Network communication using selected resources

• US 10,349,332 B2
• Filed: 06/09/2015
• Issued: 07/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Agee, Brian G., Bromberg, Matthew C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Xavier Szewai
• Application Number:
  US14/734,667
• Publication Number:
  US 20150271004A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,491 Days
• Field of Search: 370330
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0408 using two or more beams, i.e. beam diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0413 MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0417 Feedback systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0443 utilizing "waterfilling" technique
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0456 Selection of precoding matrices or codebooks, e.g. using matrices antenna weighting
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0465 taking power constraints at power amplifier or emission constraints, e.g. constant modulus, into account
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/10 Polarisation diversity; Directional diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/26 Systems using multi-frequency codes H04L27/32 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2602 Signal structure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2605 Symbol extensions, e.g. Zero Tail, Unique Word [UW]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2607 Cyclic extensions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2627 Modulators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2646 using feedback from receiver for adjusting OFDM transmission parameters, e.g. transmission timing or guard interval length
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0044 allocation of payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/005 of common pilots, i.e. pilots destined for multiple users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/04 based on wireless node resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/241 : taking into account channel quality metrics, e.g. SIR, SNR, CIR, Eb/lo
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/265 : taking into account the quality of service QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/42 : in systems with time, space, frequency or polarisation diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/00 : Local resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 : Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/044 : based on the type of the allocated resource
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 : Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 : in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 : using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 : Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Methods and systems are described for transmitting data using various selected resources. For example, first one or more resources may be selected based at least in part on feedback from a first network node. A second network node may cause first data to be transmitted using the selected one or more resources. The second network node may also cause second data to be transmitted using second one or more resources. The resources may comprise, for example, tones, time slots, time-frequency channels, time resources, and/or frequency resources.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving first feedback from a first node and second feedback from a second node;

selecting, based at least in part on the first feedback received from the first node, first one or more resources, of a plurality of resources, for transmission of first data associated with the first node, wherein the plurality of resources comprises a plurality of tones and a plurality of time slots;

selecting, based at least in part on the second feedback received from the second node, second one or more resources, of the plurality of resources, for transmission of second data associated with the second node; and

causing, by a third node via at least one antenna during at least a first time slot of the plurality of time slots and using the plurality of resources, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) wireless transmission of the first data;

using the first one or more resources and of the second data using the second one or more resources, together in a same OFDM symbol.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first feedback received from the first node comprises a measure of channel quality, and the selecting comprises selecting the first one or more resources of the plurality of resources based at least in part on the measure of channel quality.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a measure of channel quality based at least in part on the first feedback received from the first node, wherein the selecting comprises selecting the first one or more resources of the plurality of resources based at least in part on the measure of channel quality.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first feedback received from the first node is based at least in part on a signal wirelessly received by the first node and the second feedback received from the second node is based at least in part on a signal wirelessly received by the second node.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting the first one or more resources of the plurality of resources comprises selecting a first range of the plurality of tones based at least in part on the first feedback received from the first node and a second range of the plurality of tones based at least in part on the second feedback received from the second node.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one antenna comprises a plurality of antennas, and the causing comprises causing, via the plurality of antennas, the OFDM wireless transmission of the first data and the second data as at least one multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

mapping the first data to the first one or more resources of the plurality of resources and mapping the second data to the second one or more resources of the plurality of resources.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

performing, after the mapping, an inverse fast-Fourier transform (iFFT) of the first data and the second data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one antenna comprises a plurality of antennas, and the method further comprises mapping the first data and the second data to the plurality of antennas based at least in part on the first feedback received from the first node and the second feedback received from the second node.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting the first one or more resources of the plurality of resources comprises selecting a first range of tones of the plurality of tones based at least in part on the first feedback received from the first node, and wherein the selecting the second one or more resources of the plurality of resources comprises selecting a second range of tones of the plurality of tones based at least in part on the second feedback received from the second node, the method further comprising:

distributing the first data across the first range of tones; and

distributing the second data across the second range of tones.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises causing the OFDM wireless transmission of the first data and the second data using a multiple access scheme.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises:

causing a first beamformed OFDM wireless transmission, during at least the first time slot, of the first data using the first one or more resources; and

