CN101558577B - Methods and apparatus related to power control and/or interference management in a mixed wireless communications system supporting wan signaling and peer to peer signaling - Google Patents

Abstract

Methods and apparatus related to the sharing of wide area network (WAN) uplink bandwidth with peer to peer communication signaling usage are described. The base station regulates the level of interference from the peer to peer signaling by generating and transmitting peer to peer transmission power control signals intended for peer to peer wireless terminals in the local vicinity. A base station transmits into a downlink frequency band a signal, e.g., a beacon or broadcast channel signal, to be used by a peer to peer wireless terminal in controlling its peer to peer transmit power level into the corresponding uplink frequency band. The peer to peer wireless terminal receives and evaluates the base station signal. The determined information from the evaluation is used in determining whetheror not peer to peer signal transmission is permitted and/or in determining a peer to peer transmission power level.

Description

Methods and apparatus related to power control and/or interference management in a hybrid wireless communication system supporting WAN signaling and peer-to-peer signaling

related application

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application S.N. 60/845,053, filed September 15, 2006, entitled "BEACONS IN AMIXED WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM," and filed June 18, 2007, entitled "METHODS AND APPARATUS RELATED TO PEER TO PEER DEVICECONTROL", both of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference, and both are assigned to the assignee of the present application .

technical field

Various embodiments relate to methods and apparatus for wireless communications, and more particularly to methods and apparatus related to peer-to-peer communications.

Background technique

Wireless spectrum is an expensive and valuable resource. In wide area network systems such as cellular systems, the radio frequency spectrum allocated to the WAN is often not fully utilized. It would be advantageous to develop methods and apparatus that could identify and/or utilize these underutilized air link resources. It would be beneficial if the methods and apparatus were adaptive so that the interference to WAN communications created by the additional use of air link resources could be managed. A method and apparatus for sharing bandwidth between WAN communications and peer-to-peer communications while causing minimal impact and/or modification to the WAN system would be beneficial.

Contents of the invention

Methods and apparatus are described with respect to sharing wide area network (WAN) uplink bandwidth with peer-to-peer communication signaling usage. A base station transmits a signal in the base station downlink frequency band, such as a beacon signal or a non-beacon broadcast channel signal as a reference and/or control information signal, which is used by peer wireless terminals to control their operation in the corresponding base station uplink frequency band The peer-to-peer transmit power level in . Peer-to-peer wireless terminals receive and evaluate base station signals. This estimation (eg, received signal power measurement and/or decoding operations) yields information that is used by peer-to-peer wireless terminals to determine whether to allow peer-to-peer signal transmissions and/or to determine peer-to-peer transmission power levels. In some embodiments, peer-to-peer wireless terminals utilize current service level information and/or other encoded information (eg, interference level indicator values) conveyed by received base station signals to determine peer-to-peer transmission power levels.

In various embodiments, a base station changes the transmission power level of a signal being transmitted and/or changes the information that the signal is conveying. In this manner, the base station can dynamically adjust for interference generated by peer-to-peer wireless terminals that affects the base station's WAN uplink signal reception.

Since the reference and/or control signals sent by the base station to peer wireless terminals are conveyed in the downlink frequency band of the base station, the base station can easily incorporate this signal into its downlink transmission structure. If instead the signal is allocated for transmission in the base station's uplink frequency band, the base station needs to limit the signal from the cellular communication device during this time interval since the base station cannot transmit and receive simultaneously in the same frequency band due to interference concerns. WAN uplink signaling. Thus, this method of communicating peer-to-peer reference and/or control signals in the base station downlink frequency band is advantageous in terms of base station design considerations and/or impact on WAN uplink signal transmission.

An exemplary method of operating a wireless communication device supporting peer-to-peer communication in an uplink frequency band of a base station is provided, the method comprising: receiving a first signal from a base station in a downlink frequency band; evaluating received signals; and controlling peer-to-peer transmission power for at least some peer-to-peer signal transmissions in said uplink frequency band based on a result of said estimation of said first received signal. An exemplary wireless communication device supporting peer-to-peer communication in an uplink frequency band of a base station is provided, the wireless communication device comprising: a receiver module for receiving a first signal from a base station in a downlink frequency band; the signal processing means for estimating received signals; and peer-to-peer transmission power control means for controlling at least some peer-to-peer signals in said uplink frequency band based on results of said estimating said first received signal The peer-to-peer transfer power of the transfer.

An exemplary method of operating a base station to control interference from peer-to-peer communications in a first communication frequency band is provided, the method comprising: generating a peer-to-peer transmission power control signal; and transmitting the peer-to-peer transmission power control signal in a second communication frequency band A power control signal is transmitted, the second communication frequency band being different from the first communication frequency band. An exemplary base station is provided that controls interference from peer-to-peer communications in a first communication frequency band, the base station comprising: a peer-to-peer transmission power control signal generation module for generating a peer-to-peer transmission power control signal; and a transmitter Means for sending the peer-to-peer transmission power control signal in a second communication frequency band, the second communication frequency band being different from the first communication frequency band. In some embodiments, for wide area network uplink transmission power control and peer-to-peer transmission power control, the base station generates and sends different separate control signals to control the power transmission level.

While various embodiments are discussed in the summary above, it should be noted that not all embodiments need to include the same features, and that some of the features described above are not required but may be desirable in some embodiments. A number of additional features, embodiments and benefits are discussed in the detailed description that follows.

Description of drawings

1 is a flowchart of an example method of operating a wireless communication device supporting peer-to-peer communication in a base station uplink frequency band.

2 is a flowchart of an example method of operating a base station to control interference from peer-to-peer communications in a first communications band.

3 is an illustration of an exemplary wireless communication device (eg, a wireless terminal such as a mobile node) supporting peer-to-peer communication in a base station's WAN uplink frequency band in accordance with various embodiments.

4 is a diagram of an example base station that generates and transmits signals for peer-to-peer transmission power control, in accordance with various embodiments.

5 is a flowchart of an exemplary method of operating a wireless communication device supporting peer-to-peer signaling in accordance with various embodiments.

6 is a diagram of an exemplary wireless communication device (eg, a wireless terminal such as a mobile node supporting peer-to-peer communication) in accordance with various embodiments.

7 is a flowchart of an example method of operating a peer-to-peer communication enabled wireless communication device comprising a combination of FIGS. 7A and 7B in accordance with various embodiments.

8 is a diagram of an exemplary wireless communication device (eg, a wireless terminal such as a mobile node supporting peer-to-peer communication) in accordance with various embodiments.

9 is a diagram illustrating an example embodiment that includes an example communication system, a table describing frequency band usage information, and a table showing example peer-to-peer wireless terminal transmission power level information.

10 is an illustration of an example wireless communication system in accordance with various embodiments.

11 is a flowchart of an exemplary method of operating a base station in accordance with various embodiments.

12 is a flowchart of an exemplary method of operating a base station in accordance with various embodiments.

13 is a diagram of an example base station in accordance with various embodiments.

14 is a diagram including an exemplary communication system and a frequency band usage table according to various embodiments.

Figure 15 is a diagram illustrating features of embodiments in which a wide area network has a silent period in which base stations monitor and measure peer-to-peer noise.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating several features of various embodiments and is a continuation of the example of FIG. 15 .

Figure 17 is a diagram of an exemplary look-up table for control values illustrating a feature of various embodiments.

18 is a flowchart of an example method of operating a base station (eg, a base station whose uplink bandwidth is also used for peer-to-peer signaling) in accordance with various embodiments.

19 is a flowchart of an example method of operating a base station (eg, a base station whose uplink bandwidth is also used for peer-to-peer signaling) in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 20 is a graph of noise W on the vertical axis versus control factor α on the horizontal axis.

FIG. 21 is a graph of noise W on the vertical axis versus control factor α on the horizontal axis, which shows different levels and different characteristics of other cell interference compared to FIG. 15 .

Figure 22 illustrates an example method of adjusting the selection of the power control factor a used in various embodiments.

Figure 23 is a diagram illustrating exemplary bandwidth usage in some embodiments using time division duplexing (TDD) for wide area networks (eg, for cellular communications).

Figure 24 is a diagram illustrating exemplary bandwidth usage in some embodiments using frequency division duplexing (FDD) for wide area networks (eg, for cellular communications).

25 is a diagram illustrating exemplary frequency band and shared frequency band usage between wide area network communication usage and peer-to-peer communication usage, according to various embodiments.

Detailed ways

1 is a flowchart 100 of an exemplary method of operating a wireless communication device supporting peer-to-peer communication in a base station uplink frequency band. Operation begins in step 102 where the wireless communication device is powered on and initialized and proceeds to step 104 . In step 104, the wireless communication device receives a first signal from a base station in a downlink frequency band. In some embodiments, the first signal is a beacon signal. In some such embodiments, the beacon signal includes up to three OFDM tones, and the tones of the beacon signal have a per-tone transmit power level that is greater than the average per-tone transmit power level of the non-null tones of the peer-to-peer signal At least 10dB higher. In some embodiments, the first signal is a broadcast channel signal. In some such embodiments, the broadcast channel signal includes a set of OFDM tones having a per-tone transmit power level that is at least at least 3dB. In another embodiment, the first signal is a CDMA pilot signal.

In some embodiments, the uplink and downlink frequency bands correspond to different non-overlapping frequency division duplex (FDD) wide area network (WAN) base station communication bands. In some other embodiments, the uplink frequency band corresponds to a base station time division duplex (TDD) frequency band during an uplink time slot, and the downlink frequency band corresponds to the same base station TDD frequency band during a downlink time slot. Figure 24 shows an exemplary WAN FDD spectrum deployment including shared air link resources with peer-to-peer signaling. Figure 23 shows an exemplary WAN TDD spectrum deployment including shared air link resources with peer-to-peer signaling.

Operation proceeds from step 104 to step 106 . In step 106, the wireless communication device evaluates the received signal. In some embodiments, the estimate is a signal power measurement. In some embodiments, the estimation is an extraction of encoded information conveyed in the received signal. In various embodiments, the estimating includes deriving information from the received power level of the received signal and the extracted coded information conveyed in the received signal. Operation proceeds from step 106 to step 108 .

In step 108, the wireless communication device controls the peer-to-peer transmission power of at least some peer-to-peer signal transmissions in the uplink frequency band according to the result of the estimation of the first received signal. In some embodiments, controlling peer-to-peer transmission power includes using a first function, wherein the first function is specific to the first received signal power level compared to a second received signal power level higher than the first received signal power level. The signal power level limits the peer-to-peer transmission power to a lower level. In various embodiments, the first function determines a maximum allowed peer-to-peer transmission power level. Operation proceeds from step 108 to step 110 .

In step 110, the wireless communication device receives a second signal from said base station in a downlink frequency band at a time different from the time at which said first signal was received. Then, in step 112, the wireless communication device evaluates the second received signal. Operation proceeds from step 112 to step 114 .

In step 114, the wireless communication device determines whether it should refrain from sending peer-to-peer signals. If in step 114 the wireless communication device determines that it should refrain from sending peer-to-peer signals, then operation proceeds from step 114 to step 120 . If in step 114 the wireless communication device determines that it is permitted to transmit peer-to-peer signals, then operation proceeds from step 114 to step 116 .

In step 116, the wireless communication device determines a peer-to-peer transmission power level based on information derived from the evaluation of the second received signal. Operation proceeds from step 116 to step 118 in which the wireless communication device transmits a peer-to-peer signal in accordance with the determined peer-to-peer transmission power level.

Returning to step 120, in step 120 the wireless communication device refrains from sending peer-to-peer communications in the uplink frequency band until it is determined by evaluating another signal from the base station that the wireless communication device is allowed to send peer-to-peer signals. Operation proceeds from either step 118 or step 120 to step 110 in which the wireless communication device receives another signal from the base station.

2 is a flowchart 200 of an example method of operating a base station to control interference from peer-to-peer communications in a first communications band. The first communication frequency band is used for: (i) wide area network uplink signaling from the wide area network wireless terminal to the base station; and (ii) peer-to-peer communication signaling between two peer wireless terminals. Operation begins in step 202 where an exemplary base station is powered on and initialized and proceeds to step 204 . In step 204, the base station measures interference to uplink signal transmissions over the wide area network. Operation proceeds from step 204 to step 206 . In step 206, the base station estimates interference contributions originating from peer-to-peer devices. Then, in step 208, the base station generates a first peer-to-peer transmission power control signal, and in step 210, the base station generates a wide area network uplink transmission power control signal. Operation proceeds from step 210 to step 212 .

In step 212, the base station transmits the generated first peer-to-peer transmission power control signal in a second communication frequency band, which is different from the first communication frequency band, and in step 214, the base station in the The generated WAN uplink transmit power control signal is transmitted to the one or more WAN wireless terminals in the second communication frequency band. The second communication frequency band is used for: (i) communicating downlink signals from the base station to the wide area network wireless terminals; and (ii) communicating peer-to-peer transmission power control signals to the peer-to-peer wireless terminals.

In some embodiments, the first communication frequency band is a frequency division duplex (FDD) wide area network (WAN) uplink frequency band and the second communication frequency band is a frequency division duplex (FDD) wide area network (WAN) downlink frequency band. In some such embodiments, the uplink frequency band and the downlink frequency band do not overlap and form a corresponding pair. In some other embodiments, the first communication frequency band is a base station Time Division Duplex (TDD) frequency band during an uplink time slot and the second communication frequency band is the same base station Time Division Duplex (TDD) frequency band during a downlink time slot . Figure 24 shows an exemplary WAN FDD spectrum deployment including shared air link resources with peer-to-peer signaling. Figure 23 shows an exemplary WAN TDD spectrum deployment including shared air link resources with peer-to-peer signaling.

In some embodiments, the peer to peer transmit power control signal is a beacon signal. In some such embodiments, the beacon signal includes up to three OFDM tones, and the tones of the beacon signal have a per-tone transmit power level that is greater than the average per-tone transmit power level of the non-null tones of the peer-to-peer signal At least 10dB higher.

In some embodiments, the peer-to-peer transmission power control signal is a broadcast channel signal. In some such embodiments, the broadcast channel signal includes a set of OFDM tones having a per-tone transmit power level that is at least at least 3dB.

In some other embodiments, the peer to peer transmit power control signal is a CDMA pilot signal.

Operation proceeds from step 214 to step 216 . In step 216, the base station measures interference to WAN uplink signal transmissions, and in step 218, the base station estimates interference contributions originating from peer devices. Operation proceeds from step 218 to step 220 . In step 220, the base station determines whether to order one or more peer-to-peer wireless terminals to change transmission power levels. Operation proceeds from step 220 to step 222 . In step 222, if the base station decides to order a peer-to-peer transmission power change, then operation proceeds from step 222 to step 224; otherwise, operation proceeds from step 222 to step 226.

