Patent Grant
9706430
In current wireless systems, Subscriber Stations are communicatively connected to Core Network data sources via a wireless Base Station (“BS”) and a Backhaul Link. In the current art, each Operator has its own network system, meaning that the Subscriber Stations belonging to that Operator will be communicatively connected with a wireless BS belonging to the same Operator, and such wireless BS will be connected via a Backhaul link with a Core Network data source belonging to that same Operator. The current system and method, which require use of separate network resources for each of two or more Operators, is inefficient and costly. What is needed is a structure and method by which Subscriber Station may share a Backhaul Link, and may also, in some embodiments, share a wireless BS.
One embodiment is a system with a single Backhaul link for two or more Operators, thereby effectively all owing the sharing of said Backhaul link by said multiple Operators. In one form of such system, there are a First Core Network data source and a Second Core Network data source, which are part of one network, and which has a shared Backhaul link that is connected communicatively to a wireless Base Station (“BS”). This wireless BS may belong to a first Operator, or to a second Operator, or to any other Operator that is communicating with its own Subscriber Stations, or to a totally different Operator or other entity that does not have its own Subscriber Stations communicating on the system. The wireless BS and the Core Network data sources communicate with each other, via the shared Backhaul link, data sets belonging, respectively, to each of the Operators. Each set of data, from a first Operator and a second Operator, respectively, is conveyed to, respectively, a first set and second set of Subscriber Stations, wherein the first set of Subscriber Stations is associated with the first Operator, and the second set of Subscriber Stations is associated with the second Operator. In one embodiment, the system is configured to control the rates at which the first and second sets of data are received by the respective sets of Subscriber Stations, such that the shared Backhaul link is not overloaded. In one embodiment, the system is configured to control the rates at which data are communicated from the first and second sets of Subscriber Stations to, respectively, the First Core Network data source and the Second Core Network data source, such that the Backhaul link is not overloaded.
One embodiment is a method for effectively utilizing a shared Backhaul link of a wireless Base Station (BS) servicing a plurality of Operators. In one particular form of such embodiment, the wireless BS receives, from a First and a Second Core Network data sources, belonging to a first and a second Operator, respectively, via a shared Backhaul link, and connected to the wireless BS, first and second sets of data. The wireless BS conveys wirelessly the first and second sets of data to, respectively, first and second sets of Subscriber Stations associated with, respectively, first and second Operators, at first and second wireless data rates, respectively. In one embodiment, the system controls the first wireless data rate such that the first and second sets of data, received via the shared Backhaul link together, substantially do not exceed a predetermined Backhaul data rate, such that the shared Backhaul link is not overloaded. In one embodiment, the system controls the data rates from the sets of Subscriber Stations to the Core Network data sources via the Backhaul link, such that the said data rates together substantially do not exceed a predetermined Subscriber Station data rate, such that the shared Backhaul link is not overloaded.
One embodiment is a method for effectively sharing a Backhaul link between at least two Random Access Networks, belonging to, respectively, different Operators. In one particular form of such embodiment, a first Random Access Network (RAN), belonging to a first Operator, receives a first Backhaul transmission intended for Subscriber Stations serviced by the first RAN, via a shared Backhaul link, wherein the shared Backhaul link transports the first Backhaul transmission together with at least a second Backhaul transmission intended for Subscriber Stations serviced by a second RAN. In one embodiment, the system controls the rate at which the first Backhaul transmission is received by the target Subscriber Stations, such that the first and second Backhaul transmissions via the shared Backhaul link together substantially do not exceed a predetermined Backhaul data rate, so that the shared Backhaul link is not overloaded. In one embodiment, the system controls the data rates from the sets of Subscriber Stations to the Core Network data sources via the Backhaul link, such that the said data rates together substantially do not exceed a predetermined Subscriber Station data rate, so that the shared Backhaul link is not overloaded.
One embodiment is a method for splitting dynamically resources of a shared Backhaul link between different Operators. In one particular form of such embodiment, a wireless Base Station (BS) services first and second sets of Subscriber Stations (SS) associated with first and second Operators, respectively, using first and second sets of data received via a shared Backhaul link from first and second Operators, respectively. In one embodiment, the system splits dynamically the resources of the shared Backhaul link, by controlling dynamically the rates at which the first and second sets of data are received by the first and second sets of Subscriber Stations, such that overloading of the shared Backhaul link is prevented. In one embodiment, the system splits dynamically the resources of the shared Backhaul link, by controlling dynamically the rates at which the first and second sets of Subscriber Stations convey data, via the shared Backhaul link, to First and Second Core Network data sources, respectively, such that overloading of the Shared Backhaul link is prevented.
Embodiments of the present invention are herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings. With specific reference now to the drawings, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of embodiments of the present invention only, and are presented in order to provide what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of embodiments in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention. In the drawings:
A number of terms are used in the presentation of embodiments, among which are the following:
An “Analog-Digital Interface”, also called a “Two-Way Analog-Digital Interface”, is a converter between two components of a system that converts analog signals to digital signals, or digital signals to analog signals, depending on the need. One example of an Analog-Digital Interface is an interface between a Baseband subsystem and radio transceiver chain. Each of the components listed may have additional sub-components, some of which are listed in the embodiments described herein. Different configurations of the components are described in some of the embodiments. Different communication paths and processes between components are described in some of the embodiments. The components, sub-components, configurations, and communication paths and processes, presented herein, are intended to present only some of the embodiments, and are illustrative only.
“Associated with” describes the relationship between a Subscriber Station and an Operator. The Subscriber Station is owned by a consumer or other third party customer. This consumer or customer subscribes to a particular Operator to receive wireless service. The Subscriber Station is said to be “associated with” the Operator to whom the consumer or customer has subscribed for this particular Subscriber Station. The Subscriber Station is not owned by the Operator, and so it is not stated, indeed it would be incorrect to state, that the Subscriber Station is “owned by” the Operator. The term used herein is “associated with”.
A “wireless Base Station”, or “Base Station”, is a collection of hardware and software that communicates to Subscriber Stations over the RAN, using any of a variety of standardized or proprietary protocols, in TDD or FDD mode, and on one or more channels of wireless Access Spectrum. If a Base Station can operate on multiple radio channels of spectrum that are considered to be relatively closely separated from each other (or even adjacent to one another), the Base Station is referred to as a “multi-carrier Base Station”. If a multi-carrier Base Station can operate on widely separated frequencies then it may additionally be referred to as a “multi-band Base Station”. A “multi-mode Base Station” is a Base Station that supports multiple wireless protocols. Non-limiting examples of such wireless protocols include LTE and WiFi. The wireless Base Station generates the RAN.
By industry convention, and also herein, “Base Station” includes not just the hardware processing device in which radio processing and baseband processing occurs, but also the radio transceiver chain connected to such hardware processing device, and the antennas in physical connection with the radio transceiver chain. In some embodiments, each such hardware processing device is connected to one radio transceiver chain, and each radio transceiver chain is connected to one antenna. However, it is possible to have multiple antennas connected to one radio transceiver chain. It is also possible to have one antenna in connection with multiple radio transceiver chains, in which case there would be a power combiner that combines the signals from the radio transceiver chains into the one antenna. It is also possible to split one radio transceiver chain to multiple hardware processing devices, so that the multiple hardware devices feed signals to the radio transceiver chain. It is also possible to have one hardware processing device connected to multiple radio transceiver chains. All of the possible configurations discussed herein come within the term “Base Station”.
A “Baseband Processor” (BP) is a device, typically a chip or a part of a chip in a Base Station, that manages and performs signal processing and radio control functions. Modulation and demodulation of communication signals are typically performed by a BP. A BP is a component of a wireless Base Station, and also typically appears in advanced consumer wireless equipment, although the configuration of the BP device will vary depending on many factors, including, among others, whether it will function in the wireless BS or in the consumer wireless device.
A “Core Network” is a part of a mobile communication network that provides various services to Subscriber Stations who are connected to the Core Network via a RAN. An Operator's Core Network is the aggregation point of data to and from multiple Base Stations, and typically includes equipment and software for subscriber authentication, monitoring, metering, billing, control, and overall administration of the network. A Base Station communicates to the Core Network over the Base Station's “backhaul interface”, which may be either wired or wireless.
A “downlink communication” or “downlink path” is communication from a network to remote stations. One example is communication from Core Network data sources to Subscriber Stations. Conversely, “uplink communication” or “uplink path” is communication from remote stations to a network. One example is communication from Subscriber Stations to Core Network data sources.
A “Gateway device” is a device through which passes all traffic to and from a set of Base Stations. Most Operators organize their networks with one or more Gateway devices, although strictly speaking, this is not essential. Communication between a Base Station and a Gateway is generally governed by a standard or proprietary protocol, and will usually vary to some degree among Operators, even when all the Operators are using a technical standards-based approach. This protocol, whether standard for multiple Operators or proprietary to one Operator, is almost always carried “in-band”. “In-band” means that the communication protocol between a Base Station and a Gateway is logically multiplexed with the data itself on the Base Station's backhaul interface.
