Divide-and-conquer approach to mitigating relay-to-relay interference

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:

obtain interference related detection results of interference occurring at least between a plurality of relay nodes, wherein each relay node of the plurality of relay nodes is capable of being wirelessly connected to a radio access network, is associated with an access node of the radio access network, and serves to connect at least one user equipment which is wirelessly connected to the radio access network, wherein a connection between the relay node and its serving access node is an access node—relay node connection;

negotiate at least one of a grouping and a subframe configuration with one or more neighbour access nodes;

group the relay nodes into one or more groups according to at least the interference related detection and the negotiation results; and

based on the grouping initiate a sub-frame configuration for the access node—relay node connection of each of the one or more groups of relay nodes such that the access node—relay node connection can be configured for each group in order to mitigate interference between transmissions to and from user equipment and to and from different relay nodes in each group.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: group the relay nodes also based on connection requirements for the access node—relay node connection.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is or is a part of a network management entity.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

inform the access nodes and the relay nodes of each of the one or more groups about the grouping.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is the access node or is a part of the access node, or is one of the relay nodes or a part of one of the relay nodes.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:

identify relay nodes causing interference to other relay nodes based on the obtained interference related detection results; wherein the grouping is based on identified ones of the relay nodes that are causing interference, and wherein the grouping comprises informing a neighbour access node serving a relay node causing interference to implement the grouping.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the negotiating comprises indications of at least one of an agreement and a disagreement to the grouping using a communicated pre-determined number of hand-shake procedures.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the grouping is different for uplink communication versus downlink communication.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

send a sub-frame configuration proposal message including a proposed sub-frame configuration to a neighbour access node with a relay node in a same group, or to a relay node in the same group;

receive a response message in response to the sub-frame configuration proposal message including one of confirmation of the proposed sub-frame configuration and a new sub-frame configuration proposed by the neighbour access node, and

determine a sub-frame configuration based on the response message.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

send a confirmation of the determined sub-frame configuration in response to the response message including a confirmation message of the sub-frame configuration.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

receive a sub-frame configuration proposal message including a proposal for a sub-frame configuration from the neighbour access node or relay node belonging to a same group;

determine whether the proposed sub-frame configuration is acceptable or not; and

send a response message in response to the configuration proposal message including confirmation of the proposed sub-frame configuration or a new proposed sub-frame configuration based on the result of the determining.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the interference related detection results comprise at least one of interference measurement results, interference estimation results and received power measurement or estimation results.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the sub-frame configuration comprises at least one of a transmission time interval and a slot configuration associated with each relay node of the plurality of relay nodes.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the grouping the relay nodes comprises grouping relay nodes with a same at least one of a transmission time interval and a slot configuration, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to inform at least one access node of the radio access network of the at least one of a transmission time interval and a slot configuration of the grouping to configure the access node—relay node connection.

15. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:

provide interference related detection results of at least one relay node associated with the apparatus, wherein the interference related detection results comprise indication of interference occurring at least between the at least one relay node and one or more other relay nodes associated with the apparatus, wherein the relay node is capable of being wirelessly connected to a radio access network and serves to connect at least one user equipment which is wirelessly connected via the at least one relay node to the radio access network;

send the interference related detection results to a network management entity for grouping the relay nodes according to the obtained detection results;

receive information about a proposed group to which the apparatus and the at least one relay node belong and a sub-frame configuration for the proposed group in order to mitigate the interference;

determine whether the proposed grouping is acceptable or not, and

send a response message in response to the grouping proposal including confirmation that the proposed grouping is acceptable or a new proposed grouping based on result of the determining.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

negotiate with one or more neighbour access nodes or one or more relay nodes in order to form one of the proposed group or the new proposed group.

17. A method comprising:

obtaining interference related detection results of interference occurring at least between a plurality of relay nodes, wherein each relay node of the plurality of relay nodes is capable of being wirelessly connected to a radio access network, is associated with an access node of the radio access network, and serves to connect at least one user equipment which is wirelessly connected to the radio access network, wherein a connection between the relay node and its serving access node is an access node - relay node connection;

negotiating at least one of a grouping and a subframe configuration with one or more neighbour access nodes;

grouping the relay nodes into one or more groups according to at least the interference related detection and the negotiation results; and

based on the grouping, initiating a sub-frame configuration for the access node—relay node connection of each of the one or more groups of relay nodes such that the access node—relay node connection can be configured for each group in order to mitigate interference between transmissions to and from user equipment and to and from different relay nodes in each group.

18. The method according to claim 17 , further comprising

identifying relay nodes causing interference to other relay nodes based on the obtained interference related detection results, wherein the grouping is based on identified ones of the relay nodes that are causing interference; and

informing a neighbour access node serving a relay node causing interference to perform the grouping.

19. The method according to claim 17 , further comprising determining a sub-frame configuration of the access node—relay node connection for each group in order to mitigate the interference between transmissions to the user equipment and to the different relay nodes in each group or from the user equipment and from the different relay nodes in each group.

20. The method according to claim 17 , further comprising obtaining information regarding a channel quality of the access node—relay node connections, determining a configuration of the access node—relay node connections for each group according to the obtained information; and

informing the access nodes about the configuration for each relay node.

21. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium for performing a method according to claim 17 when run on a computer system.