WO2015085562A1

WO2015085562A1 - System, device and method for coordinating load balance

Info

Publication number: WO2015085562A1
Application number: PCT/CN2013/089329
Authority: WO
Inventors: 方志鹏
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2013-12-13
Filing date: 2013-12-13
Publication date: 2015-06-18
Also published as: CN103858472A

Abstract

Provided are a system, device and method for coordinating load balance. A centralized controller in the system comprises: a selection unit which is used for selecting a second cell for an edge user equipment of a first cell as a scheduling cell of the edge user equipment; and an interface unit which is used for sending a notification message to a downlink scheduler of the first cell and a downlink scheduler of the second cell, the notification message being used for notifying the scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell of a selection result of the selection unit, and the selection result being that the second cell schedules the edge user equipment of the first cell. Based on the solution, the scheduling of the load balance of multiple cells in a communication system is coordinated by a centralized controller, and an edge UE of an adjacent first cell is scheduled by a second cell to coordinate the load balance, so that the second cell shares the load of the first cell, and the available time-frequency resources of the edge UE of the first cell are increased, thereby realizing the load balance between cells and improving the network edge rate.

Description

System, device and method for coordinating load balancing

Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of communications technologies and, more particularly, to systems, devices, and methods for coordinating load balancing. Background technique

In the wireless network, the uneven distribution of UE (User Equipment) causes uneven distribution of load among different cells. For example, some cells are heavily loaded, wireless resources are tight, and it is difficult to access new UEs, and even the QoS (Quality of Service) of existing UEs cannot be guaranteed. Some cells are lightly loaded and have unused wireless resources. The utilization of wireless resources is low, resulting in waste of wireless resources.

Small-area load imbalance reduces resource utilization and thus reduces system coverage. Therefore, how to coordinate load balancing between cells is an urgent problem to be solved. Summary of the invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a system, device, and method for coordinating load balancing, which can implement load balancing in a small interval and improve system capacity.

The first aspect provides a centralized controller, where the centralized controller includes: a selecting unit, configured to select, by the edge user equipment of the first cell, a second cell as a scheduling cell of the edge user equipment; Sending a notification message to the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell, where the notification message is used to notify the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell The result of the selection by the selection unit is that the second cell schedules the edge user equipment of the first cell.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first implementation manner of the first aspect, the centralized controller further includes: a pre-allocation unit, configured to pre-allocate data channel resources in the second cell for the edge user equipment; The interface unit is further configured to send a pre-allocation result of the pre-allocation unit to the data channel resource to the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell, respectively.

The second aspect provides a downlink scheduler, where the downlink scheduler is a downlink scheduler of the first cell, and includes: a first interface unit, configured to receive a notification message sent by the centralized controller, where the notification message is The centralized controller selects the second cell for the edge user equipment of the first cell The notification message is used to notify the selection result of the centralized controller, and the selection result is that the second cell schedules the edge user equipment of the first cell. An allocation unit, configured to allocate a control channel resource to the edge user equipment according to the notification message received by the first interface unit, and a data processing unit, configured to send, according to the notification message received by the first interface unit, The data packet of the edge user equipment is used to construct a data packet; the second interface unit is configured to send the data packet formed by the data processing unit to the downlink scheduler of the second cell, to pass the downlink of the second cell. The scheduler sends to the edge user equipment.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first implementation manner of the second aspect, the first interface unit is further configured to receive a pre-allocation result sent by the centralized controller, where the pre-allocation result is a result of the edge user equipment pre-allocating data channel resources in the second cell; the allocating unit is configured to allocate, according to the pre-allocation result received by the first interface unit, the edge user equipment Controlling the channel resource; the data processing unit is configured to: according to the pre-allocation result received by the first interface unit, construct a data packet sent to the edge user equipment.

With reference to the second aspect, in a second implementation manner of the second aspect, the allocating unit is configured to pre-allocate a control channel for the edge user equipment when the first interface unit receives the notification message. The data processing unit is configured to: when receiving the data channel resource allocation result sent by the downlink scheduler of the second cell, send the data to the edge user according to the data channel resource allocation result. The data set of the device is built into a data packet.

With reference to the second aspect, or the second implementation of the second aspect, or the second implementation of the second aspect, in a third implementation manner of the second aspect, the allocating unit allocates a control channel to the edge user equipment The period of the resource is greater than the period in which the downlink scheduler of the second cell allocates data channel resources to the edge user equipment.

The third aspect provides a downlink scheduler, where the downlink scheduler is used to schedule a user equipment of the first cell, where: the first interface unit is configured to receive a notification message sent by the centralized controller, where the notification message is And the centralized controller sends the second cell as the scheduling cell of the edge user equipment, where the notification message is used to notify the selection result of the centralized controller, and the selection result is Scheduling the edge user equipment of the first cell for the second cell; and an allocating unit, configured to allocate a data channel resource to the edge user equipment according to the notification message received by the first interface unit; a unit, configured to receive the first a data packet of the edge user equipment that is sent by the downlink scheduler of the cell, and a sending unit that sends the data packet received by the second interface unit to the edge user equipment by using the data channel resource allocated by the allocating unit .

With reference to the third aspect, in a first implementation manner of the third aspect, the first interface unit is further configured to receive a pre-allocation result sent by the centralized controller, where the pre-allocation result is that the centralized controller is a result of the edge user equipment pre-allocating data channel resources in the second cell; the allocating unit is specifically configured to allocate, to the edge user equipment, a data channel resource pre-allocated by the centralized controller.

With the third aspect, in a second implementation manner of the third aspect, the allocating unit is configured to: when the first interface unit receives the notification message, allocate a data channel resource to the edge user equipment. The second interface unit is configured to send the allocation result of the allocation unit to the data channel resource to the downlink scheduler of the first cell.

With the third aspect or the first implementation manner of the third aspect, or the second implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third implementation manner of the third aspect, the allocating unit allocates a data channel to the edge user equipment The period of the resource is smaller than the period in which the downlink scheduler of the first cell allocates control channel resources to the edge user equipment.

In a fourth aspect, a system for coordinating load balancing is provided, the system comprising any one of the above centralized controllers, a downlink scheduler of any of the first cells, and a downlink scheduler of any of the second cells.

A fifth aspect provides a method for coordinating load balancing, the method being applicable to a communication system, where the communication system includes a centralized controller, a downlink scheduler of the first cell and a second cell connected to the centralized controller The downlink scheduler, the method includes: the centralized controller selects a second cell as a scheduling cell of the edge user equipment for an edge user equipment of the first cell; and downlink scheduling of the centralized controller to the first cell And the downlink scheduler of the second cell sends a notification message, where the notification message is used to notify the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell to select a result, and the selected result is The second cell schedules the edge user equipment of the first cell.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a first implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the method further includes: the centralized controller pre-allocating data channel resources in the second cell by the edge user equipment; The downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell send the foregoing pre-allocation result for the data channel resource. In a sixth aspect, a method for coordinating load balancing is provided, the method being applicable to a communication system, where the communication system includes a centralized controller, a downlink scheduler of the first cell and a second cell connected to the centralized controller The downlink scheduler, the method includes: the downlink scheduler of the first cell receives a notification message sent by the centralized controller, where the notification message is that the centralized controller is an edge user equipment of the first cell When the second cell is selected as the scheduling cell of the edge user equipment, the notification message is used to notify the selection result of the centralized controller, and the selection result is that the second cell schedules the first cell. And the edge user equipment is allocated a control channel resource according to the received notification message, and the data group sent to the edge user equipment is formed into a data packet; and the formed data packet is sent to The downlink scheduler of the second cell is sent to the edge user equipment by using a downlink scheduler of the second cell.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a first implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the method further includes: the downlink scheduler of the first cell receives a pre-allocation result sent by the centralized controller, where the pre-allocation result is the centralized The controller is a result of the pre-assignment of the data channel resource by the edge user equipment in the second cell; the allocating the control channel resource to the edge user equipment, including: according to the pre-allocation result, the edge user equipment Allocating a control channel resource; the data group sent to the edge user equipment to be a data packet includes: forming, according to the pre-allocation result, a data group sent to the edge user equipment into a data packet.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a second implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the assigning the control channel resource to the edge user equipment includes: pre-allocating control for the edge user equipment when receiving the notification message a channel resource; and the data group to be sent to the edge user equipment to be a data packet, comprising: when receiving an allocation result of a data channel resource sent by a downlink scheduler of the second cell, according to the data As a result of the allocation of the channel resources, the data group sent to the edge user equipment is built into a data packet.

With the sixth aspect or the first implementation manner of the sixth aspect, or the second implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a third implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the downlink scheduler of the first cell is the edge The period in which the user equipment allocates the control channel resource is greater than the period in which the downlink scheduler of the second cell allocates the data channel resource to the edge user equipment.

In a seventh aspect, a method for coordinating load balancing is provided, the method being applicable to a communication system, where the communication system includes a centralized controller, a downlink scheduler of the first cell and a second cell connected to the centralized controller a downlink scheduler, the method includes: the downlink scheduler of the second cell receives a notification message sent by the centralized controller, where the notification message is that the centralized controller is When the edge user equipment of a cell selects the second cell to be used as the scheduling cell of the edge user equipment, the notification message is used to notify the selection result of the centralized controller, and the selection result is the second cell. Scheduling the edge user equipment of the first cell; allocating data channel resources to the edge user equipment according to the notification message; receiving data packets of the edge user equipment sent by a downlink scheduler of the first cell Transmitting the received data packet to the edge user equipment through the allocated data channel resource.

With reference to the seventh aspect, in a first implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the method further includes: the downlink scheduler of the second cell receives a pre-allocation result sent by the centralized controller, where the pre-allocation result is the centralized And the controller is configured to allocate the data channel resource to the edge user equipment, where the edge user equipment is allocated data channel resources, including: allocating the centralized controller to the edge user equipment Allocated data channel resources.

With reference to the seventh aspect, in a second implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the method further includes: sending the foregoing allocation result of the data channel resource to the downlink scheduler of the first cell.

