CN105979506A - Method and system for controlling small cells, and base station - Google Patents

Abstract

The embodiment of the present invention discloses a method, system and base station for controlling a small cell, the method comprising: receiving a respective small cell group identifier reported by each small cell; generating a small cell group according to the small cell group identifier of each small cell; Configuring cell identities for the small cells in the small cell group, so that the small cells in the small cell group perform unified scheduling and transmission for UEs accessing the small cells according to the configured cell identities. Applying the embodiment of the present invention, the macro base station can uniformly configure cell identities for the small cells in the same small cell group, so the small cells in the same small cell group can uniformly schedule and transmit UEs accessing these small cells according to the group, which is equivalent to UEs that access these small cells can use these small cells as one cell, so the UE can identify the signals transmitted by these small cells, thereby avoiding cell identity conflicts.

Description

Method, system and base station for controlling small cell

technical field

The present invention relates to the field of communication technology, in particular to a method, system and base station for controlling a small cell.

Background technique

Small cell networks (Small Cell Networks, SCNs) refer to a heterogeneous network composed of macro base stations and small base stations after placing multiple low-power small base stations within the coverage area of a macro base station. Among them, the macro base station corresponds to the macro cell, and multiple small base stations correspond to multiple small cells. In the SCNs network, the macro cell is used to ensure wide coverage, while multiple small cells are used to undertake services. In the prior art, each small cell in the SCNs network is configured with a cell identification (Cell_ID), and each small cell transmits a synchronization signal (Synchronization Signal, SS) according to its cell identification, so that the user equipment (User Equipment, UE) can pass The detection SS determines the cell identity of the small cell, thereby completing the process of accessing the small cell, and then each small cell independently performs scheduling services for UEs connected to it.

During the research on the prior art, the inventor found that due to the limited number of cell identities, when the number of small cells within the coverage of a macro cell exceeds the number of cell identities, if the cell identities are randomly configured for each small cell, it will cause At least two small cells are configured with the same cell ID. Since the scheduled transmissions of these small cells configured with the same cell ID are independent, different UEs accessing these small cells cannot identify the serving small cell according to the small cell ID. , so that the signals transmitted by these small cells cannot be correctly distinguished, thereby causing cell identity conflicts.

Contents of the invention

The embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and base station for controlling small cells, so as to solve the problem in the prior art that random configuration of cell identities for small cells in SCNs easily causes cell identities conflicts.

In order to solve the above technical problems, the embodiment of the present invention discloses the following technical solutions:

In a first aspect, a method for controlling a small cell is provided, the method comprising:

receiving the small cell group identity of each small cell reported by each small cell;

generating a small cell group according to the small cell group identifier of each small cell, where the small cells included in the small cell group have the same small cell group identifier;

Configuring cell identities for the small cells in the small cell group, so that the small cells in the small cell group perform unified scheduling and transmission for user equipment UEs accessing the small cells according to the configured cell identities.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, configuring a cell identity for a small cell in the small cell group includes:

Configuring the same cell identity for the small cells in the small cell group; or,

Configuring a cell identifier for a small cell in the small cell group according to the load condition of the small cell group.

With reference to the first possible implementation of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation of the first aspect, according to the load condition of the small cell group, configuring the small cell in the small cell group Community identification, including:

acquiring the load of the small cell group, where the load of the small cell group is the sum of the loads reported by each small cell in the small cell group;

When the load of the small cell group exceeds the first load threshold, configure a different cell identifier for each small cell in the small cell group; when the load of the small cell group does not exceed the first load threshold , configuring the same cell identifier for each small cell in the small cell group.

With reference to the second possible implementation of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes:

When the load of the small cell group exceeds the second load threshold, control each small cell in the small cell group to turn on, and set the transmit power of the cell-specific reference signal CRS of each small cell to a default value, wherein the second load threshold is less than the first load threshold;

When the load of the small cell group does not exceed the second load threshold, control at least one small cell in the small cell group to turn off, and increase the CRS transmit power of the remaining small cells except the at least one small cell , and notify the UEs within the coverage of the small cell group of the increased transmission power of the CRS.

In combination with the first aspect, or the first possible implementation of the first aspect, or the second possible implementation of the first aspect, or the third possible implementation of the first aspect, in the first aspect of the first In four possible implementation manners, after the cell identity is configured for the small cell in the small cell group, the method further includes:

receiving a system update request message sent by the first small cell, where the system update request message includes updated system parameters;

sending a system update message including the updated system parameters to small cells other than the first small cell in the small cell group where the first small cell is located;

or,

receiving a system update message sent by the second small cell, where the system update message includes that the second small cell negotiates with the small cells other than the second small cell in the small cell group where the second small cell is located system parameters.

In a second aspect, another method for controlling a small cell is provided, and the method includes:

Reporting the small cell group identity of the small cell to the macro base station;

receiving the cell identifier configured by the macro base station for the small cell, where the cell identifier is a small cell in the small cell group after the macro base station generates a small cell group according to the small cell group identifier of the small cell A configured cell identity, wherein the small cells included in the small cell group have the same small cell group identity;

Perform unified scheduling and transmission for UEs accessing the small cell according to the cell identifier.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes:

sending a system update request message to the macro base station, where the system update request message includes updated system parameters, so that the macro base station sends a message containing the updated system parameters to the small cells in the small cell group except the small cell a system update message describing the updated system parameters; or,

After negotiating system parameters with small cells other than the small cell in the small cell group, send a system update message including the negotiated system parameters to the macro base station.

In a third aspect, a system for controlling a small cell is provided, the system includes: a macro base station and a plurality of small base stations connected to the macro base station, wherein,

The small base station is configured to report the small cell group identity of the small cell of the small base station to the macro base station;

The macro base station is configured to generate a small cell group according to the received small cell group identifier of each small cell, the small cells included in the small cell group have the same small cell group identifier, and are The small cells in the small cell are configured with cell identities, so that the small cells in the small cell group perform uniform scheduling and transmission for UEs accessing the small cells according to the configured cell identities.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the macro base station is specifically configured to configure the same cell identity for the small cells in the small cell group, or, according to the small cell For the load condition of the group, a cell identifier is configured for the small cell in the small cell group.

