Cooperation and operation of macro node and remote radio head deployments in heterogeneous networks

• US 9,369,930 B2
• Filed: 05/15/2013
• Issued: 06/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Geirhofer, Stefan, Ji, Tingfang, Gaal, Peter, Damnjanovic, Aleksandar, Montojo, Juan, Luo, Tao, Chen, Wanshi, Bhattad, Kapil
• Primary Examiner(s): Chriss, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kirillova, Ellen A
• Application Number:
  US13/895,292
• Publication Number:
  US 20130250913A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,126 Days
• Field of Search: 370/329
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/0226 sounding signals per se
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0032 Distributed allocation, i.e. involving a plurality of allocating devices, each making partial allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/005 of common pilots, i.e. pilots destined for multiple users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0051 of dedicated pilots, i.e. pilots destined for a single user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0057 Physical resource allocation for CQI
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/006 Quality of the received signal, e.g. BER, SNR, water filling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0077 of access information of target access point

Abstract

A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for wireless communication are provided for separating control transmissions and data transmissions within the coverage area of a plurality of transmission/reception points or points that are geographically displaced, the plurality of points comprising a macro node and a plurality of remote radio heads (RRHs) coupled to the macro node. Separating control transmissions and data transmissions in the macro node/RRH configuration may allow UEs to be associated with one set of transmission points for data transmissions and the same set or a different set of transmission points for common control signaling. Separating control transmissions and data transmissions may also allow for faster reconfiguration of antenna ports used for UE data transmission compared with reconfiguration via a handover process.

Claims

1. A method of communication by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

receiving a control transmission associated with a first cell identifier from a first set of points within a cell of a macro node, the first cell identifier being associated with the macro node;

receiving a data transmission associated with a second cell identifier from a second set of points within the cell of the macro node, the second cell identifier being associated with the macro node; and

receiving a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) associated with one of the first cell identifier or the second cell identifier based on a UE assigned CSI-RS configuration,

wherein the first cell identifier is different from the second cell identifier, and

wherein the first set of points is different than the second set of points.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the control transmission is based on a common reference signal (CRS) associated with the first cell identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data transmission is based on a LIE-specific demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) associated with the second cell identifier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first cell identifier is associated with a first subset of points and the second cell identifier is associated with a second subset of points.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first subset of points share the first cell identifier and each point in the first subset of points transmits the same control information and common reference signals (CRS).

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the second subset of points share the second cell identifier.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the control transmission is based on a common reference signal (CRS) associated with the first cell identifier, the method further comprising:

receiving a second control transmission based on a second reference signal from a designated point, the designated point being a point in a plurality of points but not in the first subset of points, and the designated point having a different cell identifier from any other point in the plurality of points.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the CSI-RS is received from the second subset of points.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting a channel state information report based at least in part on the CSI-RS, the channel state information report comprising at least one of a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a rank index (RI), or channel quality indicator (CQI) feedback.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the first subset of points comprise the macro node and zero or more remote radio heads (RRHs), and

the second subset of points comprises the macro node, one or more RRHs, or a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein the control transmission is received from at least one point in the first subset of points that is located in close proximity to the UE.

12. The method of claim 4, wherein the data transmission is based on a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) associated with the second cell identifier, the method further comprising:

receiving a second data transmission based on a second DM-RS from a designated point, the designated point being a point in a plurality of points but not in the second subset of points, and the designated point having a cell identifier different from the second cell identifier.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the second data transmission is transmitted from the designated point using a scrambling sequence corresponding to the second cell identifier.

14. The method of claim 4, wherein the CSI-RS is associated with the first cell identifier, the method further comprising:

receiving a second CSI-RS from a designated point, the designated point being a point in a plurality of points but not in the first subset of points, and the designated point having a cell identifier different from the first cell identifier.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the second CSI-RS is transmitted from the designated point using a scrambling sequence corresponding to the first cell identifier.

16. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

transmitting a sounding reference signal (SRS) to one or more points, the one or more points being in the first subset of points or the second subset of points.

44. The method of claim 1, wherein the first identifier is a UE-specific cell identifier.

45. The method of claim 1, wherein the second identifier is a UP-specific cell identifier.

46. The method of claim 1, wherein the first identifier and the second identifier are UE-specific cell identifiers.

47. The method of claim 1, wherein the CSI-RS is associated with the first cell identifier, the method further comprising:

receiving a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) associated with the second cell identifier.

48. The method of claim 1, wherein the first cell identifier is associated with the first subset of points that transmit the control transmission and the second cell identifier is associated with the second subset of points that transmit the data transmission.

17. A user equipment (UE), comprising:

means for receiving a control transmission associated with a first cell identifier from a first set of points within a cell of a macro node, the first cell identifier being associated with the macro node;

means for receiving a data transmission associated with a second cell identifier from a second set of points within the cell of the macro node, the second cell identifier being associated with the macro node; and

means for receiving a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) associated with one of the first cell identifier or the second cell identifier based on a UE assigned CSI-RS configuration,

wherein the first cell identifier is different from the second cell identifier, and

wherein the first set of points is different than the second set of points.

