CN111030791A

CN111030791A - Method and apparatus

Info

Publication number: CN111030791A
Application number: CN201910637001.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 莫林梅; 赵亚军; 徐汉青
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2015-01-30
Filing date: 2015-04-10
Publication date: 2020-04-17
Anticipated expiration: 2035-04-10
Also published as: CN106160980B; CN106160980A; CN111030791B

Abstract

The invention discloses a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) estimation method and a device, wherein the method comprises the following steps: detecting a channel state of an unlicensed carrier; when the channel state is an idle state, acquiring an interference measurement result of an unauthorized carrier of a cell in a specified time slot; and acquiring an initial CQI estimated value when the unlicensed carrier is occupied according to the interference measurement result. The invention solves the problem that the single measurement behavior in the related technology can not meet the requirement of carrier switching, thereby improving the accuracy of CQI measurement.

Description

Method and apparatus

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a channel quality indicator CQI estimation method and apparatus.

Background

The Long Term Evolution/Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE/LTE-a) system is a fourth-Generation mobile communication standard established by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) organization. LTE supports multiple bandwidth allocations: 1.4MHz, 3MHz, 5MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz, 20MHz and the like, and the frequency spectrum allocation is more flexible. LTE is currently mainly operated in licensed spectrum, and the frequency band selected in different regions is also different. North american networks plan to use 700/800 and 1700/1900 MHz; european network plans to use 800, 1800, 2600 MHz; asian networks plan to use 1800 and 2600 MHz; the australian network plans to use 1800 MHz.

To support a wider frequency band, LTE-a introduces Carrier Aggregation (CA for short), the basic idea being to form a wider spectrum by aggregating a number of continuous or discrete carriers together. With carrier aggregation, LTE-a can support 100MHz bandwidth at maximum.

With the continuous increase of data traffic, licensed spectrum resources become more and more crowded and tense. Therefore, a natural idea is to extend the LTE/LTE-a system to unlicensed spectrum resources for use by using methods such as carrier aggregation with the assistance of licensed carriers.

On a licensed carrier, an LTE evolved NodeB (E-UTRAN NodeB, abbreviated eNB) sends reference signals for Channel State Information (CSI) measurement to a User Equipment (UE), including Non-Zero Power CSI reference signals (NZP CSI-RS) for CSI measurement and Zero Power CSI reference signals (ZP CSI-RS) for interference measurement; the UE receives the measurement reference signal, performs CSI measurement and reports the measurement result to the eNB; the eNB depends on CSI information reported by the UE to perform accurate data scheduling transmission, and the CSI measurement includes Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI for short), Channel Quality Indicator (CQI for short), interference measurement and the like.

In the unlicensed spectrum, in addition to the LTE system, there are other systems such as Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) and Radar (Radar), for fairness, each node needs to obtain a channel right through contention, before using the channel, a Clear Channel Access (CCA) needs to be performed, and only if a CCA result indicates that the channel is idle, the network node can access the channel and transmit necessary reference signals and data. Therefore, the transmission density of the reference signals for CSI measurement will be closely related to the success rate of the eNB accessing the channel. If the frequency of the eNB accessing the channel is low, the transmission density of the measurement reference signal is greatly reduced, on one hand, the CQI and interference measurement results are inaccurate due to less measurement samples; on the other hand, if the CQI measurement and the interference measurement can only be performed during the channel occupying period, the eNB cannot obtain the measurement result in time because of a certain delay in the measurement report, and even the eNB may still not obtain the channel measurement result before the eNB finishes the channel occupying.

In addition, a Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) cell may select to transmit data on an unlicensed carrier or an Licensed carrier, and because the interference situation on the Licensed carrier may be greatly different from the interference situation on the unlicensed carrier, a single measurement behavior at present may not meet the requirement of carrier switching.

For the problem that a single measurement behavior cannot meet the requirement of carrier switching in the related art, no effective solution has been proposed yet.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) estimation method and a device, which at least solve the problem that the single measurement behavior in the related technology can not meet the requirement of carrier switching.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a channel quality indicator, CQI, estimation method, including: detecting a channel state of an unlicensed carrier; when the channel state is an idle state, obtaining an interference measurement result of the unauthorized carrier of a cell in a specified time slot; and acquiring an initial CQI estimated value when the unauthorized carrier is occupied according to the interference measurement result.

Further, detecting the channel status of the unlicensed carrier comprises: acquiring a clear channel estimation CCA strategy; detecting a channel state of an unauthorized carrier according to the CCA strategy; wherein the CCA policy comprises one of: strategy 1: simultaneously detecting an uncoordinated interference signal of the cell and a coordinatable interference signal of the cell to obtain a detection result, comparing the detection result with an obtained check result by using a CCA threshold, and judging whether the unauthorized carrier is in an idle state according to the comparison result; strategy 2: simultaneously detecting an uncoordinated interference signal of the cell and a coordinatable interference signal of the cell to obtain a detection result, comparing the obtained detection result with two CCA thresholds, and judging whether the unauthorized carrier is in an idle state according to the comparison result; strategy 3: only detecting the uncoordinated interference of the cell to obtain a detection result, and judging whether the unlicensed carrier is in an idle state or not according to a comparison result of the obtained detection result and a CCA threshold; wherein the non-coordinatable interference signal of the cell comprises at least one of: interference with a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems of the cell; interference of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to a different operator from the cell; the cell's coordinatable interference signals include at least one of: interference of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to the same operator as the cell; interference of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to a different operator from the cell.

Further, the manner of detecting the non-coordinatable interference signal of the cell and/or the coordinatable interference signal of the cell includes one of the following: when the cell is configured with the uncoordinable interference silent pattern, performing uncoordinable interference measurement at the silent moment indicated by the uncoordinable interference silent pattern, wherein the obtained interference measurement result is the uncoordinable interference signal; performing interference measurement at a time other than the muting time indicated by the uncoordinated interference muting pattern, wherein the obtained interference measurement result comprises the uncoordinated interference signal and the coordinatable interference signal; the coordinatable interference signal is a difference value between a sum of the non-coordinatable interference signal and the non-coordinatable interference signal; or when the cell configures an uncoordinable interference muting pattern and a coordinatable interference muting pattern at the same time, the cell performs interference measurement on the uncoordinable interference muting pattern, and an obtained interference measurement result is the uncoordinable interference signal; performing interference measurement on the coordinatable interference muting pattern, wherein an obtained interference measurement result is the coordinatable interference signal; or, all cells in the network uniformly configure a first uncoordinated interference muting pattern, a second uncoordinated interference muting pattern is configured for a cell belonging to the same operator as the cell, uncoordinated interference muting measurement is performed at a muting moment indicated by the second uncoordinated interference muting pattern, and an obtained interference measurement result is the uncoordinated interference signal, where the uncoordinated interference signal includes at least one of: interference with a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems of the cell; interference of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to a different operator from the cell.

Further, detecting the channel status of the unlicensed carrier according to the policy 1 includes: determining that the unlicensed carrier is in an idle state if a sum of the non-coordinated interfering signal and the coordinated interfering signal is not greater than a first threshold.

Further, detecting the channel status of the unlicensed carrier according to the policy 2 includes: determining that the unlicensed carrier is in an idle state if the uncoordinated interfering signal is not greater than a second threshold and the uncoordinated interfering signal is not greater than a third threshold.

Further, the third threshold is configured by a Primary Component Cell (PCell) to which the Cell belongs.

Further, detecting the channel status of the unlicensed carrier according to the policy 3 includes: and when the uncoordinated interference signal is not larger than a fourth threshold value, determining that the unlicensed carrier is in an idle state.

Further, obtaining a CQI estimation value when occupying the unlicensed carrier according to the interference measurement result includes: obtaining useful signal energy of the last occupied time before the unauthorized carrier is in the idle state; obtaining a signal-to-noise ratio according to the useful signal energy and the interference measurement result; and obtaining the CQI estimated value according to the signal-to-noise ratio.

Further, the designated time slot is configured by the base station.

Further, the designated time slot is composed of information of at least one of: one or more long term evolution, LTE, subframes, one or more LTE symbols, one or more CCA observation durations.

