meet the requirement of not requiring resource division;

determine the relay node type as “

Not requiring resource division”

when the software/hardware capacity information of the relay node supports both “

Not requiring resource division” and

“

Requiring resource division” and

both the cells corresponding to information of the available cell of the Un interface and information of the available cell of the Uu interface meet the requirement of not requiring resource division.

15. The relay node as claimed in claim 10, wherein, the at least one processor is also used to determine information of the current cell available for allocation of the Uu interface of the relay node according to the relay node type determined by the type determination module.

16. The relay node as claimed in claim 10, wherein, the at least one processor is used to:

report the information of the current cell available for allocation of the Un interface to the eNB that the relay node is affiliated to through an RRC message, so that the eNB allocates Un interface resource for the relay node according to the information of the current cell available for allocation of the Un interface and current service demand.

17. The relay node as claimed in claim 16, wherein, the at least one processor is also used to:

report the relay node type to the eNB that the relay node is affiliated to through the RRC message.