With reference to the first possible implementation of the third aspect, in a second possible implementation of the third aspect, the small base station is further configured to report the load of the small cell of the small base station to the macro base station ;

The macro base station is specifically configured to obtain the load of the small cell group according to the load of the small cell reported by the small base station, where the load of the small cell group is the sum of the loads reported by each small cell in the small cell group ; When the load of the small cell group exceeds the first load threshold, configure a different cell identifier for each small cell in the small cell group; when the load of the small cell group does not exceed the first load threshold Within a time limit, configure the same cell identifier for each small cell in the small cell group.

With reference to the second possible implementation of the third aspect, in a third possible implementation of the third aspect, the macro base station is further configured to, when the load of the small cell group exceeds a second load threshold, Controlling each small cell in the small cell group to turn on, setting the CRS transmit power of each small cell to a default value, wherein the second load threshold is smaller than the first load threshold; when the small cell When the load of the group does not exceed the second load threshold, control at least one small cell in the small cell group to turn off, increase the CRS transmit power of the remaining small cells except the at least one small cell, and increase the Notify UEs within the coverage of the small cell group of the transmission power of the CRS.

In combination with the third aspect, or the first possible implementation of the third aspect, or the second possible implementation of the third aspect, or the third possible implementation of the third aspect, in the first possible implementation of the third aspect In four possible implementation manners, the macro base station is further configured to receive a system update request message sent by the first small cell, where the system update request message includes updated system parameters, and sends the system update request message to the first small cell Small cells other than the first small cell in the small cell group where they are located send a system update message containing the updated system parameters, or receive a system update message sent by the second small cell, and the system update message includes System parameters after negotiation between the second small cell and small cells other than the second small cell in the small cell group where the second small cell is located.

In a fourth aspect, a base station is provided, and the base station serves as a macro base station connected to multiple small base stations, including:

a receiving unit, configured to receive the respective small cell group identifiers reported by the small cells of each small base station;

a generating unit, configured to generate a small cell group according to the small cell group identifier of each small cell received by the receiving unit, where the small cells included in the small cell group have the same small cell group identifier;

a control unit, configured to configure cell identities for the small cells in the small cell group generated by the generating unit, so that the small cells in the small cell group unify UEs accessing the small cells according to the configured cell identities Schedule launch.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the control unit includes at least one of the following units:

The first control unit is configured to configure the same cell identity for the small cells in the small cell group;

The second control unit is configured to configure a cell identifier for the small cells in the small cell group according to the load condition of the small cell group.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the second control unit includes:

a load acquisition subunit, configured to acquire the load of the small cell group, where the load of the small cell group is the sum of the loads reported by each small cell in the small cell group;

The identification configuration subunit is configured to configure a different cell identification for each small cell in the small cell group when the load of the small cell group acquired by the load acquisition subunit exceeds a first load threshold, and when the load When the load of the small cell group obtained by the obtaining subunit does not exceed the first load threshold, configure the same cell identifier for each small cell in the small cell group.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the second control unit further includes:

a small cell control subunit, configured to control each small cell in the small cell group to turn on when the load of the small cell group acquired by the load acquisition subunit exceeds a second load threshold, and set each small cell The transmit power of the CRS is a default value, wherein the second load threshold is smaller than the first load threshold; when the load of the small cell group obtained by the load acquisition subunit does not exceed the second load threshold, the control unit Turn off at least one small cell in the small cell group, increase the CRS transmit power of the remaining small cells except the at least one small cell, and notify the small cell group coverage of the increased CRS transmit power UE within.

In combination with the fourth aspect, or the first possible implementation of the fourth aspect, or the second possible implementation of the fourth aspect, or the third possible implementation of the fourth aspect, in the first possible implementation of the fourth aspect In four possible implementation manners, the base station further includes at least one of the following units:

The first updating unit is configured to receive a system update request message sent by the first small cell, where the system update request message includes updated system parameters, and delete the second small cell group from the small cell group where the first small cell is located. A small cell other than a small cell sends a system update message including the updated system parameters;

The second update unit is configured to receive a system update message sent by the second small cell, where the system update message includes the second small cell and the group of small cells where the second small cell is located except for the second small cell System parameters negotiated by small cells other than the cell.

In a fifth aspect, another base station is provided, and the base station is used as a small base station connected to a macro base station, including:

a reporting unit, configured to report the small cell group identity of the small cell of the small base station to the macro base station;

A receiving unit, configured to receive the cell identifier configured by the macro base station for the small cell, where the cell identifier is generated by the macro base station according to the small cell group identifier of the small cell reported by the reporting unit. , a cell identifier configured for a small cell in the small cell group, wherein the small cells included in the small cell group have the same small cell group identifier;

A transmitting unit, configured to perform unified scheduling and transmission on UEs accessing the small cell according to the cell identifier received by the receiving unit.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the base station further includes at least one of the following units:

A first sending unit, configured to send a system update request message to the macro base station, where the system update request message includes updated system parameters, so that the macro base station sends all the small cells in the small cell group except the small cell The small cell sends a system update message including the updated system parameters;

The second sending unit is configured to send a system update message including the negotiated system parameters to the macro base station after negotiating system parameters with small cells other than the small cell in the small cell group.

According to the sixth aspect, another base station is provided, and the base station is used as a macro base station connected to multiple small base stations, including: a transceiver and a processor, wherein the transceiver is used to receive the small base station of each small base station The small cell group identifier of the small cell reported by the cell;

The processor is configured to generate a small cell group according to the small cell group identifier of each small cell, the small cells included in the small cell group have the same small cell group identifier, and are the small cell groups in the small cell group The small cell configures a cell identity, so that the small cells in the small cell group perform uniform scheduling and transmission for UEs accessing the small cell according to the configured cell identity.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the processor is specifically configured to configure the same cell identity for the small cells in the small cell group, or The load condition of the small cell group is configured with a cell identifier for the small cell in the small cell group.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the processor is specifically configured to obtain the load of the small cell group, and the load of the small cell group The load is the sum of the loads reported by each small cell in the small cell group, and when the load of the small cell group exceeds the first load threshold, a different cell is configured for each small cell in the small cell group ID, when the load of the small cell group does not exceed the first load threshold, configure the same cell ID for each small cell in the small cell group.

