Multiple co-located multi-user-MIMO access points

• US 9,042,276 B1
• Filed: 12/05/2013
• Issued: 05/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Magnolia Broadband Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Magnolia Broadband Incorporated
• Inventors: Harel, Haim, Jeffery, Stuart S., Kludt, Kenneth
• Primary Examiner(s): Phillips, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sweet, Lonnie
• Application Number:
  US14/097,765
• Publication Number:
  US 20150163004A1
• Time in Patent Office: 537 Days
• US Class Current: 370/278
• 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 7/0408 using two or more beams, i.e. beam diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/10 Polarisation diversity; Directional diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/1694 Allocation of channels in TDM/TDMA networks, e.g. distributed multiplexers Passive Optical Networks H04Q11/0062
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1423 for simultaneous baseband signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/00 Connection management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

A wireless communication system may include a plurality of N co-located Wi-Fi access points, each configured to communicate with at least one user equipment. The system may further include a beamformer coupled to each of the access points and coupled to at least one antenna array. The antenna array may include a plurality of antenna elements and may be configured to provide a plurality of M spatially uncorrelated beams for a coverage area of each of the N access points.

Claims

1. A wireless communication system, comprising:

a plurality of N co-located Wi-Fi access points, each configured to communicate with at least one user equipment; and

a beamformer coupled to each of the access points and coupled to at least one antenna array, the antenna array including a plurality of antenna elements, wherein the at least one antenna array is configured to provide a plurality of M spatially uncorrelated beams for a coverage area of each of the N access points,

wherein the at least one antenna array includes antenna elements that are dual polarized,

wherein the beamformer is coupled to two arrays of dual polarized antenna elements, thereby providing M greater or equal to 4 spatially uncorrelated beams for a coverage area of each of the N access points, and

wherein the arrays are physically separated by at least 0.5 wavelengths.

2. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein the at least one antenna array is configured to provide N×

M uncorrelated beams.

3. The wireless communication system of claim 2, wherein each of the N×

M uncorrelated beams include transmitting beams and receiving beams.

4. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein each antenna array is configured to provide N beams, one for each coverage area of the N access points.

5. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein the at least one antenna array includes antenna elements for transmitting data to the at least one user equipment and antenna elements for receiving data from the at least one user equipment.

6. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein, for each coverage area of the N access points, the M spatially uncorrelated beams are respectively aligned to cover the same azimuth sector.

7. The wireless communication system of claim 1, wherein the at least one array provides a maximum of M=2 spatially uncorrelated beams for a coverage area of each of the N access points.

8. A wireless communication method, comprising:

communicating with at least one user equipment, by a plurality of N co-located Wi-Fi access points; and

providing, by two receiving antenna arrays and two transmitting antenna arrays, each including a plurality of antenna elements, a plurality of M spatially uncorrelated beams for a coverage area of each of the N access points, wherein a beamformer is coupled to each of the access points and coupled to the at least one antenna array, wherein the transmitting antenna arrays are separated by at least 0.5 wavelengths and the receiving antenna arrays are separated by at least 0.5 wavelengths.

9. The wireless communication method of claim 8, comprising providing, by the at least one antenna array, N×

M uncorrelated beams.

10. The wireless communication method of claim 8, comprising providing, by each of the antenna arrays, N beams, one for each coverage area of the N access points.

11. The wireless communication method of claim 8, comprising aligning the M spatially uncorrelated beams to cover the same azimuth sector, for each coverage area of the N access points.

12. The wireless communication method of claim 8, comprising providing, by each antenna array, a maximum of M=2 spatially uncorrelated beams for each coverage area of each of the N access points, wherein each antenna array includes antenna elements that are dual polarized.

13. The wireless communication method of claim 8, comprising providing a plurality of M spatially uncorrelated beams according to a Single-User-MIMO process, Multi-User-MIMO process, or both simultaneously.

14. A communication device, comprising:

a plurality of Wi-Fi access points to exchange data with a beamformer;

at least one transmitting antenna array and at least one receiving antenna array, each coupled to the beamformer, wherein the at least one transmitting antenna array is able to transmit data from the beamformer to a user equipment via a plurality of spatially uncorrelated transmit beams for each area served by the access points, wherein the at least one receiving antenna array is able to receive data from a user equipment via a plurality of spatially uncorrelated receive beams for each area served by the access points, wherein the at least one transmitting antenna array comprise two transmitting antenna arrays separated by at least 0.5 wavelengths and the at least one receiving antenna array comprise two receiving antenna arrays separated by at least 0.5 wavelengths; and

a controller to allow said spatially uncorrelated beams based on a Single-User-MIMO process, Multi-User-MIMO process, or both simultaneously.

15. The communication device of claim 14, wherein the transmitting antenna array and the receiving antenna array each include dual polarized antenna elements.

16. The communication device of claim 14, wherein the controller is to align the plurality of spatially uncorrelated transmit beams and the plurality of spatially uncorrelated receive beams to cover the same azimuth sector in each of the areas served by the access points.

17. The communication device of claim 14, wherein the at least one transmitting antenna array provides a transmit beam for each of the access points and the at least one receive antenna array provides a receive beam for each of the access points, each transmit beam and receive uncorrelated from each other.