DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CONFIGURING ALMOST BLANK SUBFRAME
AND HETEROGENEOUS WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORK
Field of the Invention
[001] The present disclosure relates generally to the field of wireless communication,
and more particularly, to an apparatus for configuring Almost Blank Subframe (ABS) in
a wireless communication heterogeneous netwoik, a wireless communication
heterogeneous network, and a method for configuring Almost Blank Subframe (ABS) in
a wireless communication heterogeneous network.
Background of the Invention
[002] In long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) of universal mobile
telecommunications system (UMTS), higher requirements are put fonvard on the
performance of cell-edge users. For example, in the scenario in which a macro base
station and a home base station coexist in a LTE-A system, if the home base station
adopts a way of closed user group access, the edge user that is not in access list and is
served by the macro base station will be interfered with seriously, or even cannot be
served at all. The application of almost blank subframe (ABS) technology in this kind of
scenarios greatly improves the performance of edge users of the macro base station, and
has become a focus of LTE-A interference coordination research.
[003] The ABS technology inserts ABSs in normal subframes transmitted by the base
station as an interference source according to design pattern. The configuration
performed on ABSs includes configuring three parameters of silence ratio of ABS,
transmission power reduction amount of ABS, and design pattern. In ABS, the
transmission power of an interfering base station is set to zero or other predetermined
reduction amount according to configured parameters, thus to reduce interference on the
edge user that is not served by the interfering base station but is served by an interfered
base station, so as to improve the edge performance of the interfered base station.
Summary of the Invention
[004] However, the current ABS technology inevitably brings about loss of total
throughput of the interfering base station when the edge performance of the interfered
base station is improved. The current ABS technology adopts an overall configuration
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scheme when configuring parameters of ABS, as a result, a better configuration can
only be realized based on overall evaluation, and the ABS is not configured according to
specific situation, thus, a tradeoff between the edge performance of the interfered base
station and the total throughput of the interfering base station is not made according to
specific situation.
[005] Accordingly, there is a need to provide an apparatus for configuring ABS in a
wireless communication heterogeneous network, a wireless communication
heterogeneous network, and a method for configuring ABS in a wireless communication
heterogeneous network, thus to configure ABS according to specific situation, and make
a tradeoff between the edge performance of the interfered base station and the total
throughput of the interfering base station, so as to improve the overall performance of
the wireless communication heterogeneous network.
[006] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided an
apparatus for configuring Almost Blank Subframe (ABS) in a wireless communication
heterogeneous network, comprising: a first information acquisition unit, configured to
acquire first information associated with an indicator indicating communication quality
of user terminals served by an interfering base station; a second information acquisition
unit, configured to acquire second information associated with an indicator indicating
interfered degree of user terminals interfered by the interfering base station; and a
configuration unit, configured to configure, based on the first information and the
second information, the ABS sent by the interfering base station by adjusting at least
one of silence ratio and power reduction amount of ABS.
[007] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is further
provided a wireless communication heterogeneous network, comprising: a first base
station comprising a first information acquisition unit and a configuration unit, and a
second base station comprising a second information acquisition unit. The first
information acquisition unit is configured to acquire first information associated with an
indicator indicating communication quality of user terminals served by the first base
station. The second information acquisition unit is configured to acquire second
information associated with an indicator indicating interfered degree of user terminals
served by the second base station and interfered by the first base station. The
configuration unit is configured to configure, based on the first information and the
second information, the ABS sent by the first base station by adjusting at least one of
silence ratio and power reduction amount of ABS.
[008] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is further
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provided a wireless communication heterogeneous network, comprising: a first base
station comprising a first information acquisition unit and a second base station
comprising a second information acquisition unit and a configuration unit. The first
information acquisition unit is configured to acquire first information associated with an
indicator indicating communication quality of user terminals served by the first base
station. The second information acquisition unit is configured to acquire second
information associated with an indicator indicating interfered degree of user terminals
served by the second base station and interfered by the first base station. The
configuration unit is configured to configure, based on the first information and the
second information, the ABS sent by the first base station by adjusting at least one of
silence ratio and power reduction amount of ABS.
[009] According to still another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is further
provided a method for configuring Almost Blank Subframe (ABS) in a wireless
communication heterogeneous network, comprising: acquiring first information
associated with an indicator indicating communication quality of a user terminal served
by an interfering base station; acquiring second information associated with an indicator
indicating interfered degree of a user terminal interfered by the interfering base station;
and configuring, based on the first information and the second information, the ABS
sent by the interfering base station by adjusting at least one of silence ratio and power
reduction amount of ABS.
[010] According to still another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is further
provided a program causing a computer to execute the following steps: acquiring first
information associated with an indicator indicating communication quality of a user
terminal served by an interfering base station; acquiring second information associated
with an indicator indicating interfered degree of a user terminal and interfered by the
interfering base station; and configuring, based on the first information and the second
information, the ABS sent by the interfering base station by adjusting at least one of
silence ratio and power reduction amount of ABS.
[Oil] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is further provided
a corresponding computer readable storage medium on which a program that can be
executed by a computing device is stored, when being executed, the program can cause
the computing apparatus to execute the above method.
[012] The provided apparatus for configuring ABS in a wireless communication
heterogeneous network, the wireless communication heterogeneous network, and the
method for configuring ABS in a wireless communication heterogeneous network
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according to embodiments of the present disclosure can configure the ABS according to
specific situation, considering both the performance of the user terminal served by the
interfering base station and the performance of the user terminal interfered with by the
interfering base station, thus to improve overall performance of the wireless
communication heterogeneous network.
Brief Description of the Drawings
[013] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the apparatus for
configuring ABS in a wireless communication heterogeneous network according to an
embodiment of the present disclosure;
[014] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the parameter table
including predetermined parameter pairs consisted of silence ratio and power reduction
amount of ABS according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[015] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating another example of the parameter
table including predetermined parameter pairs consisted of silence ratio and power
reduction amount of ABS according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[016] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the wireless
communication heterogeneous network according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure;
[017] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating another example of the wireless
communication heterogeneous network according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure;
[018] FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the method for configuring ABS in a wireless
communication heterogeneous network according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure;
[019] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a specific application example of the
embodiment of the present disclosure;
[020] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating how to configure the ABS of an
interfering base station in the example of FIG. 7;
[021] FIG 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating another specific application example
of the embodiment of the present disclosure; and
[022] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the hardware
configuration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
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Detailed Description of the Invention
[023J Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described
in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and thus other objects, features, and
advantages of the technique disclosed in this specification will become more apparent.
[024] The following description will be performed in the following order:
1. Apparatus for configuring ABS in a wireless communication heterogeneous
network
2. Wireless communication heterogeneous network
3. Method for configuring ABS in a wireless communication heterogeneous
network
4. Specific examples
5. Hardware configuration example
1. Apparatus for configuring ABS in a wireless communication heterogeneous network
[025] FIG. 1 illustrates apparatus 10 for configuring ABS in a wireless
communication heterogeneous network according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure. The apparatus 10 includes a first information acquisition unit 101, a second
information acquisition unit 102 and a configuration unit 103.
[026] In addition, FIG. 1 illustrates an interfering base station 20, a user terminal 21
served by the interfering base station 20, a interfered user terminal 31, and a base station
30 thai provides service to the interfered user terminal 31. The interfering base station
20 and the base station 30 serving the user terminal 31 constitute a heterogeneous
wireless communication network. Herein, the term "heterogeneous network" refers to a
network including different types of base stations, which may be a macro base station,
home base station, pico (Pico) base station, or other suitable type of base station.
