FREQUENCY SELECTION FOR FEMTO ACCESS POINT
Briefly, in accordance with one or more embodiments, a femto access point scans an area of a network to find a serving base station in the area, requests one or more physical link profiles from a network server on the network, receives one or more physical link profiles from the network server in response to the requesting, determines which one of the physical link profiles exhibit a lower amount of interference with the serving base station, and then operates with the physical link profile determined to exhibit a lower amount of interference with the serving base station.
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The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/110,544 filed Oct. 31, 2008. Said Application No. 61/110,544 is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUNDA femto access point (FAP) is a lower power micro base station (BS) operating in a licensed spectrum to be deployed at a local area to enhance wireless service coverage and/or performance in a wireless wide area network (WWAN). Typically, such femto access points are deployed be end users in a home or office location wherein the end user is not involved in extensive configuration of the femto access point. A femto access point may be deployed at the edge of service coverage and/or inside a building where service quality may be lower such. Femto access points may be backhauled to the network via a broadband connection to the network, for example via a cable, fiber, and/or digital subscriber line, such that a client device connects to the network via the locally disposed femto access point rather than via a remotely disposed base station (BS) or a base transceiver station (BTS) of the network.
In wireless networks such as cellular or other wireless broadband networks, frequency spectrum is a valuable resource that should be controlled to optimize network performance. In general, such frequency spectrum control involves frequency reuse while minimizing interference among two or more devices operating in the same vicinity.
Claimed subject matter is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. However, such subject matter may be understood by reference to the following detailed description when read with the accompanying drawings in which:
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and/or clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, if considered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding and/or analogous elements.
DETAILED DESCRIPTIONIn the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of claimed subject matter. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that claimed subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components and/or circuits have not been described in detail.
In the following description and/or claims, the terms coupled and/or connected, along with their derivatives, may be used. In particular embodiments, connected may be used to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical and/or electrical contact with each other. Coupled may mean that two or more elements are in direct physical and/or electrical contact. However, coupled may also mean that two or more elements may not be in direct contact with each other, but yet may still cooperate and/or interact with each other. For example, “coupled” may mean that two or more elements do not contact each other but are indirectly joined together via another element or intermediate elements. Finally, the terms “on,” “overlying,” and “over” may be used in the following description and claims. “On,” “overlying,” and “over” may be used to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical contact with each other. However, “over” may also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other. For example, “over” may mean that one element is above another element but not contact each other and may have another element or elements in between the two elements. Furthermore, the term “and/or” may mean “and”, it may mean “or”, it may mean “exclusive-or”, it may mean “one”, it may mean “some, but not all”, it may mean “neither”, and/or it may mean “both”, although the scope of claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect. In the following description and/or claims, the terms “comprise” and “include,” along with their derivatives, may be used and are intended as synonyms for each other.
Referring now to
Network 100 may further comprise a visited connectivity service network/authentication, authorization, and accounting (CSN/AAA) server 124 capable of providing one or more network functions including but not limited to proxy and/or relay type functions, for example authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) functions, dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) functions, or domain name service controls or the like, domain gateways such as public switched telephone network (PSTN) gateways or voice over internet protocol (VOIP) gateways, and/or internet protocol (IP) type server functions, or the like. However, these are merely example of the types of functions that are capable of being provided by visited CSN/AAA or home CSN/AAA 126, and the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in these respects. Visited CSN/AAA 124 may be referred to as a visited CSN/AAA in the case for example where visited CSN/AAA 124 is not part of the regular service provider of subscriber station 116, for example where subscriber station 116 is roaming away from its home CSN/AAA such as home CSN/AAA 126, or for example where network 100 is part of the regular service provider of subscriber station but where network 100 may be in another location or state that is not the main or home location of subscriber station 116. In a fixed wireless arrangement, WiMAX type customer premises equipment (CPE) 122 may be located in a home or business to provide home or business customer broadband access to internet 110 via base station 120, ASN-GW 118, and home CSN/AAA 126 in a manner similar to access by subscriber station 116 via base station 114, ASN-GW 112, and visited CSN/AAA 124, a difference being that WiMAX CPE 122 is generally disposed in a stationary location, although it may be moved to different locations as needed, whereas subscriber station may be utilized at one or more locations if subscriber station 116 is within range of base station 114 for example. In accordance with one or more embodiments, operation support system, self organizing networks (OSS (SON)) sever 128 may be part of network 100 to provide management functions for network 100 and to provide interfaces between functional entities of network 100. Network 100 of
In one or more embodiments, subscriber station 116 may couple to Internet 110 via a wireless communication link with femto access point (FAP) 128 rather than a wireless communication link with base station 114. As shown in
Referring now to
