Techniques for determining a number of receive chains to enable for a channel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017324458-A1
Application number	US-201715583914-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 1, 2017
Priority date	May 9, 2016
Publication date	Nov 9, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Techniques are described for wireless communication at a wireless communication device. A determination may be made regarding the number of receive chains, of a plurality of receive chains, to enable for a channel. Power to the receive chains may be regulated based on the determined number of enabled receive chains. The determination may be based on a transmission scheduling rate for the wireless communication device and a rank for the channel. In some examples, the determination may further be based on a channel quality of the channel and/or a type of traffic scheduled for the channel.

First claim

1 . A method for wireless communication at a wireless communication device, comprising:
determining a number of receive chains, of a plurality of receive chains, to enable for a channel, the determining based at least in part on a transmission scheduling rate for the wireless communication device and a rank for the channel; and regulating power to the plurality of receive chains based at least in part on the determined number of receive chains.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a network capability comprising a maximum supported rank for the channel; and wherein the determining the number of receive chains is further based at least in part on the identified network capability.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
comparing the transmission scheduling rate to a first transmission scheduling rate threshold for enabling receive chains or a second transmission scheduling rate threshold for disabling receive chains.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the determining the number of receive chains to enable for the channel comprises:
determining to disable at least one receive chain of the plurality of receive chains for the channel when the transmission scheduling rate is lower than the second transmission scheduling rate threshold; or determining to enable a number of receive chains greater than a number of currently-enabled receive chains for the channel when the transmission scheduling rate for the wireless communication device is higher than the first transmission scheduling rate threshold.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the determining to enable the number of receive chains greater than the number of currently-enabled receive chains further comprises:
comparing a second transmission scheduling rate to the first transmission scheduling rate threshold; and confirming the number of receive chains greater than the number of currently-enabled receive chains when the second transmission scheduling rate for the wireless communication device is higher than the first transmission scheduling rate threshold.

6 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the comparing is performed after an expiration of a time period following a determination of a prior number of receive chains to enable for the channel.

7 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the comparing the transmission scheduling rate for the wireless communication device to the first transmission scheduling rate threshold or the second transmission scheduling rate threshold is performed a predetermined count of transmission time intervals (TTIs) after a prior comparison.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the predetermined count of TTIs is based at least in part on a type of traffic scheduled for the channel.

9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the predetermined count of TTIs does not include TTIs transmitted while the wireless communication device is in a sleep state.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
comparing a channel quality of the channel to a channel quality threshold; wherein the determining the number of receive chains is further based at least in part on the comparison.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
comparing the rank for the channel to a threshold rank; wherein the determining the number of receive chains to enable for the channel is based at least in part on a result of the comparison.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the determining the number of receive chains to enable for the channel based at least in part on the comparison comprises:
determining to enable at least a predetermined number of the plurality of receive chains when the rank for the channel is higher than the threshold rank.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the rank for the channel is based at least in part on: a scheduled rank for the channel, or a reported rank for the channel, or a combination thereof.

14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the rank for the channel comprises a scheduled rank and further comprising:
determining to enable at least a predetermined number of the plurality of receive chains when the scheduled rank for the channel is higher than the threshold rank.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the predetermined number of the plurality of receive chains comprises all of the plurality of receive chains.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the comparing is performed upon receipt of the scheduled rank for the channel.

17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the comparing is performed prior to receiving a transmission time interval corresponding to the scheduled rank for the channel.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the number of receive chains is further based at least in part on a type of traffic scheduled for the channel.

19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmission scheduling rate is based at least in part on: a number of transmission time intervals (TTIs) the wireless communication device is awake to listen to the channel during a time period, or a number of TTIs the wireless communication device is scheduled to receive a transmission on the channel during the time period, or a type of traffic scheduled for the channel during the time period, or a combination thereof.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein a duration of the time period is based at least in part on a number of currently-enabled receive chains.

21 . The method of claim 1 , wherein regulating power to the plurality of receive chains comprises at least one of: increasing power to a disabled receive chain included in the number of receive chains enabled for the channel, or decreasing power to an enabled receive chain not included in the number of receive chains enabled for the channel, or maintaining a power state of an enabled receive chain included in the number of receive chains enabled for the channel, or maintaining a power state of a disabled receive chain not included in the number of receive chains enabled for the channel.

22 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determined number of receive chains is two receive chains or four receive chains.

23 . An apparatus for wireless communication at a wireless communication device, comprising:
means for determining a number of receive chains, of a plurality of receive chains, to enable for a channel, the determining based at least in part on a transmission scheduling rate for the wireless communication device and a rank for the channel; and means for regulating power to the plurality of receive chains based at least in part on the determined number of receive chains.

24 . An apparatus for wireless communication at a wireless communication device, comprising:
a processor; memory in electronic communication with the processor; and instructions stored in the memory, wherein the instructions are executable by the processor to: determine a number of receive chains, of a plurality of receive chains, to enable for a channel, the determining based at least in part on a transmission scheduling rate for the wireless communication device and a rank for the channel; and regulate power to the plurality of receive chains based at least in part on the determined number of receive chains.

25 . The apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the instructions executable by the processor to determine the number of receive chains comprise instructions executable by the processor to:
identify a network capability comprising a maximum s

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Liu Qijia
• Mantravadi Ashok
• Yoo Jae Won
• Aminzadeh Gohari Amir

Classifications

• H04B7/0491

  using two or more sectors, i.e. sector diversity · CPC title

• H04W72/20

  Control channels or signalling for resource management · CPC title

• H04L5/006

  Quality of the received signal, e.g. BER, SNR, water filling · CPC title

• H04B7/0452

  Multi-user MIMO systems · CPC title

• H04B7/0817 Primary

  with multiple receivers and antenna path selection · CPC title