[027] It should be noted that, the user terminal 21 served by the interfering base
station 20 may be one or more terminals, and are referred collectively as the user
terminal 21 herein. Similarly, the interfered user terminal 31 may be one or more
terminals, and are referred collectively as the user terminal 31. The user terminal may
be a mobile phone, notebook computer, desktop personal computer or other suitable
type of user terminal having a communication function.
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[028] The first information acquisition unit 101 is configured to acquire a first
information, the first information is associated with an indicator indicating the
communication quality of the user terminal 21, and can be, for example, the indicator
indicating the communication quality of the user terminal 21 itself or a value obtained
based on the indicator.
[029] The second information acquisition unit 102 is configured to acquire a second
information, the second information is associated with an indicator indicating the
interfered degree of the user terminal 31, and can be, for example, the indicator
indicating the interfered degree of the user terminal 31 itself or a value obtained based
on the indicator.
[030] The configuration unit 103 is configured to configure, based on the first
information and the second information, the ABS sent by the interfering base station 20
by adjusting at least one of silence ratio and power reduction amount of ABS.
[031] Those skilled in the art should understand that, the apparatus 10 can be
disposed independently of the interfering base station 20 and the base station 30, or can
be disposed inside the interfering base station 20 or the base station 30, in addition, a
part of the apparatus 10 can be disposed in the interfering base station 20, and the other
part of the apparatus 10 can be disposed in the base station 30. Furthermore, the entire
apparatus 10 can be disposed in the interfering base station 20, wherein, the second
information acquisition unit 102 acquires the second information through the
communication between the interfering base station 20 and the base station 30 via X2
interface, for example. As another possible way, the entire apparatus 10 can be disposed
in the base station 30, wherein, the first information acquisition unit 101 acquires the
first information through the communication between the interfering base station 20 and
the base station 30 via X2 interface, for example, and the configuration unit 103
performs configuration on ABS sent by the interfering base station 20 through the
communication between the interfering base station 20 and the base station 30 via X2
interface, for example. Therefore, a base station comprising the apparatus 10 is
disclosed according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[032] Preferably, the indicator indicating the communication quality of the user
terminal 21 can be associated with at least one of the Reference Signal Receiving Power
(RSRP), the communication quality indicator (CQI), the Reference Signal Receiving
Power based on the channel state information (CSI-RSRP), and the coupling loss of link
when the user terminal 21 is receiving the signal from the interfering base station 20. In
other words, the indicator can be associated with only one of the Reference Signal
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Receiving Power, the communication quality indicator, the Reference Signal Receiving
Power based on the channel state information, and the coupling loss of link when the
user terminal 21 is receiving the signal from the interfering base station 20, or can be
associated with any number of them, for example, it can be a weighted sum of a
plurality of the parameters.
[033] It should be noted that, the indicator indicating the communication quality of
the user terminal 21 can be associated with the Reference Signal Receiving Power in the
previous versions of 3GPP Release 10, for example, the Reference Signal herein may be
a cell-specific reference signal (CRS). However, since the usage of reception power
with respect to the cell-specific reference signal cannot satisfy the channel measurement
in heterogeneous network scenarios in 3GPP Release 10 and later versions and in the
new carrier type, the indicator indicating the communication quality of the user terminal
21 can be associated with the Reference Signal Receiving Power based on the channel
state information in these scenarios.
[034] Those skilled in the ait should understand that the indicator indicating the
communication quality of the user terminal 21 can also be associated with other suitable
parameters.
[035] Additionally, the indicator indicating the communication quality of the user
terminal 21 can be measured by the user terminal 21 and provided to the interfering
base station 20. The interfering base station 20 provides the first information associated
with the indicator to the configuration unit 103. Specially, when the configuration unit
103 is disposed in the base station 30, the interfering base station 20 provides the first
information to the configuration unit 103 through the communication between base
stations via X2 interface, for example.
[036] Those skilled in the art should understand that, the indicator indicating the
communication quality of the user terminal 21 can also be measured in other ways, for
example, be measured by the interfering base station 20.
[037] Preferably, the indicator indicating interfered degree of the user terminal 31 can
be associated with at least one of the Reference Signal Receiving Power, the
communication quality indicator, the Reference Signal Receiving Power based on the
channel state information, and the coupling loss of link when the user terminal 31 is
receiving the signal from the interfering base station 20. In other words, the indicator
can be associated with only one of the Reference Signal Receiving Power, the
communication quality indicator, the Reference Signal Receiving Power based on the
channel state information, and the coupling loss of link when the user terminal 31 is
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receiving the signal from the interfering base station 20, or can be associated with any
number of them, for example, can be a weighted sum of a plurality of parameters.
[038] As mentioned above, the indicator indicating interfered degree of the user
terniinai 31 can be associated with the Reference Signal Receiving Power. In 3GPP
Release 10 and later versions, and in the new carrier type, the indicator indicating
interfered degree of the user terminal 31 can be associated with the Reference Signal
Receiving Power based on the channel state information.
[039] Those skilled in the art should understand that the indicator indicating
interfered degree of the user terminal 31 can also be associated with other suitable
parameters.
[040] Additionally, the indicator indicating interfered degree of the user terminal 31
can be measured by the user terminal 31 and provided to the base station 30. The base
station 30 provides the second information associated with the indicator to the
configuration unit 103. Especially, when the configuration unit 103 is disposed in the
interfering base station 20, the base station 30 provides the second information to the
configuration unit 103 through the communication between base stations via X2
interface, for example.
[041] Those skilled in the ait should understand that the indicator indicating the
interfered degree of the user terminal 31 can also be measured in other ways, for
example, can be measured by the base station 30.
[042] Preferably, the configuration unit 103 is further configured to configure the
ABS sent by the interfering base station 20 by performing selection in the parameter
table including the predetermined parameter pairs consisted of silence ratio and power
reduction amount of ABS.
[043] Specifically, in case that the power reduction amount of ABS is unchanged,
when the silence ratio of ABS is increased, the total throughput of the interfering base
station 20 is reduced and the performance of edge user that is interfered with by the
interfering base station 20 and served by the base station 30 (that is, the edge
performance of the base station 30) is improved, and vice versa. Furthermore, in case
that the silence ratio of ABS is unchanged, when the power reduction amount of ABS is
increased, the total throughput of the interfering base station 20 is reduced, and the edge
performance of the base station 30 is improved, and vice versa.
[044] The total throughput of the interfering base station 20 and the edge
performance of the base station 30 can be configured by appropriately setting
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predetermined parameter pairs consisted of silence ratio and power reduction amount of
ABS, so as to improve the total performance of the wireless communication
heterogeneous network.
[045] The configuration unit 103 can configure the ABS sent by the interfering base
station 20 in other ways, for example, changing one of silence ratio and power reduction
amount of ABS at the same time when the other is not changed, that is, either one of
silence ratio and power reduction amount of ABS is adjusted.
[046] FIG. 2 and FIG.. 3 illustrate two examples of parameter table including
predetermined parameter pairs consisted of silence ratio and power reduction amount of
ABS.
[047] In the parameter table illustrated in FIG. 2, eight pairs of parameters are
schematically illustrated, wherein, the higher the silence ratio is, the smaller the power
reduction amount is, whereas, the lower the silence ratio is, the larger the power
reduction amount is. When the silence ratio is 100%, the power reduction amount of
ABS is 0, at this time, all sent by the interfering base station 20 are ABS, and no normal
subframe is sent, therefore, the user terminal 21 is not served. When the silence ratio is
12.5%, the power reduction amount of ABS is lowered to 0 (ie., "zero power" in the
rightmost of the first line of the table in FIG. 2). When the power of ABS sent by the
interfering base station 20 is lowered to 0, the ABS sent by the interfering base station
20 will not interfered substantially by the subframe sent from the base station 30 in the
same time period, such that the edge performance of the base station 30 can be
improved better in case that the silence ratio of ABS is unchanged.
