Filtering a stream of power control commands

A device for filtering a stream of power control commands including power-up and power-down commands for uplink transmit power control in a wireless communication system, wherein said device includes:

• a sequence tester configured to determine whether a power-up command is immediately preceded by a sequence of consecutive power-up commands;
• a command replacer configured to replace, when it is determined that said power-up command is immediately preceded by a sequence of consecutive power-up commands, said power-up command with a power-down command;
• wherein said device is configured to maintain a power-down command that is immediately preceded by a sequence of consecutive power-down commands, where said sequence of consecutive power-down commands is at least as long as said sequence of consecutive power-up commands;
• and
• wherein said device is an asymmetric filter configured to limit the length of sequences of consecutive power-up commands while enabling longer resulting sequences of consecutive power-down commands.

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein a computer program product comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by a processing circuit of a user equipment or a base station for filtering a stream of power control commands including power-up and power-down commands for uplink transmit power control in a wireless communication system, configure the processing circuit to:

• determine whether a power-up command is immediately preceded by a sequence of consecutive power-up commands;
• replace, when it is determined that said power-up command is immediately preceded by a sequence of consecutive power-up commands, said power-up command with a power-down command;
• maintain a power-down command that is immediately preceded by a sequence of consecutive power-down commands, where said sequence of consecutive power-down commands is at least as long as said sequence of consecutive power-up commands;
• and
• wherein said filtering is asymmetric by limiting the length of sequences of consecutive power-up commands while enabling longer resulting sequences of consecutive power-down commands.

A filtering device configured for filtering a stream of transmit power control commands used for controlling uplink transmit power from a user equipment operating in a wireless communication network, said stream including a changing mix of power-up commands and power-down commands, and said filtering device comprising one or more processing circuits configured to:

• detect power-up commands in the stream that are immediately preceded by sequences of consecutive power-up commands having sequence lengths greater than a defined threshold;
• form a filtered stream for use in power control, by replacing each such detected power-up command with one or more power-down commands;
• maintain a power-down command that is immediately preceded by a sequence of consecutive power-down commands, where said sequence of consecutive power-down commands is at least as long as said sequence of consecutive power-up commands;
• and
• wherein said filtering is asymmetric by limiting the length of sequences of consecutive power-up commands while enabling longer resulting sequences of consecutive power-down commands.