Patent Application
20130078993
The present invention relates to a radio base station and a method of controlling the same which employ SON technology.
SON (Self Organizing Network) technology is employed in LTE (Long Term Evolution) which is standardized by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) as a standardization organization for radio communication system. SON technology enables a radio base station itself to adjust parameter settings of the radio base station without human intervention.
In order to reduce a failure rate of handover of a radio terminal (i.e., change of the connection target base station), a method of optimizing a handover parameter for controlling the handover is proposed as one aspect of SON technology (see Non-patent Literature 1, for example). In this method, the handover parameter is adjusted based on handover failure information on handover failure.
The handover parameter optimization makes it possible to suppress deterioration of communication quality and waste of network resources due to the handover failure. Such optimization technique is referred to as MRO (Mobility Robustness Optimization). See Non-patent Literatures 1 and 2 as to examples of the handover parameter.
Non-patent Literature 1: 3GPP TR36.902 “4.5 Mobility Robustness Optimization”
Non-patent Literature 2: 3GPP TS36.331 “5.5.4 Measurement report triggering”
MRO mentioned above is based on the assumption that the same handover parameter is applied to all radio terminals which are targets for control of handover from one radio base station to another radio base station.
However, employing such a method has the following problem. Specifically, the radio transmission environment varies depending on where a radio terminal is, and the optimum handover parameter varies from one radio transmission environment to another. Hence, the above method might not be able to adjust the handover parameter properly, and thus might not be able to reduce the handover failure rate sufficiently.
Thus, an objective of the present invention is to provide a radio base station and a method of controlling the same which are capable of reducing the handover failure rate sufficiently.
In order to solve the aforementioned problem, the present invention has following features. First, the feature of a radio base station of the present invention is summarized as follows. A radio base station comprises: a storage unit (storage unit 130) configured to store a handover parameter for controlling handover of a radio terminal, in association with location information indicating a location in a communication area of the radio base station; and a controller (controller 120) configured to detect handover failure and control the storage unit in such away as to adjust the handover parameter associated with the location information indicating a failure-detected location being a location of a radio terminal of which the handover failure is detected.
Such a radio base station is capable of adjusting the handover parameter on a per-location basis. Thus, the handover parameter can be adjusted more properly and the handover failure rate can be reduced sufficiently.
Another feature of the radio base station of the present invention is summarized as follows. In the radio base station according to the aforementioned feature, the controller acquires the handover parameter associated with the location information indicating a location of a radio terminal being connected to the radio base station, from the storage unit, and controls handover of the radio terminal being connected thereto, by using the acquired handover parameter.
Another feature of the radio base station of the present invention is summarized as follows. In the radio base station according to the aforementioned feature, the controller controls the storage unit in such away as to adjust the handover parameter, which is associated with the location information indicating the failure-detected location, in accordance with a reason for the handover failure.
Another feature of the radio base station of the present invention is summarized as follows. In the radio base station according to the aforementioned feature, when the reason for the failure is that the handover start is too late, the controller adjusts the handover parameter associated with the location information indicating the failure-detected location, such that the handover start is moved up earlier.
Another feature of the radio base station of the present invention is summarized as follows. In the radio base station according to the aforementioned feature, when the reason for the failure is that the handover start is too early, the controller adjusts the handover parameter associated with the location information indicating the failure-detected location, such that the handover start is delayed.
Another feature of the radio base station of the present invention is summarized as follows. In the radio base station according to the aforementioned feature, when the reason for the failure is wrong selection of a handover target radio base station, the controller adjusts the handover parameter associated with the location information indicating the failure-detected location, such that the handover target radio base station is selected properly.
The feature of a controlling method of the present invention is summarized as follows. A method of controlling a radio base station comprises the steps of: associating a handover parameter for controlling handover of a radio terminal, with location information indicating a location of the radio terminal in a communication area of the radio base station; detecting handover failure; and adjusting the handover parameter associated with the location information indicating a failure-detected location being a location of a radio terminal of which the handover failure is detected.
