Opportunistic beamforming and scheduling of users in a communication system
First Claim
1. A method of determining a beam to be generated for transmitting information to a user, comprising:
- selecting a user from a user population based on a parameter that is tracked for each user in the user population; and
determining a preferred beam to be generated for the selected user; and
whereinthe tracked parameter is a waiting time for each user that represents a duration of time since the user has received its last packet; and
the selecting step further includes,initializing a timeslot counter, for a given timeslot, emptying an exclusion window,the exclusion window configured for preventing a beam from continually illuminating a user having poor channel conditions, andsearching, at the beginning of the given timeslot, the user population for the longest waiting user that is outside the exclusion window.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a method of determining a beam to be generated for a user, a user may be selected from a user population based on a parameter that is tracked for each user in the user population, and a beam preferred by the selected user may be determined. The preferred beam may be generated and used by a base station to transmit a pilot signal to the user population. Each user of the user population responds to the pilot signal. The base station may run a scheduling algorithm and schedule a user based on feedback received from all the users in the user population, and information may be transmitted to the scheduled user using the preferred beam.
21 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method of determining a beam to be generated for transmitting information to a user, comprising:
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selecting a user from a user population based on a parameter that is tracked for each user in the user population; and determining a preferred beam to be generated for the selected user; and
whereinthe tracked parameter is a waiting time for each user that represents a duration of time since the user has received its last packet; and the selecting step further includes, initializing a timeslot counter, for a given timeslot, emptying an exclusion window, the exclusion window configured for preventing a beam from continually illuminating a user having poor channel conditions, and searching, at the beginning of the given timeslot, the user population for the longest waiting user that is outside the exclusion window. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method of scheduling a user for receiving a transmission, comprising:
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selecting a user from a user population based on a parameter that is tracked for each user in the user population; generating a preferred beam for the selected user; and scheduling a user in the user population to receive a next transmission, based on the preferred beam; and
whereinthe tracked parameter is a waiting time for each user that represents a duration of time since the user has received its last packet; and the selecting step further includes, initializing a timeslot counter, for a given timeslot, emptying an exclusion window, the exclusion window configured for preventing a beam from continually illuminating a user having poor channel conditions, and searching, at the beginning of the given timeslot, the user population for the longest waiting user that is outside the exclusion window. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of transmitting information to a user, comprising:
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(a) initializing, at the beginning of a given timeslot, a timeslot counter and an exclusion window that prevents a beam used for transmitting the information to a given user having poor channel conditions from continually illuminating the user; (b) searching, within the given timeslot, the user population for a longest waiting user that is outside the exclusion window as a selected user; (c) generating a preferred beam for the selected user; (d) receiving reports from each user in the user population in response to a pilot signal transmitted using the preferred beam, each report including a maximum supportable data rates for the user; (e) running a scheduling algorithm based on the received reports to select a winning user; (f) transmitting information to the winning user using the preferred beam; and (g) updating the timeslot counter and exclusion window counter. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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Specification