Uplink Power Control

Abstract

An uplink power control that is applied to a user equipment (300) when in communication with a serving radio base station (10) and at least one other radio base station (20) involves generating a quality representation of an uplink control channel (12) from the user equipment (300) to the serving radio base station (10). The quality representation is compared to a threshold value and this comparison defines a selective processing of transmit power control commands received by the user equipment (300) from the serving and/or non-serving radio base stations (10, 20).

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present embodiments generally relate to uplink power control in a communication network and, more particularly, to such a power control when a user equipment is connected to multiple radio base stations in the communication network.

BACKGROUND

One characteristics of Wideband Code Division Multiple Access/High Speed Packet Access (WCDMA/HSPA) is that downlink transmission to a specific user equipment is only performed by one radio base station, referred to as the serving radio base station. Evidently it is only the serving radio base station that benefits from knowledge of the physical layer information (Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) acknowledgements and Channel Quality Information/Pre-Coding Information (CQI/PCI)) transmitted on the High Speed Dedicated Physical Control Channel (HS-DPCCH) by the user equipment and thus only the serving radio base station decodes the HS-DPCCH.

Uplink data transmission from a user equipment can, in WCDMA/HSPA, on the other hand be received by multiple radio base stations. The set of radio base stations that decode the data transmissions from a particular user equipment constitute the active set for that user equipment. Some of the uplink related control channels are transmitted by all radio base stations in the active set, while some other control channels are transmitted by the serving radio base station only. One of the control channels transmitted by all radio base stations in the active set is the Fractional Dedicated Physical Channel (F-DPCH), which is used to control the transmit power of the user equipment. More specifically, transmit power control (TPC) commands sent on the F-DPCH adjust the Dedicated Physical Control Channel (DPCCH) transmit power of the user equipment.

The DPCCH transmit power is used as reference for all other physical channels transmitted by the user equipment. The power ratio between different physical channels is constant, which means that a change in the DPCCH transmit power will result in that the transmit power of all other physical channels is also changed.

For a user equipment in soft handover (SHO) the transmit power on the uplink will be controlled by the radio base station associated with the highest Signal-to-Interference Ratio (SIR). FIGS. 2A and 2B schematically illustrate two examples of situations where a non-serving radio base station 20 would control the uplink power of the user equipment 300: 1) if the measured uplink interference level at the serving radio base station 10 is higher than the one measured by the non-serving radio base station 20 (FIG. 2A); and 2) if the pilot (DPCCH) power of the downlink is lower in the non-serving radio base station 20 than in the serving radio base station 10 (FIG. 2B). The latter can be a result of that the uplink link budget towards the non-serving radio base stations 20 is stronger than the link budget towards the serving radio base station 10.

In FIG. 2A, the interference level originating from another user equipment 30 can result in that the SIR target is only met by the non-serving radio base station 20. In FIG. 2B, the user equipment 300 will be power controlled by the non-serving radio base station 20 when the Common Pilot Channel (CPICH) power is lower for the non-serving radio base station 20 than for the serving radio base station 10 due to downlink power asymmetry and the fact that the serving cell is based on downlink measurements. In both these cases the transmit power of the user equipment 300 is adjusted so that the quality at the non-serving radio base station 20 meets the desired target.

A consequence when the non-serving radio base station is controlling the uplink power is that the HS-DPCCH at the serving radio base station may become so weak that it cannot be correctly decoded or even detected. This can be a consequence of i) the received HS-DPCCH power at the serving base station is too weak and/or ii) DPCCH quality at the serving radio base station is so weak so that an adequate channel estimate cannot be derived at the serving radio base station.

The HS-DPCCH carries the HARQ acknowledgement and CQI/PCI related to the downlink transmission of the user equipment. This information is used by the serving radio base station to decide how much information to transmit in a given Transmission Time Interval (TTI) and to decide whether a packet needs to be retransmitted. Inferior HS-DPCCH quality can thus result in that:

• • The HARQ acknowledgements, indicating whether the user equipment was able to decode transmitted downlink transport blocks, are not detected or erroneously decoded. This will result in unnecessary layer 1 (L1) as well as Radio Link Control (RLC) retransmission.
  • The accuracy and availability of the CQI/PCI is reduced.

Hence there are good reasons for ensuring a sufficient HS-DPCCH quality at the serving radio base station.

To combat these effects in existing solutions the HS-DPCCH typically has a higher power offset in SHO than in non-SHO situations.

On top of this the network has the possibility to order the user equipment to always repeat the HARQ Acknowledgements/Negative acknowledgements (ACK/NACKs) on the HS-DPCCH. The drawback with this solution is however a reduction in the achievable downlink bit rate since a HARQ-ACK/NACK repetition factor of x results in that the network can only schedule packet transmissions to the user equipment once every x:th TTI.

There is therefore a need for an efficient power control solution that can be applied to ensure the HS-DPCCH quality when a user equipment has more than one radio base station in its active set.

