PROACTIVE SCHEDULING METHODS AND APPARATUS TO ENABLE PEER-TO-PEER COMMUNICATION LINKS IN A WIRELESS OFDMA SYSTEM

• US 20120327889A1
• Filed: 08/30/2012
• Published: 12/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: Sayeedi, Shahab M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,982,846 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0037 Inter-user or inter-terminal 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: H04L 5/0082 at predetermined intervals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0094 Indication of how sub-channels of the path are allocated

Abstract

Systems, methods and apparatus are provided for scheduling resources in Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication networks for “direct link” or peer-to-peer communications among stations operating therein so that OFDMA resources can be allocated to a transmitter station for a peer-to-peer communication session with a receiver station such that near-far issues caused by peer-to-peer communication are reduced/avoided. The disclosed technologies can prevent peer-to-peer communication links using different sub-channels within the same time slot from creating near-far issues for other receiver stations that are within communication range.

Claims

1. A method for scheduling OFDMA resources allocated to a transmitter station for a peer-to-peer communication session with a receiver station, the method comprising:

transmitting, from a base station to recipient stations including the transmitter station, a metric request message to request first metric measurement information from the recipient stations, wherein the metric request message comprises;

an indicator that first metric is to be measured with respect to selected OFDMA resources of an OFDMA frame that the base station is requesting more information about; and

one or more first metric categories that a station is to report with respect to the selected OFDMA resources;

receiving the metric request message at the recipient stations including the transmitter station, measuring, at each of the at the recipient stations, first metric with respect to some of the selected OFDMA resources, and transmitting, from each of the recipient stations, a response message (RM) comprising information regarding first metric measurement with respect to some of the selected OFDMA resources, wherein the response message (RM) generated by the transmitter station comprises a first response message (RM);

transmitting, to the base station, a resource request message (RRM) from the transmitter station to request allocation of some of the OFDMA resources for the peer-to-peer communication session with the receiver station; and

processing the response messages (RMs) at the base station to determine specific ones of the OFDMA resources to be allocated to the transmitter station.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising allocating the specific ones of the OFDMA resources to the transmitter station.

3. A method for scheduling OFDMA resources allocated to a transmitter station for a peer-to-peer communication session with a receiver station, the method comprising:

transmitting, from a base station to recipient stations including the transmitter station, a request for first metric measurement information to be measured with respect to selected OFDMA resources of an OFDMA frame;

receiving the request message at the recipient stations;

measuring, at each of the recipient stations, first metric with respect to some of the selected OFDMA resources, and transmitting, from each of the recipient stations, a response message (RM) comprising information regarding first metric measurements with respect to some of the selected OFDMA resources, wherein the transmitted information is categorized on the basis of potential to cause near-far interference; and

processing the response messages (RMs) at the base station to determine specific ones of the some of the OFDMA resources to be allocated to the transmitter station for the peer-to-peer communication session with the receiver station.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein processing comprises:

classifying peer stations of the recipient stations including the transmitter station on the basis of their potential to cause the near-far interference to determine an updated peer station information for recipient stations including the transmitter station; and

using the updated peer station information to determine the specific ones of the some of the OFDMA resources to be allocated to the transmitter station.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising allocating the specific ones of the some of the OFDMA resources to the transmitter station for the peer-to-peer communication session with the receiver station.

6. A system for scheduling OFDMA resources, the system comprising:

a first base station that transmits, to a second base station and one or more third base stations, a metric request message to request first metric measurement information, wherein the metric request message comprises;

an indicator that first metric is to be measured with respect to selected OFDMA resources of an OFDMA frame that the first base station is requesting more information about; and

one or more first metric categories that a base station is to report with respect to the selected OFDMA resources;

the second base station and the one or more third base stations, wherein the second base station and the one or more third base stations each receives the metric request message, measures first metric with respect to some of the selected OFDMA resources, and transmits a response message (RM) comprising information regarding first metric measurement with respect to some of the selected OFDMA resources, wherein the response message (RM) generated by the second base station comprises a first response message (RM);

wherein the second base station transmits, to the first base station, a resource request message (RRM) to request allocation of some of the OFDMA resources for the peer-to-peer communication session; and

wherein the first base station processes the response messages (RMs) and determines specific ones of the OFDMA resources to be allocated to the second base station.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the second base station receives an allocation of the specific ones of the OFDMA resources from the first base station for a peer-to-peer communication with the first base station.

8. A system for scheduling OFDMA resources, the system comprising:

a first base station that transmits, to a second base station and one or more third base stations, a request for first metric measurement information to be measured with respect to selected OFDMA resources of an OFDMA frame;

the second base station and the one or more third base stations, wherein the second base station and the one or more third base stations each receives the request message, measures first metric with respect to some of the selected OFDMA resources, and transmits from a response message (RM) comprising information regarding first metric measurements with respect to some of the selected OFDMA resources, wherein the transmitted information is categorized on the basis of potential to cause near-far interference; and

wherein the first base station processes the response messages (RMs) and determines specific ones of the some of the OFDMA resources to be allocated to the second base station for the peer-to-peer communication session.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first base station is configured to process the response messages by:

classifying peer stations of the second base station and the one or more third base stations on the basis of their potential to cause the near-far interference to determine an updated peer station information for the second base station and the one or more third base stations; and

using the updated peer station information to determine the specific ones of the some of the OFDMA resources to be allocated to the second base station.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the second base station is configured to receive an allocation of the specific ones of the some of the OFDMA resources for a peer-to-peer communication session with the first base station.