[048] Those skilled in the art should understand that, the parameter table in practical
application can be designed according to design requirement, including other number of
parameter pair.
[049] It should be noted that, in the parameter pair shown in FIG. 2, setting the
parameter pair consisted of silence ratio and power reduction amount to a parameter
pair with smaller silence ratio and larger power reduction amount will make the edge
performance of the base station 30 better and the total throughput of the interfering base
station 20 smaller. However, those skilled in the art can appropriately set the
predetermined parameter pair consisted of silence ratio and power reduction amount of
ABS according to specific network scenario. For example, two parameter pairs are set
to have big difference between their silence ratios while have small difference between
their power reduction amounts, therefore, in some network scenarios, the parameter pair
with smaller silence ratio and slightly larger power reduction amount is adopted such
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that the edge performance of the base station 30 is slightly poor and the total throughput
of the interfering base station 20 is larger. In addition, in case that the total throughput
of the interfering base station 20 and the edge performance of the base station 30 are
required to be varied in a larger range, the parameter pair can be set such that the larger
the silence ratio is, the larger the power reduction amount is, therefore, the parameter
pair with larger silence ratio and larger power reduction amount can greatly improve the
edge performance of the base station 30 and lower the total throughput of the interfering
base station 20.
[050] In the parameter table illustrated in FIG. 3, eight pairs of parameters are
schematically illustrated, wherein, similar to FIG. 2, the higher the silence ratio is, the
smaller the power reduction amount is, and conversely, the lower the silence ratio is, the
larger the power reduction amount is. When the silence ratio is 80%, the power
reduction amount of ABS is 0. When the silence ratio is 10%, the power reduction
amount of ABS is lowered to 0 (ie., "zero power" in the rightmost of the first line of the
table in FIG. 3). The parameter table illustrated in FIG. 3 can be applied to, for example,
the scenario where the interfering base station 20 is a macro base station and the base
station 30 is a pico base station. In the scenario, the ratio by which the macro base
station sends ABS cannot reach 100%, otherwise, the macro base station which is the
main serving base station of the heterogeneous network cannot work normally. Those
skilled in the art can set parameter pairs correspondingly according to features of other
application scenarios, especially, the type of the interfering base station. In other words,
the above parameter pair is determined from the type of the interfering base station.
[051] Preferably, the configuration unit 103 can be configured to compare the first
information and the second information with the first reference range including the
lower limit of the communication quality of the user terminal 21 and the second
reference range including the upper limit of the interfered degree of the user terminal 31,
respectively, and the ABS sent by the interfering base station 20 is configured according
to the result of comparison between the first information and the first reference range
and the result of comparison between the second information and the second reference
range, in such a manner that the first information and the second information arc within
the first reference range and the second reference range respectively.
[052] Furthermore, the configuration unit 103 can be configured to adjust the first
reference range and the second reference range according to indicators indicating
characteristics of the user terminal 2land the user terminal 31, so as to configure the
ABS sent from the interfering base station according to the result of comparison
between the first information and the first reference range and the result of comparison
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between the second information and the second reference range.
[053] In other words, the first reference range and the second reference range can be
set respectively for the first information and the second information, the ABS is
configured such that the first information and the second information is maintained in
the first reference range and the second reference range respectively, so the
configuration on ABS can be performed according to specific situation. The first
reference range and the second reference range can be adjusted according to the
indicator indicating characteristics of the user terminal 21 and the user terminal 31, such
that a tradeoff between the total throughput of the interfering base station 20 and the
edge performance of the base station 30 can be made according to specific situation.
Furthermore, the reference range can be adjusted according to other suitable indicators,
or can be set to a fixed reference range.
[054] Not only the first reference range and the second reference range can be set
respectively with respect to the first information and the second information, but also a
common reference range can be set with respect to an amount relevant to the first
information and the second information, for example, a common reference range can be
set with respect to the weighted sum of the first information and the second information.
[055] Furthermore, when the reference range is adjusted according to above
indicators, the reference range for the first information and the reference range for the
second information can be adjusted according to above indicators respectively, and the
reference range for both the first information and the second information can be
adjusted according to above indicators.
[056] As for those skilled in the art, the ABS can be configured based on the first.
information, the second information, and the indicators indicating characteristics of the
user terminal 2land the user terminal 31 by suitable ways other than the way of setting
the reference range for the first information and the second information, so as to make a
tradeoff between the total throughput of the interfering base station 20 and the edge
performance of the base station 30 according to specific situation. For example, a
reference range can be set for the weighted sum of the first information, the second
information, and the indicator indicating characteristics of the user terminal 21 and the
user terminal 31, and the ABS is configured in such a manner that the weighted sum is
maintained in the reference range.
[057] The indicator indicating characteristics of the user terminal 21 and the user
terminal 31 is associated with at least one of the amount of the user terminal 21, the
amount of the user terminal 31, the traffic amount of the user terminal 21, and the traffic
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amount of the user terminal 31. In other words, the indicator indicating characteristics
of the user terminal 21 and the user terminal 31 can be associated with only one of the
amount of the user terminal 21, theamount of the user terminal 31, the traffic amount of
the user terminal 21, and the traffic amount of the user terminal 31, or can be associated
with any number of them. A specific example of the indicator indicating characteristics
of the user terminal 21 and the user terminal 31 will be present subsequently.
[058] The configuration unit 103 determines how to make a tradeoff between the
edge performance of the base station 30 and the total throughput of the interfering base
station 20 according to the indicator. In other words, the configuration unit 103
determines how to configure the ABS of the interfering base station 20 according to the
indicator, thus to make a tradeoff between the total throughput of the interfering base
station 20 and the edge performance of the base station 30 according to specific
situation.
[059] For example, the indicator can be associated with the amount of the user
terminal 21, and when the amount of the user terminal 21 is increased, the ABS of the
interfering base station 20 is configured in more consideration of the total throughput of
the interfering base station 20. The indicator can also be associated with the amount of
the user terminal 31, and when the amount of the user terminal 31 is increased, the ABS
of the interfering base station 20 is configured in more consideration of the edge
performance of the base station 30.
[060] The indicator can also be associated with the relationship between the amount
of the user terminal 21 and the amount of the user terminal 31, that is, the indicator can
be associated with both the amount of the user terminal 21 and the amount of the user
terminal 31. For example, when the ratio between the amount of the user terminal 21
and the amount of the user terminal 31 is increased, the ABS of the interfering base
station 20 is configured in more consideration of the edge performance of the base
station 30.
[061] in other words, in the case that the indicator indicating the characteristic of the
user terminal 31 and the user terminal 21 is positive correlated to the ratio of the amount
of the user terminals 31 to the amount of the user terminals 21, the configuration unit
130 can be configured to decrease the lower limit of the communication quality of the
user terminals 21 included in the first reference range and to decrease the upper limit of
the interfered degree of the user terminals 31 included in the second reference range,
when the indicator is increased.
[062] Similarly, the indicator can be associated with the traffic amount of the user
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terminal 21, and when the traffic amount of the user terminal 21 is increased, the ABS
of the interfering base station 20 is configured in more consideration of the total
throughput. The indicator can also be associated with the traffic amount of the user
terminal 31, and when the traffic amount of the user terminal 3! is increased, the ABS
of the interfering base station 20 is configured in more consideration of the edge
performance of the base station 30.