WO 2009/072945 describes a method and an arrangement of obtaining efficient power control during soft handover in a communication network system when a user equipment is in communication with two or more radio base stations over a radio interface on downlink and uplink channels. TPC commands are received from the two or more radio base stations on the downlink channels. The received TPC commands are analyzed and a power offset on the uplink channels is adjusted based on the analyzed TPC commands. This technique does not ensure that the DPCCH quality needed for channel estimation at the serving radio base station is sufficient.

SUMMARY

It is a general objective to provide an efficient power control for a user equipment.

It is a particular objective to provide such a power control of an uplink control channel of the user equipment.

An aspect of the embodiments defines a power control method in a communication network when a user equipment is in communication with a serving radio base station and at least one other radio base station over a radio interface on uplink channels. The method comprises generating a quality representation at the user equipment of an uplink control channel from the user equipment to the serving radio base station. The user equipment compares this quality representation to a threshold value. This comparison defines a selective processing by the user equipment of transmit power control commands received from the serving and/or non-serving radio base station.

Another aspect of the embodiments defines a user equipment comprising a representation generator configured to generate a quality representation of an uplink control channel from the user equipment to a serving radio base station in a communication network. A comparator of the user equipment is configured to compare the quality representation to a threshold value. The user equipment also comprises a processor configured to perform a selective processing of transmit power control commands based on the comparison of the quality representation to the threshold value. These transmit power control commands are received by a receiver of the user equipment from the serving radio base station and/or from at least one other radio base station of the communication network.

A further aspect of the embodiments defines a computer program for power control in a communication network when a user equipment is in communication with a serving radio base station and at least one other radio base station over a radio interface on uplink channels. The computer program comprises code means which when run by a processing unit of the user equipment causes the processing unit to generate a quality representation of an uplink control channel from the user equipment to the serving radio base station. The processing unit is also caused to compare the quality representation to a threshold value and perform, based on this comparison, a selective processing of transmit control commands received from the serving and/or non-serving radio base station.

Yet another aspect of the embodiments defines a computer program product comprising computer readable code means and a computer program according to above stored on the computer readable code means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by making reference to the following description taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a communication network according to an embodiment;

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate communication networks with a user equipment during soft handover;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a power control method according to an embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a particular embodiment of the generating step in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing another particular embodiment of the generating step in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a particular embodiment of the processing step in FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a user equipment according to an embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the representation generator in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the representation generator in FIG. 7; and

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a user equipment according to another embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present embodiments generally relate to uplink power control in a communication network and, more particularly, to such a power control when a user equipment is connected to multiple radio base stations in the communication network.

FIG. 1 is a schematic overview of a portion of a communication network 1 to which the present embodiments can be applied. The communication network 1 is preferably a wireless, radio-based communication network or system providing communication services to connected user equipment 300. In particular, the communication network 1 comprises multiple radio base stations 10, 20, also referred to as Node-B or base stations in the art. Each such radio base station 10, 20 provides communication services within a coverage area, typically denoted cell. The radio base stations 10, 20 are in turn connected to and controlled by a control network node 40, denoted Radio Network Controller (RNC) 40 in the art.

According to the embodiments, the user equipment 300 is in communication with multiple radio base stations 10, 20 over the radio interface. One of these radio base stations 10, 20 is then the so-called serving radio base station 10, whereas the at least one other radio base station 20 is denoted non-serving radio base station 20. Generally, downlink transmissions of user-specific data is typically only performed by the serving radio base station 10 on a downlink channel 14 towards the user equipment 300. However, uplink data transmissions from the user equipment 300 can on the contrary be received by not only the serving radio base station 10 but also by the at least one other radio base station 20. These uplink data transmissions are schematically illustrated by channels 12, 22 in FIG. 1. The serving radio base station 10 and the at least one other radio base station 20 form the so called active set of the user equipment 300. All radio base stations 10, 20 in the active set transmit some of the uplink related control channels as indicated in the background and schematically illustrated by the channels 14, 24 in FIG. 1.

As indicated in the background section, in a communication network 1 with a user equipment 300 having an active set of multiple radio base stations 10, 20, the uplink power of the user equipment 300 could be controlled by a non-serving radio base station 20. FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate such cases in connection with a user equipment 300 during soft handover (SHO). In FIG. 2B, the user equipment 300 will be power-controlled by the non-serving radio base station 20 when GB>GA, wherein the Common Pilot Channel (CPICH) power of the serving radio base station 10 is GAPCPICH, A and the CPICH power of the non-serving radio base station 20 is G_BP_{CPICH, B}, where G_A,B denotes respective path gain values. In this case, the transmit power of the user equipment 300 is adjusted so that the quality at the non-serving radio base station 20 meets its defined target. This situation is common if P_{CPICH, B}<P_{CPICH, A}. In FIG. 2A the interference levels in the two cells can result in that the Signal-to-Interference (SIR) target is only met by the non-serving radio base station 20. As a consequence, the transmit power of the user equipment 300 can be set by the non-serving radio base station 20 so that some of the uplink control channels are too weak and cannot be correctly decoded or even detected at the serving radio base station 10. In both figures, the SHO area is indicated by SHO and in FIG. 2B the point of serving cell change is indicated by an arrow.

