Enhanced carrier degraded handling scheme

Abstract

A method and apparatus for handling a degraded carrier in a wireless communications network. The method provides for obtaining information on one or more faulty branch of a radio unit used for wireless communications in the wireless communications network, selecting the one or more faulty branch to be deactivated and deactivating the one or more faulty branch. The method further provides for instructing a baseband unit to insert zero data in carrier for each deactivated branch of the one or more faulty branch and sending information on degraded carrier status for branches of the radio unit, due to deactivated one or more branch.

Description

SPECIFICATIONENHANCED CARRIER DEGRADED HANDLING SCHEMETECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] Embodiments of the disclosure relate to the field of communications; and more specifically, to a scheme for handling a degraded carrier condition.BACKGROUND ART

[0002] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) unites a number of telecommunications standard developments, of which the 5thGeneration (5G) communications technology is the newest. 5G communications systems employ a new 5G core (5GC) and new radio access technology referred to as New Radio (NR). With the deployment of advance systems, operators and users demand uninterrupted and reliable communications systems. Therefore, as communications systems evolve using more sophisticated technology, the means of detecting faults and recovering from such faults become essential.

[0003] Today’s radio devices rely on multiple transmit and receive (TX / RX) paths to communicate with a variety of terminal devices. A radio access node, such as a base station (e.g., eNodeB, gNodeB) of a radio access network (RAN), or an access point, provides the transmission and / or reception interface for the terminal device. With many terminal devices connected to the radio node, as well as the use of multiple communications channels, such as multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), carrier aggregation, etc., it is imperative that all channels operate effectively.

[0004] One of the critical link in a wireless network is the link between a radio and its antenna, Many radios use multiple branches in a link between the radio unit and its associated antenna, which can be an antenna assembly, antenna array, etc., to convey signals between the radio and the antenna. Each branch of the link can be used to convey a carrier between the radio and the antenna. A fault or an interruption of signal transfer between the radio and the antenna can result in degraded carrier operation. That is, during operation, instead of a complete failure of all branches of the radio- antenna link, a radio may experience a fault in only one or some branch(es), while other branches are operative. This fault condition can result in a carrier loss between the radio and the antenna on that faulty branch(es), thus resulting in a degraded carrier operation.

[0005] In a typical scenario, after the carrier is activated, one or more branches of the TX / RX path can become faulty or disabled, so that not all carriers transfer between the radio and theantenna. In this situation, for recovery, carrier re-setup is triggered and the system performs the setup procedure to enable all branches. This resetting of all branches impacts performance, such as Key Performance Indicator (KPI), since the network is not actively communicating during the resetting period. In effect, customers do not desire the frequent disabling of the cell site. When a certain branch is disabled after the carrier is activated and reset triggered, a corresponding cell can be down for 5 - 20 sec. During this time, terminal devices cannot use the corresponding cell of this carrier.SUMMARY

[0006] Certain aspects of the present disclosure and their embodiments provide solutions to challenges noted above. In one aspect of the disclosed system, a method provides for handling a degraded carrier in a wireless communications network by obtaining information on one or more faulty branch of a radio unit used for wireless communications in the wireless communications network; selecting the one or more faulty branch to be deactivated; deactivating the one or more faulty branch; instructing a baseband unit to insert zero data in carrier for each deactivated branch of the one or more faulty branch; and sending information on degraded carrier status for branches of the radio unit, due to deactivated one or more branch.

[0007] In another aspect of the disclosed system, the branches of the radio unit are links between the radio unit and an antenna unit used with the radio unit for the wireless communications and the one or more faulty branch pertains to one or more of the links between the radio unit and the antenna unit.

[0008] In another aspect of the disclosed system, wherein the instructing the baseband unit to insert the zero data is performed by a unit performing carrier control.

[0009] In another aspect of the disclosed system, the obtaining the information on one or more faulty branch of the radio unit comprises obtaining the information from a transmit-receive resource control unit.

[0010] In another aspect of the disclosed system, the deactivating the one or more faulty branch further comprises deactivating one or more non-faulty active branch to conform to a setting permitting only a set number of active branches.

[0011] In another aspect of the disclosed system, the deactivating the one or more faulty branch further comprises deactivating one or more non-faulty active branch to conform to a setting permitting only a set number of active branches, wherein a permitted number is a number having a power of two.

[0012] In another aspect of the disclosed system, the method comprises cancelling insertion of the zero data for each deactivated branch, when each deactivated branch is enabled for reactivation.

[0013] In another aspect of the disclosed system, the baseband unit that is instructed to insert the zero data is a lower level baseband unit that performs baseband processing at a Layer 1 level.

[0014] In another aspect of the disclosed system, the baseband unit being instructed to insert the zero data is a lower level baseband unit located in the radio unit that communicates with an upper level baseband unit located elsewhere from the radio unit, in which the lower level baseband unit and the upper level baseband unit together perform baseband processing.

[0015] In another aspect of the disclosed system, when sending information on the degraded carrier status, further sending a unique naming identifier for the radio unit to identify the radio unit having the degraded carrier status.

