Method and system for performing uplink muting in communication network

Abstract

A method (600) and a system (108) for performing uplink muting in a communication network (106) is disclosed The method (600) includes receiving, at a network node, received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurements from a physical-layer node corresponding to uplink (UL) slots associated with a cell. Based on the received RSSI measurements, the network node identifies a presence of remote interference in a first UL slot. In response to detecting the remote interference, the network node changes an operational state of the cell from a normal state to a remote interference state. While operating in the remote interference state, the network node suppresses uplink transmissions scheduled in the first UL slot to mitigate the impact of the remote interference. The method enables interference-aware uplink resource management and improves communication reliability within the network.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PERFORMING UPLINK MUTING IN COMMUNICATION NETWORKRESERVATION OF RIGHTS

[0001] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material, which is subject to intellectual property rights such as, but are not limited to, copyright, design, trademark, Integrated Circuit (IC) layout design, and / or trade dress protection, belonging to JIO PLATFORMS LIMITED or its affiliates (hereinafter referred as owner). The owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all rights whatsoever. All rights to such intellectual property are fully reserved by the owner.TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure relates generally to the field of telecommunications. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and a system for performing uplink muting in a communication network.DEFINITION

[0003] The expression ‘Remote interference’ used hereinafter in the specification refers to unwanted signal disruption in a communication network caused by external factors, such as atmospheric ducting, where signals from distant cells interfere with local transmissions.

[0004] The expression ‘Uplink Slot’ used hereinafter in the specification refers to a designated time interval in the communication network frame where a user equipment (UE) transmits data or control information to a base station.

[0005] The expression ‘TDD DL UL Frame’ used hereinafter in the specification refers to a time-division duplexing (TDD) configuration that defines the scheduling pattern of downlink (DL), uplink (UL), and flexible slots within a specific frame duration for efficient bidirectional communication.

[0006] The expression ‘Aggressor Cell’ used hereinafter in the specification refers to a cell in the communication network that unintentionally interferes with other cells due to its transmitted signals, typically as a result of phenomena like atmospheric ducting, where its downlink signals interfere with the uplink communication of distant cells.

[0007] The expression ‘Victim Cell’ used hereinafter in the specification refers to a cell in the communication network that experiences degraded communication quality due to interference caused by signals from the aggressor cell. This interference disrupts the uplink transmissions in the victim cell, affecting its users' data and voice services.

[0008] The expression ‘Uplink (UL) muting’ used hereinafter in the specification refers to a controlled suppression technique of uplink transmissions from a user equipment (UE) to a network node. In UL muting, one or more physical uplink channels, including but not limited to the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), are selectively disabled over one or more uplink time resources. Such suppression is performed to mitigate interference conditions, including remote interference scenarios, or to support coordinated scheduling operations, while enabling the deferred transmission to be rescheduled in alternative uplink slot.

[0009] These definitions are in addition to those expressed in the art.BACKGROUND

[0010] The following description of related art is intended to provide background information pertaining to the field of the disclosure. This section may include certain aspects of the art that may be related to various features of the present disclosure. However, it should be appreciated that this section be used only to enhance the understanding of the reader with respect to the present disclosure, and not as admissions of prior art.

[0011] In the telecommunications, ensuring seamless and reliable wireless communication is essential with the growing demand for high-quality voice and data services. In wireless networks, such as 4th generation (4G), 5th generation (5G), and 6th generation (6G) networks, efficient uplink and downlink communication is essential for maintaining network performance and delivering an optimal user experience. However, these networks often face various challenges due to environmental and atmospheric phenomenon that may disrupt signal propagation and introduce interference. One such phenomenon is atmospheric ducting, which significantly impacts the performance of the communication systems.

[0012] During the transition periods between spring and summer and between summer and autumn for inland areas, and during winter under certain weather conditions, lower densities at higher altitudes in the earth's atmosphere cause reduced refractive index, bending radio signals back towards the earth. Under such circumstances, the radio signals can propagate in a higher refractive index layer, thus causing the atmospheric ducting phenomenon since the reflection and refraction are encountered at the boundary with a lower refractive index material. This atmosphere ducting phenomenon causes radio signals to travel far beyond their typical range, as the radio signals experience less attenuation and are guided over distances far greater than the normal radiating range, resulting in remote interference. Therefore, the uplink slot of the victim experiences remote interference due to the high power of the aggressor’s high-power downlink slot. Such interference severely degrades uplink communication, leading to increased block error rates (BLER), reduced uplinkcoverage, poor quality of voice and data services, and a decline in user experience. In some cases, users may even face difficulty registering with the network or experience reduced radio resource connection setup rates and gets less throughput as well.

[0013] In existing systems, various techniques such as power control methods, frequency planning, uplink (UL) slot and downlink (DL) slot muting, and advanced interference cancellation algorithms have been employed to mitigate remote interference. For example, DL slot muting at the aggressor side and UL slot muting at the victim side are commonly utilized to reduce the impact of interference. While these techniques provide some degree of relief, they often prove insufficient in effectively mitigating remote interference caused by atmospheric ducting.

[0014] Additionally, the power control techniques may fail to address the issue adequately due to the high strength of the interfering signals, which overwhelm the interference mitigation process. Furthermore, the frequency planning, on the other hand, is constrained by the limited availability of non-overlapping channels, which reduces its effectiveness in addressing interference. Additionally, advanced interference cancellation algorithms, often introduce significant computational complexity and may struggle to adapt rapidly to the fluctuating atmospheric conditions that cause the interference. Consequently, the existing methods do not provide a comprehensive solution to the problem of remote interference, particularly in the context of atmospheric ducting.

[0015] There is, therefore, a need in the art to provide a method and a system that can mitigate the disadvantages of the prior art.SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0016] In an exemplary embodiment, a method for performing uplink muting in a communication network is described. The method includes receiving, by a network node, one or more received signal strength indicator (RS SI) measurements from a physical layer node for one or more uplink (UL) slots associated with a cell. The method includes detecting, by the network node, a presence of a remote interference in a first UL slot among the one or more UL slots based on the received one or more RS SI measurements. The method includes transitioning, by the network node, an operational state of the cell from a normal state to a remote interference state, upon determining the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot. The method includes muting, by the network node, one or more uplink transmissions on the detected first UL slot during the remote interference state.

[0017] In some embodiments, for muting the first UL slot, the method further includes suppressing, by the network node, one or more physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions scheduled in the first UL slot for at least one user equipment (UE). The method further includes rescheduling, by the network node, the suppressed one or more PUSCH transmissions to a second UL slot. The method further includesrescheduling, by the network node, one or more physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) transmissions from the first UL slot to the second UL slot. The method further includes allocating, by the network node, one or more channel state information (CSI) and scheduling request (SR) resources for at least one newly registered user equipment (UE) in the second UL slot during the remote interference state.

[0018] In some embodiments, the one or more RS SI measurements are received for a plurality of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) symbols that are associated with each UL slot, over a predefined time interval.

[0019] In some embodiments, for detecting the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot, the method further includes calculating, by the network node, an average of the received one or more RSSI measurements in a first PUSCH symbol and in a last PUSCH symbol associated with the first UL slot. The method further includes calculating, by the network node, an average of the received one or more RSSI measurements in the plurality of PUSCH symbols associated with the first UL slot. The method further includes evaluating, by the network node, a difference between the calculated average of the first PUSCH symbol and the calculated average of the last PUSCH symbol. The method further includes comparing, by the network node, the evaluated difference with a predefined sloping threshold. The method further includes comparing, by the network node, the calculated average of the one or more RSSI measurements in the plurality of PUSCH symbols with a predefined RSSI threshold. The method further includes determining, by the network node, the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot when the evaluated difference exceeds the predefined sloping threshold and the calculated average of the one or more RSSI measurements exceeds the predefined RSSI threshold.

[0020] In some embodiments, when the evaluated difference is below the predefined sloping threshold, and the calculated average of the one or more RSSI measurements is below the predefined RSSI threshold, the method further includes identifying, by the network node, an absence of the remote interference in the first UL slot and transitioning, by the network node, the operational state of the cell from the remote interference state to the normal state in response to the determination.

[0021] In some embodiments, the network node maintains a record for the one or more UL slots in at least a cell state table.

[0022] In some embodiments, transitioning the operational state of the cell from the normal state to the remote interference state includes updating, by the network node, the record for the first UL slot in at least the cell state table.