Hence, there is today a problem within communication networks where a user equipment can be in communication with multiple radio base stations in terms of a power control of the user equipment performed by a non-serving radio base station. These problems are expected to become even worse in the future. Today, existing network deployments are usually based on macro radio base stations. All these macro radio base stations typically use similar transmission power. Moreover, traditionally user equipments are not designed to apply multi-antenna techniques in the uplink and the user equipment is typically scheduled in code division multiplexing (CDM) fashion.

Multi-antenna transmission techniques for the uplink enable beam forming so that the user equipment pre-codes the signals so that these add coherently at a receiver. Another way to interpret beam forming is that the pre-coding vector applied at the user equipment creates a beam towards a particular radio base station. This means that the pre-coding will increase the link asymmetry, e.g. if the beam is directed towards the non-serving radio base station. Hence, the previously discussed problems will become even worse with multi-antenna uplink transmission.

Today there is a trend to complement traditional macro radio base stations with micro and/or pico radio base stations. Such micro and pico radio base stations use less transmission power as compared to macro radio base stations. In order to benefit from micro and pico radio base stations in the downlink it is therefore desirable that serving radio base station (or cell) changes are based on E_C/I₀ (ratio of received energy per chip and the interference level) measurements. This will, however, result in that the cell border is moved towards the non-serving radio base station. The previously discussed problems will therefore become even worse with the introduction of micro and/or pico radio base stations.

In order to reduce intra-cell interference the serving radio base station can chose to time multiplex the transmission of two or more user equipments. Assuming that the interference from other cells (I_OtherCell) is constant, the SIR can be approximated for a user equipment by:

${\mathrm{SIR}}_{\mathrm{DPCCH}}=\frac{P_{\mathrm{DPCCH}}}{I_{\mathrm{Self}}+I_{\mathrm{OtherCell}}+P_n}$ $\mathrm{when}\mathrm{the}\mathrm{user}\mathrm{equipment}\mathrm{is}\mathrm{scheduled}\mathrm{and}\text{:}$ ${\mathrm{SIR}}_{\mathrm{DPCCH}}=\frac{P_{\mathrm{DPCCH}}}{I_{\mathrm{OwnCell}}+I_{\mathrm{OtherCell}}+P_n}$

when another user equipment is scheduled, wherein P_DPCCH denotes the transmit power of the Dedicated Physical Control Channel (DPCCH) and P_n denotes the power of the noise. By noting that the own cell interference from other users (I_OwnCell) is typically greater than the self-interference due to multi-path fading (I_Self), it is clear that the SIR will be significantly lower when a user equipment is not scheduled compared to when the user equipment is scheduled. Hence, the SIR will vary significantly depending on whether the user equipment is scheduled or not in a certain time slot.

Thus, it becomes evident from above that the shortcomings of the prior art techniques will suffer even more in the near future. Hence, there is a need for a more efficient power control solution than the prior art solution of merely switching to a higher power offset for a user equipment in SHO. The present embodiments provide such a more efficient solution to the power control problems that can arise when a user equipment is in communication with both a serving radio base station and at least one other radio base station.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a power control method according to an embodiment. The present power control method is applied when a user equipment is in communication with a serving radio base station and at least one other radio base station, i.e. has at least two radio base stations in its active set. An example of such a situation is during SHO. The embodiments are, however, not limited thereto. Also other situations where the user equipment has uplink channels to multiple radio base stations are possible and within the scope of the embodiments. An example of such another situation is when radio base stations transmit multiple downlink streams of data to a user equipment.

The method generally starts in step S1 where the user equipment generates a quality representation of or for an uplink (UL) control channel from the user equipment to the serving radio base station. This generated quality representation, hence, reflects and is indicative of the quality of the particular UL control channel to the serving radio base station. In a next step S2, the user equipment compares the quality representation generated in step S1 with a threshold value. The result of this comparison, i.e. whether the quality representation indicates a quality above or below a threshold quality defined by the threshold value, is employed in the processing of step S3. In this step S3 the user equipment performs a selective processing of transmit power control (TPC) commands received from at least one of its connected radio base stations. Thus, the user equipment performs the selective processing of the received TPC commands based on the comparison of the quality representation to the threshold value as performed in step S2.

Selective processing refers herein to that the particular way that the user equipment processes and uses the received TPC commands depends on the outcome of the comparison between the quality representation and the threshold value. Hence, if the quality representation exceeds the threshold value the user equipment performs a first type of processing of received TPC commands, whereas the user equipment instead performs a second, different processing of received TPC commands if the quality representation would have been below the threshold value.

The method then ends. In a particular embodiment, which is further described herein, the user equipment periodically or intermittently generates a new or updated quality representation to reflect the current quality situation for the UL control channel. Hence, the method steps S1 to S3 are preferably repeated several times for the user equipment as long as it is in communication with multiple radio base stations in the communication network.

