Methods and apparatus for antenna control in a wireless terminal
First Claim
1. A communications method, the method comprising:
- during a first period of time;
i) receiving at a plurality of antenna elements, symbols transmitted using a first modulation method;
ii) using a first set of antenna gain coefficients to control individual gains applied to the signals received from different ones of said plurality of antenna elements to produce gain adjusted signals;
iii) combining the gain adjusted signals received from the different antenna elements to produce a first combined gain adjusted signal;
during a second period of time, following said first period of time;
iv) receiving at said plurality of antenna elements, a symbol transmitted using a second modulation method than the modulation method used during said first period of time; and
v) using a second set of antenna gain coefficients to control individual gains applied to the individual signals received from different ones of said plurality of antenna elements to produce gain adjusted signals.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Base stations transmit strip signals using strip signal segments and self supporting modulation scheme techniques facilitating rapid channel estimate. A strip segment occupies one OFDM symbol time interval and uses a set of downlink tones; some, e.g., half, of the tones are left unused facilitating SIR measurement. The strip segments are advantageously timed to correspond to uplink access intervals in which connected wireless terminals do not typically transmit uplink signals. Connected wireless terminals including: multiple antennas used in combination, an antenna duplex module, single RF receiver chain and single RF transmitter chain, switch antenna coefficient combinations based on strip signal segment timing. The wireless terminal determines an independent downlink channel quality measurement, e.g., SNR and/or SIR for each strip signal segment and for on-going non-strip signaling. The wireless terminal compares channel quality measurements and selects an antenna coefficient combination to be used during non-strip signaling intervals obtaining very good antenna gain.
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Citations
59 Claims
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1. A communications method, the method comprising:
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during a first period of time;
i) receiving at a plurality of antenna elements, symbols transmitted using a first modulation method;
ii) using a first set of antenna gain coefficients to control individual gains applied to the signals received from different ones of said plurality of antenna elements to produce gain adjusted signals;
iii) combining the gain adjusted signals received from the different antenna elements to produce a first combined gain adjusted signal;
during a second period of time, following said first period of time;
iv) receiving at said plurality of antenna elements, a symbol transmitted using a second modulation method than the modulation method used during said first period of time; and
v) using a second set of antenna gain coefficients to control individual gains applied to the individual signals received from different ones of said plurality of antenna elements to produce gain adjusted signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A wireless terminal comprising:
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a plurality of antenna elements for receiving signals;
a plurality of controllable gain elements each controllable gain element being coupled to a different one of the plurality of antenna elements;
a combining circuit coupled to each of the gain elements for combining the output of each gain control element into a combined signal, the gain of each gain control element being controlled by a gain control coefficient;
a signal quality measurement module coupled to said combining circuit for making signal quality measurements on the combined signal output by said combining circuit during different periods of time; and
a gain control module coupled to said signal measurement module for controlling the wireless terminal to use different sets of gain control coefficients during different periods of time, said gain control module including a coefficient selection module for selecting the set of gain coefficients to be used during a subsequent period of time based on signal measurements made during at least two different periods of time during which different sets of gain control coefficients were used. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A communications method for use by a wireless terminal including a plurality of antenna elements, a plurality of controllable gain elements and a combining circuit, each gain element controlling a gain applied to at least one signal communicated between the corresponding antenna element and the combining circuit, the method comprising:
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operating the wireless terminal to receive data signals during a first time period using a first set of gain values, each gain value in the first set being used to control a different one of the gain control elements;
operating the wireless terminal to measure the signal quality of the signals received during the first time period; and
operating the wireless terminal during a second time period, immediately following said first time period, said step of operating the wireless terminal during a second period of time including;
i) setting the gains of the gain control elements to a second set of gain control values which is different from the first set of gain control values used during said first time period. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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Specification