Baseband signal processing cluster

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10159012-B2
Application number	US-201214357942-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 25, 2012
Priority date	Nov 14, 2011
Publication date	Dec 18, 2018
Grant date	Dec 18, 2018

Abstract

Embodiments relate to a baseband signal processing cluster of a wireless communication network, the baseband signal processing cluster comprising baseband signal processing units, wherein at least one of the baseband signal processing units is coupled to at least one remote radio head of the wireless communication network and comprises a unit-specific processing resource management entity operable to manage a processing resource allocation within its associated baseband signal processing unit, an intra-cluster processing resource management entity coupled to at least one of the unit-specific processing resource management entities and operable to manage a processing resource allocation among the baseband signal processing units, and an inter-cluster processing resource management entity coupled to the intra-cluster processing resource management entity and operable to exchange information with at least one remote inter-cluster processing resource management entity of a remote baseband signal processing cluster of the wireless communication network to effect a remote processing resource allocation.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A first baseband signal processing cluster for use in a wireless communication network that uses a baseband cloud computing architecture, the first baseband signal processing cluster comprising:
a plurality of baseband signal processing units configured to interface with a first plurality of radio heads that serve a first radio cell cluster of a wireless communication network, the plurality of baseband signal processing units including a corresponding plurality of at least one unit-specific processing resource management entity configured to manage a first processing resource allocation within the corresponding baseband signal processing unit;
an intra-cluster processing resource management entity coupled to the plurality of at least one unit-specific processing resource management entity and configured to manage a second processing resource allocation among the plurality of baseband signal processing units; and
a first inter-cluster processing resource management entity coupled to the intra-cluster processing resource management entity and configured to exchange information with a second inter-cluster processing resource management entity of a second baseband signal processing cluster to cooperate with the second inter-cluster processing resource management entity for management of a third processing resource allocation among the first and second baseband signal processing clusters, the second baseband signal processing cluster configured to interface with a second plurality of radio heads that serve a second radio cell cluster of the wireless communication network, the second radio cell cluster being different from the first radio cell cluster;
wherein the first inter-cluster processing resource management entity is configured to access information on available processing resources of the first baseband signal processing cluster in response to a received user-specific baseband signal processing request from the second baseband signal processing cluster and configured to acknowledge the received user-specific baseband signal processing request in case of sufficient available processing resources and, otherwise, to reject the received user-specific baseband signal processing request.

2. The first baseband signal processing cluster according to claim 1 , wherein the intra-cluster processing resource management entity comprises:
an information management entity configured to determine available baseband signal processing resources of the first baseband signal processing cluster based on unit-specific load status information provided from the at least one unit-specific processing resource management entities of the plurality of baseband signal processing units; and
a decision entity configured to assign a user-specific baseband signal processing task to one or more baseband signal processing units of the first baseband signal processing cluster based on a comparison of the unit-specific load status information with a required processing resource capacity for the user-specific baseband signal processing task.

3. The first baseband signal processing cluster according to claim 1 , wherein the intra-cluster processing resource management entity is configured to forward a user-specific baseband signal processing request from at least one baseband signal processing unit of the plurality of baseband signal processing units to the first inter-cluster processing resource management entity if available processing resources of the first baseband signal processing cluster are not sufficient for the user-specific specific baseband signal processing request to initialize a specific third processing resource allocation among the first and second baseband signal processing clusters.

4. The first baseband signal processing cluster according to claim 1 , wherein the intra-cluster processing resource management entity is configured to receive a user-specific specific baseband signal processing request via the first inter-cluster processing resource management entity to initialize a specific second processing resource allocation of one or more baseband signal processing units having sufficient available processing capabilities for performing user-specific baseband signal processing for a user associated with a remote baseband signal processing unit of the second baseband signal processing cluster.

5. The first baseband signal processing cluster according to claim 1 , wherein the intra-cluster processing resource management entity is configured to provide a network address of an allocated baseband signal processing unit having sufficient available processing capabilities for performing user-specific baseband signal processing for a user associated with a remote baseband signal processing unit of the second baseband signal processing cluster, a network address of said remote baseband signal processing unit, and an identifier of said user to a network router and/or the first inter-cluster processing resource management entity of the first baseband signal processing cluster.

6. The first baseband signal processing cluster according to claim 1 , wherein the first inter-cluster processing resource management entity comprises:
an information management entity configured to access information on available processing resources of the first baseband signal processing cluster, the information comprising information on which baseband signal processing unit of the plurality of baseband signal processing units has a maximum available processing capacity the first baseband signal processing cluster; and
a decision entity configured to find another baseband signal processing cluster having sufficient processing resources available to handle a user-specific baseband signal processing request from the first baseband signal processing cluster if available processing resources of the first baseband signal processing cluster are not sufficient for said user-specific baseband signal processing request.

7. The first baseband signal processing cluster according to claim 1 , wherein the first inter-cluster processing resource management entity is configured to forward a received user-specific baseband signal processing request from the second baseband signal processing cluster together with an associated processing capacity description derived from quality of service parameters of an original radio bearer request to a remote intra-cluster processing resource management entity of the second baseband signal processing cluster.

8. The first baseband signal processing cluster according to claim 1 , wherein the first inter-cluster processing resource management entity is configured to initiate time delay measurements for determining signal propagation delays between the first baseband signal processing cluster and other baseband signal processing clusters, including the second baseband signal processing cluster.

9. The first baseband signal processing cluster according to claim 8 , wherein the first inter-cluster processing resource management entity is configured, in response to the time delay measurements, to update a neighbor list of suitable other baseband signal processing clusters as possible neighbors with determined signal propagation delays below a maximum allowed time delay.

10. The first baseband signal processing cluster according to claim 9 , wherein the first inter-cluster processing resource management entity is configured to forward a user-specific baseband signal processing request from the first baseband signal processing cluster to remote inter-cluster processing resource management entities of the other baseband signal processing clusters of the updated neighbor list.

11. The first baseband signal processing cluste

Assignees

• Alcatel Lucent

Inventors

• Haberland Bernd
• Derakhshan Fariborz
• Grob-Lipski Heidrun

Classifications

• H04W88/08

  Access point devices · CPC title

• H04W88/085

  Access point devices with remote components · CPC title

• H04W52/0206

  in access points, e.g. base stations · CPC title

• H04W28/08 Primary

  Load balancing or load distribution (transferring a connection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12) · CPC title

• H04W28/16 Primary

  Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service] · CPC title