With reference to the seventh aspect, or the first implementation manner of the seventh aspect, or the second implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in a third implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the downlink scheduler of the second cell is the edge The period in which the user equipment allocates the data channel resource is smaller than the period in which the downlink scheduler of the first cell allocates the control channel resource to the edge user equipment.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the centralized controller is configured to select a second cell as the scheduling cell of the edge UE, and send a notification message to the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell, and notify the message. The downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler selection result of the second cell are used to notify the second cell to schedule the edge UE of the first cell. Based on the foregoing solution, the centralized controller implements the load balancing scheduling of the multi-cell in the communication system, and the second cell schedules the edge UE of the adjacent first cell to implement coordinated load balancing, so that the second cell shares the first cell. The load increases the time-frequency resources that can be used by the edge UE of the first cell, thereby achieving load balancing between cells and increasing the network edge rate. DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings to be used in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly described below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only the present invention. For some embodiments, other drawings may be obtained from those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the drawings. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication network scenario applicable to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a system for coordinating load balancing according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a method for coordinating load balancing according to an embodiment of the present invention; Schematic flow chart of FIG. 4 is a schematic flow chart of a method for coordinating load balancing according to another embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a centrally placed BBU that can be applied to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a centralized controller according to an embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a schematic structural diagram of a downlink scheduler according to an embodiment of the present invention;

8 is a schematic structural diagram of a downlink scheduler according to another embodiment of the present invention;

9 is a schematic structural diagram of a centralized controller according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a downlink scheduler according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

11 is a schematic structural diagram of a downlink scheduler according to another embodiment of the present invention;

12 is a flow chart of a method for coordinating load balancing according to an embodiment of the present invention;

13 is a flow chart of a method for coordinating load balancing according to another embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 14 is a flow chart of a method for coordinating load balancing according to another embodiment of the present invention. detailed description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention are clearly and completely described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. It is obvious that the described embodiments are a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without making creative labor are within the scope of the present invention.

It should be understood that the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention can be applied to various communication systems, for example: GSM

(Global System for Mobile Communications) system, CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) system, WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) system, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service, General Packet Radio Service), LTE system, LTE FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) system, LTE TDD (Time Division Duplex), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System). It should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the UE (User Equipment) may be referred to as a terminal, an MS (Mobile Station), a mobile terminal (Mobile Terminal), etc., and the user equipment may be RAN (Radio Access). Network, wireless access network) with one Or a plurality of core networks communicate, for example, the user equipment may be a mobile phone (or "cellular" phone), a computer with a mobile terminal, etc., for example, the user device may also be portable, pocket-sized, handheld, built-in computer Or on-board mobile devices.

The base station may be a BTS (Base Transceiver Station) in GSM or CDMA, or an NB (NodeB, Base Station) in WCDMA or a BS (Base Station in UMTS), or an eNodeB in LTE. (Evolutional Node B, evolved base station;), also referred to as eNB, etc., the present invention is not limited.

In an embodiment of the invention, the connection between one component and another component (e.g., between modules of the present invention) may include wired and/or wireless connections. The wired method may include, but is not limited to, a cable composed of various media such as an optical fiber, a conductive cable or a semiconductor line, or the like, or other forms such as an internal bus, a circuit, a backplane, and the like. The wireless mode is a connection method capable of wireless communication, including but not limited to radio frequency, infrared, Bluetooth, and the like. There may be internal or external interfaces between the two components, which may be physical or logical interfaces.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a schematic diagram of a Coordinated Load Balancing (CLB ) scenario according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the CLB dynamically increases the time-frequency resources that can be used by the edge UEs of the downlink cell 101 by dynamically changing the scheduling cell of the downlink edge UE, thereby realizing load balancing between cells and improving the network edge rate. As shown in Fig. 1, an edge UE (e.g., UE 103) between two adjacent cells 101 and 102 always transmits a service signal from a lightly loaded cell 102, i.e., the data channel is always provided by the lightly loaded cell 102.

In order to implement the functionality of such a CLB, an embodiment of the present invention provides a system for coordinating load balancing. The system will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Please refer to FIG. 2, which is a schematic block diagram of a system for coordinating load balancing according to an embodiment of the present invention. The coordinated load balancing system 200 of FIG. 2 includes a centralized controller 201, a downstream scheduler of at least one cell connected to the centralized controller 201. Here, the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell and the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell are taken as an example, and of course, a downlink scheduler including more cells is also used. The first cell is any cell within the control range of the centralized controller 201 or the cell with the heaviest load within the control range of the centralized controller 201. Of course, after the coordination by the centralized controller 201, the cell with the heaviest load is in each scheduling cycle. May change. The centralized controller 201 may collect information of all cells in its control range, and select a second cell for the edge UE of the first cell according to the collected information, for scheduling the edge UE. Then, the centralized controller 201 notifies the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell to allocate a control channel to the edge UE, and notifies the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell as an edge. The UE allocates a data channel. Therefore, the second cell shares the load of the first cell, and increases the time-frequency resources that can be used by the edge UE of the first cell, thereby achieving load balancing between cells and improving the network edge rate.

It should be noted that the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell may be the same or different, that is, when the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell are the same, the downlink scheduling of the first cell And the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell may be located on the same baseband board or different baseband boards of the same serving base station; and the centralized controller 201 may also be located on a baseband board of the base station, and the baseband board may It may be the same as the baseband board where the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell or the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell is located, or may be different. For example, the centralized controller 201 is located in a dedicated centralized scheduling board of the base station or an enhanced scheduling mode baseband board, and the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell or the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell is located in a common baseband board of the base station. When the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell are different, the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell is located at the baseband board of the serving base station of the first cell, and the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell is located at the service of the second cell. The baseband board of the base station. In addition, when the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell are the same, and the base station is placed in a BBU (Base Band Unit), the RRU (Radio Remote Unit) The downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell may be located on the baseband board of the same BBU, or may be located on the baseband boards of different BBUs, and the centralized controller 201 may also be located at the baseband board of the same BBU. The baseband board of a certain BBU of the base station may also be provided with a centralized controller 201 on each BBU. The different control modes of the centralized controller 201 are different, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto.

It should also be noted that the centralized controller can be a functional entity or a logical entity. That is, it can be in the form of software, the program code is executed by the processor to realize its function; or it can be in the form of hardware, for example, in the form of a chip or a specific integrated circuit. In addition, the centralized controller may be a single entity or may be placed in another network device, such as a serving base station of the first cell or a serving base station of the second cell, or may be a serving base station of the second cell. It is a serving base station of other cells. In addition, the downlink scheduler of each cell may be a functional entity or a logical entity. That is, it can be in the form of software, the program code is executed by the processor to realize its function; or it can be in the form of hardware, for example, in the form of a chip or a specific integrated circuit. It can be seen that the centralized controller 201 is configured to select a second cell for the edge UE of the first cell, and notify the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell to allocate control channel resources to the edge UE, and notify the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell as the The edge UE allocates data channel resources. Thus, the downlink scheduling of the first cell The controller 202 can allocate control channel resources to the edge UEs under the notification of the centralized controller 201, and the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell can allocate data channel resources to the edge UEs under the notification of the centralized controller 201.

For example, the centralized controller 201 can coordinate the load balancing according to the load information of the cell. For example, the load information of the first cell and the second cell can be acquired, the coordinated load balancing result is determined according to the load information, and the coordinated load balancing result is the second cell scheduling first. The edge UE of the cell sends a coordinated load balancing result to the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell and the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell, respectively. For example, when the number of UEs in the first cell is greater than the number of UEs in the second cell and the number of UEs in the two cells is greater than a certain threshold, the centralized controller 201 may be configured to determine that the coordinated load balancing result is the second cell scheduling first. The edge UE of the cell.

For example, the centralized controller 201 may further determine the priority of each cell in the control range according to the load information of each cell, and configure the second cell to schedule the edge UE of the first cell according to the priorities of the cells. The higher the cell priority, the heavier the cell load, and the priority of the first cell is higher than the priority of the second cell.

As another example, the centralized controller 201 can perform virtual scheduling periodically. Calculating the sum of the priorities of all the cells in the control range in each period is determined as the objective function. The larger the difference of the priority of each cell is, the larger the objective function is, and the cell with the largest objective function can be preferentially selected as the first The cell is configured to configure the scheduling of the edge UE of the first cell, and the cell priority is affected by changing the scheduling cell of the edge UE to implement load balancing of the cell, thereby improving network coverage performance.

For another example, the centralized controller 201 can perform virtual scheduling periodically, and calculate the utility value of the neighboring cell to be scheduled in the neighboring cell of the serving cell (for example, the first cell) in each period, and select the best utility value. The neighboring cell acts as a scheduling cell (eg, a second cell) of the edge UE. Or, the pre-scheduled utility value of the edge UE reported by each cell in each cell is collected, and the cell with the best utility value is selected as the scheduling cell (for example, the second cell) of the edge UE.

The foregoing load information includes, but is not limited to, radio resource usage rate, cell capacity level, ratio of uplink/downlink capacity that can be used for load balancing to total cell capacity, and hardware load indication information (uplink/downlink hardware load conditions: low, medium, high, or Overload), transmission load indication information (uplink/downlink transmission load conditions: low, medium, high or overload), number of connected edge UEs or traffic, etc. The radio resource usage rate may include at least one of the following: a GBR (Provided Bit Rate), a PRB (Physical Resource Block) usage rate of the service, and a total PRB usage rate of the uplink/downlink. Wait. It should be understood that the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto. In summary, the embodiment of the present invention does not limit the manner in which the centralized controller 201 selects the second cell (ie, the scheduling cell) for the edge UE of the first cell, and can be adjusted by a person skilled in the art as needed.

It should also be noted that the coordinated load balancing results determined by the centralized controller 201 may be periodically dynamically varying. For example, in a certain period, assuming that the first cell is a reload cell and the second cell is a light carrier cell, the coordinated load balancing result is that the second cell schedules the edge UE of the first cell; in another cycle, H殳 first The cell is a reloaded cell and other cells adjacent to it (such as the third cell) are light-load cells, and the coordinated load balancing result is that the third cell schedules the edge UE of the first cell, and then the downlink scheduler of the third cell is The edge UE of the first cell allocates resources of the data channel, and the downlink scheduler of the first cell is configured to allocate the resources of the control channel to the edge UE of the first cell after learning the coordinated load balancing result.

In the above embodiment, the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell allocates the data channel resource to the edge UE, and then sends the allocation result to the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell, so that the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell according to the allocation As a result, the control channel resource is allocated to the edge UE, and the data packet sent to the edge UE is sent to the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell to be sent to the edge UE by the second cell. For example, when allocating control control channel resources, it is necessary to fill in the RB (Resource Block) location allocated in the neighboring cell, the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS), and the Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI). And the RB of the data channel resource is allocated to the UE according to the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell, and the data packet sent to the edge UE is set up. In this way, the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell needs to wait for the allocation result of the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell to allocate control channel resources, resulting in waiting delay, thereby affecting the efficiency of the CLB.

To this end, as another embodiment of the present invention, the system 200 for coordinating load balancing can further expand its functions, so that the centralized controller 201 can pre-allocate data channel resources for the edge UE and notify the first cell of the pre-allocated result. The downlink scheduler 202 and the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell enable the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell to directly allocate control channel resources to the edge UE according to the pre-allocated data channel resources.

Specifically, please refer to FIG. 3 , which is a schematic flowchart of a method for coordinating load balancing according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the method includes the following steps:

S301: The centralized controller 201 selects a second cell for the edge UE of the first cell, and pre-allocates the data channel resource for the edge UE in the second cell.

