PCI Allocation via Dynamic Region Locking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current PCI allocation methods in cellular networks, such as those used in PW SON, rely on global locks and sequential allocation, which do not scale well with an increasing number of deployed cells, leading to inefficiencies and performance issues.
Innovation Solution
The approach introduces dynamic regions based on geographic location for synchronization, allowing parallel PCI allocation within these regions while ensuring non-conflicting allocations and FIFO behavior, thereby improving scalability and reducing load.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If global locks and sequential allocation are used for PCI allocation, then allocation correctness is maintained, but scalability and performance deteriorate with increasing number of deployed cells
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the global locking mechanism into multiple regional locks based on geographic locations. Each region maintains its own lock and allocation queue, allowing parallel processing of PCI allocation requests across different regions while ensuring correctness within each region. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by enabling scalability through parallelism while maintaining allocation correctness through localized synchronization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a geographic dimension to the PCI allocation system by organizing cells into spatial regions. Instead of a single sequential queue, the system creates multiple regional queues distributed across geographic space, allowing simultaneous allocation operations in different locations. This dimensional transformation enables the system to scale with the number of cells while preserving allocation correctness through region-specific validation.
2Reliability
If global locks are used for PCI allocation, then conflict-free allocation is ensured, but system load and timeouts increase
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the global lock into multiple regional locks, the patent reduces the contention overhead associated with global locking. Cells in different geographic regions can proceed with allocation independently without waiting for global lock acquisition, significantly reducing timeouts while maintaining conflict-free allocation through localized validation within each region.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic region creation and adjustment based on the distribution of cells and allocation demand. Regions can be created, merged, or adjusted dynamically to optimize lock granularity and reduce contention. This dynamic adaptation allows the system to maintain conflict-free allocation while minimizing wait times and timeouts under varying load conditions.
3Device complexity
If sequential allocation with global locks is used, then allocation simplicity is maintained, but processing speed and efficiency decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the allocation process into independent regional operations, each with its own simplified locking and validation logic. This segmentation enables parallel processing across regions, dramatically increasing processing speed while maintaining the simplicity of the allocation algorithm within each region. The overall system complexity increases only linearly with the number of regions, not quadratically.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple independent regional allocation operations into a coordinated system that achieves global allocation goals through localized actions. Each region operates independently with simple logic, but the combination of regional results produces the desired global conflict-free allocation. This merging approach preserves simplicity at the operational level while achieving high processing speed through parallelism.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention of this PCI Allocation using Dynamic Region Locking is mainly from system perspective how to allocate a conflict-free PCI in a dynamic environment without locking the entire devices. This achieves significant parallelism in PCI allocation and still achieve non-conflicting PCI allocation.