Method for beam coordination, and a base station and a user terminal therefor
The invention concerns a method for beam coordination between a first base station (M 1 ) and a second base station (P 1 ), wherein interfering beams (B 2 -B 4 ) transmitted from the first base station (M 1 ) are determined based on measured reference signals, dependent on a ranking of interfering beams (B 2 -B 4 ) which shall be restricted in use, a restriction of a use of radio resources in the first base station (M 1 ) in at least one ranked interfering beam (B 3 ) is performed, and user terminals (UE 1 , UE 2 ) served by the second base station (P 1 ) are scheduled on radio resources which are restricted in use in the first base station (M 1 ) in said at least one ranked interfering beam (B 3 ), a base station and a user terminal therefor.
1. A method for beam coordination between a first base station and a second base station, wherein:
reference signals transmitted from the first base station are measured by the second base station within the area served by the second base station,
at least one interfering beam transmitted from the first base station which is relevant for creating interference for the area served by the second base station is determined by the second base station based on said measured reference signals,
dependent on a ranking of said at least one interfering beam which is relevant for creating interference for the area served by the second base station, a restriction of a use of at least one radio resource in the first base station in at least one ranked interfering beam is performed,
and at least one user terminal served by the second base station is scheduled on at least one radio resource which is restricted in use in the first base station (M 1 ) in said at least one ranked interfering beam;
wherein the second base station temporarily stops downlink transmission on at least one subcarrier in order to receive said reference signals on said at least one subcarrier.
2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein said ranking is based on a statistical evaluation of information about an interference strength of said at least one interfering beam which is relevant for creating interference for the area served by the second base station.
3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein said ranking of said at least one interfering beam which is relevant for creating interference for the area served by the second base station is determined based on at least one of a group of information about at least one channel quality determined by said at least one user terminal and a frequency of occurrence of interfering beams reported by said at least one user terminal.
4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the first base station communicates said restrictions of the use of said at least one radio resource in said at least one ranked interfering beam at least to the second base station.
5. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the second base station requests said restriction of the use of said at least one radio resource in the first base station in said at least one ranked interfering beam.
6. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the first base station requests information at least from the second base station about influence of the at least one interfering beam transmitted from the first base station to foster a decision about beam usage restriction.
7. A method according to claim 1 ,
wherein said restriction of the use of said at least one radio resource in the first base station in said at least one ranked interfering beam is multiple times decided each decision being valid for a time scale which is above a length of a subframe,
or wherein a restriction of a use of at least one radio resource in the first base station in at least one interfering beam is statically configured.
8. A method according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one radio resource is at least one of a group of time resources and frequency resources.
9. A base station for performing beam coordination between the base station and a further base station, wherein the base station comprises:
a receiver configured to receive one or more beams, which include interfering beams and non-interfering beams; and
at least one processor coupled to the receiver, the processor being adapted to:
measure said reference signals transmitted from the further base station;
determine interfering beams transmitted from the further base station based on said measured reference signals;
determine a ranking of interfering beams transmitted from the further base station which are relevant for creating interference for an area served by the base station, said interfering beams being determined based on measurements of reference signals transmitted from the further base station,
and schedule at least one user terminal served by the base station on at least one radio resource which is restricted in use in the further base station in at least one ranked interfering beam;
wherein the further base station temporarily stops downlink transmission on at least one subcarrier in order to receive said reference signals on said at least one subcarrier.