Mitigating ghost signalling effects in radio systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9433015-B2
Application number	US-201213524598-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 15, 2012
Priority date	Jun 15, 2012
Publication date	Aug 30, 2016
Grant date	Aug 30, 2016

Abstract

A method in a base station, the method comprising, for a transmission time interval on the control channel: if an absolute grant is scheduled, transmitting the absolute grant; if an absolute grant is not scheduled, investigating whether at least one UE in the cell is configured for receiving on the control channel, and if this is not the case, refraining from transmitting; and if an absolute grant is not scheduled and at least one UE in the cell is configured for receiving on the control channel, the method further comprising at least one of: (i) transmitting an absolute grant for a non-configured UE in the cell; and (ii) selecting an arbitrary configured UE in the cell and transmitting an absolute grant, which was previously transmitted at an earlier transmission time interval, to the selected UE.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method in a base station adapted for scheduling and receiving uplink transmissions from user entities (UEs) in a cell, the method comprising, for a giving transmission time interval (TTI) on the absolute grant channel:
determining that no absolute grants are scheduled to be transmitted on the absolute grant channel during the given TTI;
determining that at least one UE is configured for receiving on the absolute grant channel during the given TTI; and
transmitting an absolute grant on the absolute grant channel in response to determining that: no absolute grants are scheduled to be transmitted on the absolute grant channel during the given TTI and at least one UE is configured for receiving on the absolute grant channel during the given TTI, wherein
transmitting the absolute grant in response to the determination that: no absolute grants are scheduled to be transmitted on the absolute grant channel and at least one UE is configured for receiving on the absolute grant channel comprises transmitting, during the given TTI, the absolute grant on the absolute grant channel, wherein the absolute grant comprises a UE identifier that is not allocated to any UE or UE group in the cell, and
the UE identifier is an Enhanced Dedicated Channel (E-DCH) Radio Network Temporary Identifier (E-RNTI) which is not configured in the cell.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the step of transmitting the absolute grant in response to the determination that:
no absolute grants are scheduled to be transmitted on the absolute grant channel during the given TTI and at least one UE is configured for receiving on the absolute grant channel during the given TTI comprises transmitting the absolute grant at a power level that is lower than the power level at which a prior scheduled absolute grant was transmitted.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the reduced power level is at least 2 dB below the level at which the prior scheduled absolute grant was transmitted.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the method is adapted for operating according to High Speed Uplink Packet Access,
the base station is a NodeB, and
the absolute grant channel is a Enhanced Dedicated Channel, E-DCH, Absolute Grant Channel, E-AGCH, channel.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the absolute grant in response to the determination that no absolute grants are scheduled to be transmitted on the absolute grant channel during the given TTI and at least one UE is configured for receiving on the absolute grant channel comprises:
selecting a configured UE in the cell;
determining that the selected configured UE is in a soft handover; and
in response to determining that the selected configured UE is in a soft handover, transmitting, during the given TTI, the absolute grant on the absolute grant channel, wherein the absolute grant comprises a UE identifier that is not allocated to any UE or UE group in the cell.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the absolute grant in response to the determination that an absolute grant is not scheduled to be transmitted on the absolute grant channel and at least one UE is configured for receiving on the absolute grant channel further comprises: determining whether the selected UE is in a soft handover, and the step of transmitting to the selected UE the absolute grant on the absolute grant channel is performed in response to determining that the selected UE is not in a soft handover.

7. A base station adapted for scheduling and receiving uplink transmissions from user entities (UEs) in a cell, the base station comprising:
a memory; and
a processing unit, comprising one or more processor, coupled to the memory, the processing unit being configured to, for a given transmission time interval (TTI) on a control channel:
determine whether any absolute grants are scheduled to be transmitted on the control channel during the given TTI; and
determine whether at least one UE is configured for receiving on the control channel during the given TTI, wherein
the base station is configured such that, when the processing unit determines that no absolute grants are scheduled to be transmitted on the control channel during the given TTI and at least one UE in the cell is configured for receiving on the control channel during the given TTI, the base station, during the given TTI, transmits on the control channel an absolute grant,
the transmitted absolute grant comprises a UE identifier that is not allocated to any UE or UE group in the cell, and
the UE identifier is an Enhanced Dedicated Channel (E-DCH) Radio Network Temporary Identifier (E-RNTI) which is not configured in the cell.

8. The base station of claim 7 , wherein the base station is configured to transmit the absolute grant at a power level that is lower than the power level at which a prior scheduled absolute grant was transmitted.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the reduced power level is at least 2 dB below the level at which the prior scheduled absolute grant was transmitted.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the base station is configured such that, when the base station determines that no absolute grants are scheduled to be transmitted on the control channel during the given TTI, at least one UE in the cell is configured for receiving on the control channel during the given TTI and is in a soft handover, the base station, during the given TTI, transmits on the control channel said absolute grant.

Assignees

• Ankel Par
• ERICSSON TELEFON AB L M (publ)

Inventors

• Ankel Par

Classifications

• H04W72/23

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04W72/1268 Primary

  of uplink data flows · CPC title

• H04W72/14

  Electricity · mapped topic