[063] The indicator can also be associated with the relationship between the traffic
amount of the user terminal 21 and the traffic amount of the user terminal 31, that is, it
is associated with both the traffic amount of the user terminal 21 and the traffic amount
of the user terminal 31. For example, when the ratio between the traffic amount of the
user terminal 21 and the traffic amount of the user terminal 31 is lager, the ABS of the
interfering base station 20 is configured in more consideration of the edge performance
of the base station 30.
[064] Tn other words, in the case that the indicator indicating the characteristic of the
user terminal 31 and the user terminal 21 is positive correlated to the ratio of the traffic
amount of the user terminals 31 to the traffic amount of the user terminals 21, the
configuration unit 130 can be configured to decrease the lower limit of the
communication quality of the user terminals 21 included in the first reference range, and
to decrease the upper limit of the interfered degree of the user terminals 31 included in
the second reference range, when the indicator is increased.
[065] Of course, the indicator can also be associated with all of the amount of the
user terminal 21, the amount of the user terminal 31, the traffic amount of the user
terminal 21, and the traffic amount of the user terminal 31, for example, the indicator
can be a weighted sum of the ratio between the amount of the user terminal 21and the
amount of the user terminal 31 and the ratio between the traffic amount of the user
terminal 2 land the traffic amount of (he user terminal 31.
[066] Those skilled in the ait should understand that, the indicator can also be
associated with at least one of the amount of the user terminal 21, the amount of the
user terminal 31, the traffic amount of the user terminal 21, and the traffic amount of the
user terminal 31 according to other suitable manners, so as to make a tradeoff between
the total throughput of the interfering base station 20 and the edge performance of the
base station 30 according to specific situation through the indicator.
[067] Furthermore, the indicator can also be associated with other suitable amounts
that can indicate characteristics of the user terminal 21 and the user terminal 31, for
example, be associated with the importance or the priority of the user terminal 21 and
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the user terminal 31, so as to make a tradeoff between the total throughput of the
interfering base station 20 and the edge performance of the base station 30 according to
specific situation through the indicator.
[068] When the configuration unit 103 is disposed in the base station 30, the
configuration unit 103 provides the information associated with the configuration
scheme to the interfering base station 20 through the communication between the base
stations via X2 interface, for example. Such as, the specific value of the selected
parameter pair is provided to the interfering base station 20, or in the case that the
parameter pair table is stored in the interfering base station 20, the number of the
selected parameter pair is provided to the interfering base station 20. Furthermore, in the
case that the parameter pair table (for example, the table illustrated in FIG. 2) is stored
in the interfering base station 20, the relative position of the selected parameter pair
relative to the parameter pair currently used by the interfering base station 20 is sent to
the interfering base station 20, for example, the information indicating that the
parameter pair will be shifted by one position in the direction in which the power
reduction amount is relatively large and the silence ratio is relatively small is sent.
[069] Configuring ABS can be performed periodically, or be performed in other
suitable way, for example, be performed according to event trigger. A possible scenario
performed according to event trigger is, when the interfering base station 20 detects that
the change of the amount of the user terminals or the traffic amount satisfies a
predetermined condition, the ABS is reconfigured.
[070] When the silence ratio and the power reduction amount of the ABS is adjusted
periodically according to the variation amount of the first information, in order to
prevent the "ping-pong effect" (that is, when the above parameters of the ABS are
adjusted towards the first direction, the above parameters of the ABS are re-adjustcd
towards the second direction opposite to the first direction because of the corresponding
variation of the first information or the second information, and after that, because of
the corresponding variation of the first information or the second information, the above
parameters of the ABS needs to be adjusted towards the first direction again, and the
process may be circled many times), the silence ratio and the power reduction amount
of the ABS are not adjusted when the variation amount of the first information is small
than a predetermined threshold.
[071] Similarly, when the silence ratio and the power reduction amount of the ABS is
adjusted periodically according to the variation amount of the second information, in
order to prevent the "ping-pong effect", the silence ratio and the power reduction
14
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amount of the ABS are not adjusted when the variation amount of the second
information is small than a predetermined threshold.
[072] It should be noted that, the predetermined threshold set for the first information
and the predetermined threshold set for the second information may be the same or
different. Furthermore, the threshold can be set with respect to the relative variation
amount of the first information and the second information, or be set with respect to the
absolute variation amount of the first information and the second information.
[073] Those skilled in the art can also adopt other ways to decrease the sensitivity of
triggering reconfiguration of the ABS, thus to prevent the "ping-pong effect". For
example, the sensitivity of adjusting the above parameters of the ABS towards one
direction can be made different with the sensitivity of adjusting the above parameters of
the ABS towards another direction, so as to prevent repetitive adjustment of the above
parameters.
2. Wireless communication heterogeneous network
[074] FIG. 4 illustrates the wireless communication heterogeneous network 100
according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2, the network
100 comprises a first base station 120 and a second base station 130. The first base
station 120 comprises a first information acquisition unit 122 and a configuration unit
123. The second base station 130 comprises a second information acquisition unit 132.
In the system 100, the first base station 120 is an interfering base station, the user
terminals served by the first base station 120 are referred to collectively as the user
terminal 121, the user terminals served by the second base station 130 and interfered by
the first base station 120 arc referred to collectively as the user terminal 131. Similarly
to the example of FIG. 1, the user terminal 121 and the user terminal 131 may be one or
more user terminals respectively.
[075] The first information acquisition unit 122 is configured to acquire the first
information, the first information is associated with the indicator indicating the
communication quality of the user terminal 121.
[076] The second information acquisition unit 132 is configured to acquire the
second information, the second information is associated with the indicator indicating
the interfered degree of the user terminal 131 interfered by the first base station 120.
[077] The configuration unit 123 is configured to configure, based on the first
information and the second information, the ABS sent by the first base station 120 by
15
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adjusting at least one of the silence ratio and the power reduction amount of the ABS.
[078] The first base station 120 may be a home base station, while the second base
station 130 may be a macro base station. Also, the first base station 120 may be a macro
base station, while the second base station 130 may be a pico base station. The second
base station 130 can provide the second information to the first base station 120 through
the X2 interface.
[079] FIG. 5 illustrates the wireless communication heterogeneous network 200
according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 5, the network
200 comprises a first base station 220 and a second base station 230. The first base
station 220 comprises a first information acquisition unit 222. The second base station
230 comprises a second information acquisition unit 232 and a configuration unit 233.
In the system 200, the first base station 220 is an interfering base station, the user
terminals served by the first base station 220 are referred to collectively as the user
terminal 221, the user terminals served by the second base station 230 and interfered by
the first base station 220 are referred to collectively as the user terminal 231. Similarly
to examples of FIGs. 1 and 4, the user terminal 221 and the user terminal 231 may be
one or more user terminals respectively.
[080] The first information acquisition unit 222 is configured to acquire the first
information, the first information is associated with the indicator indicating the
communication quality of the user terminal 221.
[081] The second information acquisition unit 232 is configured to acquire the
second information, the second information is associated with the indicator indicating
the interfered degree of the user terminal 231 interfered by the first base station 220.
[082] The configuration unit 233 is configured to configure, based on the first
information and the second information, the ABS sent by the first base station 220 by
adjusting at least one of the silence ratio and the power reduction amount of the ABS.
[083] If the first base station 220 is a home base station and the second base station
230 is a macro base station, the second base station 230 may provide the second
information to the first base station 220 through the X2 interface, and the configuration
unit 233 of the second base station 230 may configure the ABS sent by the first base
station 220 through the X2 interface.