Returning to step 224, in step 224, the base station generates a second peer-to-peer transmission power control signal. In some embodiments, step 224 includes a sub-step 228 in which the base station encodes different control information in said second peer-to-peer transmission power control signal compared to a previous peer-to-peer transmission power control signal . In some such embodiments, the encoded information is used by the peer-to-peer wireless terminal to adjust its peer-to-peer transmission power level, eg, to determine a maximum allowed peer-to-peer transmission power level. Operation proceeds from step 224 to step 230 . In step 230, the base station sends the generated second peer-to-peer transmission power control signal. In some embodiments, step 230 includes a sub-step 232 in which the base station transmits said second peer-to-peer transmission power control signal at a different transmission power level than the power level at which the previous peer-to-peer transmission power control signal was transmitted. Signal. In some such embodiments, the peer-to-peer wireless terminal adjusts its peer-to-peer transmission power level using the received power level of the peer-to-peer transmission power control signal, eg, to determine a maximum allowed peer-to-peer transmission power level.

Returning to step 226, in step 226, the base station resends the previously sent peer-to-peer transmission power control signal. Operation proceeds from step 230 or step 226 to step 216 where interference to WAN uplink signal transmission is measured.

3 is a diagram of an exemplary wireless communication device 2300, eg, a wireless terminal such as a mobile node, supporting peer-to-peer communication in a WAN uplink frequency band of a base station, in accordance with various embodiments. Exemplary wireless communication device 2300 receives a signal from a base station in a downlink frequency band of the base station, wherein wireless communication device 2300 uses the signal to determine whether it is permitted to transmit peer-to-peer signals in an uplink frequency band of the base station and/or to determine peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer power level information, such as maximum peer-to-peer power level.

Wireless communication device 2300 includes receiver module 2302, transmitter module 2304, user I/O device 2308, processor 2306, and memory 2310 coupled together via a bus 2312 via which the various elements can exchange data and information. Memory 2310 includes routines 2318 and data/information 2320 .

Processor 2306 , such as a CPU, executes routines 2318 and uses data/information 2320 in memory 2310 to control the operation of wireless communication device 2300 and implement methods, such as the method of flowchart 100 of FIG. 1 .

Receiver module 2302, such as an OFDM receiver, is coupled to receive antenna 2314, wherein wireless communication device 2300 receives signals, such as beacon signals or broadcast channel non-beacon signals, from base stations via the receive antenna 2314, the received signals are used to determine etc. transmit power level information, the received signal is received in the base station downlink frequency band. The receiver module 2302 also receives peer-to-peer communication signals in the uplink frequency band of the base station. In some embodiments, receiver module 2302 receives downlink signals, such as distribution signals and traffic signals, from a base station, where the wireless communication device uses the base station as a connection point in a wide area network, where communication device 2300 acts as a cellular communication device.

A transmitter module 2304, eg, an OFDM transmitter, is coupled to a transmit antenna 2316 via which the wireless communication device 2300 transmits peer-to-peer signals to other wireless communication devices using the base station uplink frequency band. In some embodiments, the transmitter module 2304 transmits uplink signals to the base station during time intervals in which the wireless communication device is operating in a WAN mode of operation, eg, a cellular mode of operation.

For example, user I/O devices 2308 include microphones, keyboards, keypads, mice, cameras, switches, speakers, displays, and the like. User I/O device 2308 allows a user of wireless communication device 2300 to input data/information, access output data/information, and control at least some functions of wireless communication device 2300, such as attempting to initiate a peer-to-peer communication session.

Routine 2318 includes a signal processing module 2322 , a peer to peer transmission power control module 2324 , and a peer to peer authorization module 2326 . In various embodiments, the wireless communication device 2300 includes one or more of a peer to peer transmission power control beacon identification module 2328 and a peer to peer transmission power control broadcast signal identification module 2330 . In various embodiments, the signal processing module 2322 includes one or more of a power measurement module 2333 and a decoder module 2335 .

Data/information 2320 includes timing/frequency structure information 2336 , received signal 2338 conveying peer to peer transmission power control information, and determined peer to peer power control information 2340 . In various embodiments, the data/information 2320 includes one or more of beacon characteristic information 2332 originating from a peer to peer transmission control base station and broadcast channel characteristic information 2334 originating from a peer to peer transmission power control base station.

Beacon characteristic information 2332 originating from a peer to peer transmit power control base station includes tone information 2342 , power information 2344 , and time information 2346 . The broadcast channel characteristic information 2344 originating from the peer-to-peer transmission power control base station includes tone information 2348 , power information 2350 and time information 2352 . Timing/frequency structure information 2336 includes one or more of TDD base station air link resource structure information 2354 and FDD base station air link resource structure information 2356 .

The signal processing module 2322 performs evaluation of received signals from base stations received in the downlink frequency band, the received signals used to affect the peer-to-peer transmission power of the wireless communication device 2300 . The power measurement module 2333 measures the received power of the received signal. The decoder module 2335 extracts the encoded information conveyed in the received signal. In some embodiments, the signal processing module 2322 includes a power measurement module 2333 that measures the received power level of the received signal and a decoder module 2335 that extracts encoded information conveyed in the received signal, and the estimation includes Information is obtained from the received power level of the received signal and the extracted information conveyed in the received signal.

In some embodiments, the received signal from the base station is a beacon signal. For example, the received signal is a beacon signal that includes up to three OFDM tones, and the tones of the beacon signal are at least 10 dB higher than the average per-tone transmit power level of the non-null tones of the peer signal The transmit power level per tone transmitted.

In some embodiments, the received signal from the base station is a broadcast channel signal. For example, the received signal is a broadcast channel signal comprising a set of OFDM tones and the tones of the broadcast channel signal are at least 3 dB higher than the average per-tone transmit power level of the non-null tones of the equivalent signal Transmit power level per tone transmitted.

In some other embodiments, the received signal from the base station is a CDMA pilot signal. In some such embodiments, the wireless communication device uses the received power level of the CDMA pilot signal as an input to determine the peer-to-peer transmission power level in the wireless communication device 2300 .

Peer-to-peer transmission power control module 2324 controls the peer-to-peer transmission power of at least some peer-to-peer transmission signals in the uplink frequency band of the base station based on results of estimates of received signals from the base station in the downlink frequency band. In various embodiments, the peer-to-peer transmission power control module 2324 controls the peer-to-peer transmission power using a first function, wherein the first received signal power level is higher than a second received signal power level The function limits peer-to-peer transmission power to a lower level for said first received signal power level. For example, for a specified input range of received power, the maximum allowable peer-to-peer transmit power level follows an inverse linear relationship. In various embodiments, the first function determines a maximum allowed peer-to-peer transmission power and controls the actual peer-to-peer transmission power to be less than or equal to the determined maximum allowed peer-to-peer transmission power level.

The peer-to-peer authorization module 2326 determines whether the wireless communication device is permitted to transmit peer-to-peer communication signals in the uplink frequency band based on an evaluation of the received signal from the base station. Peer-to-peer transmission power control beacon identification module 2328 uses information in memory 2310 including beacon characteristic information 2332 originating from a peer-to-peer transmission power control base station to identify the source from a plurality of signals being communicated in the base station downlink frequency band Beacon signal from base station for peer to peer power transmission power control. Peer-to-peer transmission power control broadcast signal identification module 2330 uses information in memory 2310 including broadcast signal characteristic information 2334 originating from a peer-to-peer transmission power control base station to identify the source from a plurality of signals being communicated in the base station downlink frequency band Non-beacon broadcast signal from base station for peer-to-peer power transmission power control.

For example, tone information 2342 includes information identifying the number and location of OFDM tones in the beacon signal used for peer-to-peer transmission power control. For example, power information 2344 includes information identifying a power level of a beacon signal, such as information used to distinguish a received beacon from other received downlink signals. Power information 2344 also includes information for correlating received beacon signal power levels with peer to peer transmission power control information. For example, time information 2346 includes information identifying a location within a cyclic downlink timing structure of a beacon signal allocated for peer to peer transmission power control, such as OFDM symbol index information.

For example, tone information 2348 includes information identifying the number and location of OFDM tones in the broadcast signal for peer-to-peer transmission power control. For example, power information 2350 includes information identifying a power level of a broadcast signal, such as information used to distinguish received broadcast signals allocated for peer-to-peer power control from other received downlink signals. Power information 2350 also includes information for correlating received broadcast signal power levels with peer to peer transmission power control information. For example, time information 2352 includes information identifying a position within a cyclic downlink timing structure of a broadcast signal allocated for peer-to-peer transmission power control, such as OFDM symbol index information.

TDD base station air link resource structure information 2354 includes information identifying TDD frequency bands used by WAN base stations. For example, information 2354 includes information identifying an uplink frequency band corresponding to a base station TDD frequency band during an uplink slot and information identifying a downlink frequency band corresponding to a base station TDD band during a downlink slot.

FDD base station air link resource structure information 2356 includes information identifying different non-overlapping FDDWAN base station communication frequency bands. For example, information 2356 includes information identifying an uplink frequency band (i.e., an FDD WAN frequency band), and information identifying a downlink frequency band (i.e., a different FDD WAN frequency band), which form a pair with a downlink frequency band.

For example, the received signal 2338 conveying peer-to-peer transmission power control information is a beacon signal or a non-beacon broadcast channel signal received by the receiver module 2302, wherein the signal is identified by one of the identification modules 2328, 2330 and is identified by The signal processing module 2322 performs processing. For example, determined peer-to-peer power control information 2340 includes information identifying whether wireless communication device 2300 is permitted to transmit peer-to-peer signals, information identifying a determined maximum allowable peer-to-peer transmission power level, and/or identifying an actual determined peer-to-peer transmission power level. Transmit power level information.

Figure 4 is a diagram of an exemplary base station 2400 in accordance with various embodiments. Exemplary base station 2400 manages reception interference from peer to peer wireless terminals transmitting in the same air link resources used for its wide area network uplink communications. For example, the same first communication frequency band is used for: (i) wide area network uplink signaling from a wide area network wireless terminal to base station 2400; and (ii) peer-to-peer communication signaling between two peer wireless terminals. Exemplary base station 2400 determines and transmits a power control signal in the downlink frequency band that peer-to-peer wireless terminals utilize to determine their transmit power levels. Exemplary base station 2400 also determines and transmits a different power control signal in the downlink frequency band that the WAN wireless terminal utilizes to determine its uplink transmission power. Thus, the second communication frequency band is used for: (i) communicating downlink signals to wide area network wireless terminals to control their transmit power control; and (ii) communicating peer to peer power control signals to peer to peer communication devices.

Exemplary base station 2400 includes receiver module 2402, transmitter module 2404, processor 2406, I/O interface 2408, and memory 2410 coupled together via bus 2412, where the various elements can exchange data and information.

Receiver module 2402, such as an OFDM receiver, is coupled to receive antenna 2414 via which base station 2400 receives uplink signals from wireless terminals, such as those operating in cellular mode and using base station 2400 as a point of network attachment. The receiver module 2402 also receives interference from peer-to-peer communication devices operating in the local vicinity. In some embodiments, the receiver module 2402 also receives interference from uplink signal transmissions of cellular devices in neighboring cells.

A transmitter module 2404, such as an OFDM transmitter, is coupled to a transmit antenna 2416 via which the base station 2400 transmits downlink signals to wireless terminals using the base station 2400 as a point of network attachment. These downlink signals include power control signals to WAN wireless terminals. Transmitter module 2404 also transmits a generated transmit power control signal, such as signal 2444, in the base station downlink frequency band, which is used by a peer-to-peer wireless terminal to control its transmit power level The link frequency band is used for peer-to-peer signaling and thus creates interference for the base station receiver module 2402 .

Memory 2410 includes routines 2418 and data/information 2420 . Processor 2406 , such as a CPU, executes routines 2418 and uses data/information 2420 in memory 2410 to control the operation of base station 2400 and implement methods, such as the method of flowchart 200 of FIG. 2 .

Routine 2418 includes an interference measurement module 2422 , a peer to peer signal transmission limit determination module 2426 , a peer to peer transmission power control signal generation module 2428 , and a wide area peer to peer transmission power signal generation module 2430 . In some embodiments, the routine 2418 includes an interference type separation module 2424 . In various embodiments, the routine 2418 includes a transmit power control module 2432 .

Data/information 2420 includes interference information 2436, WAN uplink load information 2438, peer to peer transmission control information 2440, WAN transmission control information 2442, generated peer to peer transmission power control signal 2444, generated WAN wireless terminal transmission power control signal 2446 and timing/frequency structure information 2448. Data/information 2420 includes one or more of beacon characteristic information 2450 originating from a peer to peer transmit power control base station and broadcast channel characteristic information 2452 originating from a peer to peer transmit power control base station. Timing/frequency structure information 2448 includes one or more of TDD base station air link resource structure information 2454 and FDD base station air link resource structure information 2456 . Beacon characteristic information 2450 originating from a peer to peer transmission power control base station includes tone information 2458 , power information 2460 and time information 2462 . The broadcast channel characteristic information 2452 originating from the peer-to-peer transmit power control base station includes tone information 2464 , power information 2466 and time information 2468 .

Peer to peer transmission power control signal generation module 2428 uses data/information 2420 including peer to peer transmission control information 2440 to generate a peer to peer transmission power control signal, such as signal 2444 .

WAN transmit power control signal generating module 2430 generates a WAN transmit power control signal, such as signal 2446 .

For example, the transmit power control module 2432 included in some embodiments controls the transmitter module 2404 to transmit the generated peer-to-peer transmit power control signals at different power levels according to the peer-to-peer transmit power control information to be communicated, wherein These embodiments are, for example, embodiments in which a peer-to-peer wireless terminal adjusts its peer-to-peer transmit power using the received power of a peer-to-peer transmit power control signal. For example, transmit power control module 2432 controls transmitter module 2404 to transmit a second peer-to-peer transmission power control signal at a different power level than the first peer-to-peer transmission power control signal, and peer-to-peer wireless terminals use peer-to-peer transmission The received power of the power control signal is used to adjust its peer-to-peer transmission power level.

In some embodiments, peer to peer transmission power control signal generation module 2428 includes an encoder module 2434 for encoding peer to peer transmission power control information into the generated peer to peer transmission power control signal. For example, the encoder module 2434 encodes different encoding control information in the second peer-to-peer transmission power control signal than in the first peer-to-peer transmission power control signal, and the peer-to-peer wireless terminal uses the encoding information to adjust its and other transmit power levels.