S302: The centralized controller 201 separately reports the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the second cell. The result of the selection and the pre-allocation result of the row scheduler in step S301, that is, the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell are selected to select the second cell to schedule the edge UE of the first cell, and the pre-allocated data Channel resource

Specifically, the centralized controller 201 may notify the downlink scheduler of the first cell in the manner of the notification message that the second cell is configured to schedule the edge UE of the first cell, and the notification message may include the identifier of the second cell, and may also include The identity of the edge UE.

S303: The downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell allocates control channel resources to the edge UE according to the foregoing pre-allocated data channel resources, so that the control channel of the edge UE remains in the first cell;

S304: The downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell sends a data packet (for example, a MAC (Media Access Control) packet) sent to the edge UE to the edge UE according to the foregoing pre-allocated data channel resource. The downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell.

The order of the above steps S303 and S304 is not limited, and may be performed simultaneously or sequentially.

S305: The downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell receives the data packet sent by the downlink scheduler of the first cell.

S306: The downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell sends the received data packet to the edge UE through the air interface by using the above pre-allocated data channel resource.

It can be seen that, in this embodiment, the centralized controller not only selects a scheduling cell for the edge UE, but also pre-allocates the data channel resource for the edge UE, and notifies the serving cell of the edge UE (for example, the first cell) And a downlink scheduler of the selected scheduling cell (eg, the second cell), so that the downlink scheduler of the serving cell can directly allocate control channel resources to the edge UE according to the pre-allocated result, without waiting for the downlink scheduler pair of the scheduling cell As a result of the allocation of the data channel resources, the control channel allocation can be completed, thereby reducing the waiting delay and improving the efficiency of load balancing.

As another embodiment of the present invention, the system 100 for coordinating load balancing can further expand its functions. That is, the downlink scheduler of the first cell may pre-allocate control channel resources for the edge UE, so that after receiving the data channel resource allocation result of the second cell, the pre-allocated control channel resources may be directly used, thereby improving coordinated load balancing. Efficiency, and avoids the unschedulable problem caused by insufficient control channel resources.

Specifically, please refer to FIG. 4 , which is a schematic flowchart of a method for coordinating load balancing according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the method includes the following steps: S401: The centralized controller 201 selects a second cell for an edge UE of the first cell.

S402: The centralized controller 201 respectively notifies the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell in the step S301, that is, the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell are selected. Two cells scheduling an edge UE of the first cell;

S403: The downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell pre-allocates control channel resources for the edge UE.

S404: The downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell allocates a data channel resource to the edge UE, and sends the allocation result to the first cell downlink scheduler 202.

The order of the above steps S403 and S404 is not limited, and may be performed simultaneously or sequentially. In addition, the order between the step S403 and the centralized controller transmitting the selection result (ie, step S401) is not limited, and may be pre-allocated after receiving the selection result, or may be pre-arranged before receiving the selection result. distribution. For example, a period may be set in which control channel resources are pre-allocated for the edge UEs in each period.

S405: The downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell receives a result of the data channel resource allocation sent by the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell.

S406: The downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell sends the data group setup data packet sent to the edge UE to the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell according to the result of the data channel resource allocation sent by the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell. .

S407: The downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell receives the data packet sent by the downlink scheduler of the first cell.

S408: The downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell sends the received data packet to the edge UE through the air interface by using the data channel resource allocated above.

It can be seen that, in this embodiment, the scheduler of the first cell may be a pre-assigned control channel resource of the edge UE, so that after receiving the data channel resource allocation result of the second cell, the pre-allocated control channel resource may be directly used. , improve the efficiency of coordinated load balancing, and avoid the unschedulable problem caused by insufficient control channel resources.

In addition, the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell and the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell may be used to periodically allocate channel resources to the edge UE. The assignment here includes allocation and pre-allocation. Optionally, the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell allocates a control channel resource to the edge UE for a period longer than The downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell allocates a period of the data channel resource to the edge UE. In this way, the serving cell is prevented from allocating control channel resources to the edge users in real time, which can reduce system overhead. The scheduling period may be preset in the downlink scheduler, or may be determined by the centralized controller, and the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell are notified by the notification message. It should be understood that the embodiment of the present invention is This is not limited.

Optionally, the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell may be further configured to send a request message for allocating control channel resources to the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell. The downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell may be further configured to receive a request message for allocating control channel resources sent by the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell, and allocate a control channel resource to the edge UE when receiving the request message for allocating control channel resources. . Optionally, the request message may be an allocation result of the foregoing data channel resource. When the allocation period of the control channel resource is greater than the allocation period of the data channel resource, the downlink scheduler of the first cell may trigger the allocation of the control channel to the edge UE by using the request message sent by the downlink scheduler of the second cell. The interaction of small intervals and the allocation of channel resources are triggered by the coordinated load balancing result sent by the centralized controller. There is no need for real-time interaction every , (about lms), which not only reduces system overhead, but also avoids frequent information interaction between cells.

Optionally, the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell may be further configured to allocate the control channel resource to the edge UE according to the size (also referred to as data volume) of the data of the edge UE of the first cell. Specifically, the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell is further configured to set a MAC (Media Access Control) data packet of the edge UE, and allocate appropriate control channel resources according to the size of the MAC data packet, so that Avoid wasting resources.

Optionally, the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell may be further configured to send data of the edge UE (such as the formed MAC data packet) to the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell. The downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell is further configured to receive the data of the edge UE sent by the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell, and send the data of the edge UE to the edge UE on the data channel resource. The physical downlink control channel, the data channel may include a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). It should be understood that the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto.

Specifically, the downlink scheduler 203 of the second cell is configured to allocate the PDSCH channel resource to the UE of the first cell, and the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell is configured to allocate the PDCCH channel resource to the UE of the first cell, and the downlink of the second cell. The scheduler 203 is configured to send the UE data sent by the downlink scheduler 202 of the first cell to the UE by using an air interface on the PDSCH channel. Optionally, the downlink scheduler of the first cell, the downlink scheduler of the second cell, and the centralized controller may be located in a communication system of multiple BBUs that are placed in a centralized manner, and the centralized controller is located in any one of the multiple BBUs. The downlink scheduling of the first cell may be located in the BBU corresponding to the first cell, and the downlink scheduling of the second cell is located in the BBU corresponding to the second cell.

Optionally, the downlink scheduler of the first cell, the downlink scheduler of the second cell, and the centralized controller are located in a communication system of the distributed base station networking, the communication system deploys a coordinator, and each base station of the communication system is connected to the coordinator. The centralized controller is located at any base station of the coordinator or the communication system, the downlink scheduler of the first cell is located at the base station where the first cell is located, and the downlink scheduler of the second cell is located at the base station where the second cell is located.

It should be understood that the application scenario and deployment of the downlink scheduler and the centralized controller are not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the scene diagram of FIG.

The schematic block diagram shown in FIG. 5 is a network scenario in which the BBUs of the base stations in the network are placed in a centralized network (BBU), and are interconnected by USUs (Universal Switching Units) and through optical fibers and RRUs. (Remote Radio Unite, radio remote unit) connection. The centralized controller may be located in a certain baseband board of a certain BBU. For example, the centralized controller 503 is located in a dedicated baseband board of the BBU 1. Optionally, the baseband board may further include a clustering unit, and the clustering unit is configured to communicate. A plurality of cells in the network are divided into at least one cluster. Specifically, the plurality of cells may be divided into at least one cluster according to interference values between any two of the plurality of cells. The first cell cluster in the at least one cluster includes a first cell and a second cell, and the first cell and the second cell are adjacent. The downlink scheduler 502 of the first cell is located in a dedicated baseband board of the BBU 2, and the downlink scheduler 503 of the second cell is located in a dedicated baseband board of the BBU N. It is assumed that the BBU of the first cell and the BUU of the second cell are different. Of course, the first, the BBU of the zone and the BUU of the second cell may be the same, and the embodiment of the present invention does not impose any limitation.

It should be understood that the scene diagram of FIG. 5 is merely exemplary and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. For example, the centralized controller in Figure 5 can also be located in other BBUs. The downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell can be located in the same or different baseband boards in the same BBU.

The centralized controller 501 may collect information of all cells in its control range, select a second cell for the edge UE of the first cell according to the collected information, and use it to schedule the edge UE. Then, the centralized controller 501 notifies the downlink scheduler 502 of the first cell to allocate a control channel to the edge UE, and notifies the downlink scheduler 503 of the second cell to allocate a data channel for the edge UE. So that the second cell is shared The load of the first cell increases the time-frequency resources that can be used by the edge UE of the first cell, thereby achieving load balancing between cells and improving the network edge rate. For the manner in which the centralized controller selects the second cell as the edge UE of the first cell of the cell, reference may be made to the foregoing, and details are not described herein again.

Specifically, the centralized controller 501 may notify the downlink scheduler of the first cell that the second cell schedules the edge UE of the first cell by using the notification message, and the notification message may include the identifier of the second cell, and may also include The identity of the edge UE.

The downlink scheduler 503 of the second cell is configured to learn that the CLB real scheduling needs to be performed according to the received notification message, and specifically, the edge UE that needs to schedule the first cell may be determined by using the first cell identifier and the edge UE identifier carried in the notification message. And allocating a data channel resource to the edge UE of the first cell, for example, in an LTE system, allocating a PDSCH channel resource to an edge UE of the second cell.

The downlink scheduler 502 of the first cell is configured to learn, according to the received notification message, that the CLB real scheduling needs to be performed, and allocate the control channel resource to the edge UE.

The RB location, the MCS, the PMI, and the like allocated in the neighboring cell are required to be allocated when the control channel resource is allocated. The RB of the data channel resource needs to be allocated to the UE according to the downlink scheduler 503 of the second cell. The data packet of the edge UE. In this way, the downlink scheduler 502 of the first cell needs to wait for the allocation result of the downlink scheduler 503 of the second cell to allocate control channel resources, resulting in waiting delay, thereby affecting the efficiency of the CLB. Optionally, the centralized controller 501 may pre-allocate the data channel resources for the edge UE, and notify the downlink scheduler 502 of the first cell and the downlink scheduler 503 of the second cell of the pre-allocated result, so that the downlink scheduling of the first cell is performed. The 502 can allocate control channel resources to the edge UEs directly according to the pre-assigned data channel resources. For specific examples, reference may be made to the embodiments of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, and details are not described herein again.

Through the foregoing solution, the centralized controller implements the load balancing scheduling of the multi-cell in the communication system, and the first cell schedules the edge UE of the adjacent second cell to implement coordinated load balancing, so that the second cell shares the first cell. The load increases the time-frequency resources that can be used by the edge UE of the first cell, thereby achieving load balancing between cells and increasing the network edge rate.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural view of a centralized controller according to an embodiment of the present invention. The centralized controller 600 of Fig. 6 is an example of a centralized controller in the above-described coordinated load balancing system, including a selection unit 601 and an interface unit 602.

The selecting unit 601 is configured to select a second cell as the scheduling cell of the edge user equipment for the edge user equipment of the first cell. The interface unit 602 is configured to send a notification message to the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell, where the notification message is used to notify the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler selection unit 601 of the second cell. The result is selected, and the result is that the second cell schedules the edge user equipment of the first cell.