[0016] In another aspect of the disclosed system, a network node provides for handling a degraded carrier in a wireless communications network, in which the network node is configured to: obtain information on one or more faulty branch of a radio unit used for wireless communications in the wireless communications network; select the one or more faulty branch to be deactivated; deactivate the one or more faulty branch; instruct a baseband unit to insert zero data in carrier for each deactivated branch of the one or more faulty branch; and send information on degraded carrier status for branches of the radio unit, due to deactivated one or more branch.

[0017] In another aspect of the disclosed system, the branches of the radio unit are links between the radio unit and an antenna unit used with the radio unit for the wireless communications and the one or more faulty branch pertains to one or more of the links between the radio unit and the antenna unit.

[0018] In another aspect of the disclosed system, a carrier control unit instructs the baseband unit to insert the zero data.

[0019] In another aspect of the disclosed system, to obtain the information on one or more faulty branch of the radio unit comprises to obtain the information from a transmit-receive resource control unit in the radio unit.

[0020] In another aspect of the disclosed system, to deactivate the one or more faulty branch comprises to deactivate one or more non-faulty active branch to conform to a setting permitting only a set number of active branches.

[0021] In another aspect of the disclosed system, to deactivate the one or more faulty branch comprises to deactivate one or more non-faulty active branch to conform to a setting permittingonly a set number of active branches, wherein a permitted number is a number having a power of two.

[0022] In another aspect of the disclosed system, the network node is further configured to cancel insertion of the zero data for each deactivated branch, when each deactivated branch is enabled for reactivation.

[0023] In another aspect of the disclosed system, where the baseband unit being instructed to insert the zero data is a lower level baseband unit that performs baseband processing at a Layer 1 level.

[0024] In another aspect of the disclosed system, the baseband unit being instructed to insert the zero data is a lower level baseband unit located in the radio unit that communicates with an upper level baseband unit located elsewhere from the radio unit, in which the lower level baseband unit and the upper level baseband unit together perform baseband processing.

[0025] In another aspect of the disclosed system, when sending information on the degraded carrier status, the network node is configured to send a unique naming identifier for the radio unit to identify the radio unit having the degraded carrier status.

[0026] In another aspect of the disclosed system, a computer program containing instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out a method that provides for handling a degraded carrier in a wireless communications network by obtaining information on one or more faulty branch of a radio unit used for wireless communications in the wireless communications network; selecting the one or more faulty branch to be deactivated; deactivating the one or more faulty branch; instructing a baseband unit to insert zero data in carrier for each deactivated branch of the one or more faulty branch; and sending information on degraded carrier status for branches of the radio unit, due to deactivated one or more branch.

[0027] In another aspect of the disclosed system, a computer-readable storage medium has stored thereon a computer program which provides for handling a degraded carrier in a wireless communications network by obtaining information on one or more faulty branch of a radio unit used for wireless communications in the wireless communications network; selecting the one or more faulty branch to be deactivated; deactivating the one or more faulty branch; instructing a baseband unit to insert zero data in carrier for each deactivated branch of the one or more faulty branch; and sending information on degraded carrier status for branches of the radio unit, due to deactivated one or more branch.

[0028] There are, proposed herein, various embodiments which address one or more of the issues disclosed herein. Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s).

[0029] A solution disclosed herein provides a solution to decrease cell down time when one or more TX / RX branch(es) of a radio becomes faulty or disabled. The decrease in the cell down time may improve KPI for RANs.

[0030] A solution disclosed herein permits using a naming service for storing degraded information, which can provide a generic way of collecting information. By using a naming service, not only locally in baseband processing, but other Operations, Administrations and Maintenance (0AM) functions and / or products can fetch and use the information on radio operation.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] The embodiments of the disclosure may best be understood by referring to the following description and accompanying drawings.

[0032] FIG. 1 shows a high-level view of a processing pipeline for a communications system and highlighting a distributed unit and a radio unit to provide baseband functions within the communications system in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0033] FIG. 2 shows one example of a split baseband function between a baseband processing unit and a radio unit in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0034] FIG. 3 shows a functional diagram separating baseband processing, radio, and antenna operations for wireless communications in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0035] FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram for a method to perform a carrier handling scheme to reactivate faulty TX / RX branch(es) in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0036] FIG. 5 shows a signal diagram to perform reactivation of faulty TX / RX branch(es) by use of the carrier handling scheme of FIG. 4 for the arrangement shown in FIG. 2 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0037] FIG. 6 shows a use of a naming service to identify a radio unit implementing the scheme of the present disclosure in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0038] FIG. 7 shows a network node containing a carrier degraded handling scheme in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0039] FIG. 8 shows a network node containing a carrier degraded handling scheme in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0040] FIG. 9 shows an implementation example for a RAN in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0041] FIG. 10 shows an implementation example for an Open RAN in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0042] The following description describes methods and apparatus for enhanced carrier degraded handling scheme. The technique can be applied to various systems that employ baseband processing for wireless communications and in particular where multiple transmit and / or receive (TX / RX) branches are available for a radio unit. In particular, the TX / RX branches can be links between a radio unit and an antenna unit. The following description describes numerous specific details such as operative steps, resource implementations, data structures, types of data, types of network functions, and interrelationships of system components of a wireless network to provide a more thorough understanding of the present disclosure. It will be appreciated, however, by one skilled in the art that the embodiments of the present disclosure can be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, control structures, circuits, memory structures, system and / or network functions, and software instruction sequences have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure the present disclosure. Those of ordinary skill in the art, with the included descriptions, will be able to implement appropriate functionality without undue experimentation.

