Wireless communications systems supporting selective routing of carrier aggregation (CA) and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) data streams

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11265739-B2
Application number	US-202016816928-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 12, 2020
Priority date	Oct 25, 2018
Publication date	Mar 1, 2022
Grant date	Mar 1, 2022

Abstract

Wireless communications systems supporting selective routing of carrier aggregation (CA) and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) data streams are disclosed. The wireless communications system includes a signal router circuit communicatively coupled to one or more signal sources. The signal router circuit is configured to receive MIMO and CA communications signals for data transmission from the signal source(s) and distribute the communications signals (e.g., data streams) to remote units communicatively coupled to the signal router circuit. The signal router circuit determines whether to route each data stream in a MIMO configuration, a CA configuration, or both to provide an improved wireless communications environment for mobile communications devices connected to the remote units. The improved wireless communications environment may increase throughput, reduce interference and/or noise, and/or improve the transmission quality of wireless communications signals.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wireless communications system, comprising:
a plurality of remote units, each remote unit including an electrical-to-optical (E-O) converter, wherein the plurality of remote units is distributed over multiple floors of an infrastructure;
a plurality of optical fiber cables connected to one or more of the plurality of remote units;
a signal router circuit configured to route multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications signals and carrier aggregation (CA) communications signals, comprising:
a first signal source input configured to receive a first data stream;
a second signal source input configured to receive a second data stream;
a plurality of signal outputs each coupled to a remote unit among the plurality of remote units via one or more of the plurality of optical fiber cables; and
a routing control input configured to receive a routing control signal; and

a controller circuit comprising a routing control output coupled to the routing control input, the controller circuit configured to:
determine a first routing configuration for a first signal output of the plurality of signal outputs, comprising:
determining to route the first data stream in at least one of a first MIMO configuration or a first CA configuration; and
determining to route the second data stream in at least one of a second MIMO configuration or a second CA configuration; and

communicate the routing control signal indicating the first routing configuration for routing the first data stream and the second data stream to the first signal output.

2. The wireless communications system of claim 1 , wherein the controller circuit is further configured to:
receive an indication of a communication condition associated with at least one of the plurality of signal outputs;
determine to route the first data stream in at least one of the first MIMO configuration or the first CA configuration based on the communication condition; and
determine to route the second data stream in at least one of the second MIMO configuration or the second CA configuration based on the communication condition.

3. The wireless communications system of claim 2 , wherein:
the communication condition comprises a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) associated with the first signal output; and
when the SNR associated with the first signal output exceeds a threshold, the controller circuit is configured to:
determine to route the first data stream in at least the first MIMO configuration; and
determine to route the second data stream in at least the second MIMO configuration interleaved with the first data stream.

4. The wireless communications system of claim 2 , wherein:
the communication condition comprises a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) associated with the first signal output;
when the SNR associated with the first signal output does not exceed a threshold, the controller circuit is configured to:
determine to route the first data stream in the first CA configuration; and
determine to route the second data stream in the second CA configuration interleaved with the first data stream.

5. The wireless communications system of claim 1 , wherein the controller circuit is further configured to:
receive an indication of a communication condition associated with at least one of the plurality of signal outputs;
determine a second routing configuration for a second signal output of the plurality of signal outputs based on the communication condition; and
communicate the routing control signal indicating the first routing configuration and the second routing configuration.

6. The wireless communications system of claim 5 , wherein the communication condition comprises a distribution of user mobile communications devices in communication with at least one of a first remote unit coupled to the first signal output or a second remote unit coupled to the second signal output.

7. The wireless communications system of claim 6 , wherein when the distribution of the user mobile communications devices indicates a majority of the user mobile communications devices are located within an overlapping coverage area of the first remote unit and the second remote unit:
the signal router circuit further comprises:
a third signal source input configured to receive a third data stream; and
a fourth signal source input configured to receive a fourth data stream; and

the controller circuit is further configured to:
determine the first routing configuration, comprising:
determining to route the first data stream in the first MIMO configuration and the first CA configuration; and
determining to route the second data stream in the second MIMO configuration and the second CA configuration;

determine the second routing configuration, comprising:
determining to route the third data stream in a third MIMO configuration interleaved with the first data stream and in a third CA configuration; and
determining to route the fourth data stream in a fourth MIMO configuration interleaved with the second data stream and in a fourth CA configuration; and

communicate the routing control signal indicating the first routing configuration for routing the first data stream and the second data stream to the first signal output and indicating the second routing configuration for routing the third data stream and the fourth data stream to the second signal output.

8. The wireless communications system of claim 6 , wherein when the distribution of the user mobile communications devices indicates a majority of the user mobile communications devices are located within a threshold distance of the first remote unit or the second remote unit, the controller circuit is further configured to:
determine the first routing configuration, comprising:
determining to route the first data stream in the first MIMO configuration; and
determining to route the second data stream in the second MIMO configuration interleaved with the first data stream; and

determine the second routing configuration, comprising routing the first data stream and the second data stream to the second signal output.

9. The wireless communications system of claim 5 , wherein the controller circuit is further configured to determine the first routing configuration based on a predicted throughput associated with the plurality of signal outputs, and wherein the predicted throughput is based on a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurement associated with at least one of the plurality of signal outputs.

10. The wireless communications system of claim 5 , wherein the controller circuit is further configured to determine the first routing configuration based on a measured throughput associated with the plurality of signal outputs.

11. The wireless communications system of claim 5 , wherein the controller circuit is further configured to determine the first routing configuration based on a measurement of interference associated with the plurality of signal outputs.

12. The wireless communications system of claim 1 , wherein the controller circuit comprises a communications interface configured to:
couple to at least one of the plurality of remote units or a signal source circuit coupled to the first signal source input;
receive an indication of a communication condition from a first remote unit of the plurality of remote units through the communications interface, the communication condition comprising at least one of a MIMO capability, a CA capability, a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurement, or a distribution of user mobile communications devices in communication with the first remote unit;
determine the first routing configuration based on the indication o

Assignees

• Corning Optical Communications LLC

Inventors

• Harel Dror

Classifications

• H04B7/0413

  MIMO systems · CPC title

• H04L5/0023

  Time-frequency-space · CPC title

• H04B7/024

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

• H04W24/02 Primary

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · CPC title

• H04W40/02 Primary

  Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing · CPC title