Based on the foregoing solution, the centralized controller implements the load balancing scheduling of the multi-cell in the communication system, and the second cell schedules the edge UE of the adjacent first cell to implement coordinated load balancing, so that the second cell shares the first cell. The load increases the time-frequency resources that can be used by the edge UE of the first cell, thereby achieving load balancing between cells and increasing the network edge rate.

The centralized controller 600 is capable of implementing the functions involved in the centralized controller in the above-described system for coordinating load balancing, and a description similar to that in the above-described system for coordinating load balancing will be omitted as appropriate.

It should be noted that the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell may be the same or different, that is, when the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell are the same, the downlink scheduling of the first cell And the downlink scheduler of the second cell may be located on the same baseband board or different baseband board of the same serving base station; and the centralized controller may also be located on a certain baseband board of the base station, and the baseband board may be the first The baseband board where the downlink scheduler of the cell or the downlink scheduler of the second cell is located may be the same or different. For example, the centralized controller is located in a dedicated centralized scheduling board of the base station or an enhanced scheduling mode baseband board, and the downlink scheduler of the first cell or the downlink scheduler of the second cell is located in a common baseband board of the base station. When the serving base station of the first cell is different from the serving base station of the second cell, the downlink scheduler of the first cell is located at the baseband board of the serving base station of the first cell, and the downlink scheduler of the second cell is located at the serving base station of the second cell. Baseband board.

In addition, when the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell are the same, and the base station is placed in the BBU, and the base station of the RRU is extended by the optical fiber, the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell Can be located on the baseband board of the same BBU, or on the baseband board of different BBUs, and the centralized controller can also be located on the baseband board of a certain BBU of the base station, or can be set on each BBU. The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the different control modes of the centralized controller.

It should also be noted that the centralized controller can be a functional entity or a logical entity. That is, it can be in the form of software, the program code is executed by the processor to realize its function; or it can be in the form of hardware, for example, in the form of a chip or a specific integrated circuit. In addition, the centralized controller may be a single entity or may be placed in another network device, such as a serving base station of the first cell or a serving base station of the second cell, or may be a serving base station of the second cell. Is other The serving base station of the cell. In addition, the downlink scheduler of each cell may be a functional entity or a logical entity. That is, it can be in the form of software, the program code is executed by the processor to realize its function; or it can be in the form of hardware, for example, in the form of a chip or a specific integrated circuit.

It can be seen that the selecting unit 601 is configured to select a second cell for the edge UE of the first cell, and the interface unit 602 is configured to notify the downlink scheduler of the first cell to allocate control channel resources to the edge UE, and notify the downlink scheduler of the second cell as The edge UE allocates data channel resources. In this way, the downlink scheduler of the first cell can allocate control channel resources to the edge UEs under the notification of the centralized controller, and the downlink scheduler of the second cell can allocate data channel resources to the edge UEs under the notification of the centralized controller.

For example, the selecting unit 601 may be configured to coordinate the load balancing according to the load information of the cell, for example, acquiring load information of the first cell and the second cell, determining a coordinated load balancing result according to the load information, and coordinating the load balancing result to the second cell scheduling. An edge UE of a cell (ie, selecting a second cell as an edge UE scheduling the first cell); the interface unit 602 is configured to separately send a coordinated load balancing result to the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell (ie, The notification message is used to indicate the coordinated load balancing result). For example, when the number of UEs in the first cell is greater than the number of UEs in the second cell and the number of UEs in the two cells is greater than a certain threshold, the selecting unit 601 may be configured to determine that the coordinated load balancing result is the second cell scheduling the first cell. Edge of the UE.

For example, the selecting unit 601 is further configured to determine, according to the load information of each cell, the priority of each cell in the control range, and configure, according to the priorities of the cells, the second cell to schedule the edge UE of the first cell. The higher the cell priority, the heavier the cell load, and the priority of the first cell is higher than the priority of the second cell.

As another example, the selection unit 601 can also be used to periodically perform virtual scheduling. Calculating the sum of the priorities of all the cells in the control range in each period is determined as the objective function. The larger the difference of the priority of each cell is, the larger the objective function is, and the cell with the largest objective function can be preferentially selected as the first The cell is configured to configure the scheduling of the edge UE of the first cell, and the cell priority is affected by changing the scheduling cell of the edge UE to implement load balancing of the cell, thereby improving network coverage performance.

For example, the selecting unit 601 is further configured to perform virtual scheduling periodically, and calculate a utility value of the edge UE to be scheduled in the neighboring cell of the serving cell (for example, the first cell) in each period, and select a utility value. The best neighboring cell acts as a scheduling cell (eg, a second cell) of the edge UE. Or, the utility value of the pre-scheduling performed by the edge UE reported by each cell in each cell is collected, and the cell with the best utility value is selected as the scheduling cell (for example, the second cell) of the edge UE. The foregoing load information includes, but is not limited to, radio resource usage rate, cell capacity level, ratio of uplink/downlink capacity that can be used for load balancing to total cell capacity, and hardware load indication information (uplink/downlink hardware load conditions: low, medium, high, or Overload), transmission load indication information (uplink/downlink transmission load conditions: low, medium, high or overload), number of connected edge UEs or traffic, etc. The radio resource usage rate may include at least one of the following: GBR of uplink/downlink, PRB usage of the service, and total PRB usage of the uplink/downlink, and the like. It should be understood that the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto.

In summary, the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the manner in which the selecting unit 601 selects the second cell (ie, the scheduling cell) for the edge UE of the first cell, and can be adjusted by a person skilled in the art as needed.

It should also be noted that the coordinated load balancing results determined by selection unit 601 may be periodically dynamic. For example, in a certain period, H殳 the first cell is a reload cell and the second cell is a light carrier cell, and the coordinated load balancing result is that the second cell schedules the edge UE of the first cell; in another cycle, assume the first The cell is a reloaded cell and other cells adjacent to it (such as the third cell) are light-load cells, and the coordinated load balancing result is that the third cell schedules the edge UE of the first cell, and then the downlink scheduler of the third cell is The edge UE of the first cell allocates resources of the data channel, and the downlink scheduler of the first cell is configured to allocate the resources of the control channel to the edge UE of the first cell after learning the coordinated load balancing result.

In the foregoing embodiment, after the downlink scheduler of the second cell allocates the data channel resource to the edge UE, the downlink scheduler sends the allocation result to the downlink scheduler of the first cell, so that the downlink scheduler of the first cell is configured according to the allocation result. The edge UE allocates the control channel resource, and the data packet sent to the edge UE is sent to the downlink scheduler of the second cell to be sent to the edge UE by the second cell. For example, when the control control channel resource is allocated, the RB location, the MCS, the PMI, and the like allocated in the neighboring cell need to be filled in; and the RB of the data channel resource needs to be allocated to the UE according to the downlink scheduler of the second cell, and the RB is configured to be sent to the UE. The data packet of the edge UE. In this way, the downlink scheduler of the first cell needs to wait for the allocation result of the downlink scheduler of the second cell to allocate the control channel resources, resulting in waiting delay, thereby affecting the efficiency of the CLB.

To this end, as another embodiment of the present invention, the centralized controller 600 may include a pre-allocation unit 603 for pre-allocating data channel resources for the edge UE in the second cell; the interface unit 602 may also be used to separately The pre-allocation result of the data channel resource by the pre-allocation unit 603 is sent to the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell. In this way, the downlink scheduler of the first cell can directly allocate control channel resources to the edge UE according to the pre-assigned data channel resources, without waiting for the downlink scheduler of the scheduling cell to allocate data channel resources, that is, The control channel allocation can be completed, thereby reducing the waiting delay and improving the efficiency of load balancing.

Optionally, the control channel may include a PDCCH, and the data channel may include a PDSCH, which should be understood by the embodiment of the present invention.

Optionally, the downlink scheduler of the first cell, the downlink scheduler of the second cell, and the centralized controller may be located in a communication system of multiple BBUs that are placed in a centralized manner, and the centralized controller may be located in any one of the multiple BBUs. The BBU, the downlink scheduling of the first cell may be located in a BBU corresponding to the first cell, and the downlink scheduling of the second cell is located in a BBU corresponding to the second cell.

Optionally, the downlink scheduler of the first cell, the downlink scheduler of the second cell, and the centralized controller may be located in a communication system of the distributed base station networking, the communication system deployment coordinator, and each base station of the communication system and the coordinator The central controller may be located at any base station of the coordinator or the communication system. The downlink scheduler of the first cell is located at the base station where the first cell is located, and the downlink scheduler of the second cell is located at the base station where the second cell is located.

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a downlink scheduler according to an embodiment of the present invention. The downlink scheduler 700 of FIG. 7 is an example of a downlink scheduler of the first cell in the above-described coordinated load balancing system, and includes a first interface unit 701, an allocation unit 702, a data processing unit 703, and a second interface unit 704.

The first interface unit 701 is configured to receive a notification message sent by the centralized controller, where the notification message is sent by the centralized controller when selecting a second cell as the scheduling cell of the edge UE for the edge UE of the first cell, In the result of the selection of the notification centralized controller, the result of the selection is that the second cell schedules the edge UE of the first cell;

The allocating unit 702 is configured to allocate control channel resources to the edge UE according to the notification message received by the first interface unit 701.

The data processing unit 703 is configured to construct a data packet sent to the edge UE according to the notification message received by the first interface unit 701.

The second interface unit 704 is configured to send the data packet formed by the data processing unit 703 to the downlink scheduler of the second cell to be sent to the edge UE by using the downlink scheduler of the second cell.

Based on the foregoing solution, the centralized controller implements the load balancing scheduling of the multi-cell in the communication system, and the second cell schedules the edge UE of the adjacent first cell to implement coordinated load balancing, so that the second cell shares the first cell. Load, increase the time frequency that the edge UE of the first cell can use Resources to achieve inter-cell load balancing and increase network edge rate.

The downlink scheduler 700 can implement the functions involved in the downlink scheduler of the first cell in the above-described system for coordinating load balancing, and descriptions similar to those in the above-described coordinated load balancing system will be omitted as appropriate.

It should be noted that the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell may be the same or different, that is, when the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell are the same, the downlink scheduling of the first cell The downlink scheduler of the second cell and the second cell may be located on the same baseband board or different baseband boards of the BBU of the same serving base station. When the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell are different, the downlink scheduler of the first cell is located in the BBU of the serving base station of the first cell, and the downlink scheduler of the second cell is located in the BBU of the serving base station of the second cell. The embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto. Specifically, the downlink scheduler can be placed in the baseband board of the BBU.