causing a second beamformed OFDM wireless transmission, during at least the first time slot, of the second data using the second one or more resources.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the first one or more resources comprises a first range of tones of the plurality of tones, wherein the second one or more resources comprises a second range of tones of the plurality of tones, and wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises:

causing a first beamformed OFDM wireless transmission, during at least the first time slot, of the first data using the first range of tones; and

causing a second beamformed OFDM wireless transmission, during at least the first time slot, of the second data using the second range of tones.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises:

causing the first data to be transmitted using the first one or more resources and a first plurality of weights; and

causing the second data to be transmitted using the second one or more resources and a second plurality of weights.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the first one or more resources comprises a first range of tones of the plurality of tones, and wherein the second one or more resources comprises a second range of tones of the plurality of tones.

28. The method of claim 2, wherein the measure of channel quality comprises a measure of interference.

11. A method comprising:

receiving feedback from a first node and a second node;

selecting, based at least in part on the feedback received from the first node and the second node, a first subset of a plurality of resources for transmission of first data associated with the first node and a second subset of the plurality of resources for transmission of second data associated with the second node, wherein the plurality of resources comprises a plurality of tones and a plurality of transmission intervals; and

causing, by a third node via at least one antenna during at least a first transmission interval of the plurality of transmission intervals and using the plurality of resources, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) wireless transmission of the first data;

using the first subset of the plurality of resources; and

of the second data;

using the second subset of the plurality of resources, together in a same OFDM symbol.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the feedback received from the first node and the second node comprises at least one measure of channel quality.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining at least one measure of channel quality based at least in part on the feedback received from the first node and the second node, wherein the selecting comprises selecting the first subset of the plurality of resources and the second subset of the plurality of resources based at least in part on the at least one measure of channel quality.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the selecting comprises selecting at least one range of the plurality of tones based at least in part on the feedback received from the first node and the second node.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one antenna comprises a plurality of antennas, and the method further comprises mapping the first data and the second data to the plurality of antennas based at least in part on the feedback received from the first node and the second node.

29. The method of claim 11, wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises causing the OFDM wireless transmission of the first data and the second data using a multiple access scheme.

30. The method of claim 11, wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises:

causing a first beamformed OFDM wireless transmission, during at least the first transmission interval, of the first data using the first subset of the plurality of resources; and

causing a second beamformed OFDM wireless transmission, during at least the first transmission interval, of the second data using the second subset of the plurality of resources.

31. The method of claim 11, wherein the first subset of the plurality of resources comprises a first range of tones of the plurality of tones, wherein the second subset of the plurality of resources comprises a second range of tones of the plurality of tones, and wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises:

causing a first beamformed OFDM wireless transmission, during at least the first transmission interval, of the first data using the first range of tones; and

causing a second beamformed OFDM wireless transmission, during at least the first transmission interval, of the second data using the second range of tones.

32. The method of claim 11, wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises:

causing the first data to be transmitted using the first subset of the plurality of resources and a first plurality of weights; and

causing the second data to be transmitted using the second subset of the plurality of resources and a second plurality of weights.

33. The method of claim 11, wherein the first transmission interval is a time slot.

34. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one measure of channel quality comprises a measure of interference.

16. A method comprising:

receiving first feedback from a first node and second feedback from a second node;

selecting, based at least in part on the first feedback received from the first node, first one or more resources, of a plurality of resources, for transmission of first data associated with the first node, wherein the plurality of resources comprises a plurality of time-frequency channels;

selecting, based at least in part on the second feedback received from the second node, second one or more resources, of the plurality of resources, for transmission of second data associated with the second node, wherein a time-frequency channel of the second one or more resources shares a time slot with a time-frequency channel of the first one or more resources; and

causing, by a third node via at least one antenna and using the plurality of resources, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) wireless transmission of the first data using the first one or more resources and of the second data using the second one or more resources, together in a same OFDM symbol.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first feedback received from the first node comprises a measure of channel quality, and the selecting the first one or more resources comprises selecting the first one or more resources of the plurality of resources based at least in part on the measure of channel quality.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising determining a measure of channel quality based at least in part on the first feedback received from the first node, wherein the selecting the first one or more resources comprises selecting the first one or more resources of the plurality of resources based at least in part on the measure of channel quality.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one antenna comprises a plurality of antennas, and the method further comprises mapping the first data and the second data to the plurality of antennas based at least in part on the first feedback received from the first node.