[0043] References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” “some embodiments,” etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, model, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to implement such feature, structure, characteristic, or model in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

[0044] Bracketed text and blocks with dashed borders (e.g., large dashes, small dashes, dotdash, and dots) may be used herein to illustrate optional operations that add additional features to embodiments of the present disclosure. However, such notation should not be taken to mean that these are the only options or optional operations, and / or that blocks with solid borders are not optional in some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0045] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein. The disclosed subject matter should not beconstrued as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0046] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein apply to specific functions, data structures, network node, etc., associated with baseband processing in 3GPP communication systems. However, embodiments of the disclosed carrier handling scheme can be deployed in other than 3GPP communication systems. The carrier handling scheme can be implemented where baseband processing is available.

[0047] FIG. 1 shows a high-level view of a processing pipeline for a communications system and highlighting a distributed unit and a radio unit to provide baseband functions within the communications system in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The communications system 100 shown is a 5G communications system; however, communications system 100 may be of other 3GPP generation communications systems, including systems that employ cloud technology. The communications system 100 includes a 5G Core (5GC) 101 that communicates with a baseband portion that includes a central unit (CU) 102 and a distributed unit (DU) 103. One or both units 102, 103 may be virtual units. The communications system 100 also includes a radio unit (RU) 104, which provides the radio access network that wirelessly communicates with various wireless terminals. The RU 104 may be a local radio unit or a remote radio unit, configured as a radio node for a radio access network (RAN) node or other type of nodes for wireless communications. The DU 103 includes a baseband processing unit (BPU) 110 to perform baseband processing. As will be described below, some lower level baseband functions may also be performed within the RU 104. The RU 104 is configured to operate with an antenna unit or assembly (e.g., antenna array) for transmission and / or reception of signals. The antenna (not shown in FIG. 1) may be part of RU 104 or connected to RU 104.

[0048] A variety of devices and / or user connections can be wirelessly connected to the RU 104. Such devices can be a variety of terminal devices, commonly referred to as user equipment (UE). The devices can include, but are not limited to, computers, laptops, set-top boxes, televisions, mobile devices, wireless devices, machine type device, Internet of Things (loT) devices, etc. These terminal devices provide services in the areas of data transfer, including Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Machine Type Communications (MTC), Massive MTC (MMTC) and Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), loT, Massive loT, and Critical loT, as well as voice and streaming data. In the example, two wireless terminal devices, shown as UE 105 and UE 106, connect to the RU 104.

[0049] The CU 102 communicates with the 5GC 101 to provide higher layer functions for both the control plane (CP) and user plane (UP). The CU 102 communicates with the DU 103 via an Fl interface. The DU 103 provides functions for baseband processing of signals and mayalso provide a portion of physical (PHY) layer functions. In some embodiments, the DU 103 includes the BPU 110 to perform all or some of the baseband processing of signals. The DU 103 communicates with the RU 104, which provides the air interface to communicate with wireless terminals, such as UE 105 and UE 106. In some cases the CU 102 and the DU 103 may operate in virtual environments.

[0050] The DU 103 includes the BPU 110 to provide all or some of baseband processing required for baseband conversion of signals between the UEs 105, 106 and nodes of communications system 100 (e.g., 5GC 101) or other nodes (not shown) connected via the communications system 100. In some embodiments, the BPU 110 is in the DU 103 and provides all of the required baseband processing. In some embodiments, the BPU 110 in the DU 103 provides upper level baseband processing and a lower level baseband portion, located in the RU 104, provides lower level (e.g., Layer 1) baseband processing, as described below in reference to FIG. 2. It is to be understood that the system of FIG. 1 shows an example system. In some embodiments, other architectures can be implemented for performing the disclosed baseband operations.

[0051] FIG. 2 shows one example of a split baseband function between a baseband processing unit and a radio unit in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. In system 200 of FIG. 2, two BPUs 201 A and 201B communicate with two RUs 202A and 202B, via a fronthaul (FH) interface and switch (FH / switch) 203. The BPUs 201A and 201B can communicate with either one or both of the RU 201 A, 20 IB via the FH / switch 203. For simplicity of explanation provided herein, the description below refers to BPU 201 for either one of the BPUs 201 A and 201B. Likewise, RU 202 refers to either one of the RUs 202A or 202B. It is to be noted that system 200 may have just one BPU 201 and / or one RU 202. In some embodiments, the system 200 may have more than two BPUs 201 and / or more than two RUs 202. The BPU 201 can be the BPU 110 of DU 103 and RU 202 can be the RU 104. The RU 202 can be a local radio unit or a remote radio unit as noted for the RU 104, that wirelessly communicates with various terminal devices, such as the UEs 105, 106.