It should also be noted that the centralized controller can be a functional entity or a logical entity. That is, it can be in the form of software, the program code is executed by the processor to implement its function; or it can be in the form of hardware, for example, in the form of a chip or a specific integrated circuit. In addition, the centralized controller may be a single entity or may be placed in another network device, such as a serving base station of the first cell or a serving base station of the second cell, or may be a serving base station of the second cell. It is a serving base station of other cells. Specifically, it is placed in the BBU of the base station, and may be a common baseband board of the BBU or a dedicated baseband board. In addition, the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell may be a functional entity or a logical entity. That is, it can be in the form of software, and the program code is used to implement its functions; or it can be implemented in the form of hardware, for example, in the form of a chip or a specific integrated circuit. It can be seen that the centralized controller is configured to select a second cell for the edge UE of the first cell, and notify the downlink scheduler of the first cell to allocate control channel resources to the edge UE, and notify the downlink scheduler of the second cell to allocate data to the edge UE. Channel resources. In this way, the downlink scheduler of the first cell can allocate control channel resources to the edge UEs under the notification of the centralized controller, and the downlink scheduler of the second cell can allocate data channel resources to the edge UEs under the notification of the centralized controller.

For example, the centralized controller may coordinate the load balancing according to the load information of the cell, for example, may obtain load information of the first cell and the second cell, determine a coordinated load balancing result according to the load information, and coordinate the load balancing result to schedule the first cell of the second cell. The edge UE sends coordinated load balancing results to the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell, respectively. For example, when the number of UEs in the first cell is greater than the number of UEs in the second cell and the number of UEs in the two cells is different At a certain threshold, the centralized controller may be configured to determine that the coordinated load balancing result is for the second cell to schedule the edge UE of the first cell.

For example, the centralized controller may further determine the priority of each cell in the control range according to the load information of each cell, and configure the second cell to schedule the edge UE of the first cell according to the priorities of the cells. The higher the cell priority, the heavier the cell load, and the priority of the first cell is higher than the priority of the second cell.

As another example, the centralized controller can perform virtual scheduling periodically. Calculating the sum of the priorities of all the cells in the control range in each period is determined as the objective function. The larger the difference of the priority of each cell is, the larger the objective function is, and the cell with the largest objective function can be preferentially selected as the first The cell is configured to configure the scheduling of the edge UE of the first cell, and the cell priority is affected by changing the scheduling cell of the edge UE to implement load balancing of the cell, thereby improving network coverage performance.

For another example, the centralized controller may perform virtual scheduling periodically, calculate the utility value of the neighboring UE to be scheduled in each cell in the neighboring cell of the serving cell (for example, the first cell), and select the neighbor with the best utility value. The zone acts as a scheduling cell (eg, a second cell) of the edge UE. Or, the pre-scheduled utility value of the edge UE reported by each cell in each cell is collected, and the cell with the best utility value is selected as the scheduling cell (for example, the second cell) of the edge UE.

The foregoing load information includes, but is not limited to, radio resource usage rate, cell capacity level, ratio of uplink/downlink capacity that can be used for load balancing to total cell capacity, and hardware load indication information (uplink/downlink hardware load conditions: low, medium, high, or Overload), transmission load indication information (uplink/downlink transmission load conditions: low, medium, high or overload), number of connected edge UEs or traffic, etc. The radio resource usage rate may include at least one of the following: GBR for uplink/downlink, PRB usage for service, and total PRB usage for uplink/downlink. It should be understood that the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto.

In summary, the embodiment of the present invention does not limit the manner in which the centralized controller selects the second cell (ie, the scheduling cell) for the edge UE of the first cell, and can be adjusted by a person skilled in the art as needed.

It should also be noted that the coordinated load balancing results determined by the centralized controller may be periodically dynamically changing. For example, in a certain period, assuming that the first cell is a reload cell and the second cell is a light carrier cell, the coordinated load balancing result is that the second cell schedules the edge UE of the first cell; in another cycle, H殳 first The cell is a reloaded cell and other cells adjacent to it (such as the third cell) are light-load cells, and the coordinated load balancing result is that the third cell schedules the edge UE of the first cell, and then the downlink scheduler of the third cell is The edge UE of the first cell allocates resources of the data channel, and the downlink scheduler of the first cell is used to learn the coordinated load balancing result, and allocate control to the edge UE of the first cell. Channel resources.

Optionally, the first interface unit 701 is further configured to receive a pre-allocation result sent by the centralized controller, where the pre-allocation result is a result of the centralized controller pre-allocating data channel resources in the second cell by the edge UE. The allocating unit 702 may be specifically configured to allocate control channel resources to the edge UE according to the pre-allocation result received by the first interface unit 701. The data processing unit 703 may be specifically configured to construct a data packet sent to the edge UE according to the pre-allocation result received by the first interface unit 701. In this manner, after receiving the data channel resource allocation result of the second cell, the allocating unit 702 can directly allocate the control channel resource to the edge UE according to the pre-allocated result, without waiting for the downlink scheduler of the scheduling cell to allocate the data channel resource. , the control channel allocation can be completed, thereby reducing the waiting delay and improving the efficiency of load balancing.

Optionally, the allocating unit 702 may be specifically configured to pre-allocate control channel resources for the edge UE when the first interface unit 701 receives the notification message. The data processing unit 703 may be specifically configured to: when the second interface unit 704 receives the allocation result of the data channel resource sent by the downlink scheduler of the second cell, according to the allocation result of the data channel resource, the data group sent to the edge UE is built. data pack.

In addition, the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell may be used to periodically allocate channel resources to the edge UE. The assignment here includes allocation and pre-allocation. Optionally, the period in which the allocation unit 702 allocates the control channel resource to the edge UE is greater than the period in which the downlink scheduler of the second cell allocates the data channel resource to the edge UE. In this way, the serving cell is prevented from allocating control channel resources to the edge users in real time, which can reduce system overhead. The scheduling period may be preset in the downlink scheduler, or may be determined by the centralized controller, and the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell are notified by the notification message. It should be understood that the embodiment of the present invention is This is not limited.

Optionally, the downlink scheduler of the first cell, the downlink scheduler of the second cell, and the centralized controller may be located in a communication system of the distributed base station networking, the communication system deployment coordinator, and each base station of the communication system and the coordinator Connection, the centralized controller can be located in any base of the coordinator or communication system The downlink scheduler of the first cell is located at the base station where the first cell is located, and the downlink scheduler of the second cell is located at the base station where the second cell is located.

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a downlink scheduler according to an embodiment of the present invention. The downlink scheduler 800 of FIG. 8 is an example of a downlink scheduler of the second cell in the coordinated load balancing system, and the UE for scheduling the first cell includes a first interface unit 801, an allocating unit 802, and a second interface unit. 803 and transmitting unit 804.

The first interface unit 801 is configured to receive a notification message sent by the centralized controller, where the notification message is sent by the centralized controller when selecting the second cell as the scheduling cell of the edge UE for the edge UE of the first cell, and the notification message is used. The result of the selection of the centralized controller is notified, and the result of the selection is that the second cell schedules the edge UE of the first cell.

The allocating unit 802 is configured to allocate data channel resources to the edge UE according to the notification message received by the first interface unit 801.

The second interface unit 803 is configured to receive a data packet of the edge UE sent by the downlink scheduler of the first cell.

The sending unit 804 sends the data packet received by the second interface unit 803 to the edge UE by using the data channel resource allocated by the allocating unit 802.

The downlink scheduler 800 can implement the functions involved in the downlink scheduler of the second cell in the above-described system for coordinating load balancing, and descriptions similar to those in the above-described coordinated load balancing system will be omitted as appropriate.

It should be noted that the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell may be the same or different, that is, when the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell are the same, the downlink scheduling of the first cell The downlink scheduler of the second cell and the second cell may be located on the same baseband board or different baseband boards of the BBU of the same serving base station. When the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell are different, the downlink scheduler of the first cell is located in the BBU of the serving base station of the first cell, and the downlink scheduler of the second cell is located in the BBU of the serving base station of the second cell. , the present invention The example is not limited to this. Specifically, the downlink scheduler can be placed in the baseband board of the BBU.

For example, the centralized controller may coordinate the load balancing according to the load information of the cell, for example, may obtain load information of the first cell and the second cell, determine a coordinated load balancing result according to the load information, and coordinate the load balancing result to schedule the first cell of the second cell. The edge UE sends coordinated load balancing results to the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell, respectively. For example, when the number of UEs in the first cell is greater than the number of UEs in the second cell and the number of UEs in the two cells is greater than a certain threshold, the centralized controller may be used to determine that the coordinated load balancing result is the second cell scheduling the first cell. Edge of the UE.

As another example, the centralized controller can perform virtual scheduling periodically. Calculating the sum of the priorities of all the cells in the control range in each period is determined as the objective function. The larger the difference of the priority of each cell is, the larger the objective function is, and the cell with the largest objective function can be preferentially selected as the first a cell, configured to configure scheduling of an edge UE of the first cell, and affecting a small cell by changing a scheduling cell of the edge UE The area priority is used to implement load balancing of the cell, thereby improving network coverage performance.

It should also be noted that the coordinated load balancing results determined by the centralized controller may be periodically dynamically changing. For example, in a certain period, assuming that the first cell is a reload cell and the second cell is a light carrier cell, the coordinated load balancing result is that the second cell schedules the edge UE of the first cell; in another cycle, H殳 first The cell is a reloaded cell and other cells adjacent to it (such as the third cell) are light-load cells, and the coordinated load balancing result is that the third cell schedules the edge UE of the first cell, and then the downlink scheduler of the third cell is The edge UE of the first cell allocates resources of the data channel, and the downlink scheduler of the first cell is configured to allocate the resources of the control channel to the edge UE of the first cell after learning the coordinated load balancing result.

Optionally, the first interface unit 801 is further configured to receive a pre-allocation result sent by the centralized controller, where the pre-allocation result is a result of the centralized controller pre-allocating data channel resources in the second cell by the edge UE. The allocating unit 802 may be specifically configured to allocate, to the edge UE, a data channel resource pre-allocated by the centralized controller. For specific examples, reference may be made to the embodiments of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, and details are not described herein again.

Optionally, the allocating unit 802 may be specifically configured to allocate data channel resources to the edge UE when the first interface unit 801 receives the notification message; the second interface unit 803 may be used to allocate the data channel resource to the allocation unit 802. A downlink scheduler that is sent to the first cell.

Optionally, the period in which the allocating unit 802 allocates the data channel resource to the edge UE is smaller than the period in which the downlink scheduler of the first cell allocates the control channel resource to the edge UE. In this way, avoid edge UEs The serving cell allocates control channel resources to edge users in real time, which can reduce system overhead. The scheduling period may be preset in the downlink scheduler, or may be determined by the centralized controller, and the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell are notified by the notification message. It should be understood that the embodiment of the present invention is This is not limited.

It should be noted that the interface unit in the above embodiment may be an interface circuit. The selection unit may be a separately set processor, or may be integrated in a processor of the base station, or may be stored in the memory of the base station in the form of program code, and is called by one of the base stations and executes the above. Track the function of the task creation unit. The implementation of the allocation unit, pre-allocation unit, and data processing unit is the same as the selection unit. The processor described herein may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), or an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated systems configured to implement embodiments of the present invention. Circuit.

