METHOD AND DEVICE FOR INTER- CELL INTERFERENCE COORDINATION
Technical field
The present invention relates to radio communication technology, particularly to the
technology about inter-cell interference coordination.
Background
While heterogeneous network significantly improve system performance, they also face
some problem to be solved, especially downlink (DL) control channel interference in co-channel
deployment. As most of control channels (CCH), e.g. physical broadcast channel (PBCH),
physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), physical control format indicator channel
(PCFICH) and physical HARQ indicator channel (PHICH) are transmitted at the fixed location
in signal frames and can not be scheduled to other resource blocks, thus interference to control
channels will be caused when co-channel deployment is adopted by cells neighboring to each
other, particularly a Macro cell and a neighboring small cell, for example the cell of a relay node,
a Pico base station, or a Femto base station. In co-channel deployment, a radio link of a UE is
apt to fail under harsh interference conditions.
Summary of the invention
One straightforward method against inter-cell interference is DL control channel time offset.
Compared with the macro-cell timing, the timing of small cells is offset by some time periods
(subframe offset or symbol offset). Thus the collision of control signals between Macro and
small cells is avoided. However, time offset causes an unsynchronized network, thereby making
it impossible for the implementation of those network applications with synchronization
requirements.
Another method proposed to eliminate inter-cell interference is frequency offset with
carrier aggregation. Small cells occupy different frequency resource from that of neighbor Macro
cell, so as to avoid inter-cell interference. However, the UE needs to implement inter-frequency
handover in the case that the UE moves across the cell border, which leads to a increasing
difficulty for implementation of hardware/software. What's more, carrier aggregation is not fully
supported by the UE in accordance with 3GPP LTE-A Release-8.
Both time offset and frequency offset methods utilize orthogonality of the resources, but
complete time/frequency orthogonality may be inefficient due to losing reuse gain.
Fig.l illustrates a configuration schematic diagram of a Heterogeneous network. As shown
in Fig.l, there exist a Macro base station 11, a Pico base station 21, a relay node 22, a Femto
base station 23 in the network. Signal coverage of relay node 22 substantially falls into the signal
coverage of the Macro base station 11, so that the UE served by relay node 22 is apt to suffer
strong interference from Macro base station 11. Pico base station 2 1 is located behind a building,
and the interferences suffered by the UEs served by the Pico base station 2 1 varies greatly due to
the existence of blind area of signal coverage (i.e. shadowing area) of the Macro base station 11;
for example, UE 3 1 is located in the blind area of signal coverage of the Macro base station 11,
and substantially suffers no interference from Macro base station 11; while UE 32 may suffer
intensive interference from the Macro base station 11. The Femto base station 23 is located
within the building, and the walls of the building isolate the signals of Macro base station 11 and
Femto base station 23 well, therefore UE 35, which is within the building and served by the
Femto base station 23, substantially suffers no interference from the Macro base station 11. With
the complexity of practical network environment, the simple method of making neighbor base
stations occupy orthogonal radio resources decreases reuse gain of the resources to a large
extent.
To address the above issue in the prior art, the present invention proposes a method and
device for inter-cell interference coordination.
In one embodiment of the present invention, there is provide with a method of coordinating
radio resource in a base station of wireless communication network, comprising the steps of:
5 1. determining whether a UE is of interference risk; and if the UE is of interference risk, then
52. determining key interference source base station(s) of the UE; S3 scheduling radio resource
in collaboration with the key interference source base station(s), so that the key interference
source base station(s) idle(s) the radio resource assigned to the UE by the base station.
In one embodiment of the present invention, there is provide with a resource coordinating
device for coordinating radio resource in a base station of wireless communication network,
comprising: a first determining device, a second determining device, a collaborating device; the
first determining device being configured to determining whether a UE is of interference risk;
and when it is determined that the UE is of interference risk, the second determining device
being configured to determine the key interference source base station(s) of the UE; the
collaborating device being configured to schedule radio resource in collaboration with the key
interference source base station(s), so that the key interference source base station(s) idle(s) the
radio resource assigned to the UE by the base station.