With reference to the second possible implementation of the sixth aspect, in a third possible implementation of the sixth aspect, the processor is further configured to, when the load of the small cell group exceeds a second load threshold, Controlling each small cell in the small cell group to turn on, setting the CRS transmit power of each small cell to a default value, wherein the second load threshold is smaller than the first load threshold; when the small cell When the load of the group does not exceed the second load threshold, control at least one small cell in the small cell group to turn off, increase the CRS transmit power of the remaining small cells except the at least one small cell, and increase the Notify UEs within the coverage of the small cell group of the transmission power of the CRS.

In combination with the sixth aspect, or the first possible implementation of the sixth aspect, or the second possible implementation of the sixth aspect, or the third possible implementation of the sixth aspect, in the sixth aspect In four possible implementation manners, the transceiver is further configured to receive a system update request message sent by the first small cell, where the system update request message includes updated system parameters, and send the system update request message to the first small cell The small cells other than the first small cell in the small cell group where the cell is located send a system update message containing the updated system parameters, or receive a system update message sent by the second small cell, and the system update message contains Including system parameters negotiated between the second small cell and small cells other than the second small cell in the small cell group where the second small cell is located.

In a seventh aspect, another base station is provided, and the base station, as a small base station connected to a macro base station, includes: a transceiver and a processor, wherein the transceiver is configured to report the small cell of the small cell to the macro base station Group ID;

The processor is configured to, after receiving the cell identity configured by the macro base station for the small cell through the transceiver, perform unified scheduling and transmission on UEs accessing the small cell according to the cell identity, wherein, The cell identifier is a cell identifier configured for a small cell in the small cell group after the macro base station generates a small cell group according to the small cell group identifier of the small cell, wherein the small cell group contained in the small cell group The cells have the same small cell group identity.

With reference to the seventh aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the processor is further configured to send a system update request message to the macro base station through the transceiver, and the system update request message contains the updated system parameters, so that the macro base station sends a system update message containing the updated system parameters to the small cells in the small cell group except the small cell; or, with the small cell After the small cells in the cell group except the small cell negotiate system parameters, send a system update message including the negotiated system parameters to the macro base station through the transceiver.

In the embodiment of the present invention, since multiple small cells are grouped in advance, and the small cells belonging to the same group are configured with the same small cell group identifier according to the grouping situation, each small cell reports its own small cell grouping to the macro base station After identification, the macro base station can identify the small cells belonging to the same small cell group according to the small cell group ID, and uniformly configure the cell ID for the small cells in the same small cell group, so the small cells in the same small cell group can be grouped UEs accessing these small cells perform unified scheduling and transmission, which means that UEs accessing these small cells can regard these small cells as one cell, so UEs can identify the signals transmitted by these small cells, thereby avoiding cell identity conflicts.

Description of drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings that need to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, for those of ordinary skill in the art, In other words, other drawings can also be obtained from these drawings without paying creative labor.

FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram of the network architecture of the SCNs applied in the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 1B is a flowchart of an embodiment of the method for controlling a small cell in the present invention;

FIG. 1C is a flowchart of another embodiment of the method for controlling a small cell according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of another embodiment of the method for controlling a small cell in the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of another embodiment of the method for controlling a small cell in the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system for controlling a small cell according to the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the base station of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the base station of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the base station of the present invention;

Fig. 8 is a block diagram of another embodiment of a base station according to the present invention.

detailed description

The following embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and base station for controlling a small cell.

In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, and to make the above-mentioned purposes, features and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more obvious and understandable, the following describes the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings For further detailed explanation.

As shown in Figure 1A, it is a schematic diagram of the network architecture of the SCNs applied in the embodiment of the present invention:

In Fig. 1A, a macro base station and two small base stations connected to the macro base station are shown, namely small base station 1 and small base station 2, wherein the coverage of the macro base station corresponds to a macro cell, and the coverage of small base station 1 corresponds to a small cell. The coverage of the cell 1 and the small base station 2 correspond to the small cell 2, and both the small cell 1 and the small cell 2 are within the coverage of the macro base station. It should be noted that, for the convenience of the example, only two small base stations within the coverage of a macro base station are shown in FIG. That is, the embodiment of the present invention does not limit the number of small base stations.

Referring to FIG. 1B, it is a flow chart of an embodiment of the method for controlling a small cell according to the present invention. This embodiment is described from the macro base station side:

Step 101: Receive respective small cell group identifiers reported by each small cell.

In this embodiment, for multiple small base stations connected to the macro base station, geographically close small base stations can be divided into a group according to the geographical location between these small base stations, and the small cells of the same group of small base stations belong to the same small cell Grouping, small cells in the same small cell group are pre-configured with small cell group identifiers that can indicate that they belong to the same small cell group. When each small cell accesses the network, it may report the small cell group identity of the small cell.

Wherein, the small cell group identifier can be an identifier allocated according to the small cell group, for example, small cell 1, small cell 2 and small cell 3 belong to the same small cell group, and the small cell group identifier assigned to the small cell group is " group1", small cell 1, small cell 2, and small cell 3 respectively report the small cell group ID "group1"; or, the small cell group ID can also refer to the equipment ID of other small cells that belong to the same small cell group as the small cell For example, small cell 1, small cell 2, and small cell 3 belong to the same small cell group, the device ID of small cell 1 is "device1", the device ID of small cell 2 is "device2", and the device ID of small cell 3 is "device3", the small cell group ID reported by small cell 1 includes device2 and device3, the small cell group ID reported by small cell 2 includes device1 and device3, and the small cell group ID reported by small cell 3 includes device1 and device2.

