USING MOBILE COMMUNICATION DEVICES TO FACILITATE COORDINATING USE OF RESOURCES

• US 20100159936A1
• Filed: 12/23/2008
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: CHANDER, SHARAT S., BRISEBOIS, ARTHUR
• Granted Patent: US 8,213,951 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/450
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/00 Local resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/20 between access points

Abstract

System(s), method(s), and device(s) that facilitate managing resources associated with communication devices are presented. A mobile device(s) at cell edge identifies its in-use resource blocks (RBs) to a neighbor base station, or in-use RBs of a neighbor base station to the serving base station. In the former instance, the neighbor base station sorts RBs in ascending order based on signal strengths respectively associated with the RBs and mobile devices; in the latter instance, the serving base station ranks RBs in ascending order based on signal strengths respectively associated with the RBs and neighbor base stations. RBs having weakest signal strength are reused first for mobile devices at cell edge. Base station establishes a direct wireless radio path with another base station facilitated by employing a sequence of subframes where all subframes but a specified subframe are blanked, and data is transmitted between base stations during the specified subframe.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates management of resources associated with a mobile device, comprising:

the mobile device associated with a serving base station that serves the mobile device; and

a resource coordination component that transmits information comprising resource blocks in use to a specified base station when the mobile device is determined to be at cell edge with regard to the serving base station to facilitate management of reuse of resource blocks.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the specified base station is a neighbor base station that neighbors the mobile device, the resource coordination component transmits an echo transmission block comprising the information comprising resource blocks in use by the mobile device to the neighbor base station when the mobile device is determined to be at cell edge with regard to the serving base station to facilitate management of reuse of resource blocks.

3. The system of claim 2, the echo transmission block is encoded and unencrypted, and is on at least one of a specified uplink channel or an echo uplink channel.

4. The system of claim 2, the resource coordination component monitors a synch channel between the mobile device and the serving base station and a synch channel between the mobile device and the neighbor base station.

5. The system of claim 2, the resource coordination component compares a serving synch channel signal strength between the mobile device and the serving base station and a neighbor synch channel signal strength between the mobile device and the neighbor base station.

6. The system of claim 5, the resource coordination component calculates a margin between the serving synch channel signal strength and the neighbor synch channel signal strength.

7. The system of claim 6, the resource coordination component determines that the mobile device is at the cell edge when the margin meets a predefined threshold level that is deemed to indicate a risk of interference received by the mobile device due to the neighbor base station attempting to serve the mobile device using same resource blocks as the serving base station.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the specified base station is the serving base station, the resource coordination component transmits the information comprising resource blocks in use by a neighbor base station to the serving base station when the mobile device is determined to be at cell edge with regard to the serving base station to facilitate management of reuse of resource blocks.

9. The system of claim 8, the resource coordination component monitors a serving synch channel and a neighbor synch channel, and compares a serving synch channel signal strength between the mobile device and the serving base station and a neighbor synch channel signal strength between the mobile device and the neighbor base station.

10. The system of claim 9, the resource coordination component calculates a margin between the serving synch channel signal strength and the neighbor synch channel signal strength, and determines that the mobile device is at the cell edge when the margin meets a predefined threshold level that is deemed to indicate a risk of interference received by the mobile device due to the neighbor base station attempting to serve the mobile device using same resource blocks as the serving base station.

11. A method that facilitates managing resources associated with a mobile device, comprising:

determining margin between measured synch channel signal strength associated with a serving base station that serves the mobile device and measured synch channel signal strength associated with a neighbor base station that neighbors the mobile device; and

transmitting information comprising identification of resource blocks in use to a specified base station when the mobile device is determined to be at cell edge with regard to the serving base station, based at least in part on the determined margin and a predefined threshold level for cell edge, to facilitate managing reusing resource blocks.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

comparing the measured synch channel signal strength associated with the serving base station and the measured synch channel signal strength associated with the neighbor base station to facilitate determining the margin;

encoding an echo transmission block comprising the information; and

transmitting an echo transmission block comprising the information to the specified base station, wherein the specified base station is the neighbor base station.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a broadcast message comprising the information that includes identification of resource blocks in use by the neighbor base station;

monitoring a synch channel associated with the serving base station and a synch channel associated with the neighbor base station to facilitate measuring synch channel signal strength associated with the serving base station and synch channel signal strength associated with the neighbor base station;

calculating a difference between the measured synch channel signal strength associated with the serving base station and the measured synch channel signal strength associated with the neighbor base station to facilitate determining the margin;

transmitting the information, comprising identification of resource blocks in use by the neighbor base station and signal strength of the neighbor base station, to the specified base station, wherein the specified base station is the serving base station.

14. A system that facilitates resource management associated with a mobile communication device, comprising:

a specified base station that manages a set of resource blocks to facilitate communication with mobile communication devices; and

a resource management component that is associated with the specified base station and receives information comprising resource blocks in use from the mobile communication device when the mobile communication device is at cell edge with regard to a serving base station that serves the mobile communication device to facilitate management of reuse of resource blocks.

15. The system of claim 14, the resource management component monitors a channel to facilitate detecting and receiving respective echo transmission blocks from one or more mobile communication devices, including the mobile communication device, wherein the specified base station is a neighbor base station that neighbors the mobile communication device.

16. The system of claim 15, the resource management component receives encoded echo transmission blocks on an uplink channel from the mobile communication device and at least one other mobile communication device and decodes the echo transmission blocks, wherein each echo transmission block comprises information that indicates resource blocks in use by a mobile communication device that provided such echo transmission block.

