Method for controlling radio frequency emissions

Abstract

The present subject matter relates to a method for controlling radio frequency (RF) transmissions, the method comprising: maintaining a number of power cells below a maximum number during a time interval, wherein a power cell in the power cell indicates an amount of radiated power used for transmission of data. Data elements to be transmitted may be received during the time interval. A number of power cells representing an amount of radiated power used for transmission of the data elements may be determined. The data elements may be transmitted depending on the number of power cells currently maintained and the determined number. If the data element is transmitted, the number of power cells currently maintained may be reduced by the determined number of power cells.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Various example embodiments relate to computer networking and, more particularly, to methods for controlling radio frequency emissions. Background Art

[0002] Manufacturers or other legal entities placing base stations on the market must comply with international standards and local regulations regarding radio frequency (RF) exposure. International standards and local regulations require that time-averaged RF exposure be maintained below defined limits. However, with the introduction of beamforming in 4G and 5G mobile technologies, the strength and direction of RF emitted by radio base stations changes dynamically based on user traffic and user equipment (UE) location within the cell area. Summary of the invention

[0003] Example embodiments provide a method for controlling radio frequency (RF) transmission, the method comprising: maintaining a number of power cells below a maximum number during a time interval, wherein a power cell in the power cells indicates an amount of radiated power used for transmission of data, receiving a data element to be transmitted during the time interval, determining a number of power cells indicating an amount of radiated power used for transmission of the data element, transmitting the data element depending on the number of power cells currently maintained and the determined number, and reducing the number of power cells currently maintained by the determined number of power cells if the data element is transmitted.

[0004] According to another exemplary embodiment, an apparatus for controlling radio frequency (RF) transmission includes at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least perform: maintaining the number of power cells below a maximum number during a time interval, wherein the power cells in the power cells indicate the amount of radiated power used for transmission of data, receiving a data element to be transmitted during the time interval, determining the number of power cells representing the amount of radiated power used for transmission of the data element; transmitting the data element depending on the number of power cells currently maintained and the determined number, and if the data element is transmitted, reducing the number of power cells currently maintained by the determined number of power cells.

[0005] According to another example embodiment, a computer program includes instructions stored thereon for performing at least the following operations: maintaining a number of power cells below a maximum number during a time interval, wherein a power cell in the power cells indicates an amount of radiated power used for transmission of data, receiving a data element to be transmitted during the time interval, determining a number of power cells representing the amount of radiated power used for transmission of the data element, transmitting the data element depending on the number of power cells currently maintained and the determined number, and if the data element is transmitted, reducing the number of power cells currently maintained by the determined number of power cells. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the examples, and are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification. In the drawings:

[0007] Figure 1 is a flow chart of a method for controlling RF transmission according to an example of the present subject matter;

[0008] Figure 2A depicts a diagram illustrating a method for managing a power unit according to an example of the present subject matter;

[0009] Figure 2B depicts a diagram illustrating a method for managing a power unit according to an example of the present subject matter;

[0010] Figure 3 is a flow chart of a method for controlling RF transmission according to an example of the present subject matter;

[0011] Figure 4 depicts a diagram illustrating a method for managing a power unit according to an example of the present subject matter;

[0012] Figure 5 is a flow chart of a method for determining a unit accumulation rate according to an example of the present subject matter;

[0013] Fig. 6A depicts a block diagram depicting two ring buffers according to the present subject matter;

[0014] Figure 6B depicts a block diagram depicting states of a ring buffer during execution of an example of the present subject matter;

[0015] Figure 6C depicts a block diagram depicting states of a ring buffer during execution of an example of the present subject matter;

[0016] Fig.6D depicts a block diagram depicting states of a ring buffer during execution of an example of the present subject matter;

[0017] Fig. 6Edepicts a block diagram depicting states of a ring buffer during execution of an example of the present subject matter;

[0018] Fig. 6F depicts a block diagram depicting states of a ring buffer during execution of an example of the present subject matter;

[0019] Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating a method for transmitting data elements according to an example of the present subject matter;

[0020] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating a method for transmitting data elements according to an example of the present subject matter;

[0021] Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a method for transmitting data elements according to an example of the present subject matter;

[0022] Fig.10 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an apparatus according to examples of the present subject matter. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] In the following description, specific details such as specific architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. are set forth for purposes of explanation rather than limitation in order to provide a thorough understanding of the examples. However, it is clear to those skilled in the art that the disclosed subject matter can be practiced in other illustrative examples that depart from these specific details. In some cases, detailed descriptions of well-known devices and / or methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description with unnecessary details.

