CN113039831A

CN113039831A - Method and computing device for acquiring information of adjacent cells

Info

Publication number: CN113039831A
Application number: CN201880096941.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 施小娟; 埃斯瓦尔·卡立安·乌图库里
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2018-08-27
Filing date: 2018-08-27
Publication date: 2021-06-25
Anticipated expiration: 2038-08-27
Also published as: CN113039831B; WO2020034250A1

Abstract

A method and computing device for obtaining information of neighboring cells are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of acquiring information of at least one neighboring cell by a first wireless communication node, comprises: sending a first message to a first wireless communication device; and receiving a second message from the first wireless communication device, wherein the first message comprises a request message for first information of at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by the second wireless communication node, wherein the second message comprises the first information of whether the at least one corresponding neighbor cell is covered by the second wireless communication node, wherein the first information comprises cell type information, and wherein the cell type information is used to indicate whether network-based cell-specific reference signal (CRS) interference mitigation is enabled in the at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by the second wireless communication node.

Description

Method and computing device for acquiring information of adjacent cells

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for obtaining information from neighboring cells to reduce interference to avoid performance degradation on a wireless communication device.

Background

To reduce inter-cell interference caused by Cell Reference Signals (CRS) under low load conditions, a network-based CRS interference mitigation technique in the evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) technique was introduced in 3 GPP. For a cell with network-based CRS interference mitigation enabled, the CRS of the cell is reduced to the inner 6 resource blocks (e.g., the 6 resource blocks located at the center of the cell's bandwidth). A wireless communication device in an IDLE state (RRC _ IDLE) or a CONNECTED state (RRC _ CONNECTED) can only perform CRS-related operations on the inner 6 resource blocks in a cell, such as CRS-based measurements, CRS-based channel estimation, CRS-based demodulation, and so on.

Disclosure of Invention

The exemplary embodiments disclosed herein are intended to solve the problems associated with one or more of the problems presented in the prior art, and to provide additional features that will be readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In accordance with various embodiments, exemplary systems, methods, and computer program products are disclosed herein. It is to be understood, however, that these embodiments are given by way of illustration and not of limitation, and that various modifications to the disclosed embodiments may be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading this disclosure while still being within the scope of the invention.

In E-UTRA, a field cellBarred in a System Information Block (SIB) (e.g., SIB1) is used to indicate whether to quarantine a cell. When the cellBarred value in the SIB1 is set to Barred, the wireless communication apparatus in the RRC _ IDLE state is not allowed to select or reselect the cell even in an emergency call. Further, the field nw-based CRS-interference mitigation in the SIB1 may be used to indicate whether network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in the cell. In addition, a new cell indicator bar field cellBarred-CRS may be introduced in the SIB 1. For wireless communication devices (hereinafter "CRS-UE") capable of performing network-based CRS interference mitigation, the cellBarred-CRS field in SIB1 may be used when determining whether to sequester a cell. Specifically, the cell will be isolated when the cellBarred-CRS value in SIB1 is set to barrer, and will not be isolated when the cellBarred-CRS value in SIB1 is set to notgarred. For wireless communication devices that are not capable of performing network-based CRS interference mitigation (hereinafter "nonCRS-UE"), cellBarred may be used when determining whether a cell is quarantined. Accordingly, there is a need to develop methods and apparatus for obtaining cell information from neighboring cells to reduce interference to avoid performance degradation of wireless communication devices.

In one embodiment, a method of acquiring information of at least one neighboring cell by a first wireless communication node, comprises: sending a first message to a first wireless communication device; and receiving a second message from the first wireless communication device, wherein the first message comprises a request message for first information of at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by the second wireless communication node, wherein the second message comprises the first information of whether the at least one corresponding neighbor cell is covered by the second wireless communication node, wherein the first information comprises cell type information, and wherein the cell type information is used to indicate whether network-based cell-specific reference signal (CRS) interference mitigation is enabled in the at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by the second wireless communication node.

In another embodiment, a method for transmitting information of at least one neighboring cell of a first wireless communication node by a first wireless communication device, comprises: receiving a first message from a first wireless communication node; and transmitting a second message to the first wireless communication node, wherein the first message comprises a request message for first information of at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by the second wireless communication node, wherein the second message comprises the first information of whether the at least one corresponding neighbor cell is covered by the second wireless communication node, wherein the first information comprises cell type information, and wherein the cell type information is used to indicate whether network-based cell-specific reference signal (CRS) interference mitigation is enabled in the at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by the second wireless communication node.

In another embodiment, a method for obtaining information of at least one neighboring cell, comprises: transmitting a first message from a first wireless communication node to a second wireless communication node; and receiving, by the first wireless communication node, a second message from the second wireless communication node, wherein the first message includes first cell information of the at least one corresponding first cell, wherein the second message includes second cell information of the at least one corresponding second cell, wherein the first cell and the second cell information each include cell type information, and wherein the cell type information is used to indicate whether network-based cell-specific reference signal (CRS) interference mitigation is enabled in the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell.

