Carrier Aggregation Traffic Steering via Dynamic Scheduler Weights
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional carrier aggregation techniques in wireless communication systems fail to steer traffic effectively towards or away from specific frequency bands, leading to increased loading and interference in low-frequency, high-value spectrum bands, resulting in degraded quality of service and underutilization of high-frequency, low-value spectrum bands.
Innovation Solution
The system determines scheduler weights for serving cells based on their characteristics, such as carrier frequencies, spectrum utilization, and loading, to selectively steer data towards higher frequency bands and away from lower frequency bands, ensuring fair scheduling and optimal resource allocation across aggregated cells.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional carrier aggregation techniques are used without traffic steering, then data transmission can occur across multiple frequency bands, but traffic is not effectively distributed leading to increased loading and interference in low-frequency bands while high-frequency bands remain underutilized
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different scheduler weights to different serving cells based on their frequency characteristics. Low-frequency serving cells are assigned lower weights to steer traffic away, while high-frequency serving cells are assigned higher weights to attract traffic. This creates non-uniform local properties in traffic distribution across the frequency spectrum, optimizing utilization of high-frequency bands while reducing loading on low-frequency bands.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the scheduling parameter (scheduler weight) dynamically based on frequency band characteristics and current network conditions. By adjusting the weight parameter for each serving cell, the system can steer traffic flow to achieve better spectrum utilization. The weight can be modified based on factors such as channel quality, load conditions, and frequency band value, enabling flexible traffic distribution across aggregated carriers.
2Productivity
If traffic is preferentially directed towards high-frequency bands, then utilization of high-frequency spectrum increases, but scheduling complexity across multiple serving cells increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the scheduling function by introducing separate weight factors for different serving cells. Instead of a unified scheduling approach, the system divides traffic allocation into cell-specific weighted decisions. Each serving cell has its own weight parameter that simplifies the scheduling decision process at each cell while achieving overall traffic steering goals across the aggregated carriers.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If scheduler weights are adjusted to steer traffic away from low-frequency bands, then interference in low-frequency bands is reduced, but quality of service consistency across different frequency bands becomes more challenging to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the scheduler monitors channel quality indicators, throughput performance, and load conditions across different serving cells. Based on this feedback, the scheduler dynamically adjusts the weights assigned to each serving cell to maintain quality of service consistency. The feedback loop ensures that traffic steering decisions do not compromise overall service quality by adapting to real-time network conditions.
Data Source
AI summary
A base station that controls carrier aggregation for a user equipment (UE) includes a memory configured to store weight factors for serving cells that are aggregated to provide wireless connectivity to the UE. The weight factors are determined based on characteristics of the serving cells. In some cases, the weight factors are determined based on frequencies of carriers used by the serving cells to provide the wireless connectivity to the UE. The base station also includes a processor configured to determine, based on the weight factors and a total weight assigned to the UE, weights for transmitting data to the UE via the serving cells. The base station further includes a transceiver configured to transmit data to the UE via the serving cells at priorities that are determined based on the weights for the serving cells.