Further, the manner of configuring the designated time slot by the base station includes one of the following: the base station configures the periodic designated time slot for the terminal; and the base station configures the specified time slot with non-periodicity for the terminal and triggers the terminal to carry out interference measurement. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a received signal strength indication RSSI measurement method, including: the base station sends an indication signal for measuring the RSSI to the terminal; and the base station receives the result of RSSI measurement performed by the terminal according to the indication signal.

Further, the RSSI measured includes one of the following types: RSSI type one: the measurement signal source is all signals received by the terminal and comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with a service cell of the terminal; signals of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell; and signals of all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to the same operator as the serving cell; RSSI type two: the measurement signal source comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with the service cell; and signals of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell; RSSI type three: the measurement signal source comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with the service cell; the RSSI type I is used for measuring the load of the whole unauthorized frequency layer; the RSSI type II is used for measuring the load condition of the LAA system of the non-operator; and the RSSI type III is used for measuring the load condition of the non-LAA system.

Further, the indication signal includes: the base station configures a measurement subframe set according to the measured RSSI type, wherein the measurement subframe set comprises one of the following: measuring a first set of subframes for measuring the RSSI type I; a second measurement subframe set, configured to measure the second RSSI type: muting all cells belonging to the same communication system and the same operator as the serving cell on the second measurement subframe set; and a third measurement subframe set, configured to measure the third RSSI type: muting all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell on the measurement subframe set three; at the same time, all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to the same operator as the serving cell are muted.

Further, the base station configuring the indicator signal for measuring the RSSI comprises: the base station performs measurement configuration of one or more RSSI types for the terminal; when the base station configures the terminal to measure one or more types of RSSI values, the base station receives the RSSI values reported by the terminal; when the base station configures different measurement configurations for different types of RSSI measurement values, configuring a measurement trigger mode and/or a period value of period measurement for the terminal; and when the base station configures different reporting configurations for the RSSI measurement values of different types, configuring a reporting trigger mode and/or a periodic value reported periodically for the terminal.

Further, the RSSI is a linear average of the total received power observed over a given measurement subframe.

Further, the indication signal includes one or more measurement samples, where the one or more measurement samples are a basis for RSSI measurement by the terminal, and the one measurement sample contains one or more adjacent measurement subframes.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a received signal strength indication RSSI measurement method, including: a terminal receives an indication signal for measuring RSSI (received signal strength indicator) sent by a base station; and the terminal carries out RSSI measurement according to the indication signal to obtain a measurement result and sends the measurement result to the base station.

Further, the indication signal includes a measurement subframe set configured by the base station according to the type of the RSSI, wherein the measurement subframe set includes one of: measuring a first set of subframes for measuring the RSSI type I; a second measurement subframe set, configured to measure the second RSSI type: muting all cells belonging to the same communication system and the same operator as the serving cell on the second measurement subframe set; and a third measurement subframe set, configured to measure the third RSSI type: muting all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell on the measurement subframe set three; at the same time, all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to the same operator as the serving cell are muted.

Further, the indication signal includes: the base station performs measurement configuration of one or more RSSI types for the terminal; when the base station configures the terminal to measure one or more types of RSSI values, the terminal reports the one or more types of RSSI values to the base station; when the base station configures different measurement configurations for different types of RSSI measurement values, configuring a measurement trigger mode and/or a period value of period measurement for the terminal; and when the base station configures different reporting configurations for the RSSI measurement values of different types, configuring a reporting trigger mode and/or a periodic value reported periodically for the terminal.

Further, the indication signal includes one or more measurement samples, and the terminal performs RSSI measurement according to the one or more measurement samples, wherein one measurement sample includes one or more adjacent measurement subframes.

Further, the terminal performs RSSI measurement according to the indication signal to obtain a measurement result, and sends the measurement result to the base station includes: when the terminal carries out RSSI measurement based on a measurement sample, directly reporting the measurement result to the base station; when the terminal carries out RSSI measurement based on a plurality of measurement samples, the measurement results corresponding to the plurality of measurement samples are reported after being smoothed, or all effective RSSI measurement values in an occupation period are reported to the base station after being smoothed.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a channel quality indicator, CQI, estimation apparatus, comprising: the detection module is used for detecting the channel state of the unauthorized carrier; an obtaining module, configured to obtain an interference measurement result of the unlicensed carrier in a specified time slot when the channel state is an idle state; and the estimation module is used for acquiring an initial CQI estimation value when the unauthorized carrier is occupied according to the interference measurement result.

Further, the detection module includes: a first obtaining unit, configured to obtain a clear channel estimation CCA policy; a detecting unit, configured to detect a channel state of an unlicensed carrier according to the CCA policy; wherein the CCA policy comprises one of: strategy 1: simultaneously detecting an uncoordinated interference signal of the cell and a coordinatable interference signal of the cell to obtain a detection result, comparing the detection result with an obtained check result by using a CCA threshold, and judging whether the unauthorized carrier is in an idle state according to the comparison result; strategy 2: simultaneously detecting an uncoordinated interference signal of the cell and a coordinatable interference signal of the cell to obtain a detection result, comparing the obtained detection result with two CCA thresholds, and judging whether the unauthorized carrier is in an idle state according to the comparison result; strategy 3: only detecting the uncoordinated interference of the cell to obtain a detection result, and judging whether the unlicensed carrier is in an idle state or not according to a comparison result of the obtained detection result and a CCA threshold; wherein the non-coordinatable interference signal of the cell comprises at least one of: interference with a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems of the cell; interference of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to a different operator from the cell; the cell's coordinatable interference signals include at least one of: interference of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to the same operator as the cell; interference of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to a different operator from the cell.

Further, the detecting unit is further configured to detect an uncoordinable interference signal of the cell and/or a coordinatable interference signal of the cell, where the detecting manner includes one of: when the cell is configured with the uncoordinable interference silent pattern, performing uncoordinable interference measurement at the silent moment indicated by the uncoordinable interference silent pattern, wherein the obtained interference measurement result is the uncoordinable interference signal; performing interference measurement at a time other than the muting time indicated by the uncoordinated interference muting pattern, wherein the obtained interference measurement result comprises the uncoordinated interference signal and the coordinatable interference signal; the coordinatable interference signal is a difference value between a sum of the non-coordinatable interference signal and the non-coordinatable interference signal; or when the cell configures an uncoordinable interference muting pattern and a coordinatable interference muting pattern at the same time, the cell performs interference measurement on the uncoordinable interference muting pattern, and an obtained interference measurement result is the uncoordinable interference signal; performing interference measurement on the coordinatable interference muting pattern, wherein an obtained interference measurement result is the coordinatable interference signal; or, all cells in the network uniformly configure a first uncoordinated interference muting pattern, a second uncoordinated interference muting pattern is configured for a cell belonging to the same operator as the cell, uncoordinated interference muting measurement is performed at a muting moment indicated by the second uncoordinated interference muting pattern, and an obtained interference measurement result is the uncoordinated interference signal, where the uncoordinated interference signal includes at least one of: interference with a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems of the cell; interference of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to a different operator from the cell.

Further, the detecting unit is further configured to detect a channel status of the unlicensed carrier according to the policy 1, where it is determined that the unlicensed carrier is in an idle state when a sum of the uncoordinable interference signal and the coordinatable interference signal is not greater than a first threshold.

Further, the detecting unit is further configured to detect a channel status of the unlicensed carrier according to the policy 2, where it is determined that the unlicensed carrier is in an idle state if the uncoordinable interference signal is not greater than a second threshold and the coordinatable interference signal is not greater than a third threshold.

Further, the third threshold is configured by a primary cell PCell to which the cell belongs.

Further, the detecting unit is further configured to detect a channel status of the unlicensed carrier according to the policy 3, where it is determined that the unlicensed carrier is in an idle state when the uncoordinable interference signal is not greater than a fourth threshold.

Further, the estimation module includes: a second obtaining unit, configured to obtain useful signal energy of a last occupied time before the unlicensed carrier is in the idle state; the third acquisition unit is used for acquiring a signal-to-noise ratio according to the useful signal energy and the interference measurement result; and the estimation unit is used for obtaining the CQI estimation value according to the signal-to-noise ratio.