[0023] In another exemplary embodiment, a system for performing uplink muting in a communication network is described. The system includes a processing engine at a network node. The processing engine is configured to receive one or morereceived signal strength indicator (RS SI) measurements from a physical layer node for one or more uplink (UL) slots associated with a cell. The processing engine is configured to detect a presence of the remote interference in a first UL slot among the one or more UL slots based on the received one or more RS SI measurements. The processing engine is configured to transition an operational state of the cell from a normal state to a remote interference state upon determining the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot. The processing engine is configured to mute one or more uplink transmissions on the first UL slot during the remote interference state.

[0024] In an exemplary embodiment, the present disclosure discloses a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method for performing uplink muting in a communication network is described. The method includes receiving, by a network node, one or more received signal strength indicator (RS SI) measurements from a physical layer node for one or more uplink (UL) slots associated with a cell. The method includes detecting, by the network node, a presence of a remote interference in a first UL slot among the one or more UL slots based on the received one or more RS SI measurements. The method includes transitioning, by the network node, an operational state of the cell from a normal state to a remote interference state, upon determining the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot. The method includes muting, by the network node, one or more uplink transmissions on the detected first UL slot during the remote interference state.

[0025] The foregoing general description of the illustrative embodiments and the following detailed description thereof are merely exemplary aspects of the teachings of this disclosure, and are not restrictive.OBJECTIVES OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE

[0026] Some of the objectives of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment herein satisfies, are as follows:

[0027] An objective of the present disclosure is to reduce the impact of remote interference on data and voice services, ensuring uninterrupted communication for users in affected cells.

[0028] Another objective of the present disclosure is to enhance a gNodeB scheduler to effectively mitigate the impact of remote interference in uplink (UL) slots.

[0029] Another objective of the present disclosure is to shift the scheduling of uplink signalling and traffic from a first UL slot to a second UL slot during periods of high remote interference, ensuring efficient use of available uplink slots.

[0030] Another objective of the present disclosure is to allocate channel state information (CSI) and scheduling request (SR) resources exclusively to the second ULslot for new or incoming user equipment, thereby facilitating the seamless onboarding of new UEs in the network.

[0031] Another objective of the present disclosure is to improve overall network performance and reliability by dynamically responding to remote interference and maintaining communication quality for all connected users.

[0032] Other objectives and advantages of the present disclosure will be more apparent from the following description, which is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWING

[0033] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the disclosed methods and systems in which like reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout the different drawings. Components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale; emphasis is instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Some drawings may indicate the components using block diagrams and may not represent the internal circuitry of each component. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that disclosure of such drawings includes disclosure of electrical components, electronic components, or circuitry commonly used to implement such components.

[0034] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary network architecture in which or with which a system configured for performing uplink muting in a communication network may be implemented, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0035] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of the system configured for performing uplink muting in the communication network, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0036] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary system architecture for performing uplink muting in the communication network, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0037] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary graph describing conditions for performing uplink muting in the communication network, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0038] FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary process flow diagram for performing uplink muting in the communication network, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0039] FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram of a method for performing uplink muting in the communication network, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0040] FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary computer system in which or with which the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented.

[0041] The foregoing shall be more apparent from the following more detailed description of the disclosure.LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS100 - Network Architecture102 -User(s)104 -User Equipments (UEs)106 - Network108 - System200 - Block diagram202 - Processor(s)204 - Memory206 -Interface(s)208 - Processing Engine210 - Database302 - gNodeB304 - Physical Layer (PHY LI)306 - Distributed Unit (DU)308 - Centralized unit (CU)310 - Low Physical Layer (Low PHY)312 - High Physical Layer (High PHY)314 - Radio Link Control (RLC)316 - Medium Access Control (MAC)318 - Schedular320 - Radio Resource Control (RRC)322 - Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP)324 - Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)400 - Graph402 - Condition one404 - Condition two500 - Process flow diagram600 - Method flow diagram700 - Computer system710 - External Storage Device720 - Bus730 - Main Memory740 - Read Only Memory750 - Mass Storage Device760 - Communication Port770 - ProcessorDETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0042] In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, various specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent, however, that embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. Several features described hereafter can each be used independently of one another or with any combination of other features. An individual feature may not address any of the problems discussed above or might address only some of the problems discussed above. Some of the problems discussed above might not be fully addressed by any of the features described herein. Example embodiments of the present disclosure are described below, as illustrated in various drawings in which like reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout the different drawings.

[0043] The ensuing description provides exemplary embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the disclosure. Rather, the ensuing description of the exemplary embodiments will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing an exemplary embodiment. It should be understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth.

[0044] Specific details are given in the following description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For example, circuits, systems, networks, processes, and other components may be shown as components in block diagram form in order not to obscure the embodiments in unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques may be shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments.

[0045] Also, it is noted that individual embodiments may be described as a process that is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process is terminated when its operations are completed but could have additional steps not included in a figure. A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process corresponds to a function, its termination can correspond to a return of the function to the calling function or the main function.

[0046] The word “exemplary” and / or “demonstrative” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. For the avoidance of doubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limited by such examples. In addition, any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” and / or “demonstrative” is not necessarily to beconstrued as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs, nor is it meant to preclude equivalent exemplary structures and techniques known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes,” “has,” “contains,” and other similar words are used in either the detailed description or the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive like the term “comprising” as an open transition word without precluding any additional or other elements.

[0047] Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” or “an instance” or “one instance” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thus, the appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

[0048] The terminology used herein is to describe particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and / or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. It should be noted that the terms “mobile device”, “user equipment”, “user device”, “communication device”, “device” and similar terms are used interchangeably for the purpose of describing the invention. These terms are not intended to limit the scope of the invention or imply any specific functionality or limitations on the described embodiments. The use of these terms is solely for convenience and clarity of description. The invention is not limited to any particular type of device or equipment, and it should be understood that other equivalent terms or variations thereof may be used interchangeably without departing from the scope of the invention as defined herein.

[0049] While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the components and component parts of the preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated that many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodiments without departing from the principles of the disclosure. These and other changes in the preferred embodiment as well as other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein, whereby it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the disclosure and not as a limitation.

[0050] During seasonal transitions, such as between spring and summer, or summer and autumn, and under certain winter weather conditions, the earth's atmosphere experiences reduced density at higher altitudes, leading to a lower refractive index. This change causes radio signals to bend back towards the earth, causing a phenomenon known as atmospheric ducting. In such conditions, radio signals can travel much farther than usual by propagating in a higher refractive index layer, experiencing less attenuation and being guided over extended distances. This results in remote interference, where uplink (UL) slots of a cell are impacted by high-power downlink (DL) signals from an aggressor cell. The interference severely degrades uplink communication, leading to increased block error rates (BLER), poor voice and data quality, reduced uplink coverage, and a decline in user experience. Users may sometimes face difficulties registering with the network or experience lower connection setup rates and reduced throughput.

[0051] Existing methods to address remote interference include power control techniques, frequency planning, UL and DL slot muting, and advanced interference cancellation algorithms. For instance, DL slot muting at the aggressor's side and UL slot muting at the victim's side are commonly used to reduce interference. However, these techniques are often insufficient in mitigating interference caused by atmospheric ducting. For instance, the power control technique may fail due to the high strength of the interfering signals, while the availability of non-overlapping channels limits frequency planning. Moreover, the advanced interference cancellation introduces computational complexity, and it may struggle to adapt to fluctuating atmospheric conditions. As a result, these existing methods fall short of providing a comprehensive solution to remote interference, particularly in the context of atmospheric ducting.

[0052] To address the challenges in conventional techniques, the present disclosure provides a method and a system for managing the UL slot of the victim cell experiencing remote interference by scheduling the uplink signalling and traffic. In particular, a cell state is shifted from a first UL slot to a second UL slot for the period of high remote interference. With this approach, the system helps to mitigate the remote interference at the victim which occurs due to atmosphere ducting phenomenon. The system allows the users to continue their voice / data services in the same interfered cell.

[0053] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings 1-7.