17. The system of claim 16, the resource management component measures respective signal strengths associated with respective echo transmission blocks, which are respectively associated with resource blocks in use by an associated mobile communication device, and compares the respective signal strengths to each other.

18. The system of claim 17, the resource management component sorts resource blocks in ascending order based at least in part on the respective signal strengths associated with the respective resource blocks.

19. The system of claim 18, the resource management component first uses a downlink resource block associated with a weakest signal strength for a mobile communication device at cell edge, and uses other downlink resource blocks for mobile communication devices that are not at cell edge.

20. The system of claim 18, the resource management component first uses an uplink resource block associated with a weakest signal strength for a mobile communication device at cell edge, and uses other uplink resource blocks for mobile communication devices that are not at cell edge.

21. The system of claim 14, the resource management component broadcasts actual resource block use on an unencrypted downlink bearer, wherein the specified base station is the serving base station.

22. The system of claim 21, the resource management component receives a respective message, which indicates signal strength of a neighbor base station and resource blocks in use by the neighbor base station, from each mobile communication device, including the mobile communication device, that is at cell edge in relation to the serving base station.

23. The system of claim 22, the resource management component evaluates respective signal strengths, which are associated with respective neighbor base stations and respective resource blocks in use by the respective neighbor base stations, and compares the respective signal strengths to each other.

24. The system of claim 23, the resource management component ranks resource blocks in ascending order based at least in part on the respective signal strengths associated with the respective resource blocks.

25. The system of claim 24, the resource management component first uses a downlink resource block associated with a weakest signal strength for a mobile communication device at cell edge, and uses other downlink resource blocks for mobile communication devices that are not at cell edge.

26. A method that facilitates managing resources associated with a mobile device, comprising:

receiving information identifying resource blocks in use from the mobile device when the mobile device is at cell edge with regard to a serving base station that serves the mobile device to facilitate managing reuse of resource blocks; and

reusing resource blocks in a specified order based at least in part predefined reuse criteria.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

receiving echo transmission blocks from one or more mobile devices, including the mobile device, that are at cell edge in relation to respective serving base stations, wherein for each particular echo transmission block of the echo transmission blocks comprise information identifying resource blocks in use for a mobile device associated with the particular echo transmission block;

measuring respective signal strengths associated with each of the received echo transmission blocks and respective resource blocks identified in the received echo transmission blocks; and

sorting resource blocks in an ascending order based at least in part on respective signal strengths associated with the resource blocks as identified in respective echo transmission blocks.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

reusing downlink resource blocks in order of associated respective signal strengths using a downlink resource block associated with a weakest signal strength first for a particular mobile device at cell edge in relation to a particular base station that serves the particular mobile device, wherein the particular base station neighbors the mobile device and serving base station;

reusing other downlink resource blocks for other mobile devices that are not at cell edge in relation to the particular base station;

reusing uplink resource blocks in order of associated respective signal strengths using an uplink resource block associated with a weakest signal strength first for the particular mobile device at cell edge in relation to the particular base station; and

reusing other uplink resource blocks for other mobile devices that are not at cell edge in relation to the particular base station.

29. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

broadcasting resource block use on an unencrypted downlink bearer;

receiving reports from one or more mobile devices, including the mobile device, that are at cell edge in relation to the serving base station, wherein each report comprises information indicating signal strength of a respective neighbor base station detected by a respective mobile device and resource blocks in use by the respective neighbor base station;

comparing respective signal strengths, which are associated with respective neighbor base stations and respective resource blocks in use by the respective neighbor base stations, to each other; and

ranking resource blocks in an ascending order based at least in part on respective signal strengths associated with the resource blocks as identified in respective echo transmission blocks.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

reusing downlink resource blocks in order of associated respective signal strengths using a downlink resource block associated with a weakest signal strength first for a particular mobile device at cell edge in relation to a particular base station that serves the particular mobile device, wherein the particular base station serves the mobile device; and

reusing other downlink resource blocks for other mobile devices that are not at cell edge in relation to the particular base station.

31. A method that facilitates managing resources associated with a mobile device, comprising:

setting up a first mobile device to be utilized to facilitate communicating data between a second mobile device and a base station serving the first mobile device and second mobile device when the first mobile device is at cell edge, based at least in part on predefined criteria; and

communicating data between the second mobile device and the base station via the first mobile device.

32. A method that facilitates managing resources associated with a mobile communication device, comprising:

configuring a first mobile communication device to be utilized to facilitate communicating data between a second mobile communication device and a third mobile communication device using direct mobile device-to-mobile device communications when the first mobile communication device is at cell edge with the first base station, based at least in part on predefined criteria, where the first mobile communication device and the second mobile communication device are served by the first base station and the third mobile communication device is served by a second base station; and

communicating data between the second mobile communication device and the third mobile communication device via the first mobile communication device.

33. A method that facilitates managing resources associated with a mobile device, comprising:

configuring the mobile device to be utilized to facilitate communicating data between a first base station, which is serving the mobile device, and a second base station that neighbors the first base station when the mobile device is at cell edge, based at least in part on predefined criteria; and

communicating data between the first base station and the second base station via the mobile device.

34. A method that facilitates managing resources associated with a base station, comprising:

monitoring a specified number of subframes in a subframe sequence to facilitate communicating data via an over-the-air wireless radio path between a first base station and a second base station, wherein the sequence of subframes is structured such that all subframes, except for the specified number of subframes, is blanked;

ceasing transmissions associated with mobile devices during a time period where the specified number of subframes occurs in the subframe sequence; and

receiving data via the over-the-air-wireless radio path during a time period where the specified number of subframes occurs in the subframe sequence.