WO2017113215A1

WO2017113215A1 - Method and apparatus for merging cells

Info

Publication number: WO2017113215A1
Application number: PCT/CN2015/099935
Authority: WO
Inventors: 代建设; 李松涛; 黄黎
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2015-12-30
Filing date: 2015-12-30
Publication date: 2017-07-06
Also published as: CN108541386A

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and apparatus for merging cells. The method comprises: when the cell load of a first cell is less than a first load threshold, the interference between the first cell and a second cell is greater than an interference threshold, and the sum of the cell load of the first cell and the cell load of the second cell is less than a second load threshold, merging the first cell and the second cell. The present invention can adapt to the real-time change of a service in an actual network, thereby improving the accuracy and efficiency of cell merging, improving user experience, and improving the system throughput.

Description

Method and device for cell merging

Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for cell merging.

Background technique

Long Term Evolution (LTE) is an evolution of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) technology standard developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The LTE system includes evolution. An Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and an Evolved Node B (eNB). For LTE, in the case of increasingly scarce frequency resources, co-frequency networking is an important means to improve its spectrum utilization. A strict intra-frequency networking refers to a networking mode with a frequency reuse factor of 1, which can maximize spectrum utilization efficiency. However, the strict intra-frequency networking mode will cause serious interference to the user equipment (UE) of the cell, affecting the user experience and system throughput.

In order to solve the problem of inter-cell interference and improve the user experience, a cell merging technology is introduced, that is, a technology of combining multiple cells that can work independently into one cell.

The cell merging technology can reduce the interference received by the UE in the network and improve the user experience. However, after multiple cells are merged into one cell, the physical resource block (PRB) can be reduced. Since the services in the actual network are dynamically changed, the existing cell merging technology cannot adapt to the real-time change of the service.

Summary of the invention

The embodiments of the present invention provide a method and device for cell merging, which can adapt to dynamic changes of services in a network, thereby improving user experience and improving system throughput.

In a first aspect, the embodiment of the present invention provides a method for cell merging, where the method includes: acquiring a cell load of a first cell and acquiring a cell load of a second cell, where the first cell uses the first physical cell identifier PCI The second cell uses the second PCI;

Obtaining interference between the first cell and the second cell;

If the cell load of the first cell is smaller than the first load threshold, if the interference between the first cell and the second cell is greater than an interference threshold, and the cell load of the first cell is related to the second cell The sum of the cell loads is less than the first And combining, by the second load threshold, the first cell and the second cell, where the merged first cell and the second cell use the same PCI.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the acquiring the interference between the first cell and the second cell includes:

Obtaining a signal strength of the user equipment UE to the first cell;

Obtaining a signal strength of the UE to the second cell;

Obtaining an absolute value of a difference between a signal strength of the UE to the first cell and a signal strength of the UE to the second cell.

With reference to the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the acquiring the interference between the first cell and the second cell includes:

Obtaining a signal strength of the user equipment UE to the first cell;

Obtaining a signal strength of the UE to the second cell;

Counting a ratio of an absolute value of a difference between a signal strength of the multiple UEs of the UE to the first cell and a signal strength of the second cell that is greater than the interference threshold;

The interference between the first cell and the second cell is greater than an interference threshold, and includes:

The ratio exceeds the interference ratio threshold.

In conjunction with the first possible implementation or the second possible implementation of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation, the signal strength includes: reference signal received power or signal to interference and noise ratio.

With reference to the first aspect, or any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the The second cell is merged, including:

Scheduling the UE of the first cell by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, and scheduling the UE of the second cell by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, The first radio frequency module is a radio frequency module of the first cell, and the second radio frequency module is a radio frequency module of the second cell;

Transmitting the UE of the second cell to the first cell;

After the handover is completed, the second cell is deactivated;

The UE of the first cell is scheduled in all subframes by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus, where the apparatus includes:

An acquiring unit, configured to acquire a cell load of the first cell, and acquire a cell load of the second cell, where the first cell uses the first physical cell to identify the PCI, and the second cell uses the second PCI;

The acquiring unit is further configured to acquire interference between the first cell and the second cell;

a processing unit, configured to: if a cell load of the first cell is less than a first load threshold, if interference between the first cell and the second cell is greater than an interference threshold, and a cell load of the first cell The sum of the cell loads of the second cell is smaller than the second load threshold, and the first cell is merged with the second cell, where the merged first cell and the second cell use the same PCI .

