Reuse of matrix equalizer for the purpose of transmit beamforming in a wireless MIMO communication system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9258042-B1
Application number	US-201313948001-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 22, 2013
Priority date	May 2, 2006
Publication date	Feb 9, 2016
Grant date	Feb 9, 2016

Abstract

A beamforming technique used in a MIMO wireless transmission system determines a transmitter beamforming steering matrix using a matrix equalizer of a transmitter or a receiver within the MIMO communication system, to thereby increase the speed and/or to decrease the processing needed to implement effective beamforming within the transmitter of the communication system. This beamforming technique can be used when a transmitter, with multiple transmitter antennas, is used to communicate with one or with multiple receivers within the communication system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
developing, at a first communication device, equalizer coefficients for processing and separating at least two signals received by the first communication device via a first communication channel, wherein the first communication channel is from multiple antennas of a second communication device to the first communication device;
using, at the first communication device, the equalizer coefficients to process and separate the at least two signals received by the first communication device via the first communication channel;
developing, at the first communication device, a transmit beamforming steering matrix using one of (i) the equalizer coefficients, generated at the first communication device, for processing and separating the at least two signals received by the first communication device via the first communication channel, or (ii) channel matrix decomposition information generated at the first communication device as an intermediate step in developing the equalizer coefficients for processing and separating the at least two signals received by the first communication device via the first communication channel, wherein the channel matrix decomposition information corresponds to an estimate of the first communication channel, and wherein the transmit beamforming steering matrix is for processing signals to be transmitted by the first communication device via a second communication channel from the first communication device to the second communication device, wherein the transmit beamforming steering matrix is for conditioning the signals to be transmitted by the first communication device via multiple transmit antennas of or coupled to the first communication device to produce a corresponding transmit spatial gain pattern; and
using, at the first communication device, the transmit beamforming steering matrix to perform transmit beamforming on the signals to be transmitted by the first communication device via the second communication channel, including producing the corresponding transmit spatial gain pattern.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein developing the transmit beamforming steering matrix comprises transposing, at the first communication device, the equalizer coefficients, generated at the first communication device, for processing and separating the at least two signals received by the first communication device via the first communication channel.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the transmit beamforming steering matrix comprises a transpose of the equalizer coefficients, generated at the first communication device, for processing and separating the at least two signals received by the first communication device via the first communication channel.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein developing the transmit beamforming steering matrix comprises using, at the first communication device, singular value decomposition (SVD) information generated at the first communication device as an intermediate step in developing the equalizer coefficients for processing and separating the at least two signals received by the first communication device via the first communication channel, wherein the SVD information corresponds to the estimate of the first communication channel.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein developing the transmit beamforming steering matrix comprises using, at the first communication device, QR decomposition information generated at the first communication device as an intermediate step in developing the equalizer coefficients for processing and separating the at least two signals received by the first communication device via the first communication channel, wherein the QR decomposition information corresponds to the estimate of the first communication channel.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmit beamforming steering matrix is developed to produce a beam pattern having a high gain lobe in a direction of the second communication device.

7. A first communication device, comprising:
a transceiver device that comprises a matrix equalizer, a steering matrix calculation unit, and a beamsteering network, wherein:
the matrix equalizer is configured to develop equalizer coefficients for processing at least two signals received by the transceiver device via a first communication channel, wherein the first communication channel is from multiple antennas of a second communication device to the first communication device, and
process and separate the at least two signals received by the transceiver device via the first communication channel using the equalizer coefficients,
the steering matrix calculation unit is configured to develop a transmit beamforming steering matrix using one of (i) the equalizer coefficients, generated by the transceiver device, for processing and separating the at least two signals received by the transceiver device via the first communication channel, or (ii) channel matrix decomposition information generated by the transceiver device as an intermediate step in developing the equalizer coefficients for processing and separating the at least two signals received by the transceiver device via the first communication channel, wherein the channel matrix decomposition information corresponds to an estimate of the first communication channel, and wherein the transmit beamforming steering matrix is for processing signals to be transmitted by the transceiver device via a second communication channel from the first communication device to the second communication device, wherein the transmit beamforming steering matrix is for conditioning the signals to be transmitted by the transceiver device via multiple transmit antennas of or coupled to the transceiver device to produce a corresponding transmit spatial gain pattern, and
the beamsteering network is configured to use the transmit beamforming steering matrix to perform transmit beamforming on the signals to be transmitted by the transceiver device via the second communication channel, including producing the corresponding transmit spatial gain pattern.

8. The first communication device of claim 7 , wherein the steering matrix calculation unit is configured to develop the transmit beamforming steering matrix at least by transposing the equalizer coefficients, generated by the transceiver device, for processing and receiving the at least two signals received by the transceiver device via the first communication channel.

9. The first communication device of claim 8 , wherein the steering matrix calculation unit is configured to develop the transmit beamforming steering matrix as a transpose of the equalizer coefficients, generated by the transceiver device, for processing and separating the at least two signals received by the transceiver device via the first communication channel.

10. The first communication device of claim 7 , wherein the steering matrix calculation unit is configured to develop the transmit beamforming steering matrix using singular value decomposition (SVD) information generated by the matrix equalizer as an intermediate step in developing the equalizer coefficients for processing and separating the at least two signals received by the transceiver device via the first communication channel, wherein the SVD information corresponds to the estimate of the first communication channel.

11. The first communication device of claim 7 , wherein the steering matrix calculation unit is configured to develop the transmit beamforming steering matrix using QR decomposition information generated by the matrix equalizer as an intermediate step in developing the equalizer coefficients for processing and separating the at least two signals received by the transceiver device vi

Assignees

• Marvell Int Ltd

Inventors

• Nabar Rohit U
• Shirali Kedar
• Lou Hui-Ling

Classifications

• H04B7/043 Primary

  using best eigenmode, e.g. beam forming or beam steering · CPC title

• H04L25/03961 Primary

  design criteria · CPC title

• H04L1/0003

  by switching between different modulation schemes · CPC title

• H04L1/0054

  Maximum-likelihood or sequential decoding, e.g. Viterbi, Fano, ZJ algorithms · CPC title

• H04L1/0026

  Transmission of channel quality indication · CPC title