Figure 9 is a schematic block diagram of a centralized controller in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. The centralized controller 900 is an example of a centralized controller in the above-described coordinated load balancing system, and includes a processor 901, a memory 902, and an interface circuit 903. The processor 901 controls the operation of the device 900, which may be a CPU, or a specific integrated circuit ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement embodiments of the present invention. Memory 902 can include read only memory and random access memory and provides instructions and data to processor 901. A portion of memory 902 may also include non-volatile row random access memory. The processor 901, the memory 902, and the interface circuit 903 pass through the bus system The system 910 is coupled together, wherein the bus system 910 includes a power bus, a control bus, and a status signal bus in addition to the data bus. However, for clarity of description, various buses are labeled as bus system 910 in the figure.

The functions involved in the centralized controller in the system for coordinating load balancing according to the embodiment of the present invention described above can be implemented by using the centralized controller 900 described above. The processor 901 may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capability. In the implementation process, each step of the above method may be completed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in the processor 901 or an instruction in the form of software. The processor 901 described above may be a general-purpose processor, including a CPU or an NP, etc.; or may be a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or a transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component. The methods, steps, and logical block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented or carried out. The general purpose processor can be a microprocessor or the processor can be any conventional processor or the like.

In this embodiment, the processor 901 is configured to select, by the edge UE of the first cell, the second cell as the scheduling cell of the edge UE. The interface circuit 903 is configured to send a notification message to the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell, where the notification message is used to notify the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler processor 901 of the second cell. The result is selected, and the result is that the second cell schedules the edge UE of the first cell.

The centralized controller 900 is capable of implementing the functions involved in the centralized controller in the above-described system for coordinating load balancing, and a description similar to that in the above-described system for coordinating load balancing will be omitted as appropriate.

It should be noted that the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell may be the same or different, that is, when the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell are the same, the downlink scheduling of the first cell And the downlink scheduler of the second cell may be located on the same baseband board or different baseband board of the same serving base station; and the centralized controller may also be located on a certain baseband board of the base station, and the baseband board may be the first The baseband board where the downlink scheduler of the cell or the downlink scheduler of the second cell is located may be the same or different. For example, the centralized controller is located in a dedicated centralized scheduling board of the base station or an enhanced scheduling mode baseband board, and the downlink scheduler of the first cell or the downlink scheduler of the second cell is located in a common baseband board of the base station. When the serving base station of the first cell is different from the serving base station of the second cell, the downlink scheduler of the first cell is located at the baseband board of the serving base station of the first cell, and the second cell The downlink scheduler is located at the baseband board of the serving base station of the second cell.

In addition, when the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell are the same, and the base station is

The BBUs are placed in a centralized manner, and the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell may be located on the baseband boards of the same BBU or on the baseband boards of different BBUs, and The centralized controller may also be located on the baseband board of a certain BBU of the base station, or may be provided with a centralized controller on each BBU. Different setting manners, the control range of the centralized controller is different, and the embodiment of the present invention Not limited.

It should also be noted that the centralized controller can be a functional entity or a logical entity. That is, it can be in the form of software, the program code is executed by the processor to implement its function; or it can be in the form of hardware, for example, in the form of a chip or a specific integrated circuit. In addition, the centralized controller may be a single entity or may be placed in another network device, such as a serving base station of the first cell or a serving base station of the second cell, or may be a serving base station of the second cell. It is a serving base station of other cells. In addition, the downlink scheduler of each cell may be a functional entity or a logical entity. That is, it can be in the form of software, and the program code is executed by the processor to implement its function; or it can be implemented in the form of hardware, for example, in the form of a chip or a specific integrated circuit.

It can be seen that the processor 901 is configured to select a second cell for the edge UE of the first cell, and the interface circuit 903 is configured to notify the downlink scheduler of the first cell to allocate control channel resources to the edge UE, and notify the downlink scheduler of the second cell that The edge UE allocates data channel resources. In this way, the downlink scheduler of the first cell can allocate control channel resources to the edge UEs under the notification of the centralized controller, and the downlink scheduler of the second cell can allocate data channel resources to the edge UEs under the notification of the centralized controller.

For example, the processor 901 may be configured to coordinate the load balancing according to the load information of the cell, for example, acquiring load information of the first cell and the second cell, determining a coordinated load balancing result according to the load information, and coordinating the load balancing result to the second cell scheduling. An edge UE of a cell (ie, selecting a second cell as an edge UE scheduling the first cell); the interface circuit 903 is configured to send a coordinated load balancing result to the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell respectively (ie, The notification message is used to indicate the coordinated load balancing result). For example, when the number of UEs in the first cell is greater than the number of UEs in the second cell, and the number of UEs in the two cells is greater than a certain threshold, the processor 901 may be configured to determine that the coordinated load balancing result is the second cell scheduling the first cell. Edge of the UE.

For example, the processor 901 is further configured to determine, according to the load information of each cell, a priority of each cell in the control range, and configure, according to the priorities of the cells, the second cell to schedule the first cell. Edge UE. The higher the cell priority, the heavier the cell load, and the priority of the first cell is higher than the priority of the second cell.

As another example, the processor 901 can also be used to periodically perform virtual scheduling. Calculating the sum of the priorities of all the cells in the control range in each period is determined as the objective function. The larger the difference of the priority of each cell is, the larger the objective function is, and the cell with the largest objective function can be preferentially selected as the first The cell is configured to configure the scheduling of the edge UE of the first cell, and the cell priority is affected by changing the scheduling cell of the edge UE to implement load balancing of the cell, thereby improving network coverage performance. During the period, the edge UE to be scheduled in the neighboring cell of the serving cell (for example, the first cell) selects the neighboring cell with the best utility value as the scheduling cell (for example, the second cell) of the edge UE. Alternatively, the pre-scheduled utility value of the edge UE reported by each cell in each cell is collected, and the cell with the best utility value is selected as the scheduling cell (for example, the second cell) of the edge UE.

In summary, the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the manner in which the processor 901 selects the second cell (ie, the scheduling cell) for the edge UE of the first cell, and can be adjusted by a person skilled in the art as needed.

It should also be noted that the coordinated load balancing results determined by processor 901 may be periodically dynamically changing. For example, in a certain period, assuming that the first cell is a reload cell and the second cell is a light carrier cell, the coordinated load balancing result is that the second cell schedules the edge UE of the first cell; in another cycle, H殳 first The cell is a reloaded cell and other cells adjacent to it (such as the third cell) are light-load cells, and the coordinated load balancing result is that the third cell schedules the edge UE of the first cell, and then the downlink scheduler of the third cell is The edge UE of the first cell allocates resources of the data channel, and the downlink scheduler of the first cell is configured to allocate the resources of the control channel to the edge UE of the first cell after learning the coordinated load balancing result.

In the foregoing embodiment, after the downlink scheduler of the second cell allocates the data channel resource to the edge UE, the downlink scheduler sends the allocation result to the downlink scheduler of the first cell, so that the downlink scheduler of the first cell is configured according to the allocation result. The edge UE allocates control channel resources and sends them to the edge. The data packet of the UE is sent to the downlink scheduler of the second cell to be sent to the edge through the second cell.

UE. For example, when the control control channel resource is allocated, the RB location, the MCS, the PMI, and the like allocated in the neighboring cell need to be filled in; and the RB of the data channel resource needs to be allocated to the UE according to the downlink scheduler of the second cell, and the RB is configured to be sent to the UE. The data packet of the edge UE. In this way, the downlink scheduler of the first cell needs to wait for the allocation result of the downlink scheduler of the second cell to allocate the control channel resources, resulting in waiting delay, thereby affecting the efficiency of the CLB.

To this end, as another embodiment of the present invention, the processor 901 may be further configured to pre-allocate data channel resources for the edge UE in the second cell; the interface circuit 903 may also be used for the downlink scheduler and the first cell respectively. The downlink scheduler of the two cells sends a pre-allocation result of the data channel resources by the processor 901. In this way, the downlink scheduler of the first cell can directly allocate control channel resources to the edge UE according to the pre-assigned data channel resources, and can complete the control channel allocation without waiting for the downlink scheduler of the scheduling cell to allocate the data channel resources. , thereby reducing the waiting delay and improving the efficiency of load balancing.

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a downlink scheduler according to another embodiment of the present invention. The downlink scheduler 1000 is an example of a downlink scheduler of the first cell in the above-described coordinated load balancing system, and includes a processor 1001, a memory 1002, and an interface circuit 1003. The processor 1001 controls the operation of the device 1000, which may be a CPU, or an ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement embodiments of the present invention. The memory 1002 can include read only memory and random The memory is accessed and instructions and data are provided to the processor 1001. A portion of the memory 1002 may also include a non-volatile row random access memory. The processor 1001, the memory 1002 and the interface circuit 1003 are coupled together by a bus system 1010, wherein the bus system 1010 includes a power bus, a control bus, and a status signal bus in addition to the data bus. However, for clarity of description, various buses are labeled as bus system 1010 in the figure.

The functions involved in the downlink scheduler of the first cell in the system for coordinating load balancing in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention may be implemented by using the downlink scheduler 1000 described above. The processor 1001 may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capability. In the implementation process, the steps of the above method may be completed by the integrated logic circuit of the hardware in the processor 1001 or the instruction in the form of software. The processor 1001 described above may be a general-purpose processor, including a CPU or an NP, etc.; or may be a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or a transistor logic device, or a discrete block diagram. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor or any conventional processor or the like.

In this embodiment, the interface circuit 1003 is configured to receive the notification message sent by the centralized controller, where the notification message is sent by the centralized controller when selecting the second cell as the scheduling cell of the edge UE for the edge UE of the first cell. The notification message is used to notify the selection result of the centralized controller, and the selection result is that the second cell schedules the edge UE of the first cell. The processor 1001 allocates control channel resources to the edge UE according to the notification message received by the interface circuit 1003, and constructs a data packet sent to the edge UE according to the notification message received by the interface circuit 1003. The interface circuit 1003 is further configured to send the data packet formed by the processor 1001 to the downlink scheduler of the second cell to be sent to the edge UE by using the downlink scheduler of the second cell.

The downlink scheduler 1000 can implement the functions involved in the downlink scheduler of the first cell in the above-described system for coordinating load balancing, and descriptions similar to those in the above-described coordinated load balancing system will be omitted as appropriate.

It should be noted that the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell may be the same or different, that is, when the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell are the same, The downlink scheduler of one cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell may be located on the same baseband board or different baseband boards of the BBU of the same serving base station. When the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell are different, the downlink scheduler of the first cell is located in the BBU of the serving base station of the first cell, and the downlink scheduler of the second cell is located in the BBU of the serving base station of the second cell. The embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto. Specifically, the downlink scheduler can be placed in the baseband board of the BBU.