Step 102: Generate a small cell group according to the small cell group identifier of each small cell, and the small cells included in the small cell group have the same small cell group identifier.

After receiving the small cell group identifier reported by each small cell, the small cells with the same small cell group identifier can be divided into the same small cell group. Optionally, a small cell group list may be maintained, in which the small cell group ID is used as an index, and each entry stores a small cell group ID and the small cell corresponding to the small cell group ID.

Step 103: Configuring cell identities for the small cells in the small cell group, so that the small cells in the small cell group perform unified scheduling and transmission for UEs accessing the small cells according to the configured cell identities.

In this embodiment, the same cell identifier can be configured for the small cells in the small cell group; or, the cell identifier can be configured for the small cells in the small cell group according to the load of the small cell group, and the load of the small cell group is The sum of loads reported by each small cell in the small cell group. The cell ID can also be expressed as Cell_ID.

Optionally, when configuring cell identities for small cells in the small cell group according to the load conditions of the small cell group, a first load threshold and a second load threshold may be preset, wherein the second load threshold is smaller than the first load threshold. In this embodiment, the first load threshold is a boundary value indicating that the small cell group load is heavy, and the second load threshold is a boundary value indicating that the small cell group load is light. The value obtained by simulating the load of the cell, or an empirical value, is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention; when the load of the small cell group exceeds the first load threshold, the load of the corresponding small cell group is heavy load, When the load of the small cell group is between the first load threshold and the second load threshold, the load of the corresponding small cell group is moderate load; when the load of the small cell group does not exceed the second load threshold, the load of the corresponding small cell group The load condition is light load. Specifically, when the load of the small cell group exceeds the first load threshold, a different cell identifier may be configured for each small cell in the small cell group; when the load of the small cell group does not exceed the first load threshold, the The same cell identifier is configured for each small cell in the small cell group. Further, when the load of the small cell group exceeds the second load threshold, each small cell in the small cell group can be controlled to be turned on, and the transmission power of the cell-specific reference signal (Cell-specific Reference Signals, CRS) of each small cell can be set is the default value; when the load of the small cell group does not exceed the second load threshold, at least one small cell in the small cell group can be controlled to be turned off, and the CRS transmit power of the remaining small cells except the at least one small cell can be increased, and The UE within the coverage of the small cell group is notified of the increased transmission power of the CRS.

Referring to FIG. 1C, it is a flow chart of another embodiment of the method for controlling a small cell in the present invention, and this embodiment is described from the small base station side:

Step 111: Report the small cell group identity of the small cell to the macro base station.

In this embodiment, for multiple small base stations connected to the macro base station, geographically close small base stations can be divided into a group according to the address positions between these small base stations, and the small cells of the same group of small base stations belong to the same small cell Grouping, small cells in the same small cell group are pre-configured with small cell group identifiers that can indicate that they belong to the same small cell group. When each small cell accesses the network, it may report the small cell group identity of the small cell.

Step 112: Receive the cell identifier configured by the macro base station for the small cell. The cell identifier is the cell identifier configured for the small cells in the small cell group after the macro base station generates a small cell group according to the small cell group identifier of the small cell, where the small cell The small cells included in the cell group have the same small cell group identifier.

In this embodiment, the configuration process of the received cell identity configured by the macro base station for the small cell may refer to the description of the embodiment in FIG. 1B , which will not be repeated here.

Step 113: Perform unified scheduling and transmission for UEs accessing the small cell according to the configured cell identity.

In this embodiment, the small cell can transmit a Primary Synchronization Signal (Primary Synchronization Signal, PSS), a Secondary Synchronization Signal (Secondary Synchronization Signal, SSS), a Physical Broadcast Channel (Physical Broadcast Channel) to UEs within the coverage of the small cell according to the cell identifier. , PBCH), master system information block (MasterInformation Block, MIB), system information block (System Information Block, SIB) and other signaling, the specific transmission process is consistent with the prior art, and will not be repeated here.

It can be seen from the above-mentioned embodiments that since multiple small cells are grouped in advance, and the small cells belonging to the same group are configured with the same small cell group identifier according to the grouping situation, each small cell reports its own small cell grouping to the macro base station After identification, the macro base station can identify the small cells belonging to the same small cell group according to the small cell group ID, and uniformly configure the cell ID for the small cells in the same small cell group, so the small cells in the same small cell group can be grouped UEs accessing these small cells perform unified scheduling and transmission, which means that UEs accessing these small cells can regard these small cells as one cell, so UEs can identify the signals transmitted by these small cells, thereby avoiding cell identity conflicts.

Referring to FIG. 2 , it is a flow chart of another embodiment of the method for controlling a small cell according to the present invention. This embodiment shows the process of configuring the same cell ID for a small cell by a macro base station through the interaction between the macro base station and the small base station:

Step 201: Each small base station saves the small cell group identifier configured for the small cell of the small base station.

In this embodiment, for multiple small base stations connected to the macro base station, geographically close small base stations can be divided into a group according to the geographical location between these small base stations, and the small cells of the same group of small base stations belong to the same small cell Grouping, small cells in the same small cell group are pre-configured with small cell group identifiers that can indicate that they belong to the same small cell group.

Step 202: When the small base station accesses the network, report the small cell group identity of the small cell of the small base station to the macro base station.

Step 203: The macro base station generates a small cell group according to the small cell group identifier of the small cell.

After receiving the small cell group identifier reported by each small cell, the macro base station may divide the small cells with the same small cell group identifier into the same small cell group. Optionally, a small cell group list may be maintained, in which the small cell group ID is used as an index, and each entry stores a small cell group ID and the small cell corresponding to the small cell group ID.

Step 204: The macro base station configures the small cells belonging to the same small cell group with the same cell identity according to the small cell groups.

In this embodiment, when the small base station initially accesses the network, the load of each small cell group may be light, so the macro base station can configure the same cell ID for the small cells belonging to the same small cell group, so as to reduce the burden of the cell ID. Conflict Probability.