With reference to the drawings, embodiments of the present invention are described. Specifically, the description is given in order of (1) Outline of Radio Communication System, (2) Configuration of Radio Base Station, (3) Operation Example of Radio Communication System, (4) Effect of Embodiment, and (5) Other Embodiments. In the drawings of the embodiments, the same or similar reference numerals are applied to the same or similar parts.
As shown in
The neighboring radio base stations eNB can communicate with each other via an X2 interface which is a logical communication channel for providing communications between the base stations. Each of the multiple radio base stations eNB can communicate with the EPC (Evolved Packet Core), more specifically, with the MME (Mobility Management Entity)/S-GW (Serving Gateway) via an S1 interface.
A radio terminal UE is a radio communication device held by a user and is also called user equipment. A radio terminal UE#1 is connected to the radio base station eNB#1 in a cell formed by the radio base station eNB#1. A radio terminal UE#2 is connected to the radio base station eNB#2 in a cell formed by the radio base station eNB#2. A radio terminal UE#3 is connected to the radio base station eNB#3 in a cell formed by the radio base station eNB#3.
The radio terminal UE measures the quality of a radio signal (i.e., radio quality) received from the radio base station eNB, and sends its connection target radio base station eNB a Measurement Report message being a report on the measurement result of the radio quality. Here, an example of the radio quality is the reference signal received power (RSRP). The Measurement Report message may be sent from the radio terminal UE to the radio base station eNB triggered by a certain event set by the radio base station eNB, or instead may be sent from the radio terminal UE to the radio base station eNB regularly.
The connection target radio base station eNB of the radio terminal UE carries out handover control for changing the connection target of the radio terminal UE, on the basis of the Measurement Report message received from the radio terminal UE. In the case where the radio terminal UE receives reference signals from the multiple radio base stations eNB, the Measurement Report message may include multiple RSRPs for the multiple radio base stations eNB. The connection target radio base station eNB of the radio terminal UE controls handover (hereinafter abbreviated as “HO” as needed) on the basis of the Measurement Report message in such away that, for example, one of the multiple radio base stations eNB having the largest RSRP is set as a next connection target of the radio terminal UE.
The radio communication system 1 supports MRO described above. In this embodiment, each radio base station eNB adjusts a handover parameter upon detection of handover failure of the radio terminal UE. An example of such a handover parameter is an offset value for correcting the RSRP measured by the radio terminal UE. For instance, in the case where the radio terminal UE#1 can receive radio signals from the radio base station eNB#1 and the radio base station eNB#2 respectively, before RSRP#1 for the radio base station eNB#1 and RSRP#2 for the radio base station eNB#2 are compared with each other, an offset value for correcting the RSRP#1 to a larger value is added to the RSRP#1. Note that each pair of radio base stations eNB has one offset value and the offset value is shared by the paired radio base stations eNB.
Hereinbelow, a description will be given mainly of a case where a handover parameter of the radio base station eNB#1 is adjusted upon failure of a radio terminal UE, connected to the radio base station eNB#1, to be handed over to the radio base station eNB#2.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
Next, the configuration of the radio base station eNB#1 will be described. The radio base stations eNB other than the radio base station eNB#1 have the same configuration as the radio base station eNB#1.
(2.1) Configuration of Functional Blocks
As shown in
The antenna unit 101 is used for sending and receiving radio signals. The radio communication unit 110 includes a radio frequency (RF) circuit, a baseband (BB) circuit, and the like, for example, and exchanges radio signals with each radio terminal UE. The radio communication unit 110 also modulates and codes a sending signal, and demodulates and decodes a receiving signal.
The controller 120 includes a CPU, for example, and controls various functional blocks of the radio base station eNB#1. The storage unit 130 includes a memory, for example, and stores various kinds of information used for, for example, control performed by the radio base station eNB#1. The network communication unit 140 performs inter-base station communications using an X2 interface and communications using an S1 interface.
The storage unit 130 stores a parameter table associating a handover parameter for controlling handover of the radio terminal UE with location information indicating a location in the communication area of the radio base station eNB#1. The handover parameter denotes an offset value to be added to RSRP measured by the radio terminal UE, or a threshold to be compared with the RSRP measured by the radio terminal UE. A specific example of the parameter table will be described later.
