CN113039831B

CN113039831B - Method and computing device for acquiring information of adjacent cells

Info

Publication number: CN113039831B
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: 2023-05-30
Anticipated expiration: 2038-08-27
Also published as: WO2020034250A1; CN113039831A

Abstract

A method and computing device for obtaining information of neighboring cells are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of obtaining information of at least one neighboring cell by a first wireless communication node, comprises: transmitting 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 first information of at least one corresponding neighbor 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 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

In order 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 is introduced in 3 GPP. For a cell with network-based CRS interference mitigation enabled, the cell's CRS is reduced to 6 resource blocks inside (e.g., 6 resource blocks located in 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, such as CRS-based measurements, CRS-based channel estimation, CRS-based demodulation, etc., on the inner 6 resource blocks in the cell.

Disclosure of Invention

The exemplary embodiments disclosed herein are directed to solving problems associated with one or more of the problems set forth in the prior art, and will provide additional features that are readily appreciated by reference to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. According to various embodiments, exemplary systems, methods, and computer program products are disclosed herein. It should be understood, however, that these embodiments are given by way of example and not limitation, and that various modifications of the disclosed embodiments may be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reading this disclosure while remaining within the scope of the invention.

In E-UTRA, a field cellBarred in a System Information Block (SIB) (e.g., SIB 1) is used to indicate whether or not to quarantine a cell. When the cellBarred value in SIB1 is set to Barred, the wireless communication device in the rrc_idle state is not allowed to select or reselect the cell even in an emergency call. Further, a field nw-BasedCRS-interference mitigation in SIB1 may be used to indicate whether network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in the cell. Furthermore, a new cell indicator strip field cellBarred-CRS may be introduced in SIB 1. For wireless communication devices (hereinafter referred to as "CRS-UEs") capable of performing network-based CRS interference mitigation, the cellBarred-CRS field in SIB1 may be used when determining whether to quarantine the cell. Specifically, when the cellBarred-CRS value in SIB1 is set to Barbar, the cell will be isolated, and when the cellBarred-CRS value in SIB1 is set to notBarred, the cell will not be isolated. For wireless communication devices that are not capable of performing network-based CRS interference mitigation (hereinafter referred to as "non CRS-UEs"), cellBarred may be used when determining whether a cell is isolated. Accordingly, there is a need to develop methods and apparatus for obtaining cell information from neighboring cells to reduce interference and thereby avoid performance degradation of wireless communication devices.

In one embodiment, a method of obtaining information of at least one neighboring cell by a first wireless communication node, comprises: transmitting 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 first information of at least one corresponding neighbor 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 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 first information of at least one corresponding neighbor 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 neighbor cell covered by the second wireless communication node.

In another embodiment, a method for acquiring information of at least one neighboring cell includes: transmitting a first message from the first wireless communication node to the 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 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 may be best understood from the following detailed description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings. Note that the various features are not necessarily drawn to scale. Indeed, the dimensions and geometries of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion.

Fig. 1A illustrates an exemplary wireless communication network according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

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

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

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

Detailed Description

Various exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading this disclosure that various changes or modifications can be made to the examples described herein without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus, the invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments and applications described or illustrated herein. In addition, the particular order or hierarchy of steps in the methods disclosed herein is only an exemplary approach. Based on 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, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the methods and techniques disclosed herein present various steps or acts in an example order, and that the invention is not limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented, unless specifically stated otherwise.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the same or similar parts are shown in different drawings, the same or similar parts may be denoted by the same or similar reference numerals. A detailed description of construction or process well 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 of a user or operator, usage, or the like. Therefore, the definition should be made based on the entire contents of the present specification.