The UL control channel for which a quality representation is generated in step S1 is preferably a control channel that is used by the user equipment for transmitting downlink feedback information to the serving radio base station. In particular, the control channel is preferably used by the user equipment for transmitting Hybrid Automatic Repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgements/non-acknowledgements (ACKs/NACKs) and/or Channel Quality Information/Pre-Coding Information (CQI/PQI) to the serving radio base station. A preferred implementation embodiment that is adapted to a communication network employing Wideband Code Division Multiple Access/High Speed Packet Access (WCDMA/HSPA) is when the UL control channel is a High Speed Dedicated Physical Control Channel (HS-DPCCH).

TPC commands are generally transmitted on UL related control channels that are sent by the serving radio base station and the at least one other radio base station. In a particular embodiment, this UL related control channel is the previously mentioned Fractional Dedicated Physical Channel (F-DPCH) that are sent by all radio base stations in the active set for the user equipment. TPC is a general technique used to prevent too much unwanted interference between different transmitters and receivers in a communication network. The idea of using TPC is to automatically reduce the used transmission power of a user equipment to thereby reduce any interference problems and in addition achieve an increased battery capacity of the user equipment.

In the following various implementation embodiments of the power control method will be further described.

The quality representation generated in step S1 of FIG. 3 by the user equipment can be any representation of the quality of the UL control channel, preferably in the form of a HS-DPCCH quality representation or estimate.

In an embodiment, the user equipment compares the HARQ ACK messages it has transmitted on the HS-DPCCH (UL control channel) to the serving radio base station with the packet transmission that it receives on a downlink channel from the serving radio base station. Thus, if the user equipment previously has successfully received a packet on the downlink channel, transmitted an HARQ ACK on the HS-DPCCH to the serving radio base station with regard to that packet but anyway receives a retransmission of the same packet and/or an increased redundancy version then this is an indicator of that the HS-DPCCH quality at the serving radio base station is inferior. Hence, in this embodiment the user equipment generates the quality representation based on a comparison of transmission acknowledgement messages transmitted on the UL control channel with packet transmissions received on a downlink data channel from the serving radio base station.

In another embodiment, the user equipment monitors for TPC commands received on the F-DPCH from the serving radio base station and generates the quality representation based on these received TPC commands. Thus, if the user equipment detects a significant amount of TPC UP commands from the serving radio base station during a defined time period, this is an indicator of that the HS-DPCCH quality is inferior and that the user equipment could be power controlled by a non-serving radio base station. Hence, in this embodiment the user equipment generates the quality representation based on monitoring of TPC commands transmitted from the serving radio base station to the user equipment. The quality representation could then be an indication of the percentage of the TPC commands that, during a defined time period or for a defined number of TPC commands, indicate an increase in transmit power of the user equipment. An alternative but related approach is to determine the quality representation based on the percentage of the TPC commands from the serving radio base station that indicate a decrease in transmit power of the user equipment, i.e. so called TPC DOWN commands.

A further embodiment is to estimate the difference in downlink (DL) path loss between the serving radio base station and the at least non-serving radio base station. Such a downlink path loss based procedure can be performed based on path loss estimations of a respective pilot channel, such as CPICH, from the radio base stations in the active set. The path losses represent the reduction in power density or attenuation of the signals transmitted from the radio base stations towards the user equipment. The path loss may be due to various effects, such as free-space loss, refraction, diffraction, reflection and absorption. The path losses can be estimated or predicted by the user equipment according to methods well known in the art, such as statistical or stochastic methods or deterministic methods. Thus, in this embodiment the user equipment generates the quality representation based on estimation of the difference in downlink path loss between the serving radio base station and the at least one other radio base station.

In another embodiment, the user equipment generates the quality representation based on a combination of at least two of the above presented embodiments. Thus, in such a case the quality representation is determined based on at least two of the techniques disclosed in the foregoing and relating to i) comparing transmitted HARQ ACK/NACK messages with received data packets, ii) monitoring TPC commands from the serving radio base station, and iii) estimation of DL path loss difference.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an embodiment of the generating step S1 in FIG. 3. In this embodiment, the user equipment determines multiple quality estimates for the UL control channel, preferably HS-DPCCH, at different time instances in step S11. In such a case, the user equipment can be configured to perform this step S11 over a predefined period of time to thereby determine the quality estimates during this period of time. In an alternative approach, the user equipment is configured to determine a predefined number of quality estimates. The quality estimates determined in step S11 are obtained according to any of the previously described embodiments. Thus, the user equipment then has access to multiple quality estimates reflecting the quality of the UL control channel at multiple different time instances: Q_HS-DPCCH (t), Q_HS-DPCCH(t−1), . . . , Q_HS-DPCCH(t−M), M≧1. These multiple different time instances are then co-processed in order to calculate the quality representation based on these multiple quality estimates. Hence, the quality representation is in this embodiment a function of the multiplequality estimates, i.e. ƒ(Q_HS-DPCCH(t), Q_HS-DPCCH(t−1), . . . , Q_HS-DPCCH(t−M)).