Step 205: The small base station performs unified scheduling and transmission for UEs accessing the small cell according to the cell identity configured for the small cell of the small base station.

In this embodiment, the small cell of the small base station can transmit signaling such as PSS, SSS, PBCH, MIB, and SIB to UEs within the coverage of the small cell according to the cell identifier. Let me repeat.

Step 206: When the small cell of the small base station has updated system parameters, send a system update request message including the updated system parameters to the macro base station.

Step 207: The macro base station sends a system update message including updated system parameters to the small cells in the small cell group in which the small cell is located except the small cell.

It should be noted that the small cell in this embodiment may also negotiate with other small cells in the small cell group where the small cell is located to determine updated system parameters, and any small cell in the small cell group The cell sends a system update message including updated system parameters to the macro base station.

In a wireless communication system, system parameters mainly refer to parameters used to configure small cells. For example, common system parameters may include physical random access channel (Physical Random Access Channel, PRACH) configuration information, cell access restriction information etc., which will not be repeated in this embodiment.

It can be seen from the above-mentioned embodiments that since the macro base station can configure the same cell identity for the small cells in the same small cell group based on the small cell group, the small cells in the same small cell group can perform uniform UE access to these small cells. The scheduled transmission of these small cells is equivalent to that the UE accessing these small cells can regard these small cells as a cell, so the UE can identify the signals transmitted by these small cells, thereby avoiding the problem of cell identity conflict.

Referring to FIG. 3, it is a flow chart of another embodiment of the method for controlling a small cell according to the present invention. This embodiment shows the process of configuring a cell identifier by a macro base station according to the load of a small cell group through the interaction between the macro base station and the small base station:

Step 301: Each small base station saves the small cell group identifier configured for the small cell of the small base station.

In this embodiment, for multiple small base stations connected to the macro base station, geographically close small base stations can be divided into a group according to the address positions between these small base stations, and the small cells of the same group of small base stations belong to the same small cell Grouping, small cells in the same small cell group are pre-configured with small cell group identifiers that can indicate that they belong to the same small cell group.

Step 302: When the small base station accesses the network, report the small cell group identity of the small cell of the small base station to the macro base station.

Step 303: The macro base station generates a small cell group according to the small cell group identifier of the small cell.

After receiving the small cell group identifier reported by each small cell, the macro base station may divide the small cells with the same small cell group identifier into the same small cell group. Optionally, a small cell group list may be maintained, in which the small cell group ID is used as an index, and each entry stores a small cell group ID and the small cell corresponding to the small cell group ID.

Step 304: The macro base station obtains the load of the small cell group.

In this embodiment, each small cell may report the load of the small cell to the macro base station, and the macro base station uses the sum of the loads of the small cells belonging to the same small cell group as the load of the small cell group. The load of the small cell may refer to the number of users accessing the small cell, the number of activated users, user data throughput, and the like.

Step 305: The macro base station configures cell identities for the small cells in the small cell group according to the load conditions of the small cell group.

In this embodiment, the first load threshold and the second load threshold may be set respectively, wherein the second load threshold is smaller than the first load threshold. In this embodiment, the first load threshold is a boundary value indicating that the small cell group load is heavy, and the second load threshold is a boundary value indicating that the small cell group load is light. The value obtained by simulating the load of the cell, or an empirical value, is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention; when the load exceeds the first load threshold, the load of the corresponding small cell group is heavy load, and when the load exceeds the first load threshold, the load of the corresponding small cell group is heavy. When the load threshold is between the first load threshold and the second load threshold, the load corresponding to the small cell group is moderately loaded, and when the load does not exceed the second load threshold, the load corresponding to the small cell group is lightly loaded.

When the small cells in the small cell group initially access the network, the macro base station can configure the cell identity for the small cells in the small cell group in the following manner:

When the load of the small cell group exceeds the first load threshold, a different cell identifier is configured for each small cell in the small cell group; when the load of the small cell group does not exceed the first load threshold, the Each small cell is configured with the same cell ID. Initially, the transmit power of the CRS of the small cell may be set to a default value.

Step 306: Determine whether the load of the small cell group changes, if yes, execute step 307; otherwise, return to step 306.

Step 307: The macro base station controls the small cells in the small cell group to adjust, and ends the current process.

In this embodiment, the change of the load of the small cell group means that the load of the small cell group switches between any two load situations of heavy load, moderate load and light load. During the communication process, when the load of the small cell group changes, the macro base station can control the small cells in the small cell group to adjust according to the following changes:

When the small cell group changes from heavy load to moderate load, the macro base station configures the same cell identity for the small cells in the small cell group, and keeps the CRS transmit power of these small cells as the default value;

When the small cell group changes from heavy load to light load, the macro base station configures the same cell identity for the small cells in the small cell group, turns off at least one small cell in the small cell group, and increases the remaining The transmit power of the CRS of the small cell, and notify the UE within the group coverage of the small cell of the adjusted transmit power of the CRS through Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) signaling;

When the load of the small cell group changes from moderate to heavy, the macro base station configures different cell identities for the small cells in the small cell group, and keeps the CRS transmission power of these small cells as the default value;

When the load of the small cell group changes from moderate to light, the macro base station turns off at least one small cell in the small cell group, increases the CRS transmit power of the remaining small cells except the at least one small cell, and adjusts the CRS power through PDCCH signaling. The transmission power of the subsequent CRS is notified to the UE within the coverage of the small cell group;

When the small cell group changes from light load to heavy load, the macro base station turns on the closed small cells in the small cell group, configures different cell identities for the small cells in the small cell group, and sets the CRS of the small cells in the small cell group The transmission power of the CRS is restored to the default value, and the adjusted transmission power of the CRS is notified to the UE within the coverage of the small cell group through the PDCCH signaling;

When the small cell group changes from light load to moderate load, the macro base station turns on the closed small cells in the small cell group, restores the CRS transmit power of the small cells in the small cell group to the default value, and transmits the CRS to the default value through PDCCH signaling The adjusted transmit power of the CRS is notified to UEs within the coverage of the small cell group.