[0054] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary network architecture 100 in which or with which a system 108 configured for performing uplink muting in a communication network 106 may be implemented, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0055] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the network architecture 100 may include one or more User Equipments (UEs) 104-1, 104-2... 104-N associated with one or moreusers 102- 1 , 102-2... 102 -N in an environment. A person of ordinary skill in the art will understand that one or more users 102-1, 102-2... 102-N may be collectively referred to as the users 102. Similarly, a person of ordinary skill in the art will understand that one or more UEs 104-1, 104-2... 104-N may be collectively referred to as the UE 104 or the UEs 104. Although only three UE 104 are depicted in FIG. 1, however, any number of the UE 104 may be included without departing from the scope of the ongoing description.

[0056] In an embodiment, the UE 104 may include smart devices operating in a smart environment, for example, an Internet of Things (loT) system. In such an embodiment, the UE 104 may include, but are not limited to, smartphones, smart watches, smart sensors (e.g., a mechanical, a thermal, an electrical, a magnetic, etc.), networked appliances, networked peripheral devices, networked lighting system, communication devices, networked vehicle accessories, networked vehicular devices, smart accessories, tablets, a smart television (TV), computers, a smart security system, a smart home system, other devices for monitoring or interacting with or for the users 102 and / or entities, or any combination thereof. A person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the UE 104 may include, but not limited to, intelligent, multisensing, network-connected devices, that may integrate seamlessly with each other and / or with a central server or a cloud-computing system or any other device that is network-connected.

[0057] Additionally, in some embodiments, the UE 104 may include, but not limited to, a handheld wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a smartphone, a phablet device, and so on), a wearable computer device (e.g., a headmounted display computer device, a head-mounted camera device, a wristwatch computer device, and so on), a Global Positioning System (GPS) device, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, or another type of portable computer, a media playing device, a portable gaming system, and / or any other type of computer device with wireless communication capabilities, and the like. In an embodiment, the UE 104 may include, but are not limited to, any electrical, electronic, electromechanical, or equipment, or a combination of one or more of the above devices, such as virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, a laptop, a general-purpose computer, a desktop, a personal digital assistant, a tablet computer, a mainframe computer, or any other computing device. Further, the UE 104 may include one or more in-built or externally coupled accessories including, but not limited to, a visual aid device such as a camera, an audio aid, a microphone, a keyboard, and input devices for receiving input from the user 102 or an entity such as a touchpad, a touch-enabled screen, an electronic pen, and the like. A person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the UE 104 may not be restricted to the mentioned devices and various other devices may be used.

[0058] In an embodiment, the communication network 106 (interchangeably referred to as network 106) may include at least one of a Fourth Generation (4G) network, a Fifth Generation (5G) network, a Sixth Generation (6G) network, or the like. The communication network 106 may enable the UE 104 to communicate with other devices in the network architecture 100 and / or with the system 108. The communication network 106 may include a wireless card or some other transceiver connection to facilitate this communication. In another embodiment, the communication network 106 may be implemented as, or include any of a variety of different communication technologies such as a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless network, a mobile network, a Virtual Private Network (VPN), the Internet, the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), or the like.

[0059] In an embodiment, the communication network 106 may include, by way of example but not limitation, at least a portion of one or more networks having one or more nodes that transmit, receive, forward, generate, buffer, store, route, switch, process, or a combination thereof, etc. one or more messages, packets, signals, waves, voltage or current levels, some combination thereof, or so forth. The communication network 106 may also include, by way of example but not limitation, a wireless network, a wired network, an internet, an intranet, a public network, a private network, a packet-switched network, a circuit-switched network, an ad hoc network, an infrastructure network, a Public- Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a cable network, a cellular network, a satellite network, a fiber optic network, or some combination thereof.

[0060] In an embodiment, the UE 104 is communicatively coupled with the communication network 106. The communication network 106 may receive a connection request from the UE 104. The communication network 106 may send an acknowledgment of the connection request to the UE 104. The UE 104 may transmit a plurality of signals in response to the connection request.

[0061] In an embodiment, the UE 104 communicates with the system 108 via the communication network 106, for example, a radio access network (RAN), to transmit and receive various types of data, including voice data, text data, image data, video data, and control signaling. In an embodiment, the user 102 initiates an uplink transmission using the UE 104, which is conveyed to the system 108 through the communication network 106. Upon receiving the uplink transmission, including associated control signaling, the system 108 processes the received information to determine whether remote interference is present in one or more uplink communications. Upon detecting the presence of remote interference, the system 108 initiates a method for performing uplink muting for maintaining reliable communication and improving the quality of experience for the UE 104. The methodfor performing uplink muting in the communication network 106 is described in further detail with reference to FIGS. 2-7.

[0062] Although FIG. 1 shows exemplary components of the network architecture 100, in other embodiments, the network architecture 100 may include fewer components, different components, differently arranged components, or additional functional components than depicted in FIG. 1. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more components of the network architecture 100 may perform functions described as being performed by one or more other components of the network architecture 100.

[0063] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary block diagram 200 of the system 108 configured for performing uplink muting in the communication network 106, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is explained in conjunction with FIG. 1.

[0064] In an embodiment, the system 108 may include one or more processor(s) 202. The one or more processor(s) 202 may be implemented as one or more microprocessors, microcomputers, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, central processing units, logic circuitries, and / or any devices that process data based on operational instructions. Among other capabilities, the one or more processor(s) 202 may be configured to fetch and execute computer-readable instructions stored in memory 204 of the system 108. The memory 204 may be configured to store one or more computer-readable instructions or routines in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which may be fetched and executed to transmit the emergency SMS in the network. The memory 204 may include any non-transitory storage device, including, for example, volatile memory such as a Random-Access Memory (RAM), or a non-volatile memory such as an Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), a flash memory, and the like.

[0065] In an embodiment, the system 108 may include an interface(s) 206. The interface(s) 206 may include a variety of interfaces, for example, interfaces for data input and output devices (VO), storage devices, and the like.

[0066] In an embodiment, the interface(s) 206 may facilitate communication through the system 108. The interface(s) 206 may also provide a communication pathway for one or more components of the system 108. Examples of such components include, but are not limited to, a processing engine 208 and a database 210.

[0067] In an embodiment, the database 210 may include data that may be either stored or generated as a result of functionalities implemented by any of the components of the processing engine 208.

[0068] In an embodiment, the processing engine 208 may be implemented as a combination of hardware and programming (for example, programmable instructions) to implement one or more functionalities of the processor(s) 202. In examplesdescribed herein, such combinations of hardware and programming may be implemented in several different ways. For example, the programming for the processing engine 208 may be processor-executable instructions stored on a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium and the hardware for a processing engine 208 may comprise a processing resource (for example, one or more processors(s) 202), to execute such instructions. In the present examples, the machine-readable storage medium may store instructions that, when executed by the processing resource, implement the processing engine 208. In such examples, the system 108 may comprise the machine-readable storage medium storing the instructions and the processing resource to execute the instructions, or the machine-readable storage medium may be separate but accessible to the system 108 and the processing resource. In other examples, the processing engine 208 may be implemented by electronic circuitry.

[0069] In an embodiment, the processing engine 208 may be implemented or associated with a network node. In an example, the network node may be a gNodeB (gNB) schedular.

[0070] In an embodiment, the network node (i.e., the processing engine 208) is configured to receive one or more received signal strength indicator (RS SI) measurements from a physical layer node for one or more uplink (UL) slots associated with a cell. The cell refers to a radio coverage area that may be configured and controlled by a gNB. The gNB allocates time-frequency radio resources to the one or more UEs 104 and manages uplink and downlink transmissions. The cell may operate over a defined carrier frequency and bandwidth and may correspond to a beam-based coverage area within the gNB service area. In a Time Division Duplex (TDD) or frequency-division duplex (FDD) configuration, the cell is associated with a radio frame structure that may include one or more time-domain slots, where each slot may be configured as a downlink (DL) slot, an uplink (UL) slot, or a flexible slot. For example, a TDD DL UL configuration frame of 5 milliseconds (ms) may include 7 downlink slots, 2 uplink slots and 1 flexible slot. The one or more UL slots corresponds to designated time intervals within the radio frame structure that are allocated for uplink transmissions by the one or more UEs 104. Each UL slot defines a scheduled timefrequency resource during which the one or more UEs 104 transmit data and / or control information to the gNB according to configured radio resource allocations.

