Reducing interference in a telecommunications network

Apparatus for controlling interference in a telecommunications network comprising a plurality of base stations and a plurality of mobile devices, and in which data are transmitted between each mobile device and base station in resource blocks, the apparatus comprising:

• means operable to allocate respective ones of said resource blocks to one of a plurality of resource groups for each of said base stations such that each resource group comprises a plurality of resource blocks, the corresponding resource blocks of each base station being in the same resource group;
• means operable to allocate each one of said resource groups to one of a plurality of transmission power values for each of said base stations, the corresponding resource groups of each base station having different ones of said transmission power values;
• means operable to allocate each one of said mobile devices to one of the plurality of resource groups for each of said base stations in dependence upon a characteristic of the UE;
• means operable to detect interference at a resource block of a resource group of one of said base stations caused by a neighbouring one of said base stations;
• means operable to send to said neighbouring base station an indication of the resource group subject to interference;
• and
• means operable to selectively reduce the transmission power value of said resource group of said neighbouring base station in response to said indication.

Apparatus for controlling interference in a telecommunications network comprising a plurality of base stations and a plurality of mobile devices, and in which data are transmitted between each mobile device and base station in resource blocks, the apparatus comprising:

• a network element that allocates respective ones of said resource blocks to one of a plurality of resource groups for each of said base stations such that each resource group comprises a plurality of resource blocks, the corresponding resource blocks of each base station being in the same resource group;
• a network element that allocates each one of said resource groups to one of a plurality of transmission power values for each of said base stations, the corresponding resource groups of each base station having different ones of said transmission power values;
• a network element that allocates each one of said mobile devices to one of the plurality of resource groups for each of said base stations in dependence upon a characteristic of the UE;
• a network element that detects interference at a resource block of a resource group of one of said base stations caused by a neighbouring one of said base stations;
• a network element that sends to said neighbouring base station an indication of the resource group subject to interference;
• and
• a network element that selectively reduces the transmission power value of said resource group of said neighbouring base station in response to said indication.