KR20140145026A - Method and apparatus for limiting allocation of resource block in base station - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for limiting the allocation of base station resource blocks. The method for limiting the allocation of base station resource blocks comprises: a step of monitoring base station resource blocks occupied by user equipment; a step of identifying user equipment occupying resource blocks beyond predetermined standard quantity; and a step of limiting the allocation of the resource blocks to the identified user equipment below the standard quantity. As a result, if a specific user overly occupies resource blocks and thus concentration of resource blocks occurs, the present invention limits the allocation of the resource blocks to corresponding user equipment, thereby always securing free resource blocks capable of being allocated to other subscribers and always guaranteeing a data transfer rate satisfying a requested level to all the subscribers in a cell.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR LIMITING ALLOCATION OF RESOURCE BLOCK IN BASE STATION [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for restricting resource block allocation in a base station, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for restricting allocation of a resource block to a terminal located in a service area of a base station.

A 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) mobile communication system based on WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) radio access technology has been widely deployed all over the world.

However, as the requirements and expectations of users and operators continue to increase and the competing wireless access technologies continue to be developed, new technologies in 3GPP mobile communication systems are required to evolve. The requirements include reduced cost per bit, increased service availability, the use of flexible frequency bands, simple structure and open interfaces, and the appropriate power consumption of user elements (UEs). In addition, prevention of unnecessary latency at a network node and efficient use of network resources are also requirements according to the evolution of 3GPP technology.

3GPP Release 8 describes an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) as a network architecture as one of mobile communication systems for meeting the above-mentioned requirements. EPC is a set of network nodes for 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) system. The EPC evolves the core network of the existing 3GPP system architecture to support Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), which is an evolved RAN, And has an efficient network structure that simplifies the network node. A wireless communication system including an EPC and an E-UTRAN may be referred to as an EPS (Evolved Packet System), and the LTE mobile communication system currently being implemented and serviced in Korea corresponds to this.

The EPC network is divided into three logical entities such as a Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW), a Serving Gateway (SGW), and a Mobility Management Entity (MME).

PGW acts as a global mobility anchor for mobility between 3GPP access technology and non-3GPP access technology (such as CDMA2000, WiMAX or WIFI) and as a gateway to the external network. This PGW allocates an IP (Internet Protocol) of a terminal apparatus, performs session control for interworking with an external Internet network and a non-3GPP network, has tunneling and IP routing functions for a packet service, And routing information with the external network.

SGW is a mobile anchor for mobility between 3GPP access networks (E-UTRAN, UTRAN, GERAN). The SGW performs session control for processing payload traffic according to a set session, interworks with the eNodeB with the S1-U interface, and performs handoff in the LTE mobile communication system and 3GPP User plane entities that support it.

The MME is a control plane entity responsible for mobility management of a terminal apparatus moving between eNodeBs, and is responsible for session management, and may be a kind of exchange server.

In the early stage of constructing the LTE mobile communication system, there is a mixed communication environment with a legacy network such as a WCDMA mobile communication system. In accordance with such a communication environment, a dual-mode mobile communication system capable of accessing an LTE network and accessing a legacy network such as a WCDMA A dual mode terminal device is being operated. In the early stage of the LTE mobile communication service, a WCDMA mobile communication system was used to provide a voice communication service to a dual mode terminal, and an LTE mobile communication system was used to provide a data communication service.

Recently, voice over LTE (VoLTE) service using an LTE mobile communication system has been provided not only for data communication but also for voice communication. According to the VoLTE service, it is possible to provide 4 ~ 5 times cleaner HD voice call service in case of voice call, and users can display contents such as map, music, news, You can share.

However, since the LTE mobile communication system still has a higher proportion of the data communication service than the voice communication service, it is required to appropriately allocate the resource blocks for the data communication service to the terminal devices. An LTE mobile communication system uses an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) scheme to provide a high-speed data service. A frequency domain is divided into a plurality of sub-carriers, Area is divided into a plurality of time slots. Here, a physical quantity having a two-dimensional structure of time and frequency is defined as a resource block.