Further, the designated time slot is configured by the base station.

Further, the device also comprises at least one of the following modules: the first configuration module is used for configuring the periodic specified time slot for the terminal; and the second configuration module is used for configuring the specified time slot with non-periodicity for the terminal and triggering the terminal to carry out interference measurement.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a received signal strength indication RSSI measurement apparatus, the apparatus being applied to a base station, the apparatus comprising: the transmission module is used for transmitting an indication signal for measuring the RSSI to the terminal; and the receiving module is used for receiving the result of RSSI measurement performed by the terminal according to the indication signal.

Further, the indication signal includes: the base station performs measurement configuration of one or more RSSI types for the terminal; when the base station configures the terminal to measure one or more types of RSSI values, the base station receives the RSSI values reported by the terminal; when the base station configures different measurement configurations for different types of RSSI measurement values, configuring a measurement trigger mode and/or a period value of period measurement for the terminal; and when the base station configures different reporting configurations for the RSSI measurement values of different types, configuring a reporting trigger mode and/or a periodic value reported periodically for the terminal.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a received signal strength indication RSSI measurement apparatus, which is applied to a terminal, the apparatus including: the receiving module is used for receiving an indication signal for measuring the RSSI, which is sent by the base station; and the processing module is used for carrying out RSSI measurement according to the indication signal to obtain a measurement result and sending the measurement result to the base station.

Further, the RSSI measured includes one of the following types: RSSI type one: the measurement signal source is all signals received by the terminal and comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with a service cell of the terminal; signals of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell; and signals of all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to the same operator as the serving cell; RSSI type two: the measurement signal source comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with the service cell; and signals of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell; RSSI type three: the measurement signal source comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with the service cell; the RSSI type I is used for measuring the load of the whole unauthorized frequency layer and realizing the DFS function; the RSSI type II is used for measuring the load condition of the LAA system of the non-operator; and the RSSI type III is used for measuring the load condition of the non-LAA system.

Further, the processing module is further configured to directly report the measurement result to the base station when the terminal performs RSSI measurement based on one measurement sample; when the terminal carries out RSSI measurement based on a plurality of measurement samples, the measurement results corresponding to the plurality of measurement samples are reported after being smoothed, or all effective RSSI measurement values in an occupation period are reported to the base station after being smoothed.

By the invention, the channel state of the unauthorized carrier is detected; when the channel state is an idle state, acquiring an interference measurement result of an unauthorized carrier of a cell in a specified time slot; and acquiring an initial CQI estimated value when the unlicensed carrier is occupied according to the interference measurement result. The problem that the single measurement behavior in the related technology cannot meet the requirement of carrier switching is solved, and the accuracy of CQI measurement is improved.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the invention without limiting the invention. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a flow chart of a channel quality indication, CQI, estimation method according to an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 2 is a block diagram of a channel quality indicator CQI estimation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a block diagram (one) of the structure of a channel quality indicator CQI estimation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a block diagram of the structure of a channel quality indicator CQI estimation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention (ii);

fig. 5 is a flowchart of a received signal strength indication, RSSI, measurement method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the results of a Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) measurement method according to an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 7 is a flowchart (one) of a RSSI measurement method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a block diagram (ii) of the results of the RSSI measurement method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The invention will be described in detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in conjunction with embodiments. It should be noted that the embodiments and features of the embodiments in the present application may be combined with each other without conflict.

In this embodiment, a method for estimating a channel quality indicator CQI is provided, and fig. 1 is a flowchart of the method for estimating a channel quality indicator CQI according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 1, the flowchart includes the following steps:

step S102, detecting the channel state of the unauthorized carrier;

step S104, when the channel state is the idle state, obtaining the interference measurement result of the unauthorized carrier wave of the cell in the appointed time slot;

and step S106, obtaining an initial CQI estimated value when the unauthorized carrier is occupied according to the interference measurement result.

Through the steps, the initial CQI estimated value when the unauthorized carrier is occupied can be obtained before the unauthorized carrier is not occupied, and compared with the prior art, the CQI value can be obtained only by sending the measurement reference signal to the terminal in the carrier occupying process, the steps solve the problem that the single measurement behavior in the related technology cannot meet the requirement of carrier switching, and further improve the accuracy of CQI measurement.

The step S102 mentioned above involves detecting a channel state of the unlicensed carrier, and in an optional embodiment, a clean channel estimation CCA policy is first obtained, and the channel state of the unlicensed carrier is detected according to the CCA policy. It should be noted that the CCA policy may include various forms, which are exemplified below, and the CCA policy includes one of the following: strategy 1: simultaneously detecting an uncoordinated interference signal of the cell and a coordinatable interference signal of the cell to obtain a detection result, comparing the detection result with an obtained check result by using a CCA threshold value, and judging whether the unauthorized carrier is in an idle state according to the comparison result; strategy 2: simultaneously detecting an uncoordinated interference signal of the cell and a coordinatable interference signal of the cell to obtain a detection result, comparing the obtained detection result with two CCA thresholds, and judging whether the unauthorized carrier is in an idle state according to the comparison result; strategy 3: only detecting the uncoordinated interference of the cell to obtain a detection result, and judging whether the unauthorized carrier is in an idle state or not according to a comparison result of the obtained detection result and a CCA threshold value; wherein the non-coordinatable interference signal of the cell comprises at least one of: interference with a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems of a cell; interference of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to a different operator from the cell; the cell's coordinatable interference signals include at least one of: interference of other cells belonging to the same communication system and to the same operator as the cell; interference from other cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to a different operator from the cell. It is emphasized that the interference of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to different operators from the cell may be either a co-ordinated interference or a non-co-ordinated interference.

When the CCA strategy is used to detect the channel status of the unlicensed carrier, it is necessary to determine the strength of the coordinatable interference signal and the strength of the uncoordinable interference signal in advance, in an optional embodiment, when the uncoordinable interference muting pattern is configured in the cell, the uncoordinable interference measurement is performed at the muting moment indicated by the uncoordinable interference muting pattern, and the obtained interference measurement result is the uncoordinable interference signal; performing interference measurement at a time other than the silent time indicated by the uncoordinated interference silent pattern, wherein the obtained interference measurement result comprises an uncoordinated interference signal and the coordinatable interference signal; the coordinatable interference signal is a non-coordinatable interference signal and the difference between the sum of the coordinatable interference signal and the non-coordinatable interference signal; or when the cell is configured with the uncoordinable interference muting pattern and the coordinatable interference muting pattern at the same time, the cell performs interference measurement on the uncoordinable interference muting pattern, and the obtained interference measurement result is an uncoordinable interference signal; performing interference measurement on the coordinatable interference silence pattern, wherein the obtained interference measurement result is a coordinatable interference signal; or, all cells in the network are configured with a first uncoordinated interference muting pattern uniformly, a cell belonging to the same operator as the cell is configured with a second uncoordinated interference muting pattern, and the uncoordinated interference muting pattern is measured at the muting moment indicated by the second uncoordinated interference muting pattern, and the obtained interference measurement result is the uncoordinated interference signal, where the uncoordinated interference signal includes at least one of: interference with a plurality of network nodes of the cell belonging to different communication systems; interference with other cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to a different operator from the cell. The strength of the non-coordinatable interference signal of the cell and the strength of the coordinatable interference signal of the cell are thus obtained.

In an optional embodiment, when detecting the channel state of the unlicensed carrier according to policy 1, in the case that the sum of the uncoordinated interfering signal and the uncoordinated interfering signal is not greater than the first threshold, it is determined that the unlicensed carrier is in an idle state.

In another optional embodiment, when detecting the channel status of the unlicensed carrier according to policy 2, in the case that the uncoordinated interference signal is not greater than the second threshold and the uncoordinated interference signal is not greater than the third threshold, it is determined that the unlicensed carrier is in the idle state. In yet another alternative embodiment, the third threshold is configured by the primary cell PCell to which the cell belongs.

In another optional embodiment, when the channel status of the unlicensed carrier is detected according to the policy 3, when the uncoordinated interference signal is not greater than the fourth threshold, it is determined that the unlicensed carrier is in an idle state.

