Radio communication system, centralized station, control station apparatus, radio base station and coordinated transmission method for determining an assignment of cluster patterns

A centralized station in a radio communication system provided with a plurality of radio base stations, including a plurality of clusters of radio base stations, each cluster being a plurality of radio base stations that perform coordinated transmission with each other and forming a cell with a plurality of sectors, the centralized station integrating radio base stations into one of the clusters, comprising:

• a cluster pattern determining section configured to determine an assignment of a cluster pattern to each cluster to suppress inter-cluster interference, each cluster pattern defining a directional pattern of angles of directional beams to be emitted from respective radio base stations within each cluster such that each radio base station within a respective cluster emits beams at a same directional pattern of angle for a given frequency block, and at least two neighboring clusters are assigned different cluster patterns at a same frequency block such that a first cluster of the neighboring clusters is assigned a first cluster pattern in which each radio base station emits directional beams at a first directional pattern of angles for a certain frequency, and a second cluster of the neighboring clusters is assigned a second cluster pattern in which each radio base station emits directional beams at a second directional pattern of angles, which is different than the first directional pattern of angles, at the certain frequency;
• a directional pattern determining section configured to assign a directional pattern of angles of directional beams to the plurality of clusters for each frequency block based on the cluster pattern determined by the cluster pattern determining section;
• a signal distribution section configured to distribute to a plurality of radio base stations of a same cluster, data signals for coordinated transmission within the cluster;
• and
• a precoding section configured to precode the distributed data signals by the signal distribution section, the precoded data signals being transmitted on directional beams over the directional pattern of angles of directional beams assigned for each frequency block by the directional pattern determining section.

A control station apparatus in a radio communication system provided with a plurality of radio base stations, including a plurality of clusters of radio base stations, each cluster being a plurality of radio base stations that perform coordinated transmission with each other and forming a cell with a plurality of sectors, the control station apparatus configured to manage a centralized station that integrates radio base stations into one of the clusters, comprising:

• a cluster pattern determining section configured to determine an assignment of a cluster pattern to each cluster to suppress inter-cluster interference, each cluster pattern defining a directional pattern of angles of directional beams to be emitted from respective radio base stations within each cluster such that each radio base station within a respective cluster emits beams at a same directional pattern of angles for a given frequency block, and at least two neighboring clusters are assigned different cluster patterns at a same frequency such that a first cluster of the neighboring clusters is assigned a first cluster pattern in which each radio base station emits directional beams at a first directional pattern of angles for a certain frequency, and a second cluster of the neighboring clusters is assigned a second cluster pattern in which each radio base station emits directional beams at a second directional pattern of angles, which is different than the first directional pattern of angles, at the certain frequency;
• a notifying section configured to notify the each centralized station of the cluster pattern determined by the cluster pattern determining section.

A radio base station that forms a cell with a plurality of sectors together with other neighboring radio base stations in a radio communication system, the radio communication system being provided with a plurality of radio base stations, including a plurality of clusters of radio base stations, each cluster being a plurality of radio base stations that perform coordinated transmission with each other and forming a cell with a plurality of sectors, the radio base station comprising:

• a cluster pattern determining section configured to determine an assignment of a cluster pattern to each cluster to suppress inter-cluster interference, each cluster pattern defining a directional pattern of angles of directional beams to be emitted from respective radio base stations within each cluster such that each radio base station within a respective cluster emits beams at a same directional pattern of angles for a given frequency block, and at least two neighboring clusters are assigned different cluster patterns at a same frequency block such that a first cluster of the neighboring clusters is assigned a first cluster pattern in which each radio base station emits directional beams at a first directional pattern of angles for a certain frequency, and a second cluster of the neighboring clusters is assigned a second cluster pattern in which each radio base station emits directional beams at a second directional pattern of angles, which is different than the first directional pattern of angles, at the certain frequency;
• a directional pattern determining section configured to assign a directional pattern of angles of directional beams to the base station for each frequency block based on the cluster pattern determined by the cluster pattern determining section;
• and
• a precoding section configured to form beams within a directional pattern of angles of directional beams assigned for each frequency block by the directional pattern determining section using multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) precoding to transmit data signals in a coordinated manner in the cluster.

A coordinated transmission method for a radio communication system provided with a plurality of radio base stations each forming a cell with a plurality of sectors, comprising the steps of:

• determining an assignment of a cluster pattern to each cluster to suppress inter-cluster interference, each cluster pattern defining a directional pattern of angles of directional beams to be emitted from respective radio base stations within each cluster such that each radio base station within a respective cluster emits beams at a same directional pattern of angles for a given frequency block, and at least two neighboring clusters are assigned different cluster patterns at a same frequency block such that a first cluster of the neighboring clusters is assigned a first cluster pattern in which each radio base station emits directional beams at a first directional pattern of angles for a certain frequency, and a second cluster of the neighboring clusters is assigned a second cluster pattern in which each radio base station emits directional beams at a second directional pattern of angles, which is different than the first directional pattern of angles, at the certain frequency;
• and
• assigning directional patterns of angles of directional beams to the plurality of clusters for each frequency block based on the determined cluster pattern, wherein:
• the plurality of radio base stations form directional beams according to the directional pattern of angles of directional beams in the same time slot and coordinate data transmission between sectors through multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission between directional beams of one radio base station and another radio base station having sectors adjacent to each other in a cluster and facing each other at the same frequency.

A radio communication system provided with a plurality of radio base stations, including a plurality of clusters of radio base stations, each cluster being a plurality of radio base stations that perform coordinated transmission with each other and forming a cell with a plurality of sectors, the radio communication system comprising:

• a cluster pattern determining section configured to determine an assignment of a cluster pattern to each cluster to suppress inter-cluster interference, each cluster pattern defining a directional pattern of angles of directional beams to be emitted from respective radio base stations within each cluster such that each radio base station within a respective cluster is assigned a predetermined directional pattern of angles for a given frequency block, and at least two neighboring clusters are assigned different cluster patterns at a same frequency block such that a first cluster of the neighboring clusters is assigned a first cluster pattern in which each radio base station emits directional beams at a first directional pattern of angles for a certain frequency, and a second cluster of the neighboring clusters is assigned a second cluster pattern in which each radio base station emits directional beams at a second directional pattern of angles, which is different than the first directional pattern of angles, at the certain frequency;
• and
• a directional pattern determining section configured to assign directional patterns of angles of directional beams to the plurality of clusters for each frequency block based on the cluster pattern determined by the cluster pattern determining section, wherein:
• the plurality of radio base stations form directional beams according to the directional pattern of angles of directional beams in the same time slot and coordinate data transmission between sectors through multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission between directional beams of one radio base station and another radio base station having sectors adjacent to each other in a cluster and facing each other at the same frequency block.