KR20130093161A - Interference management in a wireless communication system using beam and null steering - Google Patents

Abstract

Interference occurring during wireless communication can be managed through the use of beams and the use of null steering techniques. The communication method, apparatus, and medium determine the direction of interference of non-associated access terminals that produce coherent signals. The transmitted and received signals are transmitted and received away from the direction of interference.

Description

INTERFERENCE MANAGEMENT IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM USING BEAM AND NULL STEERING}

[0001] The present invention is jointly owned by the agent dock No. United States Provisional Patent Application No. assigned on November 27, 2007, assigned as 080324P1. 60 / 990,541; Agent No. United States Provisional Patent Application No. assigned on November 27, 2007, assigned as 080325P1. 60 / 990,547; Agent No. United States Provisional Patent Application No. assigned on November 27, 2007, assigned as 080301P1. 60 / 990,459; Agent No. 080330P1, filed on November 27, 2007, and assigned U.S. Pat. 60 / 990,513; Agent No. United States Provisional Patent Application No. assigned on November 27, 2007, assigned as 080323P1. 60 / 990,564; And agent no. United States Provisional Patent Application No. assigned on November 27, 2007, assigned as 080331Pl. Claims the advantages and priorities of 60 / 990,570, each of which is incorporated herein by reference.

The present application relates generally to wireless communication, and not exclusively, but more particularly to communication performance improvement.

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication (eg, voice, data, multimedia services, etc.) to multiple users. As the demand for high speed and multimedia data services has grown rapidly, there has been a goal to implement efficient and robust communication systems with enhanced performance.

To complement conventional mobile phone network base stations, small-coverage base stations can be deployed (eg, mounted in a user's home) to provide more powerful indoor wireless coverage for mobile units. These small-coverage base stations are generally known as access points, base stations, home NodeBs, or femto cells. Typically, these small-coverage base stations are connected to the Internet and mobile operator's network via a DSL router or cable modem.

[0005] The radio frequency (RF) coverage of the small-coverage base stations may not be optimized by the mobile operator and the deployment of such base stations may be ad-hoc and may cause RF interference . Also, soft handover may not be supported for small-coverage base stations. As a result, the mobile station may not be allowed to communicate with the access point having the best RF signal due to restricted association (ie, closed subscriber group) requirements. Thus, there is a need for improved interference management for wireless networks.

The present invention relates to interference management through the use of antenna steering techniques. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication method includes determining an interference direction of an unassociated access terminal that generates a coherent signal. When the direction of interference is determined, signals are transmitted and received away from the direction of interference.

In another example embodiment, an apparatus for communication includes an interference controller configured to determine an interference direction of an unassociated access terminal that generates a coherent signal. When the direction of interference is determined, the communication controller sends and receives (ie, transmits and receives) signals away from the direction of interference.

[0008] These and other aspects of the present invention are disclosed in the following claims and detailed description.
1 is a simplified block diagram of some sample aspects of a communication system;
2 is a simplified block diagram illustrating some sample aspects of components in a sample communication system;
[0011] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of several sample aspects for operations that may be performed to manage interference;
4 is a simplified diagram of a wireless communication system;
FIG. 5A is a simplified diagram of a wireless communication system including femto nodes; FIG.
FIG. 5B is a simplified diagram of a particular placement of access terminals and femto nodes illustrating negative geometries; FIG.
6 is a simplified diagram illustrating coverage areas for wireless communication;
[0016] FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of some sample aspects of operations that may be performed to manage interference through the use of null steering and beams;
[0017] FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of some sample aspects of operations that may be performed to manage interference through the use of optimized reduced power levels for an overhead channel;
9 is a flowchart of several sample aspects of operations that may be performed to manage interference through the use of reduced power levels optimized for an overhead channel;
10 is a flow chart of several sample aspects of operations that may be performed to manage interference through the use of frequency selective transmission to solve negative geometries and jamming;
11A-11B are flow diagrams of several sample aspects of operations that may be performed to manage interference through the use of path loss adjustment and adaptive noise figure;
12 is a flowchart of some sample aspects of operations that may be performed to manage interference through the use of subframe time reuse techniques;
FIG. 13 is a slot diagram illustrating time sharing between femto nodes that may be performed to manage interference through the use of hybrid time reuse techniques; FIG.
14 is a flowchart of some sample aspects of operations that may be performed to manage interference through the use of hybrid time reuse;
15 is a simplified block diagram of some sample aspects of communication components; And
16-21 are simplified block diagrams of some sample aspects of apparatuses configured to manage interference as indicated in the present invention.
[0026] In accordance with conventional practice, the various features illustrated in the figures may not be drawn to scale. Thus, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily enlarged or reduced for clarity. In addition, some of the drawings may be simplified for clarity. Thus, the drawings may not depict all components of the presented method or apparatus (or devices). Finally, like reference numerals may be used to denote like features throughout the specification and figures.

[0027] Various aspects of the present invention are disclosed below. It should be appreciated that the descriptions of the invention may be embodied in various forms and that any particular structure, function or functionality and structure disclosed herein is merely illustrative. Based on the description of the present invention, those skilled in the art will recognize that aspects disclosed in the present invention may be implemented independently of any other aspects, and that two or more aspects of these aspects may be combined in various ways. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of aspects disclosed in the present invention. In addition, such an apparatus may be implemented or such a method may be practiced using other structure, functionality, or additional structure and functionality in addition to one or more aspects disclosed herein. In addition, aspects may include at least one element of the claim.

In some aspects, the descriptions of the present invention provide macro scale coverage (such as large area cellular network, such as 3G networks typically considered a macro cell network) and small scale coverage (such as residential type). (residence-based or building-based network environments). As the access terminal (AT) moves through this network, the access terminal can be served at specific locations by access nodes (AN) providing macro coverage, while the access terminal provides access scale providing small scale coverage. May be served at other locations. In some aspects, small coverage nodes may be used to provide incremental capacity growth, in-building coverage, and other services (such as for a more robust user experience) . In the description of the present invention, a node providing coverage through a relatively large area may be considered a macro node. A node providing coverage through a relatively small area (such as a house) may be considered a femto node. A node that provides coverage over a zone that is smaller than the macro zone and that is larger than the femto zone may be considered a pico node (e.g., providing coverage within the mall).

A cell associated with a macro node, femto node, or pico node may be considered a macro cell, femto cell, or pico cell, respectively. In some implementations, each cell can be further associated with (eg, divided into one or more sectors) with one or more sectors.

In various applications, other techniques may be used with reference to macro nodes, femto nodes or pico nodes. For example, a macro node may be configured or considered as an access node, a base station, an access point, an eNodeB, a macrocell, or the like. Further, the femto node may be constituted or considered as a home NodeB, a home eNodeB, an access point, a base station, a femtocell, or the like.

1 illustrates sample aspects of communication system 100, wherein distributed nodes (eg, access points 102, 104, 106) may roam an associated geographic area. It provides a wireless connection to other nodes (eg, access terminals 108, 110, 112) that may be installed in an existing or associated geographic area. In some aspects, access points 102, 104, 106 may communicate with one or more network nodes (eg, a centralized network controller such as network node 114) to facilitate wide area network connectivity. .

[0032] An access point, such as access point 104, may be limited to allow only certain access terminals (eg, access terminal 110) to access the access point, or the access point may be restricted in some other way. In such a case, a restricted access point and / or its associated access terminals (e.g., access terminal 110) may communicate with other nodes of the system 100, such as an unrestricted access point (e.g., a macro access point 102 ), Associated access terminals (e.g., access terminal 108, another restricted access point (e.g., access point 106, or associated access terminals (e.g., access terminal 112) For example, the access point closest to the proposed access terminal may not be serving access points to the access terminal. As a result, transmissions by the access terminal may interfere with reception at the access terminal. As discussed herein, frequency reuse, frequency selective transmission, interference cancellation, and the use of smart antennas (such as null steerin g) and other techniques can be used to mitigate the interference.

[0033] Sample operations of a system, such as system 100, are discussed in more detail in connection with the flow diagram of FIG. For convenience, the operations of FIG. 2 (or any other operations discussed or discussed herein) may be performed by specific components (such as components and / or systems 100 of system 300 as shown in FIG. 3) ) Components). ≪ / RTI > It should be appreciated, however, that such operations may be performed by other types of components and may be performed using other numbers of components. It should also be appreciated that one or more of the operations disclosed herein may not be used in the presented implementations.

[0034] For purposes of illustration, various aspects of the present invention are disclosed in the context of a network node, an access point, and an access terminal communicating with each other. However, it should be appreciated that the description of the present invention may be applied to other forms of apparatus or other forms of apparatus referred to as using other techniques.

[0035] Figure 3 illustrates some sample components that may be integrated into a network node 114 (such as a wireless network controller), an access point 104, and an access terminal 110 in accordance with the description of the present invention . It should be appreciated that the components illustrated for one of these nodes may be incorporated into other nodes of the system 100. [

Each of the network node 114, the access point 104, and the access terminal 110 include transceivers 302, 304, 306 for communicating with each other and with other nodes. The transceiver 302 includes a transmitter 308 for transmitting signals and a receiver 310 for receiving signals. The transceiver 304 includes a transmitter 312 for transmitting signals and a receiver 314 for receiving signals. The transceiver 306 includes a transmitter 316 for transmitting signals and a receiver 318 for receiving signals.

In an exemplary implementation, the access point 104 communicates with the access terminal 110 via one or more wireless communication links and the access point 104 communicates with the network node 114 via a backhaul. Wireless or non-wireless links may be used between these nodes or other nodes in various implementations. Accordingly, transceivers 302, 304, and 306 may include wireless and / or non-wireless communication components.

[0038] Network node 114, access point 104 and access terminal 110 also include various other components that may be used in conjunction with interference management as described in the present invention. For example, the network node 114, the access point 104, and the access terminal 110 may each include interference controllers 320, 322, 324, ). The interference controllers 320, 322, and 324 may include one or more components for performing a specific type of interference management. Network node 114, access point 104, and access terminal 110, respectively, communicate controllers 326, 328, and 330 to manage communication with other nodes and provide other related functions as described herein. ) May be included. The network node 114, the access point 104 and the access terminal 110 are each configured to control the communication with the other nodes and provide other functions related to the timing controllers 332, 334, as described herein. 336). Other components illustrated in Figure 3 are discussed in the following description.

For purposes of illustration, the interference controller 320, 322 is shown to include several controller components. In practice, however, the proposed implementation may not use all of these components. Here, the Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) controller component 338 or 340 provides functionality associated with HARQ interlace operations as described in the present invention. Profile controller component 342 or 344 provides functionality associated with receiving attenuation operations or transmitting power profiles as described in the present invention. The timeslot controller component 346 or 348 provides the functionality associated with timeslot partial operations as described herein. Antenna controller component 350 or 352 provides functionality related to smart antennas (such as beamforming and / or null steering) as described herein. The receive noise controller component 354 or 356 provides functions associated with path loss adjustment operations and adaptive noise figure as described in the present invention. The transmit power controller component 358 or 360 provides functionality related to transmit power operations as described herein. The time reuse controller component 362 or 364 provides functionality associated with time reuse operations as described in the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates how network node 114, access point 104 and access terminal 110 may interact with each other to provide interference management (such as interference mitigation). In some aspects, these operations may be used on the uplink and / or downlink to mitigate interference. In general, one or more techniques disclosed by FIG. 2 may be used in more specific embodiments disclosed with respect to FIGS. 7-14 below. Thus, for the sake of clarity, the description of more specific implementations may not disclose these techniques in detail again.

As indicated by block 202, the network node 114 (such as the interference controller 320) may selectively limit one or more parameters for the access point 104 and / or the access terminal 110 . These parameters may take various forms. For example, in some implementations, the network node 114 can define forms of interference management information. Examples of these parameters are described in more detail below with respect to Figures 7-14.

In some aspects, definition of the interference parameters may involve determining how one or more resources can be allocated. For example, the operations of block 402 involve limiting how the allocated resources (such as frequency spectrum, etc.) can be partitioned for fractional reuse. In addition, the limitation of the partial reuse parameters may determine how many allocated resources (such as how many HARQ interlaces, etc.) can be used by any one of a set of access points (such as restricted access points). May involve making a decision. In addition, the limitation of the partial reuse parameters may involve determining how much resource can be used by a set of access points (such as limited access points).