Fig. 1A illustrates an exemplary wireless communication network 100 according to 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, E-UTRA node B (also referred to as an evolved node B, eNodeB or eNB), a gnob (also referred to as a gNB), a pico station, a femto station, etc. in a New Radio (NR) technology. The terminal-side node or User Equipment (UE) may be a remote communication system, such as a mobile phone, a smart phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a tablet, a laptop, or may be a short-range communication system such as, for example, a wearable device, a vehicle with a vehicle communication system, etc. In all embodiments of the present disclosure below, the network and terminal-side communication nodes are represented by BS 102 and UE 104, respectively, and are generally referred to herein as "communication nodes". According to various embodiments of the invention, such communication nodes may be capable of wireless and/or wired communication. Note that all embodiments are merely preferred examples and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Thus, it should be understood that the system may include any desired combination of UE and BS while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

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

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

The system 150 generally includes a first BS 102-1, a second 102-2, and a UE 104, which are collectively referred to hereinafter as BS 102 and UE 104 for ease of discussion. BS 102 each includes BS transceiver module 152, BS antenna array 154, BS memory module 156, BS processor module 158, and network interface 160, each of which are coupled and interconnected to each other as needed via 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 to each other as needed via a data communication bus 190. BS 102 communicates with UEs 104 via communication channel 192, which may be any wireless channel or other medium known in the art suitable for data transmission, as described herein.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the system 150 may also include any number of modules in addition to the modules 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. Those familiar with the concepts described herein may implement such functionality in a suitable manner for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present invention.

The wireless transmission from the transmit antenna of the UE 104 to the receive antenna of the BS 102 is referred to as uplink transmission, and the wireless transmission from the transmit antenna of the BS 102 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 that 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, which includes RF transmitter and receiver circuitry 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 an uplink receiver is coupled to the uplink UE antenna 164 to receive transmissions over the wireless communication channel 192 while a downlink transmitter is coupled to the downlink antenna array 154. Preferably there is tight synchronization timing with only minimal guard time between changes in duplex direction. UE transceiver 162 communicates with BS 102 via wireless communication channel 192 through UE antenna 164. BS transceiver 152 communicates with another BS through BS antenna 154 via 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 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 a particular wireless communication protocol and modulation scheme. In some example embodiments, the UE transceiver 162 and the BS transceiver 152 are configured to support industry standards such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and emerging 5G standards (e.g., NR). However, it should be understood that the present invention is not necessarily limited in application to a particular standard and associated protocol. Rather, the 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 general purpose processors, content addressable memory, digital signal processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, any suitable programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. In this manner, a 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.

Furthermore, 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, 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. Memory modules 156 and 166 may also be integrated into their respective processor modules 158 and 168. In some embodiments, 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 processor modules 158 and 168, respectively. Memory modules 156 and 166 may also each include non-volatile memory for storing instructions to be executed by 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 bi-directional 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, the network interface 160 provides an 802.3 ethernet interface so that the BS transceiver 152 can communicate with a conventional ethernet-based computer network. In this manner, network interface 160 may include a physical interface (e.g., a Mobile Switching Center (MSC)) for connecting to a computer network. The term "configured to" or "configured to" as used herein with respect to a specified operation or function refers 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 BS 102 to communicate with other BSs or core networks via wired or wireless connections.

Referring again to fig. 1A, as described above, BS 102 repeatedly broadcasts system information associated with BS 102 to one or more UEs (e.g., 104) to allow UEs 104 to access the network within the cell (e.g., 110-1 of first BS 102-1 and 110-2 of second BS 102-2) where BS 102 is located (and typically operates normally within the cell). For example, a plurality of information such as downlink and uplink cell bandwidths, downlink and uplink configurations, cell information, configurations for random access, etc. may be included in the system information, which will be discussed in further detail below. In general, BS 102 broadcasts a first signal carrying some primary system information (e.g., configuration of cell 101) over a PBCH (physical broadcast channel). For the sake of clarity of the description, such broadcasted first signal is herein referred to as "first broadcast signal". Note that BS 102 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 by BS 102 in symbol format via a 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 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 locations, number of bits, etc., such as bits of the primary system information. 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 a computer. 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 BS 102 and with other UEs, e.g., side link communications (not shown). As described in further detail below, the UE 104 supports sidelink communications with other UEs and downlink/uplink communications between the BS 102 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 with other UEs from different cells without the BS 102 having to relay data between the UEs.