35. The method of claim 16, wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises causing the OFDM wireless transmission of the first data and the second data using a multiple access scheme.

36. The method of claim 16, wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises:

causing a first beamformed OFDM wireless transmission of the first data using the first one or more resources; and

causing a second beamformed OFDM wireless transmission of the second data using the second one or more resources.

37. The method of claim 16, wherein the first one or more resources comprises a first range of tones, wherein the second one or more resources comprises a second range of tones, and wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises:

causing a first beamformed OFDM wireless transmission of the first data using the first range of tones; and

causing a second beamformed OFDM wireless transmission of the second data using the second range of tones.

38. The method of claim 16, wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises:

causing the first data to be transmitted using the first one or more resources and a first plurality of weights; and

causing the second data to be transmitted using the second one or more resources and a second plurality of weights.

39. The method of claim 16, wherein the time slot comprises a downlink time slot.

40. The method of claim 17, wherein the measure of channel quality comprises a measure of interference.

20. A method comprising:

receiving first feedback from a first node and second feedback from a second node;

selecting, based at least in part on the first feedback received from the first node, first one or more transmission resources, of a plurality of transmission resources, for transmission of first data associated with the first node, wherein the plurality of transmission resources comprises a plurality of frequency resources and a plurality of time resources;

selecting, based at least in part on the second feedback received from the second node, second one or more transmission resources, of the plurality of transmission resources, for transmission of second data associated with the second node, wherein the first one or more transmission resources and the second one or more transmission resources comprise at least one common time resource of the plurality of time resources; and

causing, by a third node via at least one antenna and using the plurality of transmission resources, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) wireless transmission of the first data using the first one or more transmission resources and of the second data using the second one or more transmission resources, together in a same OFDM symbol.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first feedback received from the first node comprises a measure of channel quality, and the selecting the first one or more transmission resources comprises selecting the first one or more transmission resources of the plurality of transmission resources based at least in part on the measure of channel quality.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the selecting the first one or more transmission resources comprises selecting a first portion of the frequency resources for transmission of the first data based at least in part on the first feedback received from the first node and the selecting the second one or more transmission resources comprises selecting a second portion of the frequency resources for transmission of the second data based at least in part on the second feedback received from the second node.

41. The method of claim 20, wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises causing the OFDM wireless transmission of the first data and the second data using a multiple access scheme.

42. The method of claim 20, wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises:

causing a first beamformed OFDM wireless transmission of the first data using the first one or more transmission resources; and

causing a second beamformed OFDM wireless transmission of the second data using the second one or more transmission resources.

43. The method of claim 20, wherein the first one or more transmission resources comprises a first range of tones, wherein the second one or more transmission resources comprises a second range of tones, and wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises:

causing a first beamformed OFDM wireless transmission of the first data using the first range of tones; and

causing a second beamformed OFDM wireless transmission of the second data using the second range of tones.

44. The method of claim 20, wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises:

causing the first data to be transmitted using the first one or more transmission resources and a first plurality of weights; and

causing the second data to be transmitted using the second one or more transmission resources and a second plurality of weights.

45. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least one common time resource comprises at least one time slot.

46. The method of claim 21, wherein the measure of channel quality comprises a measure of interference.

47. A method comprising:

receiving a first transmission from a first node and a second transmission from a second node;

selecting, based at least in part on at least one channel characteristic associated with the first transmission received from the first node, first one or more resources, of a plurality of resources, for transmission of first data associated with the first node, wherein the plurality of resources comprises a plurality of time-frequency channels;

selecting, based at least in part on at least one channel characteristic associated with the second transmission received from the second node, second one or more resources, of the plurality of resources, for transmission of second data associated with the second node, wherein a time-frequency channel of the second one or more resources shares a time slot with a time-frequency channel of the first one or more resources; and

causing, by a third node via at least one antenna and using the plurality of resources, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) wireless transmission of the first data using the first one or more resources and of the second data using the second one or more resources, together in a same OFDM symbol.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises causing the OFDM wireless transmission of the first data and the second data using a multiple access scheme.