In another embodiment, a computing device includes at least one processor configured to perform the method and a memory coupled to the processor.

However, in another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable medium has stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing the method.

Drawings

Aspects of the disclosure are best understood from the following detailed description when read with the accompanying drawing figures. Note that the various features are not necessarily drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions and geometries of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or decreased for clarity of discussion.

Fig. 1A illustrates an example wireless communication network, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 1B illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless communication system for transmitting and receiving downlink, uplink and sidelink communication signals, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 illustrates a method for obtaining information from neighboring cells in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 illustrates a method for obtaining information from neighboring cells, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Various exemplary embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to the drawings to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading this disclosure that various changes or modifications can be made to the examples described herein without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments and applications described or illustrated herein. Additionally, the particular order or hierarchy of steps in the methods disclosed herein is merely exemplary. Based upon design preferences, the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the methods or processes disclosed may be rearranged while remaining within the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the methods and techniques disclosed herein present the various steps or actions in a sample order, and the invention is not limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented unless otherwise specifically indicated.

Embodiments of the present invention are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the same or similar components are shown in different drawings, the same or similar components may be denoted by the same or similar reference numerals. A detailed description of configurations or processes known in the art may be omitted in order to avoid obscuring the subject matter of the present invention. Further, in the embodiments of the present invention, terms are defined in consideration of their functions, and may be changed according to the intention, usage, and the like of a user or an operator. Therefore, the definition should be made based on the entire contents of the present specification.

Fig. 1A illustrates an example wireless communication network 100 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. In a wireless communication system, a network side communication node or Base Station (BS) may be a node B, an E-UTRA node B (also referred to as evolved node B, eNodeB or eNB), a gNodeB (also referred to as a gNB) in New Radio (NR) technology, a pico station, a femto station, etc. The terminal side node or User Equipment (UE) may be a remote communication system, e.g. a mobile phone, a smartphone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a tablet, a laptop, or may be a short range communication system such as e.g. a wearable device, a vehicle with a vehicle communication system, etc. In all embodiments of the present disclosure below, network and terminal-side communication nodes are represented by BS102 and UE 104, respectively, and are generally referred to herein as "communication nodes. Such a communication node may be capable of wireless and/or wired communication according to various embodiments of the present invention. Note that all the embodiments are only preferred examples, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that the system may include any desired combination of UEs and BSs while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

Referring to fig. 1A, a wireless communication network 100 includes a first BS102-1 (e.g., eNB), a second BS102-2 (e.g., eNB), and a UE 104 (e.g., a non-CRS-UE or a CRS-UE). In some embodiments, the UE 104 forms direct communication (i.e., uplink) channels 103-1 and 103-2 with the first BS102-1 and the second BS102-2, respectively. In some embodiments, the UE 104 also forms direct communication (i.e., downlink) channels 105-1 and 105-2 with the first BS102-1 and the second BS102-2, respectively. The direct communication channel between the UE 104 and the BS102 may pass through an interface such as the Uu interface (which is also referred to as the E-UTRA air interface). The first BS102-1 and the second BS102-2 are connected to a Core Network (CN)108 through external interfaces 107 (e.g., Iu interface and S1 interface), respectively. The first BS102-1 and the second BS102-2 are neighbor BSs. The first cell 110-1 is covered by the first BS102-1 and the second cell 110-2 is covered by the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the first cell 110-1 and the second cell 110-2 are neighboring cells. The direct communication between the first BS102-1 and the second BS102-2 is through the X2 interface.

Fig. 1B illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless communication system 150 for transmitting and receiving downlink and uplink communication signals, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. System 150 may include components and elements configured to support known or conventional operating features that need not be described in detail herein. In one exemplary embodiment, the system 150 can be utilized for transmitting and receiving data symbols in a wireless communication environment, such as the wireless communication network 100 of fig. 1A, as described above.

The system 150 generally includes a first BS102-1, a second BS102-2, and a UE 104, which for ease of discussion will be collectively referred to hereinafter as BS102 and UE 104. BSs 102 each include a BS transceiver module 152, a BS antenna array 154, a BS memory module 156, a BS processor module 158, and a network interface 160, each coupled and interconnected with one another as needed via a data communication bus 180. The UE 104 includes a UE transceiver module 162, a UE antenna 164, a UE memory module 166, a UE processor module 168 and an I/O interface 169, each coupled and interconnected with each other as needed via a data communication bus 190. As described herein, the BS102 communicates with the UE 104 via a communication channel 192, which may be any wireless channel or other medium known in the art suitable for data transmission.

As one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, the system 150 may also include any number of modules other than those shown in fig. 1B. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative blocks, modules, circuits, and processing logic described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware, computer readable software, firmware, or any practical combination thereof. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability and compatibility of hardware, firmware, and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware, firmware, or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans who such a description relates to a suitable implementation of the functionality for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present invention.

