SOUNDING REFERENCE SIGNAL FOR COORDINATED MULTI-POINT OPERATION

• US 20110098054A1
• Filed: 04/21/2010
• Published: 04/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Montojo, Juan, Chen, Wanshi, Gorokhov, Alexei Y.
• Granted Patent: US 8,938,247 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/452.1
• 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: H04L 5/0035 Resource allocation in a cooperative multipoint environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0091 Signaling for the administration of the divided path
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/325 Power control of control or pilot channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/40 during macro-diversity or soft handoff

Abstract

Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate configuring a sounding reference signal transmission in a wireless communication environment. A UE can employ coordinated multi-point transmission and/or reception such that multiple cells collaborate to transmit data to the UE and/or receive data from the UE. To support the coordinated multi-point transmission and/or reception, the UE can transmit a sounding reference signal that is configured to enable reliable reception of the sounding reference signal by members of a cooperating set. In addition, configuration of the sounding reference signal can be coordinated to enable more efficient transmission and utilization of the sounding reference signal. Configuration of the sounding reference signal can be based upon information exchanged between the multiple cells. Moreover, the multiple cells can coordinate to set and control a transmit power of the sounding reference signal.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving first configuration information from a first node in a cooperating set, wherein the cooperating set includes a plurality of nodes that collaborate to provide coordinated multi-point reception or transmission;

generating a sounding reference signal based at least in part on the first configuration information; and

transmitting the sounding reference signal to one or more nodes in the plurality of nodes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first configuration information includes a set of parameters related to a sounding reference signal transmission, the set of parameters includes at least one of a bandwidth parameter, a periodicity parameter, a subframe offset, a hopping bandwidth parameter, a transmission comb parameter, a starting physical resource block assignment, a transmission duration parameter, a cyclic shift parameter, a transmit power offset, or a coordinated multi-point offset.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein generating the sounding reference signal is based upon at least one of the bandwidth parameter or the cyclic shift parameter.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising mapping the sounding reference signal to a set of resource elements in a subframe, wherein the set of resource elements is determined in accordance with at least one of the bandwidth parameter, the hopping bandwidth parameter, the subframe offset, the transmission comb parameter, or the starting physical resource block assignment.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving second configuration information from a second node in the cooperating set, wherein the second node is associated with a non-serving cell and the first node is associated with a serving cell.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

combining the first configuration information and the second configuration information; and

generating the sounding reference signal based upon the first configuration information and the second configuration information.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing a transmit power for the sounding reference signal in accordance with a transmit power offset included in the first configuration information.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein establishing the transmit power comprises employing the transmit power offset to boost a physical uplink shared channel power.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein establishing the transmit power comprises increasing the transmit power in accordance with an additional offset based upon various parameters associated with cells in the cooperating set.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a power control command from at least one node in the cooperating set; and

incrementally adjusting the transmit power in accordance with the power control command.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the sounding reference signal further comprises:

partitioning a system bandwidth into a plurality of chunks;

selecting a first portion of a first chunk for a first transmission of the sounding reference signal; and

hopping to a second portion of the first chunk for a second transmission of the sounding reference signal.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising hopping to a second chunk in the plurality of chunks after a predetermined number of hops within the first chunk, wherein a subsequent transmission of the sounding reference signal utilizes at least a portion of the second chunk.

13. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

receive configuration information from a node in a cooperating set, wherein the cooperating set includes a plurality of nodes that collaborate to provide coordinated multi-point reception or transmission;

generate a sounding reference signal based at least in part on the configuration information; and

transmit the sounding reference signal to one or more nodes in the plurality of nodes.

14. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive second configuration information from a second node of the cooperating set; and

combine the second configuration information with other configuration information; and

generate the sounding reference signal based upon the second configuration information and the other configuration information.

15. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to set a transmit power for the sounding reference signal in accordance with a transmit power offset included in the configuration information.

16. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to boost the transmit power in accordance with an additional offset identified based upon a size of the cooperating set.

17. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive power control commands from at least one node in the cooperating set; and

adjust the transmit power in accordance with the power control commands.

18. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

partition a system bandwidth into a plurality of chunks;

select a first portion of a first chunk;

utilize the first portion of the first chunk to transmit the sounding reference signal; and

selecting a second portion of the first chunk for a second transmission of the sounding reference signal.

19. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 18, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to hop to a second chunk in the plurality of chunks.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving first configuration information from a first node in a cooperating set, wherein the cooperating set includes a plurality of nodes that collaborate to provide coordinated multi-point reception or transmission;

means for generating a sounding reference signal based at least in part on the first configuration information; and

means for transmitting the sounding reference signal to one or more nodes in the plurality of nodes.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the first configuration information includes a set of parameters related to a sounding reference signal transmission, the set of parameters includes at least one of a bandwidth parameter, a periodicity parameter, a subframe offset, a hopping bandwidth parameter, a transmission comb parameter, a starting physical resource block assignment, a transmission duration parameter, a cyclic shift parameter, a transmit power offset, or a coordinated multi-point offset.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising means for receiving second configuration information from a second node in the cooperating set, wherein the second node is associated with a non-serving cell and the first node is associated with a serving cell.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising:

means for integrating the first configuration information and the second configuration information; and

means for generating the sounding reference signal based upon the first configuration information and the second configuration information.

24. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising means for setting a transmit power for the sounding reference signal in accordance with a transmit power offset and an additional offset based upon a size of the cooperating set.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising:

means for receiving a power control command from at least one node in the cooperating set; and

means for adjusting the transmit power by an increment in accordance with the power control command.

26. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium, comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to receive configuration information from a node in a cooperating set, wherein the cooperating set includes a plurality of nodes that collaborate to provide coordinated multi-point reception or transmission;

code for causing the at least one computer to generate a sounding reference signal based at least in part on the configuration information; and

code for causing the at least one computer to transmit the sounding reference signal to one or more nodes in the plurality of nodes.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, the computer-readable medium further comprising:

code for causing the at least one computer to receive second configuration information from a second node of the cooperating set; and

code for causing the at least one computer to combine the second configuration information with other configuration information; and

code for causing the at least one computer to generate the sounding reference signal based upon the second configuration information and the other configuration information.

28. The computer program product of claim 26, the computer-readable medium further comprising code for causing the at least one computer to set a transmit power for the sounding reference signal in accordance with a transmit power offset included in the configuration information.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, the computer-readable medium further comprising code for causing the at least one computer to boost the transmit power in accordance with an additional offset identified based upon a size of the cooperating set.

30. An apparatus, comprising:

a configuration module that obtains configuration information from a node in a cooperating set and generates a set of configuration parameters in accordance with the configuration information, wherein the cooperating set includes a plurality of nodes that collaborate to provide coordinated multi-point reception or transmission;

a generation module that generates a sounding reference signal in accordance with the set of configuration parameters; and

a transmission module that transmits the sounding reference signal to one or more nodes in the cooperating set.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the configuration module controls the generation module and the transmission module.

32. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising a power module that establishes a transmit power for the sounding reference signal, wherein the transmit power is based at least in part on one or more parameters in the set of configuration parameters.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the power module adjusts the transmit power in accordance with power control commands received from at least one node in the cooperating set.

34. A method, comprising:

obtaining cell information from a neighbor cell via a backhaul, wherein the neighbor cell is included in a cooperating set associated with a mobile device;

generating a set of configuration parameters in accordance with the cell information, wherein the set of configuration parameters relate to transmission of a sounding reference signal; and

transmitting the set of configuration parameters to the mobile device.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the set of configuration parameters include at least one of a bandwidth parameter, a periodicity parameter, a subframe offset, a hopping bandwidth parameter, a transmission comb parameter, a starting physical resource block assignment, a transmission duration parameter, a cyclic shift parameter, a transmit power offset, or a coordinated multi-point offset.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising selecting the periodicity parameter and the subframe offset to achieve orthogonality to transmissions by other mobile devices.