The peer-to-peer signaling restriction determination module 2426 determines whether peer-to-peer signaling is allowed in a first communication frequency band, such as an uplink of a base station, or whether peer-to-peer communication is restricted in the first communication frequency band. communication frequency band. In various embodiments, peer to peer signaling restriction determination module 2426 utilizes interference information 2436 and/or WAN uplink load information 2438 to make decisions. The decision of the peer-to-peer limit determination module 2426 is communicated via the generated peer-to-peer transmit power control signal 2444 .

Interference measurement module 2422 measures interference to receiver module 2402 attempting to receive and recover WAN uplink signals from WAN wireless terminals using base station 2400 as a point of network attachment. Interference can and sometimes comes from multiple sources, including adjacent cell WAN wireless terminal uplink signaling in the cells of adjacent base stations and peer-to-peer signaling using the same uplink communication frequency band. The interference type separation module 2424 distinguishes between interference due to peer-to-peer signaling and interfering signaling from other sources, such as uplink from a WAN WT using a neighboring base station as its point of attachment link signal. Peer-to-peer signaling limit determination module 2426, peer-to-peer transmit power control signal generation module 2428, and/or transmit power control module 2432 use interference information from modules 2422 and/or 2424 and/or WAN load information 2438 to make decisions to control peer-to-peer and other transmit power levels.

For example, tone information 2458 includes information identifying the number and location of OFDM tones used by module 2428 to generate peer-to-peer transmission power control signals, where the peer-to-peer transmission power control signals are beacon signals. In some embodiments, the beacon signal includes up to three OFDM tones. Module 2428 uses power information 2460, eg, information identifying a transmit power level of a beacon tone, to generate a peer-to-peer transmit power control signal, ie, a beacon signal. In some embodiments, the tones of the beacon signal have a per-tone transmit power level that is at least 10 dB higher than the average per-tone transmit power level of the non-null tones of the peer-to-peer signal. In some embodiments, power information 2460 also includes information for correlating changes in beacon signal transmission power with changes in communicated peer to peer transmission power information. In some embodiments where the received power level of the beacon signal conveys information about the peer-to-peer transmit power, the transmit power control module 2432 utilizes this power change information. For example, time information 2462 includes information identifying a location in a cyclic downlink timing structure of a beacon signal allocated for peer-to-peer transmission power control, such as OFDM symbol index information.

For example, tone information 2464 includes information identifying the number and location of OFDM tones used by module 2428 to generate a peer-to-peer transmission power control signal, where the peer-to-peer transmission power control signal is a broadcast channel signal. Module 2428 uses power information 2466, eg, information identifying beacon tone transmit power levels, to generate peer to peer transmission power control signals, ie, broadcast channel signals. In some embodiments, tones of the base station broadcast channel signal used to convey peer-to-peer transmit power control information have a transmit power level per tone that is at least 3 dB higher than the average per-tone transmit power level of non-null tones of the peer-to-peer signal . In some embodiments, power information 2466 also includes information for correlating broadcast channel signal transmit power changes with changes in communicated peer-to-peer transmit power information. In some embodiments where the received power level of the broadcast channel signal conveys information about peer-to-peer transmit power, the transmit power control module 2432 utilizes this power variation information. For example, time information 2468 includes information, such as OFDM symbol index information, identifying a location in a cyclic downlink timing structure of a broadcast channel signal allocated for peer-to-peer transmission power control.

In embodiments where the base station 2400 uses TDD for WAN signaling, the TDD base station air link resource structure information 2454 includes information identifying the TDD frequency band used by the WAN base station. For example, information 2454 includes: (i) information identifying an uplink frequency band corresponding to a base station TDD frequency band during an uplink time slot; and (ii) identifying an uplink frequency band corresponding to a base station TDD frequency band during a downlink time slot. Information on the downlink frequency band. The TDD base station air link resource structure information 2454 also includes information identifying the air link resources in the downlink time slots of the TDD frequency band that are allocated for conveying peer-to-peer transmission power control signals, such as for Beacon or broadcast channel signal for peer-to-peer transmission power control.

In embodiments where base station 2400 uses FDD for WAN signaling, FDD base station air link resource structure information 2456 includes information identifying different non-overlapping FDD WAN base station communication frequency bands. For example, information 2456 includes information identifying an uplink frequency band (i.e., an FDD WAN frequency band), information identifying a downlink frequency band (i.e., a different FDD WAN frequency band), the uplink and downlink frequency bands forming a pair. FDD base station air link resource structure information 2456 also includes information identifying which air link resources of the downlink FDD frequency band are allocated for communicating peer-to-peer transmission power control signals, e.g., for peer-to-peer transmissions Beacon or broadcast channel signal for power control.

In some embodiments, at least some of the generated WAN wireless terminal transmit power control signals are directed to individually identified WAN wireless terminals, and the generated peer-to-peer transmit power control signals are not directed to any specifically identified peer terminals, nor To any peer-to-peer wireless terminal in the local vicinity. In some embodiments, at least some of the transmitted WAN wireless terminal power control signals include a wireless terminal identifier, and the transmitted peer-to-peer transmission power control signals do not include a wireless terminal identifier.

5 is a flowchart 700 of an exemplary method of operating a wireless communication device supporting peer-to-peer signaling in an uplink frequency band in accordance with various embodiments. Operation begins at step 702 where the wireless communication device is powered on and initialized, and proceeds to step 704 where the wireless communication device receives a first signal from a base station in a downlink frequency band used by the base station , such as reference and/or control signals. The method of communicating reference and/or control signals using the downlink frequency band of the base station is simple for the base station because the base station can easily include the first signal to peer wireless terminals as its broadcast signal set or part of a broadcast signal set. In some embodiments, the first signal is a beacon signal. In other embodiments, the first signal is a non-beacon broadcast channel signal. A peer-to-peer wireless communication device monitors a base station downlink frequency band for a first signal and uses the base station's uplink frequency band to exchange peer-to-peer signals with other peer nodes. In some embodiments, the peer-to-peer wireless communication device includes receiver capability to simultaneously tune to multiple frequency bands to receive signals from: (i) the downlink frequency band of the base station for receiving reference and/or control from the base station; signals; and (ii) an uplink frequency band of the base station for receiving peer-to-peer signals from other peer-to-peer wireless communication devices. In some embodiments, the peer-to-peer wireless communications device supports reception from only a single frequency band at a given time, and based on whether downlink broadcast reference and/or control signals are to be received from the base station or peer-to-peer communications are to be received from the peer-to-peer communications device. communication signal to switch the receiver of the peer device between the base station's downlink frequency band and the base station's uplink frequency band.

Operation proceeds from step 704 to step 706 . In step 706, the wireless communication device performs measurements, such as signal power measurements, on the received signal. Operation proceeds to one or more of steps 708 and 722 . In some embodiments, the wireless communication device supports peer-to-peer signaling, but not uplink signaling to eg a base station that is part of a cellular network, and step 722 is not optional in this embodiment. In some embodiments, the wireless communication device supports one of a peer-to-peer mode of operation and a cellular mode of operation at any given time, and operation may proceed to one of step 708 and step 722 for the given time. In some embodiments, the wireless communication device supports concurrent peer-to-peer signaling and cellular signaling, and operation may proceed from step 706 to step 708 and step 722 .

Operation proceeds from step 706 to step 708 for peer-to-peer signaling, and proceeds from step 706 to step 722 for uplink signaling to the base station. In step 708, the wireless communication device controls peer-to-peer transmission power of at least part of the peer-to-peer signal transmission based on the measurement of the first signal. Step 708 includes sub-steps 710 and 712 . In sub-step 710, the wireless communication device uses a first function to determine a maximum peer-to-peer transmission power level that allows transmission, wherein the first The function limits the peer-to-peer transmission power to a lower level for the first received signal power level. Then, in sub-step 712, the wireless communication device determines an actual peer-to-peer transmission power level based on the determined maximum peer-to-peer transmission power level and the peer-to-peer signal received from the second peer-to-peer communication device. For example, the second peer-to-peer communications device is a peer-to-peer device with which the communications device performing the operations of process 700 has a peer-to-peer communications session. Thus, in some embodiments, peer-to-peer transmission power levels are influenced by received base station signals and peer-to-peer signals. In some embodiments, peer-to-peer signaling and/or is used to derive at least one of the following information: peer-to-peer channel condition information, peer-to-peer data rate information, peer-to-peer data backlog information, peer-to-peer delay information, noise information, error rate information, service level information, and peer-to-peer power control information. In some embodiments, the actual peer-to-peer transmission power is limited to be at or below a predetermined maximum peer-to-peer transmission power level. In some embodiments, for at least some conditions, such as high-priority users or certain classes of service, the actual peer-to-peer transmission level may sometimes exceed, such as exceed, a maximum peer-to-peer transmission power level determined based on received base station signals . Operation proceeds from step 708 to step 714 .

In step 714, the wireless communication device receives a second signal from the base station in a downlink frequency band at a time different from the time at which said first signal was received. Then, in step 716, the wireless communication device performs a measurement on the received second signal, eg a power measurement of the received second signal. Operation proceeds from step 716 to step 718, where the wireless communication device determines from the measured power of the second received signal that the wireless communication device should refrain from sending peer-to-peer communication signals. Operation proceeds from step 718 to step 720 . In step 720, after determining that the communication device should refrain from transmitting peer-to-peer communication signals, the wireless communication device refrains from transmitting peer-to-peer communication signals until it is determined from a power measurement of another signal from the base station that the wireless communication device is allowed to transmit in the uplink frequency band. peer signal.

Returning to step 722, in step 722 the wireless communication device controls the transmission power of the transmitted signal to a higher transmission power level than the peer-to-peer transmission power level used for at least some peer-to-peer signal transmissions. Step 722 includes sub-step 724 . In sub-step 724, when controlling the transmission power to the base station, the wireless communication device determines the transmission power of the signal sent to the base station based on the measured power of the received first signal using a second function, wherein The second function is different from the first function. In some embodiments, the peer-to-peer transmission signal power level is at least 10 dB lower than the transmission power level of said signal sent to the base station.

6 is a diagram of an exemplary wireless communication device 2900 (eg, a wireless terminal such as a mobile node supporting peer-to-peer communication in a WAN uplink frequency band of a base station) in accordance with various embodiments. Exemplary wireless communications device 2900 receives a signal from a base station in a downlink frequency band of the base station, wherein the wireless communications device 2900 uses the signal to determine whether peer-to-peer signaling is permitted to be transmitted in the base station's uplink frequency band and/or to determine Peer-to-peer power level information, such as the maximum peer-to-peer power level.

Wireless communication device 2900 includes receiver module 2902, transmitter module 2904, user I/O device 2908, processor 2906, and memory 2910 coupled together via a bus 2912 through which the various elements may exchange data and information. Memory 2910 includes routines 2918 and data/information 2920 .

Processor 2906, eg, a CPU, executes routines 2918 and uses data/information 2920 in memory 2910 to control the operation of wireless communication device 2900 and implement methods.

A receiver module 2902, such as an OFDM receiver, is coupled to a receive antenna 2914, wherein the wireless communication device 2900 receives a signal, such as a beacon signal or a broadcast channel non-beacon signal, from a base station via the receive antenna 2914, the received signal being used to determine Peer-to-peer transmission power level information, said received signal is received in a base station downlink frequency band. The receiver module 2902 also receives peer-to-peer communication signals in the uplink frequency band of the base station. In some embodiments, receiver module 2902 receives downlink signals, such as distribution signals and traffic signals, from a base station, where the wireless communication device uses the base station as a connection point in a wide area network, where communication device 2900 acts as a cellular communication device.

A transmitter module 2904, eg, an OFDM transmitter, is coupled to a transmit antenna 2916, wherein the wireless communication device 2900 transmits peer-to-peer signals to other wireless communication devices via the transmit antenna 2916 using the base station uplink frequency band. In some embodiments, the transmitter module 2904 transmits uplink signals to the base station during time intervals in which the wireless communication device is operating in a WAN mode of operation, such as a cellular mode of operation.

For example, user I/O devices 2908 include microphones, keyboards, keypads, mice, cameras, switches, speakers, displays, and the like. User I/O device 2908 allows a user of wireless communication device 2900 to input data/information, access output data/information, and control at least some functions of wireless communication device 2900, such as attempting to initiate a peer-to-peer communication session.

Routine 2918 includes communication routine 2922 and wireless terminal control routine 2924 . Communication routines 2922 implement various communication protocols used by wireless communication device 2900 . Wireless terminal control routine 2924 includes measurement module 2926 , authorization module 2940 , peer to peer transmission control module 2941 and peer to peer transmission power control module 2928 . In some embodiments, the wireless terminal control routine 2924 includes a wide area network transmit power control module 2936 , for example, in embodiments that support both peer-to-peer communications and WAN communications such as cellular communications.

The measurement module 2926 performs measurements on received signals from base stations. Signals ( 2942 , 2944 ) represent inputs to the measurement module 2926 , while information ( 2946 , 2948 ) represent outputs of the measurement module 2926 . According to various embodiments, the measurements of the measurement module 2926 are signal power measurements.

Authorization module 2940 can, and sometimes does, determine from the measured power of received base station signals that wireless communication device 2900 should refrain from sending peer-to-peer signals. Authorization module 2940 can, and sometimes does, determine that wireless communication device 2900 is permitted to transmit peer-to-peer signals based on the measured power of received base station signals. Peer transfer authorization status 2950 is an output of authorization module 2940 and is used as input by peer transfer control module 2941 .

After determining that the communication device 2900 should be prohibited from sending peer-to-peer signals, the peer-to-peer transmission control module 2941 controls the wireless transmitter module 2904 to prohibit sending peer-to-peer communication signals until it is determined that the wireless communication device 2900 is allowed to send peer-to-peer signals. Therefore, the peer-to-peer transmission control module 2941 of the peer-to-peer transmission authorization state 2950 is used as a peer-to-peer transmission enable/disable controller.

Peer-to-peer transmission power control module 2928 controls the peer-to-peer transmission power of at least some peer-to-peer signal transmissions based on measurements of received base station signals. The peer to peer transmission power control module 2928 includes a maximum peer to peer transmission power level determination submodule 2930 , an actual peer to peer transmission power level determination submodule 2932 and a first function 2934 . The peer-to-peer transmit power control module 2928 uses a first function 2934 for the first received signal power level by Peer-to-peer transmission power is limited to a lower level. In various embodiments, the peer-to-peer transmission power control module 2928 limits the peer-to-peer transmission power to a lower level based on the greater measured received signal power level.

The maximum peer to peer transmission power level determination sub-module 2930 uses the first function 2934 to determine the maximum peer to peer transmission power level. The actual peer-to-peer transmission power level determining sub-module 2932 determines an actual peer-to-peer transmission power level based on the maximum peer-to-peer transmission power level and the peer-to-peer signal received from the second peer-to-peer communication device. In various embodiments, the sub-module 2932 controls the actually determined peer-to-peer transmission power level to be less than or equal to the maximum peer-to-peer transmission power level.