Referring now to
As shown in
In the above frequency assignment table, OSS (SON) server 136 may assign the respective femto access points 128 one of the frequencies available to the femto access point 128 according to the table, and by doing so interference among the femto access points may be relatively reduced or minimized, or nearly minimized to an acceptable level. However, this is merely one example of frequency reuse and allocation, and other arrangements may be likewise implemented, and the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect. Another type of frequency allocation and reuse pattern is shown in and described with respect to
Referring now to
As shown in
In the above frequency assignment table, OSS (SON) server 136 may assign the respective femto access points 128 one of the frequencies available to the femto access point 128 according to the table, and by doing so interference among the femto access points may be relatively reduced or minimized, or nearly minimized to an acceptable level. However, this is merely one example of frequency reuse and allocation, and other arrangements may be likewise implemented, and the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect. Selection of a frequency assigned to one or more femto access points 128 by OSS (SON) server 136 is shown and described with respect to
Referring now to
At block 512, femto access point 132 performs scanning of base stations 114 in the area without association with a base station 114 to find a serving base station 114 in that area based at least in part on the best, or nearly the best, received signal strength indication (RSSI) measurement between the base station 114 and the femto access point 128. The serving base station 114 may be identified by a 48-bit base station identification (BSID) that contains a 24-bit Operator identification (ID) and a 24-bit base Station ID. At block 514, femto access point 128 sends a scan physical link profile request (SCAN_PHY_PROFILE_REQ) message along with the serving base station ID and measured RSSI parameters to OSS (SON) server 136. Based at least in part on the serving base station ID and RSSI parameters, OSS (SON) server 136 will look up in a preconfigured database the list of available physical link (PHY) Profiles that femto access point 128 may utilize without causing unacceptable interference to the base stations 114 in the area. The PHY Profile contains attributes such as center frequency, frame duration, cyclic prefix, fast Fourier transform (FFT) size, and so on, of the physical (PHY) layer that femto access point 128 may utilize to transmit signals over the air interface. Example correlations between a location of one of more femto access points 128 and a list of PHY profiles are shown in and described with respect to
At block 516 OSS (SON) server 136 returns a SCAN_PHY_PROFILE_REQ message with the list of available PHY Profiles to femto access point 128. At block 518, in response to receiving the list of available PHY Profiles from OSS (SON) server 136, femto access point 128 selects an operating frequency by selecting a PHY Profile having a minimum, or nearly minimum, RSSI. At block 520, after selecting an operating frequency, femto access point 128 sends a reply physical profile request (REP_PHY_PROFILE_REQ) message to OSS (SON) server for the PHY Profile that is expected to result in an acceptable level interference with base station 114 to OSS (SON) server 136. Upon receiving the PHY profile request message from femto access point 128, OSS (SON) server 136 returns a reply PHY profile acknowledgement (REP_PHY_PROFILE_ACK) message to femto access point 128 at block 522 to indicate to femto access point 128 that it is okay for femto access point 128 to use the requested PHY Profile. It should be noted that
Referring now to
For each such iteration, block 616 executes to determine if the current RSSI value for the current PHY profile value is less than the predetermined minimum RSSI value. If the current RSSI value is less than the minimum RSSI, then the current RSSI value is assigned as the new minimum RSSI value at block 618, and the PHY profile having the minimum interference is updated as being the present PHY profile using the index of the present PHY profile to identify the minimum interference PHY profile. The PHY profile index is increased by one at block 620, and method 600 may continue with additional iterations of measuring the current RSSI value of each of the PHY profiles until all of the PHY profiles have been tested for current RSSI values. At this time, the PHY profile index value will have been increased to a value greater than K as determined at block 622 at which time the PHY profile having a minimum interference will have been identified at block 624. Femto access point 128 may then select this identified PHY profile as the PHY profile for the reply PHY profile request to send to OSS (SON) server 136 as indicated at block 520 of flow 500 shown in and described with respect to
Although the claimed subject matter has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it should be recognized that elements thereof may be altered by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and/or scope of claimed subject matter. It is believed that the subject matter pertaining to frequency selection for a femto access point and/or many of its attendant utilities will be understood by the forgoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and/or arrangement of the components thereof without departing from the scope and/or spirit of the claimed subject matter or without sacrificing all of its material advantages, the form herein before described being merely an explanatory embodiment thereof, and/or further without providing substantial change thereto. It is the intention of the claims to encompass and/or include such changes.
Claims
1. A method, comprising:
- scanning an area of a network to find a serving base station in the area;
- requesting one or more physical link profiles from a network server on the network;
- receiving one or more physical link profiles from the network server in response to said requesting;
- determining which one of the physical link profiles exhibit a lower amount of interference with the serving base station; and
- operating with the physical link profile determined to exhibit a lower amount of interference with the serving base station.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
- requesting authorization from the network server to operate with the physical link profile determined at said determining to exhibit a lower amount of interference with the serving base station;
- receiving an acknowledgement from the remote server authorizing operation using the requested physical link profile; and
- executing said operating upon receiving the acknowledgment from the remote server authorizing operating using the requested physical link profile.
