US9877259B2
Active / In Force
US
⏱️ 8.4 years remaining
Dynamic energy-efficient transmit point (TP) muting for virtual radio access network (V-RAN)
Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
•
Filing: 2015-03-30
•
Granted: 2018-01-23
•
Expires: 2035-03-30
Abstract
Abstract Operational and environmental efficiency in virtual radio access networks (VRANs) can be improved by offloading data traffic and/or control signaling between physical transmit points (TPs) of a virtual TP. This may allow one or more physical TPs of the virtual TP to be muted in the downlink or uplink direction, thereby reducing energy consumption. The offloading may be performed during relatively short time-intervals such that physical TP are muted for one or more transmission time intervals (TTIs) before being re-activated. The offloading may also be implemented over longer time-intervals in accordance with a traffic engineering (TE) policy. Further it is possible to re-activate a de-activated downlink transmitter of physical TP by monitoring wireless signals via an activated receiver of the physical TP.
Inventors
- 👤 Mohamed Adel Salem
- 👤 Jianglei Ma
- 👤 Mohammadhadi Baligh
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-28 21:21
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04W; H04W40/00; H04W40/02; H04W40/04; H04W40/10; H04W28/00; H04W28/02; H04W28/08; H04W28/0858; H04W28/0867; H04W52/00; H04W52/02; H04W52/0203; H04W52/0206; H04B; H04B7/00; H04B7/02; H04B7/04; H04B7/06; H04B7/0697; H04W16/00; H04W16/14; H04W52/0209; H04W68/00; H04W68/02; H04W72/00; H04W72/20; H04W72/50; H04W72/54; H04W72/541; H04W74/00; H04W74/08; H04W74/0808; Y02B60/50; Y; Y02; Y02B; Y02B70/00; Y02B70/30; Y02D; Y02D30/00; Y02D30/70
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 29
Claim 1
Independent Claim
128 words
A method for offloading traffic between physical transmit points (TPs) of a virtual TP in a wireless communications network, the method comprising: identifying, by a network controller, a virtual TP serving a user equipment (UE), the virtual TP including at least a first physical TP and a second physical TP, wherein the first physical TP communicates one or both of data traffic and control signaling with the UE during a first period; and offloading at least one of the data traffic and the control signaling from the first physical TP to the second physical TP without causing the UE to undertake a handover, wherein the second physical TP communicates the at least one of the data traffic or the control signaling with the UE during a second period.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
128 words
A method for offloading traffic between physical transmit points (TPs) of a virtual TP in a wireless communications network, the method comprising: identifying, by a network controller, a virtual TP serving a user equipment (UE), the virtual TP including at least a first physical TP and a second physical TP, wherein the first physical TP communicates one or both of data traffic and control signaling with the UE during a first period; and offloading at least one of the data traffic and the control signaling from the first physical TP to the second physical TP without causing the UE to undertake a handover, wherein the second physical TP communicates the at least one of the data traffic or the control signaling with the UE during a second period.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
65 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein offloading at least one of the data traffic and the control signaling from the first physical TP to the second physical TP comprises: offloading at least one of the data traffic and the control signaling from the first physical TP to the second physical TP for a time period on the order of a Transmission Time Interval (TTI).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the virtual TP serving the UE includes: selecting the virtual TP for strategic offloading between physical TPs of the virtual TP.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of claim 3 , wherein selecting the virtual TP for strategic offloading between physical TPs of the virtual TP comprises: selecting the virtual TP for the strategic offloading in accordance with a traffic level of the virtual TP.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
45 words
The method of claim 4 , wherein selecting the virtual TP for the strategic offloading in accordance with the traffic level of the virtual TP comprises: comparing the traffic level of the virtual TP with traffic levels of other TPs in the wireless communications network.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of claim 3 , wherein selecting the virtual TP for strategic offloading between physical TPs of the virtual TP comprises: selecting the virtual TP for the strategic offloading in accordance with a power consumption of the virtual TP.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
45 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein offloading the at least one of the data traffic and the control signaling from the first physical TP to the second physical TP comprises: offloading downlink control signaling from the first physical TP to the second physical TP.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 7 , further comprising: downlink muting the first physical TP after offloading the downlink control signaling to the second physical TP.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
54 words
The method of claim 7 , wherein the first physical TP comprises a macro base station and the second physical TP comprises a low power node, and wherein the method further comprises: downlink muting the macro base station after offloading the downlink control signaling from the macro base station to the low power node.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein offloading at least one of the data traffic and the control signaling from the first physical TP to the second physical TP comprises: offloading downlink data traffic from the first physical TP to the second physical TP.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein offloading at least one of the data traffic and the control signaling from the first physical TP to the second physical TP comprises: offloading uplink data traffic from the first physical TP to the second physical TP.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein offloading at least one of the data traffic and the control signaling from the first physical TP to the second physical TP comprises: offloading uplink control signaling from the first physical TP to the second physical TP.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