Wireless transmission from the transmit antenna of the UE 104 to the receive antenna of the BS102 is referred to as uplink transmission, and wireless transmission from the transmit antenna of the BS102 to the receive antenna of the UE 104 is referred to as downlink transmission. According to some embodiments, the UE transceiver 162 may be referred to herein as an "uplink" transceiver 162, which includes RF transmitter and receiver circuitry that are each coupled to a UE antenna 164. A duplex switch (not shown) may alternatively couple the uplink transmitter or receiver to the uplink antenna in a time-duplex manner. Similarly, BS transceiver 152 may be referred to herein as a "downlink" transceiver 152 that includes RF transmitter and receiver circuits that are each coupled to an antenna array 154, according to some embodiments. The downlink duplex switch may alternatively couple a downlink transmitter or receiver to the downlink antenna array 154 in a time-duplex manner. The operation of the two transceivers 152 and 162 are coordinated in time such that the uplink receiver is coupled to the uplink UE antenna 164 to receive transmissions over the wireless communication channel 192 while the downlink transmitter is coupled to the downlink antenna array 154. Preferably there is close synchronization timing with only minimal guard time between changes in the duplex direction. The UE transceiver 162 communicates with the BS102 through the UE antenna 164 via a wireless communication channel 192. The BS transceiver 152 communicates with another BS through a BS antenna 154 via a wireless communication channel 196. The wireless communication channel 196 may be any wireless channel or other medium known in the art suitable for direct communication between BSs.

The UE transceiver 162 and the BS transceiver 152 are configured to communicate via a wireless data communication channel 192 and cooperate with a suitably configured RF antenna arrangement 154/164 that may support particular wireless communication protocols and modulation schemes. In some demonstrative embodiments, UE transceiver 162 and BS transceiver 152 are configured to support industry standards, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and the emerging 5G standards (e.g., NR). It should be understood, however, that the present invention is not necessarily limited in application to a particular standard and associated protocol. Rather, UE transceiver 162 and BS transceiver 152 may be configured to support alternative or additional wireless data communication protocols, including future standards or variations thereof.

The processor modules 158 and 168 may be implemented or realized with a general purpose processor, a content addressable memory, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, any suitable programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. In this manner, the processor may be implemented as a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, state machine, or the like. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a digital signal processor core, or any other such configuration.

Further, the steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in firmware, in a software module executed by the processor modules 158 and 168, respectively, or in any practical combination thereof. Memory modules 156 and 166 may be implemented as RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. In this regard, the memory modules 156 and 166 may be coupled to the processor modules 158 and 168, respectively, such that the processor modules 158 and 168 may read information from and write information to the memory modules 156 and 166, respectively. The memory modules 156 and 166 may also be integrated into their respective processor modules 158 and 168. In some embodiments, the memory modules 156 and 166 may each include a cache memory for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by the processor modules 158 and 168, respectively. The memory modules 156 and 166 may also each include non-volatile memory for storing instructions for execution by the processor modules 158 and 168, respectively.

Network interface 160 generally represents the hardware, software, firmware, processing logic, and/or other components of base station 102 that enable bidirectional communication between BS transceiver 152 and other network components and communication nodes configured to communicate with BS 102. For example, the network interface 160 may be configured to support internet or WiMAX traffic. In a typical deployment, but not limited to, network interface 160 provides an 802.3 ethernet interface such that BS transceiver 152 can communicate with a conventional ethernet-based computer network. In this manner, the network interface 160 may include a physical interface (e.g., a Mobile Switching Center (MSC)) for connecting to a computer network. The terms "configured to" or "to" as used herein with respect to a specified operation or function refer to a device, component, circuit, structure, machine, signal, etc., that is physically constructed, programmed, formatted, and/or arranged to perform the specified operation or function. Network interface 160 may allow BS102 to communicate with other BSs or core networks via wired or wireless connections.

Referring again to fig. 1A, as described above, BS102 repeatedly broadcasts system information related to BS102 to one or more UEs (e.g., 104) to allow UEs 104 to access networks within the cell (e.g., 110-1 of first BS102-1 and 110-2 of second BS 102-2) in which BS102 (and, in general, operates normally within the cell) is located. For example, a plurality of information such as downlink and uplink cell bandwidths, downlink and uplink configurations, cell information, configurations for random access, and the like may be included in the system information, which will be discussed in further detail below. In general, BS102 broadcasts a first signal carrying some primary system information (e.g., configuration of cell 101) via a PBCH (physical broadcast channel). For purposes of clarity of explanation, such a broadcasted first signal is referred to herein as a "first broadcast signal". Note that BS102 may then broadcast one or more signals carrying some other system information over respective channels (e.g., Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH)) (which are referred to herein as "second broadcast signals", "third broadcast signals", etc.).