Some Base Stations also communicate directly with one another, rather than through a Gateway. One typical reason for such communication is to exchange time-sensitive information related to inter-Base Station subscriber handover operations. Another typical reason for such communication is to help implement or improve load-balancing between Base Stations. Inter-Base Station communication, for whatever reason it is implemented, is typically governed by standard or proprietary protocols, and such protocols, even if standard, will usually vary among Operators and even among manufacturers of infrastructure equipment.
A “network Tunnel” or “Tunnel” is a network communications channel between two networks. It is used to transport another network protocol by encapsulation of the protocol packets. Tunnels are often used for connecting two disjoint networks that lack a native routing path to each other, via an underlying routable protocol across an intermediate transport network. In IP tunneling, every IP packet, including addressing information of its source and destination IP networks, is encapsulated within another packet format native to the transit network. At the borders between the source network and the transit network, as well as the transit network and the destination network, Gateways are used that establish the end-points of the IP tunnel across the transit network. IP Tunnels are logical, rather than physical, interfaces. Examples of network Tunnels are IP Tunnels and Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE).
An “Operator” is a company or other entity that provides wireless services to subscribers. An Operator may operate regionally, nation-wide, or even globally. An Operator may utilize either Licensed or Unlicensed spectrum, or a combination of both. Each portion of an Operator's spectrum may be deployed as half-duplex, time division duplex (TDD), full-duplex, or frequency division duplex (FDD). An Operator's spectral allocation may be uniform across its service area, or may vary from region to region. If multiple Operators function in different and non-overlapping geographic regions, the same frequency range may be allocated to different Operators in different regions.
A “host Operator” is an Operator which has been requested to allow access to a Subscriber Station not associated with that Operator. The host Operator allows the Subscriber Station to access the host Operator's RAN, and the host Operator then provides either roaming or partial roaming services to the Subscriber Station. The phrase “first Operator” also means the “host Operator”, where “first Operator” contrasts with “second Operator” and/or “other Operator”, neither of which is the “host Operator”.
An operator with whom a Subscriber Station is associated is also called the Subscriber Station's “own Operator”.
A “Radio Access Network” (RAN) is a part of a mobile communication system that implements radio access technology. In a wireless communication system, the RAN sits between the Subscriber Station and the Core Network. The RAN is generated by the wireless BS.
“Roaming” is a situation where a Subscriber Station associated with a particular Operator, encounters a wireless network belonging to a different Operator, where frequency encountered by the Subscriber Station is supported by the different Operator, and the Subscriber Station receives service from that different Operator.
“Partial Roaming”, as used herein, is roaming, except that a Subscriber Station makes connection with the wireless BS of a host Operator, as in ordinary roaming, but unlike ordinary roaming, connections for this Subscriber Station do not travel over the network infrastructure of the host Operator, but only on the network infrastructure of the Subscriber Station's own Operator, and the Subscriber station does not have data communication with the data source of the first Operator, but has data communication only with the data source of the second Operator. In this way, the Subscriber Station, which is associated with the second Operator, uses wireless spectrum resources of the first Operator, but does not use network resources of the first Operator during the course of data communication between a data source and the Subscriber Station.
A “roaming Subscriber Station”, or “roaming SS”, is a Subscriber Station that is in communicative connection with a wireless Base Station (BS) of a host Operator, which is an Operator with whom the roaming Subscriber Station is not associated. This may be ordinary roaming, in which the SS is connected via the BS on a network infrastructure of the host Operator to a data source of the host Operator, or partial roaming, in which the SS is connected via the BS on a network infrastructure of another Operator (the SS's own Operator) to the Core Network data source of the other Operator.
“Subscriber Stations” are wireless communication devices used by customers of an Operator. Such Subscriber Stations are typically, but not necessarily and not always, locked to all or a subset of the radio frequencies licensed to that Operator. Some possible non-limiting categories of Subscriber Stations include handsets, dongles, customer premises equipment (CPE) for wireless communication, and hot spot equipment for wireless communication. Non-limiting examples of handsets include cellular telephones of all kinds, PDAs, wireless data devices, pages, and other consumer radio equipment.
“Wireless Access Spectrum” is the radio spectrum on which a RAN operates, and hence the radio spectrum is utilized by both Subscriber Stations to access the wireless Base Station and the wireless Base Station to communicate with Subscriber Stations.
There is a need for a practical way by which various Operators may collaborate and share infrastructure equipment and other resources. The sharing of resources by multiple Operators can be advantageous to all parties. Devices, systems, and methods are presented herein for a wireless Base Station (BS) capable of substantially simultaneously providing service to subscribers of multiple Operators. Depending upon the particular deployment requirements or equipment capabilities, each Operator may be operating on the same or different frequencies. If frequencies are different, they may be adjacent, closely separated, or widely separated. The wireless BS will distinguish and logically separate and route the traffic between each Subscriber Station and the Core Network providing service to that Subscriber Station. The wireless BS may support different logical or different physical interfaces between the wireless BS and each Operator.
Where limited wireless or processing resources are shared among the Operators, load balancing techniques and methods may be deployed to govern the allocation of these resources. Non-limiting examples of shared resources include Subscriber Stations of multiple Operators sharing the same frequency, Operators sharing one or more radio chains, shared antennas, shared transmit power, shared backhaul, and one or more processors which process communication for multiple Operators. For these and other cases of shared resource utilization, load balancing techniques and methods may apply within a single Base Station, or among a group of Base Stations on a network. Such load balancing techniques and methods may be distributed, or controlled centrally, or have dynamically shifting control as the needs change. Considerations in the selection and deployment of load balancing techniques may be technical or financial or both. Such considerations may affect the load balancing algorithms and decisions. As an example of a consideration that is both technical and financial, one Operator may be heavily loaded at a particular time while another Operator may be lightly loaded at the same time. By agreement between the Operators, the heavily loaded Operator may off-load capacity by utilizing resources normally allocated to the lightly loaded Operator. An agreement like this would typically include financial compensation from the heavily loaded Operator to the lightly loaded Operator, and such compensation may be cost per usage, fixed cost per period or by event, variable cost depending on such factors as time and relative loading, or on any other basis agreed upon by the Operators.
Many possible embodiments of a multi-Operator BS may be imagined. A very few non-limiting examples include the following:
(1) According to one multi-Operator BS scenario, at least Subscriber Devices of one Operator in the geographic region of interest may not have the capability to roam onto another Operator's licensed spectrum. This could be because such Subscriber Devices of a first Operator do not contain the appropriate frequency support to function on the frequency of the second Operator, or because such Subscriber Devices are locked onto the first Operator's network, or because such Subscriber Devices are locked out of the other Operator's network.
In one embodiment, this problem may be handled by either a multi-carrier or multi-band Base Station, with one or more distinct carriers allocated to each Operator. The relative amounts of spectrum allocated among the Operators could impact the allocation of carriers among the Operators. In this embodiment, the Base Station may support multiple logical core-network interfaces, one for each Operator, and the interfaces may be either standardized or customized for each different Operator. Communication may be multiplexed onto the same physical backhaul interface, with each message or even each packet labeled with unique routing information to connect the message or packet to its corresponding core network gateway. However, and alternatively, each logical interface may utilize different physical interfaces.
In this embodiment, load balancing of shared Base Station resources between Operators may apply to any or all of antennas, transmit power, backhaul resources, and processing power.
(2) According to a second multi-Operator BS scenario, at least some subscriber devices of a first Operator in the geographic region of interest do have the capability to roam onto another Operator's licensed spectrum.
For this case, in one embodiment such roaming may be handled by either a multi-carrier or a multi-band Base Station, depending at least in part upon the specific spectrum allocations to the Operators. A Subscriber Station may, by default, connect to its own Operator's spectrum, in which case communication will be effected as explained in scenario (1) above. However, in the event that the Operator's network is heavily loaded, prior art architecture does not allow the Base Station to direct the subscriber to a more lightly loaded Operator's spectrum. In one embodiment, instead of the typical prior art roaming situation, by which a local Operator's network handles the session and later bills the subscriber's Operator per pre-agreement, the Base Station will support multiple logical Core Network interfaces, one such interface for each Operator, and the traffic from the redirected subscriber will be routed to its own Operator's core interface. (Such interface may be logical or physical, or dynamically shifting between logical and physical.) The Base Station, in combination with relevant Core Network elements, can keep track of this shared usage so that the proper financial compensation may be made between Operators.
In this embodiment, load balancing of shared Base Station resources between Operators may apply to spectrum, antennas, transmit power, backhaul resources, processing power, or any of the other elements previously identified as possible shared resources.