In the above adjustment process, when the macro base station increases the transmit power of the CRS of the small cell, any of the following methods can be adopted:

One way: each time the macro base station controls the small cell to increase the transmit power of the CRS by a smaller power step, and receives the Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) reported by the UE, if all UEs in the RSRP If the minimum value is less than the preset threshold value, the macro base station controls the small cell to increase the CRS transmission power by a smaller power step, and counts the RSRP reported by the UE again until the RSRP reported by all UEs is greater than the preset threshold, stop increasing the CRS transmit power of the small cell.

Another way: the macro base station receives the RSRP reported by the UE, and calculates the difference RSRPmin-T between the minimum RSRPmin value reported by all UEs and the preset threshold T, if the difference RSRPmin-T is negative, the macro base station will The CRS transmission power of the small cell is increased by T-RSRPmin, otherwise the existing CRS transmission power is maintained.

It can be seen from the above-mentioned embodiments that since multiple small cells are grouped in advance, and the small cells belonging to the same group are configured with the same small cell group identifier according to the grouping situation, each small cell reports its own small cell grouping to the macro base station After identification, the macro base station can identify the small cells belonging to the same small cell group according to the small cell group identifier, and uniformly configure the cell identifiers for the small cells in the same small cell group; applying the embodiment of the present invention, since the macro base station can Grouping, the small cells in the same small cell group are configured with the same cell ID, so the small cells in the same small cell group can perform unified scheduling and transmission for UEs accessing these small cells, which is equivalent to UEs accessing these small cells These small cells can be regarded as one cell, so the UE can identify the signals transmitted by these small cells, thereby avoiding the problem of cell identity conflict.

Referring to Fig. 4, it is a block diagram of an embodiment of the system for controlling a small cell in the present invention:

The system includes: a macro base station 410 and a plurality of small base stations 420 connected to the macro base station 410 , for convenience of example, only three small base stations 420 are shown in FIG. 4 .

Wherein, the small base station 420 is configured to report the small cell group identity of the small cell of the small base station 420 to the macro base station 410;

The macro base station 410 is configured to generate a small cell group according to the received small cell group identifier of each small cell, the small cells contained in the small cell group have the same small cell group identifier, and the small cell group The small cells in the small cell are configured with cell identities, so that the small cells in the small cell group perform unified scheduling and transmission for UEs accessing the small cells according to the configured cell identities.

Optionally, the macro base station 410 may be specifically configured to configure the same cell identifier for the small cells in the small cell group, or, according to the load condition of the small cell group, configure The small cell is configured with a cell ID.

Optionally, the small base station 420 may also be configured to report the load of the small cell of the small base station to the macro base station; the macro base station 410 may be specifically configured to The load obtains the load of the small cell group, and the load of the small cell group is the sum of the loads reported by each small cell in the small cell group; when the load of the small cell group exceeds the first load threshold, the load for the small cell group is Each small cell in the small cell group is configured with a different cell identifier, and when the load of the small cell group does not exceed the first load threshold, the same cell is configured for each small cell in the small cell group logo.

Optionally, the macro base station 410 may also be configured to control each small cell in the small cell group to turn on when the load of the small cell group exceeds a second load threshold, and set the The transmit power of the CRS is a default value, wherein the second load threshold is smaller than the first load threshold; when the load of the small cell group does not exceed the second load threshold, control the small cell group Turning off at least one small cell, increasing the CRS transmit power of the remaining small cells except the at least one small cell, and notifying the UEs within the group coverage of the small cell of the increased CRS transmit power.

Optionally, the macro base station 410 may also be configured to receive a system update request message sent by the first small cell, the system update request message includes updated system parameters, and send The small cells in the small cell group except the first small cell send a system update message including the updated system parameters, or receive a system update message sent by the second small cell, the system update message includes the System parameters after negotiation between the second small cell and small cells other than the second small cell in the small cell group where the second small cell is located.

Referring to Fig. 5, it is a block diagram of an embodiment of the base station of the present invention, the base station is a macro base station connected to multiple small base stations:

The base station includes: a receiving unit 510 , a generating unit 520 and a control unit 530 .

Wherein, the receiving unit 510 is configured to receive the respective small cell group identifiers reported by the small cells of each small base station;

A generating unit 520, configured to generate a small cell group according to the small cell group identifier of each small cell received by the receiving unit 510, where the small cells included in the small cell group have the same small cell group identifier;

The control unit 530 is configured to configure cell identities for the small cells in the small cell group generated by the generating unit 520, so that the small cells in the small cell group can identify UEs accessing the small cells according to the configured cell identities Carry out unified scheduling launch.

Optionally, the control unit 530 may include at least one of the following units (not shown in FIG. 5 ):

The first control unit is configured to configure the same cell identity for the small cells in the small cell group;

The second control unit is configured to configure a cell identifier for the small cells in the small cell group according to the load condition of the small cell group.

Further, the second control unit may include: a load acquisition subunit, configured to acquire the load of the small cell group, where the load of the small cell group is the load reported by each small cell in the small cell group The sum; the identification configuration subunit, configured to configure a different cell identification for each small cell in the small cell group when the load of the small cell group acquired by the load acquisition subunit exceeds the first load threshold, when the When the load of the small cell group obtained by the load obtaining subunit does not exceed the first load threshold, configure the same cell identifier for each small cell in the small cell group. Further, the second control unit may further include: a small cell control subunit, configured to control the load of each small cell group in the small cell group when the load of the small cell group acquired by the load acquisition subunit exceeds a second load threshold. A small cell is turned on, and the transmit power of the CRS of each small cell is set to a default value, wherein the second load threshold is smaller than the first load threshold; when the load of the small cell group obtained by the load acquisition subunit When the second load threshold is not exceeded, control at least one small cell in the small cell group to turn off, increase the CRS transmit power of the remaining small cells except the at least one small cell, and set the increased The transmit power of the CRS is notified to UEs within the coverage of the small cell group.

