Femtocell Low-Duty Mode Cycle Pattern for Scanning Efficiency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Femto base stations experience interference with macrocells and have difficulty being efficiently scanned by mobile stations due to their low-duty mode cycle patterns, which affect both terminal performance and communication efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A method for managing low-duty mode operation in femto base stations, involving the setting of a low-duty mode cycle pattern with alternating available and unavailable intervals, where the available interval includes a paging listening interval and the unavailable interval is adjusted based on the overlapping degree with macrocells, to minimize interference and enhance scanning efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If the femto base station operates in low-duty mode with traditional cycle patterns, then energy consumption is reduced, but mobile stations cannot efficiently scan the femto base station and interference with macrocells increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a periodic low-duty mode cycle pattern with alternating available and unavailable intervals. The cycle includes an available interval where the femto base station is active for scanning and synchronization, followed by an unavailable interval where it remains silent to save energy and reduce interference. This periodic operation allows mobile stations to efficiently scan during available intervals while the system consumes minimal energy during unavailable intervals.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent dynamically adjusts the cycle pattern parameters including the duration of available and unavailable intervals, the number of cycles, and the alignment with macrocell paging cycles. By making the cycle pattern configurable and adaptive, the system optimizes the balance between scanning efficiency and energy consumption based on specific deployment scenarios and traffic conditions.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If the femto base station operates in low-duty mode, then interference with macrocells is reduced, but mobile stations experience scanning delays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent ensures that mobile stations are notified in advance about the low-duty mode cycle pattern through system information broadcasting before the femto base station enters unavailable intervals. This preliminary notification allows mobile stations to prepare and complete scanning operations during available intervals, avoiding scanning delays when the base station becomes unavailable.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent designs the cycle pattern to ensure continuous useful action by making the available interval sufficiently long to complete scanning and synchronization operations. The cycle is configured so that mobile stations can consistently find the femto base station during available intervals, maintaining service continuity while the unavailable intervals provide interference-free periods for macrocell operation.
3Productivity
If the available interval is extended to improve scanning efficiency, then mobile stations can scan faster, but interference with macrocells increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the duration of the available interval as a key parameter to balance scanning efficiency and interference reduction. By carefully selecting the available interval length, the system provides sufficient time for mobile stations to complete scanning and synchronization while limiting the total active transmission time to minimize interference with macrocell operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses periodic cycling with multiple available and unavailable intervals to distribute interference over time. Rather than having one long continuous available interval that causes sustained interference, the system uses repeated shorter available intervals separated by unavailable intervals, reducing peak interference while maintaining scanning efficiency through cumulative scanning opportunities.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple paging cycles are managed, then service coverage is improved, but the complexity of managing cycle patterns increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the service area and traffic into multiple paging cycles with different characteristics. Each paging cycle can be independently configured with its own low-duty mode cycle pattern, allowing the system to manage different service requirements separately. This segmentation enables versatile service coverage while keeping the management complexity of each individual cycle manageable through independent configuration.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of setting a cycle of a low-duty mode in a femto base station is provided. The cycle of the low-duty mode has a pattern in which an available interval and an unavailable interval repeatedly appear, and the available interval is set to include a paging listening interval of a paging cycle. A method of setting a cycle of a low-duty mode in a femto base station having a service area overlapping with that of a macrocell is provided. An unavailable interval is set by taking the overlapping degree of the service area of the femto base station with the macrocell into consideration. A method of setting a cycle of a low-duty mode in a plurality of femto base stations operated in the low-duty mode is provided. The same cycle can be set for a plurality of base stations.