Dynamic antenna reference signal transmission
View Patent ↗The techniques described herein manage the transmission of reference signals on associated antennas of a cell site based on network conditions (e.g., the load of user data being transmitted via down-link (DL) transmissions). A reference signal includes control channel information that mobile devices are able to use to identify a particular cell and/or determine whether the particular cell is suitable for “camping” or “idling”. The techniques are configured to dynamically activate and/or de-activate various ones of multiple antennas, so that an inactive antenna does not broadcast reference signals. Rather, the techniques described herein configure a subset (e.g., one antenna) of a larger set of antennas (e.g., two antennas or four antennas) of a cell site to transmit reference signals so that the likelihood of control channel interference between neighboring cell sites is reduced.
1. One or more devices comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more devices to:
configure at least one antenna in a set of antennas to broadcast first reference signals;
receive, from one or more mobile devices and based at least in part on the first reference signals being broadcast, requests to transmit data;
determine, based at least in part on the requests to transmit data, to switch at least one additional antenna in the set of antennas from an inactive operation state to an active operation state, the at least one additional antenna not broadcasting second reference signals while in the inactive operation state;
configure, in response to switching the at least one additional antenna from the inactive operation state to the active operation state, the at least one additional antenna to broadcast the second reference signals;
transmit the data to the one or more mobile devices using the at least one antenna and the at least one additional antenna in parallel;
determine that an amount of data to be transmitted to the one or more devices is below a threshold amount; and
switch, based at least in part on the determination that the amount of data to be transmitted to the one or more devices is below the threshold amount, the at least one additional antenna from the active operation state back to the inactive operation state so that the second reference signals are no longer being broadcast.
2. The one or more devices of claim 1 , wherein the requests to transmit data are associated with downloading data from one or more servers to the one or more mobile devices via a mobile telephone network.
3. The one or more devices of claim 1 , wherein the at least one antenna comprises a primary antenna of a fixed location cell site that is always configured to broadcast the first reference signals.
4. The one or more devices of claim 1 , wherein a reference signal comprises control channel information useable by the one or more mobile devices to identify a particular cell and to camp on the particular cell.
5. The one or more devices of claim 4 , wherein the control channel information comprises a cell identifier, a frequency band used by the particular cell, and a power control indicator.
6. The one or more devices of claim 1 , wherein determining that the amount of data to be transmitted to the one or more devices is below the threshold amount comprises determining that no additional data is to be transmitted to the one or more devices.
7. The one or more devices of claim 1 , wherein the at least one antenna and the at least one additional antenna are part of a same fixed location cell site.
8. A method comprising:
configuring, by one or more processors, at least one antenna in a set of antennas to broadcast first reference signals;
receiving, from one or more mobile devices and based at least in part on the first reference signals being broadcast, requests to transmit data;
determining, by the one or more processors and based at least in part on the requests to transmit data, to activate at least one additional antenna in the set of antennas, the at least one additional antenna, prior to activation, configured to not broadcasting second reference signals;
configuring, by the one or more processors and based at least in part on the determination to activate, the at least one additional antenna to broadcast the second reference signals;
transmitting the data to the one or more mobile devices using the at least one antenna and the at least one additional antenna in parallel;
determining that an amount of data to be transmitted to the one or more devices is below a threshold amount; and
de-activating, based at least in part on the determination that the amount of data to be transmitted to the one or more devices is below the threshold amount, the at least one additional antenna so that the second reference signals are no longer being broadcast.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the requests to transmit data are associated with downloading data from one or more servers to the one or more mobile devices via a mobile telephone network.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the at least one antenna comprises a primary antenna of a fixed location cell site that is always configured to broadcast the first reference signals.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein a reference signal comprises control channel information useable by the one or more mobile devices to identify a particular cell and to camp on the particular cell.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the control channel information comprises a cell identifier, a frequency band used by the particular cell, and a power control indicator.
13. The method of claim 8 , wherein
determining that the amount of data to be transmitted to the one or more devices is below the threshold amount comprises determining that no additional data is to be transmitted to the one or more devices.
14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the at least one antenna and the at least one additional antenna are part of a same fixed location cell site.
15. A system comprising:
a primary antenna that is always configured to broadcast first reference signals;
one or more additional antennas individually configured to be switched between an active operation state and an inactive operation state, wherein an individual additional antenna is configured to broadcast second reference signals while operating in the active operation state and the individual antenna is configured to not broadcast the second reference signals while operating in the inactive operation state; and
one or more devices storing instructions that, when executed, configure individual ones of the additional antennas to switch between the active operation state and the inactive operation state based at least in part on whether one or more mobile devices are downloading data or requesting to download data via a mobile telephone network,
wherein the instructions further determine that an amount of the data to be downloaded to the one or more mobile devices is below a threshold amount and, based on the at least in part on the determination, switch the individual ones of the additional antennas to the inactive operation state.
16. The system of claim 15 , comprised within a single fixed location cell site.
17. The system of claim 15 , wherein a reference signal comprises control channel information useable by the one or more mobile devices to identify a particular cell and to camp on the particular cell.
18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the control channel information comprises a cell identifier, a frequency band used by the particular cell, and a power control indicator.