Robust systematic multi-user (MU) grouping and scheduling

• US 9,655,135 B2
• Filed: 06/04/2015
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Elsherif, Ahmed Ragab, Gao, Qinghai
• Primary Examiner(s): KAMARA, MOHAMED A
• Application Number:
  US14/731,120
• Publication Number:
  US 20160360543A1
• Time in Patent Office: 712 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0452 Multi-user MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/046 the resource being in the space domain, e.g. beams
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/121 for groups of terminals or users

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to a robust and systematic multi-user (MU) grouping and scheduling scheme. Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communications. The apparatus generally includes a processing system configured to: assign devices to one or more groups, wherein each group has at least a number of devices and schedule MU multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmissions to one or more sets of devices, each scheduled set of devices comprising a subset of devices of one of the groups; and an interface configured to output data for simultaneous transmissions to the scheduled sets of devices.

Claims

1. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

a processing system configured to;

iteratively assign devices to different groups of a plurality of groups until each device has been assigned to at least one of a first position or a second position within at least one of the groups, wherein each group comprises a plurality of devices, and wherein each group comprises an equal number of devices; and

schedule multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmissions to one or more sets of devices, each scheduled set of devices comprising a subset of the assigned devices of one of the groups; and

an interface configured to output data for simultaneous transmissions to the scheduled one or more sets of devices.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the iterative assignment comprises:

assigning first and second devices to a last two positions in a first group; and

assigning the first and second devices to a first two positions in a second group.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing system is configured to schedule the MU MIMO transmissions such that, at any time during the MU MIMO transmissions, no device is scheduled more than a threshold number of times than any other device.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the threshold number is one.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing system is further configured to:

assign a different group identification (GID) to each of the groups by sequentially assigning GIDs to the groups.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the processing system is further configured to:

determine a primary device of the assigned devices, and

select one of the different GIDs corresponding to a group having the primary device in a first position or a second position to use for the simultaneous transmissions.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing system is further configured to:

assign a newly associated device to one or more new groups formed by dismantling at least one of the groups.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to iteratively assign the devices to the different groups of the plurality of groups according to a round-robin algorithm.

9. A method for wireless communications, comprising:

iteratively assigning devices to different groups of a plurality of groups until each device has been assigned to at least one of a first position or a second position within at least one of the groups, wherein each group comprises a plurality of devices, and wherein each group comprises an equal number of devices;

scheduling multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmissions to one or more sets of devices, each scheduled set of devices comprising a subset of the assigned devices of one of the groups; and

outputting data for simultaneous transmissions to the scheduled one or more sets of devices.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the iterative assignment comprises:

assigning first and second devices to a last two positions in a first group; and

assigning the first and second devices to a first two positions in a second group.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the scheduling comprises:

scheduling the MU MIMO transmissions such that, at any time during the MU MIMO transmissions, no device is scheduled more than a threshold number of times than any other device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the threshold number is one.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

assigning a different group identification (GID) to each of the groups by sequentially assigning GIDs to the groups.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining a primary device of the assigned devices, and

selecting one of the different GIDs corresponding to a group having the primary device in a first position or a second position to use for the simultaneous transmissions.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

assigning a newly associated device to one or more new groups formed by dismantling at least one of the groups.

16. An apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

means for iteratively assigning devices to different groups of a plurality of groups until each device has been assigned to at least one of a first position or a second position within at least one of the groups, wherein each group comprises a plurality of devices, and wherein each group comprises an equal number of devices;

means for scheduling multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmissions to one or more sets of devices, each scheduled set of devices comprising a subset of the assigned devices of one of the groups; and

means for outputting data for simultaneous transmissions to the scheduled one or more sets of devices.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the iterative assignment comprises:

assigning first and second devices to a last two positions in a first group; and

assigning the first and second devices to a first two positions in a second group.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the scheduling comprises:

scheduling the MU MIMO transmissions such that, at any time during the MU MIMO transmissions, no device is scheduled more than a threshold number of times than any other device.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the threshold number is one.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising:

means for assigning a different group identification (GID) to each of the groups by sequentially assigning GIDs to the groups.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising:

means for determining a primary device of the assigned devices, and

means for selecting one of the different GIDs corresponding to a group having the primary device in a first position or a second position to use for the simultaneous transmissions.

22. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising:

means for assigning a newly associated device to one or more new groups formed by dismantling at least one of the groups.

23. An access point, comprising:

a processing system configured to;

iteratively assign devices to different groups of a plurality of groups until each device has been assigned to at least one of a first position or a second position within at least one of the groups, wherein each group comprises a plurality of devices, and wherein each group comprises an equal number of devices; and

schedule multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmissions to one or more sets of devices, each scheduled set of devices comprising a subset of the assigned devices of one of the groups; and

a transmitter configured to transmit data simultaneously to the scheduled one or more sets of devices.