Referring again to fig. 1B, in some embodiments, the primary system information carried by the first broadcast signal may be transmitted in a symbol format by BS102 via communication channel 192 (e.g., PBCH). According to some embodiments, the original form of the primary system information may be presented as one or more digital bit sequences, and the one or more digital bit sequences may be processed through a number of steps (e.g., encoding, scrambling, modulating, mapping steps, etc.), all of which may be processed by the BS processor module 158 to become the first broadcast signal. Similarly, according to some embodiments, when the UE 104 receives the first broadcast signal (in symbol format) using the UE transceiver 162, the UE processor module 168 may perform a number of steps (demapping, demodulation, decoding steps, etc.) to estimate the primary system information, e.g., bit position such as bits of the primary system information, number of bits, etc. The UE processor module 168 is also coupled to an I/O interface 169 that provides the UE 104 with the ability to connect to other devices, such as computers. The I/O interface 169 is the communication path between these accessories and the UE processor module 168.

In some embodiments, the UE 104 may operate in a hybrid/heterogeneous communication network in which the UE communicates with the BS102 and with other UEs, e.g., sidelink communications (not shown). As described in further detail below, the UE 104 supports sidelink communications with other UEs and downlink/uplink communications between the BS102 and the UE 104. As described above, sidelink communications allow multiple UEs 104 within a sidelink communication group to establish direct communication links with each other or other UEs from different cells without requiring BS102 to relay data between the UEs.

Fig. 2 illustrates a method 200 for obtaining information from neighboring cells, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood that additional operations may be provided before, during, and after the method 200 of fig. 2, and that some operations may also be omitted or reordered. The communication system in the illustrated embodiment includes a first BS102-1, a second BS102-2, and a UE 104. In the illustrated embodiment, the UE 104 is currently located in one of the at least one serving cell covered by the first BS 102-1. At least one neighboring cell is covered by the second BS 102-2. Both the first BS102-1 and the second BS102-2 support Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR) functionality. Although the communication system in fig. 2 includes a first BS102-1, a second BS102-2, and a UE 104, it should be noted that any number of BSs 102 and UEs 104 may be used and are within the scope of the present invention.

The method 200 begins at operation 202, where the UE 104 transmits a first message to the first BS102-1, according to some embodiments. In some embodiments, the first message is a measurement report. In some embodiments, the first message includes information of at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the information of the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 includes at least one Physical Cell Identity (PCI) of the at least one corresponding neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2. The first message does not include an E-UTRA cell global identifier (ECGI) of at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the ECGI is used to globally identify a cell in a public land mobile network and may be constructed from a Mobile Country Code (MCC), a Mobile Network Code (MNC) and an E-UTRA cell identifier (ECI).

The method 200 continues to operation 204 where the first BS102-1 compares the information of the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 received in the first message with the information in the first table according to some embodiments. In some embodiments, the first table is a conceptual Neighbor Relation Table (NRT). In some embodiments, the first table is manually operated and maintained by an operator and/or automatically operated and maintained by using an Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR) function. In some embodiments, the first table includes information from at least one neighboring cell of at least one neighboring BS including the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the first table comprises at least one of the following corresponding cells: PCI and ECGI. In some embodiments, the method continues with operation 214 when the at least one ECGI of the at least one corresponding neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 is in the first message, wherein the first BS102-1 may further locate an address of a transport layer of the at least one corresponding neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 according to the first table.

In some embodiments, the method 200 continues with operation 206 when the first table does not include ECGIs of at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by the second BS102-2, wherein the first BS102-1 sends the second message to the UE 104, in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the second message is an ECGI request message for instructing the UE 104 to read the ECGI, Tracking Area Code (TAC) and at least one available public land mobile network identity (PLMN ID) of at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by the second BS102-2 to the first BS102-1 using the newly discovered PCI acquired from the first message as a parameter. In some embodiments, the second message further includes a cell type request indication indicating whether the UE 104 is required to send cell type information of at least one corresponding neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 and the ECGI, TAC, and all available PLMN IDs of the at least one corresponding neighboring cell covered by the second base BS102-2 back to the first BS 102-1. In some embodiments, the cell type request indication, reportCellTypeInfo, is a 1-bit value. In some embodiments, the reportCellTypeInfo value is one of: boolean and calculated values. In some embodiments, when the reportCellTypeInfo value is set to enable or TRUE, the UE 104 is required to send cell type information of at least one corresponding neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 to the first BS 102-1. In some other embodiments, when the reportCellTypeInfo value is set to disabled or FALSE, the UE 104 is not required to transmit cell type information of at least one corresponding neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 to the first BS 102-1.

The method 200 continues with operation 208 in which the UE 104 receives a third message from the second BS102-2, in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the third message comprises a system information message for the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the system information message of the second BS102-2 includes at least one System Information Block (SIB). In some embodiments, the at least one SIB in the third message includes an ECGI, TAC, of at least one corresponding neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the at least one SIB in the third message further comprises a list of PLMN IDs.