Fig. 2 illustrates a method 200 for obtaining information from a neighboring cell, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be appreciated 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 BS 102-1, a second BS 102-2, 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. The first BS 102-1 and the second BS 102-2 each support an Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR) function. Although the communication system in fig. 2 includes a first BS 102-1, a second BS 102-2, 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 with operation 202, wherein the UE 104 sends a first message to the first BS 102-1, 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 neighbor cell covered by the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the information of the at least one neighbor cell covered by the second BS 102-2 includes at least one Physical Cell Identity (PCI) of at least one corresponding neighbor 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 neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the ECGI is used to globally identify cells 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 proceeds to operation 204, where the first BS 102-1 compares information of at least one neighbor cell covered by the second BS102-2 received in the first message with 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 neighbor cell of at least one neighbor BS including the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the first table includes at least one of the following corresponding cells: PCI and ECGI. In some embodiments, when at least one ECGI of at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by the second BS102-2 is in the first message, the method continues with operation 214, where the first BS 102-1 may further locate an address of a transport layer of the at least one corresponding neighbor 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 the ECGIs of at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by the second BS102-2, wherein the first BS 102-1 sends a second message to the UE 104 according to 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 BS 102-1 using the newly discovered PCI obtained 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 back the TAC, together with all available PLMN IDs, to the first BS 102-1, cell type information of at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by the second BS102-2 and the ECGI of at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by the second base BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the cell type request indication, reportCellTypeInfo, is a 1-bit value. In some embodiments, the reportCellTypeInfo value is one of the following: boolean values and calculated values. In some embodiments, when the reportCellTypeInfo value is set to enable or TRUE, the UE 104 is required to transmit cell type information of at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by the second BS102-2 to the first BS 102-1. In some other embodiments, when the reportCellTypeInfo value is set to disable or FALSE, the UE 104 is not required to transmit cell type information of at least one corresponding neighbor 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 BS 102-2, according to some embodiments. In some embodiments, the third message comprises a system information message of the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the system information message of the second BS 102-2 includes at least one System Information Block (SIB). In some embodiments, the at least one SIB in the third message includes the ECGI, TAC, of the at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the at least one SIB in the third message further includes a list of PLMN IDs.

In some embodiments, the at least one SIB in the third message further includes a 1-bit field, nw-BasedCRS-interference mitigation, to indicate whether network-based cell-specific reference signal (CRS) interference mitigation is enabled in at least one corresponding neighbor cell covered by the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the nw-basedRS-interaction value may be one of the following: boolean values or numerical values. In some embodiments, when the nw-BasedCRS-interference notification 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-BasedCRS-interference notification field is not present or the nw-BasedCRS-interference notification value is set to disable or FALSE, it indicates that network-based CRS interference mitigation is not enabled in at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2. In cells where network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled (i.e., the nw-base rs-interference mitigation value is set to enable or TRUE), CRS is transmitted in the inner 6 resource blocks. The rrc_idle UE and/or the rrc_connected UE operate with CRS reduced to the inner 6 resource blocks. The UE may only perform CRS-related operations, such as CRS measurement, CRS-based channel estimation, and CRS-based demodulation, on 6 resource blocks.