[0043] In some aspects, the network node 114 may limit the parameters based on the received information indicating whether there is interference on the uplink or downlink, and if there is interference on the uplink or the downlink , This interference range can be limited. This information may be received in various ways (e.g., backhaul, wirelessly, etc.) at the system (e.g., access points and / or access terminals).

For example, in some cases, one or more access points (such as access point 104) monitor the uplink and / or downlink and determine the interference detected on the uplink and / or downlink. The indication may be sent to the network node 114 (eg, in repetitive principle or upon receipt of the request). As an example for the former case, the access point 104 calculates the signal strength, and is near associated with the access point 104 (such as the access terminals 108 and 112). Receive them from the network and write them to the network node 114.

In some cases, each of the access points in the system may generate a load indication when they experience a relatively high loading. This indication may take the form of, for example, a busy bit in IxEV-DO, a relative grant channel (RGCH) in 3GPP, or some other suitable form. In a typical scenario, the access point may send this information to the access terminal associated with it on the downlink. However, this information may be sent to the network node 11 (eg, via a backhaul).

[0046] In some cases, one or more access terminals (e.g., access terminal 110) may monitor the downlink signals and provide information based on such monitoring. The access terminal 110 sends this information to the access point 104 (eg, capable of forwarding the information to the network node 114) or to the network node 114 (via the access point 104). Can transmit Other access terminals in the system can send information to the network node 114 in a similar manner.

)로부터의 신호들과 연관되는 수신된 신호 강도 표시, 액세스 포인트들 각각에 대한 경로 손실, 또는 일부 다른 적절한 형태의 정보를 표시할 수 있다. 일부 경우들에서, 측정 리포트는 다운링크를 통해 수신된 액세스 단말(110)의 임의의 로드 표시들과 관련되는 정보를 포함할 수 있다.In some cases, the access terminal 110 may generate measurement reports (eg, in an iterative principle). In some aspects, this measurement report may include information from which access points the access terminal 110 is receiving signals, each access point (e.g.,

Display a received signal strength indication associated with signals from C), a path loss for each of the access points, or some other suitable form of information. In some cases, the measurement report may include information related to any load indications of the access terminal 110 received via the downlink.

[0048] The network node 114 may be configured to receive information from one or more measurement reports to determine whether the access point 104 and / or the access terminal 110 is relatively close to another node (eg, another access point or access terminal) Can be used. In addition, network node 114 may use this information to determine if any such nodes interfere with any other of these nodes. For example, network node 114 may determine the signal strength received at the node and the path loss between these nodes based on the transmit power of the node to which the signals were transmitted.

In some cases, the access terminal 110 may generate information indicative of a signal to noise ratio (eg, signal and interference to noise ratio, SINR) on the downlink. For example, such information may include channel quality indication (CQI), data rate control (DRC) indication, or some other suitable information. In some cases, this information may be sent to the access point 104 and the access point 104 may forward this information to the network node 114 for use in interference management operations. In some aspects, network node 114 may use this information to determine whether there is interference on the downlink or whether the interference of the downlink is increasing or decreasing.

As described in more detail below, in some cases interference-related information may be used to determine how to mitigate interference. By way of example, CQI or other suitable information may be received based on the per-HARQ interlace principle, which may determine which HARQ interlaces are associated with the lowest level of interference. Similar techniques may be used for other partial reuse techniques.

It should be appreciated that network node 114 may define parameters in a variety of other ways. For example, in some cases, the network node 114 may randomly select one or more parameters.

As indicated by block 204, the network node 114 (such as the communication controller 326) transmits interference management parameters defined to the access point 104. As discussed below, in some cases, the access point 104 uses these parameters and in some cases the access point 104 forwards these parameters to the access terminal 110.

In some cases, network node 114 manages interference in the system by defining interference management parameters to be used by two or more nodes of the system (such as access points and / or access terminals). can do. For example, in the case of a partial reuse scheme, the network node 114 may transfer other (eg, mutually exclusive) interference management parameters to adjacent access points (eg, access points potentially close enough to interfere with each other). Can transmit As a specific example, the network node 114 may assign a first HARQ interlace to the access point 104 and a second HARQ interlace to the access point 106. In this way, communication at a limited one access point may not substantially interfere with communication at another limited access point.

As indicated by block 206, the access point 104 (such as the interference controller 322) may determine interference management parameters that may be used or transmitted to the access terminal 110. If the network node 114 defines interference management parameters for the access point 104, this determining operation simply involves receiving the specified parameters and / or retrieving the specified parameters (eg, from the data memory). It may be accompanied.

In some cases, the access point 104 itself determines interference management parameters. These parameters may be similar to the parameters discussed above with respect to block 202. In addition, in some cases, these parameters can be determined in a similar manner as discussed in block 202. For example, the access point 104 may receive information (such as measurement reports, CQI, DRC) from the access terminal 110. In addition, the access point 104 may monitor the uplink and / or downlink to determine interference on this link. In addition, the access point 104 may randomly select the parameters.

In some cases, the access point 104 may cooperate with one or more other access points to determine the interference management parameter. For example, in some cases, the access point 104 may determine which parameters are used by the access point (and thereby select other parameters) or other (eg, mutually exclusive) parameters. Communication with the access point 106 to negotiate their use. In some cases, the access point 104 may determine whether the access point may interfere with another node (eg, based on CQI feedback indicating that another node is using resources), and the access point May interfere with other nodes, it may define interference management parameters to mitigate this potential interference.

As indicated by block 208, the access point 104 (such as the communication controller 328) may send interference management parameters or other related information to the access terminal 110. In some cases, this information may be related to power control (eg, specifying uplink transmit power).

[0058] As indicated by blocks 210 and 212, the access point 104 may be transmitted on the downlink to the access terminal 110, or the access terminal 110 may be transmitted on the uplink to the access point 104 have. Here, the access point 104 may use interference management parameters for transmission on the downlink and / or for reception on the uplink. Similarly, the access terminal 110 may take such interference management parameters in consideration of when it is received on the downlink or when it is transmitted on the uplink.

[0059] In some implementations, the access terminal 110 (eg, the interference controller 306) may define one or more interference management parameters. Such parameters may be used by access terminal 110 (such as by communication controller 330) and / or transmitted to access point 104 (such as for use during uplink operations). Can be.

4 illustrates a wireless communication system 400 configured to support a number of users, where the descriptions of the invention may be implemented. System 400 provides communication for multiple cells 402, such as, for example, macro cells 402A-402G, each cell having a corresponding access node 404 (such as access nodes 404A). -404G)). As shown in FIG. 4, access terminals 406 (such as access terminals 406A-406L) may be located at various locations throughout the system over time. Each access terminal 406 may communicate with a downlink (DL) (also known as a forward link (FL)) and / or uplink (DL) based on whether the access terminal 406 is active and in soft handoff May communicate with one or more access nodes 404 on a link (UL) (also known as a reverse link (RL)). The wireless communication system 400 can provide services over a large geographic area. For example, macrocells 402A-402G may cover several adjacent blocks.

As mentioned, a localized access point or node that provides coverage for a relatively small area (such as a house) may be considered a femto node. 5A illustrates an exemplary communication system 500 in which one or more femto nodes are located within a network environment. In particular, the system 500 includes a plurality of femto nodes 510 (e.g., femto nodes 510A and 510B) installed in a relatively small scale network environment (such as one or more user homes 530) . Each femto node 510 may be coupled to mobile operator core network 550 and wide area network 540 (such as the Internet) via a DSL router, cable modem, wireless link, or other connection means (not shown). have. As discussed below, each femto node 510 may have associated access terminals 520 (such as access terminal 520A), and optionally non-associated (different) access terminals 520. (Eg, access terminal 520F). In other words, access to femto nodes 510 is such that the presented access terminal 520 is served by a set of designated home femto node (s) 510, but any unspecified alien femto node 510. (Such as adjacent femto node 510) may be restricted.

[0062] FIG. 5B illustrates in more detail the negative geometry of a plurality of femto nodes and access terminals in a network environment. In particular, femto node 510A and femto node 510B are disposed in adjacent user home 530A and user home 530B, respectively. Access terminals 520A-520C are allowed to associate and communicate with femto node 510A, but are not allowed to associate and communicate with femto node 510. [ Similarly, access terminal 520D and access terminal 520E are allowed to associate and communicate with femto node 510B, but not to associate with and communicate with femto node 510A. Access terminal 520F and access terminal 520G are not allowed to associate or communicate with either femto node 510A or femto node 510B. Access terminal 520F and access terminal 520G may be associated with a macro cell access node (FIG. 5A) or another femto node in another home (not shown).

In an unplanned femto node 510 deployment with limited association (ie, an access point may not be allowed to be associated with a "closest" femto node that provides the most preferred signal quality). Jamming and negative geometries can be common. Further solutions for addressing these negative geometries are further described below.

[0064] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a coverage map 600, where several tracking areas 602 (or routing areas or location areas) are defined, each of which includes several macro coverage areas 604). Here, the coverage areas associated with the tracking areas 602A, 602B, 602C are indicated by bold lines and the macro coverage areas 604 are indicated by hexagons. In addition, the tracking zone 602 includes femto coverage zones 606. In this example, each femto coverage area 606 (such as femto coverage area 606C) is shown within macro coverage area 604 (such as macro coverage area 604B). However, femto coverage area 606 may not be entirely within macro coverage area 604. In practice, a substantial number of femto coverage areas 606 may be limited to the proposed tracking area 602 or the macro coverage area 604. In addition, the pico coverage area (not shown) may be defined within the presented tracking area 602 or macro coverage area 604.

[0065] Referring again to Figures 5a-5b, the femto node 510 itself may subscribe to mobile services, such as 3G mobile services, for example, provided via the mobile operator core network 550. [ In addition, the access terminal 520 may operate in both macro environments and small scale (e. G., Residential) network environments. In other words, depending on the current location of the access terminal 520, the access terminal 520 may be accessed by the access node 560 of the macro cell mobile network 550 or a set of femto nodes 510 (such as May be served by any one of femto nodes 510A, 510B residing within user home 530. For example, when a subscriber is outside his home, he is served by a standard macro access node (such as node 560) and when the subscriber is at home, he is a femto node (such as node 510A). Served by. Here, it should be appreciated that the femto node 520 may be backward compatible with the current access terminals 520.

[0066] The femto node 510 may be arranged at a single frequency, or alternatively, at multiple frequencies. Depending on the particular configuration, a single frequency or one or more multiple frequencies may overlap with one or more frequencies used by the macro node (e.g., node 560).

[0067] In some aspects, the access terminal 520 may be configured to be connected to a preferred femto node (eg, the home femto node of the associated access terminal 520) whenever a connection is available. For example, it may be desirable for the access terminal 520 to communicate only with the home femto node 510 when the access terminal 520 is in the user's home 530.

[0068] In some aspects, if the access terminal 520 operates within the macro cellular network 550 (eg, as it is limited to the preferred roaming list) and does not reside on the most preferred network, the access terminal 520 May use a Better System Reselection (BSR), which may involve periodic scanning of available systems to determine whether better systems are currently available, and efforts to associate with future preferred systems , And continue to search for the most preferred network (e. G., Home femto node 510). With an acquisition entry, the access terminal 520 can limit the search for a particular band and channel. For example, the search for the most preferred system may be repeated periodically. With the discovery of the preferred femto node 510, the access terminal 520 selects the femto node 510 for camping within its coverage area.

In some aspects femto node may be limited. For example, the presented femto node may only provide certain services to certain access terminals. In deployments using so-called limited (or closed) associations, the presented access terminal may be connected to a macro cell mobile network and a limited set of femto nodes (eg, femto nodes 510 residing in the corresponding user home 530). Can only be served. In some implementations, the node may be constrained not to provide at least one of signaling, data access, restriction, paging, or service for at least one node.

In some aspects, a limited or alien femto node (which may also be considered a closed subscriber group home NodeB) is a node that provides services to a provided set of restricted access terminals. This set can be extended temporarily or permanently as needed. In some aspects, a closed subscriber group (CSG) may be defined as a set of access nodes (eg femto nodes) that share a common access control list of access terminals. The channel on which all femto nodes (or all restricted femto nodes) in the region operate may be considered a femto channel.

[0071] Thus, there can be various relationships between the proposed femto node and the presented access terminal. For example, with respect to an access terminal, an open femto node may be considered a femto node without limited association. The restricted femto node may be considered a femto node that is limited in some way (eg, limited to association and / or restriction). A home femto node may be considered a femto node for which an access terminal is authorized to access and operate. A guest femto node may be considered a femto node that is temporarily allowed to access and operate by the access terminal. A restricted or alien femto node may be considered a femto node for which the access terminal is not authorized to access or operate, except in emergency situations (such as a 911 call).