[0024] Around base stations, RF compliance boundaries have been defined based on static RF emissions. The present subject matter can enable rethinking of earlier defined RF exposure compliance boundaries to take into account the dynamics of space and the intensity of beamforming. The present subject matter can provide efficient algorithms to maintain the time-averaged RF exposure below the required limits and thereby meet standards and regulations.

[0025] For example, a network node is provided. The network node includes an apparatus according to the present subject matter. The network node may be a base station. The network node may be a node of a 5G network. The network node may be configured to transmit data elements. In another example, the apparatus may be outside the network node having an interface to the network node, for example, for receiving data elements from the network node via the interface.

[0026] The power unit may represent an amount of power, for example, a power unit may be 10 W. For example, if the power unit is 10 W and the number of power units currently maintained is 100, the equivalent amount of power represented by the number of current power units is 1000 W. In another example, the power unit may represent an amount of effective isotropically radiated power (EIPR) or effective radiated power (EPR), for example, a power unit is 20 EPRs.

[0027] Power cells may be stored in a buffer such as a bucket. The size of the bucket may be determined by a maximum number, i.e., the bucket may hold at most a number of power cells equal to the maximum number. The bucket may be empty if no power cells are currently maintained. The bucket may be partially full or full. If a new power cell is to be stored in the bucket when the bucket is full, an error may occur or the power cell may be discarded. Power cells may be stored / used as tokens in the bucket. Power cells may be stored in the corresponding area of ​​the bucket. The bucket may enable a power cell counter. This may enable a simple mechanism to manage high priority services such as public safety or emergency information: the data transmission budget may be exceeded, or a portion of the budget may be reserved, or a combination of the two may be used. Reservation may be achieved by defining a minimum power cell inflow rate and configuring a bucket size that is lower than the configured power cell inflow rate. This may ensure that there is always capacity available for high priority services and that the bucket limit is not exceeded.

[0028] In another example, the power cells may be stored in a container. Each element of the container may include a power cell. The size of the container may be fixed to a maximum number. The container may hold at most a number of power cells equal to the maximum number. Adding more power cells to the container after the container reaches its size may fail.

[0029] The present subject matter may enable flexible scalability. Flexible configuration and dimensioning may allow the method to be adapted to granularities smaller than the cell level, such as cell segments or solid angles.

[0030] A data element can be a plurality of digits. For example, a data element can be an electrical signal representing a data message having a defined number of bits stored in a memory. In one example, a data element can be the smallest amount of information that can be transmitted at one time. In another example, a data element can include a plurality of sub-elements. For example, a sub-element can be received as part of a data stream.

[0031] Determining the number of power cells representing the amount of radiated power used for the transmission of the data element may be performed, for example, as follows. The amount of radiated power may be the power required by the RF source / radio transmitter to transmit the data element. For example, the amount of radiated power may be the power required by the radio transmitter to transmit the data element in the direction of the strongest beam of the radio transmitter. That is, the power required to transmit the data element may be defined using the direction of the maximum signal strength ("main lobe") of the radiation pattern of the radio transmitter.

[0032] Maintaining the number of power cells below a maximum number (maintaining the number of power cells to be less than or at most equal to the maximum number) within the time interval is performed so that the maximum number is not exceeded during the time interval.

[0033] Preferably, the maintaining comprises: dividing the time interval into a plurality of frames; and increasing the number of power cells using a corresponding cell accumulation rate during each frame of the time interval.

[0034] The unit accumulation rate is the number of power cells per unit time. For example, the unit accumulation rate can be the number of power cells per frame. For example, the time interval can be a current time interval during which the method can be performed, such as a current week. The frame of the time interval can be a day of the week. Maintaining the number of power cells below a maximum number within the time interval can be performed by determining the accumulation rate based on at least the maximum number and the duration of the time interval. The maximum number provides a first constraint on the determination of the unit accumulation rate.

[0035] For example, the cell accumulation rate can be equal to the maximum number divided by the number of frames in the time interval, for example, if the maximum number is 700, the rate in each frame (day) can be 100 power cells per frame. Each day of the week, 100 power cells can be added, for example, on the fourth day, if no data transmission has occurred in the first three days, the cumulative number is 400. In one example, if 700 power cells are required to receive a data element to be transmitted on the fourth day, the rate for the fourth day can be increased so that an additional 300 power cells can be added and the data element can be transmitted; however, this reaches the maximum value of 700 allowed per week, so cells cannot be added on the next few days, the fifth, sixth and seventh days of this week. In another example, the data element can wait until the weekend to have an accumulation of 700 power cells in order to be transmitted. In another example, if a burst arrives on the first day and requires all 700 power cells in the week, 700 power cells can be used on the first day, and there are no remaining power cells on the remaining days of the week, for example, a threshold can be added to always reserve some power cells for the remaining duration of the time interval. This may allow bursty traffic to be transmitted at up to a certain burst rate to avoid exceeding the allowed maximum within the required time interval.

