Cooperative beam-forming in wireless networks

• US 20080075033A1
• Filed: 07/22/2005
• Published: 03/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Genghiscomm Holdings, LLC
• Original Assignee: GenghisComm LLC
• Inventors: Shattil, Steve J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,670,390 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0003 Software-defined radio [SDR] systems, i.e. systems wherein components typically implemented in hardware, e.g. filters or modulators/demodulators, are implented using software, e.g. by involving an AD or DA conversion stage such that at least part of the signal processing is performed in the digital domain digital baseband systems H04L25/00; digital modulation/demodulation H04L27/00; CDMA H04B1/707; TDMA H04B7/2643; image transmission H04N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/024 Co-operative use of antennas of several sites, e.g. in co-ordinated multipoint or co-operative multiple-input multiple-output [MIMO] systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/026 Co-operative diversity, e.g. using fixed or mobile stations as relays
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0452 Multi-user MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0456 Selection of precoding matrices or codebooks, e.g. using matrices antenna weighting
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0697 using spatial multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 13/0003 Code application, i.e. aspects relating to how codes are applied to form multiplexed channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 13/004 Orthogonal
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 13/12 Generation of orthogonal codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/01 Equalisers baseband equalizers at the transmitter end H04L25/03343; in analogue transmission systems H04B3/04, H04B7/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/148 using filters, including PLL-type filters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2601 Multicarrier modulation systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2602 Signal structure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2614 Peak power aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2636 with FFT or DFT modulators, e.g. standard single-carrier frequency-division multiple access [SC-FDMA] transmitter or DFT spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing [DFT-SOFDM]
• 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 27/2647 Arrangements specific to the receiver only equalisation H04L27/01
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/26526 with inverse FFT [IFFT] or inverse DFT [IDFT] demodulators, e.g. standard single-carrier frequency-division multiple access [SC-FDMA] receiver or DFT spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing [DFT-SOFDM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/26534 Pulse-shaped multi-carrier, i.e. not using rectangular window
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/24 Multipath
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 : Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0007 : the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0021 : in which codes are applied as a frequency-domain sequences, e.g. MC-CDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 : Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0035 : Resource allocation in a cooperative multipoint environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0037 : Inter-user or inter-terminal allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0073 : Allocation arrangements that take into account other cell interferences for intercell interference mitigation or co-ordination in orthogonal multiplex systems H04J11/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/046 : the resource being in the space domain, e.g. beams
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 : Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A beam-forming system comprises a cooperative array of wireless terminals coupled to at least one wireless wide area network (WWAN) and communicatively coupled to a wireless local area network (WLAN) configured to provide information exchanges between the wireless terminals. A cooperative beam-forming system employing the WLAN provides antenna-array processing benefits (such as frequency reuse, interference rejection, array-processing gain, antenna-switching diversity) to the individual wireless terminals. A network access operator facilitates network control functionality between the WWAN and the cooperative array of wireless terminals.

Claims

1. A beam-forming method comprising:

providing for wireless local area network (WLAN) connectivity for communicatively coupling together a plurality of spatially separated wireless terminals communicatively coupled to a wireless wide area network (WWAN) and configured for processing WWAN signals, and

performing cooperative beam-forming with the WWAN signals such that the plurality of spatially separated wireless terminals functions together as an antenna array.

2. The beam-forming method recited in claim 1, wherein providing for cooperative beam-forming includes providing for at least one of OFDM-MIMO processing, Rake processing, eigenvalue decomposition, successive interference cancellation, optimal combining, antenna selection, multi-user detection, space-time processing, space-frequency processing, phased-array processing, load balancing, and blind source separation.

3. A digital computer system programmed to perform the method recited in claim 1.

4. A computer-readable medium storing a computer program implementing the method of claim 1.

5. A wireless terminal configured to perform the method recited in claim 1.

6. A wireless terminal, comprising:

a wireless wide area network (WWAN) interface configured for communicatively coupling the wireless terminal to at least one WWAN,

a wireless local area network (WLAIN) interface configured for communicatively coupling the wireless terminal to at least one additional wireless terminal, and

a beam-forming processor communicatively coupled to the WLAN interface and configured for performing beamforming with WWAN signals from a plurality of wireless terminals, thereby enabling the plurality of wireless terminals to function as an antenna array.

7. The wireless terminal recited in claim 6, wherein the beam-forming processor is configured for performing at least one of OFDM-MIMO processing, Rake processing, eigenvalue decomposition, successive interference cancellation, optimal combining, antenna selection, multi-user detection, space-time processing, space-frequency processing, phased-array processing, load balancing, and blind source separation.

8. The wireless terminal recited in claim 6, wherein the beam-forming processor resides in at least one of a plurality of terminals, the plurality of terminals comprising the wireless terminal, the at least one additional wireless terminal, and at least one wireless terminal communicatively coupled to the WLAN but not communicatively coupled to the WWAN.