FIG. 4 illustrates a particular example of a function that can be used according to the embodiments to calculate the quality representation. In this embodiment, the quality representation is calculated as an average of the multiple quality estimates determined in step S11. Hence, the quality representation is thereby calculated as

$\frac{Q_{\mathrm{HS}\text{-}\mathrm{DPCCH}}\left(t\right),Q_{\mathrm{HS}\text{-}\mathrm{DPCCH}}\left(t-1\right),\dots ,Q_{\mathrm{HS}\text{-}\mathrm{DPCCH}}\left(t-M\right)}{M+1}$

in step S12. Thus, in this embodiment the quality representation reflects an average quality situation for the UL control channel, preferably HS-DPCCH, during the time for which the quality estimates have been determined in step S11.

In another but related embodiment, the function ƒ( ) does not output the average of the multiple quality estimates but rather the median of the multiple quality estimates. Also this embodiment will calculate a quality representation that reflects an average quality situation for the UL control channel, preferably HS-DPCCH.

The method then continues from step S12 to step S2 of FIG. 3, where the calculated quality representation is compared to the threshold.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating another embodiment of the generating step S1 in FIG. 3. The method starts in step S21 where the user equipment determines multiple quality estimates for the UL control channel, preferably HS-DPCCH. This step S21 basically corresponds to step S11 of FIG. 4 and is therefore not further discussed herein. In this embodiment another function ƒ( ) than calculating an average or median of the quality estimates is used in step S22 to get the quality representation. Thus, step S22 selects the maximum quality estimate among the quality estimates determined in step S21 and uses this selected quality estimate as the quality representation for the UL control channel, preferably HS-DPCCH. Thus, thequality representation is max(Q_HS-DPCCH(t), Q_HS-DPCCH (t−1), . . . , Q_HS-DPCCH(t−M)). Hence, in this embodiment the user equipment investigates whether the quality for the UL control channel, preferably HS-DPCCH, lies below the quality represented by the threshold value for the time period during which the quality estimates are determined. Such a situation then indicates a poor HS-DPCCH quality. The method then continues to step S2 of FIG. 3.

In an alternative embodiment, the function ƒ( ) instead selects the minimum quality estimate among the multiple quality estimates. Hence, the quality representation is min(Q_HS-DPCCH(t), Q_HS-DPCCH(t−1), . . . , Q_HS-DPCCH(t−M)). This embodiment is particularly suitable for a situation with too excessive quality of the HS-DPCCH.

Step S2 of FIG. 3 then compares the quality representation, such as calculated in step S12 of FIG. 4 or S22 of FIG. 5, with the threshold value. Thus, the user equipment then investigates whether ƒ(Q_HS-DPCCH(t), Q_HS-DPCCH(t−1), . . . , Q_HS-DPCCH(t−M))<Q₁, where Q₁ represents the threshold value. In this embodiment, a low value of the quality representation indicates a poor quality of the UL control channel, preferably HS-DPCCH. Hence, if the quality representation is below the threshold value this indicates such a poor channel quality and that it is likely that the user equipment will be power controlled by a non-serving radio base station. In an alternative approach, a high quality representation could indicate a poor quality of the UL control channel. In such a case, step S2 preferably investigates whether the quality representation exceeds the threshold value. This would then indicate a poor channel quality and a high probability that the user equipment is power controlled by a non-serving radio base station.

Hence, step S1 of FIG. 3 preferably investigates whether the quality of the UL control channel, preferably HS-DPCCH, as indicated by the quality representation, is poorer or worse than a threshold quality, as represented by the threshold value. In such a case, the user equipment should in step S3 perform a processing of the received TPC commands that is selected to combat the poor channel quality.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of this processing step S3 in FIG. 3 in a situation with poor channel quality. The method continues from step S2 where the comparison between the quality representation and the threshold value indicates the poor quality situation for the relevant UL control channel, preferably HS-DPCCH. In step S31 the user equipment is thereby configured to neglect a selected fraction of received TPC commands that are intended to trigger a decrease in the transmit power of the UL control channel. In this situation the user equipment is typically power controlled by a non-serving radio base station. Hence, any TPC DOWN commands received by the user equipment are typically transmitted by the non-serving radio base station. If the user equipment would have reduced its transmit power even further based on these received TPC commands, the transmit power of the relevant UL control channel, preferably HS-DPCCH and DPCCH (which is used for channel estimation), would be even lower and the problems previously discussed herein would be aggravated.

Hence, in a particular embodiment the user equipment thereby ignores or neglects at least one of the received TPC commands indicating that the user equipment should reduce its transmit power. Neglecting a TPC command refers herein to that the user equipment does not decrease its transmit power on the physical channels even though it has received a TPC command that instructs the user equipment to make such a transmit power reduction.

As previously discussed herein, the TPC commands are preferably received on the F-DPCH from the radio base stations in the active set. Such a TPC command then urges the user equipment to modify, i.e. increase or decrease, its DPCCH transmit power (P_DPCCH). The transmit power of the relevant UL control channel, i.e. preferably HS-DPCCHP (P_HS-DPCCH), will then correspondingly be modified through the relation between the DPCCH transmit power and the HS-DPCCH transmit power:

$P_{\mathrm{HS}\text{-}\mathrm{DPCCH}}={\left(\frac{{\beta }_{\mathrm{hs}}}{{\beta }_c}\right)}^2\times P_{\mathrm{DPCCH}},$

wherein β_hs and β_c are semi-static quantized amplitude ratios that are signaled by the radio network controller.