The step S106 mentioned above involves acquiring an initial CQI estimation value when the unlicensed carrier is occupied according to the interference measurement result, and in an optional embodiment, acquiring the energy of the useful signal when the unlicensed carrier is occupied last time before being in an idle state, obtaining a signal-to-noise ratio according to the energy of the useful signal and the interference measurement result, and obtaining the CQI estimation value according to the signal-to-noise ratio.

In an alternative embodiment, the designated time slot is configured by the base station.

In another optional embodiment, the designated slot may be one or more long term evolution LTE subframes, may also be one or more LTE symbols, and may also be one or more CCA observation durations.

The method for configuring the designated time slot by the base station can be various, in an optional embodiment, the base station configures a periodic designated time slot for the terminal, and in another optional embodiment, the base station configures an aperiodic designated time slot for the terminal to trigger the terminal to perform interference measurement.

In this embodiment, a channel quality indicator, CQI, estimation apparatus is further provided, and the apparatus is used to implement the foregoing embodiments and preferred embodiments, and the description of the apparatus is omitted for brevity. As used below, the term "module" may be a combination of software and/or hardware that implements a predetermined function. Although the means described in the embodiments below are preferably implemented in software, an implementation in hardware, or a combination of software and hardware is also possible and contemplated.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a channel quality indicator, CQI, estimation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 2, the apparatus including: a detection module 22, configured to detect a channel state of an unlicensed carrier; an obtaining module 24, configured to obtain an interference measurement result of an unlicensed carrier in a specified time slot when a channel state is an idle state; and an estimating module 26, configured to obtain an initial CQI estimation value when the unlicensed carrier is occupied according to the interference measurement result.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram (one) of the structure of a channel quality indicator CQI estimation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 3, the detection module 22 includes: a first obtaining unit 222, configured to obtain a clean channel estimation CCA policy; a detecting unit 224, configured to detect a channel status of an unlicensed carrier according to the CCA policy; wherein the CCA policy comprises one of: strategy 1: simultaneously detecting an uncoordinated interference signal of a cell and a coordinatable interference signal of the cell to obtain a detection result, comparing the detection result with an obtained check result by using a CCA threshold value, and judging whether the unauthorized carrier is in an idle state according to the comparison result; strategy 2: simultaneously detecting an uncoordinated interference signal of the cell and a coordinatable interference signal of the cell to obtain a detection result, comparing the obtained detection result with two CCA thresholds, and judging whether the unauthorized carrier is in an idle state according to the comparison result; strategy 3: only detecting the uncoordinated interference of the cell to obtain a detection result, and judging whether the unauthorized carrier is in an idle state or not according to a comparison result of the obtained detection result and a CCA threshold value; wherein the non-coordinatable interference signal of the cell comprises at least one of: interference with a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems of a cell; interference of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to a different operator from the cell; the cell's coordinatable interference signals include at least one of: interference of other cells belonging to the same communication system and to the same operator as the cell; interference from other cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to a different operator from the cell.

Optionally, the detecting unit 224 is further configured to detect a non-coordinatable interference signal of a cell and/or a coordinatable interference signal of a cell, where the detecting manner includes one of: when a cell is configured with an uncoordinable interference silent pattern, carrying out uncoordinable interference measurement at the silent moment indicated by the uncoordinable interference silent pattern, wherein the obtained interference measurement result is an uncoordinable interference signal; performing interference measurement at a time other than the silent time indicated by the uncoordinated interference silent pattern, wherein the obtained interference measurement result comprises an uncoordinated interference signal and the coordinatable interference signal; the coordinatable interference signal is the difference between the sum of the uncoordinable interference signal and the coordinatable interference signal and the uncoordinable interference signal; or when the cell is configured with the uncoordinable interference silent pattern and the coordinatable interference silent pattern at the same time, the cell performs interference measurement on the uncoordinable interference silent pattern, and the obtained interference measurement result is an uncoordinable interference signal; performing interference measurement on the coordinatable interference muting pattern, wherein the obtained interference measurement result is the coordinatable interference signal; or, all cells in the network are configured with a first uncoordinated interference muting pattern uniformly, a cell belonging to the same operator as the cell is configured with a second uncoordinated interference muting pattern, and the uncoordinated interference muting pattern is measured at the muting moment indicated by the second uncoordinated interference muting pattern, and the obtained interference measurement result is the uncoordinated interference signal, where the uncoordinated interference signal includes at least one of: interference with a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems of a cell; interference from other cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to a different operator from the cell.

Optionally, the detecting unit 224 is further configured to detect a channel status of the unlicensed carrier according to the policy 1, where in a case that a sum of the uncoordinated interfering signal and the coordinatable interfering signal is not greater than a first threshold, it is determined that the unlicensed carrier is in an idle state.

Optionally, the detecting unit 224 is further configured to detect a channel status of the unlicensed carrier according to policy 2, wherein in a case that the uncoordinable interference signal is not greater than the second threshold and the uncoordinable interference signal is not greater than the third threshold, it is determined that the unlicensed carrier is in an idle state.

Optionally, the third threshold is configured by a primary cell PCell to which the cell belongs.

Optionally, the detecting unit 224 is further configured to detect a channel status of the unlicensed carrier according to policy 3, where it is determined that the unlicensed carrier is in an idle state when the uncoordinable interference signal is not greater than the fourth threshold.

Optionally, the estimation module 26 comprises: a second obtaining unit 262, configured to obtain a useful signal energy of a last occupied time before the unlicensed carrier is in the idle state; a third obtaining unit 264, configured to obtain a signal-to-noise ratio according to the measurement result of the useful signal energy and the interference; an estimating unit 266 is configured to obtain a CQI estimation value according to the signal-to-noise ratio.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram (ii) of a channel quality indicator CQI estimation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 4, the apparatus further includes: a first configuration module 42, configured to configure the designated timeslot periodically for the terminal; a second configuration module 44, configured to configure the specified time slot with non-periodicity for the terminal, and trigger the terminal to perform interference measurement.

It should be noted that, the above modules may be implemented by software or hardware, and for the latter, the following may be implemented, but not limited to: all the modules are positioned in the same processor; alternatively, the modules are located in the first processor, the second processor, and the third processor …, respectively.

The interference measurement mentioned in the above CQI measurement is actually Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) measurement, so that in this embodiment, a method for measuring RSSI is provided, fig. 5 is a flowchart of a method for measuring RSSI according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 5, the flowchart includes the following steps:

step S502, the base station sends an indication signal for measuring the RSSI to the terminal;

step S504, the base station receives the result of RSSI measurement performed by the terminal according to the indication signal.

Through the steps, the base station can configure the terminal to carry out RSSI measurement so as to obtain the result of RSSI measurement, thereby improving the accuracy of subsequent signal transmission.

In an alternative embodiment, the measured RSSI comprises one of the following types: RSSI type one: the measuring signal source is all signals received by the terminal and comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with a service cell of the terminal; signals of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell; and signals of all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to the same operator as the serving cell; RSSI type two: the measurement signal source comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with the serving cell; and signals of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell; RSSI type three: the measurement signal source comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with the serving cell; the RSSI type I is used for measuring the load of the whole unauthorized frequency layer; the RSSI type II is used for measuring the load condition of the LAA system of the non-operator; and the RSSI type III is used for measuring the load condition of the non-LAA system.

The indication signal may comprise a wide variety of signals, as exemplified below. In an alternative embodiment, the indication signal may comprise: the base station configures a measurement subframe set according to the type of the measured RSSI, wherein the measurement subframe set comprises one of the following components: measuring a first subframe set for measuring the RSSI type I; and a second measurement subframe set, which is used for measuring the RSSI type II: on the second measurement subframe set, all cells which belong to the same communication system with the serving cell and belong to the same operator with the serving cell are silenced; and a third measurement subframe set is used for measuring the RSSI type III: in the third measurement subframe set, all cells which belong to the same communication system with the serving cell and belong to different operators are silenced; at the same time, all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to the same operator as the serving cell are muted. In another alternative embodiment, the step of configuring the RSSI measurement indicator signal by the base station may comprise: the base station carries out measurement configuration of one or more RSSI types for the terminal; when a base station configures the terminal to measure one or more types of RSSI values, the base station receives the RSSI values reported by the terminal; when the base station configures different measurement configurations for different types of RSSI measurement values, configuring a measurement trigger mode and/or a period value of period measurement for the terminal; when the base station configures different reporting configurations for different types of RSSI measurement values, a reporting trigger mode and/or a periodic value reported periodically are configured for the terminal. In yet another alternative embodiment, the indication signal comprises one or more measurement samples, wherein the one or more measurement samples are a basis for RSSI measurement by the terminal, and one measurement sample comprises one or more adjacent measurement subframes.