The controller 120 includes: a location information acquiring unit 121; a handover parameter acquiring unit 122; a handover controller 123; a handover failure detecting unit 124; and a handover parameter adjusting unit 125.
The location information acquiring unit 121 acquires location information indicating the location of a radio terminal UE connected to the radio base station eNB#1. More specifically, in the case where the radio terminal UE has a GPS (Global Positioning System) positioning function, the location information acquiring unit 121 acquires location information created by GPS. In the case where the radio terminal UE has no GPS positioning function, the location information acquiring unit 121 acquires information on the location of the radio terminal UE from a location managing server (E-SLMC: Evolved Serving Mobile Location Center) provided on a core network side. Alternatively, the location information acquiring unit 121 may guess the location of the radio terminal UE from the state of radio signals that the radio terminal UE receives from the multiple radio base stations respectively. See 3GPP TS36.305 for details of the location managing server (E-SLMC).
The handover parameter acquiring unit 122 acquires a handover parameter associated with the location information acquired by the location information acquiring unit 121, from the parameter table stored in the storage unit 130.
The handover controller 123 makes a conditional judgment on whether or not to make a radio terminal UE perform handover, on the basis of a Measurement Report message that the radio communication unit 110 receives from the radio terminal UE and the handover parameter acquired by the handover parameter acquiring unit 122.
For instance, assume a case where the Measurement Report message includes RSRP#1 for the radio base station eNB#1 and RSRP#2 for the radio base station eNB#2 and the handover parameter is an offset value of x [dB] to be added to the RSRP#2. In this case, the handover controller 123 compares the RSRP#1 with (RSRP#2+x). Then, if (RSRP#2+x) is larger than the RSRP#1, the handover controller 123 performs handover control such that the radio terminal UE performs handover to the radio base station eNB#2. On the other hand, if (RSRP#2+x) is smaller than the RSRP#1, the handover controller 123 performs control such that the radio terminal UE does not perform handover to the radio base station eNB#2.
The handover failure detecting unit 124 detects handover failure of a radio terminal UE after it is determined that the handover controller 123 makes the radio terminal perform handover to the handover target radio base station eNB#2.
Specifically, the handover failure detecting unit 124 detects Too Late HO from a RLF Indication message that the network communication unit 140 receives from the handover target radio base station eNB#2, the RLF Indication message indicating the occurrence of Too Late HO.
In addition, the handover failure detecting unit 124 detects Too Early HO from the reconnection of the radio terminal UE to the radio base station eNB#1. Alternatively, the handover failure detecting unit 124 detects Too Early HO from a Handover Report message that the network communication unit 140 receives from the handover target radio base station eNB#2, the Handover Report message indicating the occurrence of Too Early HO.
Moreover, the handover failure detecting unit 124 detects HO to Wrong Cell from a Handover Report message that the network communication unit 140 receives from the handover target radio base station eNB#2, the Handover Report message indicating the occurrence of HO to Wrong Cell. Alternatively, the handover failure detecting unit 124 detects HO to Wrong Cell from a RLF Indication message that the network communication unit 140 receives from the different radio base station eNB#3, the RLF Indication message indicating the occurrence of HO to Wrong Cell.
The handover failure detecting unit 124 stores the status of handover failure detected by the handover failure detecting unit 124 in the storage unit 130 in association with the location information acquired by the location information acquiring unit 121. Hereinafter, the location of a radio terminal UE of which the handover failure is detected is referred to as a failure-detected location. The handover failure detecting unit 124 stores the location information indicating the failure-detected location in the storage unit 130 in association with the type of the handover failure (Too Late HO, Too Early HO, or HO to Wrong Cell).
The handover parameter adjusting unit 125 refers to and controls the storage unit 130 in such a way as to adjust the handover parameter associated with the location information indicating the failure-detected location.