In some embodiments, the at least one SIB in the third message further includes a 1-bit field, nw-based CRS-interference mitigation, to indicate whether network-based cell-specific reference signal (CRS) interference mitigation is enabled in at least one corresponding neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the nw-based crs-interference neutralization value may be one of: boolean or numeric values. In some embodiments, when the nw-based CRS-interference mitigation value is set to enabled or tune, it indicates that network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, when the nw-based CRS-interference mitigation field is not present or the nw-based CRS-interference mitigation value is set to disabled or FALSE, it indicates that network-based CRS interference mitigation is not enabled in the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2. In a cell with network-based CRS interference mitigation enabled (i.e., with the nw-based CRS-interference mitigation value set to enable or TRUE), CRS is transmitted in the inner 6 resource blocks. The RRC _ IDLE UE and/or RRC _ CONNECTED UE operate with CRS reduced to the inner 6 resource blocks. The UE may perform CRS-related operations, such as CRS measurements, CRS-based channel estimation, and CRS-based demodulation, on only 6 resource blocks.

In some embodiments, the at least one SIB in the third message for the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 further includes at least one of the following fields: cellBarred-CRS and cellBarred. In some embodiments, the cellBarred-CRS and cellBarred each comprise a 1-bit value. In some embodiments, the cellBarred-CRS and cellBarred may each be one of: boolean or numeric values. In some embodiments, when network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 (i.e., nw-based CRS-interference mitigation value is set to enable or TRUE), and when cellular barred-CRS value is set to notgarred or FALSE, at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 allows access from CRS-UEs capable of performing network-based CRS interference mitigation. In some other embodiments, when network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 (i.e., nw-based CRS-interference mitigation value is set to enable or TRUE), and when cellular Barred-CRS value is set to Barred or TRUE, at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 prohibits access from CRS-UEs. In some embodiments, when the cellBarred value is set to notgarred or FALSE, at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 allows access from non CRS-UEs that are not capable of performing network-based CRS interference mitigation. In some other embodiments, when the cellBarred value is set to Barred or TRUE, at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 prohibits access from non CRS-UEs that are not capable of performing network-based CRS interference mitigation.

The method 200 continues with operation 210 in which the UE 102 transmits a fourth message to the first BS102-1, in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the fourth message includes CGI information of at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the CGI information of the fourth message includes cell type information of at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the CGI information of the fourth message further includes at least one of the following in at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2: ECGI, TAC value and at least one available PLMN ID.

In some embodiments, the UE 104 reports cell type information of at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 to the first BS102-1 using a 1-bit value (i.e., nw-based crs-interference cancellation-allowed). In some embodiments, the nw-based crs-interference differentiation-allowed may be one of: boolean and calculated values. In some embodiments, network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 when the nw-based CRS-interference cancellation-allowed value is set to allowed or TRUE. In some other embodiments, network-based CRS interference mitigation is disabled in at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 when the nw-based CRS-interference mitigation value is set to notAllowed or FALSE.

In some embodiments, the nw-based CRS-interfering interference value is determined by the nw-based CRS-interfering interference field and the cellBarred-CRS field in the at least one SIB of the third message from the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the nw-based CRS-interfering transmission-affected is determined to be affected or TRUE when the nw-based CRS-interfering transmission value is set to enabled or TRUE and the cellBarred-CRS value is set to notBarred or FALSE in the at least one SIB of the third message. In some other embodiments, the nw-based CRS-interfering interference-affected value is determined to be notimpacted or FALSE when the nw-based CRS-interfering interference value is set to enable or TRUE and the cellBarred-CRS value is set to Barred or TRUE in the at least one SIB of the third message. In some other embodiments, the nw-base crs-interference-allowed value is determined to be notallelled or FALSE when the nw-base crs-interference field is absent in the at least one SIB of the third message.

In some other embodiments, the cell type information of at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 is indicated by a 2-bit field (i.e., cell-type) for indicating the cell type information. When the cell-type value is set to 00, network-based CRS interference mitigation is not enabled in at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 and access from at least one CRS-UE and at least one non CRS-UE is prohibited. When the cell-type value is set to 01, network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2, access from at least one CRS-UE is allowed, and access from at least one non CRS-UE is prohibited. When the cell-type value is set to 10, network-based CRS interference mitigation is disabled, access from at least one non CRS-UE is allowed, and access from at least one CRS-UE is prohibited in at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2. When the cell-type value is set to 11, network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2, allowing access from at least one CRS-UE and at least one non CRS-UE.

In some embodiments, the cell-type value is determined by the UE 104 from the nw-based CRS-interference suppression field, the cellBarred-CRS field, and the cellBarred field in the at least one SIB of the third message. In some embodiments, when the nw-based crs-interference suppression field is not present in the at least one SIB of the third message:

if the cellBarred value is set to Barred or TRUE, the cell-type value is determined to be 00.