In an alternative embodiment, the RSSI is a linear average of the total received power observed over a given measurement subframe.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram of the result of the RSSI measurement method according to the embodiment of the present invention, and the apparatus is applied to a base station, as shown in fig. 6, and the apparatus includes: a sending module 62, configured to send an indicator signal for measuring RSSI to the terminal; a receiving module 64, configured to receive a result of RSSI measurement performed by the terminal according to the indication signal.

Optionally, the measured RSSI comprises one of the following types: RSSI type one: the measuring signal source is all signals received by the terminal and comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with a service cell of the terminal; signals of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell; and signals of all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to the same operator as the serving cell; RSSI type two: the measurement signal source comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with the serving cell; and signals of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell; RSSI type three: the measurement signal source comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with the serving cell; the RSSI type I is used for measuring the load of the whole unauthorized frequency layer; the RSSI type II is used for measuring the load condition of the LAA system of the non-operator; and the RSSI type III is used for measuring the load condition of the non-LAA system.

Optionally, the indication signal comprises: the base station configures a measurement subframe set according to the type of the measured RSSI, wherein the measurement subframe set comprises one of the following: measuring a first subframe set for measuring the RSSI type I; and a second measurement subframe set, configured to measure the RSSI type two: on the second measurement subframe set, muting all cells belonging to the same communication system and the same operator as the serving cell, where muting all cells belonging to the same communication system and the same operator as the serving cell refers to that all cells (including the serving cell) do not perform data transmission and/or reception. And a third measurement subframe set is used for measuring the RSSI type III: on the third measurement subframe set, all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to different operators from the serving cell are muted; meanwhile, muting all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to the same operator as the serving cell, wherein muting all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell, means that all cells (including the serving cell) do not perform data transmission and/or reception; muting of all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to the same operator as the serving cell means that all cells (including the serving cell) do not transmit and/or receive data.

Optionally, the indication signal comprises: the base station carries out measurement configuration of one or more RSSI types for the terminal; when the base station configures the terminal to measure one or more types of RSSI values, the base station receives the RSSI values reported by the terminal; when the base station configures different measurement configurations for different types of RSSI measurement values, configuring a measurement trigger mode and/or a period value of period measurement for the terminal; when the base station configures different reporting configurations for different types of RSSI measurement values, a reporting trigger mode and/or a periodic value reported periodically are configured for the terminal.

Optionally, the RSSI is a linear average of the total received power observed over a given measurement subframe.

Optionally, the indication signal includes one or more measurement samples, wherein the one or more measurement samples are a basis for RSSI measurement by the terminal, and the one measurement sample contains one or more adjacent measurement subframes.

In this embodiment, a method for measuring RSSI is provided, and fig. 7 is a flowchart (one) of a method for measuring RSSI according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 7, the flowchart includes the following steps:

step S702, the terminal receives an indication signal for measuring RSSI sent by the base station;

step S704, the terminal performs RSSI measurement according to the indication signal to obtain a measurement result, and sends the measurement result to the base station.

The RSSI may include various types, as exemplified below. In an alternative embodiment, the measured RSSI comprises one of the following types: RSSI type one: the measuring signal source is all signals received by the terminal and comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with a service cell of the terminal; signals of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell; and signals of all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to the same operator as the serving cell; RSSI type two: the measurement signal source comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with the serving cell; and signals of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell; RSSI type three: the measurement signal source comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with the serving cell; the RSSI type I is used for measuring the load of the whole unauthorized frequency layer; the RSSI type II is used for measuring the load condition of the LAA system of the non-operator; the RSSI type three is used to measure the load condition of the non-LAA system.

The indication signal may include various types, and in an optional embodiment, the indication signal may include a measurement subframe set configured by the base station according to the type of RSSI, where the measurement subframe set includes one of: measuring a first subframe set for measuring the RSSI type I; and a second measurement subframe set, which is used for measuring the RSSI type II: on the second measurement subframe set, all cells which belong to the same communication system with the serving cell and belong to the same operator with the serving cell are silenced; and a third measurement subframe set is used for measuring the RSSI type III: in the third measurement subframe set, all cells which belong to the same communication system with the serving cell and belong to different operators are silenced; at the same time, all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to the same operator as the serving cell are muted. In another alternative embodiment, the indication signal may include: the base station carries out measurement configuration of one or more RSSI types for the terminal; when the base station configures the terminal to measure one or more types of RSSI values, the terminal reports the one or more types of RSSI values to the base station; when the base station configures different measurement configurations for different types of RSSI measurement values, configuring a measurement trigger mode and/or a period value of period measurement for the terminal; when the base station configures different reporting configurations for different types of RSSI measurement values, a reporting trigger mode and/or a periodic value reported periodically are configured for the terminal. In yet another alternative embodiment, the indication signal may include one or more measurement samples, and the terminal performs RSSI measurement according to the one or more measurement samples, wherein one measurement sample contains one or more adjacent measurement subframes.

In an optional embodiment, when the terminal performs RSSI measurement based on one measurement sample, the measurement result is directly reported to the base station; when the terminal carries out RSSI measurement based on a plurality of measurement samples, the measurement results corresponding to the plurality of measurement samples are reported after being smoothed, or all effective RSSI measurement values in an occupation period are reported to a base station after being smoothed. And then the terminal carries out RSSI measurement according to the indication signal to obtain a measurement result and sends the measurement result to the base station.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram (ii) of the result of the RSSI measurement method according to the embodiment of the present invention, and the apparatus is applied to a terminal, as shown in fig. 8, the apparatus includes: a receiving module 82, configured to receive an indicator signal for measuring RSSI sent by a base station; and the processing module 84 is configured to perform RSSI measurement according to the indication signal to obtain a measurement result, and send the measurement result to the base station.

Optionally, the measured RSSI comprises one of the following types: RSSI type one: the measuring signal source is all signals received by the terminal and comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with a service cell of the terminal; signals of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell; and signals of all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to the same operator as the serving cell; RSSI type two: the measuring signal source comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with the service cell; and signals of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell; RSSI type three: the measuring signal source comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with the service cell; the RSSI type I is used for measuring the load of the whole unauthorized frequency layer and realizing the DFS function; the RSSI type II is used for measuring the load condition of the LAA system of the non-operator; the RSSI type three is used to measure the load condition of the non-LAA system.

Optionally, the indication signal includes a measurement subframe set configured by the base station according to the type of the RSSI, where the measurement subframe set includes one of: measuring a first set of subframes for measuring the RSSI type I; and a second measurement subframe set, configured to measure the RSSI type two: on the second measurement subframe set, all cells belonging to the same communication system and the same operator as the serving cell are muted; and a third measurement subframe set, configured to measure the RSSI of type three: muting all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell on the third measurement subframe set; at the same time, all cells belonging to the same communication system and to the same operator as the serving cell are muted.

Optionally, the indication signal comprises: the base station carries out measurement configuration of one or more RSSI types for the terminal; when the base station configures the terminal to measure one or more types of RSSI values, the terminal reports the one or more types of RSSI values to the base station; when the base station configures different measurement configurations for different types of RSSI measurement values, configuring a measurement trigger mode and/or a period value of period measurement for the terminal; when the base station configures different reporting configurations for different types of RSSI measurement values, a reporting trigger mode and/or a periodic value reported periodically are configured for the terminal.

Optionally, the indication signal includes one or more measurement samples, and the terminal performs RSSI measurement according to the one or more measurement samples, wherein one measurement sample includes one or more adjacent measurement subframes.