9. The wireless terminal recited in claim 6, wherein the beam-forming processor is further configured for performing at least one of a set of functions, the set comprising allocating network resources among the wireless terminals, load balancing, distributed computing, providing for antenna-switching diversity, providing for WWAN diversity, performing interference mitigation, participating in WWAN hand-off operations for at least one wireless terminal, participating in WWAN power control processes, participating in WWAN user authentication, providing for session management, performing ad-hoc network control, providing for error correction coding, and providing for error-correction decoding.

10. The wireless terminal recited in claim 6, wherein the beam-forming processor is configured for performing at least one of OFDM-MIMO processing, Rake processing, eigenvalue decomposition, successive interference cancellation, optimal combining, antenna selection, multi-user detection, space-time processing, space-frequency processing, phased-array processing, load balancing, and blind source separation.

11. A cooperative-MIMO processing system. comprising:

a wireless wide area network (WWAN) comprising a local group of a plurality of wireless terminals (WTs).

a wireless local area network (WLAN) communicatively coupling the plurality of WTs, and

a MIMO processor communicatively coupled to the WLAN and contigured to perform subspace processing for separating a plurality of WWAN channels allocated to a common signal space.

12. The system recited in claim 11, further comprising a network-management operator configured to handle WWAN-control operations for the plurality of WTs in the local group, the network-management operator comprising at least one of a target wireless terminal (WT), a network controller, a WT in a local group having a preferred WWAN channel, a WT in a local group selected for load balancing, a plurality of WTs including the target WT, a plurality of WTs including the network controller, a plurality of WTs not including the network controller, and a plurality of WTs not including the target WT.

13. The system recited in claim 12 wherein the WWAN-control operations;

include at least one of a set, the set comprising power control, data-rate control, session control, authentication, key exchange, paging, control-channel monitoring, traffic channel request, channel assignment, error detection, acknowledgement, request for retransmission, identification, reconnects, synchronization, flow control, request for service from a particular sector or access point, and hand-off

14. The system recited in claim 11, wherein the WWAN includes at least one of a set of system configurations, the set comprising:

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to receive from a base station a signal intended for at least one WT,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to receive from a base station a plurality of signals modulated on interfering (e.g., common) channels and intended for at least one WT,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to receive from a base station a plurality of signals modulated on different non-interfering channels and intended for at least one WT,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to receive from a plurality of base stations a signal modulated on a common channel intended for at least one WT,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to receive from a plurality of base stations a signal redundantly modulated on a plurality of different channels intended for at least one WT,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to receive from a plurality of base stations a plurality of signals modulated on interfering channels and intended for at least one WT,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to receive from a plurality of base stations a plurality of signals modulated on different non-interfering channels and intended for at least one WT,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to transmit to a base station a signal originating from at least one WT,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to transmit to a base station a plurality of signals modulated on interfering (e.g., common) channels originating from at least one WT,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to transmit to a base station a plurality of signals modulated on different non-interfering channels originating from at least one WT,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to transmit to a plurality of base stations a signal modulated on a common channel originating from at least one WT,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to transmit to a plurality of base stations a signal redundantly modulated on a plurality of different channels originating from at least one WT,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to transmit to a plurality of base stations a plurality of signals modulated on interibring channels originating from at least one WT,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to transmit to a plurality of base stations a plurality of signals modulated on different non-interfering channels and originating from at least one WT,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to receive from a second local group a signal intended for at least one WT in the local group,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to receive from a second local group a plurality of signals modulated on interfering channels and intended for at least one WT in the local group,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to receive from second local group a plurality of signals modulated on different non-interfering channels and intended for at least one WT in the local group,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to transmit to a second local group a signal originating from at least one WT in the local group,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to transmit to a second local group a plurality of signals modulated on interfering channels and originating from at least one WT in the local group,

the plurality of WTs in the local group configured to transmit to a second local group a plurality of signals modulated on different non-interfering channels and originating from at least one WT in the local group,

a base station comprising the plurality of Wis in a base station local group configured to transmit a signal intended for at least one subscriber WT not in the base station local group,

a base station comprising the plurality of WTs in a base station local group configured to transmit a plurality of signals modulated on interfering (e.g., common) channels and intended for at least one subscriber WT not in the base station local group,

a base station comprising the plurality of WTs in a base station local group configured to transmit a plurality of signals modulated on different non- interfering channels and intended for at least one subscriber WT not in the base station local group,

multiple base stations comprising at least one base station local group configured to transmit a signal modulated on a common channel intended for at least one WT,

multiple base stations comprising at least one base station local group configured to transmit to a plurality of WTs a signal redundantly modulated on a plurality of different channels intended for at least one WT,