If the cellBarred value is set to notBarred or FALSE, the cell-type value is determined to be 10.

In some embodiments, when nw-basecrs-interferencesimulation is set to enabled or TRUE:

determining a cell-type value as 00 when both the cellBarred value and the cellBarred-CRS value are set to Barred or TRUE; determining a cell-type value as 01 when a cellBarred value is set to Barred or TRUE and a cellBarred-CRS is set to notgarred or FALSE; determining a cell-type value as 10 when the cellBarred value is set to notBarred or FALSE and the cellBarred-CRS is set to Barred or TRUE; when both the cellBarred value and the cellBarred-CRS are set to notBarred or FALSE, the cell-type value is determined to be 11.

The method 200 continues with operation 212 in which the first BS102-1 adds CGI information of at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 to the first table, according to some embodiments. In some embodiments, the first BS102-1 may also look up the transport layer address of at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS102-2 according to the corresponding ECGI in the CGI information. In some embodiments, the first BS102-1 may also make handover or mobility decisions based on cell type information. For example, if the first UE 102-1 is a CRS-UE, when the first BS102-1 determines to handover a UE (e.g., UE 104) from the BS102-1 to another BS (e.g., BS 102-2), the UE 104 may be able to perform network-based CRS interference mitigation, and the first BS102-1 may handover the UE 104 to a cell that enables network-based CRS interference mitigation. For another example, when the UE 104 is a non CRS-UE that is not capable of performing network-based CRS interference mitigation, the first BS102-1 may ensure that the UE 104 is not handed over to a cell in which network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled. Accordingly, the method in the present disclosure may reduce interference between neighboring cells caused by CRS and avoid performance degradation of the UE.

The method 200 continues with operation 214 where the first BS102-1 transmits a fifth message to the second BS102-2 in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the fifth message comprises at least one of: x2 connection setup request and eNB configuration update. In some embodiments, the fifth message includes cell information of at least one corresponding serving cell covered by the first BS102-1 and cell information of at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by a neighbor BS of the first BS 102-1. In some embodiments, the cell information comprises first cell type information. In some embodiments, the cell information further comprises one of: ECGI, tracking area number (TAC) and at least one available public land mobile network identity (PLMN ID).

In some embodiments, the first cell type information is transmitted from the first BS102-1 to the second BS102-2 using a 1-bit field (i.e., nw-based crs-interference cancellation-allowed). In some embodiments, network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in a respective cell when an nw-based CRS-interference cancellation-allowed value is set to allowed or TRUE. In some other embodiments, when the nw-based CRS-interference mitigation value is set to notAllowed or FALSE, network-based CRS interference mitigation is disabled in the respective cell.

In some other embodiments, the first cell type information is indicated by a 2-bit field (i.e., cell-type). When the cell-type value is set to 00, network-based CRS interference mitigation is disabled in the respective cell, and the respective cell prohibits access from at least one CRS-UE and at least one non CRS-UE. When the cell-type value is set to 01, network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in the corresponding cell, and the corresponding cell allows access from at least one CRS-UE and prohibits access from at least one non CRS-UE. When the cell-type value is set to 10, network-based CRS interference mitigation is disabled in the corresponding cell, and the corresponding cell allows access from at least one non CRS-UE and prohibits access from at least one CRS-UE. When the cell-type value is set to 11, network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in the respective cell, and the respective cell allows access from at least one CRS-UE and at least one non CRS-UE.

The method 200 continues with operation 216, where the first BS102-1 receives a sixth message from the second BS102-2, in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the sixth message comprises at least one of: x2 connection setup confirmation and eNB configuration update confirmation. In some embodiments, the sixth message includes cell information of at least one respective serving cell covered by the second BS102-2 and cell information of at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by a neighbor BS of the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the cell information comprises second cell type information. In some embodiments, the cell information further comprises at least one of the following in the respective cell: : ECGI, tracking area number (TAC) and at least one available public land mobile network identity (PLMN ID).

In some embodiments, the second cell type information is accepted by the first BS102-1 from the second BS102-2 using a 1-bit field (i.e., nw-based crs-interference cancellation-allowed). In some embodiments, network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in a respective cell when an nw-based CRS-interference cancellation-allowed value is set to allowed or TRUE. In some other embodiments, when the nw-based CRS-interference cancellation-allowed value is set to notallelled or FALSE, network-based CRS interference mitigation is disabled in the respective cell.