(3) According to a third multi-Operator BS scenario, the Base Station and at least some Subscriber Stations in a geographic region of interest, support one or more ranges of unlicensed spectrum or protocols. Various non-limiting examples of an unlicensed protocol are Bluetooth, WiFi, and WiMAX, but there are many such examples of technologies. Often, but not exclusively, such technologies may operate at relatively low power, or may operate in one of the non-licensed bands such as 915 MHz, 2.45 Gz, or 5.8 GHz. This third scenario can occur in combination with either scenario (1) or scenario (2), above.
In one embodiment of a scenario with unlicensed spectrum or protocols, usage on unlicensed spectrum is handled by either a multi-carrier Base Station or multi-band Base Station (depending upon the specific spectrum allocations of the Operators). If multiple protocols are involved, in which a second Operator employs a protocol not used by a first Operator, a multi-mode Base Station may support the different protocols.
In this third scenario of unlicensed spectrum or protocols, licensed operation is handled as in the case of either scenarios (1) or (2) above. At the same time, unlicensed spectrum may be budgeted or simply shared among the participating Operators, or the unlicensed spectrum may be used as a resource that is allocated and charged for by the owner of the Base Station. The owner of the Base Station may be one of the Operators, or may be a separate party. In any event, traffic allocated to unlicensed spectrum supported by a Base Station will again be routed to and from the Operator's Core Network. Such routing may be logical or physical or dynamically changing between logical and physical.
The general architecture for some of the embodiments described herein call for a number of components, including: (1) Subscriber Stations, (2) RANs, (3) antenna and radio chains, the latter including power amplifiers, low noise amplifiers, and one or more transceivers. Each radio chain may operate on the same channel (single-carrier capability), different but closely separated channels (multi-carrier capability), or widely separated channels (multi-band capability), (4) a Baseband subsystem, (5) a network processor that may implement, among other things, an array of logical core network interfaces, each of which multiplex into one or more physical backhaul interfaces, (6) backhaul links, and (7) core Networks.
Each of the components listed may have additional sub-components, some of which are listed in the embodiments described herein. Different configurations of the components are described in some of the embodiments. Different communication paths and processes between components are described in some of the embodiments. The components, sub-components, configurations, and communication paths and processes, presented herein, are intended to present only some of the embodiments, and are illustrative only.
In one embodiment, there is a wireless Base Station (BS) 100 system to directly communicate with Core Network data sources 102a & 102b, on one side, and to directly provide multiple corresponding Radio Access Networks (RANs) 109a & 109b on the other side. This system may include a network processor 201 operative to maintain at least two network Tunnels 105a & 105b extending directly to at least two corresponding Core Network data sources 102a & 102b, one or more Baseband processors 202 operative to create at least two RANs 109a & 109b substantially simultaneously, and one or more radio transceiver chains 232, 233a and 233b, operative to accommodate the one or more Baseband processors 202 in creating the at least two RANs 109a & 109b substantially simultaneously. In one configuration of the embodiment, the system may be configured to split dynamically a pool of pre-allocated wireless Access Spectrum 211 between the at least two RANs 109a & 109b according to one or more criteria, reconfigure the at least one Baseband Processor 202 to maintain the at least two RANs 109a & 109b according to the split of spectrum between the two RANs 109a & 109b, and operate the at least two RANs 109a & 109b using data communicated with the corresponding at least two Core Network data sources 102a & 102b via the corresponding at least two network Tunnels 105a & 105b.
In an alternative embodiment of the embodiment just described, at least one of the criteria used to split dynamically a pool of pre-allocated wireless Access Spectrum 211 between at least two RANs 109a & 109b, is based on dynamic data rate requirements of at least one of the Core Network data sources 102a & 102b.
In another alternative embodiment of the embodiment described above, at least one of the criteria used to split dynamically a pool of pre-allocated wireless Access Spectrum 211 between at least two RANs 109a & 109b, is based on measuring data rates over at least one of the RANs 109a & 109b.
In another alternative embodiment of the embodiment just described, at least one of the criteria used to split dynamically a pool of pre-allocated wireless Access Spectrum 211 between at least two RANs 109a & 109b, is based on measuring data rates over at least one of the network Tunnels 105a & 105b.
In another alternative embodiment of the embodiment just described, the dynamic split of pre-allocated wireless Access Spectrum creates at least two amounts of wireless Access Spectrum, and each amount of wireless Access Spectrum after the split is allocated to one of the at least two RANs.
In one possible configuration of the alternative embodiment in which each amount of wireless Access Spectrum after the split is allocated to one of the at least two RANs, at least one of the amounts of wireless Access Spectrum 211a & 211b allocated to the RANs 109a & 109b, is smaller than the other amount of allocated wireless Access Spectrum 211a & 211b. In other words, either 211a is greater than 211b, or 211b is greater than 211a, but in this embodiment 211a is not equal to 211b.
In one embodiment, a wireless Base Station (BS) 100 system directly communicates with Core Network data sources 102a & 102b, on one side, and directly provides multiple corresponding Radio Access Networks (RANs) 109a & 109b on the other side, in which different amounts of wireless Access Spectrum have been allocated to RANs 109a & 109b, the following additional elements may appear. (1) The at least one Baseband processor 202 is programmable to an alternative configuration. (2) The Baseband processor 202 is reconfigured by at least two software instances 401a & 401b on Baseband processor 202, each software instance associated with at least one of the RANs 109a & 109b, and each software instance 401a & 401b creates a Baseband signal 440a & 440b that has a bandwidth dynamically related to the amount of wireless Access Spectrum allocated to the RAN by the dynamic split of wireless Access Spectrum. For example, 401a creates 440a that is dynamically related to 211a, and 401b creates 440b that is dynamically related to 211b. In one alternative embodiment of this embodiment, there is only one radio transceiver chain 232, and the Baseband signals 440a & 440b of the least two software instances 401a & 401b are fed to this one chain 232, thereby generating the at least two RANs 109a & 109b, each RAN driven by one of the corresponding Baseband signals 109a by 401a and 109b by 401b. In a different alternative embodiment of the embodiment described above, there are two radio transceiver chains 233a & 233b rather than the one chain 232, so 401a creates 440a that is fed to transceiver chain 233a which then generates First RAN 109a, and 401b creates 440b that is fed to transceiver chain 233b which then generates Second RAN 109b.
In one embodiment a wireless Base Station (BS) 100 system directly communicates with Core Network data sources 102a & 102b, on one side, and directly provides multiple corresponding Radio Access Networks (RANs) 109a & 109b on the other side, in which different amounts of wireless Access Spectrum have been allocated to RANs 109a & 109b, the following additional elements may appear. (1) The at least one Baseband processor 202 is programmable to an alternative configuration. (2) The Baseband processor 202 is reconfigured by a dynamic signal synthesizer 501 dynamically synthesizing a single compound signal 550 on the at least one Baseband processor 202, the compound signal 550 having at least two frequency portions 550a & 550b, each of the two frequency portions 550a & 550b associated with one of the at least two RANs 109a & 109B, and each of the frequency portions 550a & 550b is dynamically related to the amount of wireless Access Spectrum 550a & 550b allocated for each of the RANs 109a & 109b by the frequency split.
In an alternative embodiment of the embodiment described immediately above, there is a single radio transceiver chain 232, and the single compound signal 550 is fed to the single radio transceiver chain 232, thereby generating the at least two RANs 109a & 109b, in which each is driven by one of the two frequency portions 550a & 550b. In one possible configuration of this alternative embodiment of the embodiment described immediately above, each of the two RANs is either WiMAX or LTE, the single compound signal 550 is an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) signal, and the two frequency portions 550a & 550b comprises at least one unique sub-channel of the OFDMA signal.
In a first possible implementation of the method just described, further determining from time to time the first and the second amounts of wireless Access Spectrum 211a & 211b needed by the wireless BS 100 to wirelessly convey 301a & 301b the first and second data sets, and allocating from time to time the first and the second amounts of wireless Access Spectrum 211a & 211b.
In this first possible implementation of the method just described, one further possible implementation is that the first and second amounts of wireless Access Spectrum 211a & 211b are determined, at least in part, from first and second data rates associated with communicating the data sets 300a & 300b. In this further possible implementation of the possible implementation of the method just described, the first and second data rates associated with communicating the data sets 300a & 300b may be measured, or such data rates may be determined by querying the first and second Core Network data sources 102a & 102b, or it is possible to both measure the data rates and also query the Core Network data sources 102a & 102b.
In this first possible implementation of the method described above for dynamically generating a plurality of RANs 109a & 109b by a single wireless BS 100, a second further possible implementation is that at some point in time most of the pool of pre-allocated wireless Access Spectrum 211 is allocated as the first amount of wireless Access Spectrum 211a to the First RAN 109a. In this same second further possible implementation, in an additional embodiment, at some point in time most of the pool of pre-allocated wireless Access Spectrum 211 is allocated as the second amount of wireless Access Spectrum 211b to the Second RAN 109b.