Optionally, the base station may further include at least one of the following units (not shown in FIG. 5):

The first updating unit is configured to receive a system update request message sent by the first small cell, where the system update request message includes updated system parameters, and delete the second small cell group from the small cell group where the first small cell is located. A small cell other than a small cell sends a system update message including the updated system parameters;

The second update unit is configured to receive a system update message sent by the second small cell, where the system update message includes the second small cell and the group of small cells where the second small cell is located except for the second small cell System parameters negotiated by small cells other than the cell.

Referring to FIG. 6, it is a block diagram of another embodiment of the base station of the present invention, the base station is one of the multiple small base stations connected to the macro base station:

The base station includes: a reporting unit 610 , a receiving unit 620 and a transmitting unit 630 .

Wherein, the reporting unit 610 is configured to report the small cell group identity of the small cell of the small base station to the macro base station;

The receiving unit 620 is configured to receive the cell identifier configured by the macro base station for the small cell, where the cell identifier is a small cell generated by the macro base station according to the small cell group identifier of the small cell reported by the reporting unit 610 After grouping, the cell identifier configured for the small cells in the small cell group, wherein the small cells included in the small cell group have the same small cell group identifier;

The transmitting unit 630 is configured to uniformly schedule and transmit UEs accessing the small cell according to the cell identifier received by the receiving unit 620 .

Optionally, the base station may further include at least one of the following units (not shown in FIG. 6):

A first sending unit, configured to send a system update request message to the macro base station, where the system update request message includes updated system parameters, so that the macro base station sends all the small cells in the small cell group except the small cell The small cell sends a system update message including the updated system parameters;

The second sending unit is configured to send a system update message including the negotiated system parameters to the macro base station after negotiating system parameters with small cells other than the small cell in the small cell group.

Referring to FIG. 7, it is a block diagram of another embodiment of the base station of the present invention, the base station is a macro base station connected to multiple small base stations:

The base station includes: a first transceiver 710 and a first processor 720 .

Wherein, the first transceiver 710 is configured to receive the respective small cell group identifiers reported by the small cells of each small base station;

The first processor 720 is configured to generate a small cell group according to the small cell group identifier of each small cell, the small cells included in the small cell group have the same small cell group identifier, and are the The small cells in the group are configured with cell identities, so that the small cells in the small cell group perform unified scheduling and transmission for UEs accessing the small cells according to the configured cell identities.

Optionally, the first processor 720 may be specifically configured to configure the same cell identity for the small cells in the small cell group, or configure the Configure the cell ID for the small cell.

Optionally, the first processor 720 may be specifically configured to acquire the load of the small cell group, where the load of the small cell group is the sum of the loads reported by each small cell in the small cell group, When the load of the small cell group exceeds the first load threshold, configure a different cell identifier for each small cell in the small cell group; when the load of the small cell group does not exceed the first load threshold , configuring the same cell identifier for each small cell in the small cell group.

Optionally, the first processor 720 may also be configured to control each small cell in the small cell group to turn on when the load of the small cell group exceeds a second load threshold, and set each The transmit power of the CRS of the small cell is a default value, wherein the second load threshold is smaller than the first load threshold; when the load of the small cell group does not exceed the second load threshold, control the small cell group At least one of the small cells is turned off, increasing the CRS transmission power of the remaining small cells except the at least one small cell, and notifying the UEs within the group coverage of the small cells of the increased CRS transmission power.

Optionally, the first transceiver 710 may also be configured to receive a system update request message sent by the first small cell, where the system update request message includes updated system parameters, and send a message to the first small cell The small cells other than the first small cell in the small cell group where the cell is located send a system update message containing the updated system parameters, or receive a system update message sent by the second small cell, and the system update message contains Including system parameters negotiated between the second small cell and small cells other than the second small cell in the small cell group where the second small cell is located.

Referring to FIG. 8 , it is a block diagram of another embodiment of a base station according to the present invention, and the base station is one of a plurality of small base stations connected to a macro base station:

The base station includes: a second transceiver 810 and a second processor 820 .

Wherein, the second transceiver 810 is configured to report the small cell group identity of the small cell to the macro base station;

The second processor 820 is configured to, after receiving the cell identity configured by the macro base station for the small cell through the second transceiver 810, perform a UE accessing the small cell according to the cell identity Unified scheduled transmission, wherein the cell identifier is a cell identifier configured for a small cell in the small cell group after the macro base station generates a small cell group according to the small cell group identifier of the small cell, wherein the small The small cells included in the cell group have the same small cell group identifier.

Optionally, the second processor 820 may also be configured to send a system update request message to the macro base station through the transceiver, where the system update request message includes updated system parameters, so that the The macro base station sends a system update message including the updated system parameters to the small cells in the small cell group except the small cell; or, communicates with the small cells in the small cell group except the small cell After the cell negotiates the system parameters, the transceiver sends a system update message including the negotiated system parameters to the macro base station.

It can be seen from the above-mentioned embodiments that since multiple small cells are grouped in advance, and the small cells belonging to the same group are configured with the same small cell group identifier according to the grouping situation, each small cell reports its own small cell grouping to the macro base station After identification, the macro base station can identify the small cells belonging to the same small cell group according to the small cell group ID, and uniformly configure the cell ID for the small cells in the same small cell group, so the small cells in the same small cell group can be grouped UEs accessing these small cells perform unified scheduling and transmission, which means that UEs accessing these small cells can regard these small cells as one cell, so UEs can identify the signals transmitted by these small cells, thereby avoiding cell identity conflicts.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the technologies in the embodiments of the present invention can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general-purpose hardware platform. Based on this understanding, the essence of the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the part that contributes to the prior art can be embodied in the form of software products, and the computer software products can be stored in storage media, such as ROM/RAM , magnetic disk, optical disk, etc., including several instructions to enable a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in various embodiments or some parts of the embodiments of the present invention.