multiple base stations comprising at least one base station local group configured to transmit to a plurality of WTs a plurality of signals modulated on interfering channels and intended for at least one WT,

multiple base stations comprising at least one base station local group configured to transmit to a plurality of WTs a plurality of signals modulated on different non- interfering channels and intended for at least one WT,

a base station comprising the plurality of WTs in a base station local group configured to receive a signal originating from at least one WT,

a base station comprising the plurality of WTs in a base station local group configured to receive a plurality of signals originating from at least one WT and modulated on interfering channels,

a base station comprising the plurality of WTs in a base station local group configured to receive a plurality of signals modulated on different non-interfering channels and originating from at least one WT,

multiple base stations comprising at least one base station local group configured to receive a signal modulated on a common channel originating from at least one WT,

multiple base stations comprising at least one base station local group configured to receive a signal redundantly modulated on a plurality of different channels originating from at least one WT,

multiple base stations comprising at least one base station local group configured to receive a plurality of signals modulated on interfering channels and originating from at least one WT, and

multiple base stations comprising at least one base station local group configured to receive a plurality of signals modulated on different non-interfering channels and originating from at least one WT.

15. The system recited in claim 11, wherein the MIMO processor is configured for performing at least one of OFDM-MIMO processing, Rake processing, eigenvalue decomposition, successive interference cancellation, optimal combining, antenna selection, multi-user detection, space-time processing, space-frequency processing, phased-array processing, load balancing, and blind source separation.

16. A cooperative-MIIMO receiver, comprising:

a plurality of wireless terminals, each of the plurality of wireless terminals comprising;

a wireless wide area network (WWAN) interface configured to receive and process transmitted WWAN signals for generating a plurality of baseband WWAN signals therefrom; and

a wireless local area network (WLAN) interface for communicatively coupling together the plurality of wireless terminals in a WLAN; and

at least one multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) combiner configured to receive the plurality of baseband WWAN signals from the WLAN, the at least one MIMO combiner adapted to perform MIMO combining of the plurality of baseband WWAN signals.

17. The receiver recited in claim 16, wherein the at least one MIMO combiner resides on at least one of the plurality of wireless terminals.

18. The receiver recited in claim 16, wherein the at least one MIMO combiner is configured to provide for at least one of centralized computing and distributed computing.

19. The receiver recited in claim 16, further comprising at least one of a set of network controllers, the set comprising a centralized network controller for controlling at least one WWAN network access function for the plurality of wireless terminals, and a plurality of network controllers, wherein each of the plurality of network controllers resides on one of the plurality of wireless terminals and is configured for controlling at least one WWAN network access function.

20. The receiver recited in claim 16, wherein the at least one of a set of network controllers is further configured for performing at least one of a set of functions, the set comprising allocating network resources among the wireless terminals, load balancing, distributed computing, providing for antenna-switching diversity, providing for WWAN diversity, performing interference mitigation, participating in WWAN hand-off operations for at least one wireless terminal participating in WWAN power control processes, participating in WWAN user authentication, providing for session management, performing ad-hoc network control, providing for error correction coding, and providing for error-correction decoding.

21. A transmitter comprising:

a plurality of spatially separated WWAN interfaces, wherein each WWAN interface is adapted to transmit at least one WWAN signal into at least one WWAN;

at least one data source adapted to generate at least one data signal for transmission into the at least one WWAN;

at least one WLAN communicatively coupled to the plurality of WWAN interfaces and adapted to couple the at least one data signal to the plurality of WWAN interfaces for generating a plurality of WWAN data signals; and

at least one MIMO processor coupled to the WLAN and adapted to generate a plurality of complex weights for weighting the plurality of WWAN data signals.

22. The transmitter recited in claim 21, wherein the at least one MIMO processor resides on at least one of the plurality of wireless terminals.

23. The transmitter recited in claim 21, wherein the at least one MIMO processor is configured to provide for at least one of centralized computing and distributed computing.

24. The transmitter recited in claim 21, further comprising at least one of a set of network controllers, the set comprising a centralized network controller for controlling at least one WWAN network access function for the plurality of wireless terminals, and a plurality of network controllers, wherein each of the plurality of network controllers resides on one of the plurality of wireless terminals and is configured for controlling at least one WWAN network access function.

25. The transmitter recited in claim 21, wherein the at least one of a set of network controllers is further configured for performing at least one of a set of functions, the set comprising allocating network resources among the wireless terminals, load balancing, distributed computing, providing for antenna-switching diversity, providing for WWAN diversity, performing interference mitigation, participating in WWAN hand-off operations for at least one wireless terminal, participating in WWAN power control processes, participating in WWAN user authentication, providing for session management, performing ad-hoc network control, providing for error correction coding, and providing for error-correction decoding.