In connection with a restricted or other femto node, an associated or home access terminal may be considered an access terminal authorized to access the restricted femto node. The guest access terminal may be considered an access terminal with temporary access to a restricted femto node. A non-associated (alien) access terminal does not have permission to access a restricted femto node, except for emergency situations such as, for example, a 911 call (eg, to a limited femto node). Registering may be considered an authenticated or unauthorized access terminal).

For convenience, the description of the present invention discloses various functions in connection with a femto node. However, it should be appreciated that for large coverage areas, pico nodes may provide similar or identical functionality. For example, the pico node can be limited and there can be ways in which the home pico node can be defined for the presented access terminal.

[0074] A wireless multiple-access communication system may simultaneously support communication for multiple wireless access terminals. As mentioned above, each terminal may communicate with one or more base stations via transmissions on the downlink (forward link) and uplink (reverse link). The downlink is considered the communication link from the base stations to the terminals, and the uplink is considered the communication link from the terminals to the base stations. Such a communication link may be established through a single-input-single-output system, a multiple-input-multi-output (MIMO) system or some other type of system.

이다. N_S의 독립적 채널들 각각은 디멘션(dimension)에 해당한다. 다수의 전송 안테나들 및 수신 안테나들에 의해 생성되는 추가의 디멘션들(dimensionalities)이 이용될 경우 MIMO 시스템은 개선된 성능(이를 테면 높은 처리량 및/또는 큰 신뢰성)을 제공할 수 있다.The MIMO system uses multiple (N _T ) transmit antennas and multiple (N _R ) receive antennas for data transmission. N _T Transmit Antennas and N _R The MIMO channel formed by the receive antennas can be broken down into independent channels of N _S , which are considered spatial channels, where

to be. Each of the independent channels of N _S corresponds to a dimension. A MIMO system may provide improved performance (e.g., higher throughput and / or greater reliability) when additional dimensions created by multiple transmit antennas and receive antennas are utilized.

The MIMO system may support time division duplex (TDD) and frequency division duplex (FDD). In TDD systems, forward and reverse link transmissions occur in the same frequency domain so that the reciprocity principle allows estimation of the downlink (forward link) channel from the uplink (reverse link) channel. This allows the access point to extract the transmit beamforming gain on the downlink when multiple antennas are available at the access point.

As mentioned, in unplanned base station deployments with limited association (ie, the mobile station is not allowed to be associated with the "closest" base station with the strongest link), jamming and negative geometry Can be common. In one example embodiment spatially disclosed with respect to FIG. 5B, femto node 5110A and femto node 51OB are located in adjacent homes. Access terminals 520A-520C are allowed to associate and communicate with femto node 510A, but are not allowed to associate and communicate with femto node 510B. Similarly, access terminals 520D-520E are allowed to associate and communicate with femto node 510B, but association and communication with femto node 510A is not allowed. Access terminals 520F-520G are not allowed to associate or communicate with one of the femto nodes 510A-51OB. Access terminals 520F-520G may be associated with macrocell access node 560 (FIG. 5A), or with another femto node in another housing (not shown). Thus, these negative geometries associated with access-allowed femto nodes and adjacent access terminals can be computed when various interference or propagation disturb conditions exist on the uplink and downlink.

Uplink jamming (uplink jamming)

가 각각 펨토 노드(510A)와 액세스 단말(520C) 및 액세스 단말(520D) 사이에서의 경로 손실이라 한다. 특히,

는

보다 상당히 클 수 있다. 따라서, 액세스 단말(520D)가 그의 홈 펨토 노드(510B)로 전송될 때, 이는 펨토 노드(510A)에서 과도한 간섭(또는 전파방해)를 야기시켜 펨토 노드(510A)에서 액세스 단말들(520A-C)의 수신을 효과적으로 차단한다. 이러한 업링크 전파방해 상황에서, 액세스 단말(520C)이 최대 Tx 전력 P_3max에서 전송되더라도, 펨토 노드(510A)에서 액세스 단말에 대해 수신된 C/I는,[0079] By way of example And

Denotes a path loss between the femto node 510A, the access terminal 520C, and the access terminal 520D, respectively. Especially,

The

Can be significantly larger. Thus, when the access terminal 520D is transmitted to its home femtocell 510B, it causes excessive interference (or interference) in the femto node 510A, thereby causing the access terminals 520A-C ) From being received. In this uplink interference situation, even if the access terminal 520C is transmitted at the maximum Tx power P _3max , the C / I received for the access terminal at the femto node 510A is:

로 특징화될 수 있다.C / I (AT 520C at femto node 510A)

It can be characterized as.

In some example embodiments, with respect to transmit power P ₅ , the C / I of the access terminal 520C at the femto node 510A may be a very large negative value due to the large value of L _A3 . The geometry of this configuration is considered a highly negative uplink geometry.

Downlink jamming [0081]

[0082] Similarly, in an exemplary embodiment, L _B5 may be much larger than L _A5 . This causes excessive interference (or interference) at the access terminal 520D when the femto node 510A is transmitted to the access terminal 520A, so that the reception of the femto node 510B at the access terminal 520D can be efficiently performed. It can be blocked. In this downlink interference situation, the C / I received for the femto node 510B at the access terminal 520D is

로 계산될 수 있다.C / I (femtocell B at AT 5) =

Lt; / RTI >

Again, C / I of femto node 510B at access terminal 520D may be a very large negative value due to the large value of L _B5 . This configuration geometry is considered a highly negative downlink geometry.

Further implementation considerations include addressing negative geometries that do not involve modifications to the operation of deployed (legacy) access terminals. Thus, in this exemplary embodiment, it would be desirable to address interference mitigation from negative geometries through a deformation process at the femto node, rather than requiring modifications to the access terminals. Accordingly, negative geometries in the uplink and downlink are preferably solved in accordance with the exemplary embodiment disclosed below.

With reference to FIGS. 7 and 5A-5B, operations related to using beam-steering and null-steering to address jamming and negative geometries are more described. It is disclosed in detail. This exemplary embodiment utilizes methods and apparatuses for preventing radio interference and negative geometries using beam-steering and null-steering in unplanned base station deployments with limited access.

[0086] In an exemplary femto node placement scenario, nearby signals (desired or interfered) may include a plurality of reflected paths in Rician and indoor environments including intrinsically strong directional components, But may be flat fading across the frequency band due to a small delay-spread. Particularly for jamming situations, sectorization can provide a preferred method against the strong lysian component of interference.

As indicated by block 702, the femto node 510 listens sequentially for transmissions from the access terminals 520 (ie, in accordance with the various receiver configurations disclosed herein). As indicated by query portion 704, the femto node 510 determines by the access terminal that an access probe (e.g., transmission) is directed to the femto node 510. If the detected access probe of the access terminal is directed to a particular femto node 510, interference mitigation is not needed, as indicated by block 706, since the access terminal is an “association” access terminal with a “home” femto node.

[0088] As indicated by query portion 708, the femto node 510 compares the characteristics of the access probe (eg, power level) to determine if it is at a threshold level sufficient to produce interference at the home femto node. If the access probe does not exceed the interference threshold, interference mitigation is not needed, as indicated by block 706, because the nature of the access probe by the “home” femto node 510 yields acceptable interference.

As indicated by block 710, if the home femto node 510 receives an access probe that is sufficiently strong (ie, greater than an interference threshold) or otherwise receives a strong uplink transmission from an unassociated access terminal 520, The home femto node 510 may be beamformed (eg, steer) to steer the lack of signals or signals (ie, nulls) towards the unassociated access terminal 520 over the downlink and uplink. Directional transmit and receive antennas).

As an example, beam-forming (ie, beam-steering) may be referred to as the sectorized or directed disclosed herein to form a transmit signal beam and / or null or a receive signal beam and / or null Such as a switched beam) antenna configuration. In particular, interference nulling is provided to the received radio frequency (RF) signal, such that A / D desensitization and front-end overload of the receiver, which are calculated from jamming femto nodes. problems such as overload can be reduced. In addition, sectorized or directional antenna configurations may allow the downlink and uplink to maintain the same directional components for use in both link directions.

As indicated by block 712, in any case traffic channel transmissions as well as downlink pilot and overhead transmissions are sent according to beam-forming such that minimum energy is directed toward a nearby unrelated access terminal. The transmission signal steering from an unassociated access terminal yields a reduction of the negative geometry at the unassociated access terminal.

[0092] As indicated by block 714, the directional null may be used as a directional null using the antenna arrangement disclosed in the present invention (such as a null-steering or sectored antenna using adaptive phased arrays) And is steered towards the nearby non-associated access terminal 520. Thus, when the associated access terminal 520 is attempted to communicate with the home femto node 510, the access probes and other traffic (eg, voice / data) communications of the associated access terminals are nearby unassociated with negative geometries. Not disturbed by strong transmissions from access terminals.

As an example, if an access point uses two separate antennas, the AP may monitor AT access probe characteristics on both antennas. If a strong uplink transmission from an unassociated access terminal at one of the antennas is determined, the AP may turn off the transmit function (beam steering) and receive function (null steering) for that antenna.

[0094] Periodically (eg, once per second) femto node 510, as indicated by query portion 716, erases the sectorization null in the receiving direction, thereby undesirably strong unassociated as indicated by block 702. Determine whether access terminal 520 has moved or terminated its communication. If the undesired strong signal disappears, as indicated by query portion 704, the femto node 510 may erase the synchronization null and continue omni-directional transmission and reception as indicated by block 706. [ If an unwanted strong signal still exists or exceeds the threshold as indicated by block 708, the femto node 510 is directed towards the undesired access terminal 520, as indicated by block 710, of sectorized null steering. You can coordinate transmission and reception.

The example with reference to FIG. 5B is a sectorization null upon active call using femto node 510B in the direction of unassociated access terminal 520D as long as there is an unassociated access terminal 520D. Illustrates a femto node 510A that steers the reception and transmission of a. When the unassociated access terminal 520D is idle, the femto node 510A returns back to operate omni-directional transmission and reception.

During the period in which the femto node steers the sectorization null in a particular direction, if there are any associated access terminals 520 in the same direction, they will experience outage. Thus, in an exemplary embodiment, femto node 510 may be configured to: (i) as long as unwanted strong unassociated access terminals 520 are active, and (ii) unwanted transmissions from unassociated access terminals 520. Only if the receiver exceeds the high signal strength threshold as determined at query 408, the sectorized nulls are steered, meaning that access probes from the desired associated access terminals are not decodable at femto node 510. Referring to FIG. 5B, it is noted that the femto node 510B does not need to steer the sectorization null in the direction of the unassociated access terminal 520A since the signal from the unassociated access terminal 520A is not very strong. If the femto node 510B steers this sectoring null towards an unassociated access terminal 520A, then the sectoring null causes an outage at the desired associated access terminal 520E.

[0097] According to the general case of the disclosed method, if the AP can not determine the direction of the interference from the unassociated access terminal (e.g., very strong jamming of the AP receiver is saturated), the associated AT for beam steering and null steering May be attempted to maximize the received signal quality.

With reference to FIGS. 8 and 5A-5B, operations related to using optimized transmit power on overhead channels to solve jamming and negative geometries are described in detail. This exemplary embodiment utilizes methods and apparatuses to prevent jamming and negative geometry using optimized transmit power levels over overhead channels in unplanned base station deployments.

In general, the transmit power gain of the overhead channels and the overall transmit power of the femto node are selected based on the femto node in the desired range. In order to allow the access terminals to acquire the femto node at a location where the access terminal is disturbed by nearby femto nodes that limit the association, a common control such as overhead channels (pilot, synch and broadcast / paging) Channels) may be Time-multiplexed. Methods for time multiplexing and various numbers of time scales are contemplated. In addition, the overhead channels can only be turned on only periodically, e.g., at the slot cycle index of the associated access terminals, so that the associated access terminals can receive paging messages. In another configuration, the femto node may not transmit any signal at all.

However, during an active voice call or data transmission, there may be no idle state periods allowing an adjacent femto node an opportunity to time multiplex the propagation disturb situations of the overhead channels caused by the negative geometries. Thus, an exemplary embodiment provides for overhead signals (such as pilot, synch and broadcast / paging channels) when there is an active call at the femto node and time multiplexing of the overhead signals is not performed. A method for optimizing transmit power is disclosed.