[0052] The system 200 uses an architecture where baseband processing functions are split between an upper level baseband unit (BB upper or BB-U) 204 and a lower level baseband unit (BB lower or BB-L) 210. The BPU 210 includes a Radio Processing Control (RPC) unit 205 that communicates with the RU 202 to provide processing control to the RU 202. The processing control includes communications sent from the BB-U 204 to control operations of the BB-L 210. These operations include setup of the RU 202, setup of both the BB-U 204 and BB-L 210, activation of both the BB-U 204 and BB-L 210, and activation of the RU 202.

[0053] The RU 202 includes a radio carrier control (RCC) unit 211, a transmit-receive resource control (TRRC) unit 212, a digital front end (DFE) unit 213, along with the BB-L 210. The RCC 211 provides carrier control for transmission and reception of carriers. The TRRC 212 monitors carrier operation and detects faults and degraded condition of carriers, including faults associated with any of the link branches, as will be described below. The BB-L 210 provides lower level baseband processing as described below. The DFE 213 provides the radio front end operation to transmit and / or receive radio signals for wireless communications.

[0054] FIG. 3 shows a functional diagram 300 separating baseband processing, radio, and antenna operations for wireless communications in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. A baseband function (unit) 301 includes an upper baseband portion 302 and a lower baseband portion 303. The upper baseband portion 302 provides upper level processing, while the lower baseband portion 303 provides lower level processing. In the shown example, upper baseband portion 303 provides baseband processing for a portion of Layer 1 (LI) and layers above LI (e.g., LI plus L2 and above). The lower baseband portion 303 operates on a portion of LI, as well as providing processing for beamforming. For the embodiment of FIG. 2, the functions of the upper baseband portion 302 corresponds to the BB-U 204 and the functions of the lower baseband portion 303 corresponds to the BB-L 210. Thus, the lower baseband portion 303 would reside in the RU 202, as shown by arrow 304, for the embodiment of FIG. 2.

[0055] The radio function 305 corresponds to the RU 202. Connected to the radio 305 is an antenna 310. The antenna 310 can be an antenna assembly or array. The antenna 310 illustrated in FIG. 3 has four antenna subunits, sub-assemblies, sub-array, etc., herein referred to as antenna subunit 311, wherein each antenna subunit 311 is connected by a pair of links 312. Thus , there are eight links connecting the radio 305 to the antenna 310, where each link 312 operates as a separate radio frequency (RF) branch between the radio 305 and the antenna 310. As shown, a pair of links 312 connect the radio 305 to corresponding antenna subunit 311. Each link 312 terminates at a port 313 at each end. In some embodiments, the antenna 310 is part of or proximal to the radio 305. In some embodiments, the antenna 310 is located remotely from the radio 305. Each of the branches allows for signal transfer during transmission (TX) and / or reception (RX) of radio signals for wireless communications. It is to be noted that the term “branch” as used herein pertains to one of the links 312 and a corresponding portion (e.g., antenna subunit 311) of the antenna 310 that services that link.

[0056] When the radio 305 and the antenna 310 are connected, especially when the antenna is located remotely, part of the signal branches can become faulty or degraded during operation. These conditions are not hardware faults that require service, but rather soft faults caused by loss of signal (e.g., carrier) connection. The loss of signal connection may occur between the radio305 and the antenna 310 (e.g., links 312, ports 313) and / or at one or more of the antenna subunits 311. If the carrier(s) is / are configured to use multiple links, a branch fault can reduce the capabilities of the signal transfer. A typical condition for degraded operation can occur when a carrier uses multiple branches. For example, the radio 305 may use four links 312 to transmit a carrier to respective antenna subunits 311. Thus, the carrier is conveyed on four separate branches. If a fault occurs in one of the branches, but the other three are still operational, then the radio is operating in a degraded condition. The overall transmission of the carrier’s serviceability can be degraded when a branch fault occurs as compared to the carrier being operational with all assigned branches operational for that carrier. This type of carrier is referred to as a degraded carrier.

[0057] A typical technique employed to address a degraded carrier condition is to detect the branch fault, evaluate the carrier status, and perform a recovery action. Detecting the branch fault can be performed along the link 312, at the ports 313, or at the TRRC 212 for the embodiment shown in FIG. 2. The information that a corresponding branch is faulty is conveyed to the RCC 211. The RCC 211 can evaluate the carrier status, based on information conveyed as to which branch(es) is / are faulty. As a result of the evaluation that a degraded carrier condition exists, a carrier recovery action takes effect. A typical prior art practice for the recovery action would be to reset the carrier across all branches. The carrier resetting requires disabling and reenabling of the branches to restore operational capability of the branches. As noted in the Background section above, the resetting procedure can cause significant downtime for the cell (e.g., 5-20 sec.) for the carrier recovery action to take place. The embodiments disclosed herein describe a scheme where a carrier can remain enabled when suffering decreased serviceability, such as when a branch fault occurs.