[0071] The one or more RS SI measurements refer to measurements or values that indicate the strength of one or more uplink signals received at the gNB. The physical-layer node corresponds to Layer-1 (LI) within the gNB, which performs physical-layer signal measurements and reports the one or more RS SI measurements to the network node (gNB schedular) for interference evaluation, scheduling decisions, and uplink resource management. Herein, throughout the specification, the terms "physical-layer node," "Layer-1 (LI)," and "PHY layer" are used interchangeably todescribe the system 108. These terms collectively refer to any physical-layer processing entity, circuitry, hardware, firmware, or software component within the gNB that is configured to receive, process, measure, and report the one or more RS SI measurements and / or radio frequency signals to the network node (gNB schedular).

[0072] In an aspect, upon receiving the one or more uplink signals through one or more antenna elements of the gNB, the physical-layer node (LI layer) may perform signal processing operations such as filtering, down-conversion, and sampling, and measure a total received signal power over a predefined bandwidth and time duration corresponding to the one or more UL slots. Further, the physical-layer node (LI layer) reports the one or more RS SI measurements to the network node (gNB schedular) for further analysis related to interference estimation, and scheduling optimization.

[0073] In an aspect, the network node (gNB schedular) is configured to receive the one or more RS SI measurements for a plurality of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) symbols over a predefined time interval. A symbol is the smallest unit of modulated data transmitted over the air. The symbol represents one or more bits of information depending on the modulation scheme (e.g., 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)). For example, a single UL slot may include the plurality of PUSCH symbols such that the one or more RSSI measurements may be computed for each PUSCH symbol or for a group of consecutive PUSCH symbols. If a UL slot includes 14 PUSCH symbols, the physical layer node (LI layer) may measure RSSI values corresponding to each of the 14 symbols or selected symbols that are carrying PUSCH data.

[0074] In an embodiment, the network node (gNB schedular) is configured to detect a presence of a remote interference in a first UL slot among the one or more UL slots based on the received one or more RSSI measurements. The remote interference refers to uplink signal degradation caused by radio signals originating from a distant cell or external source beyond the intended coverage area. Such interference may occur due to abnormal propagation conditions, including atmospheric ducting, which enables radio signals to travel longer distances than normal. In a TDD network, where uplink and downlink share the same carrier frequency with time separation, excessive propagation delay during such events may cause downlink transmissions from the distant cell to overlap with uplink transmissions from a victim cell, thereby increasing interference levels, degrading signal quality, and impacting uplink performance. Herein, the victim cell refers to a cell whose uplink reception is affected by unintended radio transmissions from the distant cell, referred to as an aggressor cell. For example, during an atmospheric ducting event, a downlink transmission originating from the aggressor cell may propagate over an extended distance and reach the victim cell during a time interval configured for uplink reception at the victim cell. As a result, the victim cell may observe abnormally high RSSI measurements within the affected uplink slot,as the received power includes interference energy from the distant downlink transmission. This unintended signal reception interferes with the uplink transmissions from the one or more UEs 104 served by the victim cell, degrading uplink signal quality and impacting overall communication performance.

[0075] In an aspect, to detect the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot, the network node (gNB schedular) is configured to calculate an average of the received one or more RSSI measurements in a first PUSCH symbol and in a last PUSCH symbol associated with the first UL slot. In an embodiment, the average RSSI corresponding to the first PUSCH symbol is calculated by aggregating all RSSI measurement samples obtained for the resource elements allocated within the first PUSCH symbol and dividing the aggregated value by total number of RSSI measurements collected for that symbol.

[0076] For example, if 7?SS / jdenotes the i-th RSSI sample corresponding to the first PUSCH symbol and ^denotes the total number of samples, the average RSSI for the first PUSCH symbol may be determined as:

[0077] Similarly, for the last PUSCH symbol, if RSSIj denotes the j-th RSSI sample and NLdenotes the total number of RSSI samples associated with the last PUSCH symbol, the average RSSI may be determined as:

[0078] Additionally, the network node (gNB schedular) is configured to calculate an average of the received one or more RSSI measurements in the plurality of PUSCH symbols associated with the first UL slot. In an embodiment, the average RSSI corresponding to the plurality of PUSCH symbols may be determined by aggregating all RSSI samples measured over the resource elements allocated for PUSCH transmission within the first UL slot and dividing the aggregated value by the total number of collected RSSI samples. For example, if RSSIkdenotes the kth RSSI sample measured across the plurality of PUSCH symbols, and N denotes the total number of RSSI samples collected for all PUSCH symbols within the first UL slot, the average RSSI measurements for the plurality of PUSCH symbols may be calculated as:>

[0079] Additionally, the network node (gNB schedular) is configured to evaluate a difference between the calculated average of the first PUSCH symbol andthe calculated average of the last PUSCH symbol. Further, the network node (gNB scheduler) is configured to compare the evaluated difference with a predefined sloping threshold. Herein, the term sloping refers to a measurable variation in the RS SI measurements across the first UL slot, particularly between the beginning and the end of the first slot. A substantial slope indicates non-uniform received signal strength within the first UL slot, which may indicate the presence of remote interference affecting only a portion of the one or more UL slots. The predefined sloping threshold corresponds to a configured reference value used to assess whether the variation in the one or more RS SI measurements is significant. The predefined sloping threshold may be defined by a network operator or system administrator based on field measurements, historical statistics, or standard guidelines. In an exemplary implementation, the predefined sloping threshold may be configured within a range of approximately 2 dB to 5 dB, depending on deployment scenarios and network requirements.

[0080] In an aspect, the network node (gNB scheduler) is further configured to compare the calculated average of the one or more RS SI measurements across the plurality of PUSCH symbols with a predefined RSSI threshold. The predefined RSSI threshold represents a reference signal strength level above which the first UL slot may be considered affected by the remote interference. The predefined RSSI threshold may also be configured by the network operator, or the system administrator based on field measurements, historical statistics, or standard guidelines. In an example implementation, the RSSI threshold may be set within a range of approximately -90 dBm to -70 dBm, depending on the network deployment.

[0081] In an aspect, the network node (gNB schedular) may be configured to trigger a flag when the evaluated difference of the average of the first PUSCH symbol and the average of the last PUSCH symbol exceeds the predefined sloping threshold and the calculated average of the received one or more RSSI measurements exceeds the predefined RSSI threshold. The flag indicates that the first UL slot is impacted by the remote interference.

[0082] In an aspect, the first UL slot is classified as an interfered slot i.e., the presence of the remote interference is determined if both conditions are satisfied i.e. the evaluated difference exceeds the predefined sloping threshold and the calculated average of the one or more RSSI measurements exceeds the predefined RSSI threshold. In another aspect, when only one of the conditions is satisfied, the network node (gNB scheduler) is configured to classify the first UL slot as a suspected interference slot. In such case, the network node may initiate a secondary evaluation procedure. The secondary evaluation procedure may include monitoring the one or more RSSI measurements over one or more subsequent UL slots, applying filtering, evaluating additional uplink quality metrics or correlating measurements across neighbouringcells. Based on the outcome of the secondary evaluation procedure, the network node may either confirm the presence of the remote interference.

[0083] In an embodiment, upon determining the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot, the network node is configured to transition an operational state of the cell from a normal state to a remote interference state. The normal state refers to a default operational mode where the UL communication is free from significant remote interference. In the normal state, the first UL slot or any UL slot operates as planned. Hence, uplink and downlink scheduling, resource allocation, and signal processing occur without disruption. The remote interference state represents a mode where the cell has detected the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot. In an example, if remote interference is detected on the first UL slot then the network node marks the change of the cell state from Remote lnterference State Normal to Remote_Interference_State_First_UL_Slot.

[0084] Remote lnterference State Normal denotes the default operating condition of the cell in which no remote interference has been detected in the monitored uplink slots. In this state, uplink scheduling proceeds without restriction, and PUSCH, PUCCH-HARQ, CSI, and SR resources may be allocated across all configured UL slots according to standard scheduling policies.

[0085] Remote_Interference_State_First_UL_Slot, indicates that remote interference has been detected specifically in the first UL slot based on the defined RS SI- based criteria. This state serves as a control trigger for interference mitigation. Upon entering this state, the network node modifies scheduling behavior for the affected slot. The transition between these two states enables automated interference-aware scheduling. The “Normal” state ensures full resource utilization under clean conditions, while the “First UL Slot” state activates targeted mitigation mechanisms to preserve uplink reliability and overall cell performance without unnecessarily impacting unaffected UL slots. In an aspect, the network node (gNB schedular) maintains and dynamically updates the operational state of the cell based on the deleted remote interference conditions.