In some embodiments, the at least one SIB in the third message of the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2 further includes at least one of the following fields: celbarred-CRS and celbarred. In some embodiments, the cellBarred-CRS and cellBarred each comprise a 1-bit value. In some embodiments, the celbarred-CRS and celbarred may each be one of: boolean values or numerical values. In some embodiments, when network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2 (i.e., the nw-base rs-interference mitigation value is set to either enable or TRUE), and when the cell-barred-CRS value is set to non-tbarred or FALSE, at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2 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 BS 102-2 (i.e., the nw-base rs-interference notification value is set to either enable or TRUE), and when the cell-Barred-CRS value is set to Barred or TRUE, the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2 prohibits access from CRS-UEs. In some embodiments, when the cellBarred value is set to notband or FALSE, at least one neighbor cell covered by the second BS 102-2 allows access from a non CRS-UE that is 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 neighbor cell covered by the second BS 102-2 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 sends a fourth message to the first BS 102-1, according to 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 comprises 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 BS 102-2 to the first BS 102-1 using a 1-bit value (i.e., nw-based rs-interference distribution-allocation). In some embodiments, nw-BasedRS-interaction-allowed may be one of the following: boolean values and calculated values. In some embodiments, when the nw-BasedCRS-interference minimization-allocation value is set to either allocation or TRUE, network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2. In some other embodiments, network-based CRS interference mitigation is disabled in at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2 when the nw-BasedCRS-interference minimization value is set to notAllowed or FALSE.

In some embodiments, the nw-basedRS-interaction-allocation value is determined by an nw-basedRS-interaction-mixing field and a cellBarred-CRS field in at least one SIB of the third message from the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the nw-base rs-interface mixing-allocation is determined to be allocated or TRUE when the nw-base rs-interface mixing value is set to enabled or TRUE and the cellBarred-CRS value is set to non-tbarred or FALSE in at least one SIB of the third message. In some other embodiments, the nw-basedRS-interaction-allocation value is determined to be notallocation or FALSE when the nw-basedRS-interaction-allocation value is set to either enable or TRUE and the cellBarred-CRS value is set to either Barred or TRUE in at least one SIB of the third message. In some other embodiments, the nw-basedRS-interaction-allocation value is determined to be non-allocated or FALSE when no nw-basedRS-interaction-allocation field is present in 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 BS 102-2 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 BS 102-2 and access from and at the at least one CRS-UE is barred. 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 BS 102-2, access from the at least one CRS-UE is allowed, and access from the at least one non CRS-UE is barred. When the cell-type value is set to 10, network-based CRS interference mitigation is disabled in at least one neighboring cell covered by the second BS 102-2, access from the at least one non CRS-UE is allowed, and access from the at least one CRS-UE is disabled. 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 BS 102-2, 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 an nw-BasedCRS-interaction notification field, a cell barred-CRS field, and a cell barred field in at least one SIB of the third message. In some embodiments, when the nw-basedRS-interaction mixing field is not present in 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-basedCS-interaction is set to enabled or TRUE:

when both the cellBarred value and the cellBarred-CRS value are set to Barred or TRUE, determining the cell-type value to be 00; when the cellBarred value is set to Barred or TRUE and the cellBarred-CRS is set to notband or FALSE, the cell-type value is determined to be 01; when the cellBarred value is set to notBarred or FALSE and the cellBarred-CRS is set to Barred or TRUE, the cell-type value is determined to be 10; 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 BS 102-2 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 BS 102-2 based on the corresponding ECGI in the CGI information. In some embodiments, the first BS102-1 may also make a handover or mobility decision based on the cell type information. For example, if the first UE 102-1 is a CRS-UE, when the first BS102-1 determines to handover the UE (e.g., UE 104) from BS102-1 to another BS (e.g., BS 102-2), the UE 104 can perform network-based CRS interference mitigation, 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 the cell in which network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled. Thus, the method in the present disclosure may reduce interference between neighboring cells caused by CRS and avoid performance degradation of UEs.