[0036] The example of week is used only to simplify the description, but is not limited thereto. The time interval can be expressed in different time units, such as hours, seconds, minutes, etc.

[0037] This example may implement a systematic and efficient method for controlling RF transmissions during time intervals.

[0038] According to one example, the cell accumulation rate is a predefined constant rate. For example, if the maximum number is 700 power cells, the cell accumulation rate may be 100 power cells per day, so that every day of the week, 100 power cells may be added to the current accumulated number of power cells. Having a constant rate may save processing resources that would otherwise be required for dynamic changes in the rate.

[0039] According to an example, the method further comprises repeating the control of the RF transmission in one or more time intervals after the time interval. This can achieve continuous control of the RF transmission. The time interval can be a sliding window sliding a predefined sliding interval, for example, the sliding interval can be equal to a frame. The sliding window can be controlled not to exceed a maximum number.

[0040] According to one example, repeating control of RF transmission within a current time interval includes: for each current frame of the current time interval, determining a unit accumulation rate using the number of power units reduced during a frame of a previous (previous) time interval corresponding to the frame, and increasing the number of power units during the frame using the determined unit accumulation rate.

[0041] For example, the history of what happened last week can be used to dynamically determine the unit accumulation rate for this week. For example, if 500 power cells were used for data transmission on the fifth day of the previous week, the accumulation rate for the fifth day of this week is 500 power cells on the fifth day. In addition to the first constraint for determining the unit accumulation rate for the remaining days of this week, this also provides a second constraint. That is, the rate for the fifth day must be 500 power cells, and in addition, the maximum number of power cells this week should not exceed 700 power cells. Therefore, after the first week, the rate for the second week can depend on the usage of the power cells in the first week.

[0042] This can save processing resources such as storage resources because power cells will not be maintained in the device for a long time, for example, 500 power cells are only added on the fifth day of the week, so less than 200 cells may be accumulated in the device in the first four days of the week.

[0043] According to one example, the determined cell accumulation rate is equal to the rate at which the number of power cells is reduced.

[0044] According to one example, the method also includes providing a first circular buffer and a second circular buffer, wherein the first circular buffer has a first part and a second part, each part having a number of elements corresponding to the number of frames in the time interval, and the second circular buffer has a number of elements corresponding to the number of frames in the time interval, wherein each element of the first part represents the number of power cells available during the corresponding frame, the second part includes a copy of the first part, and each element of the second circular buffer represents the reduced number of power cells in the corresponding frame of the time interval, wherein determining the cell accumulation rate includes determining an element of the second part corresponding to the current frame, and using the number of power cells represented by the element for each frame as the cell accumulation rate.

[0045] This may enable automatic execution of the method. This may save processing time that would otherwise be needed to temporarily determine the unit accumulation rate for each time interval. The first buffer may enable the rate that can be used in each current frame of the time interval to be obtained based on what happened in the previous time interval.

[0046] According to an example, transmitting includes transmitting the data element if the number of currently maintained power cells is higher than or equal to the determined number of power cells, otherwise waiting until the number of maintained power cells reaches the determined number of power cells to enable transmission of the data element.

[0047] In another example, if the difference between the determined number of power cells and the currently maintained number of power cells is higher than a predetermined threshold, the data element may be transmitted, otherwise the data element may not be transmitted.

[0048] This threshold (or reservation) can serve high priority traffic, such as public safety or emergency information. For example, in the case where the bucket is no longer completely full due to the use of more power cells than the cell accumulation rate to transmit a data element, the threshold provides a sufficient number of power cells in the bucket so that all needs for other data elements can be provided. This can be done by limiting the number of power cells authorized for each data element to avoid one data element occupying all maintained power cells.

[0049] According to an example, the method further comprises discarding the data element in response to determining that the waiting period for performing the waiting is longer than a predefined maximum waiting time threshold. This can save processing resources in the device that would otherwise be needed to maintain the data element waiting for a long period of time.

[0050] According to one example, the data element includes a plurality of data sub-elements. The method further includes sorting the plurality of sub-elements, and performing transmission of the data element depending on the number of currently maintained power cells and the determined number and individually reducing the number of currently maintained power cells for the plurality of sub-elements in the sorted order. This can achieve efficient management of data transmission when a plurality of data sub-elements compete for transmission and the number of maintained power cells may not be sufficient to serve all of them.