[0086] In an embodiment, the network node maintains a record of the presence for the one or more UL slots in at least a cell state table. The cell state table refers to a data structure or logical record maintained by the network node that stores information about the operational states of the cell, including the presence or absence of remote interference in the one or more UL slots. The cell state table may include entries for each UL slot indicating whether it is in a normal state or a remote interference state. The network node may utilize the record to make real-time decisions regarding muting, rescheduling, and resource allocation.

[0087] In an embodiment, for transitioning the operational state of the cell from the normal state to the remote interference state, the network node is configured toupdate the record for the first UL slot in at least the cell state table. For example, if the first UL slot is detected to have symbol-level RS SI measurements exceeding the predefined sloping and RS SI thresholds, the network node marks the first UL slot entry in the cell state table as Remote_Interference_State_First_UL_Slot, indicating that uplink transmissions in this slot are affected, and further the first UL slot requires adjustments to mitigate the the remote interference.

[0088] In an embodiment, after transitioning the operational state of the cell from the normal state to the remote interference state, the network node is configured to mute one or more uplink transmissions scheduled in the detected first UL slot. Herein, muting refers to the intentional suppression of the scheduled one or more uplink transmissions in specific time-domain and / or frequency-domain resources to avoid receiving corrupted or interference affected signals. The muting involves temporarily preventing a transmitter from sending data over a specified time or frequency resource, without affecting other ongoing transmissions.

[0089] In an embodiment, the uplink (UL) muting specifically applies to the transmissions from the one or more UEs 104 to the network node. In UL muting, certain physical uplink channels such as the PUSCH or PUCCH are selectively muted for the first UL slot. In an embodiment, a downlink (DL) muting applies to transmissions from the network node to the one or more UEs 104. In DL muting, certain downlink channels such as a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) or reference signals are suppressed in specific time or frequency resources to reduce interference.

[0090] In normal uplink transmission, the network node may allocate PUSCH resources to the at least one UE 104 via a Downlink Control Information (DCI), specifying the time-frequency resources, modulation and coding scheme (MCS), and transmit power control parameters. Upon detecting remote interference in the first UL slot, the network node may invalidate or override the previously scheduled PUSCH allocation for the first UL slot. The suppression may be performed by transmitting updated control signaling to at least one UE 104, indicating resource cancellation, or a revised scheduling information that excludes the affected first UL slot.

[0091] At the UE side, a physical layer refrains from transmitting the scheduled one or more PUSCH transmissions in the muted first UL slot according to the received control signaling. As a result, no intended uplink data is transmitted in the first UL slot during the remote interference state, thus preventing waste of transmit power and avoiding unnecessary decoding attempts at the network node under high interference conditions.

[0092] Subsequently, the network node reschedules the suppressed one or more PUSCH transmissions to a second UL slot that is not impacted by remote interference. The second UL slot may be selected based on an updated interference measurements, scheduling availability, buffer status reports, quality of service (QoS) requirements,and latency constraints. The rescheduling may include reassigning time-frequency resources and adjusting MCS and power control parameters of the at least one UE 104 to maintain link reliability.

[0093] After rescheduling, the at least one UE 104 transmits the one or more uplink signals in the second UL slot under normal operating conditions. The network node then processes the received one or more uplink signals, to ensure the continuity of service while mitigating the impact of remote interference.

[0094] Additionally, the network node is configured to reschedule one or more physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) transmissions for the at least one UE 104 from the first UL slot to the second UL slot. The PUCCH is a channel used in the uplink communication to transmit control information from the at least one UE 104 to the gNB. The control information typically carried on the PUCCH includes HARQ acknowledgments (ACK / NACK), which is feedback for downlink transmissions to indicate successful reception or the need for retransmission. In an aspect, the HARQ is a retransmission protocol used to ensure reliable data delivery. When the gNB transmits data to the at least one UE 104, it decodes the data and sends the HARQ acknowledgment (ACK) if successful or a negative acknowledgment (NACK) if errors are detected. The HARQ feedback (ACK / NACK) is sent on the PUCCH to the at least one UE 104. Upon transitioning to the remote interference state, the resources within the second UL slot are allocated for the one or more PUCCH HARQ transmissions. The network node may update a resource map to allocate PUCCH resources in the second UL slot for the at least one UE 104.

[0095] In an aspect, the network node informs the at least one UE 104 about the updated resource allocation through downlink control messages. Further, the at least one UE 104 adjusts its transmission timing to send HARQ feedback in the newly allocated second slot. The at least one UE 104 transmits HARQ feedback in the second UL slot using the newly assigned PUCCH resources. Further, the network node receives the HARQ feedback, processes it, and takes appropriate actions, such as retransmitting data if an acknowledgement (NACK) is received. By moving PUCCH-HARQ transmission, the system 108 ensures responding to the remote interference conditions in real-time, ensuring better communication quality and user experience.

[0096] Further, the network node is configured to allocate one or more channel state information (CSI) and scheduling request (SR) resources for at least one newly registered user equipment (UE) in the second UL slot during the remote interference state. The CSI represents the condition of the communication channel between the at least one new UE and the gNB. The CSI includes parameters such as signal strength, interference levels, and channel quality indicators, which enable the gNB to adjust transmission strategies (for e.g., power levels, modulation schemes, and coding rates)to optimize communication performance. Additionally, the SR is a control signal transmitted by the at least one new UE 104 to the gNB, requesting uplink resources for data transmission. The at least one newly registered UE refers to a user equipment that has either recently joined the communication network 106 or has not yet fully established the uplink communication. The gNB may periodically scan for random access attempts from the at least one new UE seeking to connect to the communication network. Upon detecting the at least one newly registered UE, the network node allocates resources in the second UL slot to send the SR.

[0097] Subsequently, the gNB transmits a control signal (for e.g. , via Downlink Control Information (DCI)) to the at least one new UE, specifying the allocated resources for transmitting CSI and SR in the second UL slot. The at least one new UE then transmits CSI reports, which allow the gNB to assess signal strength, interference, and other channel parameters, thereby optimizing the communication. Additionally, the at least one new UE sends SRs to indicate its data transmission needs.

[0098] By allocating the CSI and SR resources to the second UL slot, the system 108 ensures that the initial transmissions of the at least one new UE are not affected by interference in the first UL slot. This allocation facilitates the seamless onboarding of the at least one new UE 104 and maintains the quality and efficiency of uplink communication despite the presence of remote interference. Furthermore, it enhances the network’s ability to respond to interference dynamically, ensuring reliable communication for both the existing at least one UE 104 and the at least one new UE.

[0099] In an embodiment, the network node is configured to determine a disappearance of the remote interference in the first UL slot. The network node continuously monitors the one or more RS SI measurements associated with the first UL slot, where the one or more RS SI measurements are periodically reported by the physical-layer node. The network node analyzes the temporal behavior of the one or more RSSI measurements to assess whether the interference condition persists. In particular, the network node determines whether (i) the difference between the calculated average of the one or more RSSI measurements of the first PUS CH symbol and the calculated average of the one or more RSSI measurements of the last PUSCH symbol falls below the predefined sloping threshold, and (ii) the calculated average of the one or more RSSI measurements across the plurality of PUSCH symbols falls below the predefined RSSI threshold. If both conditions are satisfied, the network node determines that the remote interference in the first UL slot has subsided. In other words, when the one or more RSSI measurements across the first UL slot becomes uniform and the overall RSSI measurements return within acceptable limits, the first UL slot is considered to have returned to normal operating conditions.

[0100] In an embodiment, upon determining the remote interference has disappeared, the network node is configured to transition the operational state of the cell from the remote interference state to the normal state. In the normal state, the cell may resume its typical resource allocation and scheduling activities from the first UL slot. The system 108 may allow the at least one UE 104 to transmit and receive data as usual, without needing special adjustments or muting of UL slots.

[0101] In an example, the network node changes the operational state from Remote lnterfer ence State F irst UL S lot to Remote lnterference State N ormal . The communication network 106 is restored to its standard operation, optimizing performance for all users 102, including those affected by the interference. Thus, the transition occurs automatically when the system 108 detects that the environmental conditions causing remote interference to have changed, allowing for the reversion to normal uplink communication operations. This ensures that network 108 quickly adapts to changing conditions and maintains efficient communication.

[0102] Although FIG. 2 shows exemplary components of the system 108, in other embodiments, the system 108 may include fewer components, different components, differently arranged components, or additional functional components than depicted in FIG. 2. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more components of the system 108 may perform functions described as being performed by one or more other components of the system 108.