The method 200 continues with operation 214 in which the first BS 102-1 transmits a fifth message to the second BS 102-2, in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the fifth message includes 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 BS 102-1 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 includes first cell type information. In some embodiments, the cell information further includes one of: ECGI, tracking Area Code (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 BS 102-1 to the second BS 102-2 using a 1-bit field (i.e., nw-BasedCRS-interference-allocation). In some embodiments, when the nw-BasedCRS-interference minimization-allowed value is set to allowed or TRUE, network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in the respective cell. In some other embodiments, when the nw-BasedCRS-interference minimization 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 disables access from the at least one CRS-UE and the at least one non CRS-UE. When the cell-type value is set to 01, network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in the respective cell, and the respective cell allows access from the at least one CRS-UE while prohibiting access from the 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 the at least one non CRS-UE while disabling access from the 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 the at least one CRS-UE and the at least one non CRS-UE.

According to some embodiments, the method 200 continues with operation 216, wherein the first BS 102-1 receives a sixth message from the second BS 102-2. In some embodiments, the sixth message includes at least one of: x2 connection establishment acknowledgement and eNB configuration update acknowledgement. In some embodiments, the sixth message includes cell information of at least one respective serving cell covered by the second BS 102-2 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 includes second cell type information. In some embodiments, the cell information further includes at least one of the following in the respective cell: : ECGI, tracking Area Code (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 BS 102-1 from the second BS 102-2 using a 1-bit field (i.e., nw-BasedCRS-interference-allocation). In some embodiments, when the nw-BasedCRS-interference minimization-allowed value is set to allowed or TRUE, network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in the respective cell. In some other embodiments, when the nw-BasedCRS-interference minimization-allocation value is set to notallocation 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 disables access from the at least one CRS-UE and the at least one non CRS-UE. When the cell-type value is set to 01, network-based CRS interference mitigation is enabled in the respective cell, and the respective cell allows access from the at least one CRS-UE while prohibiting access from the 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 the at least one non CRS-UE while disabling access from the 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 the at least one CRS-UE and the at least one non CRS-UE.

Fig. 3 illustrates a method 300 for obtaining information from a neighboring cell in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be appreciated 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 BS 102-1 and a second BS 102-2. The neighboring cell is covered by the second BS 102-2. Both the first BS 102-1 and the second BS 102-2 may support Automatic Neighbor Relation (ANR) functionality. Although the communication system in fig. 3 includes a first BS 102-1 and a second BS 102-2, 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 with operation 302, wherein the first BS 102-1 transmits a first message to the second BS 102-2, in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the first message includes 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 BS 102-1 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 includes first cell type information. In some embodiments, the cell information further includes one of the following for the respective cell: ECGI, tracking Area Code (TAC) and at least one available public land mobile network identity (PLMN ID).

The method 300 continues with operation 304 in which the first BS 102-1 receives a second message from the second BS 102-2, in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the second message includes at least one of: x2 connection establishment acknowledgement and eNB configuration update acknowledgement. In some embodiments, the sixth message includes cell information of at least one respective serving cell covered by the second BS 102-2 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 includes second cell type information. In some embodiments, the cell information further includes at least one of the following in the respective cell: : ECGI, tracking Area Code (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 those of ordinary skill in the art to understand the exemplary features and functions of the 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, one or more features of one embodiment may be combined with one or more features of another embodiment described herein, as will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments.

It should also be appreciated that any reference herein to an element using a designation such as "first," "second," etc. generally does not limit the number or order of those elements. Rather, these designations 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 mean that only two elements can be employed, or that the first element must somehow precede 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, for example, 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 in the art will 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 with electronic hardware (e.g., a digital implementation, an analog implementation, or a combination of both, which may be designed using source code encoding or some other technique), with various forms of program or design code for instructions (referred to herein, for convenience, as "software" or "software modules") or combinations 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 a combination of these techniques, 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.

Moreover, 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 in or performed with an Integrated Circuit (IC) comprising 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, modules, and circuitry may further include an antenna and/or transceiver 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 on a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or code. 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 enables transmission of a computer program or code 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, and 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 one of ordinary skill in the art that two or more modules may be combined to form a single module that performs the relevant functions in accordance with embodiments of the invention.