In an embodiment, the user equipment could be configured to neglect all TPC DOWN commands that are received from non-serving radio base stations in step S31 if the quality representation indicates a poor quality of the UL control channel in the comparison with the threshold value. In such a case, the user equipment will not further reduce the transmit power until the quality representation indicates that the quality of the relevant UL control channel is high enough so that the serving radio base station can efficiently receive any messages transmitted thereon by the user equipment. At this point it is likely that the user equipment will no longer be power controlled by a non-serving radio base station but instead by the serving radio base station. Hence, the user equipment can then process any received TPC commands as normal, i.e. increase or decrease its transmit power depending on whether it receives any TPC UP or DOWN commands.

In another embodiment, the user equipment is configured to neglect a selected sub-fraction of the received TPC DOWN commands, preferably such TPC DOWN commands received from a non-serving radio base station. For instance, the user equipment could be configured to neglect every second, every third or every fourth received TPC DOWN command. This then implies that any reduction in transmit power of the user equipment will be performed at a much slower pace as compared to processing each TPC DOWN command.

A further embodiment is to select the fraction of TPC DOWN commands to ignore based on the quality representation generated for the relevant UL control channel. Thus, if the quality representation indicates a very poor channel quality, for instance, every TPC DOWN command could be neglected by the user equipment. However, if the quality representation instead indicates only a slightly poor channel quality, for instance, every y^th TPC DOWN command is ignored, where y is a predefined fixed integer number equal to or larger than two or is determined based on the quality representation. This latter embodiment can be realized by having access to multiple different threshold values in the comparison of step S2 in FIG. 3. If the quality representation then indicates a really poor channel quality and is below a first threshold Q₁ every TPC DOWN command is ignored. If the quality representation instead is larger than the first threshold Q₁ but smaller than a second threshold Q₂ (Q₂>Q₁) then, for instance, every second TPC DOWN command is ignored and so on.

Thus, in these particular embodiments the selected fraction of TPC commands to neglect by the user equipment in step S31 is determined based on the quality representation.

Alternatively, or in addition, the fraction of TPC DOWN commands that should be neglected could be determined as a function of, i.e. be dependent on, the path loss difference between the user equipment and the serving radio base station and the user equipment and the non-serving radio base station(s). Alternatively, or in addition, the fraction could be signaled to the user equipment via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

In clear contrast, if the channel quality of the UL control channel is sufficient as indicated by the comparison between the quality representation and the threshold value, the selective processing in step S3 preferably involves that the user equipment adjusts its transmit power of the UL control channel in response to and based on received TPC UP or DOWN commands. Hence, in such a case the received TPC commands are not neglected by the user equipment.

The method of the embodiments is particularly advantageous if the network has signaled, such as via RRC, that the power control should be governed by the serving radio base station and the difference in DL path loss estimated with respect to the serving radio base station and the non-serving radio base station indicates that the serving radio base station has a weaker link, i.e. UL control channel, preferably HS-DPCCH, possibly accounting for an offset, which could be configured via RRC signaling.

The present embodiments can in fact also be used in a situation where the quality of the UL control channel, preferably HS-DPCCH, is excessive. In such a case, a quality representation is generated for the UL control channel as previously disclosed herein in connection with step S1. This quality representation is then compared to a threshold value in step S2. However, in this case the threshold value is preferably different from the previously disclosed embodiments. Hence, the threshold value preferably indicates a threshold for a maximum desirable quality for the UL control channel. Thus, if the present channel quality would indeed exceed the maximum desirable quality then the user equipment should take actions as disclosed herein. The user equipment advantageously generates the quality representation in this embodiment according to any of the embodiments discussed in the foregoing in connection with FIG. 4 or 5. This quality representation is then compared to the threshold value and if the quality representation exceeds the threshold value this indicates an excessive high quality of the UL control channel (or in an alternative embodiment if the quality representation is below the threshold value this indicates an excessive high quality). The selective processing of received TPC commands in step S3 preferably involves neglecting a selected fraction of TPC UP commands that are intended to trigger an increase in transmit power of the UL control channel, preferably HS-DPCCH. Thus, this embodiment is basically the opposite as previously disclosed herein. The discussion with regard to determining the selected fraction and how the neglect of TPC commands in the foregoing can also be applied to the present embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a user equipment 300 according to an embodiment. The user equipment 300 can be any device that is configured to communicate with radio base stations in the communication network. The user equipment 300 could therefore be in the form of a mobile telephone, a computer, tablet, desktop, laptop or notebook or notepad having equipment required for communication within the communication network.

The user equipment 300 comprises a transceiver (TRX) 340 that is employed for communication, preferably wireless radio-based communication, with radio base stations in the communication network. In the figure this transceiver 340 has been illustrated as a single unit comprising both transmitter and receiver functionality. This should, however, merely be seen as an illustrative example. In alternative embodiments, the user equipment 300 comprises a transmitter and a receiver or at least one transmitter and at least one receiver. The transceiver 340, or transmitter and receiver, is typically connected to an antenna (not illustrated), such as a common transmission and reception antenna or separate transmission and reception antennas.