The wide area network transmit power control module 2936 controls the transmit power of signals sent to the base station to a transmit power level greater than the peer-to-peer transmit power level used for at least some peer-to-peer signal transmissions. The WAN transmit power control module 2936 includes a second function 2938 that is different from the first function 2934 . The wide area network transmit power control module 2936's control of the transmit power of the signal sent to the base station includes using a second function 2938 different from the first function 2934 to determine the transmit power to the base station based on the measured received power level of the signal from the base station. The transmitted power level of the signal.

For example, measurement information 2948 for signal N is obtained by measurement module 2926 of a received base station signal N 2944 communicated in the base station downlink frequency band, which is input to peer-to-peer transmission power control module 2928 and WAN transmit power control module 2936. The peer-to-peer module 2928 processes the input 2948 using a first function 2934 and obtains a determined maximum peer-to-peer transmission power level 2952, while the WAN module 2936 processes the same input 2948 using a second function 2938 and obtains a determined maximum WAN transmission A power level 2956, which is a higher level than the determined maximum peer to peer transmit power level 2952.

In various embodiments, the peer-to-peer transmission signal power level is at least 1OdB lower than the transmission power level of the signal sent to the base station. For example, the determined maximum peer-to-peer transmission power level 2952 is at least 10 dB lower than the determined maximum WAN transmission power level 2956 for the same measured value of the base station signal. As another example, in some embodiments, if the wireless terminal is in a location and has determined peer-to-peer transmission power level information and WAN transmission power level information based on the same received base station signal measurements, then the determined The actual peer-to-peer transmission power level 2954 is at least 10 dB lower than the determined actual WAN transmission power level 2958.

Data/information 2920 includes a plurality of received signals (received base station signal 12942, ..., received base station signal 12942, ..., received base station Signal N 2944), a plurality of corresponding signal measurement information (Signal 1 Measurement Information 2946, ..., Signal N Measurement Information 2948). Data/information 2920 also includes peer-to-peer transmission authorization status information 2950 that indicates whether wireless communication device 2900 is currently permitted to transmit peer-to-peer signals. Data/information 2920 also includes: determined maximum peer-to-peer transmission power level 2952 , which is an output of sub-module 2930 ; and determined actual peer-to-peer transmission power level 2954 , which is an output of sub-module 2932 .

Timing/frequency structure information 2960 included as part of data/information 2920 includes: uplink frequency band information 2962, such as WAN uplink bandwidth information, WAN uplink carrier information, and uplink WAN tone set information; frequency band information 2964, such as WAN downlink bandwidth information, WAN downlink carrier information, and downlink WAN tone set information; and information 2966 identifying the location of the measured base station signal. In this exemplary embodiment, the peer-to-peer communication signaling uses the WAN uplink frequency band being used by the base station where the peer-to-peer signal interferes with the WAN uplink signal sent to the base station. Reference and/or control signals received by the wireless communication device 2900 in the downlink frequency band are measured and utilized to control the wireless communication device's peer-to-peer transmission power level in the uplink frequency band. Information 2966 identifies which WAN frequency band carries the signal, and in some embodiments, information 2966 identifies more specific information corresponding to the signal, such as a point in the recurring timing structure and/or specific tone information used to identify the signal .

In various embodiments where wireless communication device 2900 supports WAN communications, such as cellular communications, data/information 2920 also includes determined maximum WAN transmission power level information 2956 and determined actual WAN transmission power level information 2958, which is the output of the WAN transmit power control module 2936.

7 is a flowchart 800 of an exemplary method of operating a wireless communication device supporting peer-to-peer communication in a WAN uplink frequency band of a base station, comprising a combination of FIGS. 7A and 7B , according to various embodiments. Operation begins in step 802 where the wireless communication device is powered on and initialized, and proceeds to step 804 where the wireless communication device receives a first signal, such as a signal beacon signal or non-beacon broadcast channel signal.

Operation proceeds from step 804 to step 806 . In step 806, the wireless communication device performs measurements, such as signal power measurements, on the received signal. Operation proceeds from step 806 to step 808 .

In step 808, the wireless communication device determines transmit power level control parameters. In an exemplary embodiment, step 808 includes sub-steps 810 and 812 . In another exemplary embodiment, step 808 includes sub-steps 814 and 816 . In another exemplary embodiment, step 808 includes sub-steps 814 and 818 .

In sub-step 810, the wireless communication device accesses a memory including stored transmission power level control parameters corresponding to different service classes, and then, in sub-step 812, the wireless communication device obtains the stored transmission power level control parameters corresponding to The service level of the wireless communication device corresponds to the transmission power.

In sub-step 814, the wireless communication device recovers control values from signals received by said wireless communication device from said base station. In some embodiments, the signal from which the control value is recovered is the first signal received at step 804 in the downlink frequency band. Operation proceeds from sub-step 814 to one of sub-steps 816 and 818 . In sub-step 816, the wireless communication device uses the recovered control value as a transmit power level control parameter. Optionally, in sub-step 818, the wireless communication device calculates a transmission power level control parameter based on the recovered control value and the service class corresponding to the wireless terminal.

Operation proceeds from step 808 to step 820 . In step 820, the wireless communication device controls the peer-to-peer transmission power of at least some of the peer-to-peer transmissions in the uplink frequency band based on measurements of the first signal, wherein the peer-to-peer transmission power control includes controlling the peer-to-peer transmission power according to a first function peer-to-peer transmit power, and wherein controlling peer-to-peer transmit power according to a first function includes using said determined transmit power level control parameter in addition to said measured received power level in said first function. Operation proceeds from step 820 to step 824 via connection node A 822.

In step 824, the wireless communication device receives a second signal, such as a second beacon signal or a second non-beacon broadcast, from a base station in said downlink frequency band at a time different from the time at which said first signal was received channel signal. Then, in step 826, the wireless communication device performs measurements on the received second signal, such as power measurements on the received second signal. Operation proceeds from step 826 to step 828 in which the wireless communication device determines from the measured power of the second received signal that the wireless communication device should refrain from transmitting peer-to-peer communication signals in the uplink frequency band. Operation proceeds from step 8288 to step 830. In step 830, after determining that the communication device should refrain from transmitting peer-to-peer communication signals, the wireless communication device refrains from transmitting peer-to-peer communication signals in the uplink frequency band until it is determined based on a power measurement of another signal from the base station that wireless communication is allowed. until the communication device sends a peer-to-peer signal.

8 is a diagram of an exemplary wireless communication device 3000 (eg, a wireless terminal such as a mobile node supporting peer-to-peer communication in a WAN uplink frequency band of a base station) in accordance with various embodiments. Exemplary wireless communication device 3000 receives a signal from a base station in a base station downlink frequency band, such as a beacon signal or a non-beacon broadcast channel signal, wherein the wireless communication device 3000 uses the signal to determine whether the wireless communication device 3000 is allowed to perform uplink operations on the base station. Send peer-to-peer signals and/or determine peer-to-peer transmission power level information, such as a maximum peer-to-peer transmission power level, in the link frequency band.

Wireless communication device 3000 includes receiver module 3002, transmitter module 3004, user I/O device 3008, processor 3006, and memory 3010 coupled together via a bus 3012 through which the various elements can exchange data and information. Memory 3010 includes routines 3018 and data/information 3020 .

Processor 3006 , such as a CPU, executes routines 3018 and uses data/information 3020 in memory 3010 to control the operation of wireless communication device 3000 and implement methods, such as the method of flowchart 800 of FIG. 7 .

A receiver module 3002, such as an OFDM receiver, is coupled to a receive antenna 3014 via which the wireless communication device 3000 receives a signal, such as a beacon signal or a non-beacon broadcast channel signal, from a base station, the received signal using For determining peer-to-peer transmission power level information, the signal is received in a base station downlink frequency band. Receiver module 3002 also receives peer-to-peer communication signals. The receiver module 3002 also receives peer-to-peer communication signals in the uplink frequency band of the base station. A transmitter module 3004, such as an OFDM transmitter, is coupled to a transmit antenna 3016 via which the wireless communication device 3000 transmits peer-to-peer signals to other wireless communication devices.

For example, user I/O devices 3008 include microphones, keyboards, keypads, mice, cameras, switches, speakers, displays, and the like. User I/O device 3008 allows a user of wireless communication device 3000 to input data/information, access output data/information, and control at least some functions of wireless communication device 3000, such as attempting to initiate a peer-to-peer communication session.

Routine 3018 includes communication routine 3022 and wireless terminal control routine 3024 . The communication routine 3022 implements various communication protocols used by the wireless communication device 3000 . The wireless terminal control routine 3024 includes a measurement module 3026 , a power level control parameter determination module 3028 , a service level identification module 3034 and a peer to peer transmission power control module 3036 .

The measurement module 3026 performs measurements on the received signal from the base station, where the signal is received in the base station downlink frequency band. Received base station signal 13044 represents an input to measurement module 3026 , while signal 1 measurement information 3046 represents an output of measurement module 3026 . According to various embodiments, the measurements of the measurement module 3026 are signal power measurements.

The power level control parameter determination module 3028 determines transmit power level control parameters. In some embodiments, the power level control parameter determination module 3028 sets the transmit power level control parameter as the retrieved control parameter 3048 . In some embodiments, the power level control parameter determination module 3028 determines the transmit power level control parameter based on the retrieved control parameters 3048 . In some embodiments, the power level control parameter determination module 3028 sets the transmit power level control parameter to the recovered control parameter, eg, the decoded control parameter 3050 . In some embodiments, the power level control parameter determination module 3028 determines the transmit power level control parameter based on the recovered control parameters, eg, the decoded control parameters 3050 . In some embodiments, the power level control parameter determination module 3028 determines the transmit power level control parameter based on the identified class of service 3052 . In some embodiments, the power level control parameter determination module 3028 determines the transmit power level control parameters from the retrieved control parameters 3048 and recovered control parameters, eg, decoded control parameters 3050 . In some embodiments, the power level control parameter determination module 3028 determines the transmit power level control parameter by one of: i) using the recovered value as the transmit power level control parameter; and ii) based on the recovered value The transmission power control parameters are calculated from the control value and the class of service corresponding to the wireless terminal.

The service level identification module 3034 identifies the current service level corresponding to the wireless communication device 3000 . For example, in some embodiments, some of the different users of the communication device 3000 correspond to different service levels, such as emergency users, government-related users, service provider users, level 1 enterprise users, level 2 enterprise users, level 1 individual users, level 2 individual users, etc. In other examples, different service levels may correspond to different communication device types, different data types to be transmitted, different amounts of data to be transmitted, and/or different delay considerations. The identified current service level is indicated in identified service level 3052 .

The power level control parameter determination module 3028 includes an acquisition module 3030 and a control parameter recovery module 3032 . The obtaining module 3030 obtains the stored transmission power level control parameters corresponding to the service class corresponding to the wireless communication device 3000 . Accordingly, the acquisition module 3030 uses the identified service class 3052 as input, accesses the service class to power level control parameter mapping information 3060 and obtains the control parameters associated with the input service class. The captured control parameters 3048 are the output of the capture module 3030 .

The control parameter restoration module 3032 restores the control value according to the signal received by the communication device 3000 from the base station. In some embodiments, the control values are recovered from the same signal measured by the measurement module 3026 , such as the received base station signal 13044 . The decoded control parameters 3050 are the output of the control parameter recovery module 3032 . In some embodiments, the recovered control value is an interference level indicator value.

Peer-to-peer transmission power control module 3036 controls the peer-to-peer transmission power of at least some peer-to-peer signal transmissions based on measurements of received base station signals. The peer-to-peer transmission power control module 3036 includes a maximum peer-to-peer transmission power level determination sub-module 3038 , an actual peer-to-peer transmission power level determination sub-module 3040 and a first function 3042 .

The maximum peer to peer transmission power level determination sub-module 3038 uses the first function 3042 to determine the maximum peer to peer transmission power level. The actual peer-to-peer transmission power level determination sub-module 3040 determines an actual peer-to-peer signal transmission power level according to the maximum peer-to-peer transmission power level and the peer-to-peer signal received from the second peer-to-peer communication device. In various embodiments, the sub-module 3040 controls the actually determined peer-to-peer transmission power level to be less than or equal to the maximum peer-to-peer transmission power level.

In addition to using the measured received power levels, e.g., from Signal 1 measurement information 3046 to determine peer-to-peer transmit power levels, peer-to-peer transmit power level control module 3036 also uses determined transmit power level control parameters 3054 to, e.g. The determined maximum peer to peer transmission power level is determined 3056 . In some embodiments, some or all of the functionality of the power level control parameter determination module 3028 is included as part of the peer-to-peer transmission power control module 3036 .

Data/Information 3020 includes the received signal from the base station, i.e. the received base station signal 13044 received in the base station downlink frequency band measured by the measurement module 3026 in order to obtain signal 1 measurement information for use in determining transmission power level information 3046. Data/information 3020 also includes transmit power level control parameters 3054, determined maximum peer to peer transmit power level 3056, determined actual peer to peer transmit power level 3058, class of service to power level control parameter mapping information 3060, and Time series frequency structure information 3070. In some embodiments, data/information 3020 includes one or more of identified class of service 3052 , retrieved control parameters 3048 , and decoded control parameters 3050 .

The obtained control parameter 3048 is an output of the obtaining module 3030 and corresponds to one of the control parameter values (control parameter value 13066, . . . , control parameter value M 3068) of the class of service to power control parameter mapping information 3060. Decoded control parameters 3050 are the output of control parameter recovery module 3032 and represent information recovered from received base station signals. In some embodiments, the received base station signal on which the recovery information is based is the same base station signal on which the power measurement was made, such as received base station signal 1 3044. In some embodiments, the recovered control value is an interference level indicator value.

The identified service level 3052 is an output of the service level identification module 3034 and is used as input to the acquisition module 3030 . The identified service class 3052 is used to select a corresponding control parameter value. For example, if the identified service class 3052 indicates a service class M 3064, the obtaining module 3030 obtains the control parameter value M 3068 stored in the obtained control parameter 3048.

Transmit power level control parameter 3054 is an output of power level control parameter determination module 3028 . A transmit power level control parameter 3054 is determined based on one or more of the identified class of service 3052 , the retrieved control parameter 3048 and the decoded control parameter 3050 . Peer-to-peer transmit power control module 3036 uses transmit power level control parameters 3054 as input.

Determined maximum peer to peer transmission power level 3056 is an output of maximum peer to peer transmission power level sub-module 3038 and determined actual peer to peer transmission power level 3058 is an output of actual peer to peer transmission power level determination sub-module 3040 .