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the device further includes a transceiver unit, configured to perform information interaction between the device and the user equipment UE;

The obtaining unit is specifically configured to:

Obtaining, by the transceiver unit, a signal strength of the UE to the first cell;

Obtaining, by the transceiver unit, a signal strength of the UE to the second cell;

With reference to the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the device further includes a transceiver unit, configured to perform information interaction between the device and the user equipment UE;

The obtaining unit is specifically configured to:

Obtaining, by the transceiver unit, a signal strength of the user equipment UE to the first cell;

The ratio exceeds the interference ratio threshold.

With reference to the first possible implementation of the second aspect or the second possible implementation of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation, the signal strength includes: reference signal received power or signal to interference and noise ratio .

With reference to the second aspect, or any one of the possible implementation manners of the first to the third aspect of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation, the processing unit is specifically configured to:

Scheduling the UE of the first cell by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module in a manner of time-consuming molecular frames, and utilizing The first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module schedule the UE of the second cell, where the first radio frequency module is a radio frequency module of the first cell, and the second radio frequency module is the second cell Radio frequency module;

Transmitting the UE of the second cell to the first cell;

After the handover is completed, the second cell is deactivated;

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for merging a cell, where the method includes: scheduling, by using a first radio frequency module and a second radio frequency module, a UE of the first cell by using a molecular frame in a timely manner, The first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module schedule the UE of the second cell, the first radio frequency module is a radio frequency module of the first cell, and the second radio frequency module is a radio frequency of the second cell Module

Transmitting the UE of the second cell to the first cell;

After the handover is completed, the second cell is deactivated;

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module are used to schedule the UE of the first cell by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, Scheduling the UE of the second cell by the radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, including:

Scheduling the UE of the first cell in an odd subframe by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, and scheduling the UE of the second cell in an even subframe by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus, where the apparatus includes: a scheduling unit, configured to schedule, by using a first radio frequency module and a second radio frequency module, a UE of the first cell, in a manner of a timely molecular frame, to utilize The first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module schedule the UE of the second cell, where the first radio frequency module is a radio frequency module of the first cell, and the second radio frequency module is the second cell Radio frequency module;

a triggering unit, configured to trigger a UE of the second cell to switch to the first cell;

Deactivating the unit, after the handover is completed, deactivating the second cell;

The scheduling unit is further configured to schedule the UE of the first cell in all subframes by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the scheduling unit is configured to use, by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, to schedule the UE of the first cell in an odd subframe, Scheduling the UE of the second cell in an even subframe by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a system for cell merging, where the system includes a centralized control device and a base station;

The centralized control device is configured to acquire a cell load of the first cell and acquire a cell load of the second cell, where the first cell uses the first physical cell to identify the PCI, and the second cell uses the second PCI;

Obtaining interference between the first cell and the second cell;

If the cell load of the first cell is smaller than the first load threshold, if the interference between the first cell and the second cell is greater than an interference threshold, and the cell load of the first cell is related to the second cell And determining, by combining the first load and the second cell

The base station is configured to acquire an instruction for combining the first cell and the second cell that is sent by the centralized control device, and perform a combining process on the first cell and the second cell.

The embodiment of the invention provides a method and a device for cell merging, which performs cell merging when the cell load of the cell and the interference between the cells meet the condition, can adapt to real-time changes of services in the actual network, and improve the accuracy and efficiency of cell merging. The user experience is improved, the system throughput is improved, and the continuity of the UE service is further ensured in the cell merging process.

DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings used in the description of the prior art or the embodiments will be briefly described below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some of the present invention. For the embodiments, other drawings may be obtained as those of ordinary skill in the art without any inventive labor.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a schematic diagram of cell merging according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a cell merging method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a different frequency networking scenario according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a cell merge in a same frequency group network scenario according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

detailed description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention are clearly and completely described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. It is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, but not all embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention are within the scope of the present invention.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication network 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The wireless communication network is only an example, and the scope of application of the embodiments of the present invention is not limited thereto.

The wireless communication network shown in FIG. 1 may be an LTE network, an enhanced LTE (LTE-Advanced, LTE-A) network, or a future wireless network.

For convenience of description, an LTE network is taken as an example for description. The wireless communication network includes a plurality of network elements, such as a base station 101 and a core network 102, for supporting a plurality of user equipments 103 for communication.

The base station 101 is an eNB in LTE. A base station can manage one or more cells 104, each of which can serve multiple UEs, and the UE selects one cell to initiate network access and performs voice and/or data services with the base station 101. The base station 101 and the core network 102 perform information exchange through the S1 interface, and the plurality of base stations 101 perform information interaction through the X2 interface.

The user equipment 103 may also be referred to as a mobile terminal (MT), a mobile station (Mobile Station, MS), or the like.