[0051] According to one example, the sorting is performed using a reception time of the data sub-element and / or a service priority value of the data sub-element, the service priority value of the data sub-element indicating a priority of transmission of the data sub-element.

[0052] According to one example, receiving also includes receiving another data element to be transmitted, wherein each of the data element and the other data element includes multiple data sub-elements, wherein transmitting the data element depending on the number of power cells currently maintained and the determined number includes: transmitting the received data element by determining the number of power cells representing the amount of radiation power required for transmission of the data sub-element for each data sub-element of the data element, and transmitting the same number of sub-elements of the two data elements based on the number of power cells currently maintained.

[0053] This may result in that for all data elements, the same number of sub-elements are transmitted. The power units are equally granted data elements, so for each data element, the same number of sub-elements may be transmitted.

[0054] These examples can achieve EIRP budget balancing in multiple radio technology applications. In such applications, the EIRP budgets of all technologies must be considered. Each frequency and technology contributes a different share to the overall EIRP budget.

[0055] According to one example, each of the maintained power cells indicates a constant or variable amount of power used for data transmission. For example, to indicate a variable amount of power, the power cell may be changed for each time interval, e.g., in the first week, the power cell may be 10 watts, in the second week, the power cell may be 20 watts, etc. This may further improve the control aspects of the present subject matter.

[0056] In another example, a method includes maintaining a number of power cells below a maximum number during a time interval, wherein a power cell in the power cells indicates an amount of radiated power used to transmit data by the power cell; receiving a data element to be transmitted during the time interval; determining a number of power cells for transmission of the data element, the number of power cells indicating an amount of radiated power used for transmission of the data element; transmitting the data element depending on the number of power cells currently maintained and the determined number; and reducing the number of power cells currently maintained by the determined number of power cells if the data element is to be transmitted.

[0057] Figure 1 1 is a flow chart of a method for controlling RF transmission according to an example of the present subject matter. For example, the method can be used to control the RF transmission of a base station during a time interval. This may be useful because the number of macrocell mobile phone base station antennas that emit RF electromagnetic radiation in residential areas has increased significantly.

[0058] In step 101, the number of power units may be maintained below a maximum number within a time interval, for example, the maximum number may be reached but not exceeded within the time interval. A power unit in a power unit indicates the amount of radiated power used to transmit data by the power unit. For example, when transmitting information over an air interface of a base station, a power unit may be equivalent to the transmitted RF or power demand. A power unit may be quantified, for example, according to an equivalent isotropic radio power (EIPR) or an equivalent radio power (EPR).

[0059] The maximum number can be determined based on recommendations of public exposure guidelines for RF radiation. A maximum number is defined for the time interval. For example, Figure 2A The maintenance step 101 is shown. The time interval may be one week 201.1-N. The time interval may be in Figure 2A This week is called Week 1.

[0060] The number of power cells may be accumulated during a week using a predefined cell accumulation rate such that the number of accumulated power cells is maintained below a maximum number at any point in time during the week. For example, if the maximum number is 70 power cells per week, the power cells may be accumulated such that the total number of power cells accumulated in a week is less than <= 70. To this end, a week may be split into frames 203 (e.g., days), and in each day of a week 201.1, some power cells may be accumulated. Figure 2A As shown, the same number of power units (e.g., 10) are added every day, for example, as tokens to the bucket. Figure 2AIn the example, on the first day, the current accumulated number of power units 205 is 10, on the second day, the current accumulated number of power units is 205, and so on. This ensures that at the end of the week, the current number of power units 205 is 70. To simplify the description of step 101, Figure 2A It is shown that none of the power units are used for data transmission.

[0061] In another example, the unit accumulation rate can be user defined, for example, the user can define the number of power units to be added each day. For example, the number of power units on the fourth day is 30 power units accumulated in the first three days, and 10 power units acquired using the rate associated with the fourth day. In addition, the fourth day can also receive the remaining 30 power units for the week. This may result in the remaining days of the week (i.e., the fifth / sixth / seventh day) having nothing left. That is, since the maximum number of 70 has been reached on the fourth day, no power units are added in the last three days.

[0062] For example, a container may be created where each element of the container may include added power cells. The size of the container may be fixed to a maximum number. In this way, attempts to add more power cells after reaching its size may fail. The capacity of a container is equivalent to an RF transmit or RF transmission power budget, which is the maximum allowed RF transmit / RF transmission power in a time interval.

[0063] In another example, the power units may be accumulated in a single number, for example, the power amount of each accumulated power unit may be added to the current power amount 205 .

