Patent Application
20190140703
The present invention generally relates to wireless communications networks, such as cellular networks (such as LTE/LTE-Advanced cellular networks). More particularly, the present invention relates to radio resource scheduling for data exchange based on Coordinated Multi-Point technique in such cellular networks.
In the dynamic field of cellular networks, technological advancements are constantly occurring in order to make it possible for user equipment to enjoy consistent and quality performance as the capacity and speed of cellular networks improve.
While the past generation of cellular networks, collectively known as third generation (“3G”) is still prevalent, the next generation of cellular networks, namely Long Term Evolution (“LTE”) and its evolution (“LTE-Advanced”), collectively known as fourth generation (“4G”), are increrasingly spreading.
An approach to improve bandwidth while reducing bit error rates in LTE/LTE-Advanced cellular networks is based on Coordinated Multi-Point (“CoMP”) functionality. According to CoMP functionality, a user equipment is allowed to perform multiple data exchange (i.e., transmission or reception) with multiple network nodes of the cellular network (the multiple data exchange being typically based on known “Multiple Input Multiple Output” (MIMO) technique).
Said multiple data exchange typically comprises data exchange between the user equipment and a respective serving network node and data exchange between the user equipment and one or more support or cooperative network nodes. In order to achieve that, each network node compliant with CoMP functionality preferably sets aside a fraction of radio resources to be allocated for data exchange between that network node and one or more user equipment connecting to it as their serving network node, and a second fraction of radio resources to be allocated for data exchange between that network node and one or more user equipment connecting to it as their cooperative network node.
Dajie Jiang; Qixing Wang; Jianjun Liu; Guangyi Liu; Chunfeng Cui, “Uplink Coordinated Multi-Point Reception for LTE-Advanced Systems” discloses an uplink CoMP-MU-MIMO scheme and the corresponding system level performance evaluation which shows that the uplink CoMP-MU-MIMO joint processing can bring significant gains to both the average sector throughput and the cell edge user throughput.
CN101442808 discloses a combined dispatching method for uplink multi-point cooperation in LTE-A. The method comprises the following steps: 1) determining cooperative and non-operative dispatching user; 2) dispatching of cooperative user in cell; 3) combined resource dispatching for cooperative user of cell; 4) dispatching for non-cooperative user of cell.
US2010177746 discloses techniques for supporting Coordinated MultiPoint (CoMP) transmission. For CoMP transmission, multiple cells may simultaneously send one or more data streams to one or more UEs on the same time-frequency resources based on short-term channel feedback from at least one UE to at least two cells. In an aspect, a semi-static configuration may be used by a set of cells for CoMP transmission to a UE. The semi-static configuration may indicate resource elements available to the set of cells to send CoMP transmission to the UE. The available resource elements may be determined based on a maximum number of TDM control symbols for all cells in the set and resource elements used for cell-specific reference signals by the cells in the set. A cell in the set may send data on the available resource elements to the UE for the CoMP transmission.
US2012033624 discloses methods, apparatuses and articles of manufacture that provide for partial downlink and uplink resource allocations among cooperating cells in a CoMP transmission to a user equipment. The resource allocation can be based on channel conditions and differing capabilities and restrictions of cooperating cells such as in support of heterogeneous network configurations.
EP2922333 discloses an uplink coordinated multipoint transmission (CoMP) set selecting method and system, and a device, which relate to the communications field, so that an uplink CoMP set of a cell or of user equipment (UE) served by a cell can be determined by means of exchange, between base stations, of at least channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) configuration information used for distinguishing cells.
The Applicant has recognized that none of the cited prior-art solutions is completely satisfactory. Indeed, the above-cited prior-art solutions are generally complex, and need relatively high computational capabilities (and, hence, high computation times).
In view of the above, the Applicant has tackled the problem of making radio resource allocation in a cellular network comprising both serving and cooperative network nodes more simple, reliable and effective, and, in order to achieve that, has devised a scheduling procedure wherein a number of radio resources to be allocated to each network node for data exchange to/from one or more user equipment connecting to it as their serving network node and a number of radio resources to be allocated to that network node for data exchange to/from one or more user equipment connecting to it as their cooperative network node are continuously updated according to data exchange overall performance associated with the user equipment and nodes that are involved.
One or more aspects of the present invention are set out in the independent claims, with advantageous features of the same solution that are indicated in the dependent claims, whose wording is enclosed herein verbatim by reference (with any advantageous feature being provided with reference to a specific aspect of the solution according to an embodiment of the invention that applies mutatis mutandis to any other aspect).