Please refer to FIG. 2 , which is a schematic diagram of cell merging according to an embodiment of the present invention. It should be understood that the scope of application of the embodiments of the present invention is not limited thereto.

Taking three cells (Cell1, Cell2, and Cell3) as an example, the three independently working cells are combined into one cell (Cell0). Specifically, the radio module corresponding to each cell working independently is processed as a cell. Working, wherein the radio module can be a Radio Radio Unit (RRU). After cell merging, each merged cell uses the same Physical Cell Identifier (PCI). A partial edge region of the three cells before the merge becomes a central region of the merged cell. A merged cell may be referred to as a single frequency network (SFN) cell, a merged cell may be referred to as a physical cell, and a non-SFN cell may be referred to as a normal cell.

Please refer to FIG. 3 , which is a schematic flowchart of a cell merging method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The cell merging method can adapt to real-time changes of services in the network.

As shown in FIG. 3, the method includes:

S301. Acquire a cell load of the first cell and acquire a cell load of the second cell.

S302. Acquire interference between the first cell and the second cell.

S303, if the cell load of the first cell is less than the first load threshold, step S304 is performed;

S304, if the interference between the first cell and the second cell is greater than the interference threshold, and the sum of the cell load of the first cell and the cell load of the second cell is less than the second load threshold, step S305 is performed;

S305. Combine the first cell with the second cell.

Before the merging, the first cell uses the first PCI, the second cell uses the second PCI, and the merged first cell and the second cell use the same PCI.

It should be noted that the cell merging method provided by the embodiment of the present invention can be applied to a base station, for example, an eNB of an LTE system, and can also be applied to a network management device or a centralized control device, where the centralized control device can centrally manage multiple base stations. Used to coordinate between multiple base stations. When the foregoing method is applied to the network management device or the centralized control device, when the network management device or the centralized control device determines to combine the first cell and the second cell according to the foregoing method, the first cell and the second cell are combined and sent to the base station. After the base station acquires an instruction to merge the first cell and the second cell, the base station performs a combining process on the first cell and the second cell. The cell in which the first cell and the second cell are combined may be referred to as an SFN cell.

If the cell load of the first cell is greater than the first load threshold, cell merging is not performed on the first cell.

If the interference between the first cell and the second cell and the sum of the cell load of the first cell and the cell load of the second cell do not satisfy the condition of step S304, cell merging is not performed on the first cell.

Optionally, in order to avoid unnecessary operations, when the cell load of the first cell is less than the first load threshold, the cell load of the second cell and the interference between the first cell and the second cell are acquired, and then step S304 is performed. .

Optionally, the cell load is a PRB utilization rate of the cell.

Optionally, the interference between the first cell and the second cell is an absolute value of a difference between signal strengths of the same UE to the two cells. If the absolute value of the difference between the signal strength of the UE to the first cell and the signal strength of the UE to the second cell is greater than the interference threshold, the interference between the first cell and the second cell is large. Otherwise, the interference between the first cell and the second cell is small. Optionally, in the preset time period, the absolute value of the difference between the signal strength of the multiple UEs to the first cell and the signal strength of the UE to the second cell is calculated, and if the signal strength of the UE to the first cell is If the absolute value of the difference between the signal strengths of the UE and the second cell is greater than the interference threshold exceeds the interference ratio threshold, the interference between the first cell and the second cell is large. Otherwise, the interference between the first cell and the second cell is small. The signal strength may be Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), or Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR), or other parameters that characterize the signal strength.

Optionally, the interference between the first cell and the second cell is an interference coefficient between the first cell and the second cell. If first If the interference coefficient between the cell and the second cell is greater than the interference threshold, the interference between the first cell and the second cell is large. Otherwise, the interference between the first cell and the second cell is small. The signals of the first cell and the second cell may be collected, and the interference coefficient between the first cell and the second cell is obtained according to the collected signal.

It should be noted that the first load threshold, the second load threshold, the interference threshold, and the interference ratio threshold are preset values of the system. Different interference thresholds may be set according to different interference conditions, and the interference between the first cell and the second cell may be a statistic in a certain period of time.

Optionally, the cell merging method provided by the embodiment of the present invention is also applicable to the merging of the first cell to the SFN cell, and the second cell is the cell merging of the common cell, that is, by using the cell merging method, the SFN cell and the third cell may also be performed. Community merger.

It should be noted that the cell merging method provided by the embodiment of the present invention is also applicable to the merging of two or more cells.