In some other embodiments, the second cell type information is indicated by a 2-bit field (i.e., cell-type). When the cell-type value is set to 00, network-based CRS interference mitigation is disabled in the respective cell, and the respective cell prohibits access from at least one CRS-UE and at least one non CRS-UE. When the cell-type value is set to 01, network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in the corresponding cell, and the corresponding cell allows access from at least one CRS-UE and prohibits access from at least one non CRS-UE. When the cell-type value is set to 10, network-based CRS interference mitigation is disabled in the corresponding cell, and the corresponding cell allows access from at least one non CRS-UE and prohibits access from at least one CRS-UE. When the cell-type value is set to 11, network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in the respective cell, and the respective cell allows access from at least one CRS-UE and at least one non CRS-UE.

Fig. 3 illustrates a method 300 for obtaining information from neighboring cells, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood that additional operations may be provided before, during, and after the method 300 of fig. 3, and that some operations may be omitted or reordered. The communication system in the illustrated embodiment includes a first BS102-1 and a second BS 102-2. The neighboring cell is covered by the second BS 102-2. Both the first BS102-1 and the second BS102-2 may support Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR) functionality. Although the communication system in fig. 3 includes first BS102-1 and second BS102-2, it should be noted that any number of BSs 102 may be used and are within the scope of the present invention.

The method 300 begins at operation 302, where the first BS102-1 transmits a first message to the second BS102-2, in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the first message comprises at least one of: x2 connection setup request and eNB configuration update. In some embodiments, the first message includes cell information of at least one corresponding serving cell covered by the first BS102-1 and cell information of at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by a neighbor BS of the first BS 102-1. In some embodiments, the cell information comprises first cell type information. In some embodiments, the cell information further comprises one of the following for the respective cell: ECGI, tracking area number (TAC) and at least one available public land mobile network identity (PLMN ID).

The method 300 continues with operation 304 in which the first BS102-1 receives a second message from the second BS102-2, in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the second message comprises at least one of: x2 connection setup confirmation and eNB configuration update confirmation. In some embodiments, the sixth message includes cell information of at least one respective serving cell covered by the second BS102-2 and cell information of at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by a neighbor BS of the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the cell information comprises second cell type information. In some embodiments, the cell information further comprises at least one of the following in the respective cell: : ECGI, tracking area number (TAC) and at least one available Public Land Mobile Network Identity (PLMNID).

While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Likewise, the various figures may depict example architectures or configurations provided to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to understand the example features and functionality of the present invention. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention is not limited to the example architectures or configurations shown, but may be implemented using a variety of alternative architectures and configurations. In addition, as one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, one or more features of one embodiment may be combined with one or more features of another embodiment described herein. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments.

It will also be understood that any reference herein to elements using a name such as "first," "second," etc., does not generally limit the number or order of those elements. Rather, these names may be used herein as a convenient means of distinguishing between two or more elements or instances of an element. Thus, reference to first and second elements does not imply that only two elements are used or that the first element must be somehow before the second element.

In addition, those of ordinary skill in the art would understand that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits and symbols that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

Those of ordinary skill would further appreciate that any of the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, processors, devices, circuits, methods, and functions described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware (e.g., a digital implementation, an analog implementation, or a combination of the two, which may be designed using source code encoding or some other technique), with program or design code in various forms of instructions (referred to herein, for convenience, as "software" or a "software module"), or with a combination of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware, firmware, or software, or combinations of such technologies, depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

Furthermore, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, devices, components, and circuits described herein may be implemented or performed in Integrated Circuits (ICs) including a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, or any combination thereof. The logic blocks, modules and circuits may further include antennas and/or transceivers to communicate with various components within the network or within the device. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suitable configuration to perform the functions described herein.

If implemented in software, the functions may be stored as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Thus, the steps of a method or algorithm disclosed herein may be implemented as software stored on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that can cause a computer program or code to be transferred from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.

As used herein, the term "module" refers to software, firmware, hardware, and any combination of these elements to perform the relevant functions described herein. In addition, for purposes of discussion, the various modules are described as discrete modules; however, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that two or more modules may be combined to form a single module that performs the associated functions according to embodiments of the present invention.

Additionally, memory or other storage and communication components may be employed in embodiments of the present invention. It will be appreciated that the above description for clarity has described embodiments of the invention with reference to different functional units and processors. However, it will be apparent that any suitable distribution of functionality between different functional units, processing logic elements or domains may be used without detracting from the invention. For example, functionality illustrated to be performed by separate processing logic elements or controllers may be performed by the same processing logic elements or controllers. Thus, references to specific functional units are only to references to suitable means for providing the described functionality rather than indicative of a strict logical or physical structure or organization.

Various modifications to the embodiments described in this disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the novel features and principles disclosed herein as set forth in the following claims.