With the method and device provided in the present invention, effective avoidance of
inter-cell interference may be achieved, and every cell may fully reuse resource to accomplish
reuse gain, while UE backward compatibility may also be supported.
Brief description of the drawings
Features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious by
reading the following description of non-limiting embodiments with the aid of appended
drawings.
Fig.l illustrates a configuration schematic diagram of a Heterogeneous network;
Fig.2 illustrates a flow chart of a method of coordinating radio resource in a base station
of wireless communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention;
Fig.3 illustrates a schematic diagram of subframe assignment according to one
embodiment of the present invention;
Fig.4 illustrates a function block diagram of a resource coordinating device for
coordinating radio resource in a base station of wireless communication network;
wherein, same or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar device(module)
or step of method.
Detailed description of embodiments
Fig.2 illustrates a flow chart of a method of coordinating radio resource in a base station
of wireless communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention. As
shown in Fig.2, the method comprises three steps SI, S2, S3. The method is applicable to any
type of base station, such as Macro base station, Pico base station, Femto base station, relay
node.
First, in step SI, base station determines whether a UE is of interference risk. If the UE is
determined to be of interference risk, then step S2 and S3 is performed in turn; and if the UE is
determined to be without interference risk, the performing of step S2, S3 is unnecessary.
In step S2, the base station determines key interference source base station(s) of the UE.
Then, in the step S3, the base station schedules radio resource in collaboration with the
key interference source base station(s), so that the key interference source base station(s) idle(s)
the radio resource assigned to the UE by the base station.
That is, as for the UE exempt from the interference risk, its serving base station does not
have to collaborate with neighbor base station to determine the radio resource thereof. As for the
UE exempt from interference risk, its neighbor base station may utilize the same radio resource
as that allocated to the UE exempt from interference risk by its serving base station to serve for
the UE(s) of the neighbor base station.
For example, the relay node 22 determines, in step SI, that UE 33 is of interference risk;
while in step S2, the relay node 22 determines the key interference source of the UE 33, for
example, the Macro base station 11; then, in the step S3, the relay node 22 schedules radio
resource collaboratively with Macro base station 11, such that the Macro base station 11 idles
the radio resource assigned to the UE 33 by relay node 22.
The foregoing method may apply different processing to the UE in different state (with
different interference level), therefore having relatively high efficiency for resource utilization.
By identifying the key interference source base station(s) and scheduling resource
collaboratively therewith, a good interference eliminating effect can be achieved at samller cost
of resource reuse gain.
In one embodiment of the present invention, in step SI, the base station evaluates the
interference risk therein according to the Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio report from the
UE. Specifically, in step SI, if the Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio of the UE is lower than
a predetermined value, then the base station determines that the UE is of interference risk. The
predetermined value may be different for different type of base station.
In other embodiment(s) of the present invention, in step SI, the base station could also
evaluate the interference risk of the UE according to the report of channel quality indicator and
so on of the UE.
In one embodiment of the present invention, in step S2, the base station determines the
key interference source base station(s) out of neighbor base station(s) according to the matching
degree between the interference fluctuation measured by the UE and the signal suppression
fluctuation of the neighbor base station(s).
Referring to Fig.l, specifically, for example, UE 33 continuously measures the
interference, and reports the resulting measurement to the relay node 22. The neighbor base
station have individual resource configuration, thereby causing a corresponding fluctuation of
signal suppression. Relay node 22 determines the key interference source base station(s)
according to the matching degree between the interference fluctuation measured by the UE 33
and the signal suppression fluctuation of the neighbor base stations, including the Macro base
station 11, Pico base station 21, Femto base station 23.
More specifically, in the case that neighbor base stations idle on different time-frequency
resource in accordance with respective configuration, the estimation of interference from the
neighbor base station idling on a certain time-frequency resource to the UE may be determined
according to interference variation value measured by the UE on the certain frequency resource.