For example, for N cells: Cell1, Cell2...CellN, N is greater than 2, and the cell load of the N cells is obtained. If the cell load of Cell1 is less than the first load threshold, the interference between Cell1 and Cell2, and between Cell1 and CellN are respectively acquired. coefficient. Preferably, Cell1 is the lowest cell load in the N cells and the cell load of Cell1 is less than the first load threshold. If the interference coefficient of Cell1 and Cell2 is greater than the interference threshold, and the sum of the cell load of Cell1 and the cell load of Cell2 is less than the second load threshold, it is determined that Cell1 and Cell2 perform cell merging, and the merged cell is the first SFN cell. Preferably, among the interference coefficients between Cell1 and other cells, the interference coefficients of Cell1 and Cell2 are the largest. For the first SFN cell, the cells may be merged into the second SFN cell again according to the above method under the above conditions with other cells (for example, Cell3).

It can be seen that the foregoing embodiment of the present invention provides a cell merging method, and performs cell merging when the cell load of the cell and the interference between cells meet the condition, which can adapt to the real-time change of the service in the actual network, and improve the real-time change of the service in the actual network. The accuracy and efficiency of cell consolidation improves the user experience and increases system throughput.

Further, after the first cell and the second cell are combined, when the first cell and the second cell are combined, the user experience can be further improved by ensuring the continuity of the UE service.

The following two scenarios describe in detail how to ensure the continuity of the UE service in the cell merging process.

Scene one, different frequency networking.

The different frequency networking may cover the same area at the same time by using more than two frequency bands. Please refer to FIG. 4 , which is a schematic diagram of a different frequency networking scenario according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, the frequency bands used by the first cell and the second cell are the first frequency band, and the third cell and the fourth cell are used. The frequency band is the second frequency band, the third cell is the inter-frequency same coverage cell of the first cell, and the fourth cell is the inter-frequency same coverage cell of the second cell.

After determining that the first cell and the second cell are combined, the UE of the second cell performs inter-frequency handover and switches to the fourth cell. When there is no UE in the second cell, the first cell is merged with the second cell. After the combination, the second cell adopts the same PCI as the first cell, and the merged cell is an SFN cell. Specifically, the base station triggers the UE of the second cell to perform the inter-frequency handover, and after the UE of the second cell completes the inter-frequency handover, deactivates the second cell, and then performs the second cell according to the configuration information of the first cell. Signal transmission completes the combination of the first cell and the second cell. In this way, the combined SFN cell simultaneously uses the first radio frequency module of the first cell and the second radio frequency module of the second cell to schedule the UE of the SFN cell.

Optionally, the UE that is not in the overlapping area of the first cell and the second cell may perform inter-frequency handover, and the UE that is in the overlapping area of the first cell and the second cell switches to the first cell.

Scenario 2, co-frequency networking.

The same frequency networking is to continuously cover an area with one frequency band. The first cell and the second cell use the same frequency band. Please refer to FIG. 5 , which is a schematic diagram of a cell merge in a same frequency network scenario according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 5, before the cell is merged, the first cell and the second cell work independently, and all the subframes are used to schedule the UEs of the respective cells. For LTE, each radio frame corresponds to 10 milliseconds in the time domain, including 10 subframes, each subframe containing two slots. The first cell schedules UEs of the first cell using 10 subframes, and the second cell schedules UEs of the second cell by using 10 subframes. Specifically, the first cell schedules the UE of the first cell by using the first radio module, and the second cell uses the 10th subframe to schedule the UE of the second cell by using the second radio module.

After the first cell and the second cell are combined, the UE of the first cell is scheduled by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, and the second cell is scheduled by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module. The first radio module is the radio frequency module of the first cell, and the second radio frequency module is the radio frequency module of the second cell. Specifically, the first cell schedules the UE of the first cell by using an odd subframe, and the second cell schedules the UE of the second cell by using an even subframe. More specifically, the UE of the first cell is scheduled in the odd-numbered subframe by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, and the UE of the second cell is scheduled in the even-numbered subframe by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module. It should be noted that the first cell may also use an even subframe, the second cell uses the odd subframe to perform UE scheduling, or the first cell and the second cell use other time division manner to perform UE scheduling. In this way, each radio frequency module transmits signals of two cells, and the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module simultaneously serve one cell. After the above setting, the first cell and the second cell may be The normal handover is performed (that is, the first cell after the configuration and the second cell after the configuration can be normally switched), so that the service experience of the user can be ensured to the greatest extent, and the signals of the two cells are respectively sent in the form of time division to avoid The signals between the two cells interact with each other.

The UE of the second cell is handed over to the first cell.