[0064] During the current time interval, data elements 207 to be transmitted may be received in step 103. The current time interval may be, for example, the first week 201.1. Figure 2B At the time of receiving the data element 207, the current number of power units 205 is 40 power units, as shown in FIG. Figure 2B shown.

[0065] The number of power units used for transmission of the data element may be determined in step 105, wherein the number of power units represents the amount of radiated power used for transmission of the data element. Figure 2B As shown, the transmission of a data element may, for example, radiate a power equivalent to 30 power units.

[0066] Data element 207 may be transmitted in step 107 depending on the number of power cells currently maintained and the determined number. For example, a comparison may be made between the determined number and the number of power cells currently maintained. Based on the comparison result, data element 207 may be transmitted. Figure 2BFor example, the determined number of 30 power cells may be compared to the currently maintained number of power cells 205 (ie, 40 power cells) on the fourth day.

[0067] In one example, if the determined number of power cells is less than or equal to the number of power cells currently maintained 205, the data element may be transferred.

[0068] In another example, the data element may be transmitted only if the difference between the determined number of power cells and the currently maintained number of power cells 205 is above a predefined threshold. This threshold may provide services for high priority traffic such as public safety or emergency information.

[0069] Figures 7 to 9 Further examples of transmission of data element 207 are provided.

[0070] If a data element is transmitted, the number of currently maintained power cells may be reduced by the determined number of power cells in step 109. For example, the reduction step 109 may be performed after or in parallel with the transmission of the data element. Figure 2B For example, 30 power units can be derived from the 40 power units currently available on the fourth day.

[0071] Figure 3 is a flow chart of a method for controlling RF transmission according to examples of the present subject matter. Figure 3 Including the method of Figure 2. In addition, Figure 3 Steps 101-109 are repeated for other time intervals. This allows for continuous monitoring of RF emissions. The time intervals are continuous time intervals, such as forming consecutive weeks in a year, consecutive days in a month, etc.

[0072] according to Figure 2B Examples and examples Figure 4 As shown, the first execution of steps 101-109 results in the current number of accumulated power cells 205 being 40 power cells. Repeating steps 101-109 for a subsequent time interval 201.2 (second week) may use a cell accumulation rate for accumulating power cells during the second week. The cell accumulation rate may be defined based on how the current accumulated power cells 205 change during the first week, for example due to data transmission.

[0073] For example, during the first week, data has been transmitted on the fourth day of the week. This can be used to define the number of power cells to be added on the fourth day of this week 201.2 (i.e., the second week). For example, it can be determined that the same number of power cells 30 used for data transmission on the fourth day of the first week can be available on the fourth day of this week. That is, the unit accumulation rate of the second week may be subject to two constraints. The first constraint requires a maximum of 70 power cells per week. The second constraint requires that there must be 30 available power cells on the fourth day. The second constraint can be based on the fact that the data transmission behavior during one week may be similar in the following weeks. For example, on the first day, 6 power cells can be added, on the second day, 10 power cells can be added, and on the third day, 7 power cells can be added. If these power cells are not used at all in the first three days of this week, 7 power cells can be added on the fourth day of this week to reach 30 power cells, leaving only 40 power cells to be added in the remaining days of this week. For example, if 23 power units have been used for data transmission on the three days, 30 power units may need to be added on the fourth day, leaving only 17 power units to be added on the remaining days of the week.

[0074] In another example, a third constraint may be used. The third constraint may require that the remaining power units from the previous week be used as the number of power units for the first day of the current week. Figure 4 For example, 40 power units can be added on the first day of the week. If, for example, all these 40 power units are already used on the first day of the week, this may leave only 30 power units due to the first constraint. The second constraint requires that 30 power units be added on the fourth day of the week. Therefore, no power units may be added on the other 5 days of the week. If the third constraint does not allow finding a rate for the week, it may not be used.

[0075] Figure 5 is a flow chart of a method for determining a unit accumulation rate according to an example of the present subject matter. 6A to 6F describe Figure 5 .

[0076] In step 501, a first ring buffer 611 and a second ring buffer 612 may be provided. The first ring buffer 611 has a first portion 611A and a second portion 611B. Each of the first portion and the second portion has a number of elements corresponding to the number of frames in the time interval. In addition, the first ring buffer is provided with an end element 613, which stores the power cells that have been used in the current time frame. For example, assuming Figure 6CThe element b1 shown corresponds to the current time frame and 15 power cells have been used for data transmission. This leaves only 5 power cells in element b1, and the end element 613 will store the 15 cells derived from b1. Once b1 is shifted, the value of b1, 5, will be combined with the contents of the end element 613 to obtain 15+5, as Fig.6D shown.

