Patent ID: 9503174
Filing Date: 2016-11-22
CPC Classification: H04B,H04W

Claim Text:
1. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following: obtain interference related detection results of interference occurring at least between a plurality of relay nodes, wherein each relay node of the plurality of relay nodes is capable of being wirelessly connected to a radio access network, is associated with an access node of the radio access network, and serves to connect at least one user equipment which is wirelessly connected to the radio access network, wherein a connection between the relay node and its serving access node is an access node—relay node connection; negotiate at least one of a grouping and a subframe configuration with one or more neighbour access nodes; group the relay nodes into one or more groups according to at least the interference related detection and the negotiation results; and based on the grouping initiate a sub-frame configuration for the access node—relay node connection of each of the one or more groups of relay nodes such that the access node—relay node connection can be configured for each group in order to mitigate interference between transmissions to and from user equipment and to and from different relay nodes in each group.