Methods, apparatuses, and systems for multi-point, multi-cell single-user based multiple input and multiple output transmissions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10862645-B2
Application number	US-201916408107-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 9, 2019
Priority date	Feb 23, 2015
Publication date	Dec 8, 2020
Grant date	Dec 8, 2020

Abstract

Methods, systems, and storage media for providing multi-cell, multi-point single user (SU) multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) operations are described. In embodiments, an apparatus may receive and process a first set of one or more independent data streams received in a downlink channel from a first transmission point. The apparatus may receive and process a second set of one or more independent data streams received in a downlink channel from a second transmission point. The apparatus may process control information received from the first transmission point or the second transmission point. The control information may include an indication of a quasi co-location assumption to be used for estimating channel characteristics for reception of the first set of one or more independent data streams or the second set of one or more independent data streams. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. At least one non-transitory, computer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a user equipment (UE) to:
process a first set of one or more independent data streams received in a downlink channel from a first transmission point;
process a second set of one or more independent data streams received in a downlink channel from a second transmission point;
process control information received from the first transmission point or the second transmission point;
determine a quasi co-location assumption to be used for estimating channel characteristics for reception of the first set of one or more independent data streams or for reception of the second set of one or more independent data streams, wherein the quasi co-location assumption to be used is based on an indication within the control information; and
estimate channel characteristics for reception of the first set of one or more independent data streams or for reception of the second set of one or more independent data streams according to the quasi co-location assumption.

2. The at least one non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein at least one independent data stream of the first set of one or more independent data streams corresponds to a first layer, and the at least one independent data stream is to be transmitted by at least one antenna port of a plurality of antenna ports associated with one or more DE-specific reference signals (RSs) of the first transmission point.

3. The at least one non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the indication is to indicate that the plurality of antenna ports are not assumed to be quasi co-located with respect to at least one of a Doppler shift, a Doppler spread, an average delay, or a delay spread.

4. The at least one non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 3 , wherein a same Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread are assumed over a predefined set of physical resource blocks (PRBs).

5. The at least one non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 3 , wherein the indication is to indicate that antenna ports of the plurality of antenna ports associated with the one or more DE-specific RSs are quasi co-located with one or more antenna ports associated with one or more other RSs.

6. The at least one non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the one or more other RSs include one of cell specific RSs (CRSS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs), or discovery RSs.

7. The at least one non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the indication is to indicate quasi co-location of antenna ports of the plurality of antenna ports associated with the one or more DE-specific RSs with other RSs, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the DE to:
determine the one or more other RSs using two or more physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) resource element (RE) mapping and Quasi Co-Location Indicator fields.

8. The at least one non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the indication is to indicate quasi co-location of antenna ports of the plurality of antenna ports associated with the one or more DE-specific RSs with other RSs, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the DE to:
determine the one or more other RSs using two or more downlink control information (DCI) format 2D messages, wherein each of the two or more DCI format 2D messages include at least one PDSCH RE mapping and Quasi Co-Location Indicator field.

9. The at least one non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the indication is to indicate an RE mapping for the one or more independent data streams of the first set of one or more independent data streams and the one or more independent data streams of the second set of one or more independent data streams, and wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the UE to:
determine the RE mapping using two or more PDSCH RE Mapping and Quasi-Co-Location Indicator fields.

10. An apparatus to be implemented in a user equipment (UE) comprising:
an antenna array that includes at least a first receive antenna and a second receive antenna;
one or more computer-readable storage media having instructions; and
one or more processors coupled with the antenna array and the one or more computer-readable storage media, wherein at least one processor of the one or more processors is to execute the instructions to:
control reception of a first set of one or more independent data streams m a downlink channel of a first cell using the first receive antennas;
control reception of a second set of one or more independent data streams in a downlink channel of a second cell using the second receive antennas;
control reception of control information from a first downlink cell using the first receive antennas or a second downlink cell using the second receive antennas;
determine a quasi co-location assumption based on an indication of the control information, wherein the quasi co-location assumption to be used for estimating channel characteristics for reception of the first set of one or more independent data streams or for reception of the second set of one or more independent data streams; and
estimate, using the quasi co-location assumption, channel characteristics for reception of the first set of one or more independent data streams or for reception of the second set of one or more independent data streams.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein at least one independent data stream of the first set of one or more independent data streams corresponds to one layer, and the at least one independent data stream is transmitted by at least one antenna port of a plurality of antenna ports associated with one or more DE-specific reference signals of the first downlink cell, wherein the plurality of antenna ports include antenna ports 7-14.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the indication is to indicate that the plurality of antenna ports are not assumed to be quasi co-located with respect to Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and/or delay spread, and a same Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread are to be assumed over a predefined set of physical resource blocks (PRBs).

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the antenna ports of the one or more DE-specific RS antenna ports is quasi co-located with antenna ports associated with one or more other RSs, wherein the one or more other RSs include at least one of cell specific RSs including antenna ports 0 - 3 , channel state information RSs (CSI-RSs) including antenna ports 15 - 21 , or discovery RSs.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the control information includes an indication of quasi co-location of the plurality of antenna ports associated with the one or more DE-specific reference signals with other reference signals using two or more physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) resource element (RE) Mapping and Quasi-Co-Location Indicator fields.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the indication is to indicate quasi co-location of the plurality of antenna ports associated with the one or more DE-specific RSs with other RSs, and the at least one processor of the one or more processors is to execute the instructions to:
determine the other RSs using two or more downlink control information formats 2D that include one PDSCH RE Mapping and Quasi-Co-Location Indicator field.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Davydov Alexei
• Morozov Gregory
• Sergeyev Vadim
• Maltsev Alexander
• Bolotin Ilya

Classifications

• H04W72/23

  in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal · CPC title

• H04B7/0626

  Channel coefficients, e.g. channel state information [CSI] · CPC title

• H04L5/0048 Primary

  Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver (allocation of control signalling H04L5/0053; use of control signalling H04L5/0091) · CPC title

• H04B7/024 Primary

  Co-operative use of antennas of several sites, e.g. in co-ordinated multipoint or co-operative multiple-input multiple-output [MIMO] systems · CPC title

• H04B7/0413

  MIMO systems · CPC title