[0103] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary system 300 configured for performing uplink muting in the communication network 106, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 3 is explained in conjunction with FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0104] In an embodiment, the system 300 describes the communication between the UE 104, a gNodeB (interchangeably referred to as the base station) 302, and the network 106 (interchangeably referred to as the communication network). The UE 104 communicates with the gNodeB 302 through a wireless interface, facilitating uplink and downlink communication.

[0105] In an aspect, the gNodeB 302 includes, but is not limited to, three main physical entities, such as a physical Layer (PHY or Layer 1) 304, a distributed unit (DU) 306, and a centralized unit (CU) 308.

[0106] In an aspect, the PHY 304 may be divided into two sections: a low PHY 310 and a high PHY 312. The Low PHY 310 handles the physical transmission and reception of uplink signals over the air interface. The high PHY 312 is responsible for signal processing tasks such as channel estimation, decoding, and error correction.

[0107] In an aspect, the DU 306 may include a radio link control (RLC) 314, a medium access control (MAC) 316 and a schedular 318. The RLC 314 handles segmentation, reassembly, and retransmission of data packets to ensure reliable communication. The MAC 316 manages resource allocation, scheduling, and1prioritization of communication tasks. Further, the scheduler 318 acts as the decisionmaking engine for allocating uplink and downlink resources to the UE 104 based on network conditions and system requirements. A communication link connects the High PHY 312 to the scheduler 318, enabling the exchange of the one or more RS SI measurements, for the detection of the remote interference.

[0108] In an aspect, the CU 308 may include a radio resource control (RRC) 320, a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) 322 and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) 324. The RRC 320 handles control plane signalling between the UE 104 and the network 106, including mobility management and connection setup. The SDAP 322 manages the mapping of Quality of Service (QoS) flows to data radio bearers, ensuring QoS compliance for user traffic. Additionally, the PDCP 324 performs header compression, encryption, and reordering of data packets for efficient transmission. A communication link between the MAC 316 and the PDCP 324 ensures coordinated data flow from the DU 306 to the CU 308.

[0109] In an aspect, the system 300 dynamically manages the remote interference in the one or more UL slots associated with the cell. The low PHY 310 in the PHY 304 captures symbol- wise RS SI measurements (the one or more RS SI measurements) during uplink transmissions. The symbol-wise RSSI measurements refer to the measurement of received signal strength for each individual modulation symbol within an uplink slot rather. The one or more RSSI measurements are communicated to the scheduler 318 in the DU 306 via the High PHY 312. The scheduler 318 further analyzes the one or more RSSI measurements and determines the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot by calculating average and comparing it with predefined thresholds as described earlier in FIG.2. For example, for detecting the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot, the scheduler 318 calculates the average of the received one or more RSSI measurements in the first PUSCH symbol and in the last PUSCH symbol associated with the first UL slot. Additionally, the scheduler 318 calculates the average of the received one or more RSSI measurements in the plurality of PUSCH symbols associated with the first UL slot. Further, the scheduler 318 evaluates the difference between the calculated average of the first PUSCH symbol and the calculated average of the last PUSCH symbol. Finally, the scheduler 318 compares the evaluated difference with the predefined sloping threshold and the calculated average RSSI measurements in the plurality of PUSCH symbols with the predefined RSSI threshold. The scheduler 318 determines the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot when the evaluated difference exceeds the predefined sloping threshold and the calculated average RSSI measurements exceeds the predefined RSSI threshold.

[0110] Upon detecting the presence of the remote interference, the scheduler 318 may instruct the MAC 316 to adjust resource allocation by muting the affected first UL slot and reallocating resources to the second UL slot.

[0111] The scheduler 318 dynamically assigns the CSI and scheduling request (SR) resources to the unaffected second UL slot for the existing at least one UE 104 and the at least one newly registered UE. The MAC 316 coordinates with the PDCP 324 to ensure that data flows continue without disruption.

[0112] The SDAP 322 and the RRC 320 ensure that the system 300 remains compliant with QoS requirements and maintains connectivity with the network 106. This connectivity enables seamless adaptation to network conditions and sustains high-quality service for the UE 104.

[0113] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary graph 400 describing conditions for performing uplink muting in the communication network 106, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 4 is explained in conjunction with FIG. 1, 2, and 3

[0114] As shown in FIG. 4, the graph 400 represents the one or more RS SI measurements (in dBm) along the Y-axis over time-domain samples corresponding to UL slots along the X-axis. The first UL slot, the second UL slot, and variations in RSSI across PUSCH symbols within each UL slot are illustrated.

[0115] Condition 1 denoted as 402 corresponds to evaluating the difference between the average of the one or more RSSI measurements of the first PUSCH symbol and the average of the one or more RSSI measurements of the last PUSCH symbol within the first UL slot. If the evaluated difference exceeds the predefined sloping threshold (for example, 3 dB), the first UL slot indicates potential remote interference.

[0116] Condition 2 denoted as 404 corresponds to comparing the average of the one or more RSSI measurements value computed across all PUSCH symbols within the first UL slot against the predefined RSSI threshold (for example, -140 dBm). If the computed average RSSI exceeds the predefined RSSI threshold, the network nodes identify the remote interference in the first UL slot.

[0117] In an embodiment, the uplink muting is triggered when both Condition 1 402 and Condition 2404 are satisfied for the first UL slot indicating the presence of remote interference.

[0118] FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary process flow 500 diagram for performing uplink muting in the communication network 106, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 5 is explained in conjunction with FIGS.1, 2 and 3.

[0119] At step 502, the system 300 operates under normal conditions, where no remote interference affects uplink communication. In this state, the scheduling of the one or more PUSCH transmissions proceeds as per the predefined Time DivisionDuplex (TDD) configuration, which specifies uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) slots. For example, in the TDD DL UL configuration frame of 5 ms, there are 7 downlink slots, 2 uplink slots, and 1 flexible slot. The gNodeB 302 functions in its default operational state, ensuring efficient scheduling of uplink transmissions without requiring interference mitigation mechanisms.

[0120] At step 504, the physical layer (Layer 1 or LI) reports symbol-wise RS SI values (the one or more RS SI measurements) for uplink transmissions to the scheduler 318 every 30 seconds. The schedular 318 then computes the average of 10 RSSI samples (spanning 5 minutes) for each PUSCH symbol for the first UL slot to assess a potential remote interference.

[0121] At step 506, the schedular 318 determines whether the difference between the average RSSI of the first PUSCH symbol and the last PUSCH symbol within the first UL slot exceeds the predefined sloping threshold.

[0122] In the flow chart, a “branch” represents a decision path or conditional flow that the process takes based on evaluating a specific condition. Typically, at a decision node, the system 108 evaluates a yes / no, true / false, or threshold-based condition, and the flow splits into two or more branches accordingly. Each branch leads to a different step or set of steps depending on the outcome of the decision.

[0123] Branch ‘No’ is followed from the step 506 if the difference is less than the predefined sloping threshold, and the schedular 318 continues monitoring the first UL slot to detect remote interference and returns to step 504.

[0124] Alternatively, the branch ‘Yes’ is followed if the difference exceeds the predefined sloping threshold, i.e., the difference between the average RSSI of the first PUSCH symbol and the last PUSCH symbol within the first UL slot is greater than the predefined sloping threshold. Further, the scheduler 318 proceeds to step 508.

[0125] At step 508, the scheduler 318 evaluates whether the average RSSI of all PUSCH symbols exceeds the predefined RSSI threshold.

[0126] Branch ‘No’ is followed from the step 508 if the average RSSI is below the predefined RSSI threshold, and the schedular 318 returns to step 504 to continue the monitoring of the one or more RSSI measurements.

[0127] Alternatively, branch ‘Yes’ is followed if the average RSSI exceeds the predefined RSSI threshold and the first UL slot is classified as the interfered slot. Further, the schedular proceeds to step 510.

[0128] At step 510, the schedular 318 triggers a flag indicating the detection of the remote interference.

[0129] At step 512, the schedular 318 checks whether the remote interference is detected in the first UL slot.

[0130] Branch ‘No’ is followed from the step 412 if no interference is detected, and the schedular 318 resumes normal PUSCH scheduling as per the TDD DL UL configuration at step 502.