After the UE handover of the second cell is completed, the second cell is deactivated, and the first cell is used to schedule the UE by using all subframes to complete cell merging. The first cell (ie, the merged SFN cell) at this time uses the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module to schedule the UE of the cell in all subframes.

For the cell merging of the SFN cell, the radio module included in the new SFN cell is the radio module of all the merging cells.

It should be noted that the foregoing cell merging method for ensuring the continuity of the UE service may also exist as a separate embodiment. The specific method of the above switching can refer to the prior art switching method.

Through the above method, cell merging is completed, and the continuity of the UE service is ensured.

Referring to FIG. 6, an embodiment of the present invention provides a device 60, which is used to implement cell merging, and performs the foregoing cell merging method to adapt to real-time changes of services in the network. The device may be a base station, such as an eNB of an LTE system, or may be a network management device or a centralized control device. As shown in Figure 6, the device 60 includes:

The obtaining unit 601 is configured to acquire a cell load of the first cell and acquire a cell load of the second cell.

The obtaining unit 601 is further configured to acquire interference between the first cell and the second cell.

The processing unit 602 is configured to: if the cell load of the first cell is less than the first load threshold, if the interference between the first cell and the second cell is greater than the interference threshold, and the sum of the cell load of the first cell and the cell load of the second cell The second cell is merged with the second cell by less than the second load threshold.

Optionally, in order to avoid unnecessary operations, after the processing unit 602 determines that the cell load of the first cell is less than the first load threshold, the acquiring unit 601 acquires interference between the first cell and the second cell.

For the case where the foregoing device is a base station, the device further includes a transceiver unit 603, configured to perform information interaction between the base station and the UE. The acquiring unit 601 is configured to acquire interference between the first cell and the second cell, specifically, according to the signal strength of the UE to the first cell acquired by the transceiver unit 603 and the signal strength of the UE to the second cell. Obtaining an absolute value of a difference between a signal strength of the UE to the first cell and a signal strength of the UE to the second cell. When determining whether the interference between the first cell and the second cell is greater than the interference threshold, the processing unit 602 is specifically configured to determine an absolute difference between a signal strength of the UE to the first cell and a signal strength of the UE to the second cell. Whether the value is greater than the interference threshold, or, determine the UE to the first Whether the absolute value of the difference between the signal strength of a cell and the signal strength of the UE to the second cell is greater than a ratio of the interference threshold exceeds a preset proportional threshold.

Optionally, the acquiring unit 601 is configured to acquire interference between the first cell and the second cell, and specifically, obtain an interference coefficient between the first cell and the second cell.

It can be seen that the foregoing embodiment of the present invention provides a cell merging device, and performs cell merging when the cell load of the cell and the interference between the cells meet the condition, which can adapt to the real-time change of the service in the actual network, and improves the real-time change of the service in the actual network. The accuracy and efficiency of cell consolidation improves the user experience and increases system throughput.

Further, in the process of combining the first cell and the second cell, the processing unit 602 can further improve the user experience by ensuring the continuity of the UE service.

For the inter-frequency networking scenario, the processing unit 602 is further configured to perform inter-frequency handover of the UE of the second cell to switch to the fourth cell, where the fourth cell is an inter-frequency same coverage cell of the second cell. When there is no UE in the second cell, the first cell is merged with the second cell. After the combination, the second cell adopts the same PCI as the first cell, and the merged cell is an SFN cell. Specifically, the processing unit 602 triggers the UE of the second cell to perform the inter-frequency handover. After the UE of the second cell completes the inter-frequency handover, the processing unit 602 deactivates the second cell, and then presses the second cell according to the first The configuration information of the cell is sent and received, and the combination of the first cell and the second cell is completed.

For the same-frequency networking scenario, before the cell merging, the first cell uses all the subframes to schedule the UE of the first cell by using the first radio frequency module, and the second cell uses the second radio frequency module to schedule the UE of the second cell by using all the subframes. In the merging of the first cell and the second cell, the processing unit 602 is further configured to: schedule, by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, the UE of the first cell, by using the first The radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module schedule the UE of the second cell. Specifically, the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module are used to schedule the UE of the first cell in the odd subframe, and the UE of the second cell is scheduled in the even subframe by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module. After the above-mentioned setting, the first cell and the second cell can be normally switched (that is, the first cell after the configuration and the second cell after the configuration can be normally switched), so as to ensure the user's service experience to the greatest extent, and Since the signals of the two cells are separately transmitted in the form of time division, the signals between the two cells are prevented from interacting with each other. It should be noted that other time division manners are also within the protection scope of the embodiments of the present invention.