[0058] FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram 400 for a method to perform a carrier handling scheme to reactivate faulty TX / RX branch(es) in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Flow diagram 400 is better understood when taken in context with the description in reference to FIGs. 1-3. The blocks shown above dotted line 410 indicate operations pertaining to obtaining information on a faulty branch, evaluating a response to the fault, and continuing degraded operation with some active branches. The blocks shown below the dotted line 410 indicate operations to restore the faulty branch to operational status.

[0059] Operation 401 shows various steps employed to initialize a carrier for operation with a radio, such as the RU 202. The baseband portion, such as the BPU 201, communicates with the RU 202 to enable and activate the required branches, set the carrier and enable the carrier on the activates branches for performing wireless communications. This procedure is performed for downlink and uplink communications. As noted above, in some embodiments, the carrier isenabled onto multiple branches. Using the above example of using four branches, a carrier is enabled on four separate branches. Some embodiments will use other than four branches. Furthermore, in some architectures either or both of the uplink and downlink branches may need to conform to a setting that allows only a permitted number of active branches. For example, in some embodiments, the permitted number of downlink branch activation is limited to a set number. In some embodiments, the permitted set number is a number having a power of 2 (e.g.,1, 2, 4 and 8 for an 8 branch system). This limitation may be imposed on both TX / RX, or just for TX, for one or both downlink and / or uplink. Thus, for the example of FIG. 3, some embodiments will allow only 1, 2, 4 or 8 branches to be active, at least for the downlink direction. Some embodiments can have other constructs.

[0060] Once the RU 202 is operational, a branch fault may occur. The fault may be detected along the link 312, at the ports 313, or at the TRRC 212 for the embodiment shown in FIG. 2. The RCC 211 obtains the information on one or more faulty branch of the RU 202 at operation 402. Thus, in operation 402, the RU 202 obtains information on one or more faulty branch of a radio unit used for wireless communications in the wireless communications network. Once the RCC 211 obtains the information, the RCC 211 selects the one or more faulty branch to be deactivated, as shown in operation 403.

[0061] At operation 404, the RCC 211 deactivates the one or more faulty branch without turning off the carrier. The non-faulty branches remain active. In some instances, the architecture may permit only a set number of branches to be active, such as power of two active branches. For example, when the radio configures the use of four active TX / RX branches and one becomes faulty, three are non-fault active, which may not meet a required set number of 1,2, 4 or 8 for active branches. The set number requirement may apply to both TX and RX operation or to one of TX or RX. In the instance when the set number of active branches pertain to the TX branch only, the branches used for TX needs to meet the permitted set number. In this event, at operation 414, the RCC 211 deactivates one or more non-faulty active branch to conform to a setting permitting only a set number of active branches. As noted above, when four branches are active and one becomes faulty, three remain non-fault active, which does not meet the permitted set number requirement of 1, 2, 4, or 8. The RCC 211 deactivates one of the non- faulty active branches, so that only two TX branches (or both TX / RX depending on the requirement for the system) remain active.

[0062] At operation 405, the RCC 211 instructs the baseband unit to insert zero data (perform “zero-insertion”) in carrier for each deactivated branch of the one or more faulty branch. For the embodiment of FIG. 2, the RCC 211 conveys the instruction to the BB-L 210. That is, the RCC 211 instructs the BB-L 211 to not insert any data onto the carrier for the deactivated branch(es).The BB-L 211 upon receiving the instruction, inserts zero data in carrier for each deactivated branch of the one or more faulty branch. Where the RCC 211 deactivates non- faulty branch(es), the RCC 211 also inserts zero data in that branch(es).

[0063] At operation 406, the RCC 211 sends information on degraded carrier status for branches of the radio unit, due to deactivation of one or more branch. The carrier is degraded in the sense that not all actively enabled branches carrying the carrier are active. However, since not all the branches carrying the carrier are deactivated, the carrier is still available but in a degraded state of operation. The information on the carrier status of the branches is sent up stream. For the example of FIG. 2, this information is sent to the BB-U 204 in the BPU201. By providing information as to which branches are deactivated, the BB-U 204 can then respond by performing a recovery action.

[0064] The portion of flow diagram 400 below the dotted line 410 illustrates the recovery phase in the RU 202. The BB-U 204 or some other unit in the BPU 201, such as the RPC 205, sends instructions to enable and reactivate the deactivated branch(es) as part of the recovery operation. Thus, at operation 407, the RCC 211 receives the instruction and commence enabling and reactivation of the deactivated branch(es). At operation 408, the RCC 211 cancels the zero insertion for each previously deactivated branch(es). These operations 407, 408 places the previously deactivated branch(es) into operational status. At operation 409, the RCC 211 conveys the carrier status showing full recovery to the BB-U 201.

[0065] It is to be noted, that although RCC 211, TRRC 212, and RPC 205 are specifically designated, the operations provided by these units can be performed by other units. What is to be noted is that when a branch fault occurs, not all active branches carrying the carrier need to be reset. Only a portion of the branches carrying the carrier need be deactivated. The overall carrier, although degraded, is still operational. The cell operation for the carrier is degraded but not completely non-available. Thus, the cell need not respond to the fault with a complete shutdown of the carrier for recovery.