Service class to power level control parameter mapping information 3060 includes a plurality of service classes (service class 1 3062, ..., service class M 3064) and a plurality of corresponding control parameter values (control parameter value 1 3066, ..., Control parameter value M 3068).

The timing/frequency structure information 3070 included as part of the data/information 3020 includes: uplink frequency band information 3072, such as WAN uplink bandwidth information, WAN uplink carrier information, and uplink WAN tone set information; frequency band information 3074, such as WAN downlink bandwidth information, WAN downlink carrier information, and downlink WAN tone set information; and information 3076 identifying the location of measured/decoded base station signals. In this exemplary embodiment, the peer-to-peer communication signaling uses the WAN uplink frequency band being used by the base station where the peer-to-peer signal interferes with the WAN uplink signal sent to the base station. Signals received by the wireless communication device 3000 in the base station WAN downlink frequency band are measured and used to control the wireless communication device 3000 peer-to-peer transmission power level. In some embodiments, the signal received by the wireless communication device 3000 and the decoded recovery information (eg, to recover the interference indicator value) are also used to control the wireless communication device peer-to-peer transmission power level. In some embodiments, the same base station signal used for the power measurement is the decoded signal from which the information is recovered. In some other implementations, there are two different received signals from the base station, the received power level of one signal is measured and utilized, while the other signal conveys decoded power control information, such as decoded interference indicator values . In some embodiments, a base station signal from which information such as an interference level indicator value is recovered is transmitted in the WAN uplink frequency band, while in other embodiments the signal is transmitted in the WAN downlink frequency band . Information 3076 identifies which WAN frequency band carries the measured base station signal and which WAN frequency band carries the base station signal used for information recovery. In some embodiments, information 3076 identifies more specific information corresponding to one or more signals, such as a point in a recurring timing structure and/or specific pitch information identifying the one or more signals.

Figure 9 is a diagram 300 illustrating an exemplary embodiment that includes a communication system 302, a table 304 describing frequency band usage information, and a table 306 illustrating exemplary peer-to-peer wireless terminal transmission power level information. Exemplary communication system 302 includes base stations 308 having corresponding cellular coverage areas represented by cells 310 . Base station 308 is coupled to other network nodes, such as other base stations, routers, AAA nodes, home proxy nodes, control nodes, etc., via network link 309, eg, a fiber optic link, and/or the Internet. Also in the communication system 302 are a plurality of wireless terminals (WT 1 312, . . . , WT N 314) supporting cellular communication. Cellular WTs (312, 314) are coupled to base station 308 via wireless links (316, 318), respectively.

Also in the communication system 302 are a plurality of wireless terminals (WT 1`, WT 2` 328, WT 3`, WT 4` 340) that support peer-to-peer communication. WT 1' is shown at two points in time, and is represented as cell 324 at time t0 and as cell 326 at time t1. Movement of WT 1 ' is indicated by arrow 334. WT 3' is shown at two points in time, and is represented as cell 336 at time t0 and as cell 338 at time t1. WT 3' movement is indicated by arrow 346. Peer-to-peer communication between WT 1' and WT 2' 328 is indicated by arrows 330 and 332. Peer-to-peer communication between WT 3' and WT 4' 340 is indicated by arrows 342 and 344.

The base station transmits a broadcast signal 320, such as a beacon signal or a non-beacon broadcast channel signal, in its downlink WAN frequency band. The broadcast signals, such as beacon signals, are detected and measured by peer-to-peer wireless terminals. Peer-to-peer wireless terminals use power measurements of received broadcast signals (e.g., beacon signals) to determine whether the wireless terminal is permitted to transmit peer-to-peer signals in the corresponding WAN uplink frequency band, and when permitted to transmit peer-to-peer signals in the corresponding uplink frequency band. This power measurement is used to control the transmit power level, such as the maximum transmit power level, when transmitting in mid-range. Dashed circle 322 around base station 308 indicates an exemplary peer-to-peer restricted area in which peer-to-peer wireless terminals are prohibited from transmitting signals. In the area close to base station 308, for a base station attempting to recover and decode uplink signals from wireless terminals (312, ..., 314) operating in cellular mode, signals from peer-to-peer wireless terminals in the Transmissions at the level utilized in peer-to-peer signaling would cause too much interference to allow peer-to-peer wireless terminal transmissions.

The band information table 304 will now be described. The first column 348 indicates the use of frequency band A as: (i) the cellular downlink frequency band for signals transmitted from the base station intended to be received by cellular wireless terminals; broadcast reference and/or control signals, such as beacon signals intended for controlling peer-to-peer communications, such as power control for peer-to-peer communications in the corresponding uplink frequency band. The second column 350 indicates the use of frequency band B as: (i) the cellular uplink frequency band for signals transmitted from cellular wireless terminals intended to be received by the base station; and (ii) used for signals transmitted from peer-to-peer wireless terminals and intended to Peer-to-peer frequency band for signals received by peer-to-peer wireless terminals.

The peer to peer wireless terminal power information table 306 will now be described. The first column 352 identifies the exemplary peer-to-peer wireless terminals (WT 1', WT 2', WT 3', WT 4') being described. The second column 354 identifies the point in time, t0 or t1. The third column 356 identifies the transmission control level information corresponding to the wireless terminals in the same row corresponding to the times indicated in the same row. The information of table 306 indicates that the transmission power level of WT1' increases from time t0 to time t1. It can be observed that WT 1' moves away from base station 308 during this time, and that the measured power level of beacon signal 320 can be expected to decrease for WT 1' during this time. It can also be observed that WT 1′ remains outside the restricted region 322 during this time. The information of table 306 also indicates that the transmission power level of WT 3' decreases from time t1 to time t0. It can be observed that WT 3' is moving in the direction of base station 308 during this time, and an increase in the measured power level of beacon signal 320 can be expected for WT 3' during this time. It can also be observed that WT 3' remained outside the restricted area 322 during this time. The power levels described in table 306 may be maximum allowable transmit power levels. Alternatively, the power levels described in table 306 may be actual transmit power levels.

In some embodiments, at least some wireless terminals support multiple modes of operation, such as peer-to-peer and cellular communication modes of operation.

10 is a diagram of an exemplary wireless communication system 400 in accordance with various embodiments. The exemplary wireless communication system 400 includes at least one base station 402, a plurality of wireless terminals supporting peer-to-peer communication (wireless terminal 1 404, ..., wireless terminal N 410), a plurality of wireless terminals supporting wide area network signaling (wireless terminal 2 406, ..., wireless terminal n 412), and a plurality of wireless terminals (wireless terminal 3 408, ..., wireless terminal M 414) supporting both peer-to-peer signaling and wide area network signaling.

Base station 402 includes a peer-to-peer interference management module 416 , an interfering signal measurement module 418 , and a transmitter module 420 . Peer to peer interference management module 416 determines a peer to peer transmit power level control value. The transmitter module 420 sends the determined peer-to-peer transmission power level control value, eg, as a communicated indicator value. The interfering signal measurement module 418 measures signal interference during null uplink transmission time periods and provides the measured signal interference information to the peer to peer interference management module 416 .

Wireless terminal 1 404 includes a received signal power measurement module 422, a peer to peer signal transmission power control module 424, a difference update module 426, and a memory 428. In some embodiments, memory 428 includes stored predetermined difference indicator information 430 . The stored predetermined difference indicator information 430 includes a plurality of indicators (indicator 1 442, ..., indicator N 444) that can be sent by the base station, and respectively corresponding difference values (difference 1 446, ..., Difference N 448).

Received signal power measurement module 422 measures the power of a signal received from a base station (eg, base station 402), the received signal being received in the base station downlink frequency band. The peer to peer signaling power control module 424 controls the peer to peer signaling power level in the base station uplink frequency band based on the measured power of the signal from the base station according to a first function. In various embodiments, the peer-to-peer signaling power level is a maximum allowed peer-to-peer signaling power level. Difference update module 426 receives a difference indicator value from a base station (eg, base station 402) and updates the first function based on the received indicator value. In some embodiments, the difference is a predetermined amount, and the memory 428 storing the indicator and the corresponding predetermined difference is accessed and the accessed value is used by the first function.

The wireless terminal 2 406 includes a received signal power measurement module 432 and a wide area network signal transmission power control module 434. Received signal power measurement module 432 measures the power level of signals received from a base station (eg, base station 402 ) in the downlink frequency band. Wide area network signal transmission power control module 434 controls wide area signal transmission in the base station uplink frequency band associated with wireless terminal 2 406 based on the measured power of signals received from the base station in the base station downlink frequency band according to a second function Power levels, where the second function is different from the first function. In some embodiments, the wide area signaling power level is a maximum wide area signaling power level. In various embodiments, the second function determines a higher transmission power level than the first function for a given value of measured received signal power. In some such embodiments, the difference in dB between the transmitted power determined by the first and second functions is at least 10 dB for a given value of measured received signal power.

The wireless terminal 3408 includes a received signal power measurement module 436 , a peer to peer signaling power control module 438 and a wide area network signal transmission power control module 440 . Received signal power measurement module 436 measures the power level of signals received from base stations in the downlink frequency band. The peer to peer signaling power control module 438 controls the peer to peer signaling power level in the base station uplink frequency band based on the measured power of the signal from the base station according to the first function. The wide area network signaling power control module 440 controls the wide area signaling power level in the base station uplink frequency band based on the measured power of the signal from the base station according to a second function different from the first function. In various embodiments, the second function used by module 440 determines a higher transmit power level for a given value of measured received signal power than the first function used by module 438 . In some such embodiments, the difference in dB between the transmitted power determined by the first and second functions is at least 10 dB for a given value of measured received signal power. In some embodiments, the first function used by module 438 of WT 3 408 is the same as the first function used by module 424 of WT 1 404. In some embodiments, the second function used by module 440 of WT 3 408 is the same as the second function used by module 434 of WT 2 406.

11 is a flowchart 500 of an exemplary method of operating a base station in accordance with various embodiments. Operation of the exemplary method begins in step 502 and proceeds to step 504 . In step 504, the base station stores interference budget information. Operation proceeds from step 504 to steps 506 and 508 .

In step 508, wherein the step is performed on an ongoing basis, the base station is operated to maintain synchronization with at least one neighboring base station, thereby maintaining the uplink null time period between the neighboring base stations. Synchronize. In various embodiments, an uplink empty time period is a time period in which at least a portion of the uplink bandwidth used by a base station is intentionally not used for transmitting uplink signals to the base station.

Returning to step 506, in step 506 the base station measures background interference during the uplink null time period. Then, in step 510, the base station determines a first uplink transmission power control value according to the measured background interference. Step 510 includes sub-step 512 . In sub-step 512, the base station generates a first uplink transmission power control value using the stored interference budget information in combination with said measured background interference. Sub-step 512 includes sub-steps 514 , 516 , 518 and 520 . In sub-step 514, the base station determines whether the measured background interference exceeds the interference budget limit indicated by the stored interference budget information. If the budget limit is exceeded, then operation proceeds from sub-step 514 to sub-step 516; otherwise, operation proceeds from sub-step 514 to sub-step 518.

In sub-step 516, the base station modifies a previous uplink transmission power control value, said modified transmission power control value defining a peer to peer transmission power level greater than the previous uplink transmission power control value. Returning to sub-step 518, in sub-step 518 the base station determines whether the measured background interference is below said interference budget limit indicated by the stored interference budget information, eg by at least a predetermined threshold. If in sub-step 518 it is determined that the measured background interference is below the interference budget limit such that the detection criterion is met, then operation proceeds from sub-step 518 to sub-step 520 . In sub-step 520, the base station modifies the previous uplink transmit power control value which increases the peer-to-peer transmit power level to a higher level than controlled by the previous transmit power control value level.

Operation proceeds from step 510 to step 522 in which the base station transmits said determined first uplink transmission power control value in a downlink frequency band.

Figure 12 is a flowchart 600 of an exemplary method of operating a base station in accordance with various embodiments. Operation of the exemplary method begins in step 602 and proceeds to step 604 . In step 604, the base station stores interference budget information. Operation proceeds from step 604 to steps 606 and 608 .

In step 608, which is performed on an ongoing basis, the base station is operated to maintain synchronization with at least one neighboring base station in order to maintain synchronization of uplink null time periods between the neighboring base stations. In various embodiments, an uplink empty time period is a time period in which at least a portion of the uplink bandwidth used by a base station is intentionally not used for transmitting uplink signals to the base station.

Returning to step 606, in step 606, the base station measures background interference during the first uplink null time period. Then, in step 610, the base station determines a first uplink transmission power control value according to the measured background interference. Operation proceeds from step 610 to step 612 . In step 612, the base station transmits said determined first uplink transmission power control value in a downlink frequency band. Operation proceeds from step 612 to step 614 .

In step 614, the base station measures the background interference during the second uplink null time period, and then in step 616, the base station based on the measurement corresponding to the first uplink null time period and the second uplink null time period results to determine changes in measured background disturbances. Operation proceeds from step 616 to step 618 .

In step 618, the base station determines a second uplink transmission power control value based on the measured background interference corresponding to the second uplink empty time period and the determined change in the measured background interference, and then in step 620 , the base station sends the determined second uplink transmission power control value in the downlink frequency band. Operation proceeds from step 620 to step 622 .

In step 622, the base station measures the background interference during the third uplink null time period, and in step 624, the base station based on the measurement corresponding to the second uplink null time period and the third uplink null time period results to determine changes in measured background disturbances. Operation proceeds from step 624 to step 626 in which the base station determines a difference between the first uplink transmission power control value and the second uplink transmission power control value. Operation proceeds from step 626 to step 628 .

In step 628, the base station based on the measured background interference corresponding to the third uplink empty time period, the determined change in the measured background interference between the second and third uplink empty time periods and The difference between the determined two previously transmitted power control values is used to determine a third uplink transmit power control value. Operation proceeds from step 628 to step 630 in which the base station transmits the determined third uplink transmission power control value.

Figure 13 is a diagram of an exemplary base station 2800 in accordance with various embodiments. Exemplary base station 2800 manages reception interference from peer-to-peer wireless terminals that transmit in the same air link resources used for base station 2800 wide area network uplink communications. Exemplary base station 2800 determines and transmits an uplink power control signal in the downlink frequency band, where the signal is used by peer to peer wireless terminals to determine their transmit power levels. In some embodiments, the uplink power control signal sent by the base station 2800 in the downlink frequency band is also used by wireless terminals to control transmission power levels using the base station as a point of network attachment and to the base station Send an uplink signal.

Exemplary base station 2800 includes receiver module 2802, transmitter module 2804, processor 2806, I/O interface 2808, and memory 2810 coupled together via bus 2812, where the various elements can exchange data and information.