In a second possible implementation of the method described above, further communicating the first and second data sets 300a & 300b with the first and second Core Network data sources 102a & 102b, using at least one Backhaul link 105.
In this second possible implementation of the method described above, one further possible implementation is that at least one Backhaul link 105 comprises a first network Tunnel 105a, connecting the first Core Network data source 102a with the wireless BS 100, and connecting the second Core Network data source 102b with the wireless BS 100.
In this same further possible implementation to the second possible implementation of the method described above, an additional embodiment would include the following additional elements. (1) The wireless BS 100 is an integrated Pico-Base Station. (2) The network Tunnels 105a & 105b are directly connected to the first and second Core Network data sources 102a & 102b, respectively. (3) The Pico-Base Station substantially does not require a dedicated infrastructure to facilitate connectivity with the Core Network data sources 102a & 102b other than the at least one Backhaul link 105 and an IP Network 101 comprising the Core Network data sources 102a & 102b.
In this second possible implementation of the method described above, a second further possible implementation is that the first data set is communicated 300a over a first Backhaul link, and a second data set is communicated over a second Backhaul link. Element 105 shows a single Backhaul link, but in this further possible implementation, there are two Backhaul links, although that is not illustrated in the Figures.
In a third possible implementation of the method described above, the First Core Network data source 102a belongs to a first Operator, the Second Core Network data source 102b belongs to a second Operator, the First RAN 109a is associated with an identity of the first Operator, and the Second RAN 109b is associated with an identity of the second Operator. The phrase “associated with” in this sense means that the name of the network is broadcast within the RAN transmissions. Hence, a First RAN 109a associated with the identity of the first Operator will broadcast, together with the RAN 109a transmissions, the name of the first network or the other identity of the first network chosen by the first Operator. Similarly, a Second RAN 109b associated with the identity of the second Operator will broadcast, together with the RAN 109b transmissions, the name of the second network or the other identity of the second network chosen by the second Operator.
In a first possible implementation of the method just described, increasing the first amount of wireless Access Spectrum 211a at the expense of the second amount of wireless Access Spectrum 211b further comprises determining a third amount of wireless Access Spectrum that can be reduced from the second amount of wireless Access Spectrum 211b without substantially impairing the ability of the second amount of wireless Access Spectrum 211b to convey 301b the second data set, reducing the third amount of Wireless Access Spectrum from the second amount of wireless Access Spectrum 211b, and adding the third amount of wireless Access Spectrum to the first amount of wireless Access Spectrum 211a.
In a second possible implementation of the method described above, increasing the first amount of wireless Access Spectrum 211a at the expense of the second amount of wireless Access Spectrum 211b further comprises determining a third amount of wireless Access Spectrum to be reduced from the second amount of wireless Access Spectrum 211b and to be added to the first amount of wireless Access Spectrum 211a, such that the third amount of wireless Access Spectrum is operative to substantially equate the ability of the first amount of wireless Access Spectrum 211a to convey 301a the first data set with the ability of the second amount of wireless Access Spectrum 211b to convey 301b the second data set, reducing the third amount of Wireless Access spectrum from the second amount of wireless Access Spectrum 211b, and adding the third amount of wireless Access Spectrum to the first amount of wireless Access Spectrum 211a.
It is noted that: (1) In some embodiments, there is a fully-integrated Base Station with an ability to handle multiple bands. (2) In some embodiments, there is an array of assignable Core Network interfaces which allow multiple Operators to share the same Base Station equipment and the same physical backhaul interface. (3) In some embodiments, there is load balancing between Operators to share one or more of wireless Access Spectrum, radio antennas, available radio transmit power, backhaul, and Baseband processing power. (4) In some embodiments, both licensed and unlicensed frequencies are supported in a fully-integrated Base Stations. (5) In some embodiments, there is dynamic reallocation of wireless Access Spectrum from a relatively lightly loaded Operator to a relatively heavily loaded Operator. (6) In some embodiments, a dedicated Gateway separates traffic between the Core Networks and the Base Station. (7) In some embodiments, a fully integrated multi-Operator Base Station allows multiple Operators to share many different kinds of resources, such as, but not by limitation, wireless Access Spectrum, antenna, radio chain, transmit power, processing, backhaul to a centralized processing unit, and others. (8) Various of embodiments described herein offer the flexibility of a compact and fully integrated Base Station that permit balancing in the employment of many different kinds of resources, including, by example and not by limitation, wireless Access Spectrum, antenna, radio chain, transmit power, processing, and backhaul to a centralized processing unit that is itself part of that Base Station. (9) A multi-Operator Base Station would be ideal for wholesalers who build networks to be leased out to Operators. In other words, the availability of a multi-Operator Base Station allows new designs for networks intended specifically to allow the sharing of resources.
In
Letter K representing the number of wireless channels 555a-555K in use at any particular time, is by intent not the same as letter N representing the number of radio transceiver chains 553a-553N. K may be equal N, indicating a one-to-one match between number of wireless channels 555a-555K in operation and number of signals 55a1 & 55a2 and 55N1 & 55N2 from 502 through syntheses of digital signals 55a & 55N to radio transceiver chains 533a-533N, hence to antennas 577a-577N and Subscriber Stations. K may be less than N, indicating there are fewer wireless channels 555a-555K than signals 55a1 & 55a2 and 55N1 & 55N2, and this may occur when a transmission is to be repeated in two more simultaneously conveyed signals. When a transmission is made on two or more signals as opposed to only one signal, even when all the signals are propagated on the same radio frequency, that transmission will typically have a higher radio system gain than a transmission on only one signal, which means generally that a transmission with multiple signals can have, in comparison to a transmission with one signal, any of a higher quality link (typically measured by S/N ratio), a greater distance propagation, a greater penetration power, higher data rate, or a combination of any of the foregoing.
In some embodiments, the number of Syntheses of digital Baseband signals 55a & 55N may be dynamically altered to meet temporal system demands. In some embodiments, the number of wireless channels 555a-555K may be dynamically altered to meet temporal system demands. The number of each of these elements, the Syntheses and the wireless channels, is independent from the numbers of the other elements, except that K channels may not exceed N communication paths, and the number of syntheses may not exceed N digital Baseband signals.
There are many alternative embodiments in the generation of signals to and from antennas the Subscriber Stations. For example, antennas may be a single antenna connected to a radio transceiver chain, or there may be phased array signals in use, or MIMO signal in use, or any other communication configuration. For example, there may be phased-array coherent reception, Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC), Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE), Maximum Likelihood (ML), or any other number of algorithms in the transmission or reception of a wireless signal.
In one embodiment, there is a wireless Base Station (BS) system 100b, operative to assign dynamically a plurality of radio transceiver chains 533a-533N among a varying number of wireless channels 555a-555N. This wireless BS system 100b may include a Baseband (BB) subsystem 502, which itself may include N digital ports 538a-538N, operative to synthesize 55a & 55N N digital Baseband (BB) signals 55a1 & 555a2 and 55n1 & 55n2 associated with K wireless channels 555a & 555K, wherein (1) N is equal to at least 2, (2) K is equal to at most N, and (3) K is equal to at least 1. The wireless BS system 100b may also include N radio transceiver chains 533a-533N, each of which may be connected to one of the N digital ports 538a-538N of the BB subsystem 502 via an Analog-Digital interface 539a-539N. The wireless BS system 100b may be configured to (A) set dynamically K according to a first criterion, wherein K is a number between 1 and N, (B) assign dynamically the N radio transceiver chains 533as-533N among the K wireless channels 555a-555K according to a second criterion such that each radio transceiver chain 533a-533N is assigned to only one of the wireless channels 555a-555K, (C) synthesize 55a-55N, by the BB subsystem 502, the N digital BB signals 55a1 & 55a2 and 55N1 & 55N2 associated with the K wireless channels 555a-555K, and (D) input the N digital BB signals to the N radio transceiver chains 553a-533N via the corresponding N digital ports 538a-538N and the corresponding Analog-Digital interfaces 539a-539N, thereby transmitting the K wireless channels 555a-555K via the N radio transceiver chains 533a-533N. This embodiment will be called “the Dynamic Assignment embodiment”, and seven alternatives to this embodiment are described below.
In a first alternative embodiment of the Dynamic Assignment embodiment, the number of wireless channels K 555a-555K is smaller than the number of radio transceiver chains N 533a-533N, which may mean that at least one of the wireless channels 555a-555K is transmitted via at least two of the radio transceiver chains 533a-533N. In one configuration of this alternative embodiment, at least two of the N digital Baseband signals 55a1 & 55a2 and 55N1 & 55N2 driving the at least two of the radio transceiver chains 533a-533N comprise at least two Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) signals, thereby transmitting the at least one of the wireless channels using a MIMO scheme. In a second configuration of this alternative embodiment, at least two of the N digital Baseband signals 55a1 & 55a2 and 55N1 & 55N2 driving the at least two of the radio Transceiver chains 533a-533N comprise at least two phased-array signals, thereby transmitting the at least one of the wireless channels 555a-555K using a phased-array scheme comprising the at least two of the radio transceiver chains 533a-533N.