For example, the centralized controller may further determine the priority of each cell in the control range according to the load information of each cell, and configure the second cell to schedule the edge UE of the first cell according to the priorities of the cells. The higher the cell priority, the heavier the cell load, and the priority of the first cell is higher than the priority of the second cell. As another example, the centralized controller can perform virtual scheduling periodically. Calculating the sum of the priorities of all the cells in the control range in each period is determined as the objective function. The larger the difference of the priority of each cell is, the larger the objective function is, and the cell with the largest objective function can be preferentially selected as the first The cell is configured to configure the scheduling of the edge UE of the first cell, and the cell priority is affected by changing the scheduling cell of the edge UE to implement load balancing of the cell, thereby improving network coverage performance.

Optionally, the interface circuit 1003 is further configured to receive a pre-allocation result sent by the centralized controller, where the pre-allocation result is a result that the centralized controller pre-allocates the data channel resource in the second cell by the edge UE. The processor 1001 may be specifically configured to allocate control channel resources to the edge UE according to the pre-allocation result received by the interface circuit 1003. The processor 1001 is specifically configured to build a data packet sent to the edge UE according to the pre-allocation result received by the interface circuit 1003. So, when After the data channel resource allocation result of the second cell is obtained, the processor 1001 can directly allocate the control channel resource to the edge UE according to the pre-allocated result, without waiting for the downlink scheduler of the scheduling cell to allocate the data channel resource, and then complete Control channel allocation, which reduces latency and improves load balancing efficiency.

Optionally, the processor 1001 may be specifically configured to pre-allocate control channel resources for the edge UE when the interface circuit 1003 receives the notification message. The processor 1001 is specifically configured to: when the interface circuit 1003 receives the allocation result of the data channel resource sent by the downlink scheduler of the second cell, according to the allocation result of the data channel resource, the data group sent to the edge UE is built into a data packet.

In addition, the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell may be used to periodically allocate channel resources to the edge UE. The assignment here includes allocation and pre-allocation. Optionally, the period in which the processor 1001 allocates the control channel resource to the edge UE is greater than the period in which the downlink scheduler of the second cell allocates the data channel resource to the edge UE. In this way, the serving cell is prevented from allocating control channel resources to the edge users in real time, which can reduce system overhead. The scheduling period may be preset in the downlink scheduler, or may be determined by the centralized controller, and the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell are notified by the notification message. It should be understood that the embodiment of the present invention is This is not limited.

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a downlink scheduler according to another embodiment of the present invention. The downlink scheduler 1100 is an example of a downlink scheduler of the second cell in the above-described coordinated load balancing system, and includes a processor 1101, a memory 1102, an interface circuit 1103, and a transceiver 1104. Processor 1101 Controlling the operation of device 1100, the processor may be a CPU, or an ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement embodiments of the present invention. Memory 1102 can include read only memory and random access memory and provides instructions and data to processor 1101. A portion of the memory 1102 can also include non-volatile row random access memory. The processor 1101, the memory 1102, the transceiver 1104, and the interface circuit 1103 are coupled together by a bus system 1110, wherein the bus system 1110 includes a power bus, a control bus, and a status signal bus in addition to the data bus. However, for clarity of description, various buses are labeled as the bus system 1110 in the figure.

The functions involved in the downlink scheduler of the second cell in the system for coordinating load balancing in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention may be implemented by using the downlink scheduler 1100 described above. The processor 1101 may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capability. In the implementation process, the steps of the above method may be completed by the integrated logic circuit of the hardware in the processor 1101 or the instruction in the form of software. The processor 1101 described above may be a general-purpose processor, including a CPU or an NP, etc.; or may be a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or a transistor logic device, or a discrete block diagram. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor or any conventional processor or the like.

In this embodiment, the interface circuit 1103 is configured to receive a notification message sent by the centralized controller, where the notification message is sent by the centralized controller when selecting the second cell as the scheduling cell of the edge UE for the edge UE of the first cell, and the notification is sent. The message is used to notify the selection result of the centralized controller, and the result of the selection is that the second cell schedules the edge UE of the first cell. The processor 1101 allocates data channel resources to the edge UE according to the notification message received by the interface circuit 1103. The interface circuit 1103 is further configured to receive a data packet of the edge UE sent by the downlink scheduler of the first cell. The transceiver 1104 is configured to send the data packet received by the interface circuit 1103 to the edge UE by using the data channel resource allocated by the processor 1101.

The downlink scheduler 1100 can implement the functions involved in the downlink scheduler of the second cell in the above-described coordinated load balancing system, and a description similar to that in the above-described coordinated load balancing system will be omitted as appropriate. It should be noted that the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell may be the same or different, that is, when the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell are the same, the downlink scheduling of the first cell The downlink scheduler of the second cell and the second cell may be located on the same baseband board or different baseband boards of the BBU of the same serving base station. When the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell are different, the downlink scheduler of the first cell is located in the BBU of the serving base station of the first cell, and the downlink scheduler of the second cell is located in the BBU of the serving base station of the second cell. The embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto. Specifically, the downlink scheduler can be placed in the baseband board of the BBU.

For example, the centralized controller may further determine the priority of each cell in the control range according to the load information of each cell, and configure the second cell to schedule the edge of the first cell according to the priorities of the cells. UE. The higher the cell priority, the heavier the cell load, and the priority of the first cell is higher than the priority of the second cell.

Optionally, the interface circuit 1103 is further configured to receive a pre-allocation result sent by the centralized controller, where the pre-allocation result is a result that the centralized controller pre-allocates the data channel resource in the second cell by the edge UE. The processor 1101 may be specifically configured to allocate, to the edge UE, data pre-allocated by the centralized controller. Channel resources. For specific examples, reference may be made to the embodiments of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, and details are not described herein again.

Optionally, the processor 1101 may be specifically configured to: when the interface circuit 1103 receives the notification message, allocate data channel resources to the edge UE; the interface circuit 1103 may be configured to send, by the processor 1101, the data channel resource allocation result to the first The downlink scheduler of the cell.

Optionally, the period in which the processor 1101 allocates the data channel resource to the edge UE is smaller than the period in which the downlink scheduler of the first cell allocates the control channel resource to the edge UE. In this way, the serving cell of the edge UE is prevented from allocating control channel resources to the edge user in real time, which can reduce system overhead. The scheduling period may be preset in the downlink scheduler, or may be determined by the centralized controller, and the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell are notified by the notification message. It should be understood that the embodiment of the present invention is This is not limited.

Figure 12 is a flow diagram of a method of coordinating load balancing in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The method is applicable to a communication system comprising a centralized controller, a downlink scheduler of a first cell connected to a centralized controller, and a downlink scheduler of a second cell. This method is performed by a centralized controller.

1201. The centralized controller selects a second cell as the scheduling cell of the edge user equipment for the edge user equipment of the first cell.

1202: The centralized controller sends a notification message to the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell, where the notification message is used to notify the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell to select a result. The selected result is that the second cell schedules the edge user of the first cell. Ready.

The method of Fig. 12 can be realized by the above-described centralized controller, and thus the repeated description is omitted as appropriate. It should be noted that the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell may be the same or different, that is, when the serving base station of the first cell and the serving base station of the second cell are the same, the downlink scheduling of the first cell And the downlink scheduler of the second cell may be located on the same baseband board or different baseband board of the same serving base station; and the centralized controller may also be located on a certain baseband board of the base station, and the baseband board may be the first The baseband board where the downlink scheduler of the cell or the downlink scheduler of the second cell is located may be the same or different. For example, the centralized controller is located in a dedicated centralized scheduling board of the base station or an enhanced scheduling mode baseband board, and the downlink scheduler of the first cell or the downlink scheduler of the second cell is located in a common baseband board of the base station. When the serving base station of the first cell is different from the serving base station of the second cell, the downlink scheduler of the first cell is located at the baseband board of the serving base station of the first cell, and the downlink scheduler of the second cell is located at the serving base station of the second cell. Baseband board.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the centralized controller pre-divides the edge user equipment in the second cell. The data channel resources are allocated, and the foregoing pre-allocation results of the data channel resources are respectively sent to the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell. In this way, the downlink scheduler of the first cell can directly allocate control channel resources to the edge UE according to the pre-assigned data channel resources, and can complete the control channel allocation without waiting for the downlink scheduler of the scheduling cell to allocate the data channel resources. , thereby reducing the waiting delay and improving the efficiency of load balancing.

13 is a flow chart of a method of coordinating load balancing in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The method is applicable to a communication system comprising a centralized controller, a downlink scheduler of a first cell connected to a centralized controller, and a downlink scheduler of a second cell. This method is performed by a centralized controller. The method is performed by the downlink scheduler of the first cell.

1301: The downlink scheduler of the first cell receives the notification message sent by the centralized controller, where the notification message is sent by the centralized controller when selecting the second cell as the scheduling cell of the edge user equipment for the edge user equipment of the first cell, and the notification is sent. The message is used to notify the selection result of the centralized controller, and the result of the selection is that the second cell schedules the edge user equipment of the first cell.

1302. Allocate control channel resources to the edge user equipment according to the received notification message, and complete the data packet sent to the edge user equipment into a data packet.

1303. Send the formed data packet to the downlink scheduler of the second cell, and send the data to the edge user equipment by using the downlink scheduler of the second cell.

Based on the above scheme, the centralized controller implements load balancing of multiple cells in the coordinated communication system. Scheduling, by the second cell, scheduling the edge UE of the neighboring first cell to implement coordinated load balancing, so that the second cell shares the load of the first cell, and increases the time-frequency resources that can be used by the edge UE of the first cell, thereby implementing the cell. Load balancing, increasing network edge rate.

The method of Fig. 13 can be implemented by the downlink scheduler of the above-described first cell, and thus the repeated description is omitted as appropriate.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the downlink scheduler of the first cell may receive the pre-allocation result sent by the centralized controller, where the pre-allocation result is that the centralized controller pre-allocates the data channel resource for the edge user equipment in the second cell. result. In step 1302, control channel resources may be allocated to the edge user equipment according to the pre-allocation result. According to the pre-allocation result, the data group sent to the edge user equipment is built into a data packet. Therefore, the downlink scheduler of the first cell can directly allocate the control channel resources to the edge UE according to the pre-allocated result, and can complete the control channel allocation without waiting for the downlink scheduler of the scheduling cell to allocate the data channel resources, thereby reducing the control channel allocation. Waiting for latency, improving the efficiency of load balancing.

Optionally, in another embodiment, in step 1302, when receiving the notification message, pre-allocating control channel resources for the edge user equipment; and receiving data channel resources sent by the downlink scheduler of the second cell. When the allocation result is obtained, the data group sent to the edge user equipment is built into a data packet according to the allocation result of the data channel resource.