[0077] The first ring buffer can store the number of power cells corresponding to the rate of the corresponding time frame and maintained at each time frame of the time interval in which the RF transmission has been controlled. The first part (front part) 611A represents the amount of power cells available during the period of the time interval to be authorized. The second part (back part) 611B acts as a "mirror" or "copy" of the front part to retain the power cell content history within the time interval.

[0078] The second ring buffer 612 has a number of elements corresponding to the number of frames in the time interval. Figure 2A For example, the first ring may have 15 elements and the second ring may have 7 elements, corresponding to the days of the week.

[0079] The first ring buffer may be initialized in step 503. The elements of the first ring buffer may be in, for example, Figure 3 Initialized before the execution of the method begins, the unit accumulation rate is such that Figure 3 Steps 101-109 can be performed for the first time and initially defined. For example, the unit accumulation rate can be defined so that 20 power units are added in each time frame (day) of the first week 201.1. Therefore, the elements of the first part and the second part can each include the value 20. This can enable access to meaningful values ​​of the rate. In another example, any value can be used to initialize the first ring buffer 611.

[0080] After initializing the first ring buffer 611, the two buffers 611 and 613 can be referenced Figure 3 The method for controlling RF transmission described herein is used during the process. That is, for each processed time frame in which steps 101-109 are performed for the first time / initial time in the first week, the buffer elements of the first buffer 611 and the second buffer 612 are shifted by 1, and their contents are used to add power cells in the time frame processed before the shift. The contents of the buffer elements of the first buffer 611 and the second buffer 612 can be updated / changed (before they are shifted) according to the number of power cells that have been potentially used for data transmission during the processed time frame.

[0081] For example, Figure 6BAs shown, for the current time frame, if data is transmitted during the time frame, two elements of the first ring buffer and the second ring buffer can be modified respectively. The two elements are element b1 and the first element 614 of the second ring buffer. Element b1 can be used to determine the number of power cells that define the rate within the corresponding time frame of the previous week. After processing elements b1 and 614, the two buffers can be shifted by one element so that element b2 of the first ring buffer and the first element 614 of the second ring buffer become the current elements to be processed in the current time frame.

[0082] Figure 6C The status of the two buffers on the first day of the first week is shown. On this day, 15 power units are used for data transmission. These 15 power units will then be added to the first element 614 and the end element 613 of the second ring buffer 612, as shown in FIG. Figure 6C shown. Figure 6C-6F The second ring buffer contains only one element with the value 15, because according to this example, the data is transferred only once during one time frame of the first week.

[0083] Fig.6D The status of the two buffers 611 and 612 on the second day of the first week 201 . 1 is shown. Figure 6C The element b1 is shifted because it corresponds to the first day, and the element 613 is shifted so that they add their contents (15+5), as Fig.6D shown.

[0084] Fig. 6E The status of the two buffers 611 and 612 on the seventh day of the first week 201.1 is shown.

[0085] Fig. 6F The status of the two buffers 611 and 612 is shown after the first execution of steps 101 - 109 is completed in the first week 201 . 1 . Fig. 6F The two buffers can be used for the next iteration of method steps 101-109, for example, the second week 201.2. For example, for the first time frame of the second week to be processed, the current content of the end element b1 can be used to determine the cell accumulation rate of the first time frame of the second week, which can be 20.

[0086] Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating a method for transmitting data elements according to examples of the present subject matter.

[0087] There are three incoming traffic flows 707, 708, and 709 with certain power unit requirements. Each traffic flow can represent a data element. And the content of each flow can be a sub-element of a data element (for example, a sub-element may require a power unit in order to be transmitted). The power units are indicated on the left side of the flow as entering the bucket one power unit after another. And the power unit counter 701 has reached its limit, or there are not enough tokens or power units for all flows, and the transmission of additional traffic flows may be limited. Therefore, there is a "competition" for power units. Traffic flow 707 requires four power units. Traffic flow 708 requires three power units. Traffic flow 709 requires five power units.

[0088] If several traffic flows compete for the remaining number of power units, priority processing may be introduced. Figure 7 The priority processing is based on "first come, first served". The last one gets the rest, or even nothing. Figure 7 , the leftmost flow 707 represents the first incoming flow and the rightmost flow 709 is the last incoming flow. The arrows below the counter 701 show the traffic flows after they get their cell requirements from the bucket. It indicates that only a portion of the last flow is transmitted because it has the lowest priority and the other flows have already used most of the available power cells.

[0089] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating a method for transmitting data elements according to examples of the present subject matter.