In a second alternative embodiment of the Dynamic Assignment Embodiment, there is a wireless Base Station (BS) system 100b, operative to assign dynamically a plurality of radio transceiver chains 533a-533N among a varying number of wireless channels 555a-555N. This wireless BS system 100b may include a Baseband (BB) subsystem 502, which itself may include N digital ports 538a-538N, operative to synthesize 55a & 55N N digital Baseband (BB) signals 55a1 & 555a2 and 55n1 & 55n2 associated with K wireless channels 555a & 555K, wherein (1) N is equal to at least 2, (2) K is equal to at most N, and (3) K is equal to at least 1, wherein the wireless BS system 100b may be configured to set dynamically K according to the distance between a Subscriber Station and the wireless BS 100b, such that during the operation phase of the wireless BS 100b when the Subscriber Stations are relatively distant from the wireless BS 100b, K is set to 1, thereby creating a single wireless channel 556a transmitting via the N radio transceiver chains 533a-533N and increasing the range of the single wireless channel 556a to facilitate communication with the relatively distant Subscriber Station. This alternative embodiment will be called “embodiment where initial K=1”, and several alternative embodiments to this embodiment will be described below.
In a first alternative embodiment of an embodiment in which initial K=1, N digital Baseband signals 56a-56N driving the N radio transceiver chains 533a-533N comprise N phased-array signals, thereby transmitting the single wireless channel 556a using a phased-array scheme comprising the N radio transceiver chains 533a-533N, wherein the Baseband subsystem 502 is reconfigured to generate the N phased-array signals accordingly.
In a second alternative embodiment of an embodiment in which initial K=1, during a later operation phase of the wireless BS 100b when the Subscriber Stations become closer to the wireless BS 100b, K is set to at least two, such that each of the wireless channels 555a & 555K is transmitting via less than the N radio transceiver chains 533a-533N, thereby decreasing the range of the wireless channels 555a & 555K, but increasing data throughput of the wireless BS 100b.
In such second alternative embodiment of an embodiment in which initial K=1, one alternative configuration occurs during or after a transition from a single wireless channel operation to at least two wireless channels operation. At or after this transition, the Baseband subsystem 502 is reconfigured to transition between a single wireless channel N-phased-array operation using wireless channel 556a to a multiple wireless channels MIMO operation using wireless channels 555a-555K.
In such second alternative embodiment of an embodiment in which initial K=1, one alternative configuration occurs during or after a transition from a single wireless channel operation to at least two wireless channels operation. At or after such transition, the Baseband subsystem 502 is reconfigured to transition between a transmission scheme including a single wireless channel N-level coherent phase transmission, to a transmission scheme comprising multiple wireless channels MIMO operation. In this alternative configuration, an additional possibility is that the Baseband subsystem 502 is reconfigured to transition between an N-level combining-algorithm reception mode to a multiple wireless channels MIMO reception mode, in which the N-level combining-algorithm reception mode may be any one of phased-array coherent reception, Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC), Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) and Maximum Likelihood (ML), or any combination of such alternative reception modes.
In such second alternative embodiment of an embodiment in which initial K=1, one alternative configuration occurs during or after a transition from a single wireless channel operation to at least two wireless channels operation. At or after such transition, the Baseband subsystem 502 is reconfigured to transition between a transmission scheme including Cyclic Delay Diversity (CDD), to a transmission scheme comprising multiple wireless channels MIMO operation. In this alternative configuration, an additional possibility is that the Baseband subsystem 502 is reconfigured to transition between an N-level combining-algorithm reception mode to a multiple wireless channels MIMO reception mode, in which the N-level combining-algorithm reception mode may be any one of Phased-array coherent reception, Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC), Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) and Maximum Likelihood (ML), or any combination of such alternative reception modes.
In such second alternative embodiment of an embodiment in which initial K=1, one alternative configuration occurs during the initial operation phrase of the wireless BS 100b, when all the aggregated transmission power of the N radio transceiver chains 533a-533N is used for the transmission of a single wireless channel 556a, thereby maximizing the range of the single wireless channel 556a. In this alternative configuration, a further configuration occurs in a later operation phase of the wireless BS 100b, when each of the wireless channels 555a-555K is transmitting with less than the N radio transceiver chains 533a-533N, and therefore with less power than the aggregated transmission power of the N radio transceiver chains 533a-533N, thereby decreasing the range of each of the wireless channels 555a-555N and decreasing inter-cell interferences with close-by wireless Base Stations.
In a third alternative embodiment of the Dynamic Assignment embodiment, there is a wireless Base Station (BS) system 100b, operative to assign dynamically a plurality of radio transceiver chains 533a-533N among a varying number of wireless channels 555a-555N. Such system includes a Baseband subsystem 502 comprising N digital ports 538a-538N, operative to synthesize 55a-55N N digital Baseband signals 55a1 & 55a2 and 55N1 & 55N2 associated with K wireless channels 555a-555K, wherein N is equal to at least 2, K is equal to at most N, and K is equal to at least 1. The Baseband processor 502 includes a single Baseband processor 601 operative to generate substantially simultaneously the K wireless channels 555a-555N and the corresponding N digital Baseband signals 55a1 & 55a2 and 55N1 & 55N2, according to the setting of K. In this embodiment, one configuration is where the Baseband processor 601 comprises an ASIC. In this embodiment, an alternative configuration is that the Baseband processor 601 comprises an FPGA. In this embodiment, an alternative configuration is that the Baseband processor 602 comprises a Digital Signal Processor (DSP). In the alternative configuration in which the Baseband processor 602 comprises a DSP, the simultaneous generation of K wireless channels 555a-555N and the corresponding N digital Baseband signals 55a1 & 55a2 and 55N1 & 55N2, is done at least in part in software running on the DSP.
In a fourth alternative embodiment of the Dynamic Assignment embodiment, there is a wireless Base Station (BS) system 100b, operative to assign dynamically a plurality of radio transceiver chains 533a-533N among a varying number of wireless channels 555a-555N. The system includes a Baseband subsystem 502, which comprises at least two Baseband processors 601a & 601K operative to generate substantially simultaneously K wireless channels 555a-555N and the corresponding N digital Baseband signals 55a1 & 55a2 and 55N1 & 55N2, according to the setting of K. In one configuration of this fourth alternative embodiment, each of the Baseband processors 601a & 601K is operative to generate one of the K wireless channels 555a-555N and the corresponding N digital Baseband signals 55a1 & 55a2 and 55N1 & 55N2.
In a fifth alternative embodiment of the Dynamic Assignment embodiment, there is a wireless Base Station (BS) system 100b, operative to assign dynamically a plurality of radio transceiver chains 533a-533N among a varying number of wireless channels 555a-555N. In this system, the second criterion is based on assigning more radio transceiver chains to wireless channels requiring longer range.
In one configuration of this fifth alternative embodiment, in order to achieve long range, radio transceiver chains 533a-533N convey N-level coherent phase transmissions, and receives combinable signals enabling utilization of reception algorithms such as (1) Phased-array coherent reception, (2) Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC), (3) Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) and (4) Maximum Likelihood (ML). In a further possible alternative embodiment of this configuration, the Baseband subsystem 502 is reconfigured to use the combinable signals as at least some of the N digital Baseband signals 55a1 & 55a2 and 55N1 & 55N2, upon exercising the assignment based on the second criterion.
In one configuration of this fifth alternative embodiment, in order to achieve long rang, radio transceiver chains 533a-533N convey Cyclic Delay Diversity (CDD) signals, and/or receive combinable signals enabling utilization of reception algorithms such as (1) Phased-array coherent reception, (2) Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC), (3) Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) and (4) Maximum Likelihood (ML). In a further possible alternative embodiment of this configuration, the Baseband subsystem 502 is reconfigured to use the combinable signals as at least some of the N digital Baseband signals 55a1 & 55a2 and 55N1 & 55N2, upon exercising the assignment based on the second criterion.
In a sixth alternative embodiment of the Dynamic Assignment embodiment, there is a wireless Base Station (BS) system 100b, operative to assign dynamically a plurality of radio transceiver chains 533a-533N among a varying number of wireless channels 555a-555N. In this system, the second criterion is based on assigning more radio transceiver chains 533a-533N to wireless channels requiring relatively high data throughput rates, and the radio transceiver chains 533a-533N convey MIMO signals the help obtain relatively high data throughput rates. In one configuration of this sixth alternative embodiment, the Baseband subsystem 502 is reconfigured to synthesize the MIMO signals as at least some of the N digital Baseband signals 55a1 & 55a2 and 55N1 & 55N2, upon exercising the assignment based on the second criterion.
