Gap design using discovery signal measurements

A method of reporting of inter-cell interference information by a first network node to a second network node associated with the first network node, wherein the second network node utilizes beamforming for directional signal transmission to wireless devices operating within a served cell, and wherein the method comprises performing the following by the first network node:

• receiving an instruction from the second network node;
• in response to the instruction, obtaining, from one or more wireless devices served by the first network node, a device-specific Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) value of a beam-specific reference signal transmitted by the second network node in a beam;
• generating a beam-specific interference metric for the beam based on all reported device-specific RSRP values, wherein the beam-specific interference metric represents a level of inter-cell interference caused by the beam in a neighboring cell served by the first network node;
• and
• transmitting the beam-specific interference metric to the second network node.

A method of managing inter-cell interference in a cellular network in which a transmitting network node utilizes beamforming for directional signal transmission to wireless devices operating within a served cell, wherein the transmitting network node dynamically selects a beam from a plurality of candidate beams for transmitting data to one or more of the wireless devices and is in operative communication with a central node, wherein the method comprises performing the following by the central node:

• obtaining a level of inter-cell interference caused in a neighboring cell by transmissions in each of the plurality of candidate beams;
• identifying any beams that caused the level of inter-cell interference in the neighboring cell to exceed a high interference threshold;
• performing one of the following based on the identification:
• removing any identified beams from the plurality of candidate beams, thereby creating a set of remaining candidate beams, or
• instructing the transmitting network node to remove any identified beams from the plurality of candidate beams and to thereby create the set of remaining candidate beams;
• and
• instructing the transmitting network node to transmit data to the wireless devices operating within the served cell utilizing only beams selected from the set of remaining candidate beams.

A transmitting network node in a cellular network for performing data transmissions using beamforming, wherein the transmitting network node comprises:

• a transceiver operable to perform the following:
• transmit a beam-specific reference signal in each beam in a first set of beams, and
• receive a node-specific set of beam interference metrics from each receiving node in a plurality of receiving nodes associated with the transmitting network node;
• a memory for storing program instructions;
• and
• a processor coupled to the transceiver and the memory and operable to execute the program instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the transmitting network node to perform the following:
• generate the beam-specific reference signal for each beam in the first set of beams,
• instruct each receiving node to provide a beam-specific interference metric for each beam in the first set of beams, wherein each beam-specific interference metric represents a level of interference caused by a corresponding beam in the first set of beams in a neighboring cell served by a respective receiving node,
• use received sets of beam interference metrics to determine which one or more beams are to be removed from the first set of beams to obtain a second set of beams, wherein the second set of beams is a subset of the first set of beams, and
• perform data transmissions using the transceiver and utilizing only the beams from the second set of beams.