Particularly, in case of voice communication service, resource block biased phenomenon in which allocation of resource blocks is prevalent to some users among all users is not a big problem, but in case of data communication service, there is a high possibility that resource block biased phenomenon occurs due to service characteristics In addition, it is common that the resource block bias phenomenon lasts for a certain time or more. A user occupying too much a resource block for data communication service is sometimes referred to as a heavy user.

In the data communication service, it is very important to ensure a high transmission rate to the terminal device. However, since a resource block for a data communication service is limited, according to the related art, when a resource block of a base station is allocated indefinitely to a specific subscriber, other subscribers can not occupy a resource block and are damaged.

In particular, in the LTE mobile communication system, a resource block that can be used according to a bandwidth is determined, and a terminal device belonging to the coverage can use a data communication service only after a resource block is allocated from the base station. However, the base station to which the data traffic is transmitted can not allocate a sufficient resource block to the terminal apparatus, and consequently, the data transmission rate is lowered.

For example, when a specific subscriber in a certain cell downloads large amount of data such as moving pictures, the subscriber may occupy most of the resource blocks. In this case, other subscribers must use only the remaining resource blocks, so that other subscribers take longer to receive the data.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2012-0123518, published on November 08, 2012.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when a resource block biased phenomenon occurs in which a specific user occupies a resource block excessively by monitoring occupation status of a base station resource block by the terminal apparatus, A method and an apparatus for restricting allocation of base station resource blocks are provided.

The problems to be solved by the present invention are not limited to those mentioned above, and another problem to be solved can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

A method for restricting base station resource block allocation according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes the steps of: monitoring occupancy of a resource block in a base station by a terminal device; monitoring the occupation state of the resource block in the base station, And restricting allocation of the resource blocks to the determined terminal device to the reference occupancy or less.

Here, the monitoring step may monitor the occupancy status for each cell, and the determining may identify the terminal device occupying the resource block at a reference occupation amount equal to or longer than a reference time.

A BS resource block allocation limiting apparatus according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: a resource occupancy monitoring unit that monitors an occupation state of a resource block in a base station by a terminal apparatus; a resource occupancy monitoring unit that occupies the resource block And a resource allocation restricting unit for restricting allocation of the resource blocks to the determined terminal apparatus to the reference occupancy or less.

Here, the resource occupancy monitoring unit may monitor the occupancy state for each cell, and the occupancy amount discrimination unit may discriminate the terminal apparatus occupying the resource block more than the reference occupation amount over a certain period of time.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when a resource block biased phenomenon occurs in which a specific user occupies a resource block excessively by monitoring occupation status of a base station resource block by the terminal apparatus, Limit allocation.

Therefore, even when a specific subscriber downloads a large amount of data such as a moving picture in a cell of a base station, a resource block is always allocated only to a predetermined subscriber, so that there is always an idle resource block that can be allocated to other subscribers.

Therefore, there is an effect that the data transmission rate of the required level can be always guaranteed to all the subscribers in the cell.

1 is a network configuration diagram of an LTE mobile communication system employing a Node B resource block allocation limiting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a block diagram of a BS resource block allocation limiting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for restricting a BS resource block allocation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The advantages and features of the present invention and the manner of achieving them will become apparent with reference to the embodiments described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. To fully disclose the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art, and the invention is only defined by the scope of the claims.

In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear. The following terms are defined in consideration of the functions in the embodiments of the present invention, which may vary depending on the intention of the user, the intention or the custom of the operator. Therefore, the definition should be based on the contents throughout this specification.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a network configuration diagram of an LTE mobile communication system employing a Node B resource block allocation limiting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. A base station resource block allocation limiting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention can be employed in various mobile communication service systems for providing data communication services. FIG. 1 shows an example of an LTE (Long Term Evolution) mobile communication system . Of course, the mobile communication system employing the base station resource block allocation limiting apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the LTE mobile communication system. For example, the WCDMA mobile communication system, the GSM (Global System for Mobile), and other asynchronous mobile communication systems, such as CDMA2000, and the like, may be used as long as they have the property of allocating resource blocks defined by physical quantities having a two- Synchronous mobile communication system of the present invention.

