Cellular radio system using CDMA scheme

• US 6,021,123 A
• Filed: 12/27/1996
• Issued: 02/01/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Mimura, Masahiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Horabik, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tadesse, Binyam
• Application Number:
  US08/789,102
• Time in Patent Office: 1,131 Days
• Field of Search: 370/331, 370/332, 370/335, 370/333, 370/328, 455/436, 455/438, 455/439, 455/442, 455/443, 455/509, 455/516, 455/517, 455/524, 455/432, 455/560, 455/453, 455/446, 375/200
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/12 Fixed resource partitioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/08 Reselecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/18 for allowing seamless reselection, e.g. soft reselection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/563 of the wireless resources

Abstract

In a CDMA cellular radio system a plurality frequencies of the system are divided into frequencies belonging to a first group and frequencies belonging to a second group, all of the frequencies of the first group are commonly assigned to all of the base stations BS1 to BSn and the frequencies of the second group are individually assigned to the base station groups BSa to BSc. The frequency in the first group is preferentially assigned to a mobile station MSj, and when the mobile station MSj moves between the cells of the different base station groups, soft handoff is effected by using the frequency in the first group. Further, the rates of use of channels of the respective assigned frequencies are monitored for the respective base stations BS1 to BSn, and when a frequency corresponding to the rate of use of the channel which has exceeded a threshold value is detected, the idle handoff control is effected with respect to the mobile station which uses the above frequency.

Claims

1. A CDMA cellular radio system which includes a plurality of base station groups each including a plurality of cells formed by a plurality of base stations, and a mobile station connected to at least one of said plurality of base stations of the base station groups via a CDMA radio channel, and in which a plurality of radio frequencies are divided into a first radio frequency group including at least one radio frequency and a second radio frequency group including a plurality of radio frequencies, the at least one radio frequency of the first radio frequency group being commonly assigned to all of the base stations of said plurality of base station groups and the radio frequencies of the second radio frequency group being individually assigned to said plurality of base station groups, comprising:

radio frequency assigning means for assigning a radio frequency belonging to the first radio frequency group to the mobile station in preference to the radio frequencies belonging to the second radio frequency group; and

first handoff control means for effecting a control operation for soft handoff if a radio frequency assigned to the mobile station belongs to the first radio frequency group when the mobile station moves from a coverage area of a first base station group to a coverage area of a second base station group, and effecting a control operation for hard handoff if the radio frequency assigned to the mobile station belongs to the second radio frequency group when the mobile station moves from the coverage area of the first base station group to the coverage area of the second base station group.

2. A CDMA cellular radio system according to claim 1, wherein said first handoff control means determines whether the radio frequency assigned to the mobile station is available in a coverage area which the mobile station is entering, and said first handoff control means effects the soft handoff control if the radio frequency assigned to the mobile station is available in the coverage area which the mobile station is entering, and said first handoff control means effects the control operation for hard handoff to another radio frequency if the radio frequency assigned to the mobile station is not available in the coverage area which the mobile station is entering.

3. A CDMA cellular radio system according to claim 1, wherein said first handoff control means monitors the traffic amounts of a plurality of radio frequencies which are candidates for handoff, selects a radio frequency with a smallest traffic amount based on the result of monitoring and effects the control for the hard handoff to the selected radio frequency when said first handoff control means effects the control operation for hard handoff.

4. A CDMA cellular radio system according to claim 1, wherein when said mobile station moves from a coverage area of a first base station to a coverage area of a second base station, said first handoff control means compares first communication quality information obtained by weighting information representing a signal strength of a first radio path between the mobile station and the first base station by a coefficient corresponding to a traffic amount of the first radio path with second communication quality information obtained by weighting information representing a signal strength of a second radio path between the mobile station and the second base station by a coefficient corresponding to a traffic amount of the second radio path, and then determines handoff timing based on the result of comparison, when said first handoff control means effects at least one of the soft handoff control operation and the hard handoff control operation.

5. A CDMA cellular radio system according to claim 1, further comprising second handoff control means for monitoring traffic amounts of a plurality of radio frequencies belonging to the first radio frequency group and effecting the hard handoff control for averaging the traffic amounts of said plurality of radio frequencies belonging to the first radio frequency group based on the result of monitoring.

6. A CDMA cellular radio system according to claim 5, wherein when a traffic amount of one of said plurality of radio frequencies belonging to the first radio frequency group exceeds a predetermined value, said second handoff control means effects the hard handoff control for assigning a different radio frequency to said mobile station, wherein a traffic amount of said different radio frequency is less than the predetermined value.