In a seventh alternative embodiment of the Dynamic Assignment embodiment, there is a wireless Base Station (BS) system 100b, operative to assign dynamically a plurality of radio transceiver chains 533a-533N among a varying number of wireless channels 555a-555N. In this system, at least one of the antennas 577a-577N connected to the N radio transceiver chains 533a-533N is an omni-directional antenna, and any wireless channel 555a-555N propagated by an omni-directional channel can span substantially a 360 degree coverage area around the wireless BS, regardless of an assignment of radio transceiver chains 533a-533N among the wireless channels 555a-555N.
There is a transition in time from
An alternative embodiment of the method immediately described further includes using an N-level coherent-phase transmission scheme over the N radio transceiver chains 533a-533N to communicate data wirelessly via the first wireless channel 555a during the initial operation phrase.
A particular configuration of the alternative embodiment of the method described above includes using an N-level combining-algorithm such as Phased-array coherent reception, MRC, MMSE and ML, in order to utilize the aggregated reception capability of the N radio transceiver chains 533a-533N during the initial operation phase.
In a further refinement of the particular configuration of the alternative embodiment of the method described above, further including, when the initial operation phase has ended, stopping use of the N-level coherent-phase transmission scheme and the N-level combining-algorithm, and starting use of MIMO transmission and reception schemes for at least one of the first 555a and second 555K wireless channels.
For
For
It may be appreciated that there must be at least three radio transceiver chains in all embodiments. The reason is that all embodiments include (1) at least two operating RANs, and all embodiments include (2) an ability to re-allocate at least one RAN from one Operator to another Operator. As to (1), A radio transceiver chain is part of the infrastructure that creates the RAN, so that a RAN can exist only if at least one radio transceiver chain is allocated to it. Since all embodiments include at least two RANs, and each RAN must have at least one radio transceiver chain, hence every embodiment will include at least two radio transceiver chains to create the at least two RANs. As to (2), all embodiments have the potential to switch at least one radio transceiver chain from one Operator to another Operator, hence every embodiment will include at least three radio transceiver chains. Indeed,
In one embodiment, a wireless Base Station (BS) 100c system is operative to communicate directly with multiple Core Network data sources 102a & 102b on one side and directly provided multiple corresponding Radio Access Networks (RANs) 809a and 809b on the other side. Such a system may include a network processor 201c operative to communicate with a first and a second Core Network data sources 102a and 102b, at least one Baseband Processor 502c operative to create first and second RANs 809a & 809b substantially simultaneously, and a pool of at least three radio transceiver chains 833a, 833b, 833c, and 833N operative to accommodate the at least one Baseband Processor 502c in creating the first and second RANs 809a and 809b substantially simultaneously. Such a system may allocate dynamically the pool of the at least three radio transceiver chains 833a, 833b, 833c, and 833N, between the first and second RANs 809a and 809b according to a criterion, reconfigure the at least one Baseband Processor 502c to maintain the first and second RANs 809a and 809b according to the recent allocation, and operate the first and second RANs 809a and 809b using data communicated with the first and second Core Network data sources 102a and 102b, respectively.
In one alternative embodiment of such a system, the criterion may be based on dynamic data rate requirements of at least one of the Core Network data sources 102a and 102b, such that when the dynamic data rate requirements of the first Core Network data source 102a exceed the dynamic data rate requirements of the second Core Network data source 102b, more radio transceiver chains of those available in the system 833a, 833b, 833c, and 833N, are allocated to the first RAN 809a as compared to the second RAN 809b. In one configuration of this alternative embodiment, at least one of the radio transceiver chains 833a, 833b, 833c, and 833N that have been allocated to at least one of the RANs 809a and 809b convey Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) signals 955a1 and 955a2.
In a second alternative embodiment of the wireless Base Station (BS) 100c system operative to directly communicate with multiple Core Network data sources 102a & 102b on one side and directly provided multiple corresponding Radio Access Networks (RANs) 809a and 809b on the other side, the criterion is based on measuring data rates over at least one of the RANs 809a and 809b, such that more of the radio transceiver chains 833a, 833b, 833c, and 833N, are allocated to the first RAN 809a as compared to the second RAN 809b, as a result of measuring higher data rates over the first RAN 809a as compared to the second RAN 809b. In one configuration of this alternative embodiment, at least one of the radio transceiver chains 833a, 833b, 833c, and 833N, allocated to at least one of the RANs 809a and 809b convey Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) signals.
In a third alternative embodiment of the wireless Base Station (BS) 100c system operative to directly communicate with multiple Core Network data sources 102a & 102b on one side and directly provided multiple corresponding Radio Access Networks (RANs) 809a and 809b on the other side, the criterion is based on system gain requirements of the RANs 809a and 809b, such that when the first RAN 809a requires a higher system gain than the system gain required by the second RAN 809b, more radio transceiver chains are allocated to the first RAN 809a than to the second RAN 109b.
In one configuration of this alternative embodiment, the radio transceiver chains allocated to at least one of the RANs convey signals belonging to a wireless communication scheme selected from a group consisting of Phased-array coherent communication, Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC), Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) and Maximum Likelihood (ML).
In a fourth alternative embodiment of the wireless Base Station (BS) 100c system operative to directly communicate with multiple Core Network data sources 102a & 102b on one side and directly provided multiple corresponding Radio Access Networks (RANs) 809a and 809b on the other side, reconfiguring the at least one Baseband Processor to maintain the first and second RANs 809a and 809b according to the recent allocation, further includes performing first and a second signal syntheses 955a and 955N, or 956a and 956N, by the at least one Baseband Processor, in which the first synthesis is associated with the first RAN 809a and the second synthesis is associated with the second RAN 809b, and in which each sign synthesis creates at least one baseband signal, one of 955a1, 955a2, 955N1, or 955N2 in
There are at least two alternative configurations to the fourth alternative embodiment just described. In one alternative configuration, the first signal synthesis 955a or 956a synthesizes at least two baseband signals, and the at least two baseband signals belong to a wireless communication scheme selected from a group consisting of Phased-array coherent communication, Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC), Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) and Maximum Likelihood (ML).
In a second alternative configuration to the fourth alternative embodiment just described, at least the first signal synthesis 955a or 956a synthesizes at least two baseband signals, and these at least two baseband signals are Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) signals.
An alternative embodiment of the method just described, further comprising determining from time to time the first and second numbers of radio transceiver chains needed by the wireless BS 100c to convey wirelessly the first and second data sets, and allocating from time to time the first and second numbers of radio transceiver chains.
One possible configuration of the alternative embodiment just described is such alternative embodiment, further comprising determining the first and the second number of radio transceiver chains according to first and second data rate associated with communicating the first and second data sets, respectively. One possible permutation of this configuration further comprises measuring the first and second data rates. A second possible permutation of this configuration further comprises querying the first 102a and second 102b Core Network data sources for the first and second data rates, respectively.
A second possible configuration of the alternative embodiment just described is said alternative embodiment, wherein at some point in time most of the pool of radio transceiver chains is allocated to the first RAN. One possible permutation of this configuration is the configuration wherein in at some point in time most of the pool of radio transceiver chains is allocated to the second RAN.
A third possible configuration of the alternative embodiment just described is such alternative embodiment, further comprising determining the first and second numbers of radio transceiver chains according to a first distance of Subscriber Stations (SS) from the wireless BS 100c, and a second distance of Subscriber Stations from the wireless BS, respectively.
A second alternative embodiment to the method described is said method, further comprising communicating the first and second data sets with the first 102a and second 102b Core Network data sources using at least one Backhaul link 105.
One possible configuration of this second alternative embodiment is said second alternative embodiment, wherein the at least one Backhaul link 105 comprises a first network Tunnel connecting the first Core Network data source 102a with the wireless BS 100c, and a second network Tunnel connecting the second Core Network data source 102b with the wireless BS 100c. One possible permutation of this configuration of the second alternative embodiment is said second alternative embodiment, in which the wireless BS 100c is an integrated Pico-BS, having the network Tunnels directly connected to the first 102a and second 102b Core Network data sources, and the Pico-BS substantially does not require a dedicated infrastructure to facilitate connectivity with the Core Networks data sources 102a & 102b other than the at least one Backhaul link 105 and an network 101 comprising the Core Network data sources 102a & 102b.
A second possible configuration of the second alternative embodiment is the second alternative embodiment, in which the first data set is communicated over the first Backhaul link and the second data set is communicated over a second Backhaul link.
A third alternative embodiment to the method described is said method, in which the first Core Network data source 102a belongs to a first Operator, the second Core Network data source 102b belongs a second Operator, the first RAN 809a is associated with an identity of the first Operator, and the second RAN 809b is associated with the identity of the second Operator.
One alternative embodiment to the method just described is the method, in which increasing the number of radio transceiver chains in the first set further comprises determining the number of radio transceiver chains that can be reduced from the second set of radio transceiver chains without substantially impairing the ability of the second set of radio transceiver chains to convey the second data set, reducing the number of radio transceiver chains from the second set of radio transceiver chains and adding the number of radio transceiver chains to the first set of radio transceiver chains.