An LTE mobile communication service system capable of employing the BS resource block allocation limiting apparatus 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

1, the LTE mobile communication system includes an eNodeB 120, an MME 140, a SGW 150, a PGW 160, a Policy & Charging Rule Function (PCRF) 170, a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 180) and the like. Reference numeral 130 in FIG. 1 denotes a service area of the eNodeB 120, and reference numerals 131 to 134 denote a plurality of cells existing in the service area 130. A plurality of terminals 111 to 116 are located in the plurality of cells 131 to 134, and voice communication service and data communication service can be provided. Of course, the number of cells 131 to 134 and terminal devices 111 to 116 in the service area 130 shown in FIG. 1 is only an example.

The terminal devices 111 to 116 are located in any one of a plurality of cells 131 to 134 existing in the service area 130 of the eNodeB 120 and are allocated resource blocks from the eNodeB 120, Data communication service is provided through the block. For example, the terminal devices 111 to 116 may be implemented in various forms such as a smart phone, a notepad, and a tablet computer.

The eNodeB 120 is a base station that assures mobility of the terminal devices 111 to 116 as devices supporting next generation technologies and services such as LTE. The eNodeB 120 performs functions such as radio frequency (RF) transmission of a transmission signal, transmission signal strength and quality measurement, baseband signal processing, and channel card resource management. The eNodeB 120 allocates resource blocks for data communication services to the terminal devices 111 to 116 located in the plurality of cells 131 to 134 existing in the service area 130, And provides data communication services to the corresponding terminal devices 111 to 116.

The BS resource block allocation limiting apparatus 200 according to the embodiment of the present invention may be mounted on the eNodeB 120 as illustrated in FIG. Or may be interfaced with the eNodeB 120 while being connected to the eNodeB 120 via a communication line at an external location physically separated from the eNodeB 120. [

The base station resource block allocation restricting apparatus 200 monitors an occupation state of a base station resource block by the terminal devices 111 to 116 and when a specific resource occupancy of a resource block is excessively occupied by a specific user, The allocation of the resource blocks to the terminal apparatuses is limited to the reference occupancy or less. The components of the base station resource block allocation limiting apparatus 200 will be described below with reference to FIG.

The MME 140 is a node for managing the mobility of the terminal devices 111 to 116 and is responsible for session management, idle subscriber management, paging, and subscriber authentication functions. That is, the MME 140 processes a control signal when there is a binding request from the terminal devices 111 to 116 or another network node such as the PGW 160 or the SGW 150, a request for setting a radio bearer, and the like And performs various functions of the same control plane and receives subscriber profile information, authentication and location related data from the HSS 180 to configure an EPS bearer or an IP tunnel and manage mobility, And the like.

The SGW 150 is a user plane node that performs session control for processing payload traffic according to a set session and is interworked with the eNodeB 120 through the S1-U interface, Handoff, sets up PGW 160 and an EPS bearer (Evolved Packet System bearer), and delivers PDU (Packet Data Unit) using tunneling. The SGW 150 selects the PGW 160 based on the subscriber profile, and generates billing data for mutual settlement with the PGW of the home network when the call is an inbound roaming call.

The PGW 160 is a user plane node that assigns IP addresses of the terminal devices 111 to 116 and performs session control in cooperation with an external Internet network and a non-3GPP network. The PGW 160 is a user plane node, Maintains information, and has tunneling and IP routing functions. In addition, the PDU is delivered to the SGW 150 and the external network. When the PGW 160 is a local call, the PGW 160 performs a charging process.

The PCRF 170 provides dynamic QoS and billing rules according to the service data flow to perform communication policies and billing processing in the communication network.

The HSS 180 is a network node including a data base including subscriber information for the LTE mobile communication system and stores subscriber profile information, authentication and location related data.

2 is a block diagram of a BS resource block allocation limiting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 and 2, the BS resource block allocation limiting apparatus 200 may include a resource occupancy monitoring unit 210, an occupancy determining unit 220, a resource allocation limiting unit 230, and the like.