More specifically, one aspect of the solution according to embodiments of the present invention relates to a method for scheduling allocation of radio resources in a cellular network. The method comprises:
selecting at least one first user equipment for performing a first type data exchange (i.e. a data exchange of a first type or, equivalently, a first type of data exchange) based on Coordinated Multi-Point technique and a second type data exchange (i.e. a data exchange of a second type or, equivalently, a second type of data exchange) not based on Coordinated Multi-Point technique, and selecting at least one second user equipment for performing only said second type data exchange (i.e. a data exchange only of said second type, with such second type data exchange that may include any data exchange not based on Coordinated Multi-Point technique);
selecting at least one network node for performing said first type data exchange with the at least one first user equipment and said second type data exchange with at least one among said first and second user equipment;
determining, for the at least one network node, a radio resource parameter indicative of a number of radio resources to be allocated for the first type data exchange and of a number of radio resources to be allocated for the second type data exchange;
allocating the radio resources for the at least one network node based on said radio resource parameter;
causing data exchange to/from each first and second user equipment;
determining first and second performance parameters indicative of performance of the data exchange to/from, respectively, the at least one first user equipment and the at least one second user equipment;
updating said radio resource parameter according to the first and second performance parameters, and
repeating said allocating.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises iterating said causing, said determining first and second performance parameters, said updating and said repeating.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, said updating said radio resource parameter according to the first and second performance parameters comprises:
increasing or decreasing the radio resource parameter according to a comparison between said first performance parameter and said second performance parameter.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, said determining first and second performance parameters comprises:
determining a data throughput of each first user equipment and a data throughput of each second user equipment, respectively, and preferably
determining an average data throughput of the first user equipment and an average data throughput of the second user equipment.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, said causing data exchange to/from each first and second user equipment comprises causing data exchange to/from each first and second user equipment for a predetermined time window, wherein said determining a data throughput of each first user equipment and a data throughput of each second user equipment is preferably carried out within said predetermined time window.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, said predetermined time window comprises a plurality of “Transmission Time Intervals”.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, said determining an average data throughput of the first user equipment and an average data throughput of the second user equipment further comprises:
selecting a subset of data throughputs of the first user equipment and a subset of the data throughputs of the second user equipment, and, preferably,
averaging the subset of data throughputs of the first user equipment and the subset of data throughputs of the second user equipment.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, said selecting a subset of data throughputs of the first user equipment and a subset of the data throughputs of the second user equipment is based on a mean plus variance approach.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, said selecting at least one first user equipment, at least one second user equipment and at least one network node is based on power measurements.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, said power measurements comprise “Reference Signal Received Power” measurements.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the radio resource parameter is based on “Frequency Reuse Factor”.
Another aspet of the present inventin proposes a computer program product directly loadable into a memory of a computer, the computer program product comprising software code means adapted to perform the above method steps when run on the computer.
A further aspect of the present invention proposes a scheduler unit for scheduling allocation of radio resources in a cellular network. The scheduler unit comprises:
a selection module for selecting
a computation module for
an allocation module for allocating the radio resources for the at least one network node based on said radio resource parameter.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the scheduler unit further comprises an evaluation module for carrying out a comparison between said first performance parameter and said second performance parameter, said radio resource parameter being preferably updated according to a result of said comparison.
These and other features and advantages of the proposed solution will be made apparent by the following description of some exemplary and non limitative embodiments thereof; for its better intelligibility, the following description should be read making reference to the attached drawings, wherein:
With reference to the drawings, a cellular network 100 (i.e., a portion thereof) according to an embodiment of the present invention is schematically shown in
Each macro node 105i is configured to provide radio coverage over a relatively wide geographic area, also referred to as macro cell 105Ci (for example, hexagonal in shape), for allowing one or more user equipment UE within the macro cells 105Ci (e.g., a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, or a cordless phone) to exchange data (e.g., web browsing, e-mailing, voice, or multimedia data).
As visible in the figure, the cellular network 100 preferably comprises, within each i-th macro cell 105Ci, a number J of lower-power, smaller coverage transceiver stations (e.g., pico, micro, and/or femto nodes), in the following referred to as small nodes and denoted by the number reference 110i,j (j=1, 2, . . . J, with J=3 in the example at issue), each one identifying a respective small cell for increasing cellular network 100 capacity. In the following, the macro 105i and small 110i,j nodes will be also denoted, as a whole, as network nodes 105i,110i,j when distinguishing between macro 105i and small 110i,j nodes is not relevant.
