Method and apparatus for avoiding interference

• US 9,961,691 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2017
• Issued: 05/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ISCO International Inc.
• Original Assignee: ISCO International Inc.
• Inventors: Abdelmonem, Amr
• Primary Examiner(s): Bhattacharya, Sam
• Application Number:
  US15/498,536
• Publication Number:
  US 20170230983A1
• Time in Patent Office: 369 Days
• Field of Search: 455 631, 4554321, 455433, 455450, 4554521, 370248, 370252, 370253
• 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 perform, for example, a method that determines at least one threshold for detecting signal interference in a first plurality of segments occurring in a first radio frequency spectrum of a first wireless communication system, detecting a pattern of recurrence over time of signal interference in a segment of the first plurality of resource blocks according to the at least one threshold, and performing one or more mitigation steps to mitigate the signal interference without filtering the signal interference where the one or more mitigation steps include at least one of transmitting signals out of phase from the signal interference, adjusting transmit power, increasing power in a resource block of a long term evolution communication session, performing beam steering, or changing time parameters for the resource block without changing to a new resource block. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

monitoring, by a device comprising a processor and coupled to a wireless communication system, the wireless communication system to detect a signal interference in a resource block of a plurality of resource blocks of a radio frequency spectrum, the monitoring resulting in interference data;

detecting, by the device, whether there exists a pattern of recurrence over time of the signal interference in the resource block of the plurality of resource blocks based on a correlation of the interference data, the detecting resulting in an affirmative pattern determination responsive to the pattern of recurrence existing;

responsive to the affirmative pattern determination, determining, by the device, whether mitigation of the signal interference is to be performed remotely with respect to the device, resulting in an affirmative remote mitigation determination in a case that the mitigation is to be performed remotely; and

responsive to the affirmative remote mitigation determination, transmitting, by the device, instructions to a remote wireless communication device experiencing the pattern of recurrence over time of the signal interference, wherein the instructions include one or more first mitigation steps to be performed by the remote wireless communication device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the correlation of the interference data results from the device correlating the interference data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining, by the device, identification data for an interferer associated with the signal interference;

accessing, by the device, a group of profiles corresponding to a plurality of interferers, wherein each profile describes characteristics of each of the plurality of interferers; and

selecting, by the device, a target profile from the group of profiles based on the identification data;

wherein the detecting is based on the target profile.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising predicting, by the device, a recurrence of interference by the interferer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more first mitigation steps include transmitting signals out of phase from the signal interference, adjusting at least one of transmit power or phase at the remote wireless communication device, increasing power in a resource block of a long term evolution communication session, or a combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the interference data is obtained from a plurality of base stations of the wireless communication system.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the correlation of the interference data results in correlated data, and wherein the method further comprises:

identifying, based on the correlated data, an interferer detected by the plurality of base stations; and

determining, from locations of the base stations, a location of an interference source associated with the interferer.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a profile for an interferer associated with the signal interference; and

storing the profile in a database.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising, responsive to the affirmative pattern determination, performing one or more second mitigation steps at a base station to mitigate the signal interference without performing filtering of the signal interference.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more second mitigation steps include performing beam steering at the base station.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more second mitigation steps include changing time parameters for a resource block of a long term evolution communication session of the remote wireless communication device without changing to a new resource block.

12. A device of a wireless communication system, the device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising;

monitoring the wireless communication system to detect a signal interference in a resource block of a plurality of resource blocks of a radio frequency spectrum, wherein the monitoring results in interference data;

determining that there exists a pattern of recurrence over time of the signal interference in the resource block of the plurality of resource blocks based on a correlation of the interference data, wherein the determining results in an affirmative pattern determination in a case that the pattern of recurrence exists;

responsive to the affirmative pattern determination, determining whether mitigation of the signal interference is to be performed remotely with respect to the device, wherein the determining whether the mitigation of the signal interference is to be performed remotely results in an affirmative remote mitigation determination in a case that the mitigation is to be performed remotely; and

responsive to the affirmative remote mitigation determination, sending instructions to a remote wireless communication device that experienced the pattern of recurrence over time of the signal interference, wherein the instructions include one or more mitigation steps to be performed by the remote wireless communication device.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the device comprises a base station, and wherein the remote wireless communication device comprises a mobile device.

14. The device of claim 12, wherein the one or more mitigation steps include transmitting signals out of phase from the signal interference, adjusting at least one of transmit power or phase at the remote wireless communication device, increasing power in a resource block of a long term evolution communication session, or a combination thereof.

15. The device of claim 12, wherein:

the interference data is received from a base station; and

the correlation of the interference data results from the device correlating the interference data.

16. The device of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:

obtaining interference identification data associated with the signal interference;

accessing a group of profiles corresponding to a plurality of interferers, wherein each profile describes characteristics of each of the plurality of interferers; and

selecting a target profile from the group of profiles based on the interference identification data;

wherein the determining that there exists the pattern of recurrence over time of the signal interference in the resource block of the plurality of resource blocks is based on the target profile.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a device coupled to a wireless communication system, perform operations comprising:

monitoring the wireless communication system to produce interference data, wherein the monitoring detects signal interference in a resource block of a plurality of resource blocks of a radio frequency spectrum according to a threshold;

detecting an existence of a pattern of recurrence over time of the signal interference in the resource block of the plurality of resource blocks based on a correlation of the interference data, wherein the detecting results in an affirmative pattern determination when the pattern of recurrence is found to exist;

determining, responsive to the affirmative pattern determination, whether mitigation of the signal interference is to be performed remotely with respect to the device, wherein the determining results in an affirmative remote mitigation determination when the mitigation is to be performed remotely; and

responsive to the affirmative remote mitigation determination, transmitting instructions to a remote wireless communication device that experienced the pattern of recurrence over time of the signal interference, wherein the instructions include a mitigation step to be performed by the remote wireless communication device.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein:

the wireless communication system comprises a base station; and

the correlation of the interference data results from the device correlating the interference data.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

obtaining identification data for an interferer associated with the signal interference; and

predicting a recurrence of interference by the interferer.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the mitigation step includes transmitting signals out of phase from the signal interference, adjusting at least one of transmit power or phase at the remote wireless communication device, increasing power in a resource block of a long term evolution communication session, or a combination thereof.