The resource occupancy monitoring unit 210 monitors the occupation status of resource blocks in the base station by the terminal devices 111 to 116. [ For example, it is possible to monitor the occupation status of resource blocks for each cell 131 to 134 with respect to a plurality of cells 131 to 134 existing in the service area 130 of the eNodeB 120. [

The occupancy determination unit 220 identifies the terminal devices 111 to 116 capable of generating a resource block biasing phenomenon that occupies a resource block with a predetermined reference occupation amount or more. For example, the occupancy determination unit 220 can determine the terminal devices 111 to 116 occupying the resource block in a state occupied by a reference occupation amount or more for a predetermined time or more.

The resource allocation restricting unit 230 limits the allocation of the resource blocks to the terminal devices 111 to 116 capable of causing the resource block bias phenomenon to be equal to or less than the reference occupancy amount. For example, the resource allocation restricting unit 230 requests the eNodeB 120 to restrict allocation of resource blocks to a specific terminal device among a plurality of terminal devices 111 to 116 or to release allocation of preallocated resource blocks .

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for restricting a BS resource block allocation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As described above, the base station resource block allocation limitation method according to the embodiment includes: setting a reference occupation amount of a resource block (S310); monitoring occupancy status of a resource block in a base station by a terminal device (Step S320).

In addition, the step S330 of measuring the occupation amount of the resource block for each terminal device determines whether the measured occupancy amount is larger than the reference occupancy amount by comparing the measured occupancy amount with the reference occupied amount for each terminal device, (S340) of determining a terminal device capable of occupying a resource block and generating a resource block bias phenomenon.

The method further includes a step (S350) of limiting the allocation of the resource blocks to the terminal devices determined to be capable of causing the resource block bias phenomenon to be equal to or less than the reference occupancy amount.

Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, a process for allocating a resource block by an eNodeB, which includes a base station resource block allocation restricting device according to an embodiment of the present invention, A method of restricting resource block allocation according to an example will be described in more detail.

First, terminal devices 111 to 116 located in a plurality of cells 131 to 134 existing in the service area 130 of the eNodeB 120 allocate resource blocks to the eNodeB 120 in order to receive data communication services Lt; / RTI >

Then, the eNodeB 120 allocates resource blocks in the idle state to the terminal devices 111 to 116 requesting resource block allocation among the terminal devices 111 to 116, and provides a data communication service through the allocated resource blocks .

On the other hand, the occupancy determining unit 220 of the BS resource block allocation limiting apparatus 200, which is mounted on the eNodeB 120 or physically separated from the eNodeB 120, may determine that a resource block biased occupancy A reference occupancy of the resource block is set by selecting an appropriate threshold occupancy (S310).

The resource occupancy monitoring unit 210 of the base station resource block allocation restricting apparatus 200 searches the cells 131 to 134 existing in the service area 130 of the eNodeB 120 for each cell 131 (S320), and measures the occupation amount of the resource block for each of the terminal devices 111 to 116 based on the monitoring result and provides the measured occupation amount of the resource block to the occupancy amount determining unit 220 (S330) .

Then, the occupancy determining unit 220 compares the measured occupancy of the resource blocks with respect to the terminal devices 111 to 116 and the reference occupancy amount previously determined in step S310 to determine whether the measured occupancy is greater than the reference occupied amount, It is determined to be a terminal device capable of causing a resource block bias phenomenon. Here, when the specific terminal device occupies a resource block more than the reference occupation amount for a predetermined time or longer, the occupancy amount discrimination section 220 may determine the terminal device as a terminal device capable of generating a resource block bias phenomenon (S340) .

If it is determined that the resource block biasing phenomenon can be generated by the occupancy amount determining unit 220, the resource allocation restricting unit 230 of the base station resource block allocation restricting device 200 allocates resource blocks The resource block allocation to the terminal device capable of causing the biased phenomenon is limited to the reference occupancy or less. Herein, the resource allocation restricting unit 230 requests the eNodeB 120 to limit the allocation of resource blocks to a specific terminal device among a plurality of terminal devices 111 to 116, or to release allocation of preassigned resource blocks (S350).

