Distributed antenna combining
First Claim
1. A method of receiving and processing wireless communication signals from User Equipment, UE, in a receiver operative in a wireless communication network, comprising:
- receiving signals, on the same radio frequency, representing a plurality (L) of information streams transmitted by one or more UEs, at an antenna array comprising a plurality of antenna elements and outputting signals from a plurality (N) of antenna ports, wherein each antenna port is connected to one or more antenna elements;
receiving known reference signals transmitted from each UE;
estimating a radio channel between each UE and at least one antenna port;
frequency converting the outputs of the N antenna ports to baseband in a plurality (N) of parallel radio receiver circuits;
linearly combining outputs of the N radio receiver circuits at a first antenna combining circuit, using the radio channel estimates, to generate a plurality (K) of streams of virtual information; and
linearly combining the K virtual streams at a second antenna combining circuit into L information streams;
wherein L, N, and K are natural numbers.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A receiver (10) featuring a distributed antenna combining system performs two stages of antenna combining. An antenna array (30) receives (102) L streams, or information flows, from UEs (20), and outputs antenna signals on N antenna ports. N parallel radio receivers (40) frequency convert (104) the N received signals to baseband. A first antenna combining circuit (50) applies (106) a relatively low-complexity form of antenna combining (e.g., MRC) to the N radio signals to generate K streams of virtual information. A second antenna combining circuit (60) applies (108) a relative high-complexity form of antenna combining (e.g., IRC) to the K virtual streams to generate L information streams. In one embodiment, antenna elements may have different polarization directions, and the first antenna combining circuit (50) generates two, differently-polarized virtual information streams for each UE (20) stream.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method of receiving and processing wireless communication signals from User Equipment, UE, in a receiver operative in a wireless communication network, comprising:
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receiving signals, on the same radio frequency, representing a plurality (L) of information streams transmitted by one or more UEs, at an antenna array comprising a plurality of antenna elements and outputting signals from a plurality (N) of antenna ports, wherein each antenna port is connected to one or more antenna elements; receiving known reference signals transmitted from each UE; estimating a radio channel between each UE and at least one antenna port; frequency converting the outputs of the N antenna ports to baseband in a plurality (N) of parallel radio receiver circuits; linearly combining outputs of the N radio receiver circuits at a first antenna combining circuit, using the radio channel estimates, to generate a plurality (K) of streams of virtual information; and linearly combining the K virtual streams at a second antenna combining circuit into L information streams; wherein L, N, and K are natural numbers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A receiver operative in a wireless communication network, comprising:
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an antenna array comprising a plurality of antenna elements and outputting signals from a plurality (N) of antenna ports, wherein each antenna port is electrically connected to one or more antenna elements, the signals representing a plurality (L) of information streams transmitted by one or more UEs and known reference signals transmitted from each UE; a plurality (N) of parallel radio receiver circuits, each connected to an antenna port and operative to frequency convert the output of the port to baseband; a first antenna combining circuit operative to estimate a radio channel between each UE and at least one antenna port, and further operative to linearly combine the outputs of the N radio receiver circuits, using the radio channel estimates, to generate a plurality (K) of streams of virtual information; and a second antenna combining circuit operative to linearly combine the K streams of virtual information into L information streams; wherein L, N, and K are natural numbers. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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Specification