[0090] There are three incoming traffic flows 807, 808, and 809 that have certain power unit requirements. And the power unit counter 701 has reached its limit, not enough tokens left for all flows, and the transmission of additional traffic flows must be restricted. Therefore, there is a "competition" for power units. Traffic flow 807 requires four power units. Traffic flow 808 requires three power units. Traffic flow 809 requires five power units.

[0091] Figure 8 Priority handling is based on service priority. There can be a service with a higher priority than another service. High priority services are served first, and lower priority service flows must compete for the remaining tokens. Figure 8 In the figure, the rightmost service flow 809 has the highest priority and the leftmost service flow 807 has the lowest priority.

[0092] The arrows below the counter 701 show the traffic flow after the requirements are taken out of the bucket according to the priority. Therefore, the data element with the highest priority can first obtain the power unit it needs as soon as it is available. Other data elements must wait (they are delayed) until a sufficient number of power units are available.

[0093] Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a method for transmitting data elements according to examples of the present subject matter.

[0094] There are three incoming traffic flows 907, 908, and 909 with certain power unit requirements. And the power unit counter 701 has reached its limit, not enough tokens left for all flows, and the transmission of additional traffic flows must be restricted. Therefore, there is a "competition" for power units. Traffic flow 907 requires four power units. Traffic flow 908 requires three power units. Traffic flow 909 requires five power units.

[0095] Fig. 9 Priority processing requires that the remaining power units be granted equally to each flow 907, 908, and 909. Fig. 9 In the example, each outgoing service has the same number of power units.

[0096] Fig.10 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an apparatus according to examples of the present subject matter.

[0097] exist Fig.10 , a circuit block diagram illustrating the configuration of a device 1070 is shown, which is configured to implement at least a portion of the present subject matter. It should be noted that, in addition to those described below in this document, Fig.10The device 1070 shown may also include several additional elements or functions, which are omitted here for simplicity because they are not necessary for understanding. In addition, the device may also be another device with similar functions, such as a chipset, a chip, a module, etc., which may also be a part of the device or attached to the device as a separate element, etc. The device 1070 may include a processing function or a processor 1071, such as a CPU, etc., which executes instructions given by a program related to a flow control mechanism, etc. The processor 1071 may include one or more processing parts dedicated to a specific process as described below, or the process may be run in a single processor. For example, a part for performing such a specific process may also be provided as a discrete element or in one or more additional processors or processing parts, such as in a physical processor (such as a CPU) or in several physical entities. Reference numeral 1072 represents a transceiver or input / output (I / O) unit (interface) connected to the processor 1071. The I / O unit 1072 may be used to communicate with one or more other network elements, entities, terminals, etc. The I / O unit 1072 may be a combined unit including communication devices facing several network elements, or may include a distributed structure with multiple different interfaces for different network elements. Reference numeral 1073 denotes a memory that can be used, for example, to store data and programs to be executed by the processor 1071 and / or as a working storage device of the processor 1071.

[0098] The processor 1071 is configured to perform processing related to the above-mentioned subject matter. In particular, the device 1070 can be configured to perform a combination of Figure 1 , Figure 3 and Figure 5 At least a portion of the method described.

[0099] Processor 1071 is configured to maintain the number of power cells below a maximum number during a time interval, wherein a power cell in the power cells indicates an amount of radiated power used for transmission of data, receive a data element to be transmitted during the time interval, determine the number of power cells representing the amount of radiated power used for transmission of the data element; transmit the data element depending on the number of power cells currently maintained and the determined number, and if the data element is transmitted, reduce the number of power cells currently maintained by the determined number of power cells.

Claims

1. An apparatus for controlling radio frequency transmission, the apparatus comprising at least one processor; and at least one memory comprising computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code being configured to, together with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least perform: maintaining a number of power cells below a maximum number during a time interval, wherein a power cell in the power cells indicates an amount of radiated power used for transmission of data; receiving a data element to be transmitted during the time interval; determining a number of said power cells representing an amount of radiated power for said transmission of said data element; transmitting said data element depending on said number of power cells currently maintained and said determined number; if the data element is transmitted, reducing the number of power cells currently maintained by the determined number of power cells; as well as Repeating the control of the RF transmission in one or more time intervals after the time interval, wherein repeating the control of the RF transmission in a current time interval includes: for each current frame of the current time interval, determining a unit accumulation rate using the number of power units reduced during a frame of a previous time interval corresponding to the frame, and increasing the number of power units during the frame using the determined unit accumulation rate.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is further caused, at least in part, to perform: dividing the time interval into a plurality of frames; The number of power cells is increased during each frame of the time interval using a corresponding cell accumulation rate.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the apparatus is also at least partially caused to perform: if the number of power cells currently maintained is higher than or equal to the determined number of power cells, transmitting the data element, otherwise waiting until the number of power cells maintained reaches the determined number of power cells to enable the transmission of the data element.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the data element comprises a plurality of data sub-elements, wherein the apparatus is also at least partially caused to perform: sorting the plurality of sub-elements, and transmitting the data element depending on the number of power units currently maintained and the determined number, and reducing the number of power units currently maintained individually for the plurality of sub-elements in the sorted order.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the receiving further comprises receiving another data element to be transmitted; each of the data element and the another data element comprises a plurality of data sub-elements, wherein transmitting the data element depending on the number of power cells currently maintained and the determined number comprises: The received data element is transmitted by determining, for each data sub-element of the data element, the number of power cells representing the amount of radiated power used for the transmission of the data sub-element, and transmitting the same number of sub-elements of the data element and the other data element based on the number of power cells currently maintained.

