Communication units and methods for power control of broadcast communication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9380542-B2
Application number	US-201414164830-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 27, 2014
Priority date	Feb 18, 2011
Publication date	Jun 28, 2016
Grant date	Jun 28, 2016

Abstract

A method and communication unit for power control in a wireless broadcast communication system that includes a plurality of communication cells, with broadcast content being routed from a base station to at least one wireless communication unit via at least one relay node (RN). The method includes, at the base station: broadcasting the broadcast content from the base station to at least one RN; receiving from the at least one RN an indication of signal quality of the broadcast content as received at the at least one RN; and adjusting a transmit power level of a broadcast transmission of broadcast content in response to the indication.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for power control in a wireless broadcast communication system that comprises a plurality of communication cells, with broadcast multimedia content being routed from a base station to at least one wireless communication unit via at least one relay node (RN), the method comprising, at the base station:
broadcasting the broadcast multimedia content from the base station to at least one RN;
receiving from the at least one RN an indication of signal quality of the broadcast multimedia content as received at the at least one RN;
determining, in response to said receiving the indication of signal quality of the broadcast multimedia content, whether an adjustment of a transmit power level of a subsequent broadcast transmission of broadcast multimedia content will improve a decoding operation applied to the broadcast multimedia content at the at least one RN; and
adjusting the transmit power level of the subsequent broadcast transmission of broadcast multimedia content in response to said determining that the adjustment of the transmit power level of the subsequent broadcast transmission of broadcast multimedia content will improve the decoding operation applied to the broadcast multimedia content at the at least one RN.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication of signal quality received from the at least one RN comprises at least one from a group consisting of: a recommendation for an increase or decrease in the transmit power level of the broadcast multimedia content, and a command for an increase or decrease in the transmit power level of the broadcast multimedia content.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said receiving the indication of signal quality from the at least one RN comprises receiving an indication of an amount to increase or decrease the transmit power level of the broadcast multimedia content in the recommendation for the increase or decrease in the transmit power level of the broadcast multimedia content.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said receiving the indication of signal quality received from the at least one RN comprises at least one from a group of:
receiving a bit error rate of the broadcast multimedia content received at the at least one RN;
receiving a frame error rate of the broadcast multimedia content received at the at least one RN;
receiving a block error rate of the broadcast multimedia content received at the at least one RN;
receiving a signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) indication as measured at the at least one RN; and
receiving a received signal power indication of the broadcast multimedia content as received at the at least one RN.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, in response to the indication of signal quality of the broadcast multimedia content, whether the transmit power level of the subsequent broadcast transmission of broadcast multimedia content is adjustable in accordance with communication circumstances that the base station is operating in.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising determining whether a proposed transmit power level of a broadcast transmission of broadcast multimedia content exceeds a first threshold or is below a second threshold.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising decreasing the transmit power of the broadcast transmission when a plurality of receiving relay nodes request decrease.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said adjusting the transmit power level of the subsequent broadcast transmission of broadcast multimedia content in response to the indication comprises adding or subtracting a transmit power control delta value from a current transmit power level following a waiting period.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the base station is a donor eNodeB in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) version of a Third Generation Partnership Project system.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable program code for supporting power control in the wireless broadcast communication system that comprises the plurality of communication cells, with broadcast multimedia content being routed from the base station to the at least one wireless communication unit via the at least one relay node (RN), the executable program code operable for, when executed at the base station, performing the method of claim 1 .

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining whether the adjustment of the transmit power level of the subsequent broadcast transmission of broadcast multimedia content will improve the decoding operation applied to the broadcast multimedia content at the at least one RN is based on whether the received indication of signal quality of the broadcast multimedia content exceeds a predetermined inner power control loop threshold level.

12. A base station for supporting power control in a wireless broadcast communication system that comprises a plurality of communication cells, with broadcast multimedia content being routed from the base station to at least one wireless communication unit via at least one relay node (RN), the base station comprising:
memory; and
a processor configured based on instructions in the memory to
broadcast the broadcast multimedia content from the base station to at least one RN;
receive from the at least one RN an indication of signal quality of the broadcast multimedia content as received at the at least one RN;
determine, in response to receipt of the indication of signal quality of the broadcast multimedia content, whether an adjustment of a transmit power level of a subsequent broadcast transmission of broadcast multimedia content will improve a decoding operation applied to the broadcast multimedia content at the at least one RN; and
adjust the transmit power level of the subsequent broadcast transmission of broadcast multimedia content in response to the determination that the adjustment of the transmit power level of the subsequent broadcast transmission of broadcast multimedia content will improve the decoding operation applied to the broadcast multimedia content at the at least one RN.

13. An integrated circuit for a base station to support power control in a wireless broadcast communication system that comprises a plurality of communication cells, with broadcast multimedia content being routed from the base station to at least one wireless communication unit via at least one relay node (RN), the integrated circuit comprising:
memory; and
a processor configured based on instructions in the memory to
broadcast the broadcast multimedia content from the base station to at least one RN;
receive from the at least one RN an indication of signal quality of the broadcast multimedia content as received at the at least one RN;
determine, in response to receipt of the indication of signal quality of the broadcast multimedia content, whether an adjustment of a transmit power level of a subsequent broadcast transmission of broadcast multimedia content will improve a decoding operation applied to the broadcast multimedia content at the at least one RN; and
adjust the transmit power level of the subsequent broadcast transmission of broadcast multimedia content in response to the determination that the adjustment of the transmit power level of the subsequent broadcast transmission of broadcast multimedia content will improve the decoding operation applied to the broadcast multimedia content at the at least one RN.

14. A method for power control in a wireless communication system that comprises a plurality of communication cells, with broadcast multimedia content being routed from a base station to at least one wireless communication unit

Assignees

• Sca Ipla Holdings Inc

Inventors

• Barrett Stephen John

Classifications

• H04W52/46

  in multi-hop networks, e.g. wireless relay networks · CPC title

• H04W52/143

  Downlink power control · CPC title

• H04W52/24 Primary

  using SIR [Signal to Interference Ratio] or other wireless path parameters · CPC title

• H04W52/20

  using error rate · CPC title

• H04W52/12

  Outer and inner loops · CPC title