For the sake of completeness, as well known by those having ordinary skill in the art, the network nodes 105i,110i,j form the radio access network. In turn, the radio access network is generally communicably coupled with one or more core networks (not shown), which may be coupled with other networks, such as the Internet and/or public switched telephone networks (not illustrated).
For the purposes of the present invention, at least one macro node 105i and/or at least one small node 110i,j are assumed to be capable of (i.e., to be suitable or configured for) performing data exchange (i.e., transmission and reception) based on “Coordinated Multi-Point” (CoMP) functionality. Preferably, the macro 105i and/or small 110i,j nodes can be selectively enabled with CoMP functionality according to cellular network 100 settings. In the exemplary considered scenario, CoMP functionality is enabled independently for both macro node 105i and small 110i,j nodes—in any case, the possibility that, according to cellular network 100 settings, CoMP functionality is enabled only for the macro nodes 105i (or for a subset thereof), or only for the small nodes 110i,j (or for a subset thereof) is not excluded. For the sake of conciseness, each network node 105i,110i,j for which CoMP functionality is enabled will be referred to as CoMP-enabled network node (in the considered example, all the macro 105i and small 110i,j nodes are CoMP-enabled network nodes).
According to CoMP functionality, a user equipment UE is allowed to perform multiple data exchange with multiple network nodes (preferably, as discussed above, among the network nodes 105i,110i,j). Preferably, as herein assumed, said multiple data exchange comprises a data exchange of a first type (or, equivalently, a first type of data exchange or first type data exchange) between the user equipment UE and a respective serving network node (hereinafter, serving data exchange) and a data exchange of a second type (or, equivalently, a second type of data exchange or second type data exchange) between the user equipment UE and one or more support or cooperative network nodes (hereinafter, cooperative data exchange). In order to achieve that, each CoMP-enabled network node preferably sets aside a fraction of radio resources to be allocated for serving data exchange between that network node 105i,110i,j and one or more user equipment UE connecting to it as their serving network node, and a second fraction of radio resources to be allocated for cooperative data exchange between that network node 105i,110i,j and one or more user equipment UE connecting to it as their cooperative network node.
In other words, according to the exemplary considered embodiment, each CoMP-enabled network node may act both as serving network node and coordinated network node for a number of user equipment UE connecting to it. In any case, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, according to the data exchange (i.e., serving or cooperative data exchange) to be carried out between a CoMP-enabled network node and user equipment UE connecting to it, that network node may act only as serving network node (for example, in absence of user equipment UE connecting to that that network node as their cooperative network node), in which case the fraction of radio resources originally intended to be allocated for cooperative data exchange are preferably made available to be allocated for serving data exchange, or only as cooperative network node (for example, in absence of user equipment UE connecting to that that network node as their serving network node), in which case the fraction of radio resources originally intended to be allocated for cooperative data exchange are preferably made available to be allocated for serving data exchange.
In the following, a CoMP-enabled network node to which one or more user equipment UE connect as their serving network node and one or more user equipment UE connect as their cooperative network node will be referred to as CoMP network node, a CoMP-enabled network node to which one or more user equipment UE connect only as their serving network node (i.e., with no user equipment UE connecting to it as their cooperative network node) will be referred to as fully-serving network node, and a CoMP-enabled network node to which one or more user equipment UE connect only as their cooperative network node (i.e., with no user equipment UE connecting to it as their serving network node) will be referred to as fully-cooperative network node.
For the purposes of the present invention, user equipment UE performing both serving data exchange (to and/or from respective serving network nodes) and cooperative data exchange (to and/or from respective cooperative network nodes) will be referred to as CoMP user equipment UECOMP, whereas user equipment UE performing only serving data exchange (to and/or from respective serving network nodes) will be referred to as non-CoMP user equipment UEnon-COMP. Thus, each serving network node to which one or more CoMP UECOMP or non-CoMP user equipment connect for serving data exchange may in its turn be either a CoMP network node or a fully-serving network node (according to whether one or more CoMP user equipment UECOMP connect to it also as their cooperative network node or not, respectively), whereas each cooperative network node to which one or more CoMP UECOMP or non-CoMP user equipment connect for cooperative data exchange may in its turn be either a CoMP network node or a fully-cooperative network node (according to whether one or more CoMP UECOMP or non-CoMP user equipment connect to it also as their serving network node or not, respectively).
