Distributed multiple-input multiple-output downlink configuration

• US 10,756,860 B2
• Filed: 11/05/2018
• Issued: 08/25/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Virewirx Incorporated
• Original Assignee: XCOM Labs, Inc.
• Inventors: Black, Peter John, Grob, Matthew Stuart, Fan, Michael Mingxi, Kadous, Tamer Adel
• Primary Examiner(s): Khan, Suhail
• Application Number:
  US16/180,947
• Publication Number:
  US 20200145154A1
• Time in Patent Office: 659 Days
• Field of Search: 455436-457
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/024 Co-operative use of antennas of several sites, e.g. in co-ordinated multipoint or co-operative multiple-input multiple-output [MIMO] systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0689 using different transmission schemes, at least one of them being a diversity transmission scheme
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/02 Details ; arrangements for supplying electrical power along data transmission lines systems for transmitting signals via power distribution lines H04B3/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0028 Variable division signaling therefor H04L5/0092
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0035 Resource allocation in a cooperative multipoint environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0044 allocation of payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0085 when channel conditions change
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0092 Indication of how the channel is divided
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/40 during macro-diversity or soft handoff
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0473 the resource being transmission power
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1273 of downlink data flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

Aspects of this disclosure relate to distributed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) downlink configuration. Features are described for a network controller (e.g., baseband unit) to receive one or more requests including a desired transmission mode and/or active set of serving nodes for wireless communication service(s) for user equipment. The baseband unit may determine an optimal configuration in consideration of the desired parameters along with other network information. The network controller may then transmit one or more configuration messages via the network to optimally allocate resources distributed within the network.

Claims

1. A network system comprising:

antenna elements; and

a scheduler in communication with the antenna elements, the scheduler configured to;

receive, via at least one antenna element included in the antenna elements, a request from a user equipment to wirelessly receive data in a particular mode, wherein the particular mode is either a coordinated multipoint mode or an alternate downlink data transmission mode;

based on the request and additional network system information, determine a downlink data transmission mode to the user equipment and active set data so as to provide a wireless downlink transmission service to the user equipment differently than identified in the request, wherein the active set data identifies one or more serving nodes to provide the wireless downlink transmission service to the user equipment in the downlink data transmission mode; and

cause transmission of the active set data to the user equipment.

2. The network system of claim 1, wherein the scheduler is configured to cause transmission of an indication of the downlink data mode to the user equipment.

3. The network system of claim 1,

wherein the request identifies a user equipment active set, and

wherein the scheduler is configured to dynamically generate the active set data identifying the one or more serving nodes, and

wherein the one or more serving nodes include a node that is included in the user equipment active set.

4. The network system of claim 1, wherein the additional network system information comprises load information for coordinated multipoint resources.

5. The network system of claim 1, wherein the additional network system information comprises a spatial channel condition of a channel associated with the user equipment.

6. The network system of claim 1, wherein the additional network system information comprises a characteristic of the user equipment, wherein the characteristic comprises at least one of:

an application type to utilize the transmission service, a protocol to utilize over the transmission service, a mobility state of the user equipment, or a device type for the user equipment.

7. The network system of claim 1, wherein the scheduler is configured to cause downlink traffic to be routed to the user equipment in the alternate downlink data transmission mode and to be routed to a second user equipment in a coordinated multipoint mode.

8. The network system of claim 1, wherein the alternate downlink data transmission mode comprises at least one of:

synchronized transmission across multiple network nodes for coherent combining, transmissions across multiple network nodes for non-coherent combining, or individual transmission from a selected best serving node.

9. The network system of claim 8, wherein the alternate downlink data transmission mode comprises individual transmission from the selected best serving mode, wherein the scheduler is configured to identify the selected best serving node, and wherein the one or more serving nodes include the selected best serving node.

10. The network system of claim 1, wherein the scheduler is configured to:

based on the request and the additional network system information, determine a transmission power for the one or more serving nodes; and

transmit a control message to the one or more serving nodes to cause adjustment of a transmitter according to the transmission power.

11. The network system of claim 1, wherein the wireless downlink transmission service comprises at least one of:

individual network node transmission, synchronized transmission across multiple network nodes for coherent combining, transmissions across multiple network nodes for non-coherent combining, and multiple transmissions for the user equipment to select.

12. The network system of claim 1, wherein the additional network information is unavailable to the user equipment.

13. The network system of claim 1, wherein the scheduler is configured to set the downlink data transmission mode to the particular mode in response to the additional network system information being consistent with providing downlink data transmission to the user equipment in the particular mode.

14. The network system of claim 1, wherein the particular mode is the coordinated multipoint mode and the downlink data transmission mode to the user equipment is the alternate downlink data transmission mode.

15. A network system comprising:

antenna elements; and

a scheduler in communication with the antenna elements, the scheduler configured to;

receive, via at least one antenna element included in the antenna elements, a request from a user equipment to wirelessly receive data in a particular mode, wherein the particular mode is either a coordinated multipoint mode or an alternate downlink data transmission mode, wherein the request identifies a user equipment active set;

based on the request and additional network system information, determine a downlink data transmission mode to the user equipment and active set data, wherein the active set data identifies one or more serving nodes to provide a wireless downlink transmission service to the user equipment in the downlink data transmission mode;

dynamically generate the active set data identifying the one or more serving nodes to provide the wireless downlink transmission service to the user equipment in the downlink data transmission mode, wherein the one or more serving nodes include a node that is not included in the user equipment active set identified in the request; and

cause transmission of the active set data to the user equipment.

16. A method of determining and implementing a downlink traffic mode to a user equipment, the method comprising:

receiving, via at least one antenna element, a request from a user equipment to wirelessly receive data in a particular mode, wherein the particular mode is either a coordinated multipoint mode or an alternate downlink data transmission mode;

based on the request and additional network system information, determining a downlink data transmission mode for wirelessly transmitting data to the user equipment and active set data so as to provide a wireless downlink transmission service to the user equipment differently than identified in the request, wherein the active set data identifies one or more serving nodes to provide the wireless downlink transmission service to the user equipment in the downlink data transmission mode; and

transmitting the active set data to the user equipment.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising transmitting an indication of the downlink data transmission mode to the user equipment.

18. The method of claim 16,

wherein the request identifies a user equipment active set, and

wherein the method further comprises dynamically generating the active set data identifying the one or more serving nodes, and

wherein the one or more serving nodes includes a node that is not included in the user equipment active set.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the additional network system information comprises load information for coordinated multipoint resources.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the additional network system information comprises a spatial channel condition of a channel associated with the user equipment.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the additional network system information comprises a characteristic of the user equipment, wherein the characteristic comprises at least one of:

an application type to utilize the transmission service, a protocol to utilize over the transmission service, a mobility state of the user equipment, or a device type for the user equipment.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising causing downlink traffic to be routed to the user equipment in the alternate downlink data transmission mode and to be routed to a second user equipment in a coordinated multipoint mode, and wherein the alternate downlink data transmission mode comprises at least one of:

synchronized transmission across multiple network nodes for coherent combining, transmissions across multiple network nodes for non-coherent combining, or individual transmission from a selected best serving node.

23. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining a transmission power for the one or more serving nodes based at least in part on the request and the additional network system information; and

transmitting a control message to the one or more serving nodes to cause adjustment of a transmitter according to the transmission power.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein the wireless downlink transmission service comprises at least one of:

individual network node transmission, synchronized transmission across multiple network nodes for coherent combining, transmissions across multiple network nodes for non-coherent combining, or multiple transmissions for the user equipment to select.