The processing unit 602 is further configured to: switch the UE of the second cell to the first cell, deactivate the second cell after the UE handover of the second cell is completed, and let the first cell use all the subframes to perform the UE on the UE. Scheduling to complete cell merging. The first cell (ie, the combined SFN cell) at this time uses the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module to schedule in all subframes. UE of the cell.

For the case where the foregoing device is a network management device or a centralized control device, the device further includes an interface unit 604, where the processing unit 602 determines to combine the first cell and the second cell, and sends the first cell and the first cell to the base station 61. The two cells perform the combined instruction. The interface unit 604 is further configured to acquire, from the base station 61, the cell load of the first cell and the cell load of the second cell, and interference between the first cell and the second cell. The base station 61 includes an interface unit 611, configured to receive an instruction from the network management device or the centralized control device to merge the first cell and the second cell, and the base station 61 further includes a processing unit 612, configured to perform the first cell and the second cell. For the specific cell merging process, reference may be made to the above description, and details are not described herein again.

It should be noted that the obtaining unit and the processing unit in the embodiment of the present invention may be a processor, or may be implemented in a certain processor, or may be stored in a memory in the form of program code, and processed by a certain one. The device calls and executes the functions of the above unit. The processor described herein may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), or an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits that implement embodiments of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 7, an embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus 70 for performing the foregoing cell merging method to implement cell merging to adapt to real-time changes of services in the network. The device may be a base station, such as an eNB of an LTE system, or may be a network management device or a centralized control device. As shown in FIG. 7, the apparatus 70 includes a processor 701 and a memory 702, and the processor 701 and the memory 702 are connected by a bus.

The memory 702 is configured to store program code, and the processor 701 calls the program code stored in the memory 702 to perform: acquiring a cell load of the first cell and acquiring a cell load of the second cell, and acquiring between the first cell and the second cell. Interference, if the cell load of the first cell is less than the first load threshold, if the interference between the first cell and the second cell is greater than the interference threshold, and the sum of the cell load of the first cell and the cell load of the second cell is less than the second load The threshold combines the first cell with the second cell.

Preferably, the processor 701 calls the program code stored in the memory to perform: acquiring the cell load of the first cell and acquiring the cell load of the second cell, and acquiring the first if the cell load of the first cell is less than the first load threshold. The interference between the cell and the second cell, if the interference between the first cell and the second cell is greater than the interference threshold, and the sum of the cell load of the first cell and the cell load of the second cell is less than the second load threshold, the first cell Merged with the second cell.

For the case where the above device is a base station, the device further includes a transceiver 703 for information interaction between the base station and the UE. The processor 701 is configured to acquire interference between the first cell and the second cell, and specifically: used to pass the transceiver 703. Obtaining the signal strength of the UE to the first cell and the signal strength of the UE to the second cell, and obtaining an absolute value of a difference between a signal strength of the UE to the first cell and a signal strength of the UE to the second cell.

Further, in the process of combining the first cell and the second cell by the processor 701, the user experience can be further improved by ensuring continuity of the UE service.

It should be noted that the method for performing cell merging by the device 70 and more specific implementations may be referred to the foregoing method and/or device embodiment.

It should be noted that the method and device for cell merging provided by the embodiment of the present invention are also applicable to PCI optimization in a PCI conflict or confusing scenario. Further, by using the time division method described above, in the PCI adjustment, the service in the cell can be guaranteed. Interrupted.

In addition, the embodiment of the present invention provides a system for merging a cell, where the system includes a centralized control device and a base station, where the centralized control device is configured to acquire a cell load of the first cell and acquire a cell load of the second cell, where The first cell uses the first PCI, the second cell uses the second PCI, and acquires interference between the first cell and the second cell; if the cell load of the first cell is less than the first load threshold, if the first The interference between the cell and the second cell is greater than the interference threshold, and the sum of the cell load of the first cell and the cell load of the second cell is smaller than the second load threshold, and determining to merge the first cell with the second cell And transmitting, to the base station, an instruction to merge the first cell and the second cell. The base station is configured to acquire an instruction for combining the first cell and the second cell that is sent by the centralized control device, and perform a combining process on the first cell and the second cell. It should be noted that the centralized control device in the system may also be a network management device, and the specific processing method may be referred to the foregoing method and/or device embodiment.

It should be noted that the implementations of the embodiments of the present invention are only specific examples of the present invention, and other implementations that are easily conceivable by those skilled in the art according to the methods disclosed herein are also within the scope of the present invention.

