Radio base station and methods thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9161388-B2
Application number	US-201113382484-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 7, 2011
Priority date	Dec 7, 2010
Publication date	Oct 13, 2015
Grant date	Oct 13, 2015

Abstract

The present invention relates to a radio base station (RBS) ( 1 ). The RBS comprises a first radio unit (RU) ( 2 ) and a second RU ( 3 ). The RBS is configured such that said first and second RUs will use the same scrambling or cell identity code for communication with a wireless communication terminal ( 9 ) such that the wireless communication terminal will regard the first and second RUs as relating to the same cell of the RBS. The invention also relates to a communication system ( 13 ) comprising the RBS, as well as to a use of the RBS for performing an internal handover, after UL measurements, of the communication terminal from the first RU to the second RU, and a method of arranging the RBS.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A radio base station (RBS), comprising:
a first radio unit (RU); and
a second RU;
the RBS being configured such that said first and second RUs will use the same scrambling or cell identity code for communication with a wireless communication terminal such that the wireless communication terminal will regard the first and second RUs as relating to the same cell of the RBS;
the RBS further comprising an RBS internal handover circuit configured to facilitate a handover of the wireless communication terminal from the first RU to the second RU based on uplink transmission power received by the first and second RUs from the wireless communication terminal; and
the RBS further comprising a power control module configured to facilitate control of downlink transmission power of the first and second RUs independently of each other, based on uplink transmission power received by said first and second RUs, respectively, from the wireless communication terminal, wherein the power control module is configured to facilitate control of any of the RUs to transmit at a reduced power or with no power if the uplink transmission power received by said any of the first and second RUs is below a pre-set threshold relative to the other RU.

2. The RBS of claim 1 , further comprising a main unit, at least one of the first and second RUs being a remote RU in respect of said main unit.

3. The RBS of claim 1 , wherein the RBS is configured such that both of the first and second RUs will use the same transmission power when the RBS sends signals to the wireless communication terminal.

4. The RBS of claim 1 , wherein said RBS is configured such that the first RU will use a different transmission power than the transmission power used by the second RU when the RBS sends signals to the wireless communication terminal.

5. The RBS of claim 1 , wherein the RBS is configured such that all the RUs of the RBS will use the same scrambling or cell identity code for communication with the wireless communication terminal, such that the wireless communication terminal will regard said all RUs as relating to the same cell of the RBS.

6. The RBS of claim 1 , wherein the RBS is configured in accordance with a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) or Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication standard.

7. The RBS of claim 1 , further comprising:
a narrow search window module configured to admit uplink transmission power received by any of the RUs within a narrow search window from the wireless communication terminal; and
a wide area search module configured to detect uplink transmission power from the wireless communication terminal received outside of the narrow search window by any of the RUs, and configured to, if uplink transmission power from the wireless communication terminal is detected outside of the narrow search window, either move the narrow search window or increase the narrow search window or add new narrow search windows, in order to increase the received uplink transmission power.

8. A method in a radio base station (RBS) that comprises a first radio unit (RU) and a second RU, the method comprising:
using the same scrambling or cell identity code in the first and second RUs for communication with a wireless communication terminal such that the wireless communication terminal will regard the first and second RUs as relating to the same cell of the RBS;
performing an RBS internal handover of said wireless communication terminal from said first RU to said second RU based on uplink transmission power received by the first and second RUs, respectively, from the wireless communication terminal;
controlling downlink transmission power of the first and second RUs independently of each other, based on uplink transmission power received by said first and second RUs, respectively, from the wireless communication terminal; and
controlling of any of the first and second RUs to transmit at a reduced power or with no power if the uplink transmission power received by said any of the first and second RUs is below a pre-set threshold relative to the other RU.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein said performing an RBS internal handover of said wireless communication terminal comprises:
measuring the received uplink transmission power of the first and second RUs, respectively, over time; and
performing a handover from the first RU to the second RU when a pre-defined criterion based on said measuring of the received uplink transmission powers over time is fulfilled.

10. A radio communication system comprising:
a wireless communication terminal; and
a radio base station (RBS), the RBS in turn comprising a first radio unit (RU), a second RU, and an RBS internal handover circuit, the RBS being configured such that said first and second RUs will use the same scrambling or cell identity code for communication with the wireless communication terminal such that the wireless communication terminal will regard the first and second RUs as relating to the same cell of the RBS, and the RBS internal handover circuit being configured to facilitate a handover of the wireless communication terminal from the first RU to the second RU based on uplink transmission power received by the first and second RUs from the wireless communication terminal;
the RBS further comprising a power control module configured to facilitate control of downlink transmission power of the first and second RUs independently of each other, based on uplink transmission power received by said first and second RUs, respectively, from the wireless communication terminal, wherein the power control module is configured to facilitate control of any of the first and second RUs to transmit at a reduced power or with no power if the uplink transmission power received by said any of the first and second RUs is below a pre-set threshold relative to the other RU.

11. The radio communication system of claim 10 , further comprising a radio network controller (RNC), said RNC regarding the first and second RUs as relating to the same cell of the RBS.

12. A method of arranging a radio base station (RBS), the method comprising:
providing a first radio unit (RU) of the RBS;
providing a second RU of the RBS;
providing an RBS internal handover module;
configuring the RBS such that the first and second RUs can be regarded by a wireless communication terminal as relating to the same cell of the RBS by setting said first and second RUs to use the same scrambling or cell identity code for communication with such a wireless communication terminal and configuring the RBS internal handover module to facilitate a handover of a wireless communication terminal from the first RU to the second RU based on uplink transmission power received by the first and second RUs from the wireless communication terminal; and
configuring a power control module in the RBS to facilitate control of downlink transmission power of the first and second RUs independently of each other, based on uplink transmission power received by said first and second RUs, respectively, from the wireless communication terminal, and to facilitate control of any of the first and second RUs to transmit at a reduced power or with no power if the uplink transmission power received by said any of the first and second RUs is below a pre-set threshold relative to the other RU.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising configuring the RBS such that the first and second RUs will both use the same transmission power when the RBS sends signals to the wireless communication terminal.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising configuring the RBS such th

Assignees

• Alamshahi Babak
• öSTMAN THOMAS
• Skärby Ulf
• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Alamshahi Babak
• öSTMAN THOMAS
• Skärby Ulf

Classifications

• H04W52/143

  Downlink power control · CPC title

• H04W52/386

  centralized, e.g. when the radio network controller or equivalent takes part in the power control · CPC title

• H04W52/40

  during macro-diversity or soft handoff · CPC title

• H04W88/085 Primary

  Access point devices with remote components · CPC title

• H04W88/08 Primary

  Access point devices · CPC title