For example, the Macro base station 11 idles on subframe n, and the Pico base station 2 1 idles
on subframe m, and the Femto base station 23 idles on subframe p; then the relay node 22 may
recognize the interference variation value of the subframe n, detected by UE 33, to be the
interference estimation for UE 33 from the Macro base station 11, and recognize the interference
variation value of the subframe m to be the interference estimation for UE 33 from Pico base
station 21, and recognize the interference variation value of the subframe p to be the interference
estimation for UE 33 from the Femto base station 23. The interference estimation may be an
average value of measurements of multiple times or multiple frames. The one or more base
stations corresponding to the maximum interference estimation will be determined to be the key
interference source base station(s) of the UE 33. If the difference among the multiple maximum
interference estimations is far less than the difference between the multiple maximum
interference estimations and other interference estimation, then the multiple base stations
corresponding to the multiple maximum interference estimations may be determined to be as the
key interference source base stations of the UE 33, and the numerical comparison standard for
'far less than' may be set according to requirement.
In one embodiment of the present invention, in step S2, the base station identifies the one
or more neighbor base stations with a maximum equivalent receiving power between it/them and
the UE as the key interference source base station(s) according to the location information of the
UE.
Specifically, UE 33 notify the relay node 22 with the location information thereof, or relay
node 22 acquires the location information of the UE 33 by means of measurement. The relay
node 22 may be informed with the path loss of every neighbor base station, including the Macro
base station 11, Pico base station 21, Femto base station 23, according to the location
information of the UE 33. Different type of base station has different transmission power
standard, the relay node 22 may determines equivalent receiving power between every neighbor
base station and the UE 33 according to the difference between the transmission power and path
loss of every neighbor base station. The one or more base stations corresponding to the
maximum equivalent receiving power will be determined as the key interference source base
station(s) of the UE 33. On the occasion that the difference among the multiple maximum
equivalent receiving power estimations is far less than the difference between the multiple
maximum equivalent receiving power and other equivalent receiving power, then the multiple
base stations corresponding to the multiple maximum equivalent receiving power may be
determined to be the key interference source base stations of UE 33, and the numerical
comparison standard for 'far less than' may be set according to requirement..
In one embodiment of the present invention, in step S2, the base station identifies the one
or more neighbor base stations with optimal received signal quality for the UE as the key
interference source base station(s) according to received signal quality report of the UE.
Some controlling channel, for example physical downlink control channel, physical
HARQ indicator channel, physical control format indicator channel, corresponds to data
scheduling, that is, these channels can not be transmitted in a specified subframe without data
scheduling in the specified subframe. Therefore, the interference of PDCCH, PHICH, PCFICH
can be avoided among different cells by scheduling, without any impact on backward
compatibility and the network synchronization of the UE.
The UE in accordance with release 8 protocol of 3GPP LTE-A follows the traditional
procedure to detect PDCCH, if its serving node does not transmit any PDCCH, then the UE can
not find any scheduling. At this time, the UE assumes no scheduling information thereof on the
current subframe, and continues to detect PDCCH of the next subframe. Therefore, some
embodiments of the present invention may compatible to those UEs conforming to protocol of
Release 8 of 3GPP LTE-A.
In another embodiment of the present invention, step S3 comprise that the base station
assign a specified subframe to the UE; and the key interference source base station(s) idle(s) the
specified subframe.
Specifically, for example, in the step S3, relay node 22 assigns the specified subframe, e.g.
subframe n, to the UE33 determined to be of interference risk, then the key interference source
of the UE 33, for example Macro base station 11, will idle subframe n. Moreover, the UE 33
conduct communication in the assigned specified subframe.
Preferably, in the above step S3, the base station assigns the specified subframe to the UE;
and the key interference source base station idles the specified subframe for a selected channel,
wherein the selected channel comprises one or more of the following: PDCCH, PHICH,
PCFICH, DCH.
