Patent ID: 8725079

Claim:
A method in a cellular radio network in which at least a first User Equipment (UE 1 ) and a second User Equipment (UE 2 ) are operating, wherein UE 1 is in a first cell (Cell 1 ) served by a first base station and UE 2 is in a second cell (Cell 2 ) served by a second base station, wherein the method determines a level of severity of interference to UE 2 originating in Cell 1 , wherein the interference to UE 2 originating in Cell 1 is uplink interference caused by uplink transmissions from UE 1 , the method comprising the steps of: determining by an interference analysis tool, a first signal quality level experienced by UE 2 , wherein the first signal quality level includes the interference originating in Cell 1 , wherein determining the first signal quality level includes determining a first uplink Signal-to-Interference-and-Noise-Ratio level (SINR) experienced by UE 2 , wherein the first uplink SINR level includes uplink interference from UE 1 ; determining by the interference analysis tool, a second signal quality level experienced by UE 2 , wherein the second signal quality level does not include the interference originating in Cell 1 , wherein determining the second signal quality level includes determining a second uplink SINR level (SINR 0 ) experienced by UE 2 , wherein the second uplink SINR level (SINR 0 ) does not include the uplink interference from UE 1 ; and calculating by the interference analysis tool, a difference (Δ-measure) between the first and second signal quality levels for UE 2 , wherein the Δ-measure is a difference (ΔSINR) between the first and second uplink SINR levels for UE 2 indicating the level of severity of interference to UE 2 originating in Cell 1 ; wherein the step of determining the first uplink SINR level experienced by UE 2 includes calculating the first uplink SINR level such that: SINR = P 2 ⁢ g 22 P 1 ⁢ g 12 + I 0 where: P 2 is an allocated transmission power for UE 2 ; g 22 is an estimated path gain from UE 2 to the second base station; P 1 is an allocated transmission power for UE 1 ; g 12 is an estimated path gain from UE 1 to the second base station; and I 0 is background noise and other interference.