Optionally, the processing module is further configured to directly report the measurement result to the base station when the terminal performs RSSI measurement based on one measurement sample; when the terminal carries out RSSI measurement based on a plurality of measurement samples, the measurement results corresponding to the plurality of measurement samples are reported after being smoothed, or all effective RSSI measurement values in an occupation period are reported to the base station after being smoothed.

In view of the above problems in the related art, the following description is made with reference to an alternative embodiment, in which the above alternative embodiment and its alternative embodiments are combined.

The technical problem to be solved by this alternative embodiment is: since the reference signal for CSI measurement is sent discontinuously on the unlicensed carrier, CQI measurement and interference measurement may be inaccurate, and the LAA cell may perform carrier switching between the unlicensed carrier and the licensed carrier, a single measurement behavior may not meet the requirement of carrier switching.

In order to solve the above technical problem, this optional embodiment provides a method and a system for unlicensed carrier measurement, where the method performs CQI estimation for a current occupation period according to a CCA policy of an LAA cell by using an interference measurement result of a UE during a CCA period and information of useful signal energy, a CQI measurement result, and the like of a previous occupation period. So that the LAA eNB can obtain the CQI in time for data scheduling transmission. During the occupation period, more accurate interference measurement can be carried out by utilizing the pre-configured LAA ZP CSI-RS, and when the LAA cell can be switched between the authorized carrier and the unauthorized carrier, different ZP CSI-RSs can be configured for interference measurement so as to accurately measure the interference situation on the authorized carrier and the unauthorized carrier.

It should be noted that the interference measurement time slot is not limited to the CCA observation period, and may be other time slots, as long as the interference situation experienced by the target eNB in the time slot is similar to the interference situation in the occupied period.

The interference measurement time slot may be configured by the base station, and may be one or more LTE subframes, one or more LTE symbols, and one or more CCA observation durations. The base station may configure the UE with periodic interference measurement slots, may also indicate aperiodic measurement slots, and may trigger the UE to perform interference measurements. For example, DCI carried by PCell/Scell PDCCH/EPDCCH may be used for indication.

Consider a scenario where an LTE eNB prepares for downlink or uplink + downlink data transmission on an unlicensed carrier. Before obtaining the Channel usage right, the LAA base station needs to perform a Clear Channel Access (CCA) to obtain available Channel information. The LAA eNB accesses the channel, enters an occupation period, and starts to send a measurement reference signal for the UE to measure. If the LAA cell can be switched between the licensed and unlicensed carriers, different interference measurement reference signals should also be configured for the licensed and unlicensed carriers. The specific operation method is described in detail below.

The method comprises the following steps: the LAA cell determines the CCA strategy.

The CCA strategy selectable by the LAA cell includes:

strategy 1: and simultaneously detecting the interference of the different system and the interference of the same system, and using a CCA threshold.

Strategy 2: and simultaneously detecting the interference of the different system and the interference of the same system, and using two CCA thresholds.

Strategy 3: only inter-system interference is detected.

The LAA cells may use a CCA policy agreed in advance by the network, for example, all LAA cells, or LAA cells belonging to the same operator, may agree to use the same CCA policy.

Which CCA strategy is used by the LAA cell may also be indicated by the Pcell. The indication method may send the DCI through a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH for short) and an enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel (enhanced PDCCH for short) for indication.

Step two: optionally, the LAA cell configures the muting pattern.

The LAA cell muting pattern comprises frequency information and time information of LAA cell muting; wherein, the frequency information includes the center frequency and bandwidth information of silence, which can also be represented by sub-channel number, or sub-channel number + bandwidth; wherein the time information mainly comprises the silent moment and the silent duration.

In the co-location situation of a primary cell PCell on a licensed carrier and a Secondary cell (SCell for short) on an unlicensed carrier, an LAA cell may use the timing of the primary cell as a synchronization reference.

Under the condition that a primary cell PCell on an authorized carrier and a secondary cell Scell on an unauthorized carrier are not co-located, LAA cells need to be synchronized to ensure that the LAA cells can perform silencing at the same time.

The LAA cell may configure a plurality of muting patterns, for example, the LAA cells from different operators configure muting pattern 1, and in the muting pattern, the LAA cell does not perform downlink data transmission and uplink data reception, and at this time, interference obtained by performing interference measurement in any LAA cell is different system interference, that is, interference outside the LAA system.

When multiple operators are present in the network, the LAA cell may be configured with additional muting patterns in order to distinguish interference of different operators. For example, the LAA cell from the operator OP1 may configure a muting pattern 2, in which none of the LAA cells from the operator OP1 performs downlink data transmission and uplink data reception, and at this time, any LAA cell from the operator OP1 performs interference measurement, and the obtained interference includes both inter-system interference and LAA cell interference of an operator other than the operator OP 1. Similarly, LAA cells from other operators in the network may also be configured with muting patterns inside the operator's network.

Step three: the LAA cell performs CCA according to the CCA policy.

If the LAA cell detects only inter-system interference using CCA strategy 1, the LAA cell may perform interference measurement as follows.

The first method is as follows:

the LAA cell is configured with only the inter-system interference muting pattern.

The LAA cell carries out inter-system interference measurement at the silence moment indicated by the preset inter-system interference silence pattern, and at the moment, the measured interference is inter-system interference and is marked as I _ out;

the LAA cell carries out interference measurement at a time except the silent time indicated by the preset inter-system interference silent pattern, wherein the measured interference comprises the same-system interference and the inter-system interference and is marked as I _ total;

and calculating the co-system interference, I _ in is I _ total-I _ out.

The second method comprises the following steps:

the LAA cell is simultaneously configured with an inter-system interference silent pattern and an inter-system interference silent pattern;

the LAA cell carries out inter-system interference measurement on a preset inter-system interference silence pattern, and at the moment, the measured interference only contains inter-system interference and is marked as I _ out;

the LAA cell carries out interference measurement on a preset same-system interference silent pattern, and at the moment, the measured interference only contains the same-system interference and is marked as I _ in;

the total system interference is I _ total ═ I _ out + I _ in;

if the LAA cell uses the CCA strategy 1, namely, the interference of different systems and the interference of the same system are detected simultaneously, an interference threshold is used; comparing the total interference energy I _ total with a preset interference threshold TH1, if the total interference energy is greater than the interference threshold one, namely I _ total > TH1, indicating that the total interference is strong, judging that the current channel state is not idle, and the LAA cannot access the channel; if the total interference energy is less than or equal to the interference threshold one, i.e., I _ total < TH1, it indicates that the total interference is within an acceptable range, and it is determined that the channel state is idle and the LAA cell can access the channel.

If the LAA cell uses the CCA strategy 2, namely, the interference of the different system and the interference of the same system are detected at the same time, two interference thresholds are used; comparing the inter-system interference energy I _ out with a preset inter-system interference threshold two TH2, comparing the inter-system interference energy I _ in with a preset co-system interference threshold three TH3, if the inter-system interference energy is greater than the inter-system interference threshold, i.e. I _ out > TH2, or the co-system interference energy is greater than the co-system interference threshold, i.e. I _ in > TH3, indicating that the inter-system interference is too strong, or the co-system interference is too strong, determining that the current channel state is not idle, and the LAA cannot access the channel; and if the inter-system interference energy is not greater than the inter-system interference threshold, i.e., I _ out < ═ TH2, and the co-system interference energy is not greater than the co-system interference threshold I _ in < ═ TH3, determining that the channel state is idle, and the LAA cell can access the channel.

The CCA strategy 2 has the advantages that the CCA threshold of the same system can be dynamically adjusted according to the interference processing capacity of the LAA cell, and if the LAA cell uses a certain CCA threshold of the same system and the receiving performance is not ideal, the CCA threshold of the same system can be gradually adjusted down according to a certain step length; on the contrary, if the LAA cell uses a CCA threshold of the same system and the receiving performance is very good, the CCA threshold of the same system can be gradually increased according to a certain step length.

If the LAA cell uses the CCA strategy 3, only the interference of the different systems is detected; the LAA cell compares the inter-system interference energy I _ out with a preset interference threshold TH2, if I _ out > TH2, the inter-system interference is too strong, the current channel state is judged to be not idle, and the LAA cannot access the channel; if the inter-system interference energy is not greater than the interference threshold two, i.e., I _ out < ═ TH2, it indicates that the inter-system interference is within an acceptable range, and the channel state is determined to be idle, and the LAA cell can access the channel.