A receiver module 2802, such as an OFDM receiver, is coupled to a receive antenna 2814 via which the base station 2800 receives uplink signals from a wireless terminal operating, for example, in cellular mode and using the base station 2800 as a point of network attachment wireless terminal. The receiver module 2802 also receives interference from peer-to-peer communication devices operating in the local vicinity. In some embodiments, the receiver module 2802 also receives interference in uplink signal transmissions from cellular devices in neighboring cells.

A transmitter module 2804, such as an OFDM transmitter, is coupled to a transmit antenna 2816 via which the base station 2800 transmits downlink signals to wireless terminals using the base station 2800 as a point of network attachment. The transmitter module 2804 also transmits an uplink transmit power control value signal in the base station downlink frequency band, where the signal is used by a peer wireless terminal to control its transmit power level, which transmits the uplink transmission power level of the base station. The frequency band is used for peer-to-peer signaling and therefore creates interference to the base station receiver module 2802 .

Memory 2810 includes routines 2818 and data/information 2820 . Processor 2806, such as a CPU, executes routines 2818 and uses data/information 2820 in memory 2810 to control the operation of base station 2800 and implement methods. Routine 2818 includes communication routine 2822 , interference measurement module 2824 , wireless terminal power control module 2826 , and wireless terminal power control signal transmission module 2830 . In some embodiments, routine 2818 includes one or more of wide area network synchronization module 2828 and interference type separation module 2832 .

Communication routines 2822 implement various communication protocols used by base station 2800 . The interference measurement module 2824 measures background interference during uplink null time periods. The wireless terminal power control module 2826 determines an uplink transmit power control value based on the measured background interference. In various embodiments, the wireless terminal power control module 2826 determines uplink power control values using stored interference budget information in conjunction with measured background interference to generate uplink transmit power control values. The wireless terminal power control signal transmission control module 2830 controls the transmitter module 2804 to transmit the generated uplink transmission power control signal, eg, the first uplink transmission power control value 2850 . In some embodiments, the control module 2830 controls the transmitter module 2804 to transmit the generated uplink transmission power control values in the base station downlink frequency band according to a round robin schedule. In some embodiments, the control module 2830 controls transmission based on the interference level information. In some embodiments, the wireless terminal power control module 2826 determines the uplink transmit power control value based on the measured background interference and the change in the measured background interference from previous measurements. In some embodiments, the wireless terminal power control module 2826 determines the uplink transmit power control value based on the difference between two previously transmitted power control values.

In some embodiments, the wireless terminal power control module 2826 determines the uplink transmit power control value by modifying the previous an uplink transmission power control value, the modified transmission power control value defining a peer to peer transmission power level greater than a previous uplink transmission power control value. In some embodiments, the wireless terminal power control module 2826 determines the uplink transmit power control value by modifying the previous An uplink transmission power control value for which the modified transmission power control value increases the peer-to-peer transmission power level to be greater than the previous uplink transmission power control value. In various embodiments, the change to a higher level is performed when said measured interference is below said interference budget limit by at least a predetermined threshold.

Therefore, the base station 2800 adjusts the transmission power level of the peer-to-peer communication using the value of the uplink transmission power control value, thereby suppressing interference to the uplink signal transmitted to the base station 2800 in the base station uplink frequency band.

The wide area network synchronization module 2828 is configured to maintain synchronization with at least one neighboring base station, so as to maintain synchronization of uplink empty time periods between neighboring base stations.

The interference type separation module 2832 is operable to obtain an estimate of the uplink interference contribution originating from peer-to-peer communications. In some embodiments, interference type separation module 2832 intentionally separates peer-to-peer interference from other sources of interference, such as cellular communication devices transmitting uplink signals in neighboring cells that are not synchronized with base station 2800, in some embodiments. The controlled variation level is entered in the uplink transmit power control value and the observed effect in the interference measurements is calculated during subsequent uplink null periods.

Data/information 2820 includes timing/frequency structure information 2834, stored interference budget information 2840, multiple sets of interference measurement information (uplink interference measurement information 1 2846, ..., uplink interference measurement information N 2848), and a plurality of generated uplink transmission power control values (first uplink transmission power control value 2850, ..., Mth uplink transmission power control value 2852).

Timing/frequency structure information 2834 includes recurring timing structure information 2836 . Cyclic timing structure information 2836 includes information 2838 identifying uplink empty time periods. In some embodiments, the uplink empty time period corresponds to a time period in which at least a portion of the uplink bandwidth used by said base station is intentionally not used for transmitting uplink signals to the base station. In some embodiments, an uplink null time period is a time period during which a wireless terminal, such as a cellular communication device, using a point of attachment to a base station 2800 is intentionally refrained from transmitting uplink signals to the base station 2800 . During this time period, peer-to-peer wireless terminal signaling continues to use the uplink frequency band. Accordingly, base station 2800 may measure background interference during this time period. If neighboring base stations are synchronized such that uplink empty time periods are concurrent, the noise measured during these time periods can be correlated to peer-to-peer signaling. However, if the neighboring base stations are not synchronized and use the same uplink frequency band, the interference measured during this uplink empty period includes interference from peer-to-peer wireless terminals and cellular communication devices corresponding to the neighboring base stations. interference.

Stored interference budget information 2840 includes context interference limit information 2842 and threshold information 2844 .

FIG. 14 is a diagram 900 including an exemplary communication system 902 and a frequency band usage table 904 in accordance with various embodiments. In the exemplary communication system 902, a wide area network shares bandwidth with peer-to-peer communications. In various embodiments, the wide area network corresponds to the deployed system, and the peer-to-peer capabilities include expansion and/or upgrade features. In some embodiments, the exemplary communication system 902 is initially deployed to include WAN and peer-to-peer capabilities. Frequency band usage table 904 indicates two types of embodiments that may correspond to exemplary system 902 . In the first embodiment type, the Type A embodiment, the WAN uses frequency division duplex (FDD) wide area frequency division duplex uplink frequency bands to share bandwidth with peer-to-peer communication activities, and the WAN FDD downlink frequency bands to pass the WAN Downlink signals and broadcast signals for peer device control. In a second embodiment type, Type B embodiment, the wide area network uses time division duplex (TDD) of the same frequency band for uplink and downlink, the wide area frequency band shares uplink time slots with peer-to-peer communication activity, and The WAN shares downlink time slots to deliver broadcast signals for peer device control. Thus, in both embodiment types, uplink signal transmissions from wide area network communication devices may interfere with peer communication signal reception by peer communication devices, and peer to peer communication signals between peer communication devices may interfere with WAN uplink signal reception at the base station creates interference. Furthermore, control signals sent from the base station intended for peer devices are conveyed using resources normally reserved for downlink WAN signaling.

Exemplary communication system 902 includes a base station 906 , a wide area network wireless terminal 908 (eg, a cellular mobile node), a first peer-to-peer wireless terminal 910 , and a second peer-to-peer wireless terminal 912 . For ease of illustration, assume that the wide area network wireless terminal 908 transmits an uplink signal 914 to the base station 906 . Base station 906 receives the signal and measures the received signal _PC1 . To peer wireless terminal 2 912 , signal 914 is seen as interference 916 from wide area network wireless terminal 908 . Assume now that first peer to peer wireless terminal 910 sends peer to peer wireless terminal 2 912 a peer to peer signal 918 . The base station 906 sees the signal 918 as interference 920 from the first peer-to-peer wireless terminal 910 . Base station 906 receives the interference and measures the received signal P _P1 .

According to various embodiments, priority is given to the wide area system and interference is managed at the base station. For example, the power control value α is selected such that (P _P1 /P _C1 )≦α. In some such embodiments, α is a value such as -10dB, -20dB or -30dB. Although described in the example for a peer-to-peer wireless terminal that interferes with base station reception corresponding to a wide area network wireless terminal uplink signal transmission, it should be noted that there can be, and sometimes are, multiple Peer-to-peer wireless terminals transmit and interfere, and there can be, and sometimes are, multiple wide area network wireless terminals transmitting uplink signals to a base station that attempts to recover the uplink signal. Therefore, the control factor a determined by the base station to manage interference can, and sometimes does, depend on multiple users. In some embodiments, the control factor a depends on the number of users, eg, the number of active wide area network users and/or the number of active peer-to-peer users.

Figure 15 is a diagram 1002 illustrating features of embodiments in which a wide area network has periods of silence in which base stations monitor and measure peer-to-peer noise. Exemplary diagram 1002 includes base stations 1004 with corresponding cellular coverage areas 1006 . In some embodiments, the cellular coverage area has a radius of at least 1 kilometer. In this cell, there are multiple wireless terminals (WT A 1008, WT B 1010, WT C 1012, WT D1014) working in the cellular operation mode. These wireless terminals ( 1008 , 1010 , 1012 , 1014 ) receive downlink signals from base station 1004 and send uplink signals to base station 1004 . However, this point in time corresponds to a period of intentional WAN uplink silence during which the WAN wireless terminals (1008, 1010, 1012, 1014) do not transmit any uplink signals.

Cell 1006 also includes a plurality of wireless terminals (WT 1 1016, WT 2 1018, WT 3 1020, WT 4 1022) operating in a peer-to-peer mode of operation. Peer-to-peer communications are not restricted during this time period. Peer WT 1 1016 is just sending a peer to peer signal 1024 to peer wireless terminal 2 1018. This transmitted peer-to-peer signal 1024 is seen as a peer-to-peer noise interfering signal 1026 to a receiver in base station 1004 . Peer WT 3 1020 is just sending a peer to peer signal 1028 to peer wireless terminal 4 1022. This transmitted peer-to-peer signal 1028 is seen as a peer-to-peer noise interfering signal 1030 to a receiver in base station 1004 .

FIG. 16 is a diagram 1102 illustrating several features of various embodiments, which is a continuation of the example of FIG. 15 . In cell 1006, base station 1004 determines a power control value a based on the measured peer-to-peer interference. The base station then broadcasts the control value a for wireless terminals via signal 1104 using WAN downlink air link resources. In this exemplary embodiment, a base station broadcasts a single value for control value α; this value may then, and sometimes is, be used differently by different wireless communication devices receiving broadcast signal 1104 . In this example, a set of wireless terminals operating in cellular mode (WT A 1008, WT B 1010, WT C 1012, WT D 1014) uses a first power control function f ₁ (α) 1106 to determine a transmit power level control parameter ; while the set of wireless terminals (WT 1 1016, WT 2 1018, WT 3 1020, WT 4 1022) working in peer-to-peer mode use the second power control function f ₂ (α) 1108 to determine transmission power control parameters.

FIG. 17 is a diagram 1200 of an exemplary look-up table of control values, illustrating features of various embodiments. In some embodiments, the wireless terminal receives broadcast power control values from the base station in the downlink frequency band, and determines the power control value it will use for itself based on the received values and the corresponding class of service. Different service levels may, and sometimes do, correspond to different traffic types, different types of services, and/or different users of services, and map to different service levels. For example, in some embodiments, exemplary different priorities are associated with different traffic types, such as voice, delay sensitive data, and best effort type data. Exemplary different service types include emergency communication services and general communication, for example. For example, different user types include: high-priority users, such as police, fire, and emergency services; medium-priority users who subscribe to a high-level service plan; and low-priority users who subscribe to a low-level service plan. Thus, in some embodiments, the restored power control values are modified according to the priority level.

In the example table 1200, a first column 1202 indicates an example received control value α, a second column 1204 indicates an example corresponding service level 1 control value α ₁ , and a third column 1206 indicates an example corresponding service level 2 control value α ₂ , and fourth column 1208 indicates an exemplary corresponding service level 3 control value α ₃ . The first row 1210 indicates that if a wireless terminal using the lookup table 1200 receives a broadcast power control value from the base station of -10 dB and its corresponding service class is (service class 1, service class 2, service class 3), then the wireless terminal respectively Use (-10dB, -15dB, -20dB) for its power control value. Second row 1212 indicates that if a wireless terminal using lookup table 1200 receives a broadcast power control value of -20 dB from a base station and its corresponding service class is (service class 1, service class 2, service class 3), then the wireless terminal, respectively Use (-20dB, -25dB, -30dB) for its power control value. The third row 1214 indicates that if a wireless terminal using the lookup table 1200 receives a broadcast power control value from the base station of -30 dB and its corresponding service class is (service class 1, service class 2, service class 3), then the wireless terminal respectively Use (-30dB, -35dB, -40dB) for its power control value.

18 is a flowchart 1300 of an exemplary method of operating a base station (eg, a base station whose uplink bandwidth is also used for peer-to-peer signaling) in accordance with various embodiments. For example, the base station is a base station operating as part of a cellular communication system in which operation is synchronized between adjacent base stations. Synchronization between adjacent base stations facilitates uniform uplink null time periods in which wide area network wireless terminal cellular uplink signal transmissions can be controlled to cease uniformly. These empty time periods are used to measure background interference. In such an embodiment, the background disturbance W can be approximated by W=thermal noise+peer noise. The base station needs to control interference and determine and broadcast a power control factor α in the downlink frequency band for reception by wireless terminals in its vicinity.

Operation begins in step 1302, where the base station is powered on and initialized. In some embodiments, the initialization comprises using a default value of the power control factor a broadcasted to the wireless terminals in the downlink frequency band. Operation proceeds from start step 1302 to step 1304 . In step 1304, the base station measures the background interference W during a null time interval, such as an uplink null time interval, during which the WAN wireless terminal is controlled to inhibit signal transmission.

Operation proceeds from step 1304 to step 1306 . In step 1306, the base station determines a power control factor α according to the measured background interference. In various embodiments, the function used is such that as W increases, a also increases for at least some non-empty ranges of W. In some embodiments, the determination of step 1306 includes a comparison with stored interference budget information. Operation proceeds from step 1306 to step 1308 .

In step 1308, the base station broadcasts the determined power control factor α in the downlink frequency band. Operation proceeds from step 1308 to step 1304 where another background interference measurement is performed.

In some embodiments, multiple background interference measurements are performed corresponding to multiple empty time intervals and used to generate the determined power control factor that is broadcast. Thus, in some embodiments, prior to broadcasting the determined power control factors in step 1308, the base station performs a set of background measurements corresponding to a set of empty time intervals, eg, multiple repetitions of step 1304.

19 is a flowchart 1400 of an exemplary method of operating a base station (eg, a base station whose uplink bandwidth is also used for peer-to-peer signaling) in accordance with various embodiments. For example, the base station is a base station operating as part of a cellular communication system in which operation is synchronized between adjacent base stations. In the uplink timing structure used by the base station, the base station uses uplink empty time periods to measure background interference. However, because the operation in neighboring cells is not synchronized, the level of interference from neighboring cells can vary over time, making it contrary to the situation where neighboring base stations are synchronized and controlled to cause intentional uplink null simultaneity. than , it is more difficult to extract the equivalent component of the background noise. The base station needs to control interference and determine and broadcast a power control factor α for reception by wireless terminals in its vicinity. According to a feature of this embodiment, the base station intentionally varies the broadcast power control factor it broadcasts as the input to the control in order to measure the response.