Exemplary criteria for determining, for each user equipment UE, the serving and cooperative network nodes (and, hence, the CoMP UECOMP and non-CoMP UEnon-COMP user equipment, and the CoMP, fully-serving and fully-cooperative network nodes) will be discussed in the following.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the cellular network 100 is divided into clusters of network nodes, each one referred to as network node cluster NNCk (k=1, 2 . . . , K—with K=2 in the example at issue). Each network node 105i,110i,j of each network node cluster NNCk preferably acts as a candidate serving network node and/or as a candidate cooperative network node for one or more user equipment UE associated with that network node cluster NNCk. The user equipment UE/network node cluster NNCk association is preferably based on a predetermined relationship, such as a distance and/or a radio coverage relationship, between the user equipment UE and at least one network node 105i,110i,j of the network node cluster NNCk. According to the exemplary considered embodiment, a user equipment UE is associated with the network node cluster NNCk to which the network node 105i,110i,j identified as serving network node for that user equipment UE belongs, and preferably only the network nodes 105i,110i,j belonging to said network node cluster NNCk are considered as candidate cooperative network nodes.
Preferably, each network node cluster NNCk comprises a predetermined number of macro 105i and/or small 110i,j nodes (with each network node cluster NNCk that may comprise a respective number of macro 105i and/or small 110i,j nodes). More preferably, each network node cluster NNCk comprises a fixed set of macro 105i and/or small 110i,j nodes (i.e., a set of macro 105i and/or small 110i,j nodes that is unchanged, or substantially unchanged, over the cellular network 100 operation). Even more preferably, as herein assumed, each network node cluster NNCk comprises a fixed set of macro nodes 105i (for example, a fixed set of adjacent macro nodes 105i) and the small 110i,j nodes associated therewith (for example the small nodes 110i,j pertaining thereto, such as the small nodes 110i,j within the respective macro cells 105Ci). According to alternative embodiments of the present invention, each network node cluster NNCk comprises a fixed set of adjacent or non-adjacent macro nodes 105i and a fixed set of randomly distributed small nodes 110i,j (i.e., a subset of the small nodes 110i,j pertaining to the macro nodes 105i and/or small nodes 110i,j pertaining to macro nodes 105i of a different network node cluster NNCk).
In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in
Although in the above considered embodiment a static clustering approach wherein each network node cluster NNCk comprises a fixed set of macro 105i and/or small 110i,j nodes has been exemplary assumed, different clustering approaches may also be envisaged without departing from the principles of the present invention (for example, a dynamic clustering approach wherein one or more network node clusters NNCk are dynamically or periodically updated, or a combination of static and dynamic clustering approaches).
According to an embodiment of the present invention, each network node cluster NNCk (e.g., through a scheduling unit or scheduler 115k associated therewith) is configured to carry out a scheduling procedure (or method) for effectively scheduling allocation of radio resources for serving and/or coordinated data exchange between each CoMP UECOMP and non-CoMP UEnon-COMP user equipment and the respective serving and cooperative network nodes. Although each scheduler 115k has been exemplary illustrated as a single block physically separated from the respective network node cluster NNCk, the principles of the present invention equivalently apply wherever (and in whichever way) its physical implementation actually takes place (as also discussed herebelow). In any case, the possibility of providing a single scheduler managing all the network node clusters NNCk is not excluded.
In the exemplary considered cellular network 100, which is compliant with 3GPP LTE/LTE-Advanced specifications, radio resources are allocated in time/frequency domain. In time domain, radio resources are distributed every “Transmission Time Interval” (TTI), each one lasting 1 ms and comprising two time slots of 0.5 ms, whereas in frequency domain the whole bandwidth is divided into 180-kHz sub-channels (corresponding to 12 consecutive and equally spaced sub-carriers). A time/frequency radio resource, spanning over one TTI lasting 1.0 ms in time domain and over one sub-channel in frequency domain, is referred to as “Physical Resources Block”, and corresponds to the smallest radio resource that can be allocated to a user equipment UE for data exchange. In any case, in the following, the generic wording “radio resource” will be still used, it meaning that the principles of the present invention equivalently apply to any other wireless communication network having a different definition of radio resource and a different management thereof.