In response to Too Late HO, the handover parameter adjusting unit 125 adjusts the handover parameter associated with the location information indicating the failure-detected location at which Too Late HO has occurred, such that the handover start is moved up earlier. In the example of
In response to Too Early HO, the handover parameter adjusting unit 125 adjusts the handover parameter associated with the location information indicating the failure-detected location at which Too Early HO has occurred, such that the handover start is delayed. In the example of
In response to HO to Wrong Cell, the handover parameter adjusting unit 125 adjusts the handover parameter associated with the location information indicating the failure-detected location at which HO to Wrong Cell has occurred, such that the handover target radio base station eNB is selected properly. In the example of
It is to be noted here that, in order to adjust the handover parameter, it is necessary to get permission from the other radio base stations eNB. Hence, an adjusted handover parameter is notified by means of a Mobility Change Request message and, if it is confirmed that the adjusted handover parameter is permitted, the handover parameter adjusting unit 125 adjusts the handover parameter. See 3GPP TS36.423 for details of messages for parameter adjustment exchanged between radio base stations eNB.
(2.2) Configuration Example of Parameter Table
As shown in
The initial handover parameter for the respective location information #A to #R may be the same. The handover parameter is optimized on a per-location basis by making the handover parameter adjusting unit 125 adjust the handover parameter for each of the location information #A to #R.
As shown in
Assume a case where a radio terminal UE being connected to the radio base station eNB#1 moves to the radio base station eNB#2 and its location segment transits in the order of the location segment of the location information #M, the location segment of the location information #N, and the location segment of the location information #O.
In this case, the handover parameter associated with the location information #M is applied to the radio terminal UE in the location segment of the location information #M, the handover parameter associated with the location information #N is applied to the radio terminal UE in the location segment of the location information #N, and the handover parameter associated with the location information #O is applied to the radio terminal UE in the location segment of the location information #O.
Note that the location segments shown in
Next, the operation of the radio communication system 1 will be described while taking operation patterns 1 and 2 as an example. The operation pattern 1 indicates an operation when Too Late HO occurs, and the operation pattern 2 indicates an operation when Too Early HO occurs. Note that the outline of a handover sequence will be described in the following description of the operations; see 3GPP TS36.300 for details of the handover sequence.
(3.1) Operation Pattern 1
In Step S101, the radio terminal UE connected to the radio base station eNB#1 receives a reference signal from the radio base station eNB#1 and measures RSRP#1 by means of the received reference signal. Further, the radio terminal UE receives a reference signal from the radio base station eNB#2 and measures RSRP#2 by means of the received reference signal.
In Step S102, the radio terminal UE sends, to the radio base station eNB#1, a Measurement Report message including the measured RSRP#1 and RSRP#2. The radio communication unit 110 of the radio base station eNB#1 receives the Measurement Report message.
In Step S103, the location information acquiring unit 121 of the radio base station eNB#1 acquires location information of the radio terminal UE.
In Step S104, the handover parameter acquiring unit 122 of the radio base station eNB#1 refers to the parameter table stored in the storage unit 130, and acquires a handover parameter associated with the location information acquired by the location information acquiring unit 121.
In Step S105, the handover controller 123 of the radio base station eNB#1 makes a conditional judgment on whether or not to make the radio terminal UE perform handover, on the basis of the Measurement Report message that the radio communication unit 110 receives from the radio terminal UE and the handover parameter acquired by the handover parameter acquiring unit 122. The process moves to Step S106 if it is determined to make the radio terminal UE perform handover to the radio base station eNB#2, whereas the process returns to Step S101 if it is determined not to make the radio terminal UE perform handover to the radio base station eNB#2.
In Step S106, the network communication unit 140 of the radio base station eNB#1 sends, to the radio base station eNB#2, a Handover Request message indicating request for acceptance of the radio terminal UE. The radio base station eNB#2 receives the Handover Request message.
In Step S107, the radio base station eNB#2 sends, to the radio base station eNB#1, a Handover Acknowledge message indicating that acceptance of the radio terminal UE is permitted. The network communication unit 140 of the radio base station eNB#1 receives the Handover Acknowledge message.
In Step S108, the radio communication unit 110 of the radio base station eNB#1 sends, to the radio terminal UE, a Handover Command message indicating instructions for handover to the radio base station eNB#2. Assume that RLF occurs between the radio base station eNB#1 and the radio terminal UE at this point.