[084] If the first base station 220 is a macro base station and tiie second base station
230 is a pico base station, the second base station 230 may provide the second
information to the first base station 220 through the X2 interface, and the configuration
16
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unit 233 of the second base station 230 may configure the ABS sent by the first base
station 220 through the X2 interface.
3. Method for configuring ABS in a wireless communication heterogeneous network
[085] FIG. 6 illustrates the method for configuring ABS in a wireless communication
heterogeneous network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[086] The above method begins at step SI02.
[087] In step SI04, the first information associated with the indicator indicating the
communication quality of the user terminal served by the interfering base station is
acquired. For example, the step can be performed by the first information acquisition
unit 101, 122 or 222.
[088] In step SI06, the second information associated with the indicator indicating
the interfered degree of the user terminal interfered with by the interfering base station
is acquired. For example, the step can be performed by the second information
acquisition unit 102, 132 or 232.
[089] In step SI08, the ABS is configured, based on the first information and the
second information, by adjusting at least one of the silence ratio and the power
reduction amount of the ABS. For example, the step can be performed by the
configuration unit 103, 123 or 233.
[090] Subsequently, the process is ended at step SI 10.
[091] It should be noted that, step S104 is not necessary to be performed before step
SI06, for example, step SI06 may be performed before step SI04, or, step SI04 and
step SI06 may be performed in parallel.
4. Specific examples
[092] In the following, an implementation of embodiments of the present disclosure
will be described in detail through more specific example.
[093] FIG. 7 illustrates the scenario in which a macro base station and a home base
station coexist. In the scenario, the home base station 320, 330 (as the interfering base
station) that only serve users in a closed user list bring interference to the user terminal
341 of the macro base station 340.
[094] Those skilled in the art should understand that, different base stations will
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interfere with each other, for example, a possible situation is that a macro base station
340 brings interference to the home base station 320 or 330. Those skilled in the art can
select the way of sending ABS according to specific situation to restrain interference
between base stations.
[095] Through the description on the examples shown in FIG. 7, those skilled in the
art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present disclosure can be embodied with
respect to the wireless communication heterogeneous network including one or more
interfering base stations. Wherein, with respect to individual interfering base station, the
ABSs of all interfering base stations can be configured respectively by the method
according to embodiments of the present disclosure, or, only the ABS of one or more
interfering base stations can be configured respectively by the method according to
embodiments of the present disclosure.
[096] The macro base station 340 provides services to a plurality of user terminals
341, the user terminals 341 comprise the user terminal 341a and the user terminal 341b,
wherein, the position of the user terminal 341a is close to the home base station 320 and
is not within the user list of the home base station 320, therefore, the user terminal 341a
is interfered by the home base station 320. While the position of the user terminal 341b
is close to the home base station 330 and is not within the user list of the home base
station 330, therefore, the user terminal 341b is interfered by the home base station 330.
[097] It should be noted that, although one user terminal 34la and two user terminals
341b are illustrated in FIG. 7, those skilled in the art should understand that, the user
terminal 341a and 341b may be one or more user terminals respectively.
[098] The home base station 320 provides services to the user terminal 321 in the
user list thereof, and the home base station 330 provides services to the user terminal
331 in the user list thereof. Those skilled in the art should understand that, the user
terminal 321 and the user terminal 331 may be one or more user terminals respectively.
[099] For the purpose of clarity, in FIG. 7, a solid line with an arrow represents that a
base station provides services to the user terminal, and a broken line with an arrow
represents that a base station brings interference on the user terminal.
[0100] Those skilled in the art should understand that, the apparatus 10 in FIG. 1 may
be included in the macro base station 340, or be included in the home base station 320
or 330. Furthermore, as shown in FIG.4, the home base station 320 and/or 330 as the
interfering base station comprises the first information acquisition unit 122 and the
configuration unit 123, and the macro base station 340 comprises the second
information acquisition unit 132, or as shown in FIG.5, the home base station 320 and/or
18
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330 as the interfering base station comprises the first information acquisition unit 222,
and the macro base station 340 comprises the second information acquisition unit 232
and the configuration unit 233.
[0101] The macro base station 340 sends subframes according to a design pattern 343,
and it is observed from FIG. 7 that the subframes sent by the macro base station 340 are
all norma! subframes. The home base station 320 sends subframes according to a design
pattern 322, and it is observed from FIG. 7 that the home base station 320 sends one
ABS each time when sending four normal subframes. The home base station 330 sends
subframes according to a design pattern 332, and it is observed from FIG. 7 that the
home base station 330 sends four ABSs each time when sending one normal subframe.
[0102] With respect to different home base stations, different lists including parameter
pairs consisted of silence ratio and power reduction amount of ABS can be used. For
example, in the design patterns 322 and 332, the power of a subframe is schematically
represented by the height of the subframe. It is observed from FIG. 7 that, the silence
ratio of the ABS of the design pattern 322 is lower than that of the ABS of the design
pattern 332, meanwhile, the power reduction amount of the ABS of the design pattern
322 compared to a normal subframe is smaller than that of the ABS of the design
pattern 332. This means that, the parameter pairs for configuring the ABS of the home
base station 320 and the parameter pairs for configuring the ABS of the home base
station 330 come from different lists, because in the same list, the higher the silence
ratio is, the lower the power reduction amount is.
[0103] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the silence ratio and the
power reduction amount by which the home base station 320 sends ABS and the silence
ratio and the power reduction amount by which the home base station 330 sends ABS
may be the parameter pairs in the lists shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3.
[0104] In the following, a specific example of the method by which the home base
station 320 sending ABS is periodically configured in the example shown in FIG. 7 is
described in conjunction with FIG. 8.
[0105] Although the method shown in FIG.8 is for the situation in which the home
base station 320 is taken as the interfering base station, it can also be applied to the
situation in which other base station (for example, the home base station 330) is taken
as the interfering base station. Further, the method shown in FIG.. 8 can be applied to
the scenario in which other type of base stations constitute a wireless communication
heterogeneous network, for example, the scenario in which the macro base station and
the pico base station coexist,and the interfering base station is a macro base station, as
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shown in FIG. 9.
[0106] Furthermore, although the method shown in FIG. 8 is for the situation of
configuring periodically, it can also be applied to the situation of configuring by other
way.
[0107] In step S201, the home base station 320 sets the predetermined signal
indicator So and the predetermined interfering indicator To, and the parameter list
comprising parameters for configuring the macro base station 330 to send ABS, such as
the parameter list shown in FIG. 2. So is used to represent the predetermined lower limit
of the performance of receiving services by the user terminal 321 in the home base
station 320, and Io is used to represent the predetermined upper limit of the interfered
degree of the user terminal 341a interfered by the home base station 320 in the macro
base station 340.
[0108] In step S202, the total traffic amount Tnon,interrered LIE of the user terminal 321
served by the home base station 320 is calculated, and the total traffic amount
Tinterfered UE of the user terminal 341a served by the macro base station 340 and
interfered by the home base station 320 is calculated, further, the ratio between the total
traffic amount of the interfered user and the total traffic amount of the un-interfered user
is calculated as the relative traffic amount Tr, referring to equation I:
T _ zJintetfemiJJE
~ Vr
101091 /-inon-intetferedjjb s^[0110] In step S203, if the traffic amount Tr is increased, it is represented that the edge
performance of the macro base station 340 should be more valued, the requirement on
the edge performance of the macro base station 340 should be improved, and the
requirement on he total throughput of the home base station 320 should be properly
decreased, so as to decrease the predetermined signal indicator So and the predetermined
interfering indicator Io-
[0111] If the traffic amount Tr is decreased, it is represented that the total throughput
of the home base station 320 should be more valued, the requirement on the total
throughput of the home base station 320 should be improved, and the requirement on
the edge performance of the macro base station 340 should be properly decreased, so as
to increase the predetermined signal indicator So and the predetermined interfering
indicator Io.