A second alternative embodiment to the method for servicing multiple Operators via a single wireless Base Station utilizing dynamic allocation of radio transceiver chains, is such method in which the number of radio transceiver chain in the first set further comprises determining a number of radio transceiver chains to be reduced from the second set of radio transceiver chains and to be added to the first set of radio transceiver chains such that the number of radio transceiver chains is operative to substantially equate the ability of the first set of radio transceiver chains to convey the first data set with the ability of the second set of radio transceiver chains to convey the second data set, reducing the number of radio transceiver chains from the second set of radio transceiver chains, and adding the number of radio transceiver chains to the first set of radio transceiver chains.
In a first possible implementation of the method just described, the opening of the Backhaul channel 2106 is done only after establishing the wireless connection. Among other possible advantages, this eliminates the need to maintain the dedicated Backhaul channel 2106 in a case in which the at least one SS is not connected wirelessly to the wireless BS 2100.
In a second possible implementation of the method just described, opening of the dedicated Backhaul channel 2106 is done prior to establishing the wireless connection. In this way, latency associated with opening the dedicated Backhaul channel as a response to establishing the wireless connection, will be reduced.
In a third possible implementation of the method just described, the dedicated Backhaul channel 2106 is a network Tunnel directly connecting the Second Core Network data source 2102b with the wireless Base Station 2100.
In this third possible implementation of the method just described, one further possible implementation is that the network Tunnel is an Internet Protocol (IP) Tunnel or a Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) Tunnel.
In a fourth possible implementation of the method just described, a further step is opening a general Backhaul channel 2105, belonging to the first Operator 2102a′ (the host Operator), between the wireless BS 2100 and a Core Network data source 2102a belonging to the first Operator 2102a′, prior to opening the general Backhaul channel 2105, wherein said general Backhaul channel 2105 is used substantially solely for communicating data sets between the first Operator 2102a′ and Subscriber Stations 2180a associated with the first Operator 2102a′. Also, communicating data sets between the Core Network data source 2102a belonging to the first Operator 2102a′ and the Subscriber Stations 2108a associated with the first Operator 2102a′, via (i) the general Backhaul channel 2105 and (ii) the wireless BS 2100 using the wireless spectrum 2109, substantially concurrently with communicating data sets between the Core Network data source 2102b belonging to the second Operator 2102b′ and the at least one SS 2108b associated with the second Operator 2102b′. In this fourth implementation of the method just described, traffic is separated at the Backhaul level between (i) data sets communicated between the first Operator's Core Network data source 2102a and the first Operator's Subscriber Stations 2108a, and (ii) data sets communicated between the second Operator's Core Network data source 2102b and the second Operator's Subscriber Stations 2108b.
In this fourth possible implementation of the method just described, one further possible implementation is that both Subscriber Stations 2108a associated with the first Operator 2102a′, and Subscriber Stations 2108b associated with the second Operator 2102b′, are wirelessly connected to the wireless BS 2100, via a single Radio Access Network (RAN) 2209 created by the wireless BS 2100 using the wireless spectrum 2109, thereby creating a traffic union at the RAN level between (i) data sets communicated between the first Operator's Core Network data source 2102a and the first Operator's Subscriber Stations 2108a, and (ii) data sets communicated between the second Operator's Core Network data source 2102b and the second Operator's Subscriber Stations 2108b.
In this fourth possible implementation of the method just described, a second further possible implementation is opening and using the dedicated Backhaul channel 2106 between the Core Network data source of the second Operator 2102b and the wireless BS 2100 of the first Operator 2102a′, thereby facilitating partial roaming. In this second further possible implementation of the fourth possible implementation of the method just described, it is possible to eliminate a need of the Subscriber Stations 2108b associated with the second Operator 2102b′ to use the Core Network data source 2102a belonging to the first Operator 2102a′ or the Core network data sources 2102a belonging to the first Operator 210a′.
In this fourth possible implementation of the method just described, a third further possible implementation is tracking, by the wireless BS 2100, the amount of spectrum resources associated with the wireless spectrum 2109, that are used by the at least one SS 2108b associated with the second Operator 2102b′. Also, sending data gathered during tracking to the second Operator 2102b′. Such data may be used by the first Operator 2102a′ to bill the second Operator 2102b′ for the partial roaming services provided by the first Operator 2102a′.
In a fifth possible implementation of the method just described, a further step is determining the identity of the second Operator 2102b′ prior to establishing the wireless connection. Also, establishing the wireless connection only if the identity of the second Operator 2102b′ matches a list of approved Operators. In a sixth possible implementation of the method just described, a further step is determining the identity of the second Operator 2102b′ during or after the course of establishing the wireless connection. Also, terminating the wireless connection if the identity of the second Operator 2102b′ does not match a list of approved Operators.
In a first possible implementation of the method just described, a further step wherein each Backhaul channel is a network Tunnel, and each network Tunnel directly connects the wireless BS 2100 with the Core Network data source to which the network Tunnel is connected.
In this first possible implementation of the method just described, one further possible implementation is that the network Tunnel is an Internet Protocol (IP) Tunnel or a Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) Tunnel.
In a second possible implementation of the method just described, tracking, by the wireless BS 2100, the amount of spectrum resources associated with the wireless spectrum 2109, which are used by Subscriber Stations 2180b not associated with the first Operator 2102a′. Also, sending data gathered during tracking to Operators associated with Subscriber Stations 2108b not associated with the first Operator 2102a′, wherein said gathered data may be used by the first Operator 2102a′ to bill the Operators associated with Subscriber Stations 2108b not associated with the first Operator 2102a′.
In a third possible implementation of the method just described, a further step is determining the identity of Operators associated with the Subscriber Stations 2108b not associated with the first Operator 2102a prior to establishing a wireless connection between the wireless BS 2100 and the Subscriber Stations 2108b not associated with the first Operator 2102a′. Also, establishing a wireless connection for Subscriber Stations associated with a particular Operator only if the identity of that particular Operator matches a list of approved Operators.
In a fourth possible implementation of the method just described, a further step is determining the identity of Operators associated with the Subscriber Stations 2108b not associated with the first Operator 2102a′ after establishing a wireless connection between the wireless BS 2100 and the Subscriber Stations 2108b not associated with the first Operator 2102a′. Also, terminating the wireless connection for Subscriber Stations associated with a particular Operator if the identity of that particular Operator does not match a list of approved Operators.
In one embodiment, there is a system that allows partial roaming. The system includes a First Core Network data source 2102a belonging to a first Operator 2102a′, and a Second Core Network data source 2102b belonging to a second Operator 2102b′. The system also includes a wireless BS 2100 belonging to the first Operator 2102a′, operative to communicate with a first set of Subscriber Stations 2108b associated with a second Operator 2102b′, over a wireless spectrum 2109 belonging to the first Operator 2102a′. In one embodiment, the system transports traffic over a general Backhaul channel 2105 connecting the wireless BS 2100 to the First Core Network data source 2102a, between the first set of Subscriber Stations 2108a and the First Core Network data source 2102a. The system also transports traffic over a dedicated Backhaul channel 2106 connecting the wireless BS 2100 to the Second Core Network data source 2102b, between the second set of Subscriber Stations 2108b and the Second Core Network data source 2102b.
In one alternative embodiment of the system allowing partial roaming, just described, each Backhaul channel is a network Tunnel directly connecting the respective Core Network data source with the wireless BS 2100 of the first Operator 2102a′. If there are Subscriber Stations associated with two Operators, for example, then the general Backhaul channel 2105 connecting the First Core Network data source 2102a to the first set of Subscriber Stations 2108b is one network Tunnel, and the dedicated Backhaul channel 2106 connecting the Second Core Network data source 2102b to the second set of Subscriber Stations 2108b is a second network Tunnel.
In a first alternative embodiment to the embodiment in which the Backhaul channels are network Tunnels, each network Tunnel is an Internet Protocol (IP) Tunnel or a Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) Tunnel.
In a first alternative embodiment to the embodiment in which the Backhaul channels are network Tunnels, at least two of the network Tunnels are transported over a single physical Backhaul link.
In a second alternative embodiment of the system allowing partial roaming, described above, each Backhaul channel is a separate physical Backhaul link.
In a third alternative embodiment of the system allowing partial roaming, described above, the system tracks the wireless spectrum resources used by the set of Subscriber Stations 2108b associated with the second Operator 2102b′. Also, data collected during the tracking process is sent to the second Operator 2102b′, and such data may be used by the first Operator 2102a′ to bill the second Operator 2102b′ for the partial roaming services provided by the first Operator 2102a′ to Subscriber Stations 2108b associated with the second Operator 2102b′.
In a fourth alternative embodiment of the system allowing partial roaming, described above, the system determines the identity of the second Operator 2102b′ prior to establishing a wireless connection between the wireless BS 2100 and at least one of the second set of Subscriber Stations 2108b. Also, the system allows communication with such Subscriber Station 2108b, only if the Operator 2102b′ with whom the Subscriber Station 2108b is associated, appears on a list of Operators approved to receive roaming services from the first Operator 2102a′.