In addition, the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell may be used to periodically allocate channel resources to the edge UE. The assignment here includes allocation and pre-allocation. Preferably, the period in which the downlink scheduler of the first cell allocates control channel resources is greater than the period in which the downlink scheduler of the second cell allocates data channel resources to the edge UE. In this way, the serving cell is prevented from allocating control channel resources to the edge users in real time, which can reduce system overhead. The scheduling period may be preset in the downlink scheduler, or may be determined by the centralized controller, and the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell are notified by the notification message. It should be understood that the embodiment of the present invention is This is not limited.

Optionally, a downlink scheduler of the first cell, a downlink scheduler of the second cell, and a centralized controller The communication system may be located in a communication system of a distributed base station, and the communication system deploys a coordinator. Each base station of the communication system is connected to the coordinator, and the centralized controller may be located at any base station of the coordinator or the communication system, and the downlink scheduling of the first cell. The device is located at the base station where the first cell is located, and the downlink scheduler of the second cell is located at the base station where the second cell is located.

14 is a flow chart of a method of coordinating load balancing in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The method is applicable to a communication system comprising a centralized controller, a downlink scheduler of a first cell connected to a centralized controller, and a downlink scheduler of a second cell. This method is performed by a centralized controller. The method is performed by a downlink scheduler of the second cell.

1401: The downlink scheduler of the second cell receives the notification message sent by the centralized controller, where the notification message is sent by the centralized controller when selecting the second cell as the scheduling cell of the edge user equipment for the edge user equipment of the first cell, and the notification is sent. The message is used to notify the selection result of the centralized controller, and the result of the selection is that the second cell schedules the edge user equipment of the first cell.

1402. Allocate data channel resources to the edge user equipment according to the notification message.

1403. Receive a data packet of an edge user equipment sent by a downlink scheduler of the first cell.

1404. Send the received data packet to the edge user equipment through the allocated data channel resource.

The method of Fig. 14 can be implemented by the downlink scheduler of the above-described second cell, and thus the repeated description is omitted as appropriate.

Optionally, as an embodiment, the downlink scheduler of the second cell may further receive a pre-allocation result sent by the centralized controller, where the pre-allocation result is a result that the centralized controller pre-allocates the data channel resource for the edge user equipment in the second cell. . In step 1402, the edge user equipment is allocated a pre-allocated data channel resource for the centralized controller. In this way, the downlink scheduler of the first cell can directly allocate control channel resources to the edge UE according to the pre-assigned data channel resources, and can complete the control channel allocation without waiting for the downlink scheduler of the scheduling cell to allocate the data channel resources. , thereby reducing the waiting delay and improving the efficiency of load balancing. Optionally, as another embodiment, the foregoing allocation result of the data channel resource may also be sent to the downlink scheduler of the first cell.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the elements and algorithm steps of the various examples described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in a combination of electronic hardware or computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the solution. A person skilled in the art can use different methods for implementing the described functions for each particular application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of the present invention.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, for the convenience of the description and the cleaning process, the specific operation of the system, the device and the unit described above may be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided herein, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and The method can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the unit is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be another division manner, for example, multiple units or components may be combined or Can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored, or not executed. In addition, the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interface, device or unit, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, may be located in one place, or may be distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as separate products, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, which is essential to the prior art or part of the technical solution, may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including The instructions are used to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in various embodiments of the present invention. The foregoing storage medium includes: a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and the like, which can store program codes. .

The above is only the specific embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention. It should be covered by the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

Rights request

1. A centralized controller, characterized by including:

A selection unit configured to select the second cell for the edge user equipment of the first cell as the scheduling cell for the edge user equipment;

An interface unit, configured to send notification messages to the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell respectively, where the notification message is used to notify the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell. The selection result of the selection unit of the downlink scheduler of the second cell is that the second cell schedules the edge user equipment of the first cell.

2. The centralized controller according to claim 1, further comprising: a pre-allocation unit, configured to pre-allocate data channel resources for the edge user equipment in the second cell;

The interface unit is further configured to send the pre-allocation result of the data channel resources by the pre-allocation unit to the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell respectively.

3. A downlink scheduler, the downlink scheduler is the downlink scheduler of the first cell, and is characterized in that it includes:

The first interface unit is configured to receive a notification message sent by the centralized controller when the centralized controller selects the second cell as the scheduling cell for the edge user equipment of the first cell. Sent, the notification message is used to notify the centralized controller of the selection result, and the selection result is that the second cell schedules the edge user equipment of the first cell;

An allocation unit configured to allocate control channel resources to the edge user equipment according to the notification message received by the first interface unit;

A data processing unit, configured to form a data packet sent to the edge user equipment according to the notification message received by the first interface unit;

The second interface unit is configured to send the data packet composed by the data processing unit to the downlink scheduler of the second cell, so as to be sent to the edge user equipment through the downlink scheduler of the second cell.

4. The downlink scheduler according to claim 3, wherein the first interface unit is further configured to receive a pre-allocation result sent by the centralized controller, and the pre-allocation result is: The result of pre-allocating data channel resources by the edge user equipment in the second cell; The allocation unit is specifically configured to allocate control channel resources to the edge user equipment according to the pre-allocation result received by the first interface unit;

The data processing unit is specifically configured to form data packets sent to the edge user equipment according to the pre-allocation result received by the first interface unit.

5. The downlink scheduler according to claim 3, wherein the allocation unit is specifically configured to pre-allocate a control channel to the edge user equipment when the first interface unit receives the notification message. resource;

The data processing unit is specifically configured to, when receiving the allocation result of data channel resources sent by the downlink scheduler of the second cell, according to the allocation result of the data channel resources, send to the edge user equipment Groups of data form packets.

6. The downlink scheduler according to any one of claims 3-5, characterized in that the allocation unit allocates control channel resources to the edge user equipment with a period greater than that of the downlink scheduler of the second cell. Describes the period in which edge user equipment allocates data channel resources.

7. A downlink scheduler used to schedule user equipment in the first cell, characterized by including:

An allocation unit, configured to allocate data channel resources to the edge user equipment according to the notification message received by the first interface unit;

The second interface unit is configured to receive the data packet of the edge user equipment sent by the downlink scheduler of the first cell;

A sending unit is configured to send the data packet received by the second interface unit to the edge user equipment through the data channel resources allocated by the allocation unit.

8. The downlink scheduler according to claim 7, wherein the first interface unit is further configured to receive a pre-allocation result sent by the centralized controller, where the pre-allocation result is: The result of pre-allocating data channel resources by the edge user equipment in the second cell; The allocation unit is specifically configured to allocate the data channel resources pre-allocated by the centralized controller to the edge user equipment.

9. The downlink scheduler according to claim 7, wherein the allocation unit is specifically configured to allocate data channel resources to the edge user equipment when the first interface unit receives the notification message. ;

The second interface unit is configured to send the allocation result of the data channel resources by the allocation unit to the downlink scheduler of the first cell.

10. The downlink scheduler according to any one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that the allocation unit allocates data channel resources to the edge user equipment in a period smaller than the downlink scheduler of the first cell. The period for allocating control channel resources to edge user equipment.

11. A system for coordinated load balancing, which is characterized by including:

A centralized controller as claimed in either claim 1 or 2;

The downlink scheduler of the first cell according to any one of claims 3 to 6; and the downlink scheduler of the second cell according to any one of claims 7 to 10.

12. A method for coordinating load balancing, characterized in that the method is applicable to a communication system, which includes a centralized controller, a downlink scheduler of the first cell connected to the centralized controller and a second The downlink scheduler of the cell, the method includes:

The centralized controller selects the second cell for the edge user equipment of the first cell as the scheduling cell for the edge user equipment;

The centralized controller sends notification messages to the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell respectively, and the notification message is used to notify the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell. The selection result obtained by the downlink scheduler of the second cell is that the second cell schedules the edge user equipment of the first cell.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

The centralized controller pre-allocates data channel resources in the second cell for the edge user equipment;

The centralized controller sends the above pre-allocation results of data channel resources to the downlink scheduler of the first cell and the downlink scheduler of the second cell respectively.

14. A method for coordinating load balancing, characterized in that the method is applicable to a communication system, which includes a centralized controller, a downlink scheduler of the first cell connected to the centralized controller and a second The downlink scheduler of the cell, the method includes:

The downlink scheduler of the first cell receives the notification message sent by the centralized controller. The notification message is the centralized controller selecting the second cell for the edge user equipment of the first cell. The notification message is used to notify the centralized controller of the selection result, and the selection result is that the second cell schedules the edge user of the first cell. equipment;

According to the received notification message, allocate control channel resources to the edge user equipment, and group the data sent to the edge user equipment into data packets;

The assembled data packet is sent to the downlink scheduler of the second cell, so as to be sent to the edge user equipment through the downlink scheduler of the second cell.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising:

The downlink scheduler of the first cell receives the pre-allocation result sent by the centralized controller. The pre-allocation result is the data channel resource pre-allocated by the centralized controller for the edge user equipment in the second cell. result;

Allocating control channel resources to the edge user equipment includes:

Allocating control channel resources to the edge user equipment according to the pre-allocation result; and forming the data sent to the edge user equipment into a data packet includes: according to the pre-allocation result, sending to the edge user equipment The user equipment's data sets are organized into data packets.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein the allocating control channel resources to the edge user equipment includes:

When receiving the notification message, pre-allocate control channel resources to the edge user equipment; and,

The step of forming the data sent to the edge user equipment into a data packet includes: upon receiving the allocation result of the data channel resource sent by the downlink scheduler of the second cell, according to the allocation result of the data channel resource. , forming data packets sent to the edge user equipment.

17. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, characterized in that the downlink scheduler of the first cell allocates control channel resources to the edge user equipment in a period greater than the downlink schedule of the second cell. The period during which the controller allocates data channel resources to the edge user equipment.

18. A method for coordinating load balancing, characterized in that the method is applicable to a communication system. The communication system includes a centralized controller, a downlink scheduler of the first cell connected to the centralized controller and a second The downlink scheduler of the cell, the method includes:

The downlink scheduler of the second cell receives the notification message sent by the centralized controller, The notification message is sent by the centralized controller when selecting the second cell as the scheduling cell for the edge user equipment of the first cell. The notification message is used to notify the centralized controller of the selection result. , the selection result is that the second cell schedules the edge user equipment of the first cell;

According to the notification message, allocate data channel resources to the edge user equipment; receive the data packet of the edge user equipment sent by the downlink scheduler of the first cell; pass the received data packet through the allocated data Channel resources are sent to the edge user equipment.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

The downlink scheduler of the second cell receives the pre-allocation result sent by the centralized controller. The pre-allocation result is the data channel resource pre-allocated by the centralized controller for the edge user equipment in the second cell. result;

What is shown is that the edge user equipment allocates data channel resources, including:

Allocate data channel resources pre-allocated by the centralized controller to the edge user equipment.

20. The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

The above allocation result of data channel resources is sent to the downlink scheduler of the first cell.

21. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 20, characterized in that the period in which the downlink scheduler of the second cell allocates data channel resources to the edge user equipment is smaller than the downlink schedule of the first cell. The period in which the controller allocates control channel resources to the edge user equipment.