Method and apparatus for multiuser beamforming in mmwave wireless lan systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016119043-A1
Application number	US-201514599357-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 16, 2015
Priority date	Oct 27, 2014
Publication date	Apr 28, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of providing multiple station beam refinement in a mmWave wireless network comprising an access point (AP) and a plurality of stations (STAs) is provided. The method includes providing an AP configured to selectively transmit wireless signals to a plurality of directional sectors and to selectively receive wireless signals from the plurality of directional sectors. The method further includes operating the AP to at least one of provide simultaneous transmit beam refinement for the plurality of STAs, provide simultaneous receive beam refinement for the plurality of STAs, receive simultaneous transmit beam refinement from the plurality of STAs, and receive simultaneous receive beam refinement from the plurality of STAs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for providing multiple station beam refinement in a millimeter wave (mmWave) wireless network comprising an access point (AP) and a plurality of stations (STAs), the method comprising:
providing an AP configured to selectively transmit wireless signals to a plurality of directional sectors and to selectively receive wireless signals from the plurality of directional sectors; and operating the AP to at least one of provide simultaneous transmit beam refinement for the plurality of STAs, provide simultaneous receive beam refinement for the plurality of STAs, receive simultaneous transmit beam refinement from the plurality of STAs, and receive simultaneous receive beam refinement from the plurality of STAs.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the beam refinement comprises at least one of refining a wide beam into a sector beam, refining a sector beam into a narrow beam, and evaluating a current beam and choosing an alternative beam having a same beamwidth in the same sector as the current beam or in a sector different from the sector of the current beam.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of STAs are located in a same sector of the AP.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of STAs are located in different sectors of the AP.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the providing simultaneous transmit beam refinement for the plurality of STAs and the providing simultaneous receive beam refinement for the plurality of STAs occurs simultaneously with at least one of the receiving simultaneous transmit beam refinement from the plurality of STAs and the receiving simultaneous receive beam refinement from the plurality of STAs.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the AP beams are refined by receiving multiple transmissions from the plurality of STAs simultaneously.

7 . An access point (AP) for a millimeter wave (mmWave) wireless network comprising the access point (AP) and a plurality of stations (STAs), the AP comprising:
processing circuitry configured to generate a multiple station beamforming procedure (Multi-STA BRP) frame configured to trigger simultaneous beam refinement between the AP and the plurality of STAs.

8 . The AP of claim 7 , wherein the Multi-STA BRP frame comprises: information about a duration of a sector sweep; and at least one of sweep feedback information for at least two of the plurality of STAs and sweep feedback information from at least two of the plurality of STAs.

9 . The AP of claim 7 , wherein the Multi-STA BRP frame comprises information about a list of STAs of the plurality of STAs involved in the multiple station beam refinement.

10 . The AP of claim 7 , wherein the Multi-STA BRP frame comprises information about sector sweep repetitions.

11 . The AP of claim 7 , wherein the Multi-STA BRP frame comprises information about at least one of a type of beam refinement and a direction of beam refinement.

12 . The AP of claim 7 , wherein the Multi-STA BRP frame comprises information about at least one of a best sector and a narrow beam.

13 . The AP of claim 7 , wherein the AP is configured to perform a receiver coarse beam refinement prior to initiating a fine beam refinement.

14 . The AP of claim 7 , wherein the AP is configured to at least one of sequentially receive feedback regarding the beam refinement of at least two of the plurality of STAs and receive feedback regarding the beam refinement of at least two of the plurality of STAs in parallel.

15 . The AP of claim 7 , wherein the AP is configured to use at least one of a signal to noise ratio, a direction, and a STA capability to group the plurality of STAs for beam refinement.

16 . An access point (AP) for a millimeter wave (mmWave) wireless network comprising the access point (AP) and a plurality of stations (STAs), the AP comprising:
processing circuitry configured to at least one of provide simultaneous transmit beam refinement for the plurality of STAs, provide simultaneous receive beam refinement for the plurality of STAs, receive simultaneous transmit beam refinement from the plurality of STAs, and receive simultaneous receive beam refinement from the plurality of STAs.

17 . The AP of claim 16 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to support at least two levels of beamwidth refinement.

18 . The AP of claim 16 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to at least one of: transmit independent beam refinement information in at least two beam directions simultaneously; and receive independent beam refinement information from at least two directions simultaneously.

19 . The AP of claim 16 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to at least one of: transmit sector sweep feedback in at least two beam directions simultaneously; and receive sector sweep feedback from at least two beam directions simultaneously.

20 . The AP of claim 16 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to generate a multiple beam pattern and to use the multiple beam pattern to at least one of: transmit same beam refinement frames to at least two stations simultaneously; and receive same beam refinement frames from at least two stations simultaneously.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Rajagopal Sridhar
• Taori Rakesh

Classifications

• H04B7/06952

  Selecting one or more beams from a plurality of beams, e.g. beam training, management or sweeping · CPC title

• H04B7/0408

  using two or more beams, i.e. beam diversity · CPC title

• H04B7/0452 Primary

  Multi-user MIMO systems · CPC title

• H04B7/088

  using beam selection · CPC title

• H04B7/086

  using weights depending on external parameters, e.g. direction of arrival [DOA], predetermined weights or beamforming · CPC title