49. The method of claim 47, wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission of the first data and the second data together in the same OFDM symbol comprises:

causing a first beamformed OFDM wireless transmission of the first data using the first one or more resources; and

causing a second beamformed OFDM wireless transmission of the second data using the second one or more resources.

50. The method of claim 47, wherein the first one or more resources comprises a first range of tones, wherein the second one or more resources comprises a second range of tones, and wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises:

causing a first beamformed OFDM wireless transmission of the first data using the first range of tones; and

causing a second beamformed OFDM wireless transmission of the second data using the second range of tones.

51. The method of claim 47, wherein the causing the OFDM wireless transmission comprises:

causing the first data to be transmitted using the first one or more resources and a first plurality of weights; and

causing the second data to be transmitted using the second one or more resources and a second plurality of weights.

52. The method of claim 47, wherein the at least one antenna comprises a plurality of antennas, and the causing comprises causing, via the plurality of antennas, the OFDM wireless transmission of the first data and the second data as at least one multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission.

53. The method of claim 47, wherein the at least one channel characteristic associated with one or both of the first transmission or the second transmission comprises frequency selectivity.

54. The method of claim 47, wherein the at least one channel characteristic associated with one or both of the first transmission or the second transmission comprises delay spread.

55. The method of claim 47, wherein the at least one channel characteristic associated with one or both of the first transmission or the second transmission comprises time selectivity.

56. The method of claim 47, wherein the at least one channel characteristic associated with one or both of the first transmission or the second transmission comprises Doppler spread.

57. The method of claim 47, wherein one or both of the first transmission or the second transmission comprises a pilot signal.

58. A system comprising:

a first node configured to transmit first feedback;

a second node configured to transmit second feedback; and

a third node comprising;

at least one antenna; and

circuitry configured to;

select, based at least in part on the first feedback received from the first node, first one or more resources, of a plurality of resources, for transmission of first data associated with the first node, wherein the plurality of resources comprises a plurality of tones and a plurality of time slots;

select, based at least in part on the second feedback received from the second node, second one or more resources, of the plurality of resources, for transmission of second data associated with the second node; and

cause, via at least one antenna during at least a first time slot of the plurality of time slots and using the plurality of resources, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) wireless transmission of the first data using the first one or more resources and of the second data using the second one or more resources, together in a same OFDM symbol.

59. The system of claim 58, wherein the first feedback comprises a measure of channel quality, and the circuitry is configured to select the first one or more resources of the plurality of resources based at least in part on the measure of channel quality.

60. The system of claim 59, wherein the measure of channel quality comprises a measure of interference.

61. The system of claim 58, wherein the circuitry is configured to determine a measure of channel quality based at least in part on the first feedback received from the first node, and to select the first one or more resources of the plurality of resources based at least in part on the measure of channel quality.

62. The system of claim 58, wherein:

the first node comprises circuitry configured to generate the first feedback based at least in part on a signal wirelessly received by the first node; and

the second node comprises circuitry configured to generate the second feedback based at least in part on a signal wirelessly received by the second node.

63. The system of claim 58, wherein the circuitry is configured to select the first one or more resources of the plurality of resources by selecting a first range of the plurality of tones based at least in part on the first feedback received from the first node and a second range of the plurality of tones based at least in part on the second feedback received from the second node.

64. The system of claim 58, wherein the at least one antenna comprises a plurality of antennas, and the circuitry is configured to cause, via the plurality of antennas, the OFDM wireless transmission of the first data and the second data as at least one multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission.

65. The system of claim 58, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

map the first data to the first one or more resources of the plurality of resources and map the second data to the second one or more resources of the plurality of resources.

66. The system of claim 65, wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

perform an inverse fast-Fourier transform (iFFT) of the first data and the second data.

67. The system of claim 58, wherein the at least one antenna comprises a plurality of antennas, and the circuitry is further configured to map the first data and the second data to the plurality of antennas based at least in part on the first feedback received from the first node and the second feedback received from the second node.

