INTERFERENCE COORDINATION IN HETNET

摘要

A method of selecting transmission parameters of control signalling to be transmitted from a serving base station to user equipment operating in a coverage overlap region of a wireless telecommunications network, a computer program product and base station operable to perform that method. The network comprises: the serving base station configured to support a region of radio coverage which overlaps a region of further radio coverage supported by a further base station. The serving base station and further base station are configured to support the region and further region of radio coverage using common radio spectrum. The method comprises: receiving an indication of a portion of a control region of the common radio spectrum intended for use for transmission of control signalling by the further base station in the coverage overlap region; and selecting transmission parameters of control signalling to be transmitted from a serving base station to user equipment operating in the coverage overlap region to prevent disruption to control signalling transmitted by the further base station in the coverage overlap region. The first aspect recognizes that control signaling may be particularly subject to interference in a region of coverage overlap between two base stations providing radio coverage, and that failure of control signaling might lead to failure of a handover process. By coordinating control signaling transmission parameters specifically in the overlap region it is possible to maintain good spectrum re-use across the entire region of coverage supported by a serving base station and further base stations and yet use interference coordination techniques to mitigate interference effects in the overlap region.