In response to the request by the resource allocation restricting unit 230, the eNodeB 120 restricts additional allocation of resource blocks to a specific terminal apparatus among a plurality of terminal apparatuses 111 to 116, To prevent resource block bias phenomenon from occurring.

For example, if the reference block occupancy of the resource block is set to a maximum of 30, a terminal device capable of biasing a resource block may allocate only 30 or less base station resource blocks to a corresponding terminal device until a call is terminated, The above data transmission speed is guaranteed at all times.

Each block of the block diagrams attached hereto and combinations of steps of the flowchart diagrams may be performed by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be loaded into a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus so that the instructions, which may be executed by a processor of a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, And means for performing the functions described in each step are created. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer usable or computer readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to implement the functionality in a particular manner so that the computer usable or computer readable memory It is also possible for the instructions stored in the block diagram to produce a manufacturing item containing instruction means for performing the functions described in each block or flowchart of the block diagram. Computer program instructions may also be stored on a computer or other programmable data processing equipment so that a series of operating steps may be performed on a computer or other programmable data processing equipment to create a computer- It is also possible that the instructions that perform the processing equipment provide the steps for executing the functions described in each block of the block diagram and at each step of the flowchart.

Also, each block or each step may represent a module, segment, or portion of code that includes one or more executable instructions for executing the specified logical function (s). It should also be noted that in some alternative embodiments, the functions mentioned in the blocks or steps may occur out of order. For example, two blocks or steps shown in succession may in fact be performed substantially concurrently, or the blocks or steps may sometimes be performed in reverse order according to the corresponding function.

The foregoing description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present invention, and various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are intended to illustrate rather than limit the scope of the present invention, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments. The scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of equivalents should be construed as falling within the scope of the present invention.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, when a occupation state of a base station resource block is monitored by a terminal device and a resource block biased phenomenon that a specific user occupies a resource block excessively can occur, Limit allocation.

Therefore, even when a specific subscriber downloads a large amount of data such as a moving picture in a cell of a base station, a resource block is always allocated only to a predetermined subscriber, so that there is always an idle resource block that can be allocated to other subscribers.

Therefore, it is possible to always guarantee a data transmission rate of a required level to all subscribers in the cell.

The method and apparatus for restricting base station resource block allocation according to an embodiment of the present invention may be used for an asynchronous mobile communication system such as an LTE mobile communication system, a WCDMA mobile communication system, a GSM (Global System for Mobile), or a synchronous mobile communication system such as CDMA2000 .

120: eNodeB
200: base station resource block allocation limiter
210: resource occupancy monitoring unit
220: occupancy determination unit
230: resource allocation restriction unit

Claims (4)

Comprising the steps of: monitoring an occupation status of a resource block in a base station by a terminal apparatus;
Determining the terminal device occupying the resource block at a predetermined reference occupation amount or more;
And restricting allocation of the resource block to the determined terminal device to be equal to or smaller than the reference occupancy amount
Wherein the base station resource block allocation method comprises:
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the monitoring step monitors the occupancy state for each cell,
Wherein the determining step comprises the step of determining whether the terminal device occupying the resource block is greater than or equal to the reference occupation amount
A method for restricting base station resource block allocation.
A resource occupancy monitoring unit for monitoring an occupation state of a resource block in a base station by a terminal apparatus;
An occupancy amount discrimination unit for discriminating the terminal apparatus occupying the resource block by a predetermined reference occupation amount or more;
And a resource allocation restricting unit for restricting allocation of the resource block to the terminal apparatus determined to be equal to or smaller than the reference occupancy amount,
Wherein the base station resource block allocation limiter comprises:
The method of claim 3,
Wherein the resource occupancy monitoring unit monitors the occupancy state for each cell,
Wherein the occupancy amount discrimination unit discriminates the terminal apparatus occupying the resource block at a reference occupation amount or more for a predetermined time or more
A base station resource block allocation limiter.

Images