Method of allocating radio resources in telecommunication system, and telecommunication system

• US 20040204111A1
• Filed: 12/26/2002
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Ylitalo, Juha
• Granted Patent: US 7,277,730 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/562.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of allocating radio resources and a telecommunication system including a base station and user equipment. The base station includes a beam forming device configured to form at least two primary beams for signal reception. The antenna array and the beam forming device of the base station are configured to receive a signal transmitted by the user equipment using at least two primary beams, thus providing primary beam-specific signals as output. The base station includes a processing device for determining at least two secondary beam-specific variables associated with two secondary beams using the primary beam-specific signals as input and a transformation between the primary antenna beams and the secondary antenna beams. The telecommunication system further includes an allocation device for allocating radio resources to the user equipment based on the secondary beam-specific variables.

Claims

1. A method of allocating radio resources in a telecommunication system, wherein the telecommunication system comprises a base station capable of forming antenna beams, the method comprising the steps of:

transmitting a signal by user equipment;

receiving the signal using at least two primary beams, wherein the signal is used to produce primary beam-specific signals;

determining at least two secondary beam-specific variables associated with at least two secondary beams using the primary beam-specific signals and a transformation between primary antenna beams and secondary antenna beams, wherein at least one secondary beam is different from the at least two primary beams; and

allocating radio resources to the user equipment based on the secondary beam-specific variables.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said allocating further comprises allocating the radio resources using the at least one secondary beam.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting further comprises transmitting the signal using the user equipment, wherein the signal comprises a predetermined symbol sequence;

and

determining the secondary beam specific variables using the symbol sequence.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining further comprises determining the secondary beam-specific variables as estimates of at least one of a channel impulse response, an averaged channel impulse, a wide band power, a narrow band power, a signal-to-noise ratio, a signal-to-interference ratio, and a signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the signal further comprises:

receiving the signal using at least two antenna elements in an antenna array to produce primary antenna-element-specific signals; and

transforming at least two primary antenna-element-specific signals into the primary beam-specific signals using primary antenna weights associated with the at least two primary beams.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the at least two secondary beam-specific variables further comprises:

determining at least two primary beam-specific variables using the primary beam-specific signals; and

forming the secondary beam-specific variables using the primary beam-specific variables and the transformation between the primary antenna beams and the secondary antenna beams.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the secondary beam-specific variables further comprises:

forming secondary beam-specific signals associated with the at least two secondary beams using the primary beam-specific signals and the transformation between the primary antenna beams and the secondary antenna beams; and

determining the at least two secondary beam-specific variables using the secondary beam-specific signals.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining at least two secondary beam-specific quality variables;

allocating the radio resources; and

allocating the radio resources by selecting at least one secondary beam for radio resource allocation based on the secondary beam-specific quality variables.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of allocating the radio resources to the user equipment further comprises:

estimating an estimated direction of arrival of the signal received by the at least two primary beams using the at least two secondary beam-specific variables; and

allocating the radio resources to the estimated direction.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of allocating the radio resources to the user equipment further comprises:

generating at least one user signal to be transmitted to the user equipment; and

transmitting the at least one user signal to the user equipment in a secondary antenna beam direction by weighting the at least one user signal with antenna weights associated with the secondary antenna beam direction.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of allocating the radio resources to the user equipment further comprises:

receiving an uplink user signal from the user equipment using at least two antenna elements of an antenna array to produce primary antenna-element-specific user signals; and

transforming the primary antenna-element-specific user signals into at least one secondary uplink beam-specific user signal using secondary antenna weights associated with the secondary antenna beams and the at least two secondary beam-specific variables.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of allocating the radio resources to the user equipment further comprises adapting the allocation of the radio resources to prevailing requirements of the telecommunication system.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the transformation between the primary antenna beams and the secondary antenna beams comprising pre-determined complex weights, wherein the complex weights accounts for at least one of primary antenna weights, antenna geometry, carrier frequency associated with primary beams, and carrier frequency associated with secondary beams.