Each embodiment in this specification is described in a progressive manner, the same and similar parts of each embodiment can be referred to each other, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. In particular, as for the system embodiment, since it is basically similar to the method embodiment, the description is relatively simple, and for the related parts, please refer to the part of the description of the method embodiment.

The embodiments of the present invention described above are not intended to limit the protection scope of the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent replacements and improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present invention shall be included within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (14)

1. A method of controlling a small cell, the method comprising:

receiving a respective small cell grouping identifier reported by each small cell;

generating a small cell group according to the small cell group identifier of each small cell, wherein the small cells contained in the small cell group have the same small cell group identifier;

configuring a cell identifier for the small cell in the small cell group, so that the small cell in the small cell group performs unified scheduling transmission on User Equipment (UE) accessing to the small cell according to the configured cell identifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuring the cell identity for the small cell in the small cell group comprises:

configuring the same cell identification for the small cells in the small cell group; or,

configuring a cell identifier for the small cell in the small cell group according to the load condition of the small cell group.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the configuring cell identities for small cells in the small cell group according to the load conditions of the small cell group comprises:

acquiring the load of the small cell group, wherein the load of the small cell group is the sum of the loads reported by each small cell in the small cell group;

configuring a different cell identity for each small cell in the small cell group when the load of the small cell group exceeds a first load threshold, and configuring the same cell identity for each small cell in the small cell group when the load of the small cell group does not exceed the first load threshold.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

controlling each small cell in the small cell group to be turned on when the load of the small cell group exceeds a second load threshold, and setting the transmission power of a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) of each small cell to be a default value, wherein the second load threshold is smaller than the first load threshold;

when the load of the small cell group does not exceed the second load threshold, controlling at least one small cell in the small cell group to be turned off, increasing the transmission power of CRSs of the rest small cells except the at least one small cell, and informing the UE within the coverage of the small cell group of the increased transmission power of the CRS.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein after configuring the cell identity for the small cells in the small cell group, the method further comprises:

receiving a system updating request message sent by a first small cell, wherein the system updating request message comprises updated system parameters;

sending a system update message containing the updated system parameters to small cells other than the first small cell in a small cell group in which the first small cell is located;

or,

receiving a system update message sent by a second small cell, where the system update message includes system parameters negotiated by the second small cell and a small cell in a small cell group in which the second small cell is located, except for the second small cell.

6. A method of controlling a small cell, the method comprising:

reporting the small cell grouping identification of the small cell to a macro base station;

receiving a cell identifier configured by the macro base station for the small cell, where the cell identifier is a cell identifier configured by the macro base station for a small cell in the small cell group after the macro base station generates the small cell group according to the small cell group identifier of the small cell, and small cells included in the small cell group have the same small cell group identifier;

and carrying out unified scheduling transmission on the User Equipment (UE) accessed to the small cell according to the cell identification.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

sending a system update request message to the macro base station, wherein the system update request message contains updated system parameters, so that the macro base station sends a system update message containing the updated system parameters to small cells except the small cells in the small cell group; or,

and after negotiating system parameters with the small cells except the small cells in the small cell group, sending a system update message containing the negotiated system parameters to the macro base station.

8. A base station as a macro base station connected to a plurality of small base stations, comprising: a transceiver and a processor, wherein,

the transceiver is used for receiving the respective small cell group identifier reported by the small cell of each small base station;

the processor is configured to generate a small cell group according to the small cell group identifier of each small cell, where small cells included in the small cell group have the same small cell group identifier, and configure a cell identifier for the small cells in the small cell group, so that the small cells in the small cell group perform unified scheduling transmission on User Equipment (UE) accessing the small cells according to the configured cell identifier.

9. The base station of claim 8,

the processor is specifically configured to configure the same cell identifier for the small cells in the small cell group, or configure the cell identifier for the small cells in the small cell group according to the load condition of the small cell group.

10. The base station of claim 9,

the processor is specifically configured to obtain a load of the small cell group, where the load of the small cell group is a sum of loads reported by each small cell in the small cell group, configure a different cell identifier for each small cell in the small cell group when the load of the small cell group exceeds a first load threshold, and configure the same cell identifier for each small cell in the small cell group when the load of the small cell group does not exceed the first load threshold.

11. The base station of claim 10,

the processor is further configured to control each small cell in the small cell group to turn on when the load of the small cell group exceeds a second load threshold, and set the transmission power of the CRS of each small cell to a default value, where the second load threshold is smaller than the first load threshold; when the load of the small cell group does not exceed the second load threshold, controlling at least one small cell in the small cell group to be turned off, increasing the transmission power of cell-specific reference signals (CRSs) of the rest small cells except the at least one small cell, and notifying the UE within the coverage of the small cell group of the increased transmission power of the CRSs.

12. According to claims 8 to 11, receiving a system update request message sent by a first small cell, where the system update request message includes updated system parameters, and sending a system update message including the updated system parameters to a small cell other than the first small cell in a small cell group in which the first small cell is located, or receiving a system update message sent by a second small cell, where the system update message includes system parameters negotiated by the second small cell and a small cell other than the second small cell in a small cell group in which the second small cell is located.

13. A base station, wherein the base station is a small base station connected to a macro base station, comprising: a transceiver and a processor, wherein,

the transceiver is used for reporting the small cell grouping identification of the small cell to the macro base station;

the processor is configured to receive, by the transceiver, a cell identifier configured by the macro base station for the small cell, and then perform unified scheduling transmission on the UE accessing the small cell according to the cell identifier, where the cell identifier is a cell identifier configured by the macro base station for the small cell in the small cell group after the macro base station generates the small cell group according to the small cell group identifier of the small cell, and small cells included in the small cell group have the same small cell group identifier.

14. The base station of claim 13,

the processor is further configured to send a system update request message to the macro base station through the transceiver, where the system update request message includes updated system parameters, so that the macro base station sends a system update message including the updated system parameters to small cells in the small cell group, except for the small cells; or after negotiating system parameters with the small cells except the small cells in the small cell group, sending a system update message containing the negotiated system parameters to the macro base station through the transceiver.