Operation begins in step 1402 where the base station is powered on and initialized and operation proceeds to step 1404 . In step 1404, the base station broadcasts the power control factor α ₁ in the downlink frequency band. At this point, _α1 is the default value obtained from initialization. Then, in step 1406, the base station measures the background interference W ₁ during a null time interval, such as an uplink WAN null time interval, in which wireless communication terminals using the base station are intentionally prohibited from transmitting uplink signal. Operation proceeds from step 1406 to step 1408 .

In step 1408, the base station adjusts the power control factor to determine the second power control factor α ₂ . For example, α ₂ =α ₁ +Δα, where Δα is non-zero and can be positive or negative. Typically, the magnitude of Δα is a fraction of the magnitude of _α1 , for example less than or equal to 25% of _α1 . Operation proceeds from step 1408 to step 1410, where the base station transmits a new power control factor _a2 . Operation proceeds from step 1410 to step 1412 .

In step 1412, the base station measures the background interference _W2 during the empty time interval. Operation proceeds from step 1412 to step 1414 . In step 1414, the base station determines a power control factor [alpha] ₃ based on the change in the measured background interference and the change in the transmitted power control factor. For example, α ₃ is determined according to ΔW and Δα, where ΔW=W ₂ −W ₁ . In an exemplary embodiment, α ₃ is one of α ₃ =α ₂ +Δα and α ₃ =α ₁ −Δα. Operation proceeds from step 1414 to step 1416, where the base station sets α ₁ =α ₃ . Operation then proceeds to step 1404 where the base station broadcasts the power control factor α ₁ .

FIG. 20 is a graph 1500 of noise W on the vertical axis 1502 versus α on the horizontal axis 1504 . Noise W represents received noise at a base station attempting to recover an uplink signal, and noise W includes peer-to-peer noise and other cell interference. The variable α is a power control factor. Curve 1506 is a characteristic curve of W versus α corresponding to other cell interference level 1508 . During an intentional uplink empty time interval corresponding to the first base station, the first base station intentionally controls a wireless terminal using it as a network attachment point to prohibit uplink signal transmission. During this intentional uplink null time interval, peer-to-peer activity within the cell is allowed to continue. Therefore, the first base station receiver sees this peer-to-peer activity as noise, and this peer-to-peer activity contributes to the measured noise W.

It is now assumed that the neighboring base stations operate synchronously with respect to the first base station. Because the neighboring base station is synchronized with respect to the first base station, the intentional uplink null time interval of the neighboring base station does not have to overlap the intentional null time interval of the first base station. Thus, during the intentional uplink null time period of the first base station, the uplink signal transmissions of neighboring base stations also contribute to the measured noise W measured by the first base station.

A characteristic curve 1506 of W versus a corresponds to a specified level of other cell interference 1508, which represents a minimum level of interference. If operating at a point close to saturation on curve 1506, an increase in α does not bring about a significant improvement in noise W reduction. An increase in α corresponds to a limitation of the transmission power for peer-to-peer signaling. Therefore, additionally limiting the peer-to-peer transmission power level does not significantly improve reception of uplink signals from cellular radio terminals in this case. However, if one works at the point of curve 1506 with a higher slope value, a small increase in α can make a significant difference in reducing the level of noise W. In this case, sometimes, for example, reducing α is beneficial to improve recovery of uplink signals from cell-based wireless terminals. For example, in this case, a small pullback in peer-to-peer transmit power levels can result in significant improvements in uplink signaling recovery and/or throughput.

In general, in various embodiments, the priority assigned to good wide area (eg, cellular) based communication reception takes precedence over peer to peer signaling. However, given a certain level of desired cell-based uplink reception quality, it is desirable to maximize peer-to-peer communication throughput. It can be found that the W vs. alpha characteristic curve will vary according to other cell interference. Other cell interference can, and sometimes does, vary independently of first cell operation. For example, other cell interference experienced by the first base station may vary to different levels due to conditions, number of cellular-based wireless terminal users in neighboring cells, neighboring cell uplink traffic load, etc. Graph 1600 of FIG. 21 shows other cell interference levels 1608 as compared to other cell interference levels 1508 of FIG. 20 . Furthermore, FIG. 21 shows a different characteristic curve 1606 compared to characteristic curve 1506 .

Figure 22 illustrates an example method of adjusting the selection of the power control factor a used in various embodiments based on noise measurements. FIG. 22 is a graph 1700 of noise W on the vertical axis 1502 versus α on the horizontal axis 1504 corresponding to the characteristic curve 1506 . In operation, the first base station may not be aware that the first base station is operating on characteristic curve 1506 corresponding to other cell interference level 1508 of FIG. one.

The first base station sets α to an initial value α ₁ 1702, where this value is broadcast in the downlink frequency band. Peer-to-peer wireless terminals in the cell of the first base station use the value α ₁ 1702 to control their peer-to-peer transmission power in the corresponding uplink frequency band. During the first base station's intentional uplink null time period, the first base station measures a receive noise level W, denoted W ₁ 1706 . Then, the first base station intentionally changes the value of α ₁ by an amount Δα 1708 to obtain α ₂ 1710. This represents a controlled input that is used to intentionally drive the receive noise level to different points on the characteristic curve 1506 (from 1704 to 1712). The first base station broadcasts the parameter _a2 1710 in the downlink frequency band. The value α ₂ 1710 is used by peer wireless terminals in the cell of the first base station to control their peer to peer transmission power in the uplink frequency band. During the first base station's intentional uplink null time period, the first base station measures a receive noise level W, denoted W ₂ 1714 . The first base station measures the change in W, ΔW 1716 . The first base station then determines a new value of α from the input drive value Δα, the measured response ΔW and some stored interference budget information. In some embodiments, the first base station determines the new value of α based on at least one noise measurement point, such as W ₁ or W ₂ . In this example, if ΔW is small then the first base station sets the new α value α ₃ to α ₃ =α ₁ −Δα as indicated by point 1718; and as indicated by point 1720 if ΔW is large then The first base station sets the new α value α ₃ as α ₃ =α ₂ +Δα, eg, where the smaller and the larger are determined relative to predetermined stored interference budget information. The first base station then broadcasts the power control factor _a3 in the downlink frequency band to be used by peer wireless terminals in the cell to control their transmission power level in the uplink frequency band.

Figure 23 is a diagram 1800 illustrating exemplary bandwidth usage in some embodiments using time division duplexing (TDD) for wide area networks (eg, for cellular communications). For wide area networks, eg for base stations, the same frequency band is shared eg in an alternating pattern between uplink and downlink. For example, along timeline 1802, as indicated by blocks (1804, 1806, 1808, 1810), the TDD frequency bands used for wide area (e.g., cellular communications) are used for (uplink, downlink, uplink link, downlink). In addition to typical cellular-based activities, base stations transmit peer-to-peer reference and/or control broadcast signals, such as beacon signals and/or other broadcast signals, during time intervals typically reserved for wide-area uplink signaling. This is represented by signals (1812, 1814) corresponding to the time intervals of blocks (1806, 1810), respectively. In addition, the time interval allocated for the wide area network (e.g., cellular uplink) is also used for peering to and so on, where the same TDD frequency band is used.

FIG. 24 is a diagram 1900 illustrating exemplary bandwidth usage in some embodiments that use frequency division duplexing (FDD) for wide area networks (eg, for cellular communications). For wide area networks, eg for base stations, different frequency bands are used for uplink and downlink. In this exemplary embodiment, along frequency axis 1902 , the FDD wide area uplink frequency band is represented by box 1904 and the wide area downlink frequency band is represented by box 1906 . In some embodiments, the uplink and downlink frequency bands are adjacent. In some embodiments, the uplink and/or downlink frequency bands comprise non-contiguous parts. In some embodiments, at least a portion of one of the uplink and downlink frequency bands is comprised between two different portions of the other of the uplink and downlink frequency bands.

In addition to typical cellular-based uplink signaling in the FDD wide-area uplink band, this band is also used for other activities related to peer-to-peer signaling. In FIG. 24, the FDD wide area uplink frequency band 1904 is also used by the base station for sending peer reference and/or control broadcast signals 1908, such as beacon signals and/or other broadcasts sent by the base station for use by peer wireless terminals Signal. As indicated by the box 1910 located on the frequency axis 1902 corresponding to the FDD wide area uplink frequency band 1904, the same frequency band is also used by peer-to-peer wireless terminals for peer-to-peer signaling.

25 is a diagram 2100 illustrating exemplary frequency band and shared frequency band usage between wide area network communication usage and peer-to-peer communication usage in accordance with various embodiments. The frequency band used as the WAN communication band is also allocated as a peer-to-peer TDD receiver band and a peer-to-peer TDD transmitter band. For example, the frequency bands shown in FIG. 26 may be utilized by the multi-mode wireless communication device 2000 of FIG. 25, e.g., where different WAN uplink and downlink are provided and/or used at different locations and/or at different times. Link communication band pair.

The horizontal axis 2101 represents frequency. Corresponding to the frequency f _UL1 2103, there is a wide area network uplink frequency division duplex frequency band 2102, a peer to peer time division duplex transmit frequency band 2106 and a peer to peer time division duplex receive frequency band 2108. The WAN uplink FDD band 2102 is paired with the WAN downlink FDD band 2104 . Corresponding to frequency f _DL1 2105, there is a wide area network downlink frequency division duplex frequency band 2104. The WAN downlink FDD frequency band 2104 is also used as a frequency band 2109 for communicating broadcast signals originating from base stations such as beacon signals or non-beacon control channel signals, for example for communicating signals for effecting peer-to-peer signaling (e.g. with Reference and/or control information signals for peer-to-peer transmission power control).

Likewise, corresponding to frequency f _UL2 2113 , there is a wide area network uplink frequency division duplex frequency band 2112 , a peer to peer time division duplex transmit frequency band 2116 and a peer to peer time division duplex receive frequency band 2118 . The WAN uplink FDD band 2112 is paired with the WAN downlink FDD band 2114 . Corresponding to frequency f _DL2 2115 there is a WAN downlink frequency division duplex band 2114 . The WAN downlink FDD frequency band 2114 is also used as a frequency band 2119 for communicating broadcast signals originating from base stations, such as beacon signals or non-beacon control channel signals, for example for communicating signals for effecting peer-to-peer signaling (e.g., with Reference and/or control information signals for peer-to-peer transmission power control).

Likewise, corresponding to frequency f _UL3 2123 , there is a wide area network uplink frequency division duplex frequency band 2122 , a peer to peer time division duplex transmit frequency band 2126 and a peer to peer time division duplex receive frequency band 2128 . The WAN uplink FDD band 2122 is paired with the WAN downlink FDD band 2124 . Corresponding to frequency f _DL3 2125 there is a WAN downlink frequency division duplex band 2124 . The WAN downlink FDD frequency band 2124 is also used as a frequency band 2129 for communicating broadcast signals originating from base stations, such as beacon signals or non-beacon control channel signals, e.g. Reference and/or control information signals for peer-to-peer transmission power control).

In some embodiments, a cellular-based communication system using at least one of TDD and FDD is compatible with peer-to-peer signaling, where at least some of the peer-to-peer signaling shares air link resources that are also used for uplink Wide area networks, such as cell-based uplink signaling. In some embodiments, a typical cellular-based communication system using at least one of TDD and FDD is modified to be compatible with peer-to-peer signaling, where at least some of the peer-to-peer signaling shares air-link resources that typically Reserved for uplink wide area network, eg cell-based uplink signaling. In some embodiments, many legacy communication devices that support cell-based signaling but not peer-to-peer signaling may continue to be used in the communication system. In various embodiments, the communication system supports a mix of communication devices, at least some of which support peer-to-peer communication and not cell-based communication. In some embodiments, the communication devices support a mixture of communication devices, at least some of which support both peer-to-peer and cell-based communication.

Although primarily described in the context of OFDM systems, the methods and apparatus of various embodiments are applicable to a wide variety of communication systems, including many non-OFDM systems and/or non-cellular systems. Some exemplary systems include a mix of techniques utilized in peer-to-peer signaling, such as some OFDM type signals and some CDMA type signals.

In various embodiments, the nodes described herein are implemented using one or more modules for performing steps corresponding to one or more methods, such as scanning uplink bandwidth, estimating base station signals, Determine transmission power level control parameters, control peer-to-peer transmission power, measure interference, determine transmission power control values, transmit transmission power control parameters, and the like. In some embodiments, various features are implemented using modules. These modules can be implemented using software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. Many of the above-described methods or method steps can be implemented using machine-executable instructions, such as software, embodied on a machine-readable medium such as a memory device (e.g., RAM, floppy disk, etc.) to control a machine, such as a general-purpose A computer, so as to implement all or part of the above-mentioned method, for example, in one or more nodes. Accordingly, among other things, various embodiments are directed to a machine-readable medium comprising machine-executable instructions for causing a machine (eg, a processor and associated hardware) to perform one or more steps of the methods described above.

Many additional variations on the methods and apparatus described above will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. These variations should be considered within the scope. The methods and apparatus of various embodiments may use and in various embodiments use CDMA, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), and/or CDMA that may be used to provide a wireless communication link between an access node and a mobile node Various other types of communication technologies. In some embodiments, an access node is implemented as a base station that establishes a communication link with a mobile node using OFDM and/or CDMA. In various embodiments, the mobile node is implemented as a laptop, personal digital assistant (PDA), or other portable device including receiver/transmitter circuits and logic and/or routines for implementing the methods of various embodiments .

Claims (60)

1. the method for an operate wireless communication equipment, described Wireless Telecom Equipment is supported in the peer-to-peer communications in the base station uplink frequency band, and described method comprises:

Receive first signal from the base station in downlink band, this first signal is used as reciprocity transmission power control signal;

Received signal is estimated; And

According to the reciprocity through-put power of described first result who receives the described estimation of signal being controlled at least some reciprocity signal transmission in the described uplink band,

Wherein said estimation is one of following operation: signal power measurement; Extraction to the coded message in received signal, transmitted; Obtain with the information in the coded message of extracting of received signal, transmitting from the received power level of received signal,

Wherein control reciprocity through-put power and comprise use first function, and wherein compare with other received signal power level that is higher than the first received signal power level, described first function arrives lower level at the described first received signal power level with reciprocity transmit power restrictions.