For ease of description, joint reference will be made to
Additionally or alternatively, the activity (i.e., action and decision) nodes, or groups of activity nodes, illustrated in the activity diagram of the scheduling procedure 200 may also represent respective operative modules of the scheduler 115k.
Broadly speaking, the scheduling procedure 200 (for the k-th network node cluster NNCk) is aimed at:
Thereafter, the scheduling procedure 200 iterates action nodes 215-235 to continuously adjust/refine the radio resource parameter CPPk to improve cellular network 100 performance.
Preferably, the CoMP user equipment UECOMP (and the associated serving and cooperative network nodes), and the non-CoMP user equipment UEnon-COMP (and the associated serving network nodes) are determined (action node 210) according to signal quality measurements, said signal quality measurements being for example based on power measurements of one or more predetermined signals. More preferably, said power measurements are or comprise “Reference Signal Received Power” (RSRP) measurements. Even more preferably, the CoMP user equipment UECOMP (and the associated serving and cooperative network nodes), and the non-CoMP user equipment UEnon-COMP (and the associated serving network nodes) are determined according to the following logical steps performed for each user equipment UE:
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the radio resource allocation for each network node (action node 215) is carried out according to a proper interference management technique (such as frequency reuse) and, preferably, according proportional fair policy (in any case, any suitable radio resource allocation policy, such as Round-Robin policy, may be considered without affecting the principles of the present invention).
As illustrated in the figure by cloud block “Data Exchange”, after radio resource allocation, the CoMP UECOMP and non-CoMP UEnon-COMP user equipment are allowed to exchange data to/from the respective (serving and cooperative). Preferably, as better discussed in the following, the CoMP UECOMP and non-CoMP UEnon-COMP user equipment are allowed to exchange data to/from the respective (serving and cooperative) network nodes with a radio resource allocation that is based on a same value of the radio resource parameter CCPk for a predetermined transmission time window TTW (for example, including a predetermined number of TTI, as discussed below).
Preferably, although not necessarily, the CoMP and non-CoMP performance parameters comprise, respectively, a data throughput associated with the CoMP user equipment UECOMP (hereinafter, CoMP data throughput) and a data throughput associated with the non-CoMP user equipment UEnon-COMP (hereinafter, CoMP data throughput).
Each CoMP or non-CoMP data throughput is preferably computed, preferably at scheduler 115k side, according to “Signal to Interference Plus Noise Ratio (SINR)” and to the number of radio resources allocated for data exchange to/from the respective CoMP UECOMP or non-CoMP UEnon-COMP user equipment. More preferably, each CoMP or non-CoMP data throughput is computed at scheduler 115k side, preferably at each TTI, according to proper signaling from the CoMP UECOMP and non-CoMP UEnon-COMP user equipment that have exchanged data at the considered TTI. This is conceptually represented in the figure by multiple arrow connection between the cloud block “Data Exchange” and the action node 220 (each arrow connection being intended to represent signaling between each CoMP UECOMP or non-CoMP UEnon-COMP user equipment within the network node cluster NNCk and the corresponding (module of the) scheduler 115k).
Advantageously, as mentioned above, in order to determine the CoMP data throughput for each CoMP user equipment UECOMP and the non-CoMP data throughput for each non-CoMP user equipment UEnon-COMP with an adequate measurement stability, the CoMP UECOMP and non-CoMP UEnon-COMP user equipment are allowed to exchange data to/from the respective (serving and cooperative) network nodes for a predetermined transmission time window TTW including a predefined number of TTI—this is conceptually represented in the figure by loop connection between decision node 225 (at which the scheduling procedure 200 checks whether the transmission time window TTW is over) and the cloud block “Data Exchange”.
Preferably, the number of TTIs within each transmission time window TTW, and hence the time length of the transmission time window TTW, is determined according to the radio resource allocation policy and/or latency requirements. For example, in the considered example of proportional fair policy, a transmission time window TTW comprising about 100 TTIs may be envisaged for determining accurate average CoMP and non-CoMP data throughputs while avoiding latency. Incidentally, such an extent of the time length of the transmission time window TTW justifies the above assumption of considering the CoMP UECOMP and non-CoMP UEnon-COMP user equipment and the CoMP, fully-serving and fully-cooperative network nodes unchanged for a relatively high number of iterations of the scheduling procedure 200. In any case, the possibility of implementing (at a suitable phase of the scheduling procedure 200) a check on the actual user equipment UE within the network node cluster NNCk, and, preferably, a re-determining of the CoMP user equipment UECOMP (and the associated serving and cooperative network nodes) and of the non-CoMP user equipment UEnon-COMP (and the associated serving network nodes)—e.g., similarly to action node 205—is not excluded.