68. The system of claim 58, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

select the first one or more resources of the plurality of resources by selecting a first range of tones of the plurality of tones based at least in part on the first feedback received from the first node;

select the second one or more resources of the plurality of resources by selecting a second range of tones of the plurality of tones based at least in part on the second feedback received from the second node;

distribute the first data across the first range of tones; and

distribute the second data across the second range of tones.

69. The system of claim 58, wherein the circuitry is configured to cause the OFDM wireless transmission of the first data and the second data using a multiple access scheme.

70. The system of claim 59, wherein the circuitry is configured to cause the OFDM wireless transmission by:

causing a first beamformed OFDM wireless transmission, during at least the first time slot, of the first data using the first one or more resources; and

causing a second beamformed OFDM wireless transmission, during at least the first time slot, of the second data using the second one or more resources.

71. The system of claim 59, wherein the first one or more resources comprises a first range of tones of the plurality of tones, wherein the second one or more resources comprises a second range of tones of the plurality of tones, and wherein the circuitry is configured to cause the OFDM wireless transmission by:

causing a first beamformed OFDM wireless transmission, during at least the first time slot, of the first data using the first range of tones; and

causing a second beamformed OFDM wireless transmission, during at least the first time slot, of the second data using the second range of tones.

72. The system of claim 58, wherein the circuitry is configured to cause the OFDM wireless transmission by:

causing the first data to be transmitted using the first one or more resources and a first plurality of weights; and

causing the second data to be transmitted using the second one or more resources and a second plurality of weights.

73. The system of claim 58, wherein the first one or more resources comprises a first range of tones of the plurality of tones, and wherein the second one or more resources comprises a second range of tones of the plurality of tones.

74. A system comprising:

a first node configured to transmit a first transmission;

a second node configured to transmit a second transmission; and

a third node comprising;

at least one antenna; and

circuitry configured to;

select, based at least in part on at least one channel characteristic associated with the first transmission received from the first node, first one or more resources, of a plurality of resources, for transmission of first data associated with the first node, wherein the plurality of resources comprises a plurality of time-frequency channels;

select, based at least in part on at least one channel characteristic associated with the second transmission received from the second node, second one or more resources, of the plurality of resources, for transmission of second data associated with the second node, wherein a time-frequency channel of the second one or more resources shares a time slot with a time-frequency channel of the first one or more resources; and

cause, via the at least one antenna and using the plurality of resources, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) wireless transmission of the first data, using the first one or more resources and of the second data using the second one or more resources, together in a same OFDM symbol.

75. The system of claim 74, wherein circuitry is configured to cause the OFDM wireless transmission of the first data and the second data using a multiple access scheme.

76. The system of claim 74, wherein the circuitry is configured to cause the OFDM wireless transmission of the first data and the second data together in the same OFDM symbol by:

causing a first beamformed OFDM wireless transmission of the first data using the first one or more resources; and

causing a second beamformed OFDM wireless transmission of the second data using the second one or more resources.

77. The system of claim 74, wherein the first one or more resources comprises a first range of tones, wherein the second one or more resources comprises a second range of tones, and wherein the circuitry is configured to cause the OFDM wireless transmission by:

causing a first beamformed OFDM wireless transmission of the first data using the first range of tones; and

causing a second beamformed OFDM wireless transmission of the second data using the second range of tones.

78. The system of claim 74, wherein the circuitry is configured to cause the OFDM wireless transmission by:

causing the first data to be transmitted using the first one or more resources and a first plurality of weights; and

causing the second data to be transmitted using the second one or more resources and a second plurality of weights.

79. The system of claim 74, wherein the at least one antenna comprises a plurality of antennas, and the circuitry is configured to cause, via the plurality of antennas, the OFDM wireless transmission of the first data and the second data as at least one multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission.

80. The system of claim 74, wherein the at least one channel characteristic associated with one or both of the first transmission or the second transmission comprises frequency selectivity.

81. The system of claim 74, wherein the at least one channel characteristic associated with one or both of the first transmission or the second transmission comprises delay spread.

82. The system of claim 74, wherein the at least one channel characteristic associated with one or both of the first transmission or the second transmission comprises time selectivity.

83. The system of claim 74, wherein the at least one channel characteristic associated with one or both of the first transmission or the second transmission comprises Doppler spread.

84. The system of claim 74, wherein one or both of the first transmission or the second transmission comprises a pilot signal.