Abstract:
A wireless communication system exposes first stage filtered energy estimates to a second stage filter whose length dynamically varies with time. With the second stage filter, it is possible to further suppress noise in low SNR conditions without affecting the overall filtering response time.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional application No. 60/269,234, filed Feb. 14, 2001, the content of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. 

   TECHNICAL FIELD 
   This invention relates to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to a pilot energy strength measurement process. 
   BACKGROUND 
   Cellular telephones may operate under a variety of standards including the code division multiple access (CDMA) cellular telephone communication system as described in TIA/EIA, IS-95, Mobile station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular System, published July 1993. CDMA is a technique for spread-spectrum multiple-access digital communications that creates channels through the use of unique code sequences. In CDMA systems, signals can be and are received in the presence of high levels of interference. The practical limit of signal reception depends on the channel conditions, but CDMA reception in the system described in the aforementioned IS-95 Standard can take place in the presence of interference that is 18 dB larger than the signal for a static channel. Typically, the system operates with a lower level of interference and dynamic channel conditions. 
   A mobile station using the CDMA standard constantly searches a Pilot Channel of neighboring base stations for a pilot that is sufficiently stronger than a pilot add threshold value T — ADD. As the mobile station moves from the region covered by one base station to another, the mobile station promotes certain pilots from the Neighbor Set to the Candidate Set, and notifies the base station or base stations of the promotion from the Neighbor Set to the Candidate Set via a Pilot Strength Measurement Message. The base station determines an Active Set according to the Pilot Strength Measurement Message, and notifies the mobile station of the new Active Set via a Handoff Direction Message. The mobile station will maintain communication with both the old base station and the new base station so long as the pilots for each base station are stronger than a pilot drop threshold value T — DROP. When one of the pilots weakens to less than the pilot drop threshold value for a specified time T — TDROP, the mobile station notifies the base station of the change. The base station may then determine a new Active Set, and notify the mobile station of that new Active Set. Upon notification by the base station, the mobile station then demotes the weakened pilot to the Neighbor Set. 
   When the received energy of the pilot signal is near a trigger point such as T — DROP, low signal-to-noise (SNR) conditions may be present. Under low SNR conditions, noisy energy samples may cause the energy estimate to briefly exceed the threshold values such as T — DROP, in which case the timer would be inappropriately reset. Consequently, this may cause the mobile station to not request that the pilot be removed from the Active set, which may negatively impact the capacity of the wireless system. 
   SUMMARY 
   The first stage filtered energy estimates in a wireless communication system are exposed to a second stage filter whose length dynamically varies in time. Using the second stage filter, it is possible to further suppress noise in low SNR conditions, or generally, near trigger points, without affecting the overall filtering response time. 
   The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims. 