In a fifth alternative embodiment of the system allowing partial roaming, described above, the system determines the identity of the second Operator 2102b′ after establishing a wireless connection between the wireless BS 2100 of the first Operator 2102a′ and at least one of the second set of Subscriber Stations 2108b. Also, the system stops communication with such Subscriber Station 2108b, if the Subscriber Station 2108b is associated with an Operator 2102b′ who does not appear on a list of Operators approved to receive roaming services from the first Operator 2102a′.
In one embodiment, there is a system for effectively sharing resources of a shared Backhaul link 2505. The system may include a shared Backhaul link 2505. The system may include a wireless Base Station (BS) 2510 operative to receive from a first Core Network data source 2502a and a second Core Network data source 2502b, belonging to first and second Operators, respectively, first and second sets of data, respectively, via the shared Backhaul link 2505 connected to the wireless BS 2510. The wireless BS is also operative to convey wirelessly the first and second sets of data, to a first set of Subscriber Stations 2508a and a second set of Subscriber Stations 2508b, said sets of Subscriber Stations associated with the first and second Operators, respectively. The system may be configured to control the rates at which the first and second sets of data are received by the wireless BS 2510, such that overloading of the shared Backhaul link 2505 is prevented.
In one alternative embodiment of the system embodiment just described, control of the rates is done by the wireless BS 2510, and the wireless BS 2510 effects such control by using packet shaping techniques applied at the wireless level.
In a second alternative embodiment to the system embodiment just described, control of the rates is done by the wireless BS 2510, and the wireless BS 2510 effects such control by using packet shaping techniques applied at the shared Backhaul link 2505 level.
In a first possible implementation of the method just described, the sets of data 2511a & 2511b are packetized, and controlling the first wireless data rate is done by the wireless BS 2510 using packet shaping techniques.
In a second possible implementation of the method just described, controlling the first wireless data rate is done by limiting the number of Subscriber Stations in the first set of Subscriber Stations 2508a.
In a third possible implementation of the method just described, controlling the first wireless data rate is done by limiting the rate at which at least one of the Subscriber Stations in the first set of Subscriber Stations 2508a communicates data with the wireless BS 2510.
In a fourth possible implementation of the method just described, the first wireless data rate is limited to a predetermined level that is lower than the predetermined Backhaul data rate, and the predetermined level of the first wireless data rate is increased if such predetermined level and the second wireless data rate together do not exceed the predetermined Backhaul data rate.
In a fifth possible implementation of the method just described, the predetermined Backhaul data rate is a maximum rate at which the shared Backhaul link 2505 is operative to transport data.
In a sixth possible implementation of the method just described, the predetermined Backhaul data rate is between 60 percent and 90 percent of a maximum rate at which the shared Backhaul link 2505 is operative to transport data.
In a seventh possible implementation of the method just described, the first set of data 2511a is transported from the first Core Network data source 2502a to the wireless BS 2510 via a first network Tunnel extending from the first Core Network data source 2502a to the wireless BS 2510, and the second set of data 2511b is transported from the second Core Network data source 2502b to the wireless BS 2510 via a second network Tunnel extending from the second Core Network data source 2502b to the wireless BS 2510, wherein both the first and the second network Tunnels are transported, at least in part, over the shared Backhaul link 2505.
In this seventh possible implementation of the method described above for effectively utilizing a shared Backhaul link 2505 of a wireless BS 2510 servicing a plurality of Operators, a further possible implementation is that at least one of the network Tunnels is of a type selected from a group consisting of an Internet Protocol (IP) Tunnel and a Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) Tunnel
In an eighth possible implementation of the method just described, the system tracks a first rate at which the first set of data 2511a is received by the wireless BS 2510, and the first Operator is billed according to the results of the tracking.
In this eighth possible implementation of the method described above for effectively utilizing a shared Backhaul link 2505 of a wireless BS 2510 servicing a plurality of Operators, a further possible implementation includes tracking a rate at which the second set of data 2511a is received by the wireless BS 2510, and billing the second Operator according to the results of the tracking.
In a ninth possible implementation of the method just described, the second wireless data rate is controlled such that the first set of data 2511a and the second set of data 2511b received via the shared Backhaul link 2505 together substantially do not exceed a predetermined Backhaul data rate. In this ninth possible implementation of the method described above for effectively utilizing a shared Backhaul link 2505 of a wireless BS 2510 servicing a plurality of Operators, a further possible implementation includes increasing the first data rate 2511a at the expense of the second wireless data rate 2511b, such that the first and second sets of data 2511a & 2511b received via the wireless Backhaul link 2505 together still substantially do not exceed the predetermined Backhaul data rate.
In a first possible implementation of the method just described, the controlling of the rate at which the first Backhaul transmission 2611a is received is done by the first RAN 2629a.
In a second possible implementation of the method just described, the first RAN 2629a is connected to the shared Backhaul link 2605 via a first data link 2611a′, and the second RAN 2629b is connected to the shared Backhaul link 2605 via a second data link 2611b′.
In a third possible implementation of the method just described, the first Backhaul transmission 2611a is transported from a first Core Network data source 2602a′ belonging to the first Operator to the first RAN 2629a using a first network Tunnel passing through the shared Backhaul link 2605.
In a fourth possible implementation of the method just described, the first RAN 2629a and the second RAN 2629b are generated by a single wireless Base Station (BS) 2610.
In this fourth possible implementation of the method described above for effectively sharing a Backhaul link between at least two Radio Access Networks (RANs) belonging to different Operators where at least two RANs are generated by a single wireless Base Station, a further possible implementation is that the shared Backhaul link 2605 is directly connected to the wireless BS 2610.
In a fifth possible implementation of the method just described, the rate at which the first Backhaul transmission 2611a is received via the shared Backhaul link 2605 is increased at the expense of the rate at which the second Backhaul transmission 2611b is received via the shared Backhaul link, such that the first and second Backhaul transmissions 2611a & 2611b via the shared Backhaul link 2605 together still substantially do not exceed the predetermined Backhaul data rate.
In a sixth possible implementation of the method just described, the controlling of the rate at which the first Backhaul transmission 2611a is received is done by the first RAN 2629a, using packet shaping techniques applied at the RAN level.
In a seventh possible implementation of the method just described, the controlling of the rate at which the first Backhaul transmission 2611a is received is done by the first RAN 2629a, using packet shaping techniques applied at the shared Backhaul link 2605 level.
In an eighth possible implementation of the method just described, the system indicates to the first RAN 2629a utilization levels of the shared Backhaul link 2605, and the rate at which the first Backhaul transmission 2611a is received is controlled according to such indication.
In one possible implementation of the method just described, the system dynamically increases the rate at which the first set of data 2511a is received at the expense of the rate at which the second set of data 2511b is received, such that overloading of the shared Backhaul link 2605 is prevented.
In this Detailed Description, numerous specific details are set forth. However, the embodiments of the invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances, well-known hardware, software, materials, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure the understanding of this description. In this description, references to “one embodiment” mean that the feature being referred to may be included in at least one embodiment of the invention. Moreover, separate references to “one embodiment” or “some embodiments” in this description do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Illustrated embodiments are not mutually exclusive, unless so stated and except as will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the invention may include any variety of combinations and/or integrations of the features of the embodiments described herein. Although some embodiments may depict serial operations, the embodiments may perform certain operations in parallel and/or in different orders from those depicted. Moreover, the use of repeated reference numerals and/or letters in the text and/or drawings is for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or configurations discussed. The embodiments are not limited in their applications to the details of the order or sequence of steps of operation of methods, or to details of implementation of devices, set in the description, drawings, or examples. Moreover, individual blocks illustrated in the figures may be functional in nature and do not necessarily correspond to discrete hardware elements. While the methods disclosed herein have been described and shown with reference to particular steps performed in a particular order, it is understood that these steps may be combined, sub-divided, or reordered to form an equivalent method without departing from the teachings of the embodiments. Accordingly, unless specifically indicated herein, the order and grouping of the steps is not a limitation of the embodiments. Furthermore, methods and mechanisms of the embodiments will sometimes be described in singular form for clarity. However, some embodiments may include multiple iterations of a method or multiple instantiations of a mechanism unless noted otherwise. For example, when an interface is disclosed in an embodiment, the scope of the embodiment is intended to cover also the use of multiple interfaces. Certain features of the embodiments, which may have been, for clarity, described in the context of separate embodiments, may also be provided in various combinations in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features of the embodiments, which may have been, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any suitable sub-combination. Embodiments described in conjunction with specific examples are presented by way of example, and not limitation. Moreover, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the embodiments. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. application Ser. No. 13/290,100, filed Nov. 6, 2011, now allowed, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/536,103, filed Sep. 19, 2011, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
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