[00101] For examples of IxRTT and WCDMA networks, overhead channels (eg, pilot, page, synchronization channels) gain settings are adjusted for specific performance based on geometry and coverage constraints. In addition, femto node deployments exhibit some significant difference compared to macro cell access node deployments. The various cars include the following:

1. Due to the limited coverage size, the maximum path loss values in the areas serviced by the femto nodes (such as cells) as compared to the zones serviced by the macrocell access nodes (such as cells) (E.g., up to 80 dB path loss compared to 140 dB in a macrocellular deployment);

2. The number of concurrently active access terminals is smaller in cells served by femto nodes than in cells served by macro cell access nodes (eg 1-2 users compared to 20-40 users). ;

3. As discussed above, due to the femto node of limited association requirements, negative geometries can be common for femto node deployments, as opposed to macro cell access node deployments.

Such differences may yield very different optimal power settings for overhead channels for femto nodes 510. In general, because the femto node 510 contains few access terminals 520 that are not active, the overhead channels may be macro cell access nodes 560 (ie, co-channel). It may be desirable to be kept at a minimum power setpoint to minimize interference to cells served by the cell) and adjacent cells served by the femto nodes 510. By way of example, while one exemplary embodiment focuses on pilot channel optimization, analysis for other overhead channels may likewise be applied.

와 동시에 결정된다. 다운링크(순방향 링크) 전력 제어가 트래픽-대-파일럿의 변경된 비율(modified ratio)을 산출할 때, 파일럿 전력은 인접 펨토 노드에 의해 야기되는 간섭 및 전체 전송된 전력의 최저 값을 유지하도록 조정된다.In an example embodiment, the optimal traffic-to-pilot (T2P) value for the case of a single voice call is the default pilot power set point.

Is determined at the same time. When the downlink (forward link) power control computes a modified ratio of traffic-to-pilot, the pilot power is adjusted to maintain the lowest value of interference and total transmitted power caused by the adjacent femto node .

As an example, at the border of the home femto node 510A and the adjacent femto node 510B, the access terminal 520A exhibits the same path loss for both the femto nodes 510 and the adjacent femto node 520B (full power) to generate the interference Ior_max. In this example, assuming that the home femto node 510A transmits a pilot channel at the gain level Ecp, the pilot signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) may be recorded as Ecp / Ior_max. In accordance with this exemplary embodiment, it may be desirable to find an optimal Ecp setting that yields the lowest overall transmit power from the home femto node 510A.

로 초기화된다. 따라서, Ecp의 디폴트 값

은 펨토 네트워크들에서 예상되는 적당한 로드(reasonable load) 및 경로 손실 차(differential) 값들에 기초하여 결정될 수 있다. As indicated by block 802, the pilot channel gain level Ecp is

. Therefore, the default value of Ecp

May be determined based on the reasonable load and path loss differential values expected in the femto networks.

As indicated by block 804, a traffic call (such as a voice call) is established between the home femto 510A and the access terminal 520A with the power used on the traffic channel labeled Ect. In an exemplary embodiment, the Ect value is determined by downlink (forward link) power control, as indicated by query portion 806. Downlink (forward link FL) power control is used to manage the required quality of service (eg, packet error rate, PER). Downlink (forward link FL) power controls may indicate a decrease in Ect as indicated by block 808, an increase in Ect as indicated by block 810, or no change in Ect.

As indicated at query unit 812, the determination of the packet error rate (PER) is used to identify the appropriate signal quality. In general, if Ecp is very low, the channel estimation quality is reduced to yield a very large Ect. As Ecp increases, the channel estimation is improved and the required Ect is reduced. However, if Ecp is very large, the channel quality estimate is larger than the required amount and does not yield any additional reduction in Ect. Thus, if the PER is inadequate, downlink (forward link FL) power control adjusts EcT.

가 결정되며, 여기서Since the interference generated for other femto nodes is required to be minimized, it may be desirable to have an optimal Ecp value that yields a minimum (Ect + Ecp). As shown in block 814,

Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 >

이며,

Is,

Other optimized Ecp values are found that minimize the overall transmit power, where

이다.

to be.

는 오프라인 시뮬레이션들 또는 테스트들을 통해 결정될 수 있다)(function

Can be determined through offline simulations or tests)

Next, as indicated by block 816, the optimal Ect value is

로 결정된다.

.

는[00109] As indicated by block 818,

The

로 결정된다.

.

및

를 찾아내도록 실행될 수 있다. 예시적인 일 실시예에서, 이러한 최적화 값들은 인접 펨토 노드로부터 수신되는 간섭 전력 및 인접 펨토 노드에 대한 액세스 단말의 특정한 경로 손실 차(differential)와 관련된다(예를 들어, 모바일 단말이 홈 펨토와 비교할 때 인접 펨토 보다 3dB 적은 경로 손실을 갖는 경우, 최적의 Ecp 및 Ect 값들은 3dB 만큼 증가될 필요가 있다). In another example embodiment, the simulations are femto nodes with low Doppler that can be tracked by power control, for example using one of the flat fading models Rayleigh or Lysian. For typical channel types expected in the cells of

And

Quot ;. < / RTI > In one exemplary embodiment, these optimization values are related to the interference power received from the neighboring femto node and the specific path loss differential of the access terminal for the neighboring femto node (eg, the mobile terminal will compare with the home femto). If the path loss is 3dB less than the adjacent femto, the optimal Ecp and Ect values need to be increased by 3dB).

은 펨토 네트워크들에서 예상되는 적당한 로드(reasonable load) 및 경로 손실 차 값들에 기초하여 결정될 수 있다. Meanwhile, in an alternative exemplary embodiment, if an adjacent femto node is sent at half of Ior_max, the optimal Ecp and Ect values need to be reduced by 3 dB. However, it is not very practical to modify Ecp values very frequently because it is because the Ecp values determine the handoff boundaries of the femtocell. Thus, as mentioned, the default value of Ecp

Can be determined based on reasonable load and path loss difference values expected in femto networks.

With reference to FIG. 9, in one exemplary embodiment, multiple calls occurring between a femto node and multiple associated access terminals to maintain optimal operation when higher than expected load and path loss differences. For each of these, the following algorithm can be executed.

로 초기화된다. 따라서, Ecp의 디폴트 값

은 펨토 네트워크들에서 예상되는 적당한 로드 및 경로 손실 차 값들에 기초하여 결정될 수 있다.As indicated by block 902, the pilot channel gain level Ecp may be determined for analysis of each voice call.

. Therefore, the default value of Ecp

May be determined based on appropriate load and path loss differential values expected in the femto networks.

[00114] As indicated at block 904, the process is repeated for each call that is established between the access terminal 520 associated with the home femto 510A with the power used on the traffic channel denoted Ect. In one exemplary embodiment, the Ect value is determined by downlink (forward link FL) power control as indicated by query 906. Downlink (forward link FL) power control is used to manage the required quality of service (eg, packet error rate, PER). Downlink (forward link FL) power controls may indicate a decrease in Ect as indicated by block 908, an increase in Ect as indicated by block 910, or no change in Ect.

[00115] As indicated by query 912, the determination of packet error rate (PER) is used to identify the appropriate signal quality. Thus, if the PER is inadequate, the downlink (forward link FL) power control adjusts Ect

(이를 테면,

/

)이 호출 동안 모니터링된다. T2P 필터링의 목적은 T2P 계산으로부터 작은 스케일 변동(small scale fluctuation)들을 없애는 것이다. 이를 테면, 이동 평균 필터(moving average filter)는 각각

및

를 계산하기 위해 Ect 및 Ecp 값들을 필터링하는데 이용된다.[00116] As indicated by block 918,

(For example,

Of

) Is monitored during the call. The purpose of T2P filtering is to eliminate small scale fluctuations from T2P calculations. For example, moving average filters

And

It is used to filter the Ect and Ecp values to compute.

의 값에 따른 결정이 이루어진다.

이면, 블록 922으로 표시된 것처럼, Ecp는

로 증가된다.As shown in the query unit 920,

The decision is made according to the value of.

, As indicated by block 922, Ecp

Is increased.

의 값에 따른 결정이 이루어진다.

이면, 블록 926으로 표시된 것처럼, Ecp는

로 감소된다.As shown in the query unit 924,

The decision is made according to the value of.

, As indicated by block 926, Ecp

Is reduced.

는 특정한 트래픽 구성(레이트, 코딩 등)과 관련된다. 예를 들어, 2명의 사용자들이 동일한 레이트 보코더들(vocoders)로 음성 호출들을 수행할 경우, 이들은 동일한

를 갖는다. 그러나, 데이터 전송(이를 테면, 153kbps에서 IxRTT 데이터 전송)을 수행하는 다른 사용자가 있다면, 상이한

가 요구된다. (트래픽 형태에 기초하여) 제시된 사용자에 대해 일단

가 결정되면, 알고리즘은 자동으로 Ecp를 조정한다. 상기 알고리즘은 한명의 사용자에 대해 특정된다. 다수의 사용자들이 있다면, 알고리즘은 각각의 사용자에 대해 상이한 Ecp 값들을 산출할 것이다. 그러나, 오버헤드 채널들은 모든 사용자에 대해 공통되며 본 발명자들은 단지 하나의 Ecp 설정치를 가질 수 있다. 따라서, 알고리즘은 다수의 사용자들의 경우에 대해 일반화될 수 있다. 예로서, 시스템의 각각의 사용자(i=l,...,N) 에 대한 "최적의" Ecp_i는 앞서 개시된 것처럼 발견될 수 있으며 실제 Ecp는

로 결정될 수 있다. 또 다른 옵션은 모든 사용자에게 오버헤드 및 트래픽으로서 전송된 전체 전력이 최소화되도록 최적의 Ecp를 발견하는 것일 수 있다. 이는 펨토셀의 1 내지 N 사용자에 대해 박스 814의 계산이, [00119]

Is associated with a particular traffic configuration (rate, coding, etc.). For example, if two users perform voice calls with the same rate vocoders, they are the same

. However, if there are other users performing data transmission (such as IxRTT data transmission at 153 kbps)

Is required. Once for a given user (based on traffic type)

If is determined, the algorithm automatically adjusts Ecp. The algorithm is specific for one user. If there are multiple users, the algorithm will yield different Ecp values for each user. However, overhead channels are common for all users and we can have only one Ecp setting. Thus, the algorithm can be generalized for the case of multiple users. For example, the "optimal" Ecp _i for each user of the system (i = l, ..., N) can be found as described above and the actual Ecp is

. ≪ / RTI > Another option may be to find the optimal Ecp so that the overall power transmitted as overhead and traffic to all users is minimized. This is calculated from box 814 for 1 to N users of femtocells,

의 변경을 의미한다. T2P 필터링의 목적은 T2P 계산으로부터의 작은 스케일 변동을 없애는 것이다. 이를 테면, 이동 평균 필터는 각각

및

를 계산하기 위해 Ect 및 Ecp 값들을 필터링하는데 이용된다. in

Means change. The purpose of T2P filtering is to eliminate small scale variations from T2P calculations. For example, the moving average filter

And

It is used to filter the Ect and Ecp values to compute.

[00120] The optimal T2P can be obtained through simulations and once the T2P is determined, the power control adjustment Ect (part of the standard 3G operation) can be determined. Ecp is adjusted to achieve / maintain the next optimal T2P. In particular, the two algorithms may work together: 1) power control algorithm to adjust Ect and 2) adjustment of Ecp disclosed herein.

및

는 Ecp의 빠른 변동들을 방지하는데 이용되는 히스테리시스(hystheresis) 파라미터들이다. 또한, Ecp 갑작스런(abrupt) 변화들을 방지하기 위해, 예시적 일 실시예에서 상기 식들은 보다 서서히 수행되는 Ecp 교정이 이루어지게 변형될 수 있다. 마지막으로, 다른 오버헤드 채널들(이를 테면, 페이지, 동기화(sych))은 파일럿 전력 레벨에 기초하여 조정될 수 있다(즉, 파일럿 전력 레벨과 관련하여 이들의 상대적 전력 레벨은 일정하게 유지될 수 있다).[00121] In the algorithm,

And

Are hysteresis parameters used to prevent rapid fluctuations in Ecp. In addition, in order to prevent Ecp abrupt changes, in one exemplary embodiment the equations may be modified to make the Ecp correction performed more slowly. Finally, other overhead channels (such as page, sych) can be adjusted based on the pilot power level (ie, their relative power level can be kept constant with respect to the pilot power level. ).