In Step S109, upon the occurrence of RLF between the radio terminal UE and the radio base station eNB#1, the radio terminal UE performs processing for reconnection to the radio base station eNB#2.
In Step S110, upon the reconnection of the radio terminal UE to the radio base station eNB#2, the radio base station eNB#2 sends, to the radio base station eNB#1, a RLF Indication message indicating the occurrence of Too Late HO. The network communication unit 140 of the radio base station eNB#1 receives the RLF Indication message indicating the occurrence of Too Late HO.
In Step S111, the handover failure detecting unit 124 of the radio base station eNB#1 detects Too Late HO from the RLF Indication message received by the network communication unit 140, the RLF Indication message indicating the occurrence of Too Late HO.
In Step S112, the handover parameter adjusting unit 125 refers to the storage unit 130 and adjusts a handover parameter associated with the location information indicating the failure-detected location, and thereby determines an adjusted handover parameter. Specifically, the handover parameter adjusting unit 125 adjusts the handover parameter associated with the location information indicating the failure-detected location, such that the handover start can be moved up earlier. Note that, although the location information acquired by the location information acquiring unit 121 in Step S103 is used as the location information indicating the failure-detected location, the location information acquiring unit 121 may acquire information on the location of the radio terminal UE from the location managing server (E-SLMC) once again.
In Step S113, the network communication unit 140 of the radio base station eNB#1 sends, to the radio base station eNB#2, a Mobility Change Request message including the adjusted handover parameter determined by the handover parameter adjusting unit 125. The radio base station eNB#2 receives the Mobility Change Request message.
In Step S114, the radio base station eNB#2 sends, to the radio base station eNB#1, a Mobility Change Acknowledge message if giving permission to the Mobility Change Request message. The network communication unit 140 of the radio base station eNB#1 receives the Mobility Change Acknowledge message.
In Step S115, the handover parameter adjusting unit 125 of the radio base station eNB#1 updates the handover parameter associated with the location information indicating the failure-detected location, to the adjusted handover parameter.
In Step S116, the radio base station eNB#2 sets the adjusted handover parameter in the radio base station eNB#2.
(3.2) Operation Pattern 2
Each of processes in Steps S201 to S207 is carried out in the same way as each of the processes in Steps S201 to S207 described above.
In Step S208, the radio communication unit 110 of the radio base station eNB#1 sends, to the radio terminal UE, a Handover Command message indicating instructions for handover to the radio base station eNB#2.
In Step S209, the radio terminal UE performs processing for connection to the radio base station eNB#2. Assume that RLF occurs between the radio base station eNB#2 and the radio terminal UE after this connection processing.
In Step S210, upon the occurrence of RLF between the radio terminal UE and the radio base station eNB#2, the radio terminal UE performs processing for reconnection to the radio base station eNB#1.
In Step S211, the handover failure detecting unit 124 of the radio base station eNB#1 detects Too Early HO from the reconnection performed by the radio terminal UE.
In Step S212, the network communication unit 140 of the radio base station eNB#1 sends, to the radio base station eNB#2, a RLF Indication message indicating the occurrence of Too Early HO. The radio base station eNB#2 receives the RLF Indication message.
In Step S213, the handover parameter adjusting unit 125 refers to the storage unit 130 and adjusts a handover parameter associated with the location information indicating a failure-detected location, and thereby determines an adjusted handover parameter. Specifically, the handover parameter adjusting unit 125 adjusts the handover parameter associated with the location information indicating the failure-detected location, such that the handover start can be delayed. Note that, although the location information acquired by the location information acquiring unit 121 in Step S203 is used as the location information indicating the failure-detected location, the location information acquiring unit 121 may acquire information on the location of the radio terminal UE from the location managing server (E-SLMC) once again.
In Step S214, the network communication unit 140 of the radio base station eNB#1 sends, to the radio base station eNB#2, a Mobility Change Request message including the adjusted handover parameter determined by the handover parameter adjusting unit 125. The radio base station eNB#2 receives the Mobility Change Request message.
In Step S215, the radio base station eNB#2 sends, to the radio base station eNB#1, a Mobility Change Acknowledge message if giving permission to the Mobility Change Request message. The network communication unit 140 of the radio base station eNB#1 receives the Mobility Change Acknowledge message.