   
     DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is an illustration of a wireless communication system. 
       FIG. 2  is an illustration of a portion of a wireless communication system. 
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram of the pilot strength energy filters within the mobile station. 
       FIG. 4  is a graph illustrating the results of a simulation using the second stage filter in accordance with the principles of the invention. 
       FIG. 5  is a graph depicting the threshold T — DROP and the specified upwards variance range σ. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     FIG. 1  illustrates components of an exemplary wireless communication system. A mobile switching center  102  communicates with base stations  104   a – 104   k  (only one connection shown). The base stations  104   a – 104   k  (generally  104 ) transmits data to and receives data from mobile stations  106  within cells  108   a – 108   k  (generally  108 ). A cell  108 , corresponding to a geographic region, is served by a base station. Practically, said geographic regions often overlap to a limited extent. 
   A mobile station  106  is capable of receiving data from and transmitting data to a base station  104 . In one embodiment, the mobile station  106  receives and transmits data according to a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technique. CDMA is a communication technique that permits mobile users of wireless communication devices to exchange data over a telephone system, wherein radio signals carry data to and from the wireless devices. A set of standards that define a version of CDMA that is particularly suitable for use with the invention include IS-95, IS-95A, and IS-95B, Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Spread Spectrum Systems; TIA/EIA/IS-2000-2, Physical Layer Standard for cdma2000 Spread Spectrum Systems; and TIA/EIA/IS-2000-5 Upper Layer (Layer  3 ) Signaling Standard for cdma2000 Spread Spectrum Systems, all of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
   Under the CDMA standard, additional cells  108   a ,  108   c,    108   d , and  108   e  adjacent to the cell  108   b  permit mobile stations  106  to cross cell boundaries without interrupting communications. This is so because base stations  104   a ,  104   c,    104   d , and  104   e  in adjacent cells assume the task of transmitting and receiving data for the mobile stations  106 . The mobile switching center  102  coordinates all communication to and from mobile stations  106  in a multi-cell region. Thus, the mobile switching center  102  may communicate with many base stations  104 . 
   Mobile stations  106  may move about freely within the cell  108  while communicating either voice or data. Mobile stations  106  not in active communication with other telephone system users may, nevertheless, continue to search for pilot channel transmissions from the base stations  104  in the cells  108  to detect pilots that are sufficiently strong with which to establish a communications link. In addition, mobile stations  106  may drop base stations  104  in which the energy level of the pilot is not sufficiently strong. 
   One example of such a mobile station  106  is a cellular telephone used by a vehicle driver who converses on the cellular telephone while driving in a cell  108   b . Referring to  FIG. 2 , a portion of a wireless system is shown. The cellular telephone synchronizes communication with the base station  104   b  by monitoring a pilot that is generated by the base station  104   b.  While powered on, the mobile station  106  continues to search predetermined CDMA system frequencies for pilots from other base stations  104  such as the pilots from the base stations  104   d  and  104   e  as well as the pilot corresponding to the base station  104   b . Upon detecting a pilot from another base station  104   d , the mobile station  106  initiates a handoff sequence to add the pilot to the Active Set. Likewise, upon determining that the energy level of an Active Set pilot has weakened sufficiently and the handoff timeout value, T — TDROP, has been exceeded, the mobile station  106  initiates a handoff sequence to drop the pilot. 
     FIG. 3  shows a block diagram of a portion  300  of a mobile station including the pilot energy strength filters. A mobile station pilot searcher  305  provides raw pilot energy estimates (based on pilot signal correlation results from the CDMA demodulator elements) as an input to the first stage Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) filter  320 . Typically, the filters  320  and  325  are implemented on a software platform, however they can just as easily be implemented on a firmware platform within the MSM ASIC, or as a physical hardware circuit. This first stage filter can also be defined as a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter, however common practice is to use an IIR type, since it is computationally efficient. The first stage IIR filter  320  also receives an input from a pseudo-constant  310 . The first stage IIR filter  320  takes energy estimates from the demodulator, and filters them using a nearly constant filter length, determined by the pseudo-constant  310 . The pseudo-constant&#39;s value may be adjusted to maintain the first stage IIR filter  320  consistent with time, since the time between sequential pilot signal correlation operations are not fixed. The filter length is usually relatively small (less than 25 samples), and it functions to remove receiver and demodulator noise from the energy estimates. The first stage IIR filter&#39;s time constant is not based on the individual energy estimates, and changes relatively infrequently. Additionally, this time constant is bounded to quite a limited range, such that it does not impart excessive filtering delay on the energy samples. 
   A second stage IIR filter  325  takes the output of the first filter as its input. The time constant of the second stage can be based on such factors as: the input energy estimates, raw pilot signal correlation results, and/or searcher or over-the-air (OTA) parameters  315 . Searcher parameters may include, but are not limited to, such correlation items as: integration length, integration gain, or searcher window size. Over-the-air parameters may include, but are not limited to, such network specified items as: T — DROP, T — TDROP, or T — ADD. The length of the second stage IIR filter can be large. The second stage IIR filter stabilizes the energy estimates that are provided to the Pilot Set Maintenance function  330  specifically at PSM trigger points such as T — DROP, and provides increased isolation from signal fades, as compared to the first stage IIR filter  320 , which functions to remove demodulator noise. 
   A dynamic time constant “C(n)” of the second stage filter  325  can be calculated using many different parameter inputs, such as T — DROP. Additionally, this time constant can include such searcher/demodulator inputs as correlation length or gain. A sample calculation for a (N− 1 )/N type second stage filter is as follows: 
           ⁢       Y   ⁡     (   n   )       =         {       Y   ⁡     (     n   -   1     )       ×     {       C   ⁡     (   n   )       -   1     }       }     +     X   ⁡     (   n   )           C   ⁡     (   n   )               
           ⁢     σ   =     Second   ⁢           ⁢       Stage   ⁢             ``     ⁢   Turn   ⁢     -     ⁢     On   ″     ⁢           ⁢   Range           
           ⁢     α   =     Coefficient   ⁢           ⁢   Scaling   ⁢           ⁢   Factor           
           ⁢       δ   ⁡     (   n   )       =       (     T_DROP   +   σ     )     -     X   ⁡     (   n   )               
           ⁢       C   ⁡     (   n   )       =     {         1           for   ⁢           ⁢     δ   ⁡     (   n   )         ≤   0               α   ×       δ   ⁡     (   n   )       σ               for   ⁢           ⁢     δ   ⁡     (   n   )         &gt;   0                   
 
   The above example calculation shows that C(n) can be a piecewise linear function of the first stage output. Depending on the desired characteristics of the second stage filter, in a manner specified by someone skilled in the art, C(n) can also be chosen to as logarithmic, exponential, discrete, or any other type of function. The second stage IIR filter  320  is typically only “enabled” when the outputs of Stage  1  are close to a threshold value such as T — DROP (within some upward variance range, σ, which may be specified by the network, or calculated autonomously by the mobile station).  FIG. 5  depicts the threshold T — DROP and the specified upwards variance range σ. Also, since the time constant of the second stage IIR filter depends on the input energy, it can instantaneously react to dynamic signal conditions. This way, if the signal intensity suddenly rises above a threshold value such as T — DROP+a variance, the filter can immediately “shut off”. If the filter did not function in this manner, the Pilot Set Maintenance function  330  may be provided energy estimates weaker than the stage one filtered signal due to increased delay caused by the stage two filter. 
     FIG. 4  is a graph illustrating the results of a simulation using the second stage filter in accordance with the principles of the invention. The graph in  FIG. 4  shows the received pilot energy strengths under IS-98c&#39;s Active Set Pilot Loss Detection in Soft Handoff test. T — DROP is set to −16 db. The transmitted pilot energy drops from −11 dB, past T — DROP, to −17 dB. The line  405  is the output of the common practice, single-stage IIR filter. The line  410  is the result of applying this data to a second stage IIR filter  320  whose length is calculated using inputs of: raw pilot energy correlations, first stage filtered energy estimates, and T — DROP. 
   Each time the line  405  exceeded −16 db (or T — DROP), the timer would have been reset. It is evident that single stage IIR filtering would not sufficiently suppress noise at this energy level, and each of these three test instances above would have failed. It is also clear that by using an additional second stage filter  320  (line  410 ), noise would have been sufficiently suppressed and the mobile station  106  would have passed each test instance. Notice also, that because a second stage filter  320  is used (versus extending the time constant of the first stage), there is no significant effect on filter delay. This is exhibited by observing that when the output value of the first stage filter  405  is larger than the “turn-on” range of the second filter  325 , the output value of the second stage filter  410  quickly replicates the output of the first stage filter  405 . 
   A number of embodiments of the invention have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.