Thus, example embodiments determine an optimal overhead signal power level, such that overhead signals (eg, pilot, synch and broadcast / paging channels) when there is an active call at a femto node. To reduce the transmit power for Although the illustrative embodiments have been described as examples of being used for pilot channels as exemplary channels, the analyzes can be applied to other overhead channels as well.

[00123] Referring to Figures 10 and 5A-5B, the operations associated with using frequency selective transmission to resolve radio interference and negative geometries are disclosed in detail. As mentioned, due to the unplanned deployment of femto nodes, the SINR received for the associated access terminal may be very low due to interference from adjacent femto node transmissions. Such interference may dampen the control channel and traffic channel performance for the access terminal and may cause an operation interruption or reduced service. The exemplary embodiments disclosed in the present invention provide operations that improve the performance of an access terminal in a high interference area without the need to change legacy access terminals.

In general, an example embodiment introduces intentional frequency selection in downlink transmissions by orthogonalizing a transmission waveform between adjacent femto nodes to minimize interference. As an example, each femto node 510 has three 3-taps, each having a set of coefficients from a given row of available waveforms, such as, for example, a 3x3 DFT matrix. Select transmit pulse shaping through channel sensing from the channel waveforms. In each case for the presented access point, the transmitted waveform is filtered by three tap FIRs (in addition to regular baseband filtering), with filter impulse responses selected from one of the following three waveforms:

이다.here,

to be.

[00125] An alternative choice is in two impulse responses with a coefficient from 2 × 2 DFT (N = 2). The selection of the transmission filters stays for a certain period of time, after which the femto node 510 can again configure the selection based on channel sensing.

Referring first to FIG. 10, FIG. 10 discloses a method for interference management when selecting a wireless communication system transmission waveform. As indicated by block 1002, a set of N transmit waveforms is assigned to the femto nodes 510 for use in downlink transmissions. In one exemplary embodiment, channel waveforms may be formed from the coefficients of the N-tap channel filters, with each coefficient set inferred from a particular row of the N × N DFT matrix.

으로 초기에 할당된다.As indicated by block 1004, the femto node 510 defaults upon initialization (such as power up) according to a limited selection process (such as randomization, randomly allocated by the network, etc.) Select the waveform. The default waveform is generated from a set of N transmit (downlink) waveforms. Default waveform is the preferred transmission waveform

Is initially assigned.

[00128] As indicated by query portion 1006, the femto node 510 transmits on the downlink using the preferred transmission waveform when the call is initiated. A call setup is made using the associated access terminal 520 and is determined by the access terminal 520 and forwarded to the femto node 510 via the uplink (eg, channel quality indication (CQI), data). Rate control (DRC)).

[00129] As indicated by query portion 1008, the femto node initiates a waveform test cycle for a T_test_waveform time period until all possible waveforms have been tested. As indicated by block 1010, the femto node 510 communicates with the associated access terminal 520 using the current waveform. The associated access terminal receives the downlink transmissions and generates a channel quality indication in response to the signal quality. The channel quality indication is forwarded to the femto node 510 in the uplink (reverse link).

As indicated by block 1012, the femto node monitors the uplink to determine channel quality using the current waveform based on the received channel quality indication. The femto node 510 may form a table of waveforms and corresponding channel quality indications, or compare any previous channel quality indications with the current channel quality indication and maintain an indication of the preferred waveform.

As indicated by block 1014, the waveform checks the increments for the next assigned waveform for continued evaluation. The exemplary waveform selection process is repeated until possible waveforms are engaged for transmission on the downlink and the corresponding channel quality indication is received on the uplink. As indicated by block 1016, the preferred waveform based on the channel quality determination is selected as the preferred transmit waveform that provides the best channel quality in the presence of interference from negative geometries associated with unplanned base station deployments.

As indicated by block 1018, the preferred waveform may be periodically updated based on various factors, including a specific time period, call termination, channel quality mitigation threshold, or other channel conditions known to those skilled in the art. In determining the update, processing is returned to evaluate the channel quality of the various transmit waveforms possible.

[00133] This exemplary embodiment creates a self-noise through ISI to limit performance in high geometries, thereby reducing the performance of the Fourier series for dominant signal energy during convolution. Orthogonality manages interference from strong adjacent interference energy. Gains can also be achieved using an MMSE equalizer due to the different frequency coloring of the impulse responses for the desired signal and the interfering signal. This mechanism is suitable for femto node configurations because the delay spread is significantly less than one chip spacing.

With reference to FIGS. 11A-11B and 5A-5B, operations related to using adaptive noise figure and path loss adjustment to solve propagation and negative geometries are described in detail. This exemplary embodiment utilizes methods and apparatuses to prevent jamming and solve jamming and negative geometries using adaptive noise figures and path loss adjustments.

In general, femto nodes are connected to the Internet 840 and mobile operator core network 550 via a wide band connection (such as a DSL router or cable modem). Since the RF coverage of the femto nodes 510 is not manually optimized by the mobile operator core network 550 and the deployment is generally an adhook, serious RF interference problems will arise if the proper interference mitigation method is not used. Can be.

In a macro cell network, access terminals 520 and macro cell access nodes 560 are designed to operate in a specific dynamic range. In the cells formed by the femto nodes 510, the home femto node 510 and the associated access terminal 520 may be arbitrarily spatially adjacent to each other, beyond the sensitivity range of each of the receivers, Thereby generating a high signal level. On the downlink (forward link FL), this configuration can saturate the receiver of the associated access terminal and produce attenuated modulation performance. On the reverse link, this configuration can produce a very high noise rise (RoT), known to generate instability in the home femtocell 510. Thus, the maximum and minimum transmit power levels and receiver noise figure values need to be adjusted according to the home femto nodes 510. This situation is illustrated in FIG. 5B with reference to the home femto node 510A and the associated access terminal 520A.

[00137] Femto nodes 510B may cause interference on the uplink UL (reverse link RL) of cells serviced by macrocell access nodes 560 and within the downlink DL (forward link FL) have. For example, a femto node 510B mounted near a window of a house 530B may have access to external access terminals 520F (ie, unassociated access terminals) that are not served by the femto node 510B. Can cause significant downlink DL interference. Also, on the uplink UL, the associated access terminals 520 serving by the particular home femto node 510 may cause significant interference on the macrocell access nodes 560. [

On the uplink UL, unassociated access terminals 520F served by macro cell access nodes 560 can cause significant interference on home femto node 510A.

As mentioned, femto nodes 510 can cause significant interference with one another due to unplanned deployment. For example, in nearby houses 530, a femto node 510 mounted near a wall separating two houses 530 may cause significant interference to an adjacent femto node 510 to an adjacent house 530. Can cause. In this case, the strong signal (with respect to the RF signal strength) from the femto node 510 to the access terminal 520 need not be the home femto node of the associated access terminal due to the limited association requirements disclosed above. This scenario is illustrated in FIG. 5B on the downlink DL where femto node 510A can cause significant interference (such as low SINR) to access terminal 52D. In addition, on the uplink UL, the unassociated access terminal 520D can cause significant interference (such as high RoT) to the other femto node 510A.

For example, on the uplink of CDMA wireless networks, system stability and load are typically determined by a metric, ie rise over thermal (RoT), also known as noise rise at the femto node. . RoT indicates the ratio between total power and thermal noise received from all sources at the femto node:

Where Ior is the total received power received at the femto node from all wireless devices in the active set

Ioc: Total received power received at the femto from all wireless devices where the femto node is not in the active set

No: thermal noise variation including femto node noise figure (NF).

For stable system operation on the uplink UL, controlling RoT is required. Typically, RoT is controlled at approximately 5 dB or more. High RoT values can cause significant performance attenuation. For example, in FIG. 5B for two adjacent cells formed by femto nodes 510A, 510B, the high RoT caused by access terminal 520D at femto node 510A is associated with associated access terminal 520C. Causes performance attenuation. Certain interference scenarios occur when adjacent access terminal 520D has bursty uplink UL traffic and exhibits significantly high power levels (such as in close proximity) at femto node 510A. Thus, during the high rate data uplink UL bursts from access terminal 520D, the RoT at femto node 510A is greater than 20 dB. In addition, the uplink UL power control mechanism in CDMA systems (such as CDMA2000, WCDMA, IxEV-DO) is designed to counter these interference scenarios. However, due to excessive variation in RoT, the mechanism takes some time for the femto node 510A to control the power of the associated access terminal 520C to overcome the interference caused by the unassociated access terminal 520D. can do. On the other hand, the associated access terminal 520C drops the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) below the requested level to produce continuous packet errors on the uplink UL from the associated access terminal 520C for the home femto node 510A .

[00142] Increasing the power control step size on the uplink UL as delivered from the home femto node 510A to the associated access terminal 520C, in order to minimize the sudden drop in SIR in the disclosed scenario, It can be an alternative. However, since other system attenuations occur when the system is operating at very high power control step sizes, there are typically upper limits to the power control step size imposed by the communication standard. Therefore, it is required to control the RoT level at the femto node 510.

[00143] A sudden increase in interference generated by unassociated access terminals (eg, interference generated by an unassociated access terminal 520D at the femto node 510A) may prevent a sudden jump in RoT , The received signal may be attenuated or the noise figure (NF) may be increased by adding a predetermined pathloss (PL) component on the uplink UL. However, this operation is performed at the femto node experiencing high interference levels. For example, in the scenario shown in FIG. 5B, if both femto node 510A and femto node 510B increase the noise figure (NF) or attenuation by the same amount, consequently the access terminals 520C and access The uplink UL transmit power levels for terminal 520D are large. As a result, the high RoT problem occurring in the femto node 510A is not solved.

[00144] According to an exemplary embodiment, the femto node 510A in this scenario, which is a femto node representing a high RoT, is a femto node that exhibits a high RoT, and the femto node 510A in this scenario is a cell- increases the noise figure (NF) or the level of the ringing, while keeping their noise figure (NF) constant, unless they experience a high level of out-of-cell interference. Thus, a method is provided for adjusting the noise figure (NF) or attenuation when the level of cell-external interference at a particular femto node is high. According to an exemplary embodiment for managing interference in a wireless communication system, the RoT in the presented timeslot n is

및

And

로 표현되며,

Lt; / RTI >

는 사용자 당 전체 수신된 에너지 i이다.here,

Is the total received energy i per user.

See FIGS. 11A-11B. 11A-11B disclose a method for interference management in a wireless communication system using adaptive noise figure and path loss adjustment to adaptively adjust path loss to control RoT. It is noted that the adjustment factor may be applied to either the noise figure (NF) of the femto node or the uplink UL attenuation.

As indicated by query unit 1104, the operations disclosed in the present invention may be performed periodically, depending on the occurrence of sequential timeslots n. For example, per slot n, femto node 510 may perform the following method to provide interference management for a communication system. As indicated by block 1104, various signals are measured and levels are calculated. In particular, as indicated by block 1106, thermal noise index No (n) is measured at femto node 510. The thermal noise figure No (n) is the amount of change in thermal noise including the femto node noise figure (NF).

As indicated by block 1108, the total signal strength Io (n) received is measured. The total signal strength Io (n) received is the total received power received at all of the wireless devices in which the femto node is in the active set and at all of the wireless devices in which the femto node is not in the active set. As indicated by block 1112, an in-cell (associated access terminal) interference level Ior is calculated, where Ior is the total received power received from all wireless devices in the femto node in the active set. The calculated intracellular interference level is

로 표현될 수 있다.

It can be expressed as.

[00148] As indicated by block 1110, the received pilot chip energy Ecp (n) to interference and noise Nt (n) ratios are measured from all wireless devices in the active set of femto nodes.

As indicated by block 1114, a cell-external (non-associated access terminal) interference level Ioc is calculated, where Ioc is the total received power received at the femto node from all wireless devices for which the femto node is not in the active set. The cell-outer interference level,

로 표현된다.I

Lt; / RTI >

(N) and the maximum filtered received pilot chip energy Ecp (n) to the interference plus noise Nt (n), as shown by block 1116, ) Ratio is calculated. As indicated by block 1118, the pilot chip energy Ecp (n) to interference and noise Nt (n) ratio received for all in-cell access terminals, for example, according to infinite impulse response (HR) filtering in the dB domain. The access terminal signal-to-noise ratio measured as is filtered. Among the access terminals in which the femto node is in the active set, the maximum filtered value is

로 표현될 수 있다.

