Methods and systems for estimating available capacity of a base station within a wireless communications network

A system for estimating an available capacity of a base station within a wireless communication access network, the system comprising:

• a mobile terminal for calculating, using a cell search, an indication of a quality of communication between the mobile terminal and the base station, the indication being based on a signal received by the mobile terminal and correlation outputs of a plurality of scrambling codes;
• and
• an apparatus disposed outside of the core network of the base station, the apparatus comprising:
• a communication unit for receiving the indication generated by the mobile terminal;
• and
• a capacity estimation unit for estimating the available capacity of the base station based on the received indication,
• wherein the mobile terminal computes the indication using a neighboring cell search, the neighboring cell search comprising:
• detecting one of the correlation outputs between the received signal and a scrambling code assigned to the base station;
• detecting a plurality of the correlation outputs between the received signal and corresponding ones of scrambling codes assigned to neighboring cells;
• identifying a maximum of the detected correlation outputs, the maximum correlation output being associated with a corresponding one of the scrambling codes;
• determining a minimum of the correlation outputs;
• and
• computing the indication as a ratio of the minimum correlation output to the maximum correlation output.

A mobile terminal, comprising:

• a correlation detection unit for calculating at least one correlation output based on signals transmitted by a base station and received by the mobile terminal;
• an indicator calculation unit for calculating, using the at least one correlation output, an indication of the quality of communication between the base station and the mobile terminal;
• and
• a communication unit for transmitting the indication of the quality of communication through the base station to an apparatus disposed outside of a core network of the base station, wherein:
• the correlation detection unit is configured to calculate correlation outputs using a neighboring cell search, the neighboring cell search comprising:
• detecting one of the correlation outputs between the received signal and a scrambling code assigned to the base station;
• detecting a plurality of the correlation outputs between the received signal and corresponding ones of scrambling codes assigned to neighboring cells;
• and
• identifying a maximum of the correlation outputs, the maximum correlation output being associated with a corresponding one of the scrambling codes;
• and
• the indicator calculation unit is configured to:
• determine a minimum of the correlation outputs;
• and
• compute the indication as a ratio of the minimum correlation output to the maximum correlation output.

A method for estimating an available capacity of a base station within a wireless communication access network, the method comprising:

• receiving correlation outputs, generated by a mobile terminal, that correspond to at least one of (i) a plurality of scrambling codes forming a specific scrambling code group or (ii) a plurality of scrambling codes assigned to neighboring cells;
• calculating, using an apparatus disposed outside of a core network of the base station, an indication of the quality of communication between the base station and the mobile terminal, based on at least the received correlation outputs;
• and
• estimating, using the apparatus, the available capacity of the base station based on the calculated indication of the quality of communication,
• wherein the calculating comprises calculating the indication using a neighboring cell search, the neighboring cell search comprising:
• detecting one of the correlation outputs between the received signal and a scrambling code assigned to the base station;
• detecting a plurality of the correlation outputs between the received signal and corresponding ones of scrambling codes assigned to neighboring cells;
• identifying a maximum of the detected correlation outputs, the maximum correlation output being associated with a corresponding one of the scrambling codes;
• determining a minimum of the correlation outputs;
• and
• computing the indication as a ratio of the minimum correlation output to the maximum correlation output.

A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium including program instructions for performing, when executed by a processor, a method comprising:

• calculating correlation outputs based on signals transmitted by a base station and received by a mobile terminal;
• calculating, using at least one of the correlation outputs, an indication of the quality of communication between the base station and the mobile terminal;
• and
• transmitting the indication of the quality of communication through the base station to an apparatus disposed outside of the core network of the base station,
• wherein the calculating comprises calculating the indication using a neighboring cell search, the neighboring cell search comprising:
• detecting one of the correlation outputs between the received signal and a scrambling code assigned to the base station;
• detecting a plurality of the correlation outputs between the received signal and corresponding ones of scrambling codes assigned to neighboring cells;
• identifying a maximum of the detected correlation outputs, the maximum correlation output being associated with a corresponding one of the scrambling codes;
• determining a minimum of the correlation outputs;
• and
• calculating the indication as a ratio of the minimum correlation output to the maximum correlation output.