HIERARCHICAL CLUSTERING FRAMEWORK FOR INTER-CELL MIMO SYSTEMS

• US 20100041411A1
• Filed: 08/13/2009
• Published: 02/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Hou, Jilei, Ji, Tingfang, Farajidana, Amir, Mallik, Siddhartha
• Granted Patent: US 10,028,332 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/450
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

A method for wireless communications is provided. The method includes forming a first set of wireless components into a master cluster that provides upper level service functionality to a subset of user devices. The method includes forming a second set of wireless components into a nested cluster that is associated with the master cluster, where the nested cluster provides data transfer to and from the subset of user devices.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communications, comprising:

forming a first set of wireless components into a master cluster that provides upper level service functionality to a subset of user devices; and

forming a second set of wireless components into a nested cluster that is associated with the master cluster, where the nested cluster provides data transfer to and from the subset of user devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming at least one other set of wireless components into a cluster that is controlled by at least one other nested cluster.

3. The method of claim 1, the upper level service functionality is associated with a scheduling function.

4. The method of claim 1, the first set of wireless components forming the master cluster or the second set of wireless components forming the nested cluster are selected from a set of base stations or from a subset of antennas associated with the base stations.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing network parameters that include time parameters, frequency parameters, resource allocation parameters, interference condition parameters, signal strength parameters, signal quality parameters, quality of service parameters, or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) parameters, the network parameters employed to determine the nested clusters.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising statically configuring the master clusters.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising dynamically configuring the nested clusters.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising dynamically configuring nested clusters based on user equipment to be scheduled or based on past configurations of the nested clusters.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising forming the master clusters as a set of cell sites that are associated with a set of cells per site.

10. The method of claim 9, the number of cell sites is three and the numbers of cells per site is nine.

11. The method of claim 9, the number of cell sites is seven and the number of cells per site is twenty one.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a nested cluster that serves the subset of user devices for the duration of a scheduling decision.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising cell sites that share data packets or channel state information.

14. The method of claim 13, the data packets and channel state information are shared over a back haul link connecting different cell sites within one or more master clusters.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising a master cluster that restricts user equipment feedback to a subset of nested clusters.

16. A communications apparatus, comprising:

a memory that retains instructions for forming a master cluster that provides scheduling functionality to a subset of user devices, and a nested cluster that is associated with the master cluster, where the nested cluster provides data transfer to and from the subset of user devices; and

a processor that executes the instructions.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising forming at least one other cluster that is controlled by at least one other nested cluster.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, the master cluster or the nested cluster are selected from a set of base stations or from a subset of antennas associated with the base stations.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising network parameters that include time parameters, frequency parameters, resource allocation parameters, interference condition parameters, signal strength parameters, signal quality parameters, quality of service parameters, or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) parameters, the network parameters employed to determine the nested clusters.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising statically configuring the master clusters.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising dynamically configuring the nested clusters.

22. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising assigning a nested cluster that serves the subset of user devices for the duration of a scheduling decision.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, the subset of user equipment shares data packets and channel state information.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, the data packets and channel state information are shared over a back haul link connecting different cell sites.

25. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a master cluster that restricts user equipment feedback to a subset of nested clusters.

26. A communications apparatus, comprising:

means for controlling a set of master clusters;

means for selecting a set of nested clusters that are responsive to the set of master clusters; and

means for communicating scheduling information and data to a subset of user equipment.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising at least one nested cluster that is controlled by at least one other nested cluster.

28. A computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable medium that includes code for managing handovers, the code comprising;

code for causing a computer to select a set of master clusters;

code for causing a computer to process a set of nested clusters that are controlled by the set of master clusters; and

code for causing a computer to schedule information via a first communication channel and provide data transfer via a second data channel to a subset of user equipment.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, further comprising code for causing a computer to process a set of network parameters to dynamically determine the nested clusters.