14. A telecommunication system, comprising:

a base station and user equipment;

wherein the base station comprises an antenna array for providing a radio link for signals transmitted between the base station and the user equipment, and beam forming means connected to an antenna array for forming antenna beams;

wherein the beam forming means are configured to form at least two primary beams for signal reception using primary antenna weights and the antenna array;

wherein the user equipment is configured to transmit a signal;

wherein the antenna array and the beam forming means are configured to receive the transmitted signal using the at least two primary beams, wherein the signal is used to produce primary beam-specific signals as an output;

wherein the base station comprises processing means connected to the beam forming means for determining at least two secondary beam-specific variables associated with at least two secondary beams using the primary beam-specific signals as an input and a transformation between the primary antenna beams and the secondary antenna beams, wherein at least one secondary antenna beam being different from any one of the primary antenna beams; and

a telecommunication system further comprises allocation means for allocating radio resources to the user equipment based on the secondary beam-specific variables.

15. The telecommunication system of claim 14, wherein the beam forming means are configured to form at least one secondary beam;

and

the allocation means are configured to allocate the radio resources using the secondary beam.

16. The telecommunication system of claim 14, wherein the user equipment is configured to transmit a signal including a predetermined symbol sequence;

and

wherein the processing means are configured to determine the at least two secondary beam-specific variables using the predetermined symbol sequence.

17. The telecommunication system of claim 14, wherein the secondary beam-specific variables are estimates of at least one of a channel impulse response, an averaged channel impulse, a wide band power, a narrow band power, a signal-to-noise ratio, a signal-to-interference ratio, and a signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio.

18. The telecommunication system of claim 14, wherein the antenna array comprises at least two antenna elements for receiving the signal used to produce primary antenna-element-specific signals as the output;

and

wherein the beam forming means are configured to transform the primary antenna-element-specific signals into primary beam-specific signals using primary antenna weights associated with the at least two primary beams.

19. The telecommunication system of claim 14, wherein the processing means are configured to determine at least two primary beam-specific variables using the primary beam-specific signals;

and

wherein the processing means are configured to form the at least two secondary beam-specific variables using the primary beam-specific variables and the transformation between the primary antenna beams and the secondary antenna beams.

20. The telecommunication system of claim 14, wherein the processing means are configured to form secondary beam-specific signals associated with the at least two secondary beams using the primary beam-specific signals and the transformation between the primary antenna beams and the secondary antenna beams;

and

wherein the processing means are configured to determine the at least two secondary beam-specific variables using secondary beam-specific signals.

21. The telecommunication system of claim 14, wherein the processing means are configured to determine at least two secondary beam-specific quality variables;

and

wherein the allocation means are configured to select at least one secondary beam for radio resource allocation based on the secondary beam-specific quality variables.

22. The telecommunication system of claim 14, wherein the processing means are configured to estimate an estimated direction of the signal received by the primary beams using the at least two secondary beam-specific variables;

and

wherein the allocation means are configured to allocate the radio resources to the estimated direction.

23. The telecommunication system of claim 14, wherein the base station comprises a user signal generator for generating a user signal to be transmitted to the user equipment using at least one secondary beam;

and

wherein the beam forming means are configured to transmit the user signal to the user equipment using the secondary beam by weighting the user signal with secondary antenna weights associated with the secondary antenna beams.

24. The telecommunication system of claim 14, wherein the antenna array is configured to receive an uplink user signal from the user equipment using at least two antenna elements of the antenna array to produce primary antenna-element-specific user signals as the output;

and

wherein the beam forming means and the processing means are configured to transform the primary antenna-element-specific user signals into at least one secondary uplink beam-specific user signal using secondary antenna weights associated with the secondary antenna beam and the at least two secondary beam-specific variables.

25. The telecommunication system of claim 14, wherein the allocation means are configured to adapt the allocation of the radio resources to the user equipment to prevailing requirements of the telecommunication system.

26. The telecommunication system of claim 14, wherein the processing means are configured to carry out the transformation between the primary antenna beams and the secondary antenna beams using predetermined complex weights, wherein the complex weights accounts for a factor of at least one of primary antenna weights, antenna geometry, carrier frequency associated with primary beams, and carrier frequency associated with secondary beams.