Specifically, for example, in the step S3, relay node 22 assigns the specified subframe, e.g.
subframe n, to the UE33 determined to be of interference risk, then the key interference source
of the UE 33, for example Macro base station 11, will not conduct the transmission of PDCCH,
PHICH, PCFICH, DCH in subframe n. The inter-cell interference may thereby be avoided.
However, the key interference source base station(s) still can conduct the transmissionof
broadcast channel, synchronization channel and reference signal in subframe n.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the step S3 comprises: the base station
assignes selected channel to the UE; the key interference source base station(s) idle(s) the
selected channel; wherein the selected channel comprises one or more of the following: PDCCH,
PHICH, PCFICH, DCH. The selected channel may be the uplink channel and/or downlink
channel.
Physical HARQ indicator channel is used for bearing a HARQ ACK/NACK message of
the Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request for the previous uplink transmission, for example the
uplink transmission in advance across 4 subframes in the mode of frequency division duplexing.
Fig.3 illustrates a schematic diagram of subframe assignment according to one embodiment of
the present invention, wherein HARQ timeline is illustrated. In the case that subframe n is
assigned, as specified subframe, to the UE with interference risk in the cell of its serving base
station, then subframe n+8 is also assigned for potential retransmission; uplink subframe n+4 is
used for uplink data of the UE and response to subframe n, with ACK message or NACK
message included. In the cell of the key interference source base station of the UE,
corresponding uplink subframe is not burdened with data transmission. The UE with
interference risk can only conduct transmission in the above specified subframe, while other
UE(s) in the cell of its serving base station may conduct transmission in the above specified
subframe, or in other subframe. In the cell of the key interference source base station for the UE,
the corresponding downlink subframe is idled for the specified channel and data channel.
In another embodiment of the present invention, in the step S3, the base station scheduling
radio resource in collaboration with the key interference source base station(s) by means of
exchange of resource allocating information.
Specifically, the resource allocating information comprises subframe allocating
information.
In another embodiment of the present invention, resource allocation has a distributed
management employed, the foregoing step S3 comprise that: the base station determines
resource allocation of the UE, requests the key interference source base station(s) to be idle on
the resource allocation, and acquires an acknowledgment from the key interference source base
station(s).
Specifically, distributed management is utilized for the resource allocation in the system,
every base station determines their own resource allocation. For purpose of example but not
limitation, the step S3 may comprise the following sub-step:
- the base station (for example relay node 22) predetermines the resource allocation for the
UE (for example UE 33) with interference risk, and notify the key interference source base
station (for example Macro base station 11) with the predetermined resource allocation, so as to
request the key interference source to idle the predetermined resource.
- the key interference source base station(s) (for example Macro base station 11) approve(s)
the request from the base station (for example relay node 22), and acknowledges with a ACK
message, idling the predetermined resource.
- After the base station (for example relay node 22) receiving ACK message, it allocates
the predetermined resource to the UE (for example UE 33) for use.
In the step S3, more than one time of information exchange is often needed. If the key
interference source base station (for example Macro base station 11) denies the request from the
base station (for example relay node 22), then acknowledges with a NACK message. After the
base station (for example relay node 22) receives NACK message, it updates the predetermined
resource allocation for the UE (for example UE 33), and notifies the key interference source
base station(s) (for example Macro base station 11) with the updated predetermined resource
allocation, to request the key interference source base station(s) to idle the updated
predetermined resource. Upon acquiring the acknowledgement from key interference source
base station(s), the base station allocates the updated predetermined resource for use by the UE,
the key interference source base station(s) idle(s) the updated predetermined resource. Preferably,
information exchange among base stations is accomplished by X2 interface.