It should be noted that any device embodiments described above are merely illustrative, wherein the units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as the cells may or may not be Physical units can be located in one place or distributed to multiple network elements. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment. In addition, in the drawings of the device embodiments provided by the present invention, the connection relationship between the modules indicates that there is a communication connection between them, and specifically, one or more communication buses or signal lines can be realized. Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand and implement without any creative effort.

Through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the present invention can be implemented by means of software plus necessary general hardware, and of course, dedicated hardware, dedicated CPU, dedicated memory, dedicated memory, Special components and so on. In general, functions performed by computer programs can be easily implemented with the corresponding hardware, and the specific hardware structure used to implement the same function can be various, such as analog circuits, digital circuits, or dedicated circuits. Circuits, etc. However, for the purposes of the present invention, software program implementation is a better implementation in more cases. Based on the understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, which is essential or contributes to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a readable storage medium, such as a floppy disk of a computer. , U disk, mobile hard disk, Read-Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), disk or optical disk, etc., including a number of instructions to make a computer device (may be A personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) performs the methods described in various embodiments of the present invention.

A person skilled in the art can clearly understand that the specific working process of the foregoing device or unit may refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

The above is only a specific embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention. It should be covered by the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be determined by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

A method for cell merging, characterized in that the method comprises:

Acquiring the cell load of the first cell and acquiring the cell load of the second cell, where the first cell uses the first physical cell to identify the PCI, and the second cell uses the second PCI;

Obtaining interference between the first cell and the second cell;

If the cell load of the first cell is smaller than the first load threshold, if the interference between the first cell and the second cell is greater than an interference threshold, and the cell load of the first cell is related to the second cell The sum of the cell loads is smaller than the second load threshold, and the first cell is merged with the second cell, where the merged first cell and the second cell use the same PCI.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring the interference between the first cell and the second cell comprises:

Obtaining a signal strength of the user equipment UE to the first cell;

Obtaining a signal strength of the UE to the second cell;

Obtaining an absolute value of a difference between a signal strength of the UE to the first cell and a signal strength of the UE to the second cell.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring the interference between the first cell and the second cell comprises:

Obtaining a signal strength of the user equipment UE to the first cell;

Obtaining a signal strength of the UE to the second cell;

Counting a ratio of an absolute value of a difference between a signal strength of the multiple UEs of the UE to the first cell and a signal strength of the second cell that is greater than the interference threshold;

The interference between the first cell and the second cell is greater than an interference threshold, and includes:

The ratio exceeds the interference ratio threshold.
The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the signal strength comprises: a reference signal received power RSRP or a signal to interference and noise ratio SINR.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the acquiring the interference between the first cell and the second cell comprises: acquiring an interference coefficient between the first cell and the second cell.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said first cell and said first The two cells are merged, including:

Scheduling the UE of the first cell by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, and scheduling the UE of the second cell by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, The first radio frequency module is a radio frequency module of the first cell, and the second radio frequency module is a radio frequency module of the second cell;

Transmitting the UE of the second cell to the first cell;

After the handover is completed, the second cell is deactivated;

The UE of the first cell is scheduled in all subframes by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module.
The method according to claim 6, wherein the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module are used to schedule the UE of the first cell, and the first radio frequency module and the The second radio frequency module schedules the UE of the second cell, including:

Scheduling the UE of the first cell in an odd subframe by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, and scheduling the UE of the second cell in an even subframe by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module.
The method according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the combining the first cell with the second cell comprises:

Transmitting the UE of the second cell to the fourth cell, where the fourth cell is an inter-frequency same coverage cell of the second cell;

After the handover is completed, the second cell is deactivated;

And transmitting, by the second cell, configuration information of the first cell.
A device, characterized in that the device comprises:

An acquiring unit, configured to acquire a cell load of the first cell, and acquire a cell load of the second cell, where the first cell uses the first physical cell to identify the PCI, and the second cell uses the second PCI;

The acquiring unit is further configured to acquire interference between the first cell and the second cell;

a processing unit, configured to: if a cell load of the first cell is less than a first load threshold, if interference between the first cell and the second cell is greater than an interference threshold, and a cell load of the first cell The sum of the cell loads of the second cell is smaller than the second load threshold, and the first cell is merged with the second cell, where the merged first cell and the second cell use the same PCI .
The device according to claim 9, wherein the device further comprises a transceiver unit for information interaction between the device and the user equipment UE;

The obtaining unit is specifically configured to:

Obtaining, by the transceiver unit, a signal strength of the UE to the first cell;

Obtaining, by the transceiver unit, a signal strength of the UE to the second cell;