Step four: the LAA cell configures an interference measurement reference signal (optional step).

For the cells using CCA strategy 2 and CCA strategy 3, the CCA result can only indicate that there is almost no inter-system interference, and the co-system interference is still present, so that the interference measurement reference signal needs to be configured for the UE to perform interference measurement. For example, LAA ZP CSI-RS may be configured for LAA cell 1, and on REs configured with LAA ZP CSI-RS, LAA cell 1 mutes and does not transmit, while other cells normally transmit.

The LAA cell may configure multiple ZP CSI-RS configurations, some for interference measurements on licensed carriers and some for interference measurements on unlicensed carriers. For unlicensed carriers with different carrier frequencies, different ZP CSI-RSs can also be configured.

Step five: the LAA cell accesses the channel.

After the CCA judges that the channel is idle, the LAA cell accesses the channel, starts to transmit the measurement reference signal and transmits data, and the period from the access of the LAA cell to the release of the channel is called an occupation period.

For the LAA cell of the initial access channel, since no channel state information feedback is obtained, data Transmission may be performed using a default Transmission Mode (TM) and Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS), or may be performed using the TM and MCS indicated by the Pcell. For example, the default transmission mode is TM2, the diversity transmission scheme, and MCS 0 is used for transmission by default.

For an LAA cell that does not access a channel for the first time, assuming that the reference Signal transmission power of the cell and the last occupancy are unchanged, that is, the Signal to interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) is the useful Signal power S during S/I calculation, only the interference and Noise need to be calculated, and the CQI is obtained by looking up the SINR-CQI mapping table according to the SINR. Different interference noise measurement methods may be used depending on the CCA strategy employed.

If the LAA cell uses the CCA strategy 1, namely, the interference of different systems and the interference of the same system are detected simultaneously, an interference threshold is used; CCA idle indicates that the total interference from both the same system and the different system remains within an acceptable range; the CQI estimation can be done as follows:

before the UE can perform CQI estimation using the measurement reference signal transmitted by the LAA eNB, the eNB can acquire CQI as follows:

1. and for the UE in the coverage area, before the new CQI measurement result is obtained and reported, the LAA eNB can use the CQI measurement result of the last occupation period to carry out data scheduling transmission.

2. During the CCA of the LAA cell, the PCell may configure the UE to perform interference measurement on the target cell, and if the CCA result determines that the channel is idle, the interference measurement result during the CCA may approximate interference noise energy Itotal during the occupation period. And according to the assumption that the reference signal transmission power of the cell is unchanged from the last occupation, that is, the useful signal power is unchanged, the useful signal energy estimated by the reference signal in the last occupation period is approximately used as the useful signal energy S in the current occupation period, the UE can estimate SINR to be S/Itotal, and derive CQI. The measurement result during the CCA period can be reported through the Pcell, and can also be reported immediately after the Scell occupation period begins.

3. If the LAA eNB can obtain the CQI measurement result of the last occupation period and the CQI measurement result of the CCA period at the same time, one of the CQIs may be selected for use in data scheduling transmission; a new CQI value may also be derived using two CQIs, e.g. using the median of the two CQIs, or the closest CQI value after weighted averaging of the two CQI values, e.g. CQI (a × CQI1+ (1-a) CQI 2).

The SINR measurement result of the last occupation period and the SINR measurement result of the CCA period may also be used to derive a new SINR result, which is then used to derive the CQI.

And after the LAA cell enters the occupied period, the UE receives the measurement reference signal, measures the effective signal power and the interference power, calculates the SINR and deduces the CQI. The estimated CQI result can be reported in the current occupation period, and if the CQI result cannot be reported before the occupation period is ended, the CQI result can be reported through the Pcell so as to be referred to when the LAA cell is occupied next time.

If the LAA cell uses CCA strategy 2 or CCA strategy 3, CCA is idle, which indicates that the interference of the different system is kept within an acceptable range, and the interference of the same system still exists; in the occupied period, the LAA interference measured by the UE should include two parts, one part is the inter-system interference iouther and the other part is the intra-system interference ILAA, and the CQI estimation can be performed by the following method:

before the UE can make CQI estimation using the measurement reference signal sent by the LAA eNB, the eNB can acquire CQI as follows.

1. For the UE in the coverage area, before obtaining a new CQI measurement result and reporting, the LAA eNB can use the CQI measurement result of the last occupation period to carry out data scheduling transmission, and the same-system interference may have variation in the two occupation periods, so that certain errors exist in the method.

2. For an LAA cell occupied for the first time, namely a cell without the history statistical value Itotal of total interference energy, during the CCA of the LAA cell, the PCell can configure the UE to perform interference measurement on a target cell, and if the CCA result determines that a channel is idle, the interference measurement result of the UE during the CCA period is used as an initial value of the total system interference noise energy Itotal.

3. According to the assumption that the reference signal transmission power of the cell and the last occupation are kept unchanged, namely the useful signal power is kept unchanged, the useful signal energy estimated by the reference signal in the last occupation period is approximately used as the useful signal energy S in the current occupation period, and the historical statistical value Itotal of the total interference energy is approximately used as the interference energy estimation in the current occupation period, the UE can estimate the SINR (signal to interference ratio) S/Itotal and deduce the CQI. The measurement result during the CCA period can be reported through the Pcell, and can also be reported immediately after the Scell occupation period begins.

And 4, after the LAA cell enters the occupied period, the UE receives the measurement reference signal, measures the effective signal power S, measures interference Itotal _ cur and SINR S/Itotal _ cur by using the configured interference measurement reference signal LAA ZP CSI-RS, and deduces CQI.

Smoothing the interference Itotal _ cur measured during the current occupancy period with the interference Itotal of the historical statistics to obtain a new total interference statistic value Itotal ═ (1-b) × Itotal + b × Itotal _ cur.

In another embodiment, a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) measurement method is further provided, including: the base station configures a terminal to measure the RSSI; the terminal measures and reports the RSSI according to the configuration of the base station;

the RSSI measured by the base station configuration UE comprises one of the following types:

RSSI type one: the measurement signal source comprises all signals received by the terminal, including signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with the cell; signals of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to a different operator from the cell; and signals of all cells belonging to the same communication system as a serving cell and belonging to the same operator as said cell;

RSSI type two: the measurement signal source comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with the cell; and signals of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to a different operator from the cell;

RSSI type three: the measurement signal source comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with the cell;

accordingly, the base station configures a corresponding measurement subframe set for the measured RSSI type:

configuring a measurement subframe set for measuring the RSSI type I;

configuring a second measurement subframe set for measuring the RSSI type II: on the subframe set two, all cells belonging to the same communication system and the same operator as the cell are muted;

configuring a measurement subframe set III for measuring the RSSI type III: on the third subframe set, all cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to different operators from the cell are muted; simultaneously muting all cells belonging to the same communication system as the cell and belonging to the same operator as the cell;

different types of RSSI values may be used for different purposes, such as RSSI type one, which may be used to measure the load of the entire unlicensed Frequency layer, for Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) functions; the RSSI type II can be used for measuring the load condition of the LAA system of the non-operator; and the RSSI type III can be used for measuring the load condition of the non-LAA system.

And the base station configures the terminal to measure one or more types of RSSI values and reports the one or more types of RSSI values. For example, the base station may configure the terminal to measure 1, 2, and 3 types of RSSI values, and report all measured RSSI values; the terminal can also be configured to measure multiple types of RSSI values, but only reports part of the RSSI values.

The base station may configure different measurement configurations for different types of RSSI measurement values, including measurement trigger modes (periodic reporting/aperiodic reporting), periodic values of periodic measurements, and the like. For example, the following configuration may be made: RSSI type one is configured as a periodic measurement; RSSI type two is configured as a trigger measurement; RSSI type three is configured for periodic measurements.

The base station may configure different reporting configurations for different types of RSSI measurement values, including a reporting trigger mode (periodic reporting/aperiodic reporting), a periodic value of periodic reporting, and the like. For example, the following configuration may be made: configuring RSSI type I to be reported periodically; the RSSI type II is configured to trigger reporting; and the RSSI type III is configured to be reported periodically.