Optionally, the above resource allocation comprises subframe allocation. Preferably,
neighboring base stations interchange the pattern of subframe idleness, that is, which subframe(s)
should be specified to be idle in a specified period.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the centralized management is adopted for
resource allocation, the foregoing step S3 comprise that: the base station notifying a central
coordinator with the key interference source base station(s) and the resource needed by the UE,
and the central coordinator determining the resource allocation of the base station for the UE and
the resource allocation of the key interference source base station(s).
Specifically, a centralized management is adopted for the resource allocation in the system,
wherein one base station group is provided with a central coordinator, and the decision about the
resource allocation for the UE with interference risk by each base station in the base station
group are all made by central coordinator. The base station group is often composed of multiple
base stations in geographical adjacency. For example in the base station group comprising the
Macro base station 11, the Pico base station 21, the relay node 22, the Femto base station 23, the
Macro base station 11 may function as central coordinator. For purpose of example but not
limitation, the step S3 may comprise the following sub-steps:
- the base station (for example relay node 22) acquires the resource needed by the UE (for
example UE 33) with interference risk, and notifies the central coordinator with the resource
needed by the UE and key interference source base station(s) (for example Macro base station
ii);
- the central coordinator schedules the resource allocation in a unified mode, and
determines the resource allocation for the UE (for example UE 33) by the base station (for
example relay node 22) and the resource allocation of the key interference source base station(s)
(for example Macro base station 11), so as to differentiate the resource allocation of the key
interference source base station(s) from the resource allocation for the UE by the base station.
Optionally, the above resource allocation comprises subframe assignment. Preferably, the
central coordinator notifies each base station with the configured pattern of subframe idleness,
that is, which subframe(s) should be specified to be idle in a specified period.
Preferably, resource configuration among the neighbor base stations for avoidance of
interference upon the UE with interference risk may be dynamically updated according to the
interference variation of the UE, the variation of service traffic flow and so on.
In another embodiment of the present invention, in the step S3, the base station the base
station scheduling radio resource in collaboration with the key interference source base station(s)
by means of exchange of UE information. Specifically, the UE information may comprise: UE
indicator, interference level (dBm), key interference source indicator. Preferably, centralized
management is adopted for the resource allocation in the system. The central coordinator
collects the UE information of each base station, and decides the resource allocation for each
base station in a unified mode. If it is determined that serving base station of the UE with
interference risk serves such UE in some subframe, then it is determined that the key
interference source base station(s) of the UE conducts no transmission of selected channel in
such subframe, such as PDCCH, PHICH, PCFICH, DCH.
Those skilled in the art should appreciate, the foregoing embodiments are all exemplary
rather than restrictive. The above methods are applicable to any type of base station, including
Macro base station, Pico base station, Femto base station, relay node, and so on. The above
methods particularly apply to the base station having relatively small transmission power and
signal coverage with respect to Macro base station, such as Pico base station, Femto base station,
relay node, and so on.
Fig.4 illustrates a function block diagram of a resource coordinating device for
coordinating radio resource in a base station of wireless communication network. As shown in
Fig.3, the resource coordinating device 100 of such embodiment comprises: a first determining
device 101, a second determining device 102, a collaborating device 103. The resource
coordinating device 100 is typically configured inside the Macro base station 11, Pico base
station 21, relay node 22, or Femto base station 23.
The first determining device 101, the second determining device 102, the collaborating
device 103 are respectively configured to perform the step SI, S2, S3 in the foregoing method.
The first determining device 101 is configured to determine whether a UE is of
interference risk.
When it is determined that the UE is of interference risk, the second determining device
102 is configured to determine the key interference source base station(s) of the UE; the
collaborating device 103 is configured to schedule radio resource in collaboration with the key
interference source base station(s), so that the key interference source base station(s) idle(s) the
radio resource assigned to the UE by the base station.
Those skilled in the art could readily appreciate, the device in the present invention
can be implemented by means of either hardware module, functional module of software,
or the hardware module with functional module of software incorporated therein.
