Methods and network nodes for performing a joint reception in a cellular radio communication network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016007337-A1
Application number	US-201314769333-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 4, 2013
Priority date	Mar 4, 2013
Publication date	Jan 7, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The disclosure relates to cellular radio communication systems, and especially to performing a joint reception of uplink transmissions from user equipment devices UE 1 , UE 2 . A serving node and a cooperating node is described together with methods performed by each node. The serving node comprises a user equipment selector, a cooperating node selector and a radio element selector. The serving node also includes a user equipment allocator, a joint reception requester configured to order joint reception data from selected cooperating nodes, and a backhaul capacity obtainer configured to obtain a backhaul capacity of selected cooperating nodes. Especially, the radio element selector is adapted to select radio resource elements based on a determined backhaul capacity. By considering the backhaul capacity, the backhaul can be employed for joint reception without becoming overloaded. The cooperating node especially includes an element prioritizing unit configured to prioritize between data obtained from different the radio resource elements.

First claim

1 . A method in a cellular radio communication network, including scheduling traffic for joint reception, the method being performed by a serving node and comprising:
selecting at least one user equipment unit (UE 1 ); selecting at least one cooperating node; selecting at least one radio resource element each radio resource element comprising at least one part of the radio resources available for uplink transmissions, the available radio resource being defined by a time period (T) comprising at least one sub-frame defining a minimum time for one transmission (TTI), and a frequency band comprising a plurality of sub-bands provided for scheduling in the cellular radio communication network; obtaining a backhaul capacity of each cooperating node; the selection of the at least one radio resource element being based on at least one of the determined backhaul capacities; ordering joint reception data from each selected cooperating node by transmitting at least one ordering message to each selected cooperating node, wherein at least one ordering message identifies each selected radio resource element and allocating the selected at least one user equipment unit (UE 1 ) for uplink transmission including transmitting at least one allocating message to each allocated user equipment unit (UE 1 ), wherein at least one allocating message identifies each selected radio resource element.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , each selected radio resource element being of a type selected from a group of resource elements comprising:
a sub-frame element comprising at least one-sub frame of the whole frequency band selected for transmissions from one user equipment unit (UE 1 ); and a sub-frequency element comprising one sub-band of a frequency band also including a sub-band selected for single-node reception for transmissions from one user equipment unit (UE 1 ).

3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the selecting includes selecting a plurality of user equipment units (UE 1 ) for joint reception, and the allocating includes allocating each of the selected user equipment units (UE 1 ) on respective selected radio resource elements.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the backhaul capacity comprises one or more of an indication of latency, an indication of available bandwidth for sending the joint reception data on a link of the backhaul, and an indication of computing capacity of the cooperating node.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the order message comprises indicating a level of refinement of each resource element.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the order message comprises one or more of an indication of priority for transmissions in a specific resource element and transmissions from a specific user equipment unit (UE 1 ).

7 . The method according to claim 6 , further comprising determining a level of refinement on the basis of the backhaul capacity.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the backhaul capacity includes an indication of computing capacity of the cooperating node.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising receiving uplink transmission on each selected radio resource element directly;
receiving from each cooperating node the data obtained from each selected radio resource element; and performing a joint reception of the directly received uplink transmission and the data from each cooperating node.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising allocating at least one user equipment unit (UE 1 , UE 2 ) for single-node reception by using the serving node on one part of the radio resources other than the radio resource elements selected for joint reception.

11 . The method according to claim 11 , wherein the allocating of at least one user equipment (UE 1 , UE 2 ) for single-node reception includes allocating at least one user equipment (UE 1 ) also being allocated for uplink transmission on a radio resource element selected for joint reception.

12 . The method according to claim 10 , further comprising selecting a link adaptation, including choosing the link adaptation from one of at least two sets of link adaptations; a first set being used for joint reception, and a second set being used for single-node reception.

13 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising obtaining an indication of communication quality between a user equipment unit (UE 1 , UE 2 ) and at least one other node for determining the possibility of performing a joint reception.

14 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein the selecting of a user equipment unit (UE 1 ) for joint reception is based on the obtained indication of communication quality, and the selecting of at least one cooperating node is based on the obtained indication of communication quality.

15 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising determining a time period (T) of the available radio resource based on a maximum allowed latency for performing joint detection.

16 . A node in a cellular radio communication network configured to act as a serving node when performing a joint reception, the node being adapted for scheduling traffic for joint reception, the node comprising:
a user equipment selector configured to select user equipment units (UE 1 ) for joint reception; a cooperating node selector configured to select cooperating nodes for the joint reception; a radio element selector configured to select radio resource elements for the joint reception, wherein each radio resource element consists of at least one part of the radio resources available for uplink transmissions, the available radio resource being defined by a time period (T) comprising at least one sub-frame defining a minimum time for one transmission (TTI), and a frequency band comprising a plurality of sub-bands provided for scheduling in the cellular radio communication network; a joint reception requester configured to order joint reception data from selected cooperating nodes by transmitting ordering messages to the selected cooperating nodes, which ordering messages identifies the selected radio resource elements; a user equipment allocator being configured to allocate selected user equipment units (UE 1 ) for uplink transmission including being configured to transmit allocating messages to allocated user equipment units (UE 1 ), which allocating messages identifies the selected radio resource elements; and a backhaul capacity obtainer configured to obtain a backhaul capacity of selected cooperating nodes, the radio element selector being adapted to select radio resource elements based on a determined backhaul capacity.

17 . The node according to claim 16 , the radio element selector being adapted to select radio resource elements from a group of resource element types comprising:
a sub-frame element comprising at least one-sub frame selected for transmissions from one user equipment unit (UE 1 ); and a sub-frequency element comprising one sub-band of a frequency band also including a sub-band selected for single-node reception for transmissions from one user equipment unit (UE 1 ).

18 . The node according to claim 16 , the backhaul capacity obtainer being adapted to determine a computing capacity of the cooperating node,
the node further comprising a refinement determiner configured to determine a level of refinement based on the computing capacity of the cooperating node, and the joint reception requester being adapted to indicate the determined level of refinement in the ordering messages.

19

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Hessler Martin
• Fröberg Olsson Jonas
• Nauclér Peter

Classifications

• H04W72/27

  between access points · CPC title

• H04W72/56

  based on priority criteria · CPC title

• H04W72/52

  based on load · CPC title

• H04B7/024 Primary

  Co-operative use of antennas of several sites, e.g. in co-ordinated multipoint or co-operative multiple-input multiple-output [MIMO] systems · CPC title

• H04W72/51 Primary

  based on terminal or device properties · CPC title