It can be expressed as.

As indicated by block 1120, the signal-to-noise ratio of the cell-outside received interference level Ioc and thermal noise figure No (n) is calculated. In addition, the signal-to-noise ratio can be further filtered according to, for example, finite impulse response (FIR) filtering in the dB domain. The calculated cell-exterior (non-associated access terminal) signal-to-noise ratio,

로 표현될 수 있다.

It can be expressed as.

[00152] As indicated by block 1122, the excess received cell-external interference beyond the allowed (target) amount that the communication system can operate reliably and the maximum excess received pilot chip energy versus interference and noise ratio Is determined. As indicated by block 1124, the excess for the received pilot chip energy to interference and noise ratio is

로 표현되며,

Lt; / RTI >

는 dB 단위(unit)들을 갖는다.The allowed threshold

Has dB units.

의 초과량은,[00153] As indicated by block 1126, the cell-to-external receive interference level

Excess of

로 표현되며,

Lt; / RTI >

는 dB 단위(unit)들을 갖는다.The allowed threshold

Has dB units.

[00154] As indicated by block 1128, an additional amount of path loss (PL adjustment) that needs to be applied is calculated. As indicated by block 1130, candidate path loss adjustments are determined. Candidate adjustments

로 표현된다.

Lt; / RTI >

With regard to determining candidate adjustment value values, the candidate values may be based on various characteristics or values. By way of example, the various points are expressed as follows.

및

은 높은 임계치를 초과하는 높은

또는 Ioc 값들에 기초하여 PL을 신속하게 조정하도록 설계된다.(One)

And

Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > high &

Or designed to quickly adjust the PL based on Ioc values.

및 Ioc 모두가 허용된 제한치 이하인 경우,

는 불필요하게 높지 않도록 PL을 서서히 감소(decay)시키도록 설계된다.(2)

If both and Ioc are below the allowed limits,

Is designed to slowly decay PL so that it is not unnecessarily high.

은 매우 큰 값으로 설정될 수 있다.(3) If there is only one active user in the cell, there may be no reason to directly limit Ioc, since the RoT control mechanisms can already control the RoT level. When there is only one active user in the system,

Can be set to a very large value.

[00155] As indicated by block 1132,

An appropriate path loss (PL adjustment) may be applied according to the upper and lower limit path loss PL adjustments expressed as < RTI ID = 0.0 >

만큼 증가된다. 실제 구현예에서, 하드웨어 제한치들은 가능한 근접한 설정치로

의 양자화(quantization)를 요구할 수 있다는 것이 주목된다.As indicated by block 1134, the uplink UL attenuation (or noise figure) is

Is increased by. In practical implementations, the hardware limits should be set as close as possible.

It is noted that it may require quantization of.

[00157] Referring now to Figures 12 and 5A-5B, details of operations associated with utilizing subframe time reuse to resolve jamming and negative geometry are disclosed. This exemplary embodiment utilizes methods and apparatuses for preventing propagation and solving for jamming and negative geometries using subframe time reuse.

In one example embodiment, if the air interface allows time division multiplexing, transmissions may be scheduled in a manner that eliminates time periods with negative geometries. Thus, femto node 510B may communicate with associated access terminal 520D for a period of time during which femto node 510A is silent. Similarly, associated access terminal 520C may communicate with femto node 510A for a period during which unassociated access terminal 520D is silently scheduled by femto node 510A. Such synchronization methods and scheduling schemes find application for systems that allow time division scheduling, such as IxEVDO. As an example, because IxEVDO control channels are time multiplexed, adjacent femto nodes 510 may be configured to take advantage of the time reuse of such control channels.

[00159] However, as discussed below, this uses air interface technologies that do not allow operation using scheduling and time division multiplexing, such as, for example, CDM control channels including IxRTT, WCDMA and HSPA. It doesn't work with Design considerations for sub-frame time reuse are disclosed in detail in the following examples.

In one example embodiment, subframe time reuse may be applied to techniques for which hybrid time reuse cannot be applied. In many cellular technologies, such as cdma2000 and WCDMA, a base station may use a continuous pilot and other CDM control in which access terminals are used for various purposes including initial scanning and acquisition, idle mode tracking and channel estimation, Channels (e.g., synch, paging and broadcast, etc.). Overhead channels from femto nodes and this continuous pilot transmission can yield downlink jamming as disclosed above, even if it is not active traffic at the jammer.

In an exemplary embodiment, the first step is operated when the desired femto node 510 pilot and overhead channels (such as synch and paging) cannot be received at the access terminal 520. It is to solve outage situations. For example, a cdma2000 frame is divided into sixteen power control groups (PCGs). In order to allow the acquisition of the pilot signal, a fraction of the pilot and overhead channel transmissions are gated off.

Referring to FIG. 5B, a femto node 510A sent to associated access terminals 520A-C transmits these gated frames (ie, during gate off periods in which FL traffic is not transmitted). do. In the unassociated access terminal 520D, the carrier-to-interference ratio C / I for transmissions from the femto node 510B is dynamically improved during the period that the femto node 510A is gated off, thereby access terminal 520D. Despite the highly negative geometry at), it allows acquisition of pilot and synch channels from femto node 510B at access terminal 520D.

In one example embodiment, these gate on-off periods are scheduled to be non-overlapping. Thus, femto node 510A and femto node 510B can use non-overlapping sub-frames (or power-control groups). In one exemplary embodiment, for example, by gate-off (i.e., not transmitting any FL traffic) fractions 1/2, 2/3 or 3/4 of the sub-frames. A time division reuse pattern of 2, 3 or 4 may be generated. If the pilot and overhead channels have sufficient redundancy for pilot acquisition as well as decoding of overhead channels, this can result in an impact of 3-6 dB on the link budget of, for example, pilot and overhead channels will have an impact. However, this can be easily compensated for by increasing the transmit power of the femto node 510, since in arrangements of the femto node 510, arrangements are not limited by transmit power.

In addition to pilot and overhead channels, the same gating method may be applied to voice or data channel transmissions. In one exemplary embodiment, femto node 510 gates off a fraction of each frame transmission. For example, if the fraction turned off (eg, 1/2) is less than the channel coding rate used for transmission, for example in cdma2000 forward link voice packet transmissions, a particular standard format (RC3 ) Uses a rate 1/4 convolutional code, and the access terminal 520 can decode the packet even if half of the packet transmission is gated. In order to recognize these geometries and to avoid the need for such non-overlapping gate off time scheduling, the following method is disclosed to prevent propagation and solve jamming and negative geometries using subframe time reuse.

With reference to FIG. 12, FIG. 12 discloses an example embodiment for managing interference in a wireless communication system using subframe time reuse. As indicated by block 1202, the gating sequence (or patterns) is assigned to each gating sequence gating-off, e.g., 11 of the 16 power control groups (PCGs), or 2, to obtain a 5/16 reuse. 8 of 16 PCGs are identified to obtain reuse.

The gating sequence may be selected in a manner that minimizes cross-correlation from femto nodes 510 that potentially interfere between the pair of gating sequences. As indicated by block 1204, each femto node 510 selects one of the gating sequences. The femto node 510 may be attempted to select a gating sequence that is non-overlapping with neighboring femto nodes, but not in the non-overlapping array. However, example embodiments provide a mechanism by which non-overlapping gating sequences can be identified and selected.

As indicated by block 1206, the access terminal 520 establishes an active connection with the femto node 510. In response to establishing the connection, the access terminal 520 may allow the femto node 510 to select the desired non-overlapping gating sequence, a “fast” per-subframe downlink (forward link). Provide power control feedback.

[00168] As specifically shown in block 1208, the femto node 510B transmits a series of frames on the data / voice channel, for example, to the access terminal 520D, and all power control groups (PCGs) are gated on. As indicated by block 1210, the access terminal 520D is adjacent femto node because the potentially interfering adjacent femto node 530A has already been coupled to communicate with access terminals 520A-C using sub-frame gating techniques. Observe interference in the subset of subframes in response to the transmissions gated by 510A. In addition, the access terminal 520D observes another subset of subframes when no interference from the adjacent femto node 520A is observed when the adjacent femto node 510A is gated off during the subset of subframes. .

를 관찰한다. 블록 1212으로 표시된 것처럼, 액세스 단말(520D)로부터의 다운링크(순방향 링크) 전력 제어 피드백은 펨토 노드(510B)가 특정 서브프레임들에 대한 전송 전력을 증가시켜야 한다는 것을 나타낸다. 유사하게, 펨토 노드(510A)가 게이트 오프되는 서브프레임들 동안, 액세스 단말(520D)은 높은

를 관찰하며 액세스 단말(520D)로부터의 다운링크(순방향 링크) 전력 제어 피드백은 펨토 노드(510B)가 특정 서브프레임 동안 전송 전력을 감소시켜야 한다는 것을 나타낸다.During a subframe in which the femto node 510A is gated on, the access terminal 520D is, for example, low

Observe. As indicated by block 1212, the downlink (forward link) power control feedback from the access terminal 520D indicates that the femto node 510B should increase the transmit power for certain subframes. Similarly, during subframes in which femto node 510A is gated off, access terminal 520D is high.

The downlink (forward link) power control feedback from the access terminal 520D indicates that the femto node 510B should reduce the transmit power for a particular subframe.

[00170] As indicated by block 1214, the subframe downlink (forward link) power control feedback provided by access terminal 520D to femto node 510B is transmitted by adjacent femtocell 510A interference, Indicating which subframe is gate on and which subframe is gate off. Thus, this indication allows the selection of a femto node 510B gating sequence (pattern) that is non-overlapping (complementing) with the selected gating sequence (pattern) and in use by adjacent femto node 510A interference. An example embodiment finds an application for a gating sequence (pattern) selected by neighboring femto node 510A interference.

[00171] Depending on the implementation technique, other considerations may additionally determine the types of gating sequences (patterns) best suited to this subframe gating technique. Also, since legacy access terminals are not aware of the gating being done on the downlink (forward link), other considerations may intersperse with short "off" periods between short & And may include a selection gating frequency (patterns). This consideration can reduce the impact in downlink (forward link) channel estimation and channel quality feedback estimation methods in use by the legacy access terminal. Thus, for example, if eight of sixteen subframes are gated off, this may be desirable reasons for alternately selecting the subframes to be gated off and gated on.

In another example embodiment, gating sequence selection may apply different considerations for deployments where adjacent femto nodes 510 are not synchronized. For example, these considerations may exist when the WCDMA femto nodes 510 are not synchronized. Alternatively to gated-off subframes, in one exemplary embodiment for non-synchronized femto nodes, not only gated-on all or multiple subframes, but also gated off contiguous It may be desirable to have all or multiple subframes. For example, in a WCDMA system with 15 subframes for 10 ms, or 30 subframes for 20 ms, for each femto node 510, gate adjacent 9 out of 15 subframes and 6 A preferred method of gate-on of two adjacent subframes may be provided. Alternatively, with the use of a 20 ms frame, femto node 510 gates off 16 contiguous subframes from 30 subframes and gates on contiguous 14 subframes.

In alternative example embodiments, other methods of resolving this situation and improving downlink C / I gate-off pilot and overhead channel transmissions when the access terminals are not associated and associated access terminals. Involves femto node 510 configured to turn on pilot and overhead channels only at very low power and / or periodically when expected to be scanned for femto node 510 only do.

13-14 and 5A-5B, operations related to using hybrid time reuse to solve jamming and negative geometries are described in detail. This exemplary embodiment utilizes hybrid time-reuse techniques to prevent radio interference and to resolve radio interference and negative geometric structures.

[00175] In an exemplary embodiment, if the air interface allows time multiplexing (eg, IxEV-DO), transmissions may be scheduled in a manner that cancels out time periods with negative geometries. Thus, femto node 510B may communicate with associated access terminal 520D during the period when femto node 510A is not transmitted. Similarly, the associated access terminal 520C may communicate with the femto node 510A during the time that the access terminal 520D is scheduled so that it is not sent by the femto node 510B.

[00176] In an exemplary embodiment of the hybrid time reuse method, the downlink DL transmissions are divided into three separate groups in time:

1. Synchronous Control Channel (SCC) Transmission Period

2. Limited HARQ interlace Tx. term

3. Unrestricted HARQ interlace Tx. term

FIG. 13 illustrates an example downlink DL timeline that includes three different time periods, for each synchronous control channel (SCC) cycle period of 256 time slots. Three different femto channels are defined in an exemplary embodiment based on time sharing of resources during “unlimited HARQ interlace”. As described in more detail below, pick different femto channels so that interference from other neighboring femto nodes 510 is not experienced (ie, each femto node is different from the primary femto node 510). Select a femto channel). In the absence of interference from adjacent femto nodes, multiple femto channels (in addition to the primary femto channel) may be used by one femto node 510. Details for one exemplary embodiment of a hybrid time reuse operation are described below.