[0112] The relationship between the specific decreasing amount and increasing
amount of the predetermined signal indicator S0 and the predetermined interfering
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indicator Io and the relative traffic amount Tr can be calculated according to a particular
function. For example, an example association way is that the relationship between the
specific decreasing amount and increasing amount of the predetermined signal indicator
So and the predetermined interfering indicator I0 and the relative traffic amount Tr are
linear negative correlated.
[0113] In step S202, also, the amount nl of the user terminals 321 served by the home
base station 320 can be calculated, the amount n2 of the user terminals 341a served by
the macro base station 340 and interfered by the home base station 320 can be
calculated, so that the quantity ratio between the amount of the interfered user and the
amount of the un-interfered user can be calculated as the relative quantity a.
[0114] Correspondingiy, in step S203, if the relative quantity a is increased, it is
represented that the edge performance of the macro base station 340 should be more
valued, the requirement on the edge performance of the macro base station 340 should
be improved, and the requirement on the total throughput of the home base station 320
should be properly decreased, so as to decrease the predetermined signal indicator So
and the predetermined interfering indicator Io.
[0115] If the relative quantity a is decreased, it is represented that the total throughput
of the home base station 320 should be more valued, the requirement on the total
throughput of the home base station 320 should be improved, and the requirement on
the edge performance of the macro base station 340 should be properly decreased, so as
to increase the predetermined signal indicator So and the predetermined interfering
indicator Io.
[0116] The relationship between the specific decreasing amount and increasing
amount of the predetermined signal indicator So and the predetermined interfering
indicator Io and the relative quantity a can be calculated according to a particular
function. For example, an example association way is that the relationship between the
specific decreasing amount and increasing amount of the predetermined signal indicator
So and the predetermined interfering indicator 10 and the relative quantity a is linear
negative correlated.
[0117] The processes of steps S201-S203 can be executed by the aforementioned
configuration unit 103, 123 or 233.
[0118] In step S204, each user terminal 321 of the home base station 320 measures the
received signal from the home base station 320, and reports to the home base station
320 the indicator indicating the communication quality of the user terminal 321 served
by the home base station 320, the indicator may include, for example, the reference
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signal reception power (may be RSRP for the previous versions of 3GPP Release 10, or
may be CSI-RSRP for 3GPP Release 10 and later versions) and the indicator indicating
the communication quality when receiving signals from the home base station 320. In a
TD-LTE (Time Division Long Term Evolution) system, the indicator can also include
coupling loss of link parameter. The indicator can be provided to the above first
information acquisition unit 101, 122 or 222 by the home base station 320.
[0119] Furthermore, the indicator indicating the communication quality of the user
terminal 321 served by the home base station 320 can includes, for example, the ratio
between the reference signal reception power of the user terminal 321 for the home base
station 320 and the sum of the reference signal reception powers of the user terminal
321 for all base stations. The indicator may also be the weighted sum of the included
parameters.
[0120] In step S205, each user terminal 341 of the macro base station 340 measures
the received signals of all base stations, if the case is that the reference signal reception
power with respect to the base station other than the macro base station 340 is greater
than the reference signal reception power with respect to the macro base station 340 by
a certain preset percentage (for example, 50%), the user terminal is recognized as the
user terminal being interfered by the base station other than the macro base station 340.
Thereby, the user terminals 341a, 341b that are interfered by the home base station 320
can be recognized from the user terminals 341 served by the macro base station 340.
The interfered user terminals 341a, 341b may both be one or more user terminals. The
recognized user terminals 341a that is interfered by the home base station 320 reports
the indicator indicating the interfered degree of the user terminals 341a to the macro
base station 340, the indicator may include, for example, the reference signal reception
power and the communication quality indicator of the home base station 320. In a
TD-LTE system, the indicator can also include coupling loss of link parameter. The
indicator can be provided to the above second information acquisition unit 102, 132 or
232 by the macro base station 340.
[0121] Furtiiermore, the indicator indicating the interfered degree of the user terminal
341a interfered by the home base station 320 may include, for example, the ratio
between the reference signal reception power of the user terminal 341a for the home
base station 320 and the sum of the reference signal reception powers of the user
terminal 341a for all base stations. The indicator may also be the weighted sum of the
included parameters.
[0122] In step S206, the signal indicator S as an example of the first information
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according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is calculated based on the
indicator indicating the communication quality of the user terminal 321 served by the
home base station 320 acquired in step S204. Specially, when the indicators indicating
the communication quality of respective user terminals 321 are provided respectively by
a plurality of user terminals 321, the weighted sum of these indicators can be obtained
as the indicator S according to the importance of respective user terminals 321, or the
average value of these indicators can be obtained as the indicator S, or the indicator S
can be calculated by other suitable ways. The process can be executed by the
aforementioned first information acquisition unit 101, 122 or 222.
[0123] Furthermore, in step S206, the interference indicator 1 as an example of the
second information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is calculated
based on the indicator indicating the interfered degree of the user terminal 341a
interfered by the home base station 320 acquired in step S205. Specially, when the
indicators indicating the interfered degree of respective user terminals 341a are
provided respectively by a plurality of user terminals 341a, the weighted sum of these
indicators can be obtained as the indicator i according to the importance of respective
user terminals 341a, or the average value of these indicators can be obtained as the
indicator I, or the indicator I can be calculated by other suitable ways. The process can
be executed by the aforementioned second information acquisition unit 101, 122 or 222.
[0124] In step S207, a comparison is made between the signal indicator S and the
predetermined signal indicator So, if S < So, the ABS sent by the home base station 320
is configured by selecting a parameter pair consisted of larger silence ratio and smaller
power reduction amount from the parameter table in step S208, so as to improve the
total throughput of the home base station 320. It should be noted that, the description
herein is made by taking the parameter pair list in FIG. 2 as an example. As mention
above, in the parameter pair table shown in in FIG 2, the parameter pair consisted of
smaller silence ratio and larger power reduction amount may result in better edge
performance of the macro base station 340 and smaller total throughput of the home
base station 320.
[0125] Similarly, in step S207, a comparison is made between the interference
indicator I and the predetermined interference indicator lo, if I > lo, the ABS sent by the
home base station 320 is configured by selecting a parameter pair consisted of smaller
silence ratio and larger power reduction amount from the parameter tabic in step S208,
so as to improve the edge performance of the macro base station 340.
[0126] if S > So and 1 < lo, that is, the signal indicator S is equal or greater than the
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predetermined signal indicator So which is the lower limit of the signal indicator S and
the interference indicator T is less than or equal to the predetermined interference
indicator I0 which is the upper limit of the interference indicator I, the parameters of the
ABS is not adjusted. At this time, the predetermined signal indicator So and the
predetermined interference indicator lo may be properly adjusted as required, so as to
put forward higher requirements to the total throughput of the home base station 320
and the edge performance of the macro base station 340.
[0127] If S < So and I > lo, it is represented that neither the total throughput of the
home base station 320 nor the edge performance of the macro base station 340 could
satisfy the predetermined requirements. At this time, the predetermined signal indicator
So and the predetermined interference indicator lo may be properly adjusted as required,
so as to decrease requirements on the total throughput of the home base station 320 and
the edge performance of the macro base station 340. Since this case may be result from
failure, an error message may be sent in this case.
