Methods for requesting parallel uplink wireless signal measurements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9386471-B2
Application number	US-201314041533-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2013
Priority date	Oct 1, 2012
Publication date	Jul 5, 2016
Grant date	Jul 5, 2016

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatuses are presented for requesting parallel uplink wireless signal measurements (UL measurements), in which a measurement management apparatus determines information on UL measurements being performed or to be performed by a signal measuring apparatus over a predetermined measurement period. The measurement management apparatus further determines a capability of the signal measuring apparatus to perform parallel measurements. The measurement management apparatus determines an adjustment to a measurement configuration for the measuring apparatus. The measurement configuration relates to, for example, a number of parallel measurements to perform. The adjustment is based on a comparison of UL measurements being performed or to be performed by the measuring apparatus over a predetermined measurement period and the capability of the measuring apparatus to perform parallel measurements.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of operating a measurement management apparatus, comprising:
obtaining measurement load information regarding uplink (UL) measurements, wherein the measurement load information indicates a volume of UL wireless signal measurements being performed or to be performed by a signal measuring apparatus over a predetermined measurement period;
obtaining measurement capability information indicating a parallel measurement capability of the signal measuring apparatus, wherein the parallel measurement capability indicates a number of UL wireless signal measurements that the signal measuring apparatus can perform in parallel using a current measurement configuration;
determining, based on the measurement capability information and the measurement load information, whether to adjust the current measurement configuration of the signal measuring apparatus; and
as a consequence of determining that the current measurement configuration is to be adjusted, determining an adjustment for the current measurement configuration to change the number of UL wireless signal measurements that the signal measuring apparatus can perform in parallel; and
transmitting, to the signal measuring apparatus, information indicating the determined adjustment.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the UL measurements being performed or to be performed by the signal measuring apparatus over the predetermined measurement period do not exceed the parallel measurement capability of the signal measuring apparatus;
selecting one or more additional UL measurements to be performed by the signal measuring apparatus in response to the determination that the parallel measurement capability of the signal measuring apparatus is not exceeded; and
transmitting, to the signal measuring apparatus, a measurement request that identifies the one or more additional UL measurements.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the selecting the one or more additional UL measurements comprises determining that a combination of the UL measurements being performed or to be performed on the signal measuring apparatus and of the selected one or more additional UL measurements does not exceed the parallel measurement capability of the signal measuring apparatus.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the parallel measurement capability of the signal measuring apparatus indicates a maximum number of UL measurements that the signal measuring apparatus is capable of performing in parallel using the current measurement configuration, and wherein the determining that the parallel measurement capability of the signal measuring apparatus is not exceeded comprises determining that a total number of the UL measurements being performed or to be performed and of the selected one or more additional UL measurements does not exceed the maximum number.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining that the parallel measurement capability of the signal measuring apparatus is not exceeded comprises determining that a total resources required by the UL measurements being measured or to be measured and by the selected one or more additional UL measurements do not exceed a total resources available for use by the signal measuring apparatus.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the total resources that are allocated to the signal measuring apparatus include at least one of a receiver configuration, a number of measurement ports, an antenna transmission scheme, an antenna reception scheme, a hardware component, a measurement bandwidth, a measurement frequency, an amount of power, a measurement period, and a number of measurement samples over the measurement period, and wherein selecting the one or more additional UL measurements comprises selecting a UL measurement that requires a resource that is available for use by the signal measuring apparatus.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the measurement management apparatus is configured to determine positions of wireless communication devices (WCDs), and wherein selecting the additional UL measurement comprises:
determining a measurement type of each of the UL measurements being performed or to be performed, wherein the measurement type is one of a base station (BS) Rx-Tx time difference measurement, a BS timing advance (TA) measurement, a UL relative time of arrival (RTOA) measurement, an angle of arrival (AoA) measurement, a rise over thermal (RoT) measurement, and a received interference power (RIP) measurement; and
selecting, as the additional UL measurement, a UL measurement having a measurement type that is different than each of the determined measurement types.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein at least one of the UL measurements being performed or to be performed is used in a position determination method, and wherein the selected additional UL measurement is used in the same position determination method.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the position determination method is selected from the group consisting of observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA), uplink time difference of arrival (UTDOA), enhanced cell ID (E-CID), assisted E-CID (AECID), and assisted global navigation satellite system (AGNSS).

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the measurement management apparatus is configured to determine positions of wireless communication devices (WCDs), the method further comprising:
determining that the UL measurements being performed or to be performed are within a threshold amount of exceeding the parallel measurement capability of the signal measuring apparatus;
selecting a position determination method that uses downlink wireless signal (DL) measurements in response to the determination; and
transmitting the selected positioning determination method to one or more of the WCDs.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining that a combination of the UL measurements being performed or to be performed and of the selected one or more additional measurements exceed the parallel measurement capability of the signal measuring apparatus;
adjusting a measurement requirement of the UL measurements being performed or to be performed in response to the determination, wherein the measurement requirement relates to the predetermined measurement period or a measurement accuracy; and
transmitting the adjusted measurement requirement to the signal measuring apparatus.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining that the UL measurements being performed or to be performed are within a threshold amount of exceeding the parallel measurement capability of the signal measuring apparatus;
selecting an additional UL measurement to be performed by the signal measuring apparatus; and
scheduling a delay period before requesting or transmitting the additional UL measurement at the signal measuring apparatus.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the signal measuring apparatus is one of a plurality of signal measuring apparatuses, the method further comprising:
determining, for each of the plurality of signal measuring apparatuses, a capacity of that signal measuring apparatus, the capacity being a difference between the parallel measurement capability of that signal measuring apparatus and the UL measurements being performed or to be performed by that signal measuring apparatus;
selecting, from among the plurality of signal measuring apparatuses, a signal measuring apparatus having a capacity that is larger than that of another of the plurality of signal measuring apparatuses; and
allocating another additional UL measurement to the selected signal measuring apparatus.

14. The method of claim 1

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M
• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Siomina Iana
• Kazmi Muhammad

Classifications

• G01S5/12

  by co-ordinating position lines of different shape, e.g. hyperbolic, circular, elliptical or radial · CPC title

• H04W52/143

  Downlink power control · CPC title

• H04W24/10 Primary

  Scheduling measurement reports {; Arrangements for measurement reports} · CPC title

• H04W52/242

  taking into account path loss · CPC title

• H04W52/24

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