With reference to FIG. 14, FIG. 14 discloses a method for interference management in a wireless communication system using hybrid time reuse according to an example embodiment. As indicated by block 1402, upon initial powering or other synchronization of femto node 510, femto node 510 performs time synchronization with a macro cell network (eg, macro cell access node 560). As indicated, during time synchronization with the macro cell access node 560, the femto node 510 is assigned a secondary synchronization channel (SSC) offset (SSC) offset used by the macro cell access node 560 and adjacent femto nodes 510. MSCCO) Based on the measurement, femto node 510 identifies the preferred HARQ interlace with least interference, as indicated by block 1406. The preferred slot offset (PSO) is the preferred preferred identified. It is defined from HARQ interlace.

As indicated by block 1408, the primary femto channel is selected. By way of example, the following algorithm may be involved for the exemplary selection process:

If mod (PSO-MSCCO, 4) = 1, then Femto Chn. 1 is adopted as the primary femto channel.

If mod (PSO-MSCCO, 4) = 2, then Femto Chn. 2 is adopted as the primary femto channel.

If mod (PSO-MSCCO, 4) = 3, Femto Chn. 3 is adopted as the primary femto channel.

Here, Chnl, Chn2 and Chn3 are disclosed in FIG.

Once femto channels are determined, femto nodes 510 can send traffic on the downlink (forward link). Transmissions by femto nodes 510 are timed such that interference is reduced to macro cell transmissions and other femto node transmissions. A femtocell transmission protocol for various macrocell transmission periods, i.e. SCC transmission period, limited HARQ interlace transmission period, and unrestricted HARQ interlace transmission period, is described below.

As indicated by block 1410 with reference to FIG. 13, the SCC transfer period 1302 includes an SCC offset at the start of each SCC cycle 1304 (e.g., 256 slots) 32 slots) are allowed to be transmitted. In an exemplary embodiment, two sub-periods 1306,130, such as the preferred slot offset and the non-preferred slot offset, are defined based on the HARQ interlace.

[00182] In a HARQ interlace with a preferred slot offset (PSO), the femto node 510 transmits SCC information. This permits reliable transmission of control channel information and allows associated access terminals 520 to enable hand-in and hand-out from the femto node 510. During HARQ interlacing for non-preferred slot offsets, the femto node 510 does not transmit any downlink (forward link) traffic (DTX FL transmission) so that minimal interference is caused by neighboring macrocells and adjacent femto node SCC transmissions Do not. At these slot offsets, a fraction of the downlink DL power is used for pilot and MAC channels so that these channels operate successfully.

[00183] During the limited HARQ interlace transmission period, as indicated by block 1412 with reference to FIG. 13, the femto node 510 is allowed to transmit downlink (forward link) traffic on the HARQ interlace of the PSO and delay detection traffic is best traffic. (best effort traffic) is given an absolute priority. Referring to FIG. 13, the limited HARQ interlace transmission period gives transmission opportunities for each femto node so that the delay detection traffic (such as VoIP, etc.) is not overly delayed. In one example, during a limited HARQ interlace transmission period, if the required DRC is null, a single user packet type of 38.4 kbps may be used. If the DRC is null or erased, compatible packet types such as 38.4 kbps single user packet (SUP) or multiple user packets (MUP) of 256/512/1024 bits can be used (similar to DRC erase mapping).

In one example embodiment, the downlink (forward link) traffic may be sent HARQ interlace of MSCCO. In one embodiment, adjacent femto nodes 510 may use such interlacing (ie, no protection against interference). During HARQ interlaces of other slot offsets, femto nodes do not transmit any downlink (forward link) traffic (time reuse), but a fraction of the downlink (forward link) power is required for successful operation of these channels. Assigned to pilot and MAC channels.

[00185] Referring to FIG. 13, as indicated by block 1414, during an unrestricted HARQ interlace transmission period, the femto node 510 is allowed to transmit downlink (forward link) traffic for all four HARQ interlaces. At the beginning of the period, the downlink (forward link) transmit power may be ramped up slowly so that the access terminal rate predictor ramps up. In one exemplary embodiment, to further increase ramp-up of DRC values, an RC length of one slot should be used. Due to a conservative predictor response, if null DRC is required by the mobile at the start of an unrestricted HARQ interlace transmission period, the femto node 510 will be able to use compatible packet types (multiple user packets or 38.4 kbps single user packet). Can be transmitted. In addition, the femto node downlink (forward link) scheduler keeps track of previously requested DRC values and DRC values from the final transmission periods to determine what data rates can be decoded by the access terminal 520. And HARQ early termination statistics.

The descriptions of the invention may be included in a node (eg, a device) that utilizes various components for communicating with at least one other node. 15 illustrates several sample components that may be used to facilitate communication between nodes. Specifically, FIG. 15 illustrates a wireless device 1510 (eg, an access point) and a wireless device 1550 (eg, an access terminal) of the MIMO system 1500. At device 1510, traffic data for multiple data streams is provided at a data source 1512 to a transmit (“TX”) data processor 1514.

[00187] In some aspects, each data stream is transmitted on a respective transmit antenna. TX data processor 1514 formats, codes, and interleaves the traffic data for that data stream based on a particular coding scheme selected for each data stream to provide coded data.

[00188] Coded data for each data stream may be multiplexed with pilot data using OFDM techniques. The pilot data is a known data pattern that is typically processed in a known manner and can be used in the receiver system to estimate the channel response. The multiplexed pilot and coded data for each data stream is modulated (ie, symbol mapped) based on the particular modulation scheme selected for that data stream (e.g., BPSK, QPSK, M-PSK, or M-QAM). Modulation symbols can be provided. The data rate, coding, and modulation for each data stream may be determined by instructions performed by processor 1530. [ Data memory 1532 may store program code, data, and other information used by processor 1530 or other components of device 1510. [

[00189] Modulation symbols for all data streams may be provided to a TX MIMO processor 1520 and a TX MIMO processor 1520 may further process the modulation symbols (e.g., for OFDM). TX MIMO processor 1520 provides N _T modulation symbol streams to N _T transceivers (" XCVR ") 1522A-1522T. In some aspects, TX MIMO processor 1520 applies beamforming weights to the symbols of the data streams and the antenna that is transmitting the symbol.

Each transceiver 1522 receives and processes each symbol stream to provide one or more analog signals, and further adjusts (eg, amplifies, filters, and upconverts) the analog signals to transmit over a MIMO channel. Provide a suitable modulated signal. Then, N _T modulated signals from transceiver (1522A-1522T) are transmitted from N _T antennas (1524A-1524T), respectively.

[00191] At device 1550, the transmitted modulated signals are received by N _R antennas 1552A-1552R and the received signals from each antenna 1552 are transmitted to respective transceivers ("XCVR") 1554A-1554R ). Each transceiver 1554 adjusts (e.g., filters, amplifies, and downconverts) each received signal, digitizes the adjusted signal to provide samples, and further processes the samples to provide a corresponding "receive" symbol stream. do.

[00192] receive ( "RX") data processor 1560 can receive and process the N _T of "detected" the N _R received symbols streams from N _R transceivers 1554 based on a particular receiver processing technique symbol You can provide a stream. The RX data processor 1560 demodulates, deinterleaves, and decodes each detected symbol stream to recover the traffic data for that data stream. Processing by the RX data processor 1560 is complementary to that performed by the TX MIMO processor 1520 and the TX data processor 1514 at the device 1510.

[00193] The processor 1570 periodically determines which precoding matrix (described below) to use. Processor 1570 forms a reverse link message comprising a matrix index portion and a rank value portion. Data memory 1572 may store program code, data, and other information used by processor 1570 or other components of device 1550. [

The reverse link message may include various types of information regarding the communication link and / or the received data stream. The reverse link message is processed by the TX data processor 1538, also modulated by the modulator 1580, and received by the transceivers 1554A-1554R, which also receives traffic data for multiple data streams from the data source 1536. Adjusted, and sent back to device 1510.

At device 1510, the modulation signals from device 1550 are received by antennas 1524, conditioned by transceivers 1522, demodulated by demodulator ("DEMOD") 1540, And processed by the RX data processor 1542 to extract the reverse link message transmitted by the device 1550. The processor 1530 then determines which precoding matrix to use to determine the beamforming weights and processes the extracted message.

[00196] FIG. 15 also indicates that the communication components may include one or more components that perform interference control operations as described herein. For example, an interference ("INTER.") Control component 1590 cooperates with the processor 1530 and / or other components of the device 1510 to describe another device (eg, a device) as described herein. (1550) may send / receive signals. Similarly, interference control component 1592 may transmit / receive signals to / from another device (eg, device 1510) in cooperation with processor 1570 and / or other components of device 1550. . It should be appreciated that two or more functions of dedicated components per device 1510, 1550 can be provided by a single component. For example, a single processing component may provide the functionality of the interference control component 1590 and the processor 1530, and a single processing component may provide the functionality of the interference control component 1592 and the processor 1570.

등과 같은 무선 기술을 구현할 수 있다. UTRA, E-UTRA 및 GSM은 범용 이동 통신 시스템("UMTS")의 일부이다. 본 발명의 설명들은 3GPP 장기 에볼루션("LTE(Long Term Evolution)"), 울트라 모바일 브로드밴드("UMB") 시스템 및 다른 타입의 시스템들에 구현될 수 있다. LTE는 E-UTRA를 사용하는 UMTS의 향후 릴리스이다. 본 개시의 어떤 양상들은 3GPP 용어를 이용하여 설명될 수 있지만, 본 발명의 설명은 3GPP(Rel99, Rel5, Rel6, Rel7) 기술뿐 아니라 3GPP2(1xRTT, 1xEV-DO RelO, RevA, RevB) 기술과 다른 기술들에도 적용될 수 있는 것으로 이해해야 한다.The descriptions of the invention may be incorporated into various types of communication systems and / or system components. In some aspects, the descriptions of the present invention provide multiple access that can support communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (eg, by specifying one or more of bandwidth, transmit power, coding, interleaving, etc.). It can be used in the system. For example, the description of the present invention may be applied to the following technologies: Code Division Multiple Access ("CDMA") systems, Multicarrier CDMA ("MCCDMA"), Wideband CDMA (&Quot; HSPA ") systems, time division multiple access (" TDMA ") systems, frequency division multiple access (" FDMA ") systems, single carrier FDMA ("OFDMA") systems, or other multiple access techniques. A wireless communication system using the description of the present invention may be designed to implement one or more standards and other standards, such as IS-95, cdma2000, IS-856, W-CDMA, TDSCDMA. CDMA networks may implement universal terrestrial radio access (“UTRA”), radio technologies such as cdma2000, or some other technology. UTRA includes W-CDMA and low chip rate (“LCR”). cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. TDMA networks may implement radio technologies such as global mobile communication systems (“GSMs”). The OFDMA network may be an Evolved UTRA ("E-UTRA"), IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20,

And the like. UTRA, E-UTRA, and GSM are part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System ("UMTS"). The descriptions of the present invention may be implemented in 3GPP long term evolution (“LTE”), ultra mobile broadband (“UMB”) systems and other types of systems. LTE is a future release of UMTS that uses E-UTRA. While certain aspects of the present disclosure may be described using 3GPP terminology, the description herein differs from 3GPP (Rel99, Rel5, Rel6, Rel7) technology as well as 3GPP2 (1xRTT, 1xEV-DO RelO, RevA, RevB) technology. It should be understood that the techniques can be applied to them.

[00198] The descriptions of the present invention may be incorporated into (eg, implemented in or carried out by) various devices (eg, nodes). In some aspects, a node (eg, a wireless node) implemented in accordance with the descriptions of the present invention may comprise an access point or an access terminal.