In addition, memory or other storage and communication components may be employed in embodiments of the present invention. It will be appreciated that for clarity, the above description has described embodiments of the invention with reference to different functional units and processors. It will be apparent, however, 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, functions illustrated as being 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 references to suitable devices 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 present 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 as disclosed herein, as set forth in the following claims.

Claims

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

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

a second message is received from the first wireless communication device,

wherein the first message comprises a request message for first information of the at least one neighboring cell covered by a second wireless communication node, wherein the second message comprises the first information of the at least one 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 neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node, wherein the first message further comprises a cell type request indication, wherein the cell type request indication is used to indicate whether the first wireless communication node requests cell type information of the at least one neighboring cell.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information further comprises 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 Code (TAC) and at least one corresponding available public land mobile network identity (PLMN ID).

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

4. 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.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the third message comprises at least one System Information Block (SIB), wherein the at least one SIB comprises at least one of: a cellBarred-CRS (cell-specific reference signal) field, a cellBarred field and an nw-BasedCRS-interference mixing field.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the nw-BasedCRS-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.

7. The method of claim 5, 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, wherein the second wireless communication device is capable of performing the network-based CRS interference mitigation.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the cellBarred field is to indicate whether the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node allows access from a second wireless communication device, wherein the second wireless communication device is unable to perform the network-based CRS interference mitigation.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein the 2-bit indicator is further 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 and whether the at least one neighboring cell covered by the second wireless communication node allows access from a third wireless communication device, wherein the second wireless communication device is not capable of performing the network-based CRS interference mitigation and the third wireless communication device is capable of performing the network-based CRS interference mitigation.

10. 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

a second message is sent to the first wireless communication node,

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first information further comprises 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 Code (TAC) and at least one corresponding available public land mobile network identity (PLMN ID).

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the cell type information in the second message is indicated by one of: a 1-bit indicator and a 2-bit indicator.

13. The method of claim 10, 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.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the third message comprises at least one System Information Block (SIB), wherein the at least one SIB comprises at least one of: a cellBarred-CRS (cell-specific reference signal) field, a cellBarred field and an nw-BasedCRS-interference mixing field.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the nw-BasedCRS-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.

16. The method of claim 14, 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, wherein the second wireless communication device is capable of performing the network-based CRS interference mitigation.

17. The method of claim 14, 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, wherein the second wireless communication device is unable to perform the network-based CRS interference mitigation.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the 2-bit indicator is further used to indicate whether the at least one neighbor cell covered by the second wireless communication node allows access from a second wireless communication device and whether the at least one neighbor cell covered by the second wireless communication node allows access from a third wireless communication device, wherein the second wireless communication device is not capable of performing the network-based CRS interference mitigation and the third wireless communication device is capable of performing the network-based CRS interference mitigation.

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

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

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

Wherein the first message comprises first cell information of at least one first cell, wherein the second message comprises second cell information of at least one second cell, wherein the first cell and the second cell information each comprise 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, wherein the first message further comprises a cell type request indication, wherein the cell type request indication is used to indicate whether the first wireless communication node requests cell type information of the at least one neighboring cell.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the at least one first cell comprises 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.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the at least one second cell comprises 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.

22. The method of claim 19, 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 Code (TAC) and at least one corresponding available public land mobile network identity (PLMN ID).

23. The method of claim 19, 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.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the 2-bit indicator is further used to indicate whether the at least one neighbor cell covered by the second wireless communication node allows access from a second wireless communication device and whether the at least one neighbor cell covered by the second wireless communication node allows access from a third wireless communication device, wherein the second wireless communication device is not capable of performing the network-based CRS interference mitigation and the third wireless communication device is capable of performing the network-based CRS interference mitigation.

25. 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 one of claims 1 to 24.

26. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for performing the method of any of claims 1 to 24.