In Step S216, the handover parameter adjusting unit 125 of the radio base station eNB#1 updates the handover parameter associated with the location information indicating the failure-detected location, to the adjusted handover parameter.
In Step S217, the radio base station eNB#2 sets the adjusted handover parameter in the radio base station eNB#2.
As described above, the radio base station eNB#1 includes: the storage unit 130 storing a handover parameter in association with location information; and the controller 120 controlling the storage unit 130 in such a way as to adjust a handover parameter associated with location information indicating a failure-detected location. Therefore, the handover parameter can be optimized on a per-position basis, and thus the handover failure rate can be sufficiently reduced.
In this embodiment, the controller 120 of the radio base station eNB#1 acquires a handover parameter associated with location information indicating the location of a radio terminal UE being connected to the radio base station eNB#1, from the storage unit 130. The controller 120 then makes a conditional judgment by using the acquired handover parameter. Therefore, the conditional judgment on handover can be performed by using the handover parameter which reflects the status of the past handover failure at the current location of the radio terminal UE, and thus the handover failure rate can be sufficiently reduced.
In this embodiment, in response to detection of Too Late HO, the controller 120 of the radio base station eNB#1 adjusts a handover parameter associated with location information indicating a location where Too Late HO has occurred, such that the handover start is moved up earlier. Therefore, it is possible to prevent another Too Late HO from occurring at the location where Too Late HO has occurred.
In this embodiment, in response to detection of Too Early HO, the controller 120 of the radio base station eNB#1 adjusts a handover parameter associated with location information indicating a location where Too Early HO has occurred, such that the handover start is delayed. Therefore, it is possible to prevent another Too Early HO from occurring at the location where Too Early HO has occurred.
In this embodiment, in response to detection of HO to Wrong Cell, the controller 120 of the radio base station eNB#1 adjusts a handover parameter associated with location information indicating a location where HO to Wrong Cell has occurred, in such a way that the handover target radio base station eNB is selected properly. Therefore, it is possible to prevent another HO to Wrong Cell from occurring at the location where HO to Wrong Cell has occurred.
As mentioned above, the present invention has been described according to the embodiment. However, it should not be understood that the discussions and the drawings constituting a part of this disclosure limit the present invention. From this disclosure, various alternative embodiments, examples and operational techniques will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
Although the offset value has been mainly described as the handover parameter in the above embodiment, a threshold to be compared with the RSRP maybe adjusted on a per-position basis instead of the offset value. Moreover, although the conditional judgment using the handover parameter is carried out by the radio base station eNB#1, a part of the conditional judgment using the handover parameter may be carried out by the radio terminal UE.
Further, although in the above embodiment the description has been mainly given of the handover parameter related to the change of the connection target base station during communications, the present invention is also applicable to a cell reselection parameter which is a parameter related to the change of the connection target base station (so-called cell reselection) in an idle mode (during standby). In other words, in this specification, the handover parameter is an idea including the cell reselection parameter.
In the above embodiment, the radio communication system based on LTE (3GPP Release 8 or 9) has been described. However, a heterogeneous network, in which multiple types of radio base stations of varying transmission power coexist, is expected to be provided in LTE Advanced (3GPP Release 10) which is an advanced version of LTE, and the present invention may be applied to this heterogeneous network. Moreover, a relay node, which is a radio base station having a radio backhaul configuration, is expected to be provided in LTE Advanced, and this relay node may be employed as the radio base station according to the present invention.
Furthermore, although the LTE system has been described in the above embodiment, the present invention may be applied to another radio communication system such as a radio communication system based on Mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e).
As mentioned above, it should be understood that the present invention includes various embodiments which are not described herein.
Note that the entire content of the Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-131898 (filed on Jun. 9, 2010) is incorporated herein by reference.
As mentioned above, the radio base station and the method of controlling the same of the present invention are useful for radio communication such as mobile communication, by which the handover failure rate can be sufficiently reduced.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-131898 | Jun 2010 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP11/63111 | 6/8/2011 | WO | 00 | 12/6/2012 |
