Differentiated adaptation of selection probabilities for frequency channel selection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10091797-B2
Application number	US-201415516050-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 2, 2014
Priority date	Oct 2, 2014
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

An access node (100) of a wireless communication network assigns a selection probability to each of a plurality of frequency channels. On the basis of the selection probabilities, the access node (100) randomly selects one of the frequency channels as current operating frequency channel of the access node (100). Further, the access node (100) determines a channel quality of the current operating frequency channel. In response to the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel complying with a configured selection criterion, the access node (100) maintains the current operating frequency channel. In response to the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel not complying with the configured selection criterion, the access node selects, randomly on the basis of the selection probabilities, a further one of the frequency channels for evaluation and compares a channel quality of the frequency channel selected for evaluation to the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel. In response to the channel quality of the frequency channel selected for evaluation being higher than the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel, the access node (100) sets the frequency channel selected for evaluation as new operating frequency channel of the access node (100). In response to the channel quality of the frequency channel selected for evaluation not being higher than the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel, the access node (100) maintains the current operating frequency channel and decrementing the selection probability assigned to the frequency channel selected for evaluation.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of controlling utilization of plurality of frequency channels in a wireless communication network, the method comprising:
an access node of the wireless communication network assigning a selection probability to each of the frequency channels;
the access node, based on the selection probabilities, node randomly selecting one of the frequency channels as a current operating frequency channel of the access node;
the access node determining a channel quality of the current operating frequency channel;
in response to the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel complying with a configured selection criterion, the access node maintaining the current operating frequency channel;
in response to the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel not complying with the configured selection criterion, the access node:
randomly selecting, based on the selection probabilities, a further one of the frequency channels for evaluation;
comparing a channel quality of the frequency channel selected for evaluation to the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel;
in response to the channel quality of the frequency channel selected for evaluation being higher than the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel, setting the frequency channel selected for evaluation as a new operating frequency channel of the access node; and
in response to the channel quality of the frequency channel selected for evaluation not being higher than the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel, maintaining the current operating frequency channel and decrementing the selection probability assigned to the frequency channel selected for evaluation.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the access node performs the decrementing of the selection probability of by setting the selection probability to (1−b′)p k , where p j denotes the selection probability of the frequency channel selected for evaluation, k denotes an index of the frequency channel selected for evaluation, and b′ is a decrementation parameter.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising the access node, in response to the channel quality of the frequency channel selected for evaluation not being higher than the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel of the access node, incrementing the selection probabilities assigned to the other frequency channels.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the access node performs the incrementing of the selection probabilities by setting the selection probabilities to (1−b′)p j +b′(c−1), where c is the number of the frequency channels and j denotes a respective index of the other frequency channels.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the access node, in response to the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel complying with the configured selection criterion, incrementing the selection probability assigned to the current operating frequency channel.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the access node performs the incrementing of the selection probability by setting the selection probability to (1+d)p i , where p i denotes the selection probability of current operating frequency channel, i denotes an index of the current operating frequency channel, and d denotes an incrementation parameter.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising the access node, in response to the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel complying with the configured selection criterion, decrementing the selection probabilities assigned to the other frequency channels.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the access node performs the decrementing of the selection probabilities by setting the selection probabilities to (1+d)p j −d/(c−1), where c is the number of the frequency channels and j denotes a respective index of the other frequency channels.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the access node, in response to the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel not complying with the configured selection criterion, decrementing the selection probability assigned to the current operating frequency channel.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the access node performs the decrementing of the selection probability by setting the selection probability to (1−b)p i , where p j denotes the selection probability of the frequency channel selected for evaluation, i denotes an index of the current operating frequency channel, and b denotes a decrementation parameter.

11. The method of claim 4 :
further comprising the access node, in response to the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel not complying with the configured selection criterion, decrementing the selection probability assigned to the current operating frequency channel;
wherein the access node performs the decrementing of the selection probability by setting the selection probability to (1−b)p i , where p j denotes the selection probability of the frequency channel selected for evaluation, i denotes an index of the current operating frequency channel, and b denotes a decrementation parameter;
wherein b′ is larger than b.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selection probabilities are always lower than 1.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the frequency channels are from an unlicensed frequency spectrum.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the frequency channels are from a shared licensed frequency spectrum.

15. An access node for a wireless communication network, the access node comprising:
an interface for communication on one or more of a plurality of frequency channels; and
processing circuitry configured to:
assign a selection probability to each of the frequency channels;
based on the selection probabilities, randomly select one of the frequency channels as a current operating frequency channel of the access node;
determine a channel quality of the current operating frequency channel;
in response to the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel complying with a configured selection criterion, maintain the current operating frequency channel;
in response to the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel not complying with the configured selection criterion:
randomly select, based on the selection probabilities a further one of the frequency channels for evaluation;
compare a channel quality of the frequency channel selected for evaluation to the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel;
in response to the channel quality of the frequency channel selected for evaluation being higher than the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel, set the frequency channel selected for evaluation as a new operating frequency channel of the access node; and
in response to the channel quality of the frequency channel selected for evaluation not being higher than the channel quality of the current operating frequency channel, maintain the current operating frequency channel and decrement the selection probability assigned to the frequency channel selected for evaluation.

16. The access node of claim 15 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to perform the decrementing of the selection probability of by setting the selection probability to (1−b′)p k , where p j denotes the selection probability of the frequency channel selected for evaluation, k denotes an index of the frequency channel selected for evaluation, and b′ is a decrementation parameter.

17. The access node of claim 16 , wherein

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Irnich Tim
• Karaki Reem

Classifications

• H04W72/541 Primary

  using the level of interference · CPC title

• H04W72/542

  using measured or perceived quality · CPC title

• H04W72/082 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W72/0453

  Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title