SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SELECTING A TRANSMISSION CHANNEL IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM THAT INCLUDES AN ADAPTIVE ARRAY

• US 20120026970A1
• Filed: 10/10/2011
• Published: 02/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Winters, Jack H., Chuang, Justin C., Sollenberger, Nelson R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,855,081 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/330
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0632 Channel quality parameters, e.g. channel quality indicator [CQI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/08 at the receiving station
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0805 with single receiver and antenna switching H04B7/0822 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/084 Equal gain combining, only phase adjustments antenna beam scanning or forming by phase or amplitude control H01Q3/26, e.g. phased arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0857 using maximum ratio combining techniques, e.g. signal-to- interference ratio [SIR], received signal strenght indication [RSS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/54 based on quality criteria

Abstract

A method for establishing wireless communication between a transmitter and a receiver in a wireless communication system is disclosed. The receiver includes an adaptive array that has at least two antennas. Each antenna receives a signal and produces a received signal. The transmitter includes at least two transmission channels for communicating the signal from the transmitter to the receiver. The wireless communication system suppresses interference at the receiver by applying an interference suppression technique when combining the received signals. The selection of a channel at the transmitter is based on the channel performance at the receiver for each transmission channel. The channel performance is based on a combining technique different from the interference suppression technique.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

transmitting a first signal, where the first signal indicates reception of data;

receiving a second signal in response to the first signal, where the second signal provides a list of acceptable transmission channels;

updating, via a processor, a list of preferred channels based at least in part on the second signal;

assigning a channel based at least in part on the list of preferred channels, to yield an assigned channel; and

transmitting the data via a third signal on the assigned channel while transmitting a corresponding pilot frequency signal.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein assigning the channel further comprises assigning a plurality of channels.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second signal comprises a time-division and a frequency-division.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising suppressing interference by applying an interference suppression technique that comprises minimum mean square error combining.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of preferred channels is based at least in part on channel performance.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the channel performance is based on a combining technique that comprises switched diversity combining and that is different from an interference suppression technique.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first signal is a paging signal.

8. A method comprising:

receiving a first signal, where the first signal indicates reception of data;

transmitting a second signal in response to the first signal, where the second signal provides a list of acceptable transmission channels; and

receiving the data via a third signal on an assigned channel while receiving a corresponding pilot frequency signal.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

scanning a first signal frequency band to detect usage signals, where the usage signals correspond to occupied transmission channels; and

creating the list of acceptable transmission channels by removing the occupied transmission channels from a list of possible transmission channels.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the scanning the first signal frequency band proceeds according to a channel priority order.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the first signal is a paging signal.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the assigned channel further comprises a plurality of channels.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the second signal comprises a time-division and a frequency-division.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the pilot frequency signal and the third signal do not form a continuous frequency band.

15. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device storing instructions for controlling the processor to perform steps comprising;

receiving a first signal, where the first signal indicates reception of data;

transmitting a second signal in response to the first signal, where the second signal provides a list of acceptable transmission channels; and

receiving the data via a third signal on an assigned channel while receiving a corresponding pilot frequency signal.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the storage device stores instructions for controlling the processor to perform steps further comprising:

scanning a first signal frequency band to detect usage signals, where the usage signals correspond to occupied transmission channels; and

creating the list of acceptable transmission channels by removing the occupied transmission channels from a list of possible transmission channels.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the scanning the first signal frequency band proceeds according to a channel priority order.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the first signal is a paging signal.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein the assigned channel further comprises a plurality of channels.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the second signal comprises a time-division and a frequency-division.