Power saving mode coverage control
AssigneeT-Mobile Innovations LLC
InventorSanghoon Sung
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In order to reduce power consumption, an access node may turn off transmissions from one or more rows or columns of antennas in a mMIMO array. To help prevent the beam from overshooting (i.e., going beyond) an intended area of coverage when the access node turns off transmission by one or more rows, the access node also increases the electrical down tilt of the beam (i.e., angle of depression) to help contain the beam within its intended area of coverage. To help prevent problems with SSB beam selection and/or beam switching, when the access node turns off transmission by one or more columns, the access node reduces the number of SSB beams that are transmitted while sweeping SSBs over the sector thereby reducing the overlap of the (now) wider SSB beams.
Claims20
A method of reducing interference, comprising:
- transmitting, by an access node using a massive multiple-input multiple-output antenna array comprising a first plurality of antennas and a second plurality of antennas, a first synchronization signal block, the first synchronization signal block being transmitted by the massive multiple-input multiple-output antenna array at a first beam angle of depression from horizontal;
- disabling the second plurality of antennas from transmitting a second synchronization signal block;
- and
- transmitting, by the access node using the first plurality of antennas and not using the second plurality of antennas, the second synchronization signal block at a second beam angle of depression from horizontal, the second beam angle of depression being greater than the first beam angle of depression.
A method of reducing interference, comprising:
- transmitting, by an access node using a massive multiple-input multiple-output antenna array comprising a first plurality of antennas and a second plurality of antennas, a first plurality of synchronization signal blocks in a first frame where there are a first integer number, greater than one, of synchronization signal blocks in the first plurality of synchronization signal blocks, the first plurality of synchronization signal blocks each being transmitted in the first frame by the massive multiple-input multiple-output antenna array at different azimuth angles;
- disabling the second plurality of antennas from transmitting a second plurality of synchronization signal blocks in a second frame;
- and
- transmitting, by the access node using the first plurality of antennas and not using the second plurality of antennas, a second plurality of synchronization signal blocks in a second frame where there are a second integer number, greater than one, of synchronization signal blocks in the second plurality of synchronization signal blocks, the second plurality of synchronization signal blocks each being transmitted in the second frame by the first plurality of antennas at different azimuth angles, the first integer number being greater than the second integer number.
A method of operating a communication system, comprising:
- selecting, by an access node having a massive multiple-input multiple-output antenna array comprising a first plurality of antennas and a second plurality of antennas, the first plurality of antennas to transmit a first synchronization signal block;
- transmitting, by the access node using the first plurality of antennas and not the second plurality of antennas, the first synchronization signal block at a first beam angle of depression from horizontal;
- selecting, by the access node, the first plurality of antennas and the second plurality of antennas to transmit a second synchronization signal block;
- and
- transmitting, by the access node using the first plurality of antennas and the second plurality of antennas, the second synchronization signal block at a second beam angle of depression from horizontal, where the second beam angle of depression from horizontal is less than the first beam angle of depression from horizontal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.