2. method according to claim 1 also comprises:

Locating with the time of the asynchronism(-nization) that receives described first signal, in described downlink band, receive secondary signal from described base station;

Receiving signal to described second estimates; And

According to the described second described estimation that receives signal, determine that described Wireless Telecom Equipment should forbid sending the peer-to-peer communications signal in described uplink band.

3. method according to claim 2 also comprises:

After definite described communication equipment should be forbidden sending the peer-to-peer communications signal, forbid in described uplink band sending the peer-to-peer communications signal, up to by to till determining that from another signal estimation of described base station the described Wireless Telecom Equipment of permission sends reciprocity signal.

4. method according to claim 1, wherein said first signal is beacon signal.

5. method according to claim 4, wherein said beacon signal comprises maximum three OFDM tones, and every tone transmission power level of having of the tone of wherein said beacon signal is than average every tone transmission power level height of the non-NULL tone of reciprocity signal 10dB at least.

6. method according to claim 1, wherein said first signal is broadcast channel signal.

7. method according to claim 6, wherein said broadcast channel signal comprises one group of OFDM tone, and every tone transmission power level of having of the tone of wherein said broadcast channel signal is than average every tone transmission power level height of the non-NULL tone of reciprocity signal 3dB at least.

8. method according to claim 1, wherein said first signal is the CDMA pilot signal.

9. method according to claim 1, wherein said up link and downlink band are corresponding to different non-overlapped Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) (FDD) WAN base station communication frequency bands.

10. method according to claim 1, base station time division duplex (TDD) frequency band of wherein said uplink band during corresponding to uplink time slot, and the same base TDD frequency band of wherein said downlink band during corresponding to downlink time slots.

11. method according to claim 1, wherein said first function are determined the maximum reciprocity transmission power level that allows.

12. operate the base station with the method for control from the interference of the peer-to-peer communications in first communication band for one kind, described method comprises:

Generate reciprocity transmission power control signal; And

Send described reciprocity transmission power control signal in the second communication frequency band, described second communication frequency band is different with described first communication band,

The received power level of wherein said reciprocity transmission power control signal is used for the reciprocity through-put power of control peer-to-peer communications by first function, and wherein compare with second received power level that is higher than first received power level, described first function arrives lower level at described first received power level with reciprocity transmit power restrictions.

13. method according to claim 12, wherein said first communication band is used for: (i) the wide area network uplink signal from the wide area network wireless terminal to described base station transmits; And (ii) the peer-to-peer communications signal between two reciprocity wireless terminals transmits.

14. method according to claim 13, wherein said second communication frequency band is used for: (i) down link signal is delivered to described wide area network wireless terminal from described base station; And (ii) described reciprocity power control signal is delivered to peer communications devices.

15. method according to claim 14 also comprises:

Generate wide area network uplink transmission power control signal; And

In described second communication frequency band, the wide area network transmission power control signal that generates is sent to described wide area network wireless terminal.

16. method according to claim 14, wherein said first communication band are Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) (FDD) wide area network (WAN) uplink bands, and wherein said second communication frequency band is Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) (FDD) wide area network downlink band.

17. method according to claim 16, wherein said uplink band and described downlink band are not overlapping and constitute a pair of accordingly.

18. method according to claim 14, wherein said first communication band are base station time division duplex (TDD) frequency bands during the uplink time slot, and wherein said second communication frequency band is the same base TDD frequency band during the downlink time slots.

19. method according to claim 14, wherein said reciprocity transmission power control signal is beacon signal.

20. method according to claim 19, wherein said beacon signal comprises maximum three OFDM tones, and every tone transmission power level of having of the tone of wherein said beacon signal is than average every tone transmission power level height of the non-NULL tone of reciprocity signal 10dB at least.

21. method according to claim 14, wherein said reciprocity transmission power control signal is broadcast channel signal.

22. method according to claim 21, wherein said broadcast channel signal comprises one group of OFDM tone, and every tone transmission power level of having of the tone of wherein said broadcast channel signal is than average every tone transmission power level height of the non-NULL tone of reciprocity signal 3dB at least.

23. method according to claim 14, wherein said reciprocity transmission power control signal is the CDMA pilot signal.

24. method according to claim 14 also comprises:

Send the second reciprocity transmission power control signal with the transmission power level different with the transmission power level of described reciprocity transmission power control signal, and wherein reciprocity wireless terminal uses institute's received power level of reciprocity transmission power control signal to adjust its reciprocity transmission power level.

25. method according to claim 14 also comprises:

Send the second reciprocity transmission power control signal, the coding control information that the described second reciprocity transmission power control signal transmission is different with described reciprocity transmission power control signal, and wherein reciprocity wireless terminal uses described coded message to adjust its reciprocity transmission power level.

26. a Wireless Telecom Equipment that is supported in the peer-to-peer communications in the base station uplink frequency band, described Wireless Telecom Equipment comprises:

Receiver module is used for receiving first signal from the base station in downlink band, and this first signal is used as reciprocity transmission power control signal;

Signal processing module is used for received signal is estimated; And

Equity through-put power control module is used for according to the reciprocity through-put power of described first result who receives the described estimation of signal being controlled at least some the reciprocity signal transmission of described uplink band,

Wherein said signal processing module comprises power measurement module, is used for measuring the received power level of received signal,

Wherein said reciprocity through-put power control module uses first function to control reciprocity through-put power, wherein compare with the second received signal power level that is higher than the first received signal power level, described first function arrives lower level at the described first received signal power level with reciprocity transmit power restrictions.

27. Wireless Telecom Equipment according to claim 26, wherein said signal processing module comprises decoder module, is used for the coded message of transmitting at received signal is extracted.

28. Wireless Telecom Equipment according to claim 26, wherein said signal processing module comprises the power measurement module that the received power level of received signal is measured, and the decoder module that the coded message of transmitting in the received signal is extracted.

29. Wireless Telecom Equipment according to claim 26 also comprises:

The equity authorization module is used for determining whether to allow described Wireless Telecom Equipment to send the peer-to-peer communications signal or whether limit described wireless terminal at described uplink band according to the described estimation to received signal and sends the peer-to-peer communications signal in described uplink band.

30. Wireless Telecom Equipment according to claim 26, wherein said first signal is beacon signal.

31. Wireless Telecom Equipment according to claim 30, wherein said beacon signal comprises maximum three OFDM tones, and every tone transmission power level that the tone of wherein said beacon signal has is than average every tone transmission power level height of the non-NULL tone of reciprocity signal 10dB at least, and described device also comprises:

Memory comprises the storage information that characterizes the beacon signal that is derived from the base station that is used for reciprocity through-put power control; And

Equity through-put power mouse beacon identification module is used for the described beacon signal of sign.

32. Wireless Telecom Equipment according to claim 26, wherein said first signal is broadcast channel signal.

33. Wireless Telecom Equipment according to claim 32, wherein said broadcast channel signal comprises one group of OFDM tone, and every tone transmission power level that the tone of wherein said broadcast channel signal has is than average every tone transmission power level height of the non-NULL tone of reciprocity signal 3dB at least, and described Wireless Telecom Equipment also comprises:

Memory comprises the storage information that characterizes the broadcast channel signal that is derived from the base station that is used for reciprocity through-put power control; And

Equity through-put power control broadcast identification module is used for the described broadcast channel signal of sign.

34. Wireless Telecom Equipment according to claim 26, wherein said first signal is the CDMA pilot signal.

35. Wireless Telecom Equipment according to claim 26, wherein said up link and downlink band are corresponding to different non-overlapped Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) (FDD) WAN base station communication frequency bands, described Wireless Telecom Equipment also comprises:

Memory comprises the FDD air link resources structural information of storing.

36. Wireless Telecom Equipment according to claim 26, base station time division duplex (TDD) frequency band of wherein said uplink band during corresponding to uplink time slot, and the same base TDD frequency band of wherein said downlink band during corresponding to downlink time slots, described Wireless Telecom Equipment also comprises:

Memory comprises the TDD air link resources structural information of storing.

37. Wireless Telecom Equipment according to claim 26, wherein said first function are determined the maximum reciprocity transmission power level that allows.

38. a Wireless Telecom Equipment that is supported in the peer-to-peer communications in the base station uplink frequency band, described Wireless Telecom Equipment comprises:

Be used for receiving from the base station in downlink band the receiver module of first signal, this first signal is used as reciprocity transmission power control signal;

For the module that received signal is estimated; And

Be used for according to the module of described first result who receives the described estimation of signal being controlled the reciprocity through-put power of at least some reciprocity signal transmission of described uplink band,

Wherein saidly comprise module for the received power level of measuring received signal for the module that received signal is estimated,

Wherein said module for control uses first function to control reciprocity through-put power, wherein compare with the second received signal power level that is higher than the first received signal power level, described first function arrives lower level at the described first received signal power level with reciprocity transmit power restrictions.

39. according to the described Wireless Telecom Equipment of claim 38, the wherein said module of extracting for to the coded message of transmitting at received signal that comprises for the module that received signal is estimated.

40. according to the described Wireless Telecom Equipment of claim 38, also comprise:

Be used for determining whether to allow described Wireless Telecom Equipment to send the peer-to-peer communications signal or whether limit described wireless terminal sends the peer-to-peer communications signal in described uplink band module at described uplink band according to the described estimation to received signal.

41. a base station, its control is from the interference of the peer-to-peer communications in first communication band, and described base station comprises:

Equity transmission power control signal generation module is used for generating reciprocity transmission power control signal; And

Transmitter module is used for sending described reciprocity transmission power control signal at the second communication frequency band, and described second communication frequency band is different with described first communication band,

The received power level of wherein said reciprocity transmission power control signal is used for the reciprocity through-put power of control peer-to-peer communications by first function, and wherein compare with second received power level that is higher than first received power level, described first function arrives lower level at described first received power level with reciprocity transmit power restrictions.

42. according to the described base station of claim 41, wherein said first communication band is used for: (i) the wide area network uplink signal from the wide area network wireless terminal to described base station transmits; And (ii) the peer-to-peer communications signal between two reciprocity wireless terminals transmits.

43. according to the described base station of claim 42, wherein said second communication frequency band is used for: (i) down link signal is delivered to described wide area network wireless terminal from described base station; And (ii) described reciprocity power control signal is delivered to peer communications devices.

44. according to the described base station of claim 43, also comprise:

Wide area network transmission power control signal generation module is used for generating wide area network uplink transmission power control signal; And

Wherein said transmitter module also is used at described second communication frequency band the wide area network transmission power control signal that generates being sent to described wide area network wireless terminal.

45. according to the described base station of claim 43, wherein said first communication band is Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) (FDD) wide area network (WAN) uplink band, and wherein said second communication frequency band is Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) (FDD) wide area network downlink band, and described base station also comprises:

Memory, it comprises the FDD air link resources structural information of storing, described FDD air link resources structural information comprises sign is used for which air link resources of described downlink band to transmit the information of reciprocity transmission power control signal.

46. according to the described base station of claim 45, wherein said uplink band and described downlink band are not overlapping and constitute a pair of accordingly.

47. according to the described base station of claim 43, wherein said first communication band is base station time division duplex (TDD) frequency band during the uplink time slot, and wherein said second communication frequency band is the same base TDD frequency band during the downlink time slots, and described base station also comprises:

Memory, it comprises the TDD air link resources structural information of storing, described TDD air link resources structural information comprises that sign is used for transmitting at the downlink time slots of described TDD frequency band the information of the air link resources of reciprocity transmission power control signal.

48. according to the described base station of claim 43, wherein said reciprocity transmission power control signal is beacon signal.

49. according to the described base station of claim 48, wherein said beacon signal comprises maximum three OFDM tones, and every tone transmission power level that the tone of wherein said beacon signal has is than average every tone transmission power level height of the non-NULL tone of reciprocity signal 10dB at least, and described base station also comprises:

Memory, it comprises reciprocity through-put power mouse beacon characteristic information.

50. according to the described base station of claim 43, wherein said reciprocity transmission power control signal is broadcast channel signal.

51. according to the described base station of claim 50, wherein said broadcast channel signal comprises one group of OFDM tone, and every tone transmission power level that the tone of wherein said broadcast channel signal has is than average every tone transmission power level height of the non-NULL tone of reciprocity signal 3dB at least, and described base station also comprises:

Memory, it comprises reciprocity through-put power control broadcast channel signal characteristic information.

52. according to the described base station of claim 43, wherein said reciprocity transmission power control signal is the CDMA pilot signal.

53. according to the described base station of claim 43, also comprise:

The through-put power control module, be used for the described transmitter module of control and send the second reciprocity transmission power control signal with the transmission power level different with the transmission power level of described reciprocity transmission power control signal, and wherein reciprocity wireless terminal uses institute's received power level of reciprocity transmission power control signal to adjust its reciprocity transmission power level.

54. according to the described base station of claim 43, wherein said reciprocity transmission power control signal generation module comprises:

Coder module, be used for comparing with described reciprocity transmission power control signal, control information is encoded to different coding in the second reciprocity transmission power control signal, and wherein reciprocity wireless terminal uses described coded message to adjust its reciprocity transmission power level.

55. according to the described base station of claim 43, also comprise:

Reciprocity signal transmits the restriction determination module, is used for determining whether allowing reciprocity signal transmission or whether limit reciprocity signal transmission in described first communication band in described first communication band.

56. a base station, its control is from the interference of the peer-to-peer communications in first communication band, and described base station comprises:

Equity transmission power control signal generation module is used for generating reciprocity transmission power control signal; And

Be used for sending at the second communication frequency band module of described reciprocity transmission power control signal, described second communication frequency band is different with described first communication band,

The received power level of wherein said reciprocity transmission power control signal is used for the reciprocity through-put power of control peer-to-peer communications by first function, and wherein compare with second received power level that is higher than first received power level, described first function arrives lower level at described first received power level with reciprocity transmit power restrictions.

57. according to the described base station of claim 56, wherein said first communication band is used for: (i) the wide area network uplink signal from the wide area network wireless terminal to described base station transmits; And (ii) the peer-to-peer communications signal between two reciprocity wireless terminals transmits.

58. according to the described base station of claim 57, wherein said second communication frequency band is used for: (i) down link signal is delivered to described wide area network wireless terminal from described base station; And (ii) described reciprocity power control signal is delivered to peer communications devices.

59. according to the described base station of claim 58, also comprise:

Be used for the module controlled for the module that sends the second reciprocity transmission power control signal with the transmission power level different with the transmission power level of described reciprocity transmission power control signal described, and wherein reciprocity wireless terminal uses institute's received power level of reciprocity transmission power control signal to adjust its reciprocity transmission power level.

60. according to the described base station of claim 58, also comprise:

Be used for determining whether allow reciprocity signal transmission or in described first communication band, whether limit the module that reciprocity signal transmits in described first communication band.

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