[0128] The processes of steps S207 and S208 can be executed by the aforementioned
configuration unit 103, 123 or 233.
[0129] When step S208 is done, the process may proceed to the next period.
[0130] it should be noted that, in order to prevent the aforementioned "ping-pong
effect" when configuring the ABS, the comparison between the signal indicator S and
the predetermined signal indicator SO may not be made when the variation amount of
the signal indicator S is less than a predetermined value (for example, less than 5%), so
that the silence ratio and the power reduction amount of the ABS may not be not
adjusted. Similarly, when the variation amount of the interference indicator I is less than
a predetermined value (for example, less than 5%), the comparison between the
interference indicator I and the predetermined interference indicator 10 may not be made,
so that the silence ratio and the power reduction amount of the ABS may not be adjusted.
In this case, to prevent the situation in which the signal indicator S or the interference
indicator 1 continuously change with a variation amount less than a predetermined
threshold, resulting in a large accumulated variation amount, such that the configuration
with respect to the silence ratio and the power reduction amount of the ABS remains
unchanged, it may be set that, when the variation amount of the interference indicator I
or the signal indicator S is continuously less than a predetermined threshold for
predetermined times (for example, 5 times), a comparison is made between the
interference indicator I and the predetermined interference indicator 10 or between the
signal indicator S and the predetermined signal indicator SO .
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[0131] Furthermore, as mentioned above, the "ping-pong effect" when configuring the
ABS may be prevented by adopting other suitable mechanism.
[0132] FIG. 9 illustrates another example of the embodiment of the present disclosure.
In this scenario, the macro base station 420 and the pico base station 430, 440 coexist.
As an interfering base station, the macro base station 420 brings interference on the user
terminals 43 la, 431b, 441a and 441b of the pico base station 430, 440.
[0133] The macro base station 420 provides services to the user terminal 421, the pico
base station 430 provides services to the user terminal 431a and 431b, and the pico base
station 440 provides services to the user terminal 44la and 44lb.
[0134] Since the pico base station 430, 440 and the macro base station 420 all adopt an
open user access manner, the macro base station 420 may bring interference on the user
terminal 431a of the pico base station 430 and the user terminal 441a of the pico base
station 440 in the edge region of the pico base station 430,440.
[0135] Similar to FIG. 7, in FIG. 9, a solid line with an arrow represents that a base
station provides services to the user terminal, and a broken line with an arrow represents
that a base station brings interference on the user terminal.
[0136] Those skill in the art should understand that, different base stations may
interfere with each other, for example, a possible situation is that the pico base station
430, 440 bring interference on the macro base station 420. Those skilled in the art can
select the way of sending ABS according to specific situation to restrain interference
between base stations.
[0137] As shown in FIG. 9, the macro base station 420 sends subframes through the
design pattern 422 with ABS, so as to improve the edge performance of the pico base
station 430, 440. Meanwhile, the pico base station 430, 440 send subframes without
ABS through the design pattern 432, 442.
[0138] Furthermore, in the design pattern 422, the power of a subframe is
schematically represented by the height of the subframe. It is observed from FIG. 9 that
the macro base station 420 sends four ABSs each time when sending one normal
subframe. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the silence ratio and
the power reduction amount by which the macro base station 420 sends ABS may be the
parameter pairs in the lists shown in FIG. 3
[0139] Those skill in the art should understand that, the apparatus 10 in FIG. 1 may be
included in the macro base station 420, or be included in the pico base station 430 or
440. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, the macro base station 420 as the interfering base
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station comprises the first information acquisition unit 122 and the configuration unit
123, and the pico base station 430 and/or 440 comprises the second information
acquisition unit 132, or as shown in FIG.5, the macro base station 420 as the interfering
base station comprises the first information acquisition unit 222, and the pico base
station 430 and/or 440 comprises the second information acquisition unit 232 and the
configuration unit 233.
[0140] Similar to the example shown in FIG. 7, the method shown in FIG. 8 can be
used to periodically configure the method by which the macro base station 420 sending
ABS in the example shown in FIG. 9. It should be noted that, in the example shown in
FIG. 9, the macro base station 420 is the interfering base station, and the pico base
stations 430, 440 are the base stations providing services to the user terminals interfered
by the macro base station 420.
[0141] Through the above description made with respect to the example shown in FIG.
9, those skill in the art will appreciate that, the embodiments of the present disclosure
may be performed with respect to the wireless communication in which the user
terminals served by one or more base stations are interfered. In this case, the ABS may
be configured based on the information detected by the interfered user terminals and
served by the unused base stations.
5. Hardware configuration example
[0142] Respective component units and devices in the above mentioned apparatus,
network and basestation according to embodiments of the present disclosure can be
configured by way of software, firmware, hardware, or any of combinations thereof. In
the case of software or firmware implementation, programs constituting the software or
firmware are installed to a machine with a dedicated hardware structure (such as the
common machine 700 shown in FIG. 10) from a storage medium or a network, wherein
the machine can execute various corresponding functions of the component units,
subunits when being installed various programs.
[0143] In FIG. 10, a central processing unit (CPU) 701 executes various processes
according to programs stored in a read only memory (ROM) 702 or programs loaded
from the storage section 708 to the random access memory (RAM) 703. In RAM 703,
the data required when CPU 701 executes various processes is stored as necessary. CPU
701, ROM 702 and RAM 703 are connected to each other via a bus 704. Input/output
interface 705 is also connected to a bus 704.
26
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[0144] The following parts are also connected to the input/output interface 705: an
input section 706 (including a keyboard, mouse, etc.), an output section 707 (including a
display, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD), etc. and a
speaker, etc.), a storage section 708 (including a hard disk, etc.), a communication
section 709 (including a network interface card such as a LAN card, modem, etc.). The
communication section 709 performs a communication process via a network such as
Internet. If necessary, a drive 710 can also be connected to the input/output interface
705. Removable media 711 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical
disk, a semiconductor memory or the like may be mounted on the drive 710 as required,
such that a computer program read out therefrom may be installed into the storage
section 708 as required.
[0145] In case of realizing the above mentioned series of processing by software, a
program constituting the software can be installed from a network such as Internet or
from a storage medium such as the removable medium 711.
[0146] Those skilled in the art should understand that, the storage medium is not
limited to the removable storage medium 711 shown in FIG.10 that stores programs
therein and is distributed separately from the device to provide a program to a user.
Examples of the removable storage medium 711 include a magnetic disk (including a
floppy disk), an optical disc (including a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM)
and a digital versatile disk (DVD)), a magneto-optical disk (including a mini disk (MD)
(Registration trademarks) and a semiconductor memory. Otherwise, the storage medium
may be the ROM 702, a hard disk contained in the storage section 708, etc., which have
programs stored therein and are distributed to users together with the device including
them.
[0147] Furthermore, the present disclosure provides a program product in which
machine readable instruction codes are stored. The processing method according to
embodiments of the present disclosure can be executed when the instruction code is
read and executed by the machine. Accordingly, various storage medium such as a
magnetic disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory for carrying
such a program product is also included in the technology solution of the present
disclosure.
[0148] Additionally, it is obvious that each operational procedure of the processing
method according to the present disclosure can also be realized in the form of a
computer-executable program stored in various machine-readable storage media.
[0149] It should be noted that, the respective constituent units or constituent device of
27
Sony China's ref.: CNPA12O38IN00
Sony's ref.: SP349894IN00
Unitalen's ref.: OP15I3-06-0741
Original
the apparatus, network and base station according to the present disclosure may be
independent parts, and the function of several constituent units or constituent apparatus
can also be implemented by one part.