[00199] For example, an access terminal may include user equipment, a subscriber station, a subscriber unit, a mobile station, a mobile, a mobile node, a remote station, a remote terminal, a user terminal, a user agent, a user device, , Implemented as such, or may be known as such. In some implementations, the access terminal may be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a session initiation protocol ("SIP") telephone, a wireless local loop ("WLL") station, a personal digital assistant ("PDA"), a hand with wireless access capability. A handheld device, or any other suitable processing device connected to a wireless modem. Accordingly, one or more aspects described herein may be provided by a telephone (eg, cellular phone or smartphone), a computer (eg, laptop), a portable communication device, a portable computing device (eg, personal data assistant). ), An entertainment device (eg, a music device, video device or satellite radio), a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate via a wireless medium.

[00200] The access point may be a NodeB, an eNodeB, a radio network controller ("RNC"), a base station ("BS"), a radio base station ("RBS"), a base station controller ("BSC"), a base station transceiver ("BTS"), May include, may be implemented as, transceiver functionality ("TF"), wireless transceiver, wireless router, basic service set ("BSS"), extended service set ("ESS"), or any other similar terminology; or It may be known as these.

[00201] In some aspects, a node (eg, an access point) may include an access node for a communication system. Such an access node may provide a connection to the network, for example, over a network (e.g., a wide area network such as the Internet or a cellular network) or over a wired or wireless communication link to the network. Accordingly, the access node may enable another node (e.g., an access terminal) to access the network or some other function. It should also be appreciated that one or both of the nodes may be portable, or in some cases may not be relatively portable.

[00202] Additionally, the wireless node may be capable of transmitting and / or receiving information in a non-wireless manner (eg, via a wired connection). Thus, a receiver and transmitter as discussed herein may include suitable communication interface components (eg, electrical or optical interface components) for communicating over a non-wireless medium.

[00203] A wireless node may communicate over one or more wireless communication links based on any suitable wireless communication technology, or may support any suitable wireless communication technology. For example, in some aspects a wireless node may be associated with a network. In some aspects, the network may include a local area network or a broadband network. A wireless device may support or use one or more of a variety of wireless communication technologies, protocols or standards (e.g., CDMA, TDMA, OFDM, OFDMA, WiMAX, Wi-Fi, etc.) Similarly, a wireless node may support or use one or more of the corresponding various modulation or multiplexing schemes. Thus, a wireless node may include suitable components (eg, air interfaces) for establishing or communicating over one or more wireless communication links using the or other wireless communication technologies. For example, a wireless node may include a wireless transceiver having associated transmitter and receiver components that may include various components (eg, signal generators and signal processors) to facilitate communication via a wireless modem. .

 [00204] The components disclosed in the present invention can be implemented in various ways. 16-21, the devices 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2000, 2100 are represented as a series of interrelated functional blocks. In some aspects, the functionality of such blocks may be implemented as a processing system that includes one or more process components. In some aspects, the functionality of these blocks may be implemented using, for example, at least a portion of one or more integrated circuits (such as an ASIC). As disclosed herein, an integrated circuit may include a processor, software, other related components, or some combination thereof. In addition, the functionality of these blocks may be implemented in some other manner as disclosed herein.

The apparatuses 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2000, 2100 may include one or more modules capable of performing one or more functions disclosed above with respect to various figures. In some aspects, the interference controller 320 or one or more components of the interference controller 322 are, for example, interference receiving / directing means 1602, interference comparing / determining / update means 1606, overhead channel power means 1702, transmission waveform means 1802, channel quality means 1806, interference determination means 1902, path loss means 1906, gating sequence means 2002, reuse pattern means 2102, and synchronization / offset Provide the functionality associated with the / timing means 2106. In some aspects, communication controller 326 or communication controller 328 may provide functionality associated with, for example, transmit / receive means 1604, 1704, 1804, 1904, 2004, 2104. .

[00206] It should be understood that any reference to an element using an indication such as "first", "second", etc. generally does not limit the quantity or order of such elements. Rather, these indications in the present invention may be used as a convenient method of distinguishing between two or more elements or instances of an element. Thus, reference to the first element and the second element does not mean that only two elements may be used therein or that the first element must precede the second element in some way. Also, unless stated otherwise a set of elements may comprise one or more elements.

Those skilled in the art will understand that information and signals may be represented in any of a variety of other techniques and manners. For example, data, commands, instructions, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referred to throughout the description may include voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, light fields or particles, or any of these. It can be expressed in combination.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any of the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, processors, means, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein utilize electronic hardware (eg, source coding or some other technique). Digital implementation, analog implementation, or a combination of the two), or various aspects of the program or design code incorporating instructions (which may be referred to herein as "software" or "software module" for convenience), or both It is recognized that it can be implemented in combinations of. 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 in hardware or software depends on the specific 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 invention.

[00209] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented within or implemented within an integrated circuit ("IC"), an access terminal, or an access point. The IC may be a general purpose processor, digital signal processor (DSP), application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware designed to perform the functions described herein. A component, electrical component, optical component, mechanical components, or any combination thereof, and may execute code or instructions residing within the IC, outside the IC, or both. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, eg, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other configuration.

[00210] Any specific order or hierarchy of steps in any process disclosed is understood to be an illustration of a sample approach. Based on design preferences, the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the processes may be rearranged while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order, and are not limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

[00211] The functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, these functions may be stored on and transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both communication media and computer storage media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. The storage medium may be any available media that is accessible by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may carry or transmit desired program code in the form of RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage device, or instruction or data structure. It can include any other medium that can be used for storage and accessible by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio and microwave, Fiber technology, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of the medium. Discs as used herein (disks and discs) include compact discs (CDs), laser discs, optical discs, digital general purpose discs (DVDs), floppy discs and Blu-ray discs, which usually contain data In contrast, the discs optically reproduce data by means of a laser. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media. In summary, it should be appreciated that a computer readable medium may be embodied in any suitable computer program product.

The previous description of the disclosed aspects is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the aspects disclosed herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims (36)

As a communication method,
Determining an interference direction of a non-associated access terminal generating an interfering signal; And
Transceiving signals away from the interference direction
. The method of claim 1,
Determining the interference direction,
Receiving an interfering signal from an unassociated access terminal;
Comparing the characteristic of the interfering signal with a threshold; And
Designing an interference direction of the interfering signal when the characteristic exceeds the threshold
. 3. The method of claim 2,
The characteristic of the interfering signal is a transmit power level for the interfering signal. The method of claim 1,
Periodically determining whether the non-associative access terminal continues generating the interfering signal. The method of claim 4, wherein
The determining step periodically,
Receiving omnidirectionally transmission signals from a current non-associative access terminal; And
Updating the interference direction towards the current unassociated access terminal when an interfering signal is determined
. The method of claim 4, wherein
The determining step periodically,
Canceling null in the interference direction during reception of the signals;
Receiving transmission signals from any current unassociated access terminal; And
Updating the interference direction towards the current unassociated access terminal
. The method of claim 1,
Transmitting and receiving the signals,
Forming a signal transmission beam in a transmission direction that does not include the interference direction; And
Transmitting the signals of the signal transmission beam
. The method of claim 1,
Transmitting and receiving the signals,
Forming a signal receiving null in a receiving direction coinciding with the interference direction; And
Receiving the signals in a receiving direction that does not include the signal receiving null
. The method of claim 1,
Omnidirectionally transmitting and receiving signals when the interfering signals are determined not to interfere. An apparatus for communication,
An interference controller configured to determine an interference direction of a non-associative access terminal generating an interfering signal; And
A communication controller configured to transmit and receive signals away from the interference direction
Including, the apparatus for communication. 11. The method of claim 10,
The interference controller determines an interference direction, receives an interfering signal from an unassociated access terminal, compares the characteristic of the interfering signal with a threshold, and when the characteristic exceeds the threshold, the interference direction of the interfering signal. Further configured to specify a device for communication. The method of claim 11,
And the characteristic of the interfering signal is a transmit power level for the interfering signal. 11. The method of claim 10,
And the interference controller is further configured to periodically determine whether the non-associative access terminal continues generating the interfering signal. The method of claim 13,
The interference controller configured to periodically determine is configured to receive transmission signals omnidirectionally from a current non-associative access terminal and to update the interference direction towards the current non-associative access terminal when the interfering signal is determined. And an interference controller. The method of claim 13,
The interference controller configured to periodically determine cancels nulls in the direction of interference during reception of the signals, receives transmission signals from any current non-associative access terminal, and towards the current non-associative access terminal. And an interference controller configured to update the interference direction. 11. The method of claim 10,
And a communication controller configured to transmit and receive the signals comprises a communication controller configured to form a signal transmission beam in a transmission direction that does not include the interference direction and to transmit the signals of the signal transmission beam. 11. The method of claim 10,
The communication controller configured to transmit and receive the signals includes a communication controller configured to form a signal receiving null in a receiving direction coinciding with the interference direction and to receive the signals in a receiving direction that does not include the signal receiving null. , Device for communication. 11. The method of claim 10,
And the communication controller is further configured to send and receive signals omni-directionally when the interfering signal is determined not to interfere. An apparatus for communication,
Means for determining an interference direction of a non-associative access terminal generating an interfering signal; And
Means for transmitting and receiving signals away from the interference direction
Including, the apparatus for communication. The method of claim 19,
Means for determining the interference direction,
Means for receiving an interfering signal from an unassociated access terminal;
Means for comparing a characteristic of the interfering signal with a threshold; And
Means for specifying an interference direction of the interfering signal when the characteristic exceeds the threshold
Including, the apparatus for communication. 21. The method of claim 20,
And the characteristic of the interfering signal is a transmit power level for the interfering signal. The method of claim 19,
Means for periodically determining whether the non-associative access terminal continues generating the interfering signal. 23. The method of claim 22,
The means for determining periodically,
Means for receiving omnidirectionally transmission signals from a current non-associative access terminal; And
Means for updating the interference direction towards the current unassociated access terminal when an interfering signal is determined
Including, the apparatus for communication. 23. The method of claim 22,
The means for determining periodically,
Means for canceling null in the direction of interference during reception of the signals;
Means for receiving transmission signals from any current unassociated access terminal; And
Means for updating the interference direction towards the current unassociated access terminal
Including, the apparatus for communication. The method of claim 19,
Means for transmitting and receiving the signals,
Means for forming a signal transmission beam in a transmission direction that does not include the interference direction; And
Means for transmitting the signals of the signal transmission beam
Including, the apparatus for communication. The method of claim 19,
Means for transmitting and receiving the signals,
Means for forming a signal receiving null in a receiving direction coinciding with the interference direction; And
Means for receiving the signals in a receiving direction that does not include the signal receiving null
Including, the apparatus for communication. The method of claim 19,
And means for omnidirectionally transmitting and receiving signals when the interfering signal is determined not to interfere. A computer-program product comprising a computer-readable medium, comprising:
The computer-readable medium causes the computer to:
Codes for determining an interference direction of a non-associative access terminal generating an interfering signal; And
Codes for sending and receiving signals away from the interference direction
A computer-program product. 29. The method of claim 28,
Codes for causing the computer to determine the direction of interference include:
Codes for receiving an interfering signal from an unassociated access terminal;
Codes for causing a characteristic of the interfering signal to be compared with a threshold; And
Codes for causing an interference direction of the interfering signal when the characteristic exceeds the threshold
A computer-program product. 30. The method of claim 29,
And the characteristic of the interfering signal is a transmit power level for the interfering signal. 29. The method of claim 28,
And code for causing the computer to periodically determine whether the non-associative access terminal continues to produce the interfering signal. The method of claim 31, wherein
Codes for causing the computer to determine periodically may cause the computer to:
Codes for causing omnidirectionally receiving transmission signals from a current non-associative access terminal; And
Codes for causing the interference direction to update towards the current non-associative access terminal when the interfering signal is determined
A computer-program product. The method of claim 31, wherein
Codes for causing the computer to determine periodically may cause the computer to:
Codes for canceling null in the interference direction during reception of the signals;
Codes for receiving transmission signals from any current unassociated access terminal; And
Codes for causing the interference direction to update towards the current non-associative access terminal
A computer-program product. 29. The method of claim 28,
Codes for causing the computer to send and receive the signals cause the computer to:
Codes for forming a signal transmission beam in a transmission direction that does not include the interference direction; And
Codes for causing the signals of the signal transmission beam to be transmitted
A computer-program product. 29. The method of claim 28,
Codes for causing the computer to send and receive the signals cause the computer to:
Codes for forming a signal receiving null in a receiving direction coinciding with the interference direction; And
Codes for causing the signals to be received in a receiving direction that does not include the signal receiving null
A computer-program product. 29. The method of claim 28,
And code for causing the computer to transmit and receive signals omni-directionally when the interfering signal is determined not to interfere.

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