Notification of receiver capabilities

• US 10,715,193 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2013
• Issued: 07/14/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Zhu, Yuan, Chen, Xiaogang, Davydov, Alexei, Han, Seunghee, Li, Qinghua
• Primary Examiner(s): Sefcheck, Gregory B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Esmaeilian, Majid
• Application Number:
  US14/440,863
• Publication Number:
  US 20150304063A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,415 Days
• Field of Search: 370329
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/12 Neutralising, balancing, or compensation arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3827 Portable transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/24 with feedback of measurements to the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/26 using historical data, averaging values or statistics
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/345 Interference values signal-to-interference ratio [SIR] or carrier-to-interference ratio [CIR] H04B17/336
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0452 Multi-user MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15557 Selecting relay station operation mode, e.g. between amplify and forward mode, decode and forward mode or FDD - and TDD mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 11/005 of intercell interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 11/0053 using co-ordinated multipoint transmission/reception co-ordinated antenna or beam-forming aspects H04B7/022
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0003 by switching between different modulation schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0054 Maximum-likelihood or sequential decoding, e.g. Viterbi, Fano, ZJ algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1854 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1867 Arrangements specially adapted for the transmitter end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/0202 Channel estimation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/0204 of multiple channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/03305 Joint sequence estimation and interference removal joint detection of several desired signals H04L25/03331
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/0008 arrangements for allowing a transmitter or receiver to use more than one type of modulation negotiating modulation type for two-way transmission paths H04L5/1453
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 : Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 : Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0057 : Physical resource allocation for CQI
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0058 : Allocation criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0092 : Indication of how the channel is divided
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 : Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 : Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/10 : Reselecting an access point controller
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/16 : based on interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0261 : managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/40 : during macro-diversity or soft handoff
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 : Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/121 : for groups of terminals or users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 : Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 : in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 : based on terminal or device properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/52 : based on load
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/54 : based on quality criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 : using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/566 : of the information or information source or recipient
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/569 : of the traffic information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 : Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/27 : Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/28 : Discontinuous transmission [DTX]; Discontinuous reception [DRX]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 : Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 : Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 : between terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Disclosed is a user equipment (UE) apparatus, and method to facilitate beamforming between at least one eNB and at least one UE, comprising the at least one UE including an indication in a message from the UE to the at least one eNB of a type of receiver available for use by the UE to receive a return message from the eNB. There is also disclosed a method in an eNB to facilitate beamforming, and a UE and eNB arranged to carry out the described methods.

Claims

1. A user equipment (UE) for use in a wireless communication system, the user equipment comprising:

memory; and

processing circuitry configured to;

generate a UE message to provide an indication to at least one eNB of a type of receiver available for use by the UE to receive a return message from the eNB; and

output that UE message for transmission to the at least one eNB,

wherein the indication of the type of receiver available for use by the UE enables the eNB to select a beamforming scheme for communicating with the UE,

wherein the beamforming scheme involves selecting one of a recommended precoder or a zero forcing precoder for the UE depending on when the type of receiver in the UE, as indicated in the UE message outputted for transmission from the UE to the eNB, is a Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) receiver or a Minimum Mean Square Error and Interference Rejection Combiner (MMSE-IRC) receiver,

wherein the indication is provided from the UE during an initial network access phase, and the initial network access phase is used by the UE to report to the eNB how many dominant interferers the UE is configured to cancel to define in part the type of receiver available for use by the UE.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein the return message from the eNB comprises a PDSCH message.

3. The UE of claim 2, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to demodulate the PDSCH message through application of a UE specific reference signal.

4. The UE of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to provide the indication in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message.

5. The UE of claim 4, wherein the RRC message is one of:

a UL-CCCH-Message type or UL-DCCH-Message type.

6. The UE of claim 4, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to provide the indication in a field of the RRC message useable during the initial network access phase.

7. The UE of claim 1, wherein the at least one eNB and/or the UE comprises a portion of a wireless network, and the portion of a wireless network uses MIMO transmission techniques.

8. The UE of claim 7, wherein the MIMO transmission techniques includes any one or more of:

MU-MIMO;

single point MU-MIMO;

multi-point MU-MIMO;

DPS/DPB; and

/or CSCB.

9. The UE of claim 1, wherein the at least one eNB comprises a first eNB and a second eNB, and the processing circuitry is further configured to provide information about the receiver to the second eNB for use by the UE to receive a return message from the second eNB.

10. An eNB for serving at least one UE, the eNB comprising:

memory; and

processing circuitry configured to;

receive an indication, in a message from the at least one UE, of a type of receiver available for use by the UE to receive a return message from the eNB; and

select a beamforming scheme to utilize for communicating with the UE based on the indication of the type of receiver available for use by the UE,

wherein the beamforming scheme involves selecting one of a recommended precoder or a zero forcing precoder for the UE depending on when the type of receiver in the UE, as indicated in the message received from the UE, is a Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) receiver or a Minimum Mean Square Error and Interference Rejection Combiner (MMSE-IRC) receiver,

wherein the indication is received from the UE during an initial network access phase, and a report of how many dominant interferers the at least one UE is configured to cancel is received from the UE during the initial network access phase to define in part the type of receiver available for use by the UE.

11. The eNB of claim 10, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to provide information, based upon the indication of a type of receiver available for use by the UE to receive a return message from the eNB, to a further eNB.

12. A method to facilitate beamforming between at least one eNB and a UE, comprising:

providing, by the UE, data indicative of a type of receiver available for use by the UE to receive a return message from the eNB, wherein the data indicative of the type of receiver available for use by the UE enables the eNB to select a beamforming scheme for communicating with the UE,

wherein the beamforming scheme involves selecting one of a recommended precoder or a zero forcing precoder for the UE depending on when the type of receiver in the UE, as indicated in the data provided by the UE to the eNB, is a Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) receiver or a Minimum Mean Square Error and Interference Rejection Combiner (MMSE-IRC) receiver,

wherein the data indicative of the type of receiver is provided from the UE during an initial network access phase, and the initial network access phase is used by the UE to report to the eNB how many dominant interferers the UE is configured to cancel to define in part the type of receiver available for use by the UE.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the return message from the eNB comprises a PDSCH message.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one eNB comprises a first eNB and a second eNB, and the method further comprises providing second eNB information about a type of receiver available for use by the UE to receive a return message from the first eNB or second eNB.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising providing the first eNB with information about a type of receiver available for use by a UE served by the second eNB.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the first eNB or second eNB are operable to use the indication or provided information to control a precoding parameter in use by the first eNB or second eNB.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the precoding parameter is useable by the first eNB or second eNB to apply a zero-forcing precoding operation.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, which, when executed, cause a processor to carry out the method of claim 12.