7. A CDMA cellular radio system according to claim 5, wherein when said mobile station is assigned a first radio frequency of said first radio frequency group, and a traffic amount of said first radio frequency exceeds a traffic amount of a second radio frequency of said first radio frequency group by a predetermined value, said second handoff control means effects the hard handoff control for assigning the second radio frequency to the mobile station.

8. A CMDA cellular radio system according to claim 5, 6 or 7, wherein said second handoff control means effects the hard handoff control in a non-communication period of the mobile station.

9. A CDMA cellular radio system which includes a plurality of base station groups each including a plurality of cells formed by a plurality of base stations, and a mobile station connected to at least one of said plurality of base stations via a CDMA radio channel and in which a plurality of radio frequencies are divided into a first radio frequency group including a plurality of radio frequencies and a second radio frequency group including a plurality of radio frequencies, the radio frequencies of the first radio frequency group being commonly assigned to all of the base stations of said plurality of base station groups, and the radio frequencies of the second radio frequency group being individually assigned to said plurality of base station groups, comprising:

radio frequency assigning means for assigning a radio frequency belonging to the first radio frequency group to the mobile station in preference to radio frequencies belonging to the second radio frequency group; and

handoff control means for monitoring traffic amounts of said plurality of radio frequencies belonging to the first radio frequency group and effecting the hard handoff control for averaging the traffic amount of said plurality of radio frequencies belonging to the first radio frequency group with respect to the mobile station based on the result of monitoring.

10. A CDMA cellular radio system which includes a plurality of base station groups each including a plurality of cells formed by a plurality of base stations, and a mobile station connected to at least one of said plurality of base stations of the base station groups via a CDMA radio channel and in which a plurality of radio frequencies are divided into a first radio frequency group including at least one radio frequency and a second radio frequency group including a plurality of radio frequencies, the at least one radio frequency of the first radio frequency group being commonly assigned to all of the base stations of said plurality of base station groups, and the radio frequencies of the second radio frequency group being individually assigned to said plurality of base station groups, comprising:

monitoring means for monitoring movement of the mobile station;

estimating means for estimating a probability that the mobile station will move from a coverage area of a first base station group to a coverage area of a second base station group based on the result of monitoring by said monitoring means;

radio frequency assigning means for assigning the at least one radio frequency belonging to the first radio frequency group to the mobile station if the mobile station is estimated to have a high probability of moving into the coverage area of the second base station group by said estimation means, and assigning a radio frequency belonging to the second radio frequency group to the mobile station if the mobile station is estimated to have a low probability of moving into the coverage area of the second base station group; and

first handoff control means for effecting a control operation for soft handoff if a radio frequency assigned to the mobile station is the at least one radio frequency belonging to the first radio frequency group when the mobile station moves from the coverage area of the fix base station group to the coverage area of the second base station group, and effecting a control operation for hard handoff if the radio frequency assigned to the mobile station is a radio frequency belonging to the second radio frequency group when the mobile station moves from the coverage area of the first base station group to the coverage area of the second base station group.

11. A CDMA cellular system according to claim 10, wherein said monitoring means monitors a speed of the mobile station, and said estimating means estimates that the probability of the mobile station moving into the coverage area of the second base station group is high when the speed of the mobile unit station exceeds a predetermined value and estimates that the probability of the mobile station moving into the coverage area of the second base station group is low when the speed of the mobile station does not exceed the predetermined value.

12. A CDMA cellular system according to claim 10, wherein said monitoring means monitors a position of the mobile station in a coverage area of each of the base station groups, and said estimating means determines whether the position of the mobile station is within a predetermined distance from a coverage area of another base station group, estimates that the probability of the mobile station moving into the coverage area of the second base station group is high when the detected position is determined to be within the predetermined distance, and estimates that the probability of the mobile station moving into the coverage area of the second base station group is low when the position is determined to be not within the predetermined distance.

13. A CDMA cellular system according to claim 10, wherein said first handoff control means determines whether a radio frequency assigned to the mobile station is available in a coverage area which the mobile unit is entering, and said first handoff control means effects the soft handoff control if the radio frequency assigned to the mobile station is available in the coverage area which the mobile unit is entering, and effects the control operation for hard handoff to another radio frequency if the radio frequency assigned to the mobile station is not available in the coverage area which the mobile unit is entering.