Back to the activity diagram, if the transmission time window TTW is not over (exit branch N of the decision node 225), the CoMP UECOMP and non-CoMP UEnon-COMP user equipment are allowed to exchange data to/from the respective (serving and cooperative) network nodes for the next TTI with a radio resource allocation based on the same radio resource parameter CPPk as the previous TTI (the actual radio resource allocation instead depending on the specific radio resource allocation policy), otherwise (exit branch Y of the decision node 225), it meaning that the transmission time window TTW is over, the scheduling procedure 200 updates the radio resource parameter CPPk according to the CoMP and non-CoMP data throughputs (as discussed below).
Preferably, after the transmission time window TTW is over (exit branch Y of the decision node 230), the CoMP and non-CoMP data throughputs for the CoMP UECOMP and non-CoMP UEnon-COMP user equipment are averaged over the transmission time window TTW (action node 235), thereby obtaining a corresponding average CoMP data throughput associated with (e.g., all) the CoMP user equipment UECOMP that exchanged data over that transmission time window TTW, and a corresponding average non-CoMP data throughput associated with (e.g., all) the non-CoMP user equipment UEnon-COMP that exchanged data over that transmission time window TTW.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the average CoMP and non-CoMP data throughputs are determined on a selected subset of data throughputs of the CoMP user equipment UECOMP and on a selected subset of the data throughputs of the non-CoMP user equipment UEnon-COMP (wherein said selection of the subsets of data throughputs is advantageously based, but is not limited to, a mean plus variance approach), and by averaging the subset of data throughputs of the first user equipment and the subset of data throughputs of the second user equipment.
In the preferred embodiment herein exemplary assumed, the average CoMP and non-CoMP data throughputs are determined for filtered CoMP and non-CoMP data throughputs only, e.g. by excluding/filtering out from the average computation those CoMP and non-CoMP data throughputs that are excessively high compared to others (due, for example, to exceptionally advantageous location or connection type of some CoMP UECOMP and non-CoMP UEnon-COMP user equipment within the network node cluster NNCk), and, preferably, those CoMP and non-CoMP data throughputs above a predefined value or respective predefined values (so as to conservatively take into account for average computation only the “worst cases” of CoMP and non-CoMP data throughputs)—in any case, in embodiments wherein selection of the subset of data throughputs of the CoMP user equipment UECOMP and of the subset of the data throughputs of the non-CoMP user equipment UEnon-COMP is carried out without a “filtering”, random (or substantially random) data throughputs of the CoMP user equipment UECOMP and of the non-CoMP user equipment UEnon-COMP may be selected for being included in the respective subsets. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the average CoMP and non-CoMP data throughputs based on said filtering are determined as follows:
Back to the activity diagram, after computing the average CoMP and non-CoMP data throughputs (action node 230), the scheduling procedure 200 updates the radio resource parameter CPPk according to the average CoMP and non-CoMP data throughputs (preferably, according to a comparison therebetween)—action node 235.
According to an embodiment of the present invention:
Naturally, in order to satisfy local and specific requirements, a person skilled in the art may apply to the invention described above many logical and/or physical modifications and alterations. More specifically, although the present invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it should be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form and details as well as other embodiments are possible. In particular, different embodiments of the invention may even be practiced without the specific details set forth in the preceding description for providing a more thorough understanding thereof; on the contrary, well-known features may have been omitted or simplified in order not to encumber the description with unnecessary details. Moreover, it is expressly intended that specific elements and/or method steps described in connection with any disclosed embodiment of the invention may be incorporated in any other embodiment.
More specifically, the present invention lends itself to be implemented through an equivalent method (by using similar steps, removing some steps being not essential, or adding further optional steps); moreover, the steps may be performed in different order, concurrently or in an interleaved way (at least partly).
In addition, analogous considerations apply if the cellular network has a different structure or comprises equivalent components, or it has other operating features. In any case, any component thereof may be separated into several elements, or two or more components may be combined into a single element; in addition, each component may be replicated for supporting the execution of the corresponding operations in parallel. It should also be noted that any interaction between different components generally does not need to be continuous (unless otherwise indicated), and it may be both direct and indirect through one or more intermediaries.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2016/058321 | 4/15/2016 | WO | 00 |