[0150] The present disclosure discloses not only the apparatus for configuring ABS in
a wireless communication heterogeneous network, the wireless communication
heterogeneous network, the method for configuring ABS in a wireless communication
heterogeneous network, and the program for executing the method and the storage
medium having the program storied therein, but also the base station comprising the
apparatus for configuring ABS in a wireless communication heterogeneous network.
[0151] The preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are described above,
however, the above description is just to illustrate the present disclosure, and does not
intend to limit the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art can make alternation,
substitution, combination, and partial combination to various features of embodiments
of the present disclosure without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The
scope of the present disclosure should be limited to the appended claims.

CLAIMS
1. An apparatus for configuring Almost Blank Subframe (ABS) in a wireless
communication heterogeneous network, comprising:
a first information acquisition unit, configured to acquire first information
associated with an indicator indicating communication quality of user terminals served
by an interfering base station;
a second information acquisition unit, configured to acquire second
information associated with an indicator indicating interfered degree of user terminals
interfered by the interfering base station; and
a configuration unit, configured to configure, based on the first information and
the second information, the ABS sent by the interfering base station by adjusting at least
one of silence ratio and power reduction amount of ABS.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
the configuration unit is farther configured to configure the ABS sent by the
interfering base station by performing selection in a parameter table comprising
predetermined parameter pairs of silence ratio and power reduction amount of ABS.
3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:
the predetermined parameter pairs are determined from the type of the
interfering base station.
4. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein:
the configuration unit is further configured to compare the first information and
the second information respectively with a first reference range comprising the lower
limit of the communication quality of the user terminals served by the interfering base
station and a second reference range comprising the upper limit of the interfered
degree of the user terminals interfered by the interfering base station, and configure the
ABS sent by the interfering base station according to the comparison result between
the first information and the first reference range and the comparison result between
the second information and the second reference range in such a manner that the first
information is within the first reference range and the second information is within the
second reference range.
5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein:
the configuration unit is further configured to adjust the first reference range
and the second reference range according to an indicator indicating characteristics of the
user terminals served by the interfering base station and the interfered user terminals.
6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein:
the indicator indicating the characteristics of the user terminals served by the
interfering base station and the interfered user terminals is associated with at least one
of the amount of the user terminals served by the interfering base station, the amount of
the interfered user terminals, the traffic amount of the user terminals served by the
interfering base station, and the traffic amount of the interfered user terminals.
7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:
the indicator indicating the characteristics of the user terminals served by the
interfering base station and the interfered user terminals is positive correlated to the
ratio of the amount of the interfered user terminals to the amount of the user terminals
served by the interfering base station; and
the configuration unit is further configured to decrease the lower limit of the
communication quality of the user terminals served by the interfering base station,
which is included in the first reference range, and decrease the upper limit of the
interfered degree of the user terminals interfered by the interfering base station, which is
included in the second reference range, when the indicator indicating the characteristics
of the user terminals served by the interfering base station and the interfered user
terminals increases.
8. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein:
the indicator indicating the characteristics of the user terminals served by the
interfering base station and the interfered user terminals is positively correlated to the
ratio of the traffic amount of the interfered user terminals to the traffic amount of the
user terminals served by the interfering base station; and
the configuration unit is further configured to decrease the lower limit of the
communication quality of the user terminals served by tiic interfering base station,
which is included in the first reference range, and decrease the upper limit of the
interfered degree of the user terminals interfered by the interfering base station, which is
included in the second reference range, when the indicator indicating the characteristics
of the user terminals served by the interfering base station and the interfered user
terminals increases.
9. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein:
the indicator indicating communication quality of the user terminals served by
the interfering base station is associated with at least one of Reference Signal Receiving
Power (RSRP), Communication Quality Indicator, RSRP based on channel state
information and coupling loss of link when the user terminals served by the interfering
base station receive signals of the interfering base-station.
10. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein:
the indicator indicating interfered degree of the interfered user terminals is
associated with at least one of Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP),
Communication Quality Indicator, RSRP based on channel state information and
coupling loss of link when the interfered user terminals receive signals of the interfering
base station.
11. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein:
the configuration unit is further configured to periodically adjust at least one of
the silence ratio and power reduction amount of ABS according to the variation amount
of the first information, and not perform the adjustment when the variation amount of
the first information is smaller than a predetermined threshold.
12. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to II, wherein:
the configuration unit is further configured to periodically adjust at least one of
the silence ratio and power reduction amount of ABS according to the variation amount
of the second information, and not perform the adjustment when the variation amount of
the second information is smaller than a predetermined threshold.
13. A wireless communication heterogeneous network, comprising:
a first base station comprising a first information acquisition unit and a
configuration unit, and
a second base station comprising a second information acquisition unit,
wherein:
the first information acquisition unit is configured to acquire the first
information associated with an indicator indicating communication quality of user
terminals served by the first base station;
the second information acquisition unit is configured to acquire the second
information associated with an indicator indicating interfered degree of user terminals
served by the second base station and interfered by the first base station; and
the configuration unit is configured to configure, based on the first
information and the second information, the Almost Blank Subframe (ABS) sent by the
first base station by adjusting at least one of silence ratio and power reduction amount
ofABS.
14. A wireless communication heterogeneous network, comprising:
a first base station comprising a first information acquisition unit and
a second base station comprising a second information acquisition unit and a
configuration unit, wherein:
the first information acquisition unit is configured to acquire the first
information associated with an indicator indicating communication quality of user
terminals served by the first base station;
the second information acquisition unit is configured to acquire the second
information associated with an indicator indicating interfered degree of user terminals
served by the second base station interfered with by the first base station; and
the configuration unit is configured to configure, based on the first
information and the second information, the Almost Blank Subframe (ABS) sent by the
first base station by adjusting at least one of silence ratio and power reduction amount
of ABS.
15. A method for configuring Almost Blank Subframe (ABS) in a wireless
communication heterogeneous network, comprising:
acquiring first information associated with an indicator indicating
communication quality of a user terminal served by an interfering base station;
acquiring second information associated with an indicator indicating interfered
degree of a user terminal interfered with by the interfering base station; and
configuring, based on the first information and the second information, the
ABS sent by the interfering base station by adjusting at least one of silence ratio and
power reduction amount of ABS.
16. The method according to claim 15, wherein:
the step of configuring the ABS further comprises configuring the ABS sent by
the interfering base station by performing selection in a parameter table comprising
parameter pairs of silence ratio and power reduction amount of ABS.
17. The method according to claim 16, wherein:
the parameter pairs are determined from the type of the interfering base station.
32
18. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 17, wherein:
the step of configuring the ABS further comprises comparing the first
information and the second information respectively with a first reference range
comprising the lower limit of the communication quality of the user terminals served by
the interfering base station and a second reference range comprising the upper limit of
the interfered degree of the user terminals interfered by the interfering base station, and
configuring the ABS sent by the interfering base station according to the comparison
result between the first information and the first reference range and the comparison
result between the second information and the second reference range in such a manner
that the first information is within the first reference range and the second information is
within the second reference range.
19. The method according to claim 18, wherein:
the step of configuring the ABS further comprises adjusting the first reference
range and the second reference range according to an indicator indicating characteristics
of the user terminals served by the interfering base station and the interfered user
terminals.
20. The method according to claim 19, wherein:
the indicator indicating the characteristics of the user terminals served by the
interfering base station and the interfered user terminals is associated with at least one
of the amount of the user terminals served by the interfering base station, the amount of
the interfered user terminals, the traffic amount of the user terminals served by the
interfering base station, and the traffic amount of the interfered user terminals.