18. The UE of claim 17, wherein the control transmission is based on a common reference signal (CRS) associated with the first cell identifier.

19. The UE of claim 17, wherein the data transmission is based on a UP-specific demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) associated with the second cell identifier.

20. The UE of claim 17, wherein the first cell identifier is associated with a first subset of points and the second cell identifier is associated with a second subset of points.

21. The UE of claim 20, wherein the first subset of points share the first cell identifier and each point in the first sUbset of points transmits the same control information and common reference signals (CRS).

22. The UE of claim 20, wherein the second subset of points share the second cell identifier.

23. The UE of claim 20, wherein the control transmission is based on a common reference signal (CRS) associated with the first cell identifier, the UE further comprising:

means for receiving a second control transmission based on a second reference signal from a designated point, the designated point being a point in a plurality of points but not in the first subset of points, and the designated point having a different cell identifier from any other point in the plurality of points.

24. The UE of claim 20, wherein the CSI-RS is associated with the first cell identifier, the UE further comprising:

means for receiving a second CSI-RS from a designated point, the designated point being a point in a plurality of points but not in the first subset of points, and the designated point having a cell identifier different from the first cell identifier.

25. The LIE of claim 24, wherein the second CSI-RS is transmitted from the designated point using a scrambling sequence corresponding to the first cell identifier.

26. The UE of claim 20, further comprising:

means for transmitting a sounding reference signal (SRS) to one or more points, the one or more points being in the first subset of points or the second subset of points.

27. A user equipment (UE), comprising:

a memory; and

a processing system coupled to the memory and configured to;

receive a control transmission associated with a first cell identifier from a first set of points within a cell of a macro node, the first cell identifier being associated with the macro node;

receive a data transmission associated with a second cell identifier from a second set of points within the cell of the macro node, the second cell identifier being associated with the macro node; and

receive a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) associated with one of the first cell identifier or the second cell identifier based on a UE assigned CSI-RS configuration,

wherein the first cell identifier is different from the second cell identifier, and

wherein the first set of points is different than the second set of points.

28. The UE of claim 27, wherein the control transmission is based on a common reference signal (CRS) associated with the first cell identifier.

29. The UE of claim 27, wherein the data transmission is based on a UE-specific demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) associated with the second cell identifier.

30. The UE of claim 27, wherein the first cell identifier is associated with a first subset of points and the second cell identifier is associated with a second subset of points.

31. The UE of claim 30, wherein the first subset of points share the first cell identifier and each point in the first subset of points transmits the same control information and common reference signals (CRS).

32. The UE of claim 30, wherein the second subset of points share the second cell identifier.

33. The UE of claim 30, wherein the control transmission is based on a common reference signal (CRS) associated with the first cell identifier, the processing system further configured to:

receive a second control transmission based on a second reference signal from a designated point, the designated point being a point in a plurality of points but not in the first subset of points, and the designated point having a different cell identifier from any other point in the plurality of points.

34. The UE of claim 30, wherein the CSI-RS is received from the second subset of points.

35. The UE of claim 34, the processing system further configured to transmit a channel state information report based at least in part on the CSI-RS, the channel state information report comprising at least one of a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a rank index (RI), or channel quality indicator (CQI) feedback.

36. The UE of claim 30, wherein the first subset of points comprise the macro node and zero or more remote radio heads (RRHs), and

the second subset of points comprises the macro node, one or more RRHs, or a combination thereof.

37. The UE of claim 30, wherein the control transmission is received from at least one point in the first subset of points that is located in close proximity to the UE.

38. The UE of claim 30, wherein the data transmission is based on a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) associated with the second cell identifier, the processing system further configured to:

receive a second data transmission based on a second DM-RS from a designated point, the designated point being a point in a plurality of points but not in the second subset of points, and the designated point having a cell identifier different from the second cell identifier.

39. The UE of claim 38, wherein the second data transmission is transmitted from the designated point using a scrambling sequence corresponding to the second cell identifier.

40. The UE of claim 30, wherein the CSI-RS is associated with the first cell identifier, the processing system further configured to:

receive a second CSI-RS from a designated point, the designated point being a point in a plurality of points but not in the first subset of points, and the designated point having a cell identifier different from the first cell identifier.

41. The UE of claim 40, wherein the second CSI-RS is transmitted from the designated point using a scrambling sequence corresponding to the first cell identifier.

42. The UE of claim 30, the processing system further configured to:

transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS) to one or more points, the one or more points being in the first subset of points or the second subset of points.

43. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable code for wireless communication, comprising code for:

receiving a control transmission associated with a first cell identifier from a first set of points within a cell of a macro node, the first cell identifier being associated with the macro node;

receiving a data transmission associated with a second cell identifier from a second set of points within the cell of the macro node, the second cell identifier being the macro node; and

receiving a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) associated with one of the first ell identifier or the second cell identifier based on a UE assigned CSI-RS configuration,

wherein the first cell identifier is different from the second cell identifier, and

wherein the first set of points is different than the second set of points.