According to the embodiments, the user equipment 300 comprises a representation generator 310 that is configured to generate a quality representation of an UL control channel, preferably HS-DPCCH, from the user equipment 300 to its serving radio base station. This quality representation is employed by a comparator 320 that is configured to compare the quality representation from the representation generator 310 with a threshold value. The user equipment 300 further comprises a processor 330 configured to perform a selective processing of TPC commands received by the transceiver 340 (or receiver) based on the outcome of the comparison performed by the comparator 320. Thus, the processor 330 thereby determines how the received TPC commands should be used by the user equipment 300 based on whether the quality representation exceeds or is below the threshold value.

In a particular embodiment, the processor 330 is configured to neglect a selected fraction of the received TPC commands as determined based on the comparison. Hence, in this case the processor 330 and thereby the user equipment 300 will not perform any transmit power adjustment based on the neglected TPC command(s).

The processor 330 is preferably configured, if the comparison indicates that the current quality of the UL control channel is poor, such as when the quality representation is below the threshold value, to neglect a selected fraction of TPC commands indicating a reduction in transmit power and originating from a non-serving radio base station.

The processor 330 can perform the selective processing, i.e. determining whether to neglect a received TPC command or not, as previously disclosed herein, i.e. neglect every TPC DOWN command (or TPC UP command in the case of excessive HS-DPCCH quality), neglect every second, third, etc. TPC command or determine which particular TPC command(s) to neglect based on the quality representation generated by the representation generator 310.

In an embodiment, the processor 330 is configured to operate according two different processing modes. Firstly, if the comparison performed by the comparator 320 indicates a poor quality of the UL control channel, the processor 330 neglects a selected fraction of the received TPC DOWN commands as previously disclosed herein. Secondly, if the comparison performed by the comparator 320 instead indicates a sufficient quality of the UL control channel, the processor 330 preferably does not neglect any received TPC commands but instead adjusts, i.e. increases or decreases, the transmit power of the user equipment based on the TPC commands.

In another embodiment, the processor 330 is configured to operate according three different processing modes. The two first such processing modes are the ones described above. The third processing mode is used if the comparison performed by the comparator 320 indicates an excessive quality of the UL control channel. The processor 330 then neglects a selected fraction of the received TPC UP commands.

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the representation generator 310 in FIG. 7. In this embodiment, the representation generator 310 comprises a quality estimator 313 configured to determine multiple quality estimates to the UL control channel, preferably HS-DPCCH, at different time instances. The quality estimator 313 could then determine these quality estimates as previously disclosed herein, i.e. based on i) a comparison of transmitted HARQ ACK/NACK messages and received packet transmissions, ii) monitoring TPC commands transmitted on F-DPCH from the serving radio base station, iii) an estimation of the difference in path loss to the serving radio base station and the at least one other radio base station, or iv) a combination of any of i) to iii).

The representation generator 310 then comprises a calculator 314 that is configured to calculate the quality representation based on the multiple quality estimates determined by the quality estimator 313. In this embodiment, the calculator 314 could calculate the quality representation based on an average of the multiple quality estimates or as a median of the multiple quality estimates.

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of the representation generator 310 in FIG. 7. The representation generator 310 comprises the previously described quality estimator 313. However, in this embodiment the representation generator 310 comprises a selector 315 that is configured to select a maximum quality estimate among the multiple quality estimates from the quality estimator 313 as the quality representation for the UL control channel. In an alternative embodiment, the selector 315 instead selects the minimum quality estimate as the quality representation in particular if the processor of the user equipment is configured to neglect TPC UP commands during a situation with excessive quality of the UL control channel.

The embodiments of the representation generator 310 illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9 could alternative be implemented by arranging the quality estimator 313 and the calculator 314 or the quality estimator 313 and the selector 315 as separate units in the user equipment 300.

The units 310-340 of the user equipment 300 can be implemented in hardware, in software or a combination of hardware and software. Although the respective units 310-340 disclosed in conjunction with FIG. 7 and units 313 and 314 in FIG. 8 and units 313 and 315 in FIG. 9 have been disclosed as physically separate units 310-340 in the user equipment 300, and all may be special purpose circuits, such as ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), alternative embodiments are possible where some or all of the units 310-340 are implemented as computer program modules running on a general purpose processor.

In such a case and with reference to FIG. 10, the user equipment 300 comprises a processing unit 70, such as a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) or CPU (Central Processing Unit). The processing unit 70 can be a single unit or a plurality of units for performing different steps of the method described herein. The user equipment 300 also comprises at least one computer program product 60 in the form of a non-volatile memory, for instance an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), a flash memory or a disk drive. The computer program product 60 comprises a computer program 50, which comprises code means 51-53 which when run on the user equipment 300, such as by the processing unit 70, causes the user equipment 300 to perform the steps of the method described in the foregoing in connection with FIG. 3. Hence, in an embodiment the code means 51-53 in the computer program 50 comprises a representation generating module 51 for generating a quality representation, a comparing module 52 for comparing the quality representation to a threshold value and a processing module 53 for performing a selecting processing of TPC commands. These modules 51-53 essentially perform the steps of the flow chart in FIG. 3 when run on the processing unit 70. Thus, when the different modules 51-52 are run on the processing unit they correspond to the corresponding units 310-330 of FIG. 7.