Those skilled in the art could readily appreciate, the above embodiment are intended
to be exemplary but not limited thereto. Different technical feature in various
embodiments can be combined, so as to gain some technical effect. After examining the
accompanying figures, specification and claims, those skilled in the art should readily
appreciate and carry out some variation for the above disclosed embodiments. In the
claims, the term of "comprise" does not exclude the existence of other device(s) or step(s);
indefinite article "a/an" does not exclude the "multiple" case; term of "a first", "a second"
is just used for give a name rather than for representing some particular order. Figure
number(s) in the claims, if any, should not be construed to be any restriction to protection
scope. Multiple component functionalities in the claim(s) may be implemented by means
of an singular hardware or software. The occurrence of some technical features in
different dependent claims does not eliminate the possibility of the technical effect
resulting from the combination of these technical features.
What is claimed is:
1 . A method of coordinating radio resource in a base station of wireless
communication network, comprising the steps of:
51. determining whether a UE is of interference risk;
if said UE is of interference risk, then
52. determining key interference source base station(s) of said UE;
53. scheduling radio resource in collaboration with said key interference source base
station(s), so that said key interference source base station(s) idle(s) the radio resource
assigned to said UE by said base station.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step SI comprises:
determining said UE to be of interference risk if the signal to interference and noise
ratio of said UE is lower than a predetermined value.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein, said step S2 comprise:
determining said key interference source base station(s) out of neighbor base
station(s) according to the matching degree between the interference fluctuation measured
by said UE and the signal suppression fluctuation of said neighbor base station(s).
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein said step S2 comprises:
on basis that neighbor base stations idle on different time-frequency resource in
accordance with respective configuration, determining the estimation of interference from
the neighbor base station idling on a certain time-frequency resource to said UE according
to interference variation value measured by said UE on said certain frequency resource.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step S2 comprise:
identifying the one or more neighbor base stations with a maximum equivalent
receiving power between it/them and said UE as said key interference source base
station(s) according to the location information of said UE.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step S2 comprise:
identifying the one or more neighbor base stations with optimal received signal
quality for said UE as said key interference source base station(s) according to received
signal quality report of said UE.
7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step S3 comprise:
- said base station assigning a specified subframe to said UE;
- said key interference source base station(s) idling said specified subframe.
8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step S3 comprise:
- said base station assigning a selected channel to said UE;
- said key interference source base station(s) idling said selected channel;
wherein said selected channel comprises one or more of the following: physical
downlink control channel (PDCCH), physical HARQ indicator channel (PHICH), physical
control format indicator channel (PCFICH), data channel (DCH).
9. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in said step S3, said base station
scheduling radio resource in collaboration with said key interference source by means of
exchange of resource allocating information.
10. The method according to claim 9, wherein said resource allocating information
comprises subframe allocating information.
11. The method according to claim 9, wherein said step S3 comprise: said base
station determining resource allocation of said UE, requesting said key interference
source base station(s) to be idle on said resource allocation, and acquiring an
acknowledgment from said key interference source base station(s).
12. The method according to claim 9, wherein said step S3 comprises: said base
station notifying a central coordinator with said key interference source base station(s)
and the resource needed by said UE, and said central coordinator determining the resource
allocation of said base station for said UE and the resource allocation of said key
interference source base station(s).
13. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in said step S3, said base station
scheduling radio resource in collaboration with said key interference source base station(s)
by means of exchange of UE information.
14. The method according to any of claims 1 to 13, wherein, said base station
comprises: relay node, Pico base station, femto base station.
15. A resource coordinating device for coordinating radio resource in a base station
of wireless communication network, comprising: a first determining device, a second
determining device, a collaborating device;
said first determining device being configured to determining whether a UE is of
interference risk;
when it is determined that said UE is of interference risk,
said second determining device being configured to determine the key interference
source base station(s) of said UE;
said collaborating device being configured to schedule radio resource in
collaboration with said key interference source base station(s), so that said key
interference source base station(s) idle(s) the radio resource assigned to said UE by said
base station.