[0066] FIG. 5 shows a signal diagram to perform reactivation of faulty TX / RX branch(es) by use of the carrier handling scheme of FIG. 4 for the arrangement shown in FIG. 2 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Diagram 500 illustrates the flow between the BPU 201 and the RU 202 to perform the operations 401-409 and 414 of FIG. 4. The signaling lines and functions performed in the boxes of FIG. 5 correspond to the operations described in FIG. 3. Accordingly, signals to configure the radio 501 A, enable and activate the TX / RX branches 50 IB and setup and enabling of the carrier for the activated branches 501C correspond to the operations 401. The obtaining of the information in box 502 corresponds to the operation 402. The operation to select one or more faulty branch(es) 503 correspond to the operation 403.The operation to deactivate one or more faulty branches 504 correspond to the operation 404. The operation to deactivate one or more active branch(es) to meet a set number of active branches requirement 514 corresponds to the operation 414. The signaling for zero insertion 505 corresponds to the operation 405. The signaling to send the carrier status 506 corresponds to the operation 406.

[0067] For the recovery operation of the deactivated branch(es), the signaling to enable and reactivate the deactivated branch(es) 507 corresponds to the operation 407. The signaling to cancel the zero insertion 508 corresponds to the operation 408. The signaling to send information on the carrier status 509 corresponds to the operation 409.

[0068] Referring again to FIG. 3, the baseband function is shown split between upper baseband portion 302 and lower baseband portion 303. In reference to the above discussion pertaining to the embodiment of FIG. 2, the upper baseband portion 302 is implemented as the BB-U 204 in the BPU 201 and the lower baseband portion 303 is implemented in the BB-L 210 in the RU 202. However, in some architectures, the BB-L function, as well as the BB-U function, can be implemented in the BPU 201. Thus, in some embodiments, where the BB-U and the BB-L functions reside in the BPU 201, the functions provided by the RCC 211 can be provided by RPC 205, or some other functional unit in BPU 201. Thus, the deactivation of branch(es), performing zero insertion in the deactivated branch(es), and recovery operations would be performed in the BPU 201 or other units of DU 103, instead of functional units provided with the RU 202.

[0069] FIG. 6 shows a use of a naming service to identify a radio unit implementing the scheme of the present disclosure in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. System 600 shows one BPU 201 connected to two RUs 202. When the BPU 201 operates with multiple RUs 202, more than one RU may encounter a faulty branch condition. It would be advantages to indicate or identify the RU to the corresponding branch fault by attributing a name to the RU. Because, in a distributed system, names are used to refer to a wide variety of resources such as computers, services, remote objects, and files, as well as users, a naming service can provide a unique identifying name to the RU having the particular faulty branch. For example, the sending of the carrier status information can be used or augmented by adding a unique name to identify the RU. In some embodiments, system 600 uses a naming service 601 whose aim is to provide a consistent and uniform naming of resources. This naming service 601 can further tie into other operations, administrations, and management or maintenance (0AM) products 602 related to wireless communications, thereby allowing other programs or services to localize and obtain the required metadata for interacting with the radio. By utilizing such a naming service, it is possible to allow software products in the RU 202 toregister or publish the degraded information. The BPU 201 can fetch that information with unique names for a carrier, thereby allowing the BPU 201 to collect cells' degraded information from multiple RRUs in a generic way. In some embodiments, the naming service 601 can be deployed within communications system 100. In some embodiments, the naming service 601 can be obtained externally to the communications system 100.

[0070] FIG. 7 shows a network node containing a carrier degraded handling scheme in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the network node 700 is the above described radio, such as the RU 202. In some embodiments, the radio contains the BB-L 210 and the BB-U is with the BPU 201. In some embodiments, the network node 700 may be employed in the BPU 201, where both BB-U and BB-L functions are combined. The network node 700 can implement the functions of the method 400 of FIG. 4, as well as the various embodiments described in the disclosure. As shown, an Obtain Info module 701 can perform operations corresponding to the operation 402 of FIG. 4. A Select Branch(es) module 702 can perform operations corresponding to the operation 403. A Deactivate branch(es) module 703 can perform operations corresponding to the operation 404, as well as the operation 414. A Zero Insert module 704 can perform operations corresponding to the operation 405. A Send Carrier Status module 705 can perform operations corresponding to the operation 406.

[0071] In some embodiments, the modules 701-705 can be provided as a computer program product, or software, that can include a machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which can be used to program a computer system (or other electronic device) to perform a process according to the present disclosure. A machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). In some embodiments, a machine-readable (e.g., computer-readable) medium includes a machine (e.g., a computer) readable storage medium such as a read only memory (“ROM”), random access memory (“RAM”), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory components, etc.

[0072] In some embodiment, the modules of the network node 700 are implemented in software. In other embodiments, the modules of the network node 700 are implemented in hardware. In further embodiments, the modules of the network node 700 are implemented in a combination of hardware and software. In some embodiments, the computer program can be provided on a carrier, where the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal or computer storage medium.