6. A method for controlling radio frequency transmission, comprising: maintaining a number of power cells below a maximum number during a time interval, wherein a power cell in the power cells indicates an amount of radiated power used for transmission of data; receiving a data element to be transmitted during the time interval; determining a number of said power cells representing an amount of radiated power for said transmission of said data element; transmitting said data element depending on said number of power cells currently maintained and said determined number; if the data element is transmitted, reducing the number of power cells currently maintained by the determined number of power cells; as well as Repeating the control of the RF transmission in one or more time intervals after the time interval, wherein repeating the control of the RF transmission in a current time interval includes: for each current frame of the current time interval, determining a unit accumulation rate using the number of power units reduced during a frame of a previous time interval corresponding to the frame, and increasing the number of power units during the frame using the determined unit accumulation rate.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the maintaining comprises: dividing the time interval into a plurality of frames; The number of power cells is increased during each frame of the time interval using a corresponding cell accumulation rate. The method of claim 7 , wherein the unit accumulation rate is a predefined constant rate.

9. The method according to claim 6 further includes providing a first circular buffer and a second circular buffer, wherein the first circular buffer has a first part and a second part, each of the parts has a number of elements corresponding to the number of frames in the time interval, and the second circular buffer has a number of elements corresponding to the number of frames in the time interval, wherein each element of the first part respectively represents the number of power cells available during the corresponding frame, the second part includes a copy of the first part, and each element of the second circular buffer represents the reduced number of power cells in the corresponding frame of the time interval, wherein the determination of the cell accumulation rate includes determining an element of the second part corresponding to the current frame and using the number of power cells represented by the element for each frame as the cell accumulation rate.

10. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the transmitting comprises: If the number of currently maintained power cells is higher than or equal to the determined number of power cells, the data element is transmitted, otherwise waiting until the number of maintained power cells reaches the determined number of power cells to enable the transmission of the data element.

11. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the data element comprises a plurality of data sub-elements, and the method further comprises: The plurality of sub-elements are sorted, and the data element is transmitted depending on the number of currently maintained power cells and the determined number, and the number of currently maintained power cells is individually reduced for the plurality of sub-elements in the sorted order.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the sorting is performed using the reception time of the data sub-element and / or the business priority value of the data sub-element, the business priority value of the data sub-element indicating the priority of transmission of the data sub-element.

13. The method of any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the receiving further comprises receiving another data element to be transmitted; each of the data element and the another data element comprises a plurality of data sub-elements, wherein transmitting the data element depending on the number of power cells currently maintained and the determined number comprises: The received data element is transmitted by determining, for each data sub-element of the data element, the number of power cells representing the amount of radiated power required for the transmission of the data sub-element, and transmitting the data element and the same number of sub-elements of the other data element based on the number of power cells currently maintained.

14. A computer program product comprising instructions stored thereon, the instructions being configured to cause a processor to at least perform the following operations: maintaining a number of power cells below a maximum number during a time interval, wherein a power cell in the power cells indicates an amount of radiated power used for transmission of data; receiving a data element to be transmitted during the time interval; determining said number of power cells representing an amount of radiated power for said transmission of said data element; transmitting said data element depending on said number of power cells currently maintained and said determined number; if the data element is transmitted, reducing the number of power cells currently maintained by the determined number of power cells; as well as Repeating the control of the radio frequency transmission in one or more time intervals after the time interval, wherein repeating the control of the radio frequency transmission in the current time interval includes: for each current frame of the current time interval, determining a unit accumulation rate using the number of power units reduced during a frame of a previous time interval corresponding to the frame, and increasing the number of power units during the frame using the determined unit accumulation rate.

15. An apparatus comprising means for performing the method according to any one of claims 6 to 13.

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