System and Method for Multi-Level Beamformed Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access Communications

• US 20160353424A1
• Filed: 05/28/2015
• Published: 12/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Stirling-Gallacher, Richard, Liu, Bin, Zhang, Lili
• Granted Patent: US 10,148,332 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0626 Channel coefficients, e.g. channel state information [CSI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0628 Diversity capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/063 Parameters other than those covered in groups H04B7/0623 - H04B7/0634, e.g. channel matrix rank or transmit mode selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0632 Channel quality parameters, e.g. channel quality indicator [CQI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0639 Using selective indices, e.g. of a codebook, e.g. pre-distortion matrix index [PMI] or for beam selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0695 using beam selection

Abstract

A method for operating a communications controller includes grouping a plurality of user equipments (UEs) in accordance with received channel condition reports, UE interference cancellation (IC) capability reports, and mobility estimates, thereby producing information about the grouping, selecting a first UE out of the plurality of UEs and a second UE out of the plurality of UEs, wherein the selecting is in accordance with the information about grouping, wherein a wide width beam is allocated to the first UE and a narrow width beam is allocated to the second UE, and wherein the wide width beam and the narrow width beam spatially overlap, co-scheduling resources of a first transmit block to the first UE and the second UE, determining first transmission parameters for the first UE and second transmission parameters for the second UE in accordance with the co-scheduled resources, and communicating with the first UE and the second UE in accordance with the first transmission parameters for the first UE and the second transmission parameters for the second UE.

Claims

1. A method for operating a communications controller, the method comprising:

grouping, by the communications controller, a plurality of user equipments (UEs) in accordance with received channel condition reports, UE interference cancellation (IC) capability reports, and mobility estimates, thereby producing information about the grouping;

selecting, by the communications controller, a first UE out of the plurality of UEs and a second UE out of the plurality of UEs, wherein the selecting is in accordance with the information about grouping, wherein a wide width beam is allocated to the first UE and a narrow width beam is allocated to the second UE, and wherein the wide width beam and the narrow width beam spatially overlap;

co-scheduling, by the communications controller, resources of a first transmit block to the first UE and the second UE;

determining, by the communications controller, first transmission parameters for the first UE and second transmission parameters for the second UE in accordance with the co-scheduled resources; and

communicating, by the communications controller, with the first UE and the second UE in accordance with the first transmission parameters for the first UE and the second transmission parameters for the second UE.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a third UE out of the plurality of UEs;

scheduling a resource of a second transmission block to the third UE;

determining second transmission parameters for the third UE in accordance with the scheduled resource; and

communicating with the third UE in accordance with the second transmission parameters.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the channel condition reports generated from measurements of a plurality of beamformed channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

beamforming a CSI-RS with each of a plurality of transmission beams, thereby producing a plurality of beamformed CSI-RS;

transmitting the plurality of beamformed CSI-RS; and

receiving the channel condition reports.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving feedback information associated with at least 2 adjacent beamformed CSI-RS;

generating a mobility estimate for the first UE in accordance with the at least 2 beamformed CSI-RS; and

regrouping the plurality of UEs in accordance with the mobility estimate.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving feedback information associated with at least 2 beamformed CSI-RS, wherein the at least 2 beamformed CSI-RS are received at one of different transmit time intervals and at different frequencies;

generating a mobility estimate for the first UE in accordance with the at least 2 beamformed CSI-RS; and

regrouping the plurality of UEs in accordance with the mobility estimate.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving feedback information associated with a beamformed CSI-RS;

generating a mobility estimate for the first UE in accordance with the beamformed CSI-RS; and

regrouping the plurality of UEs in accordance with the mobility estimate.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the UE IC capability reports from the plurality of UEs.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating with the first UE and the second UE comprises:

beamforming a first data for the first UE in accordance with the first transmission parameters for the first UE, thereby producing a first beamformed signal;

beamforming a second data for the second UE in accordance with the second transmission parameters for the second UE, thereby producing a second beamformed signal; and

transmitting the first beamformed signal and the second beamformed signal.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein communicating with the first UE and the second UE further comprises:

including a first demodulation reference signal (DMRS) in the first beamformed signal; and

including a second DMRS in the second beamformed signal.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein communicating with the first UE and the second UE further comprises:

precoding the first data prior to beamforming the first data; and

precoding the second data prior to beamforming the second data.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first transmission parameters comprises a DMRS allocated to the first UE.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first transmission parameters further comprises at least one of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) level for the first UE and a rank indicator (RI) for the first UE.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the first transmission parameters further comprises a DMRS allocated for the second UE.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first transmission parameters further comprises one of a modulation level for the second UE, a MCS level for the second UE, and a RI for the second UE.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a mobility estimate from the plurality of UEs; and

regrouping the plurality of UEs in accordance with the mobility estimate.