[0073] FIG. 8 shows a network node containing a carrier degraded handling scheme in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the network node 800 is the above described radio, such as the RU 202. In some embodiments, theradio contains the BB-L 210 and the BB-U is with the BPU 201. In some embodiments, the network node 800 may be employed in the BPU 201, where both BB-U and BB-L functions are combined. The network node 800 can implement the functions of the method 400 of FIG. 4, as well as the various embodiments described in the disclosure. In some embodiments, the network node 800 can be configured to implement the modules 701-705 of FIG. 7, wherein the instructions of the computer program for providing the functions of modules 701-705 reside in a memory 802.

[0074] The network node 800 comprises processing circuitry (such as one or more processors) 801 and a non-transitory machine-readable medium, such as the memory 802. The processing circuitry 801 provides the processing capability. The memory 802 can store instructions which, when executed by the processing circuitry 801, are capable of configuring the network node 800 to perform the methods described in the present disclosure. The memory can be a computer readable storage medium 805, such as, but not limited to, any type of disk, including magnetic disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions. Furthermore, a carrier containing the computer program instructions can also be one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal or computer storage medium.

[0075] FIG. 9 shows an implementation example for a RAN in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Network device (ND) 900 may, in some embodiments, be an electronic device that can be communicatively connected to other electronic devices on the network (e.g., other network devices, user equipment devices (UEs), radio base stations, etc.). In certain embodiments, network device 900 may include radio access features that provide wireless radio network access to other electronic devices (for example a “radio access network device" may refer to such a network device) such as user equipment devices (UEs). For example, network device 900 may be a base station, such as eNodeB in Long Term Evolution (LTE), NodeB in Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) or other types of base stations, as well as a Radio Network Controller (RNC), a Base Station Controller (BSC), gNodeB in 5G, or other types of control nodes. As depicted in Fig. 9, the example network device 900 comprises processor 901, memory 902, interface 903, and antenna 904. These components may work together to provide various network device functionality as disclosed herein.

[0076] Processor 901 may be a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, any other type of electronic circuitry, or any combination of one or more of the preceding.The processor 901 may comprise one or more processor cores. In particular embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein as being provided by network device 900 may be implemented by processor 901 executing software instructions, either alone or in conjunction with other network device 900 components, such as the memory 902.

[0077] Memory 902 may store code (which is composed of software instructions and which is sometimes referred to as computer program code or a computer program) and / or data using non- transitory machine-readable (e.g., computer-readable) media, such as machine-readable storage media (e.g., magnetic disks, optical disks, solid state drives, read only memory (ROM), flash memory devices, phase change memory) and machine-readable transmission media (e.g., electrical, optical, radio, acoustical or other form of propagated signals - such as carrier waves, infrared signals). For instance, memory 902 may comprise non-volatile memory containing code to be executed by processor 901. Modules 905-909 can contain code for executing the operations discussed above in reference to modules 701-705. Where memory 902 is nonvolatile, the code and / or data stored therein can persist even when the network device is turned off (when power is removed). In some instances, while network device 900 is turned on that part of the code that is to be executed by the processor(s) 901 may be copied from non-volatile memory into volatile memory (e.g., dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM)) of network device 900.

[0078] Interface 903 may be used in the wired and / or wireless communication of signaling and / or data to or from network device 900. For example, interface 903 may perform any formatting, coding, or translating to allow network device 900 to send and receive data whether over a wired and / or a wireless connection. In some embodiments, interface 903 may comprise radio circuitry capable of receiving data from other devices in the network over a wireless connection and / or sending data out to other devices via a wireless connection. This radio circuitry may include transmitter(s), receiver(s), and / or transceiver(s) suitable for radiofrequency communication. The radio circuitry may convert digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate parameters (e.g., frequency, timing, channel, bandwidth, etc.). The radio signal may then be transmitted via antennas 904 to the appropriate recipient(s). In some embodiments, interface 903 may comprise network interface controller(s) (NICs), also known as a network interface card, network adapter, local area network (LAN) adapter or physical network interface. The NIC(s) may facilitate connecting the network device 900 to other devices allowing them to communicate via wire through plugging in a cable to a physical port connected to a NIC. As explained above, in particular embodiments, processor 901 may represent part of interface 903, and some or all of the functionality described as being provided by interface 903 may be provided more specifically by processor 901.

[0079] The components of network device 900 are each depicted as separate boxes located within a single larger box for reasons of simplicity in describing certain aspects and features of network device 900 disclosed herein. In practice however, one or more of the components illustrated in the example network device 900 may comprise multiple different physical elements (e.g., interface 903 may comprise terminals for coupling wires for a wired connection and a radio transceiver for a wireless connection).

[0080] The solution described herein may be implemented in the network device 900 by means of a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions according to any of the above features and embodiments, where appropriate. While the modules 905-909 are illustrated as being implemented in software stored in memory 902, other embodiments implement part or all of each of these modules in hardware.

[0081] FIG. 10 shows an implementation example for an Open RAN in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. In the example, the communication system 1000 includes a telecommunication network 1002 that includes an access network 1004, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 1006 (such as 5GC), which includes one or more core network nodes 1008. In some instances, a host 1016 connects to the telecommunication network 1002. The access network 1004 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 1010a and 1010b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 1010), or any other similar 3GPP access nodes or non- 3GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 1002 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 1002 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 1002, including one or more network nodes 1010 and / or core network nodes 1008.

