Up-link channel assignment scheme for cellular mobile communications systems employing multi-beam antennas with beam selection

Claim 2

A channel assignment method for a cellular mobile communications system having a multibeam antenna system with beam selection, the method comprising the steps of: estimating with said antenna a signal-to-interference power ratio ("SIR") for each channel in said cellular communications system by measuring Euclidean distance between a desired signal and a received signal and by averaging said measured distance over several samples; using said averaged Euclidean distance as a signal quality measure; and assigning by said antenna a communications channel to each antenna beam of said multibeam system at a cell within said cellular system independently of other cells within said cellular system based upon an SIR derived value by initiating a hand-off process if said quality measure expressed by the averaged Euclidean distance becomes worse than a selected threshold level, selecting a hand-off destination channel from among all available channels in frequency band, and measuring a received composite signal power of the other channels at a base station receiver to determine said hand-off destination.

Claim 3

The method of claim 1, wherein said channel assignment step selects a channel having the smallest SIR estimate that is larger than or equal to a selected threshold value.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1, wherein said channel assignment step selects a channel having a largest SIR estimate.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1, wherein said channel assignment step keeps using the same channel if there are no channels having an SIR estimate larger than a selected threshold value.

Claim 6

The method of claim 1, wherein said channel assignment step selects any of a channel having the smallest SIR estimate that is larger than or equal to a selected threshold value, and a channel having a largest SIR estimate; and wherein said channel assignment step keeps using the same channel if there are no channels having an SIR estimate larger than said selected threshold value.

Claim 7

An up-link channel assignment apparatus for cellular mobile communications systems employing multi-beam antenna with beam selection, said apparatus comprising: means for estimating with said antenna a signal-to-interference power ratio ("SIR") for each channel in said cellular communications system, wherein said estimating means further comprises means for measuring Euclidean distance between a desired signal and a received signal, means for averaging said measured distance over several samples, and means for using said averaged Euclidean distance as a signal quality measure; and means for assigning by said antenna a communications channel to each antenna beam of said multibeam system at a cell within said cellular system independently of other cells within said cellular system based upon an SIR derived value, wherein said assigning means further comprises means for initiating a hand-off process if said signal quality measure expressed by the averaged Euclidean distance becomes worse than a selected threshold level, means for selecting a hand-off destination channel from among all available channels in a frequency band, and means for measuring a received composite signal power of the other channels at a base station receiver to determine said hand-off destination.

Claim 8

An up-link channel assignment apparatus for cellular mobile communications systems employing multi-beam antenna with beam selection, said apparatus comprising: means for estimating with said antenna a signal-to-interference power ratio ("SIR") for each channel in said cellular communications system, wherein said estimating means further comprises means for measuring Euclidean distance between a desired signal and a received signal, means for averaging said measured distance over several samples, and means for using said averaged Euclidean distance as a signal quality measure; and means for assigning by said antenna a communications channel to each antenna beam of said multibeam system at a cell within said cellular system independently of other cells within said cellular system based upon an SIR derived value, wherein said assigning means further comprises means for initiating a hand-off process if said signal quality measure expressed by the averaged Euclidean distance becomes worse than a selected threshold level, means for selecting a hand-off destination channel from among all available channels in a frequency band, and means for measuring a received composite signal power of the other channels at a base station receiver to determine said hand-off destination.

Claim 9

The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said channel assignment means selects a channel having the smallest SIR estimate that is larger than or equal to a selected threshold value.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said channel assignment means selects a channel having a largest SIR estimate.

Claim 11

The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said channel assignment means keeps using the same channel if there are no channels having an SIR estimate larger than a selected threshold value.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said channel assignment means selects any of a channel having the smallest SIR estimate that is larger than or equal to a selected threshold value, and a channel having a largest SIR estimate; and wherein said channel assignment means keeps using the same channel if there are no channels having an SIR estimate larger than said selected threshold value.