Cooperative Relay System

• US 20130172000A1
• Filed: 09/03/2010
• Published: 07/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks US LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Van Phan, Vinh, Yu, Ling, Horneman, Kari Veikko
• Granted Patent: US 9,179,444 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/450
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/26 Cell enhancers or enhancement, e.g. for tunnels, building shadow
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/047 using dedicated repeater stations

Abstract

The invention relates to apparatuses, methods, systems, computer programs, computer program products and computer-readable media.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor and at least one memory including a computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to;

receive a network identity of a virtual operational network, the virtual operational network having a plurality of donor system candidates;

receive a configuration profile, the configuration profile comprising parameters in relation to resource usage in the virtual operational network;

select at least one donor node from the donor system candidates; and

indicate the network identity and the configuration profile to the selected at least one donor node in connection to setting up a backhaul connection to the selected at least one donor node.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the virtual operational network is a multi-operator network comprising a group of cooperative relay nodes;

and wherein the apparatus is a relay node belonging to the group of cooperative relay nodes.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the configuration profile comprises at least one of the following parameters:

spectrum allocation of at least a primary carrier, global cell identification, layer 1 cell identification, and cell-selection control parameters.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is further configured to monitor and keep other relay nodes of the group of cooperative relay nodes and/or donor systems updated of available capacity and/or load status on an access link and/or backhaul link.

3. (canceled)

4. (canceled)

5. (canceled)

7. (canceled)

9. A computer program product embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program being configured to control a processor to perform:

receiving a network identity of a virtual operational network, the virtual operational network having a plurality of donor system candidates;

receiving a configuration profile, the configuration profile comprising parameters in relation to resource usage in the virtual operational network;

selecting at least one donor node from the donor system candidates; and

indicating the network identity and the configuration profile to the selected at least one donor node in connection to setting up a backhaul connection to the selected at least one donor node.

10. A method comprising:

receiving a network identity of a virtual operational network, the virtual operational network having a plurality of donor system candidates;

receiving a configuration profile, the configuration profile comprising parameters in relation to resource usage in the virtual operational network;

selecting at least one donor node from the donor system candidates; and

indicating the network identity and the configuration profile to the selected at least one donor node in connection to setting up a backhaul connection to the selected at least one donor node.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the virtual operational network is a multi-operator network comprising a group of cooperative relay nodes.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the configuration profile comprises at least one of the following parameters:

spectrum allocation of at least a primary carrier, global cell identification, layer 1 cell identification, and cell-selection control parameters.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

monitoring and carrying out updating of available capacity and/or load status on an access link and/or backhaul link.

12. (canceled)

13. (canceled)

15. (canceled)

17. (canceled)

18. (canceled)

19. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor and at least one memory including a computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to;

receive, in connection to setting up a backhaul connection, a network identity of a virtual operational network and a configuration profile from a relay node of the virtual operational network, the configuration profile comprising parameters in relation to resource usage in the virtual operational network, the virtual operational network comprising a plurality of relay nodes; and

manage the backhaul connection during operation.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the virtual operational network is a multi-operator network comprising a group of cooperative relay nodes.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 or 20, wherein the network identity is a unique public land mobile network identity (PLMN ID) or tracking area identity (TA ID) different from that of donor systems.

23. The apparatus of claim 19, the apparatus further configured to communicate with other apparatuses on modifications to the configuration profile, and convey an update of the configuration profile to a relay node.

24. The apparatus of claim 19, the apparatus comprising a donor node being coupled to a mobile management entity gate-way (MME/GW) to form a donor system.

26. The apparatus of claim 19, the apparatus being further configured to hand over the backhaul connection to another donor node or donor system for backhaul connection optimization purposes;

or

the apparatus being further configured to initiate and perform a handover of the backhaul connection.

22. (canceled)

25. (canceled)

27. (canceled)

28. A computer program product embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program being configured to control a processor to perform:

receiving, in connection to setting up a backhaul connection, a network identity of a virtual operational network and a configuration profile from a relay node of the virtual operational network, the configuration profile comprising parameters in relation to resource usage in the virtual operational network, the virtual operational network comprising a plurality of relay nodes; and

managing the backhaul connection during operation.

29. A method comprising:

receiving, in connection to setting up a backhaul connection, a network identity of a virtual operational network and a configuration profile from a relay node of the virtual operational network, the configuration profile comprising parameters in relation to resource usage in the virtual operational network, the virtual operational network comprising a plurality of relay nodes; and

managing the backhaul connection during operation.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the virtual operational network is a multi-operator network comprising a group of cooperative relay nodes.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the network identity is a unique public land mobile network identity (PLMN ID) or tracking area identity (TA ID) different from that of donor systems.

33. The method of claim 29, the method further comprising communicating with other apparatuses on modifications to the configuration profile, and convey an update of the configuration profile to a relay node.

32. (canceled)

34. (canceled)

35. (canceled)