The computer program 50 may additionally comprise a quality estimating module and a calculating module or a selecting module as disclosed in connection with FIG. 8 or 9. The user equipment 300 also comprises a transceiver 80, or transmitter and receiver, or a general input and output (I/O) unit in order to enable communication with the radio base stations in the communication network.

The embodiments as disclosed herein can be used to achieve a certain DPCCH SIR quality at the serving radio base station for a user equipment when in communication with multiple radio base stations, such as during SHO. By ensuring such a sufficient DPCCH quality at the serving radio base station also the HS-DPCCH can be decoded and therefore the downlink HDSPA performance is not affected. By being able to provide sufficient HS-DPCCH quality the embodiments enable introduction of techniques, such as multi-antenna transmission techniques for the uplink, complementing traditional macro radio base stations with micro and/or pico radio base stations and per-HARQ scheduling for improving uplink orthogonality, in communication networks.

A further advantage of the present embodiments where a user equipment is capable of dynamically adapting the HS-DPCCH transmission power is that the adaptation can be performed in response to rapid quality changes, such as changes in effective path loss, e.g. due to fading. This should be compared to an adaptation which is performed at the network side, such as in the RNC, which then typically is not as quick to respond to quality changes.

The embodiments described above are to be understood as a few illustrative examples of the present invention. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations and changes may be made to the embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. In particular, different part solutions in the different embodiments can be combined in other configurations, where technically possible. The scope of the present invention is, however, defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1-14. (canceled)

15. A power control method implemented by a user equipment in a communication network when the user equipment is in communication with a serving radio base station and at least one other radio base station over a radio interface on uplink channels, the method comprising:

generating a quality representation of an uplink control channel between the user equipment and the serving radio base station;

comparing the quality representation to a threshold value; and

performing, based on the comparison of the quality representation to the threshold value, a selective processing of transmit power control commands received from at least one of the serving radio base station and the at least one other radio base station.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein generating the quality representation comprises:

determining multiple quality estimates for the uplink control channel at different time instances; and

calculating the quality representation based on an average of the multiple quality estimates.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein generating the quality representation comprises:

determining multiple quality estimates for the uplink control channel at different time instances; and

selecting a maximum quality estimate among the multiple quality estimates as the quality representation.

18. The method according to claim 15, wherein performing the selective processing of transmit power control commands comprises neglecting, based on the comparison of the quality representation to the threshold value, a selected fraction of the transmit power control commands that are intended to trigger a decrease in transmit power of the uplink control channel.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising determining the selected fraction of transmit power control commands based on the quality representation.

20. The method according to claim 15, wherein generating the quality representation comprises generating the quality representation of a high speed dedicated physical control channel (HS-DPCCH) between the user equipment and the serving radio base station.

21. A user equipment in a communication network in communication with a serving radio base station and at least one other radio base station over a radio interface on uplink channels, wherein the user equipment comprises:

a representation generator configured to generate a quality representation of an uplink control channel between the user equipment and the serving radio base station;

a comparator configured to compare the quality representation to a threshold value; and

a processor configured to perform, based on the comparison of the quality representation to the threshold value, a selective processing of transmit power control commands received by a receiver of the user equipment from at least one of the serving radio base station and the at least one other radio base station.

22. The user equipment according to claim 21, wherein the representation generator comprises:

a quality estimator configured to determine multiple quality estimates for the uplink control channel at different time instances; and

a calculator configured to calculate the quality representation based on an average of the multiple quality estimates.

23. The user equipment according to claim 21, wherein the representation generator comprises:

a quality estimator configured to determine multiple quality estimates for the uplink control channel at different time instances; and

a selector configured to select a maximum quality estimate among the multiple quality estimates as the quality representation.

24. The user equipment according to claim 21, wherein the processor is configured to perform the selective processing of the transmit power control commands by neglecting, based on the comparison of the quality representation to the threshold value, a selected fraction of the transmit power control commands that are intended to trigger a decrease in transmit power of the uplink control channel.

25. The user equipment according to claim 24, wherein the processor is further configured to determine the selected fraction of transmit power control commands based on the quality representation.

26. The user equipment according to claim 21, wherein the representation generator is configured to generate the quality representation of a high speed dedicated physical control channel (HS-DPCCH) between the user equipment and the serving radio base station.

27. A computer program stored in a computer program product or a computer readable medium for power control in a communication network when the user equipment is in communication with a serving radio base station and at least one other radio base station over a radio interface on uplink channels, the computer program comprises non-transient computer program instructions which when run by a processing unit of the user equipment causes the processing unit to:

generate a quality representation of an uplink control channel between the user equipment and the serving radio base station;

compare the quality representation to a threshold value; and

perform, based on the comparison of the quality representation to the threshold value, a selective processing of transmit power control commands received from at least one of the serving radio base station and the at least one other radio base station.