Power control method and apparatus for inter-cell interference removal

A power control method of signals transmitted from base stations by user terminals in a multi-cell environment that includes a plurality of cells each of which is divided into a plurality of sectors, comprising:

• calculating a signal to interference and noise ratio of signals received from a base station of an adjacent sector by the user terminal;
• calculating arrival power to be reduced based on the calculated signal to interference and noise ratio so that the interference power of the interference signal arrives at the set target signal to interference and noise ratio;
• generating the interference information that indicates how much the base station in the neighboring sector corresponding to the interference signal reduce the transmission power, based on the calculated arrival power;
• and
• transmitting the interference information to a serving base station.

A power control apparatus of signals of the base station transmitted to user terminals in a multi-cell environment that includes a plurality of cells each of which is divided into a plurality of sectors, comprising:

• an interference information receiver that receives interference information from a user terminal or an neighboring sector, the interference information including the power scaling ratio that is calculated based on power of interference by the neighboring sector to indicate how much a base station in an neighboring sector, which interferes with each other, reduces transmission power;
• an interference information transmitter that transmits the interference information received from the user terminal to the corresponding neighboring sector;
• a power scaling ratio calculator that calculates throughput gain and throughput loss, respectively, based on the power scaling ratio received from the neighboring sector, and determines whether the signal power is controlled based on the calculated throughput gain and throughput loss;
• and
• a power controller that reduces the signal power based on the power scaling ratio if it is determined that the signal power is controlled.

A power control apparatus of user terminals to control power of signals transmitted by base stations in a multi-cell environment that includes a plurality of cells each of which is divided into a plurality of sectors, comprising:

• a signal to interference and noise ratio calculator that calculates a signal to interference and noise ratio of a signal received from a base station;
• a power scaling ratio calculator that determines the interference signal based on the calculated signal to interference and noise ratio and calculates a power scaling ratio that indicates how much the base stations in an neighboring sector corresponding to the interference signal reduce the transmission power;
• and
• an interference information transmitter that transmits the interference information including the calculated power scaling ratio and the IDs of the corresponding neighboring sector to a serving base station.