System and Method for Interference Coordination in Cellular Millimeter Wave Communications Systems

Abstract

A method for communicating in a communications system using beamformed transmissions includes blanking an interference antenna beam out of a plurality of available antenna beams that one of causes interference to and receives interference from at least one neighboring base station during a conflict time interval of a frame, wherein the blanking is in accordance with configuration information comprising frame configuration information received from the at least one neighboring base station and frame configuration information of a serving base station (SBS), thereby producing a plurality of candidate antenna beams, scheduling communications opportunities for user equipments (UEs) in the conflict time interval on the plurality of candidate antenna beams, and communicating with scheduled UEs using the communications opportunities.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for communicating in a communications system using beamformed transmissions, the method comprising:
 blanking, by a serving base station (SBS), an interference antenna beam out of a plurality of available antenna beams that one of causes interference to and receives interference from at least one neighboring base station during a conflict time interval of a frame, wherein the blanking is in accordance with configuration information comprising frame configuration information received from the at least one neighboring base station and frame configuration information of the SBS, thereby producing a plurality of candidate antenna beams;   scheduling, by the SBS, communications opportunities for user equipments (UEs) in the conflict time interval on the plurality of candidate antenna beams; and   communicating, by the SBS, with scheduled UEs using the communications opportunities.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein there is a plurality of conflict time intervals, and wherein the blanking, the scheduling, and the communicating is performed for each conflict time interval in the plurality of conflict time intervals. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising exchanging the configuration information with the at least one neighboring base station. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the communications system is operating in a time division duplex (TDD) mode. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the configuration information further comprises information regarding TDD frame formats selected by the SBS and the at least one neighboring base station, wherein the TDD frame formats specify arrangements of downlink and uplink time intervals of the frame. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein conflict time interval is one of a subframe and a subset of the frame. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein blanking the interference antenna beam out of a plurality of candidate antenna beams comprises:
 determining the conflict time interval of the frame;   selecting an antenna beam out of the plurality of available antenna beams that is oriented towards the at least one neighboring base station during the conflict time interval; and   blanking the selected antenna beam.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the conflict time interval comprises a portion of the frame wherein the SBS is transmitting in a downlink and the at least one neighboring base station is receiving in an uplink during a corresponding portion of its frame. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the conflict time interval comprises a portion of the frame wherein the SBS is receiving in an uplink and the at least one neighboring base station is transmitting in a downlink during a corresponding portion of its frame. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 communicating at least one of control and reference information using the blanked interfering antenna beam.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the configuration information further comprises knowledge of antenna beams associated with the SBS and the at least one neighboring base station for time intervals of the frame. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the time intervals are one of subframes and subsets of the frame. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the configuration information further comprises a reschedule indicator indicating an ability of the SBS and the at least one neighboring base station to reschedule use of the interference antenna beam and corresponding scheduled UEs for time intervals of the frame. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the time intervals are one of subframes and subsets of the frame. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the configuration information further comprises indications of physical resource blocks (PRB) associated with the communications opportunities for the SBS and the at least one neighboring base station for time intervals of the frame. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the time intervals are one of subframes and subsets of the frame. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the configuration information further comprises a blanking flag indicating if the interference antenna beam is one of blanked for data and for all signals for the SBS and the at least one neighboring base station for time intervals of the frame. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the time intervals are one of subframes and subsets of the frame. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising blanking a plurality of interference antenna beams oriented in substantially a same direction as the interference antenna beam. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the interference antenna beam comprises at least one of an azimuth component and an elevation component. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the configuration information is one of received over an X2 interface, and received using the interference antenna beam. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the configuration information is received using the interference antenna beam, and wherein the configuration information is received during a guard period of the frame. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising blanking an additional antenna beam out of the plurality of candidate antenna beams that is oriented towards a cell edge UE. 
     
     
         24 . A method for communicating in a communications system using beamformed transmission, the method comprising:
 determining, by a serving base station (SBS), at least one antenna beam from a plurality of antenna beams that one of causes interference to and receives interference from a neighbor base station during a conflict time interval, wherein the determining is in accordance with configuration information including frame configuration information received from the neighboring base station and frame configuration information of the SBS;   eliminating, by the SBS, the at least one antenna beam from the plurality of antenna beams, thereby producing a plurality of candidate antenna beams;   scheduling, by the SBS, user equipments (UEs) using the plurality of candidate antenna beams; and   communicating, by the SBS, with scheduled UEs using a subset of the plurality of candidate antenna beams.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising exchanging the configuration information with the neighboring base station. 
     
     
         26 . A serving base station (SBS) comprising:
 a blanking unit configured to blank an interference antenna beam out of a plurality of available antenna beams that one of causes interference to and receives interference from at least one neighboring base station during a conflict time interval of a frame, wherein the blanking is in accordance with configuration information comprising frame configuration information received from the at least one neighboring base station and frame configuration information of the SBS, thereby producing a plurality of candidate antenna beams;   a scheduler operatively coupled to the blanking unit, the scheduler configured to schedule communications opportunities for user equipments (UEs) in the conflict time interval on the plurality of candidate antenna beams; and   a communications interface operatively coupled to the scheduler, the communications interface configured to communicate with scheduled UEs using the communications opportunities.   
     
     
         27 . The SBS of  claim 26 , wherein the blanking unit is configured to determine the conflict time interval of the frame, to select an antenna beam out of the plurality of available antenna beams that is oriented towards the at least one neighboring base station during the conflict time interval, and to blank the selected antenna beam. 
     
     
         28 . The SBS of  claim 26 , wherein the blanking unit is configured to blank a plurality of interference antenna beams oriented in substantially a same direction as the interference antenna beam. 
     
     
         29 . The SBS of  claim 26 , wherein the blanking unit is configured to blank an additional antenna beam out of the plurality of available antenna beams that is oriented towards a cell edge UE. 
     
     
         30 . The SBS of  claim 26 , further comprising a receiver configured to one of receive the configuration information over an X2 interface, and receive the configuration information using the interference antenna beam. 
     
     
         31 . The SBS of  claim 30 , wherein the configuration information is received using the interference antenna beam, and wherein the configuration information is received during a guard period of the frame.