Carrier Allocation for Relay and CSFB UEs
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Solution Overview
Problem
In wireless networks, particularly when serving relay base stations, heavy loads on carriers can lead to delays in control-plane communications, such as handover and paging, due to limited air interface resources, which can result in poor user experience and dropped calls, exacerbated by CSFB-related signaling that consumes valuable resources.
Innovation Solution
Differentially allocating carriers to relays and CSFB-capable UEs, where the base station assigns CSFB-capable UEs to operate on a different carrier than the one serving the relay, thereby reducing the resource consumption on the carrier serving the relay.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If carriers are shared between relays and CSFB-capable UEs, then air interface resources are utilized more efficiently, but control-plane communication delays increase and call reliability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the air interface resources by creating separate carrier groups: one group dedicated to relays and another group for CSFB-capable UEs. This segmentation prevents resource contention between relay control-plane communications and UE CSFB signaling, thereby maintaining control-plane communication reliability while still utilizing available carriers efficiently.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different carrier allocation strategies to different user types. Relays receive dedicated carrier resources for control-plane communications, while CSFB-capable UEs are assigned carriers from a separate group. This localized resource quality assurance ensures that relay control signaling experiences no delays from UE signaling activity.
2Reliability
If more carriers are allocated to serve relays, then relay service quality improves, but available resources for CSFB-capable UEs decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the available carriers into distinct segments: relay carriers and UE carriers. This segmentation allows the system to allocate sufficient carriers to relays for high-quality control-plane communications while simultaneously maintaining adequate carriers for CSFB-capable UEs, thus preserving overall system adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new dimension to carrier allocation by creating a two-dimensional carrier assignment framework: one dimension for relay carriers and another for UE carriers. This dimensional separation allows independent optimization of resources for each user type without compromising the other.
3Productivity
If CSFB-capable UEs are assigned to the same carrier as relays, then carrier utilization increases, but control-plane communication delays increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments carriers into relay-dedicated carriers and UE-dedicated carriers, preventing CSFB-capable UEs from being assigned to relay carriers. This segmentation eliminates the time delays that would occur if UE CSFB signaling competed with relay control-plane communications for the same carrier resources.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts CSFB-capable UEs from the relay carrier group and places them in a separate UE carrier group. This extraction removes the source of potential delays from the relay control-plane communication path, ensuring that relay signaling experiences no interference from UE signaling activity.
Data Source
AI summary
In an example method, a base station determines that a UE is CSFB capable and that the base station is currently serving a relay on a first carrier of a plurality of carriers. The base station provides a coverage area on which to serve UEs, and the coverage area operates on the plurality of carriers. Based on at least the determining that the UE is CSFB capable and that the base station is currently serving the relay on the first carrier, the base station assigns the UE to operate on a carrier of the plurality of carriers other than the first carrier rather than having the UE operate on the first carrier on which the base station is currently serving the relay.