3. A method as claimed in claim 1, said determining comprising:
- obtaining a received signal strength indication value for one communication with the serving base station for one or more of the received physical link profiles; and
- identifying one or more physical profiles having a receiving signal strength indication value less than a threshold value.
4. A method as claimed in claim 1, said determining comprising:
- obtaining a received signal strength indication value for one communication with the serving base station for one or more of the received physical link profiles; and
- identifying one or more physical profiles having a minimum or nearly minimum receiving signal strength indication value.
5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more physical link profiles received from the network server are based at least in part on an operating frequency of the serving base station, a frequency reuse pattern, or one or more currently assigned physical link profiles, or combinations thereof
6. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising establishing a secure communication link with the network server prior to executing said requesting one or more physical link profiles from a network server on the network.
7. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the network server comprises an operation support system, self organizing network server.
8. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more physical link profile comprise center frequency, frame duration, cyclic prefix, fast Fourier transform size, or combinations thereof
9. A method, comprising:
- receiving a request for one or more physical link profiles from a femto access point, the physical link profiles corresponding to a network base station serving an area in which the femto access point is deployed;
- sending one or more physical link profiles to the femto access point in response to the request;
- receiving a request from the femto access point to operate with the physical link profile determined by the femto access point to exhibit a lower amount of interference with the serving base station; and
- sending an acknowledgement to the femto access point authorizing operation using the requested physical link profile;
- wherein the femto access point is capable of operating with the authorized physical link profile.
10. A method as claimed in claim 9, said determining comprising:
- obtaining a received signal strength indication value for one communication with the serving base station for one or more of the received physical link profiles; and
- identifying one or more physical profiles having a receiving signal strength indication value less than a threshold value.
11. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the physical link profile determined by the femto access point to exhibit a lower amount of interference with the serving base station comprises a physical link profile having a minimum or nearly minimum receiving signal strength indication value for communication between the femto access point and the serving base station.
12. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the one or more physical link profiles sent to the femto access point are based at least in part on an operating frequency of the serving base station, a frequency reuse pattern, or one or more currently assigned physical link profiles, or combinations thereof
13. A method as claimed in claim 9, further comprising establishing a secure communication link with the femto access point prior to executing said receiving a request for one or more physical link profiles from the femto access point.
14. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the one or more physical link profile comprise center frequency, frame duration, cyclic prefix, fast Fourier transform size, or combinations thereof.
15. An apparatus, comprising:
- a baseband processor and a memory coupled to the baseband processor; and
- an RF modulator/demodulator coupled to the baseband processor and one or more antennas to transmit and/or receive information via a wireless communication link;
- wherein the baseband processor is configured to:
- scan an area of a network to find a serving base station in the area;
- request one or more physical link profiles from a network server on the network;
- receive one or more physical link profiles from the network server in response to said requesting;
- determine which one of the physical link profiles exhibit a lower amount of interference with the serving base station; and
- operate using the physical link profile determined to exhibit a lower amount of interference with the serving base station.
16. An apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the baseband processor is further configured to:
- request authorization from the network server to operate with the physical link profile determined at said determining to exhibit a lower amount of interference with the serving base station;
- receive an acknowledgement from the remote server authorizing operation using the requested physical link profile; and
- operate using the physical link profile determined to exhibit a lower amount of interference with the serving base station upon receiving the acknowledgment from the remote server authorizing operation using the requested physical link profile.
17. An apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the baseband processor is further configured to determine which one of the physical link profiles exhibit a lower amount of interference with the serving base station by being configured to:
- obtain a received signal strength indication value for one communication with the serving base station for one or more of the received physical link profiles; and
- identify one or more physical profiles having a receiving signal strength indication value less than a threshold value.
18. An apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the baseband processor is further configured to determine which one of the physical link profiles exhibit a lower amount of interference with the serving base station by being configured to:
- obtain a received signal strength indication value for one communication with the serving base station for one or more of the received physical link profiles; and
- identify one or more physical profiles having a minimum or nearly minimum receiving signal strength indication value.
19. An apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the baseband processor is further configured to establish a secure communication link with the network server prior to executing said requesting one or more physical link profiles from a network server on the network.
20. An apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the one or more physical link profile comprise center frequency, frame duration, cyclic prefix, fast Fourier transform size, or combinations thereof.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 19, 2009
Publication Date: May 6, 2010
Applicant: INTEL CORPORATION (Santa Clara, CA)
Inventor: Joey Chou (Scottsdale, AZ)
Application Number: 12/581,261
International Classification: H04W 72/04 (20090101);