[0131] Alternatively, if the remote interference is detected, the branch ‘Yes’ is followed from step 512, and the schedular 318 proceeds to step 514.

[0132] At step 514, the schedular 318 transitions the operational state (or cell state) of the cell from "Remote lnterference State Normal" to "Remote_Interference_State_First_UL_Slot," reflecting the presence of remote interference in the first UL slot.

[0133] At step 516, the schedular 318 initiates actions to mitigate the interference in the first UL slot. In an aspect, the schedular 318 mutes all PUSCH symbols in the first UL slot , reallocates uplink scheduling from the first UL slot to the second UL slot, and moves or schedules the PUCCH -HARQ transmissions from the first UL slot to the second UL slot for the at least one UE 104. Additionally, the schedular 318 allocates the CSI and SR resources exclusively for new or incoming UEs in the second UL slot.

[0134] At step 518, the schedular 318 determines whether the remote interference in the first UL slot has disappeared.

[0135] Branch ‘No’ is followed from the step 518 if the remote interference persists, and the schedular 318 continues executing the actions described in step 516.

[0136] Alternatively, if the remote interference has disappeared, the branch ‘Yes’ is followed from step 518. The schedular 318 transitions the operational state back to "Remote lnterference State Normal," and the scheduler 318 restores the normal behaviour (of using both UL slots) as described in step 502. In particular, the schedular 318 maintains all the states based on the remote interference and changes accordingly if remote interference is present on the first UL slot or any other UL slot.

[0137] FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram of a method 600 for performing uplink muting in the communication network 106, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 6 is explained in conjunction with FIGI, and 2.

[0138] At step 602, the method 500 includes receiving, by the network node, the one or more RS SI measurements from the physical layer node for the one or more UL slots associated with the cell. In an aspect, the one or more RS SI measurements are received for the plurality of PUSCH symbols that are associated with each UL slot, over the predefined time interval.

[0139] At step 604, the method 600 includes detecting, by the network node, the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot among the one or more UL slots based on the received one or more RS SI measurements. In an aspect, for detecting the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot, the method includescalculating, by the network node, the average of the received one or more RS SI measurements in the first PUSCH symbol and in the last PUSCH symbol associated with the first UL slot. The method further includes calculating, by the network node, the average of the received one or more RSSI measurements in the plurality of PUSCH symbols associated with the first UL slot. The method further includes evaluating, by the network node, the difference between the calculated average of the received one or more RSSI measurements of the first PUSCH symbol and the calculated the average of the received one or more RSSI measurements of the last PUSCH symbol. The method further includes comparing, by the network node, the evaluated difference with the predefined sloping threshold. The method further includes comparing, by the network node, the calculated average of the one or more RSSI measurements in the plurality of PUSCH symbols with the predefined RSSI threshold. Further, the method further includes determining, by the network node, the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot when the evaluated difference exceeds the predefined sloping threshold and the calculated average of the one or more RSSI measurements exceeds the predefined RSSI threshold.

[0140] At step 606, the method 600 includes transitioning by the network node, the operational state of the cell from a normal state to a remote interference state, upon determining the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot. In an aspect, the network node maintains the record for the one or more UL slots in at least the cell state table. In an aspect, for transitioning the operational state of the cell from the normal state to the remote interference state, the method includes updating, by the network node, the record for the first UL slot in at least the cell state table.

[0141] At step 608, the method 600 includes muting, by the network node, the one or more uplink transmissions on the detected first UL slot during the remote interference state. In an aspect, for muting the first UL slot, the method includes suppressing, by the network node, the one or more PUSCH transmissions scheduled in the first UL slot for the at least one UE 104. The method further includes rescheduling, by the network node, the suppressed one or more PUSCH transmissions to the second UL slot. The method further includes rescheduling, by the network node, one or more PUCCH HARQ transmissions from the first UL slot to the second UL slot. The method further includes allocating, by the network node, the one or more CSI and scheduling request (SR) resources for the at least one newly registered UE in the second UL slot during the remote interference state.

[0142] In an aspect, when the evaluated difference is below the predefined sloping threshold, and the calculated average RSSI measurements is below the predefined RSSI threshold, the method further includes identifying, by the network node, the absence of the remote interference in the first UL slot and transitioning, bythe network node, the operational state of the cell from the remote interference state to the normal state in response to the determination.

[0143] In another exemplary embodiment, the system (108) for performing uplink muting in the communication network (106) is described. The system (108) includes the processing engine (208) at the network node. The processing engine (208) is configured to receive the one or more received signal strength indicator (RS SI) measurements from the physical layer node for the one or more uplink (UL) slots associated with the cell. The processing engine (208) is configured to detect a presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot among the one or more UL slots based on the received one or more RSSI measurements. The processing engine (208) is configured to transition the operational state of the cell from the normal state to the remote interference state upon determining the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot. The processing engine (208) is configured to mute the one or more uplink transmissions on the first UL slot during the remote interference state.

[0144] FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary computer system 700 in which or with which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented.

[0145] As shown in FIG. 7, the computer system 700 may include an external storage device 710, a bus 720, a main memory 730, a read-only memory 740, a mass storage device 750, a communication port 760, and a processor 770. A person skilled in the art will appreciate that the computer system 700 may include more than one processor 770 and communication ports 760. The processor 770 may include various modules associated with embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0146] In an embodiment, the communication port 760 may be any of an RS-232 port for use with a modem-based dialup connection, a 10 / 100 Ethernet port, a Gigabit or 10 Gigabit port using copper or fibre, a serial port, a parallel port, or other existing or future ports. The communication port 760 may be chosen depending on the network 106, such as a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), or any network to which the computer system 700 connects.

[0147] In an embodiment, the memory 730 may be Random Access Memory (RAM), or any other dynamic storage device commonly known in the art. Read-only memory 740 may be any static storage device(s), e.g., but not limited to, a Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM) chips for storing static information e.g., start-up or Basic Input / Output System (BIOS) instructions for the processor 770.

[0148] In an embodiment, the mass storage device 750 may be any current or future mass storage solution, which may be used to store information and / or instructions. Exemplary mass storage solutions include, but are not limited to, Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA) or Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) hard disk drives or solid-state drives (internal or external, e.g., having Universal Serial Bus (USB) and / or Firewire interfaces), one or more opticaldiscs, Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) storage, e.g., an array of disks (e.g., SATA arrays).

[0149] In an embodiment, the bus 720 communicatively couples the processor(s) 770 with the other memory, storage, and communication blocks. The bus 720 may be, e.g., a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) / PCI Extended (PCI-X) bus, Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), Universal Serial Bus (USB) or the like, for connecting expansion cards, drives and other subsystems as well as other buses, such a front side bus (FSB), which connects the processor 770 to the computer system (700).

[0150] Optionally, operator and administrative interfaces, e.g., a display, keyboard, joystick, and cursor control device, may also be coupled to the bus 720 to support direct operator interaction with the computer system 700. Other operator and administrative interfaces may be provided through network connections connected through the communication port 760. The components described above are meant only to exemplify various possibilities. In no way should the aforementioned exemplary computer system 700 limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0151] In an exemplary embodiment, a method for performing uplink muting in a communication network is described. The method includes receiving, by a network node, one or more received signal strength indicator (RS SI) measurements from a physical layer node for one or more uplink (UL) slots associated with a cell. The method includes detecting, by the network node, a presence of a remote interference in a first UE slot among the one or more UL slots based on the received one or more RS SI measurements. The method includes transitioning, by the network node, an operational state of the cell from a normal state to a remote interference state, upon determining the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot. The method includes muting, by the network node, one or more uplink transmissions on the detected first UL slot during the remote interference state.

[0152] In an exemplary embodiment, the present disclosure discloses a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method for performing uplink muting in a communication network is described. The method includes receiving, by a network node, one or more received signal strength indicator (RS SI) measurements from a physical layer node for one or more uplink (UL) slots associated with a cell. The method includes detecting, by the network node, a presence of a remote interference in a first UL slot among the one or more UL slots based on the received one or more RS SI measurements. The method includes transitioning, by the network node, an operational state of the cell from a normal state to a remote interference state, upon determining the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot. The method includesmuting, by the network node, one or more uplink transmissions on the detected first UL slot during the remote interference state.

