Power control for a network of access points

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9497714-B2
Application number	US-201113241101-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 22, 2011
Priority date	Sep 24, 2010
Publication date	Nov 15, 2016
Grant date	Nov 15, 2016

Abstract

A power calibration scheme adjusts power levels of network of femtocells based on macro signals seen at different points in and around a coverage area and based on the mutual positions of the femtocells (e.g., based on femtocell signals seen at these points). The power calibration scheme thus facilitates a good balance between providing a desired level of coverage and mitigation of interference to nearby macrocells and femtocells.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A communication apparatus, comprising:
a receiver configured to receive, using a first wireless communications technology, measurement reports from an access terminal conducting a training walk calibration procedure for a network of femtocells, wherein the measurement reports are associated with measurements during the training walk calibration procedure; and
a processing system configured to control transmit power for a second wireless communication technology of at least one of the femtocells based on the received measurement reports, wherein the transmit power is controlled to meet at least one criterion at one or more locations associated with the measurements during the training walk calibration procedure, and the second wireless communication technology being different from the first wireless communication technology.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one criterion comprises a handover criterion, a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) criterion, a macrocell protection criterion, a pilot signal quality criterion, or an adjacent channel protection criterion.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one criterion comprises a handover criterion and an SNR criterion.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one criterion comprises a macrocell protection criterion and an SNR criterion.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one criterion comprises a pilot signal quality criterion and an adjacent channel protection criterion.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein: the measurement reports include information measured on at least one frequency; and the transmit power is controlled on the at least one frequency.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing system is further configured to:
define a first handover hysteresis value for handover decisions during the training walk calibration procedure; and
define a second handover hysteresis value for handover decisions after the training walk calibration procedure is completed, wherein the second handover hysteresis value is different from the first handover hysteresis value.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the first handover hysteresis value is approximately zero.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the first handover hysteresis value is defined such that during the training walk calibration procedure the access terminal will send each measurement report to a femtocell that is associated with a strongest received signal value in the measurement report.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the receiver is further configured to receive transmit power values determined by the femtocells based on monitoring of access point signals;
the processing system is further configured to determine at least one transmit power value for the at least one femtocell based on the received transmit power values; and
the processing system is further configured to configure the at least one femtocell to use the determined at least one transmit power value during the training walk calibration procedure.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein: the at least one transmit power value comprise a single transmit power value; and the determination of the single transmit power value comprise selecting a maximum value of the received transmit power values.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the configuring of the at least one femtocell comprises configuring each of the at least one of the femtocells.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the determination of the at least one transmit power value comprises:
determining a separate transmit power value for each of the femtocells; and
limiting the separate transmit power values for the femtocells based on a cap applied to the received transmit power values.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the processing system is further configured to provide measurement report information for a first one of the femtocells by filtering the received measurement reports to eliminate any measurement reports that identify a second one of the femtocells as being associated with a higher received signal quality than the first one of the femtocells; and
the controlling of the transmit power is based on the filtered measurement reports.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the signal quality comprises Ecp/Io.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one femtocell comprises one femtocell of the network of femtocells; and
the measurement reports are received by the one femtocell.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one femtocell comprises all femtocells of the network of femtocells; and
the measurement reports are received by a network entity via all of the femtocells.

18. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one femtocell comprises each femtocell of the network of femtocells;
a first subset of the measurement reports is received by a receiver of one of the femtocells; and
a second subset of the measurement reports is received by the one femtocell via all other femtocells of the network of femtocells.

19. A power control method, comprising:
receiving, using a first wireless communication technology, measurement reports from an access terminal conducting a training walk calibration procedure for a network of femtocells, wherein the measurement reports are associated with measurements during the training walk calibration procedure; and
controlling transmit power for a second wireless communication technology of at least one of the femtocells based on the received measurement reports, wherein the transmit power is controlled to meet at least one criterion at one or more locations associated with the measurements during the training walk calibration procedure, and the second wireless communication technology being different from the first wireless communication technology.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the at least one criterion comprises a handover criterion and a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) criterion.

21. The method of claim 19 , wherein the at least one criterion comprises a macrocell protection criterion and an SNR criterion.

22. The method of claim 19 , wherein the at least one criterion comprises a pilot signal quality criterion and an adjacent channel protection criterion.

23. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
defining a first handover hysteresis value for handover decisions during the training walk calibration procedure; and
defining a second handover hysteresis value for handover decisions after the training walk calibration procedure is completed, wherein the second handover hysteresis value is different from the first handover hysteresis value.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the first handover hysteresis value is approximately zero.

25. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
receiving transmit power values determined by the femtocells based on monitoring of access point signals;
determining at least one transmit power value for the at least one femtocell based on the received transmit power values; and
configuring the at least one femtocell to use the determined at least one transmit power value during the training walk calibration procedure.

26. The method of claim 19 , further comprising providing measurement report information for a first one of the femtocells by filtering the received measurement reports to eliminate any measurement reports that iden

Assignees

• Nagaraja Sumeeth
• Meshkati Farhad
• Yavuz Mehmet
• Mitra Suhas
• Khaitan Varun
• Makh Vansh Pal Singh
• Patel Chirag Sureshbhai
• Tokgoz Yeliz
• Shen Cong
• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Nagaraja Sumeeth
• Meshkati Farhad
• Yavuz Mehmet
• Mitra Suhas
• Khaitan Varun
• Makh Vansh Pal Singh
• Patel Chirag Sureshbhai
• Tokgoz Yeliz
• Shen Cong

Classifications

• H04W88/08

  Access point devices · CPC title

• H04B17/391

  Modelling the propagation channel · CPC title

• H04W52/243

  taking into account interferences · CPC title

• H04W52/244 Primary

  Interferences in heterogeneous networks, e.g. among macro and femto or pico cells or other sector / system interference [OSI] · CPC title

• H04W24/10

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