Method and system for generating antenna selection signals in wireless networks

• US 8,223,723 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2009
• Issued: 07/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Teo, Koon Hoo, Mehta, Neelesh B., Zhang, Jinyun
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): HALIYUR, VENKATESH N
• Application Number:
  US12/495,147
• Publication Number:
  US 20100002657A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,113 Days
• Field of Search: 370328-400, 375259-299
• US Class Current: 370/332
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/061 using feedback from receiving side
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0691 using subgroups of transmit antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/0204 of multiple channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/0228 with direct estimation from sounding signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention describe a method for joint resource blocks assignment and antenna selection (AS) in a wireless communication network, the network comprising user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a plurality of subsets of antennas, the UE is configured to transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS) from a subset of antennas at a time. The method transmits a first SRS from a first subset of antennas and a second SRS from a second subset of antennas. Upon receiving, in response to the transmitting of the first SRS and the second SRS, information related to an optimal subset of antennas, and information related to an optimal subset of resource blocks, the method transmits a data symbol from the optimal subset of antennas using the optimal resource block.

Claims

1. A method for joint resource blocks assignment and antenna selection (AS) in a wireless communication network, the network comprising user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a plurality of subsets of antennas, the UE is configured to transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS) from a subset of antennas at a time, comprising:

transmitting a first SRS from a first subset of antennas;

transmitting a second SRS from a second subset of antennas;

receiving, in response to the transmitting of the first SRS and the second SRS, information related to an optimal subset of antennas determined based on estimation of channels for the first subset of antennas and for the second subset of antennas based on the first SRS and the second SRS;

receiving, in response to the transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS, information related to an optimal subset of resource blocks; and

transmitting a data symbol from the optimal subset of antennas using the optimal resource block.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first SRS and the second SRS are broadband SRSs.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the SRS is used by the network for assigning resource blocks.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the network further comprising a base station, comprising at the base station:

estimating channels for the first subset of antennas and for the second subset of antennas based on the first SRS and the second SRS respectfully; and

determining the optimal subset of antennas for the optimal subset of antennas based on the estimated channels.

5. The method of claim 4, in which the determining is periodic.

6. The method of claim 4, in which the transmitting of the first SRS and the second SRS is as demanded by the base station.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the SRS is included in every subframe transmitted by the UE.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the SRS is included in every multiple subframes transmitted by the UE.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE includes only one radio frequency (RF) chain.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first SRS and the second SRS are transmitted in a time division multiplexed manner.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the optimal subset of antennas from the first and the second subset of antennas based on the information.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the SRS is included in every subframe transmitted by the UE.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the subset of antennas that most recently transmitted the user data is a selected antenna subset of the set of available antennas and other antennas of the set of available antennas is an unselected antenna subset, and further comprising:

transmitting the SRS less frequently from the unselected antenna subset than from the selected antenna subset.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the selected antenna subset transmits the SRS k times for every one time that the unselected antenna subset transmits the SRS, in which k is greater than one.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the information related to the optimal subset of antennas and the information related to the optimal subset of resource blocks are based only on the first and the second SRS.

16. A user equipment (UE), the UE is configured to transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS) from a subset of antennas at a time, comprising:

a first subset of antennas configured to transmit a first SRS;

a second subset of antennas configured to transmit a second SRS;

a receiving module configured to receive, in response to the transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS, information identifying an optimal subset of antennas from the first subset of antennas and the second subset of antennas and information identifying an optimal subset of resource blocks for the optimal subset of antennas;

a switch for switching between the first subset of antennas and the second subset of antennas based on the information related to the optimal subset of antennas and the optimal subset of resource blocks; and

transmitter configured to transmit user data from the optimal subset of antennas using the optimal resource block.

17. The UE of claim 16, wherein the first SRS and the second SRS are broadband SRSs.

18. A wireless communication network, the network comprising user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a plurality of subsets of antennas including a first subset of antennas and a second subset of antennas such that UE is adapted for antenna selection (AS), and wherein the UE is configured to transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS) from a subset of antennas at a time, wherein the SRS is a broadband SRS, comprising:

means for transmitting a first SRS from the first subset of antennas;

means for transmitting a second SRS from the second subset of antennas;

means for receiving, in response to the transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS, information identifying an optimal subset of antennas from the first subset of antennas and the second subset of antennas and information identifying an optimal subset of resource blocks for the optimal subset of antennas;

means for selecting the optimal subset of antennas from the first and the second subset of antennas based on the information identifying the optimal subset of antennas and the information identifying the optimal subset of resource blocks for the optimal subset of antennas; and

means for transmitting user data from the optimal subset of antennas using the optimal subset of resource blocks.