15 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the offloaded control signaling includes UE-specific control traffic.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 1 , further comprising: identifying a third physical TP having data traffic that can be offloaded to another TP in the wireless communications network.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of claim 14 further including offloading one of uplink (UL) data traffic and downlink (DL) data traffic from the third physical TP to another TP without offloading the other one of the UL traffic and the DL traffic.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of claim 14 further including offloading both uplink (UL) data traffic and downlink (DL) data traffic from the third physical TP to another TP.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
128 words
A network controller comprising: a processor; and a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to: identify a virtual transmit point (TP) serving a user equipment (UE), the virtual TP including at least a first physical TP and a second physical TP, wherein the first physical TP communicates one or both of data traffic and control signaling with the UE during a first period; and offload at least one of the data traffic and the control signaling from the first physical TP to the second physical TP without causing the UE to undertake a handover, wherein the second physical TP communicates the at least one of the data traffic or the control signaling with the UE during a second period.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
128 words
A network controller comprising: a processor; and a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to: identify a virtual transmit point (TP) serving a user equipment (UE), the virtual TP including at least a first physical TP and a second physical TP, wherein the first physical TP communicates one or both of data traffic and control signaling with the UE during a first period; and offload at least one of the data traffic and the control signaling from the first physical TP to the second physical TP without causing the UE to undertake a handover, wherein the second physical TP communicates the at least one of the data traffic or the control signaling with the UE during a second period.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
71 words
A method for muting, the method comprising: deactivating a downlink transmitter of a physical transmit point (TP) without deactivating an uplink receiver of the physical TP; monitoring, by the physical TP, uplink feedback signals via the uplink receiver while the downlink transmitter of the physical TP is deactivated; and reactivating the downlink transmitter of the physical TP when at least one of the uplink feedback signals satisfies a downlink re-activation criteria.
Claim 21
Independent Claim
71 words
A method for muting, the method comprising: deactivating a downlink transmitter of a physical transmit point (TP) without deactivating an uplink receiver of the physical TP; monitoring, by the physical TP, uplink feedback signals via the uplink receiver while the downlink transmitter of the physical TP is deactivated; and reactivating the downlink transmitter of the physical TP when at least one of the uplink feedback signals satisfies a downlink re-activation criteria.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
62 words
The method of claim 18 , further comprising: determining, by the physical TP, that a downlink transmission for a target user equipment (UE) has been offloaded from a second TP to the physical TP, wherein the physical TP and the second TP are associated with the same virtual TP; and performing the downlink transmission to the target UE using the downlink transmitter.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
41 words
The method of claim 18 , wherein a corresponding one of the uplink feedback signals satisfies the downlink re-activation criteria when the corresponding uplink feedback signal indicates that an interference level experienced by a target user equipment (UE) exceeds a threshold.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 20 , wherein the interference level experienced by the target UE comprises a background interference level experienced by the target UE.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method of claim 20 , wherein the uplink feedback signal is communicated by the target UE.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 20 , wherein the uplink feedback signals are communicated by a helping UE that is engaged in device-to-device (D2D) communications with the target UE.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
42 words
The physical TP of claim 18 , wherein a corresponding one of the uplink feedback signals satisfies the downlink re-activation criteria when the corresponding uplink feedback signal indicates that an interference level experienced by a target user equipment (UE) exceeds a threshold.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
84 words
A physical transmit point (TP) comprising: a processor; and a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to: deactivate a downlink transmitter of the physical TP without deactivating an uplink receiver of the physical TP; monitor uplink feedback signals via the uplink receiver while the downlink transmitter of the physical TP is deactivated; and reactivate the downlink transmitter of the physical TP when at least one of the uplink feedback signals satisfies a downlink re-activation criteria.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
84 words
A physical transmit point (TP) comprising: a processor; and a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to: deactivate a downlink transmitter of the physical TP without deactivating an uplink receiver of the physical TP; monitor uplink feedback signals via the uplink receiver while the downlink transmitter of the physical TP is deactivated; and reactivate the downlink transmitter of the physical TP when at least one of the uplink feedback signals satisfies a downlink re-activation criteria.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2021-01-22 | 2021-07-24 | 2022-01-23 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2025-01-22 | 2025-07-24 | 2026-01-23 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2029-01-22 | 2029-07-24 | 2030-01-23 | $7700.00 | Pending Window |