Obtaining an absolute value of a difference between a signal strength of the UE to the first cell and a signal strength of the UE to the second cell.
The device according to claim 9, wherein the device further comprises a transceiver unit for information interaction between the device and the user equipment UE;

The obtaining unit is specifically configured to:

Obtaining, by the transceiver unit, a signal strength of the user equipment UE to the first cell;

Obtaining, by the transceiver unit, a signal strength of the UE to the second cell;

Counting a ratio of an absolute value of a difference between a signal strength of the multiple UEs of the UE to the first cell and a signal strength of the second cell that is greater than the interference threshold;

The interference between the first cell and the second cell is greater than an interference threshold, and includes:

The ratio exceeds the interference ratio threshold.
The apparatus according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the signal strength comprises: a reference signal received power RSRP or a signal to interference and noise ratio SINR.
The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the acquiring unit is specifically configured to: acquire an interference coefficient between the first cell and the second cell.
The device according to any one of claims 9 to 13, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to:

Scheduling the UE of the first cell by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, and scheduling the UE of the second cell by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, The first radio frequency module is a radio frequency module of the first cell, and the second radio frequency module is a radio frequency module of the second cell;

Transmitting the UE of the second cell to the first cell;

After the handover is completed, the second cell is deactivated;

The UE of the first cell is scheduled in all subframes by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module.
The device according to claim 14, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to:

Scheduling the UE of the first cell in an odd subframe by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, and scheduling the UE of the second cell in an even subframe by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module.
The device according to any one of claims 9 to 13, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to:

Transmitting the UE of the second cell to the fourth cell, where the fourth cell is an inter-frequency same coverage cell of the second cell;

After the handover is completed, the second cell is deactivated;

And transmitting, by the second cell, configuration information of the first cell.
An apparatus, comprising: a processor and a memory;

The memory is configured to store program code;

The processor is configured to: call the program code stored in the memory, to perform: acquiring a cell load of the first cell and acquiring a cell load of the second cell, where the first cell uses the first physical cell identifier PCI, and the second The cell uses the second PCI;

The processor is further configured to acquire interference between the first cell and the second cell;

The processor is further configured to: if a cell load of the first cell is less than a first load threshold, if interference between the first cell and the second cell is greater than an interference threshold, and a cell of the first cell The first cell and the second cell are combined, where the sum of the load and the cell load of the second cell is smaller than a second load threshold, where the combined first cell and the second cell are used The same PCI.
The device according to claim 17, wherein the device further comprises a transceiver for information interaction between the device and the user equipment UE;

The processor is specifically configured to:

Acquiring, by the transceiver, a signal strength of the UE to the first cell;

Obtaining, by the transceiver, a signal strength of the UE to the second cell;

Obtaining an absolute value of a difference between a signal strength of the UE to the first cell and a signal strength of the UE to the second cell.
The device according to claim 17, wherein the device further comprises a transceiver for information interaction between the device and the user equipment UE;

The processor is specifically configured to:

Acquiring, by the transceiver, a signal strength of the user equipment UE to the first cell;

Obtaining, by the transceiver, a signal strength of the UE to the second cell;

Counting the signal strength of the multiple UEs of the UE to the first cell and the signal strength to the second cell The absolute value of the difference is greater than the ratio of the interference threshold;

The interference between the first cell and the second cell is greater than an interference threshold, and includes:

The ratio exceeds the interference ratio threshold.
The apparatus according to claim 18 or 19, wherein the signal strength comprises: a reference signal received power RSRP or a signal to interference and noise ratio SINR.
The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the processor is specifically configured to: acquire an interference coefficient between the first cell and the second cell.
The device according to any one of claims 17 to 21, wherein the processor is specifically configured to:

Scheduling the UE of the first cell by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, and scheduling the UE of the second cell by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, The first radio frequency module is a radio frequency module of the first cell, and the second radio frequency module is a radio frequency module of the second cell;

Transmitting the UE of the second cell to the first cell;

After the handover is completed, the second cell is deactivated;

The UE of the first cell is scheduled in all subframes by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module.
The device according to claim 22, wherein the processor is specifically configured to:

Scheduling the UE of the first cell in an odd subframe by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module, and scheduling the UE of the second cell in an even subframe by using the first radio frequency module and the second radio frequency module.
The device according to any one of claims 17 to 21, wherein the processor is specifically configured to:

Transmitting the UE of the second cell to the fourth cell, where the fourth cell is an inter-frequency same coverage cell of the second cell;

After the handover is completed, the second cell is deactivated;

And transmitting, by the second cell, configuration information of the first cell.