[0153] The present disclosure provides a technical advancement in uplink interference mitigation and radio resource management in time-division duplex (TDD) communication systems. Conventional systems lack an effective mechanism to detect and mitigate remote interference caused by atmospheric ducting using fine-granularity uplink measurements, resulting in degraded uplink performance, unnecessary uplink scheduling failures, and service interruptions. Such systems typically rely on coarse interference indicators or cell-wide muting, which adversely impacts uplink capacity and user experience. The disclosed method overcomes these limitations by introducing a symbol-level based detection mechanism that identifies the presence and location of remote interference within specific uplink slots, and dynamically transitions the cell operational state to selectively mute affected uplink slots while reallocating uplink transmissions to unaffected slots, thereby maintaining service continuity and improving overall network efficiency.

[0154] While the foregoing describes various embodiments of the invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof. The scope of the invention is determined by the claims that follow. The invention is not limited to the described embodiments, versions or examples, which are included to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention when combined with information and knowledge available to the person having ordinary skill in the art.

[0155] The method and system of the present disclosure may be implemented in a number of ways. For example, the methods and systems of the present disclosure may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination of software, hardware, and firmware. The above-described order for the steps of the method is for illustration only, and the steps of the method of the present disclosure are not limited to the order specifically described above unless specifically stated otherwise. Further, in some embodiments, the present disclosure may also be embodied as programs recorded in a recording medium, the programs including machine-readable instructions for implementing the methods according to the present disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure also covers a recording medium storing a program for executing the method according to the present disclosure.

[0156] While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated that many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodiments without departing from the principles of the disclosure. These and other changes in the preferred embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein,whereby it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter to be implemented merely as illustrative of the disclosure and not as limitation.ADVANCEMENTS OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE

[0157] The present disclosure described herein above has several technical advantages as follows:

[0158] The present disclosure provides an effective mechanism to mitigate remote interference in a victim cell caused by atmospheric ducting phenomena, ensuring uninterrupted network performance even in challenging environmental conditions.

[0159] The present disclosure enables the timely identification of remote interference events and minimizes unnecessary uplink muting, thereby reducing signaling overhead and avoiding an adverse impact on uplink throughput.

[0160] The present disclosure ensures that users can continue their voice and data services within the same interfered cell, maintaining seamless communication and reducing service disruptions.

[0161] The present disclosure enables dynamic resource management by reallocating uplink resources, to unaffected uplink (UL) slots. This enhances overall network efficiency and ensures optimal utilization of available resources.

[0162] The present disclosure ensures improved network reliability and a superior user experience by dynamically adapting to interference conditions and maintaining robust communication links for both existing and new user equipment (UEs).

Claims

CLAIMSWe claim:

1. A method (600) for performing uplink muting in a communication network (106), the method (106) comprising:receiving (602), by a network node, one or more received signal strength indicator (RS SI) measurements from a physical layer node for one or more uplink (UL) slots associated with a cell;detecting (604), by the network node, a presence of a remote interference in a first UL slot among the one or more UL slots based on the received one or more RS SI measurements;transitioning (606), by the network node, an operational state of the cell from a normal state to a remote interference state, upon determining the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot; andmuting (608), by the network node, one or more uplink transmissions on the detected first UL slot during the remote interference state.

2. The method (600) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein for muting the first UL slot, the method (600) comprises:suppressing, by the network node, one or more physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions scheduled in the first UL slot for at least one user equipment (UE) (104);rescheduling, by the network node, the suppressed one or more PUSCH transmissions to a second UL slot;rescheduling, by the network node, one or more physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) transmissions from the first UL slot to the second UL slot; andallocating, by the network node, one or more channel state information (CSI) and scheduling request (SR) resources for at least one newly registered user equipment (UE) in the second UL slot during the remote interference state.

3. The method (600) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more RS SI measurements are received for a plurality of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) symbols that are associated with each UL slot, over a predefined time interval.

4. The method (600) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein for detecting the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot, the method (600) comprises:calculating, by the network node, an average of the received one or more RSSI measurements in a first PUSCH symbol and in a last PUSCH symbol associated with the first UL slot;calculating, by the network node, an average of the received one or more RSSI measurements in the plurality of PUSCH symbols associated with the first UL slot;evaluating, by the network node, a difference between the calculated average of the first PUSCH symbol and the calculated average of the last PUSCH symbol;comparing, by the network node, the evaluated difference with a predefined sloping threshold;comparing, by the network node, the calculated average of the one or more RSSI measurements in the plurality of PUSCH symbols with a predefined RSSI threshold; anddetermining, by the network node, the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot when the evaluated difference exceeds the predefined sloping threshold and the calculated average of the one or more RSSI measurements exceeds the predefined RSSI threshold.

5. The method (600) as claimed in claim 4, wherein, when the evaluated difference is below the predefined sloping threshold, and the calculated average of the one or more RSSI measurements is below the predefined RSSI threshold, the method (600) further comprises:identifying, by the network node, an absence of the remote interference in the first UL slot; andtransitioning, by the network node, the operational state of the cell from the remote interference state to the normal state in response to the determination.

6. The method (600) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the network node maintains a record for the one or more UL slots in at least a cell state table.

7. The method (600) as claimed in claim 6, wherein transitioning the operational state of the cell from the normal state to the remote interference state comprises:updating, by the network node, the record for the first UL slot in at least the cell state table.

8. A system (108) for performing uplink muting in a communication network (106), the system (108) comprising:a processing engine (208) at a network node, wherein the processing engine (208) is configured to:receive one or more received signal strength indicator (RS SI) measurements from a radio access layer for one or more uplink (UL) slots associated with a cell;detect a presence of the remote interference in a first UL slot among the one or more UL slots based on the received one or more RSSI measurements;transition an operational state of the cell from a normal state to a remote interference state, upon determining the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot; andmute one or more uplink transmissions on the first UL slot during the remote interference state.

9. The system (108) as claimed in claim 8, wherein for muting the first UL slot, the processing engine (208) is configured to:suppress one or more physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions scheduled in the first UL slot for at least one user equipment (UE) (104);reschedule the suppressed one or more PUSCH transmissions to a second UL slot;reschedule one or more physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) transmissions from the first UL slot to the second UL slot; andallocate one or more channel state information (CSI) and scheduling request (SR) resources for at least one newly registered user equipment (UE) in the second UL slot during the remote interference state.

10. The system (108) as claimed in claim 8, wherein the one or more RSSI measurements are received for a plurality of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) symbols that are associated with each UL slot, over a predefined time interval.

11. The system (108) as claimed in claim 8, wherein for detecting the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot, the processing engine (208) is configured to:calculate an average of the received one or more RSSI measurements in a first PUSCH symbol and in a last PUSCH symbol associated with the first UL slot ;calculate an average of the received one or more RS SI measurements of in plurality of PUSCH symbols associated with the first UL slot;evaluate a difference between the calculated average of the first PUSCH symbol and the calculated average of the last PUSCH symbol;compare the evaluated difference with a predefined sloping threshold; compare the calculated average of the one or more RS SI measurements in the plurality of PUSCH symbols with a predefined RSSI threshold; and determine the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot when the evaluated difference exceeds the predefined sloping threshold and the calculated average of the one or more RSSI measurements exceeds the predefined RSSI threshold.

12. The system (108) as claimed in claim 11, wherein, when the evaluated difference is below the predefined sloping threshold, and the calculated average of the one or more RSSI measurements is below the predefined RSSI threshold, the processing engine (208) is configured to:detect an absence of the remote interference in the first UL slot; and transition the operational state of the cell from the remote interference state to the normal state in response to the determination.

13. The system (108) as claimed in claim 8, wherein the network node maintains a record for the one or more UL slots in at least a cell state table.

14. The system (108) as claimed in claim 13, wherein for transitioning the operational state of the cell from the normal state to the remote interference state, the processing engine (208) is configured to:update the record for the first UL slot in at least the cell state table.

15. A computer program product comprising a non -transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method (600) for performing uplink muting in a communication network (106), the method (600) comprising:receiving (602), by a network node, one or more received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurements from a physical layer node for one or more uplink (UL) slots associated with a cell;detecting (604), by the network node, a presence of a remote interference in a first UL slot among the one or more UL slots based on the received one or more RSSI measurements;transitioning (606), by the network node, an operational state of the cell from a normal state to a remote interference state, upon determining the presence of the remote interference in the first UL slot; andmuting (608), by the network node, one or more uplink transmissions on the detected first UL slot during the remote interference state.

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