Methods and apparatus to control interference

摘要

Methods and apparatus for controlling interference with regard to important control signals, e.g., synchronization signals and broadcast channel signals, are described. A configurable base station monitors for and receives signals from other base stations in its local vicinity and determines the implemented frame timings corresponding to the other deployed base stations. If possible, the configurable base station selects to use a frame timing offset which is different from the frame timing offsets being used by the other base stations. In some embodiments, symbol level and subframe level synchronization are maintained between the base stations; however, frame level synchronization may, and sometimes does vary. Different adjacent base stations may, and sometimes do, intentionally offset their frame boundaries by multiples of a subframe.

主权项

1. A method of operating a configurable base station, comprising:
receiving signals from a first adjacent base station; determining resource utilization information from said received signals, said determined resource utilization information including at least one of a first frame timing used to control transmission of broadcast control channel information by said first adjacent base station and a first set of uplink physical random access channel (PRACH) communications resources used by said first adjacent base station; and selecting, based on said determined resource utilization information, at least one of a second frame timing or a second set of uplink PRACH communications resources to be used by said configurable base station, said second frame timing being different from said first frame timing and said second set of uplink PRACH communications resources being different from said first set of uplink PRACH communications resources.