37. The method of claim 35, further comprising generating the coordinated multi-point offset as a plurality of groups of values, wherein each group is associated with a particular cooperating set size.

38. The method of claim 35, further comprising determining an optimal value of the coordinated multi-point offset based, in part, on at least one of channel characteristics, cell loading information, or a size of the cooperating set.

39. The method of claim 34, wherein the cell information includes at least one of cell loading information, interference level information, measurement information, channel estimates, configuration parameters, or power control information.

40. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

identifying a power adjustment to transmit power of the sounding reference signal based at least in part on the cell information; and

transmitting a power control command to the mobile device.

41. An apparatus, comprising:

a cell information evaluation module that obtains cell information from a neighbor cell, wherein the neighbor cell is included in a cooperating set with the apparatus;

a configuration module that generates a set of configuration parameters related to sounding reference signal transmission, wherein the configuration module utilizes the cell information to generate the set of configuration parameters; and

a transmitter that sends the set of configuration parameters to a mobile device.

42. The apparatus of claim 41, further comprising a power control module that generates at least one of power control configuration parameters or power control commands.

43. The apparatus of claim 41, further comprising an evaluation module that receives a sounding reference signal from the mobile device, analyze the sounding reference signal, and generates a channel estimate based upon the sounding reference signal.

44. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

means for obtaining cell information from a neighbor cell via a backhaul, wherein the neighbor cell is included in a cooperating set associated with a mobile device;

means for generating a set of configuration parameters in accordance with the cell information, wherein the set of configuration parameters relate to transmission of a sounding reference signal; and

means for transmitting the set of configuration parameters to the mobile device.

45. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 44, wherein the set of configuration parameters include at least one of a bandwidth parameter, a periodicity parameter, a subframe offset, a hopping bandwidth parameter, a transmission comb parameter, a starting physical resource block assignment, a transmission duration parameter, a cyclic shift parameter, a transmit power offset, or a coordinated multi-point offset.

46. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 45, further comprising means for selecting the periodicity parameter and the subframe offset to achieve orthogonality to transmissions by other mobile devices.

47. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 45, further comprising means for generating the coordinated multi-point offset as a plurality of groups of values, wherein each group is associated with a particular cooperating set size.

48. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 45, further comprising means for determining an optimal value of the coordinated multi-point offset based, in part, on at least one of channel characteristics, cell loading information, or a size of the cooperating set.

49. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 44, wherein the cell information includes at least one of cell loading information, interference level information, measurement information, channel estimates, configuration parameters, or power control information.

50. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 44, further comprising:

means for identifying a power adjustment to transmit power of the sounding reference signal based at least in part on the cell information; and

means for sending a power control command to the mobile device.

51. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium, comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to obtain cell information from a neighbor cell via a backhaul, wherein the neighbor cell is included in a cooperating set associated with a mobile device;

code for causing the at least one computer to generate a set of configuration parameters in accordance with the cell information, wherein the set of configuration parameters relate to transmission of a sounding reference signal; and

code for causing the at least one computer to transmit the set of configuration parameters to the mobile device.

52. The computer program product of claim 51, the computer-readable medium further comprising:

code for causing the at least one computer to identify a power adjustment to transmit power of the sounding reference signal based at least in part on the cell information; and

code for causing the at least one computer to transmit a power control command to the mobile device.

53. A wireless communications apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

receive cell information from a neighbor cell via a backhaul, wherein the neighbor cell is included in a cooperating set associated with a mobile device;

determine a set of configuration parameters in accordance with the cell information, wherein the set of configuration parameters relate to transmission of a sounding reference signal; and

transmit the set of configuration parameters to the mobile device.