Adaptive sectoring of a wireless base station

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10848984-B1
Application number	US-201916364035-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 25, 2019
Priority date	Mar 25, 2019
Publication date	Nov 24, 2020
Grant date	Nov 24, 2020

Abstract

Apparatuses, methods, and systems for adaptive sectoring of a wireless base station are disclosed. An apparatus includes a base station, wherein the base station includes a communication processing system operative to perform baseband processing of receive or transmit baseband signals. The base station further includes a plurality of antennas, wherein the plurality of antennas are connected to the communication processing system, wherein a plurality of subsets of the plurality of antennas operate to form a plurality of sectors, wherein each sector of each subset of the plurality of antennas is operative to cover a selectable coverage area as determined by a width of a beamforming pattern formed by a subset of the plurality of antennas of the sector, wherein the selectable coverage area of each of the sectors is adaptively selected based on a data demand at different locations within the coverage area.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A base station, comprising:
a communication processing system operating to perform baseband processing of receive or transmit baseband signals;
a plurality of antennas, wherein the plurality of antennas are connected to the communication processing system, wherein a plurality of subsets of the plurality of antennas e operating to form a plurality of sectors, wherein each subset comprises a sub-plurality of antennas;
wherein each sector of each subset of the plurality of antennas is operating to cover a selectable coverage area as determined by a width of a beamforming pattern formed by the subset of the plurality of antennas of the sector;
wherein the selectable coverage area of each of the sectors is adaptively selected based on a data demand at different locations within the coverage area, wherein a greater the data demand, a narrower the width of the beamforming pattern of the selectable coverage area of the sector, allowing the sector to satisfy the data demand.

2. The base station of claim 1 , wherein the selectable coverage area of each of the sectors is adaptively selected further based on monitoring of the data demand with respect to location over time.

3. The base station of claim 1 , wherein the selectable coverage area of each of the sectors is adaptively selected further based on a number of users located within the sector.

4. The base station of claim 3 , wherein the selectable coverage area of each of the sectors is adaptively selected further based on monitored performance that indicates a refined estimate of the number of users located within the sector.

5. The base station of claim 1 , wherein the selectable coverage area of each of the sectors is adaptively selected further based on existing cells located within a coverage area of the plurality of antennas.

6. The base station of claim 5 , wherein the existing cells located within the coverage area of the plurality of antennas operate over at least an overlapping set of frequencies as the plurality of antennas.

7. The base station of claim 1 , wherein the selectable coverage area of each of the sectors is adaptively selected further based on motion of the base station.

8. The base station of claim 7 , further comprising motion sensors for detecting motion of the base station, and further comprising adjusting the beamforming pattern formed by the subset of the plurality of antennas of the sector based on the detected motion.

9. The base station of claim 1 , wherein the selectable coverage area of each of the sectors is adaptively selected further based on coordinated coverage between the base station and one or more neighboring base stations.

10. The base station of claim 1 , wherein the base station does not require channel state information for supporting communication between the base station and the users.

11. The base station of claim 10 , wherein the communication between the base station and the users is waveform agnostic.

12. A method, comprising:
baseband processing, by a base station of a communication processing system, receive or transmit baseband signals;
forming, by a plurality of subsets of antennas connected to the communication processing system, a plurality of sectors, wherein each sector of each subset of the plurality of antennas comprises a sub-plurality of antennas;
covering a selectable coverage area as determined by a width of a beamforming pattern formed by the subset of the plurality of antennas of the sector;
wherein the selectable coverage area of each of the sectors is adaptively selected based on a data demand at different locations within the coverage area, wherein a greater the data demand, a narrower the width of the beamforming pattern of the selectable coverage area of the sector, allowing the sector to satisfy the data demand.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the selectable coverage area of each of the sectors is adaptively selected further based on monitoring of the data demand with respect to location over time.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the selectable coverage area of each of the sectors is adaptively selected further based on a number of users located within the sector.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the selectable coverage area of each of the sectors is adaptively selected further based on existing cells located within a coverage area of the plurality of antennas.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the existing cells located within the coverage area of the plurality of antennas operate over at least an overlapping set of frequencies as the plurality of antennas.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the selectable coverage area of each of the sectors is adaptively selected further based on motion of the base station.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising detecting motion, by motion sensors, of the base station, and further comprising adjusting the beamforming pattern formed by the subset of the plurality of antennas of the sector based on the detected motion.

19. The method of claim 12 , wherein the selectable coverage area of each of the sectors is adaptively selected further based on coordinated coverage between the base station and one or more neighboring base stations.

20. A base station, comprising:
a communication processing system operating to perform baseband processing of receive or transmit baseband signals;
a plurality of antennas, wherein the plurality of antennas are connected to the communication processing system, wherein a plurality of subsets of the plurality of antennas operating to form a plurality of sectors, wherein each sector of each subset of the plurality of antennas is operating to cover a selectable coverage area as determined by a width of a beamforming pattern formed by the subset of the plurality of antennas of the sector;
wherein the selectable coverage area of each of the sectors is adaptively selected based on a data demand at different locations within the coverage area, based on existing cells located within a coverage area of the plurality of antennas, based on motion of the base station, and based on coordinated coverage between the base station and one or more neighboring base stations.

Assignees

• Facebook Inc

Inventors

• Tiwari Abhishek
• Bondalapati Pratheep

Classifications

• H04W16/28 Primary

  using beam steering · CPC title

• H04W16/04

  Traffic adaptive resource partitioning · CPC title

• H04W88/08

  Access point devices · CPC title

• H04W24/08

  Testing, {supervising or monitoring} using real traffic · CPC title

• H04W24/02 Primary

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · CPC title