The RSSI measured by the terminal is defined as the linear average of the total received power observed over a given measurement subframe.

The terminal may perform RSSI measurements based on one or more measurement samples, one measurement sample possibly containing one or more adjacent measurement subframes. If the RSSI measurement is carried out based on one measurement sample, the measurement result is directly reported; if the RSSI measurement is carried out based on a plurality of measurement samples, the measurement results of the plurality of measurement samples can be reported after being smoothed; or reporting all effective RSSI measured values in one occupation period after smoothing.

In summary, the method and system for measuring the unlicensed carrier wave provided by the present invention enable the measurement behavior of the LTE system to adapt to the situation of reference signal discontinuous transmission on the unlicensed carrier wave, accurately reflect the channel condition and the interference condition, and simultaneously adapt to the measurement requirement of the cell for switching between the unlicensed carrier wave and the licensed carrier wave.

In another embodiment, a software is provided, which is used to execute the technical solutions described in the above embodiments and preferred embodiments.

In another embodiment, a storage medium is provided, in which the software is stored, and the storage medium includes but is not limited to: optical disks, floppy disks, hard disks, erasable memory, etc.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the modules or steps of the present invention described above may be implemented by a general purpose computing device, they may be centralized on a single computing device or distributed across a network of multiple computing devices, and alternatively, they may be implemented by program code executable by a computing device, such that they may be stored in a storage device and executed by a computing device, and in some cases, the steps shown or described may be performed in an order different than that described herein, or they may be separately fabricated into individual integrated circuit modules, or multiple ones of them may be fabricated into a single integrated circuit module. Thus, the present invention is not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention, and various modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) measurement method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

the base station sends an indication signal for measuring the RSSI to the terminal;

and the base station receives the result of RSSI measurement performed by the terminal according to the indication signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the measured RSSI comprises one of the following types:

RSSI type one: the measurement signal source is all signals received by the terminal and comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with a service cell of the terminal; signals of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell; and signals of all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to the same operator as the serving cell;

RSSI type two: the measurement signal source comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with the service cell; and signals of other cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell;

RSSI type three: the measurement signal source comprises signals of a plurality of network nodes belonging to different communication systems with the service cell;

the RSSI type I is used for measuring the load of the whole unauthorized frequency layer; the RSSI type II is used for measuring the load condition of the LAA system of the non-operator; and the RSSI type III is used for measuring the load condition of the non-LAA system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the indication signal comprises: the base station configures a measurement subframe set according to the measured RSSI type, wherein the measurement subframe set comprises one of the following:

measuring a first set of subframes for measuring the RSSI type I;

a second measurement subframe set, configured to measure the second RSSI type: muting all cells belonging to the same communication system and the same operator as the serving cell on the second measurement subframe set;

and a third measurement subframe set, configured to measure the third RSSI type: muting all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to a different operator from the serving cell on the measurement subframe set three; at the same time, all cells belonging to the same communication system as the serving cell and belonging to the same operator as the serving cell are muted.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the indicator signal for measuring RSSI by the base station comprises:

the base station performs measurement configuration of one or more RSSI types for the terminal; when the base station configures the terminal to measure one or more types of RSSI values, the base station receives the RSSI values reported by the terminal; when the base station configures different measurement configurations for different types of RSSI measurement values, configuring a measurement trigger mode and/or a period value of period measurement for the terminal; and when the base station configures different reporting configurations for the RSSI measurement values of different types, configuring a reporting trigger mode and/or a periodic value reported periodically for the terminal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the RSSI is a linear average of total received power observed over a given measurement subframe.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication signal comprises one or more measurement samples, wherein the one or more measurement samples are a basis for RSSI measurement by the terminal, and wherein the one measurement sample comprises one or more adjacent measurement subframes.

7. A Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) measurement method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

a terminal receives an indication signal for measuring RSSI (received signal strength indicator) sent by a base station;

and the terminal carries out RSSI measurement according to the indication signal to obtain a measurement result and sends the measurement result to the base station.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the measured RSSI comprises one of the following types:

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the indication signal comprises a measurement subframe set configured by the base station according to the type of RSSI, wherein the measurement subframe set comprises one of:

measuring a first set of subframes for measuring the RSSI type I;

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the indication signal comprises:

the base station performs measurement configuration of one or more RSSI types for the terminal; when the base station configures the terminal to measure one or more types of RSSI values, the terminal reports the one or more types of RSSI values to the base station; when the base station configures different measurement configurations for different types of RSSI measurement values, configuring a measurement trigger mode and/or a period value of period measurement for the terminal; and when the base station configures different reporting configurations for the RSSI measurement values of different types, configuring a reporting trigger mode and/or a periodic value reported periodically for the terminal.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the RSSI is a linear average of total received power observed over a given measurement subframe.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the indication signal comprises one or more measurement samples, and wherein the terminal performs RSSI measurements based on the one or more measurement samples, wherein a measurement sample comprises one or more adjacent measurement subframes.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the terminal performs RSSI measurement according to the indication signal to obtain a measurement result, and sends the measurement result to the base station comprises:

when the terminal carries out RSSI measurement based on a measurement sample, directly reporting the measurement result to the base station; when the terminal carries out RSSI measurement based on a plurality of measurement samples, the measurement results corresponding to the plurality of measurement samples are reported after being smoothed, or all effective RSSI measurement values in an occupation period are reported to the base station after being smoothed.

14. An apparatus for RSSI measurement, the apparatus being applied to a base station, the apparatus comprising:

the transmission module is used for transmitting an indication signal for measuring the RSSI to the terminal;

and the receiving module is used for receiving the result of RSSI measurement performed by the terminal according to the indication signal.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the RSSI measured comprises one of the following types:

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the indication signal comprises: the base station configures a measurement subframe set according to the measured RSSI type, wherein the measurement subframe set comprises one of the following:

measuring a first set of subframes for measuring the RSSI type I;

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the indication signal comprises: the base station performs measurement configuration of one or more RSSI types for the terminal; when the base station configures the terminal to measure one or more types of RSSI values, the base station receives the RSSI values reported by the terminal; when the base station configures different measurement configurations for different types of RSSI measurement values, configuring a measurement trigger mode and/or a period value of period measurement for the terminal; and when the base station configures different reporting configurations for the RSSI measurement values of different types, configuring a reporting trigger mode and/or a periodic value reported periodically for the terminal.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the RSSI is a linear average of total received power observed over a specified measurement subframe.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the indication signal comprises one or more measurement samples, wherein the one or more measurement samples are a basis for RSSI measurement by the terminal, and wherein the one measurement sample comprises one or more adjacent measurement subframes.

20. An apparatus for measuring Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), the apparatus being applied to a terminal, the apparatus comprising:

the receiving module is used for receiving an indication signal for measuring the RSSI, which is sent by the base station;

and the processing module is used for carrying out RSSI measurement according to the indication signal to obtain a measurement result and sending the measurement result to the base station.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the RSSI measured comprises one of the following types:

the RSSI type I is used for measuring the load of the whole unauthorized frequency layer and realizing the DFS function; the RSSI type II is used for measuring the load condition of the LAA system of the non-operator; and the RSSI type III is used for measuring the load condition of the non-LAA system.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the indication signal comprises a set of measurement subframes configured by the base station according to the type of RSSI, wherein the set of measurement subframes comprises one of:

measuring a first set of subframes for measuring the RSSI type I;

23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the indication signal comprises:

24. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the RSSI is a linear average of total received power observed over a given measurement subframe.

25. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the indication signal comprises one or more measurement samples, and wherein the terminal performs RSSI measurements based on the one or more measurement samples, wherein one measurement sample comprises one or more adjacent measurement subframes.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the processing module is further configured to directly report the measurement result to the base station when the terminal performs RSSI measurement based on one measurement sample; when the terminal carries out RSSI measurement based on a plurality of measurement samples, the measurement results corresponding to the plurality of measurement samples are reported after being smoothed, or all effective RSSI measurement values in an occupation period are reported to the base station after being smoothed.