14. A CDMA cellular system according to claim 10, wherein said first handoff control means monitors traffic amounts of a plurality of radio frequencies which are candidates for handoff, selects a radio frequency corresponding to a smallest traffic amount based on the result of monitoring, and effects the control for the hard handoff to the selected radio frequency when said first handoff control means effects the control operation for hard handoff.

15. A CDMA cellular system according to claim 10, wherein when said mobile station moves from a coverage area of a first base station to a coverage area of a second base station, said first handoff control means compares first communication quality information obtained by weighting information representing a signal strength of a first radio path between the mobile station and the first base station by a coefficient corresponding to a traffic amount of the first radio path with second communication quality information obtained by weighting information representing a signal strength of a second radio path between the mobile station and the second base station by a coefficient corresponding to a traffic amount of the second radio path, and then determines handoff timing based on the result of comparison, when said first handoff control means effects at least one of the soft handoff control operation and the hard handoff control operation.

16. A CDMA cellular system according to claim 10, further comprising second handoff control means for monitoring traffic amounts of a plurality of radio frequencies belonging to the first radio frequency group and effecting the hard handoff control for averaging the traffic amounts of said plurality of radio frequencies belonging to the first radio frequency group based on the result of monitoring.

17. A CDMA cellular system according to claim 16, wherein when a traffic amount of one of said plurality of radio frequencies belonging to the first radio frequency group exceeds a predetermined value, said second handoff control means effects the hard handoff control for assigning a different radio frequency to said mobile station, wherein a traffic amount of said different radio frequency is less than the predetermined value.

18. A CDMA cellular system according to claim 16, wherein said mobile station is assigned a first radio frequency of said first radio frequency group, and a traffic amount of said first radio frequency exceeds a traffic amount of a second radio frequency of said first radio frequency group by a predetermined value, said second handoff control means effects the hard handoff control for assigning the second radio frequency to the mobile station.

19. A CDMA cellular system according to claim 16, 17 or 18, wherein said second handoff control means effects the hard handoff control in a non-communication period of the mobile station.

20. A radio communications apparatus for use in a CDMA cellular radio system including a plurality of base station groups each including a plurality of cells formed by a plurality of base stations, wherein a first radio frequency group includes at least one radio frequency and a second frequency group includes a plurality of radio frequencies and the at least one radio frequency of the first radio frequency group is commonly allocated to all of the base station groups and the radio frequencies of the second radio frequency group a individually allocated to the plurality of base station groups, comprising:

first frequency selection means for selecting an available radio frequency from the first radio frequency group in accordance with turning ON of a power source; and

second frequency selection means for, if a radio frequency from the first radio frequency group cannot be selected by the first frequency selection means, selecting an available radio frequency from the second radio frequency group allocated to the base station of a cell where a mobile station is situated, wherein a radio path is created from the mobile station to the base station of the cell where the mobile station is situated through the use of a radio frequency selected by the first frequency selection means or second frequency selection means.

21. A radio communications apparatus according to claim 20, further comprising:

receiving means for receiving a handoff request sent from a base station; and

handoff control means for, if a radio path is created by the radio communication apparatus from the mobile station to a base station through the use of a radio frequency exceeding a predetermined channel use rate, effecting control in response to receiving the handoff request by the receiving means to change the radio frequency used for the radio path to a different radio frequency.

22. A CDMA cellular radio system which includes a plurality of base station groups each including a plurality of cells formed by a plurality of base stations, and a mobile station connected to at least one of said plurality of base stations of the base station groups via a CDMA radio channel, and in which a plurality of radio frequencies are divided into a first radio frequency group including at least one radio frequency and a second radio frequency group including a plurality of radio frequencies, the at least one radio frequency of the first radio frequency group being assigned in common to all of the base stations belonging to at least one of said plurality of base station groups and the radio frequencies of the second radio frequency group being individually assigned to said plurality of base station groups, the CDMA cellular radio system comprising:

radio frequency assigning means for assigning the at least one radio frequency belonging to the first radio frequency group to the mobile station in preference to the radio frequencies belonging to the second radio frequency group; and

first handoff control means for effecting a control operation for soft handoff if a radio frequency assigned to the mobile station belongs to the first radio frequency group when the mobile station moves from a coverage area of a first base station group to a coverage area of a second base station group, and effecting a control operation for hard handoff if the radio frequency assigned to the mobile station belongs to the second radio frequency group when the mobile station moves from the coverage area of the first base station group to the coverage area of the second base station group.