Claims

1. A method of acquiring information of at least one neighboring cell by a first wireless communication node, comprising:

sending a first message to a first wireless communication device; and

receiving a second message from the first wireless communication device,

wherein the first message comprises a request message for first information of the at least one corresponding neighboring cell covered by a second wireless communication node, wherein the second message comprises the first information of the at least one corresponding neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node, wherein the first information comprises cell type information, and wherein the cell type information is used to indicate whether network-based cell-specific reference signal (CRS) interference mitigation is enabled in the at least one corresponding neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message further comprises a cell type request indication, wherein the cell type request indication indicates whether the first wireless communication node requests cell type information of the at least one corresponding neighbor cell.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information further comprises the at least one of the following in the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node: a corresponding E-UTRA cell global identifier (ECGI), a corresponding tracking area number (TAC), and at least one corresponding available public land mobile network identification (PLMN ID).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the cell type information in the second message is indicated by the one of: a 1-bit indicator and a 2-bit indicator.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the cell type information of the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node is determined by the first wireless communication device from a third message received from the second wireless communication node.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the third message comprises at least one System Information Block (SIB), wherein the at least one SIB comprises at least one of the following: a cellBarred-CRS (cell specific reference signal) field, a cellBarred field, and an nw-basecrs-interference cancellation field.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the nw-based CRS-interferential mitigation field is to indicate whether the network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the cellBarred-CRS field is used to indicate whether the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node allows access from a second wireless communication device capable of performing the network-based CRS interference mitigation.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the cellBarred field is used to indicate whether the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node allows access from a second wireless communication device that is unable to perform the network-based CRS interference mitigation.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the 2-bit indicator is further for indicating whether the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node allows access from a second wireless communication device that is unable to perform the network-based CRS interference mitigation and whether the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node allows access from a third wireless communication device that is able to perform the network-based CRS interference mitigation.

11. A method for transmitting information of at least one neighboring cell of a first wireless communication node by a first wireless communication device, comprising:

receiving a first message from the first wireless communication node; and

sending a second message to the first wireless communication node,

wherein the first message comprises a request message for first information of the at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by a second wireless communication node, wherein the second message comprises the first information of whether at least one corresponding neighbor cell is covered by the second wireless communication node, wherein the first information comprises cell type information, and wherein the cell type information is used to indicate whether network-based cell-specific reference signal (CRS) interference mitigation is enabled in the at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by the second wireless communication node.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first message further comprises a cell type request indication, wherein the cell type request indication indicates whether the first wireless communication node requests cell type information of the at least one corresponding neighbor cell.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first information further comprises the at least one of the following in the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node: a corresponding E-UTRA cell global identifier (ECGI), a corresponding tracking area number (TAC), and at least one corresponding available public land mobile network identification (PLMN ID).

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the cell type information in the second message is indicated by the one of: a 1-bit indicator and a 2-bit indicator.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the cell type information of the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node is determined by the first wireless communication device from a third message received from the second wireless communication node.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the third message comprises at least one System Information Block (SIB), wherein the at least one SIB comprises at least one of the following: a cellBarred-CRS (cell specific reference signal) field, a cellBarred field, and an nw-basecrs-interference cancellation field.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the nw-based CRS-interference mitigation field is used to indicate whether the network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the cellBarred-CRS field is used to indicate whether the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node allows access from a second wireless communication device capable of performing the network-based CRS interference mitigation.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the cellBarred field is used to indicate whether the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node allows access from a second wireless communication device that is unable to perform the network-based CRS interference mitigation.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the 2-bit indicator is further for indicating whether the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node allows access from a second wireless communication device that is unable to perform the network-based CRS interference mitigation and whether the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node allows access from a third wireless communication device that is able to perform the network-based CRS interference mitigation.

21. A method for obtaining information of at least one neighboring cell, comprising:

transmitting a first message from a first wireless communication node to a second wireless communication node; and

receiving, by the first wireless communication node, a second message from the second wireless communication node,

wherein the first message includes first cell information of at least one corresponding first cell, wherein the second message includes second cell information of at least one corresponding second cell, wherein the first cell and the second cell information each include cell type information, and wherein the cell type information is to indicate whether network-based cell-specific reference signal (CRS) interference mitigation is enabled in the at least one first cell and the at least one second cell.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the at least one first cell comprises the at least one of: a third cell covered by the first wireless communication node and a fourth cell covered by a neighboring wireless communication node of the first wireless communication node.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the at least one second cell comprises the at least one of: a third cell covered by the second wireless communication node and a fourth cell covered by a neighboring wireless communication node of the second wireless communication node.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the first cell information and the second cell information each further comprise at least one of: a corresponding E-UTRA cell global identifier (ECGI), a corresponding tracking area number (TAC), and at least one corresponding available public land mobile network identification (PLMN ID).

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the first message and the second message each comprise at least one of the following for cell type indication: a 1-bit indicator and a 2-bit indicator.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the 2-bit indicator is further for indicating whether the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node allows access from a second wireless communication device that is unable to perform the network-based CRS interference mitigation and whether the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node allows access from a third wireless communication device that is able to perform the network-based CRS interference mitigation.

27. A computing device comprising at least one processor and a memory coupled to the processor, the at least one processor configured to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 26.

28. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 26.