17. A method for operating a communications device, the method comprising:

receiving, by the communications device, a plurality of beamformed channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS);

determining, by the communications device, a channel condition report in accordance with the plurality of received CSI-RS;

sending, by the communications device, the channel condition report to a communications controller;

receiving, by the communications device, transmission parameters from the communications controller, wherein the transmission parameters are selected in accordance with the channel condition report and mobility estimate, and wherein the transmission parameters include locations of a first demodulation reference signal (DMRS) resource assigned to the communications device and a second DMRS resource assigned to a co-scheduled communications device;

measuring, by the communications device, a received signal power at a location of the second DMRS resource; and

configuring, by the communications device, an interference cancellation receiver in accordance with the received signal power measurement.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

generating an estimate of one of a mobility estimate and a channel variation estimate; and

sending the one of the mobility estimate and the channel variation estimate to a communications controller.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

measuring channels for a plurality of neighboring beamformed CSI-RS signals;

generating feedback information for the plurality of neighboring beamformed CSI-RS signals in accordance with the measured channels; and

sending the feedback information to the communications controller.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the transmission parameters further comprises at least one of a modulation level, a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) level, and a rank indicator (RI) of the co-scheduled communications device.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

generating interference measurements of the co-scheduled communications device; and

sending the interference measurements to the communications controller.

22. A communications controller comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to;

group a plurality of user equipments (UEs) in accordance with received channel condition reports, UE interference cancellation (IC) capability reports and mobility estimates, thereby producing information about groups of UEs,

select a first UE out of the plurality of UEs and a second UE out of the plurality of UEs, wherein the first UE is selected is in accordance with the information about grouping, wherein a wide width beam is allocated to the first UE and a narrow width beam is allocated to the second UE, and wherein the wide width beam and the narrow width beam spatially overlap,

co-schedule resources of a first transmit block to the first UE and the second UE,

determine first transmission parameters for the first UE and second transmission parameters for the second UE in accordance with the co-scheduled resources, and

communicate with the first UE and the second UE in accordance with the first transmission parameters for the first UE and the second transmission parameters for the second UE.

23. The communications controller of claim 22, wherein the programming includes instructions to receive a mobility estimate from the plurality of UEs, and regroup the plurality of UEs in accordance with the mobility estimate.

24. The communications controller of claim 22, wherein the programming includes instructions to beamform a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) with each of a plurality of transmission beams, thereby producing a plurality of beamformed CSI-RS, transmitting the plurality of beamformed CSI-RS, and receive the channel condition reports.

25. The communications controller of claim 24, wherein the programming includes instructions to receive feedback information associated with at least 2 beamformed CSI-RS, generate a mobility estimate for the first UE in accordance with the at least 2 beamformed CSI-RS, and regroup the plurality of UEs in accordance with the mobility estimate.

26. The communications controller of claim 22, wherein the programming includes instructions to beamform a first data for the first UE in accordance with the first transmission parameters for the first UE, thereby producing a first beamformed signal, beamform a second data for the second UE in accordance with the first transmission parameters for the second UE, thereby producing a second beamformed signal, and transmit the first beamformed signal and the second beamformed signal.

27. The communications controller of claim 26, wherein the programming includes instructions to include a first demodulation reference signal (DMRS) in the first beamformed data, and include a second DMRS in the second beamformed data.

28. The communications controller of claim 27, wherein the programming includes instructions to precode the first data prior to beamforming the first data, and precode the second data prior to beamforming the second data.

29. The communications controller of claim 22, wherein the communications controller is one of an evolved NodeB (eNB), a base station, and a transmission point.