User equipment power level selection for downlink transmissions

One or more non-transitory tangible media that includes code for execution and when executed by a processor operable to perform operations comprising:

• receiving an indication of an average signal power for a downlink connection between a cell and each of a plurality of user equipment devices associated with the cell;
• receiving an indication of an average interference measurement on the downlink connection between the cell and each of the plurality of user equipment devices associated with the cell;
• computing an average spectral efficiency for each of the plurality of user equipment devices based upon the respective indications of average signal power and average interference measurement;
• and
• determining a transmission power level from among a plurality of available transmission power levels for one or more downlink resources for each of the plurality of user equipment devices based upon the computed average spectral efficiency for each of the plurality of user equipment devices;
• wherein the transmission power level is chosen for a particular one of the plurality of user equipment devices from a plurality of available transmission power levels such that the average spectral efficiency of user equipment devices with a higher power level is higher than the average spectral efficiency if the particular user equipment device shares resources with other user equipment devices that are served by resources with a lower power level.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a memory element configured to store data,
• a processor operable to execute instructions associated with the data, and
• at least one module being configured to:
• receive an indication of an average signal power for a downlink connection between a cell and each of a plurality of user equipment devices associated with the cell;
• receive an indication of an average interference measurement on the downlink connection between the cell and each of the plurality of user equipment devices associated with the cell;
• compute an average spectral efficiency for each of the plurality of user equipment devices based upon the respective indications of average signal power and average interference measurement;
• and
• determine a transmission power level from among a plurality of available transmission power levels for one or more downlink resources for each of the plurality of user equipment devices based upon the computed average spectral efficiency for each of the plurality of user equipment devices;
• wherein the available transmission power levels include a first power level and a second power level, the second power level being greater than the first power level;
• wherein determining the transmission power level includes:
• ordering the plurality of user equipment devices in decreasing order of the computed spectral efficiency for each user equipment device;
• determining whether each of the ordered plurality of user equipment devices meets a first condition for being assigned the second power level;
• iteratively assigning the second power level for each of the ordered plurality of user equipment devices that meet the first condition;
• and
• iteratively assigned the first power level for each of the plurality of user equipment devices that does not meet the first condition.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a memory element configured to store data,
• a processor operable to execute instructions associated with the data, and
• at least one module being configured to:
• receive an indication of an average signal power for a downlink connection between a cell and each of a plurality of user equipment devices associated with the cell;
• receive an indication of an average interference measurement on the downlink connection between the cell and each of the plurality of user equipment devices associated with the cell;
• compute an average spectral efficiency for each of the plurality of user equipment devices based upon the respective indications of average signal power and average interference measurement;
• and
• determine a transmission power level from among a plurality of available transmission power levels for one or more downlink resources for each of the plurality of user equipment devices based upon the computed average spectral efficiency for each of the plurality of user equipment devices;
• wherein the available transmission power levels include a first power level and a second power level, the second power level being greater than the first power level;
• wherein determining the transmission power level includes:
• ordering the plurality of user equipment devices in increasing order of signal-to interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) within a reuse one portion of the frequency spectrum for each user equipment device;
• determining whether each of the ordered plurality of user equipment devices meets a second condition for being assigned the second power level;
• iteratively assigning the second power level for each of the ordered plurality of user equipment devices that meet the second condition;
• and
• iteratively assigned the first power level for each of the plurality of user equipment devices that does not meet the second condition.