[0082] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O-CU- CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (theadjective "open" designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an Al, Fl, Wl, El, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface defined by the 0-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 1010 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 1012A, 1012B, 1012C, and 1012D (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 1012) to the core network 1006 over one or more wireless connections. Sometime a hub 1014 is employed to connect a network node to a UE.

[0083] Exemplary embodiments herein have been described above with reference to block diagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods and apparatuses. It will be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, respectively, can be implemented by various means including computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.

[0084] Furthermore, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, while several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the subject matter described herein, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A method (400) for handling a degraded carrier in a wireless communications network, the method comprising: obtaining (402) information on one or more faulty branch of a radio unit used for wireless communications in the wireless communications network; selecting (403) the one or more faulty branch to be deactivated; deactivating (404) the one or more faulty branch; instructing (405) a baseband unit to insert zero data in carrier for each deactivated branch of the one or more faulty branch; and sending (406) information on degraded carrier status for branches of the radio unit, due to deactivated one or more branch.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the branches of the radio unit (305) are links (312) between the radio unit (305) and an antenna unit (310) used with the radio unit for the wireless communications and wherein the one or more faulty branch pertains to one or more of the links between the radio unit and the antenna unit.

3. The method according to any one of claims 1-2, wherein the instructing the baseband unit (301) to insert the zero data is performed by a unit performing carrier control (211).

4. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the obtaining the information on one or more faulty branch of the radio unit comprises obtaining the information from a transmitreceive resource control unit (212) in the radio unit.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the deactivating the one or more faulty branch further comprises deactivating (414) one or more non-faulty active branch to conform to a setting permitting only a set number of active branches.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the deactivating the one or more faulty branch further comprises deactivating (414) one or more non-faulty active branch to conform to a setting permitting only a set number of active branches, wherein a permitted number is a number having a power of two.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1-6 further comprising cancelling (408) insertion of the zero data for each deactivated branch, when each deactivated branch is enabled for reactivation.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1-7, wherein the baseband unit being instructed to insert the zero data is a lower level baseband unit (303) that performs baseband processing at a Layer 1 level.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1-7, wherein the baseband unit being instructed to insert the zero data is a lower level baseband unit (210) located in the radio unit that communicates with an upper level baseband unit (204) located elsewhere from the radio unit, in which the lower level baseband unit and the upper level baseband unit together perform baseband processing.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1-9, wherein when sending information on the degraded carrier status, further sending a unique naming identifier (601) for the radio unit to identify the radio unit having the degraded carrier status.

11. A network node (700, 800) for handling a degraded carrier in a wireless communications network, the network node configured to: obtain (701, 402) information on one or more faulty branch of a radio unit used for wireless communications in the wireless communications network; select (702, 403) the one or more faulty branch to be deactivated; deactivate (703, 404) the one or more faulty branch; instruct (704, 405) a baseband unit to insert zero data in carrier for each deactivated branch of the one or more faulty branch; and send (705, 406) information on degraded carrier status for branches of the radio unit, due to deactivated one or more branch.

12. The network node according to claim 11, wherein the branches of the radio unit (305) are links (312) between the radio unit (305) and an antenna unit (310) used with the radio unit for the wireless communications and wherein the one or more faulty branch pertains to one or more of the links between the radio unit and the antenna unit.

13. The network node according to any one of claims 11-12, wherein a carrier control unit (211) instructs the baseband unit (301) to insert the zero data.

14. The network node according to any one of claims 11-13, wherein to obtain the information on one or more faulty branch of the radio unit comprises to obtain the information from a transmit-receive resource control unit (212) in the radio unit.

15. The network node according to any one of claims 11-14, wherein to deactivate the one or more faulty branch further comprises to deactivate (703, 414) one or more non-faulty active branch to conform to a setting permitting only a set number of active branches.

16. The network node according to any one of claims 11-14, wherein to deactivate the one or more faulty branch further comprises to deactivate (703, 414) one or more non-faulty active branch to conform to a setting permitting only a set number of active branches, wherein a permitted number is a number having a power of two.

17. The network node according to any one of claims 11-16 further comprising to cancel (408) insertion of the zero data for each deactivated branch, when each deactivated branch is enabled for reactivation.

18. The network node according to any one of claims 11-17, wherein the baseband unit being instructed to insert the zero data is a lower level baseband unit (303) that performs baseband processing at a Layer 1 level.

19. The network node according to any one of claims 11-17, wherein the baseband unit being instructed to insert the zero data is a lower level baseband unit (210) located in the radio unit that communicates with an upper level baseband unit (204) located elsewhere from the radio unit, in which the lower level baseband unit and the upper level baseband unit together perform baseband processing.

20. The network node according to any one of claims 11-19, wherein when sending information on the degraded carrier status, further to send a unique naming identifier (601) for the radio unit to identify the radio unit having the degraded carrier status.

21. A computer program comprising instructions (701-705) which, when executed on at least one processor (801), cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1-10.

22. A computer-readable storage medium (805) having stored thereon a computer program according to claim 21.

Images