WO2007121568A1

WO2007121568A1 - Method and system for closed loop multiple input/output antenna environments in wireless communication

Info

Publication number: WO2007121568A1
Application number: PCT/CA2007/000672
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kelvin Kar-Kin Au; Hosein Nikopourdeilami; Mo-Han Fong; Sophie Vrzic; Robert Novak; Jianglei Ma; Wen Tong
Original assignee: Nortel Networks Limited
Priority date: 2006-04-21
Filing date: 2007-04-20
Publication date: 2007-11-01

Abstract

A method and system for wireless multiple input multiple output ('MIMO') antenna communication. An adaptive change in the rank of the wireless communication is detected in which the rank corresponds to a quantity of wireless communication streams. Wireless communication channel resources are scheduled. The scheduling takes into account the adaptively changed rank. Efficient feedback mechanisms that work with the changing rank are used to reduce overhead.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CLOSED LOOP MULTIPLE INPUT/OUTPUT ANTENNA ENVIRONMENTS IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the field of wireless communications and more particularly to a method and system to provide precoding, scheduling and communication feedback from a mobile terminal to a base station in multiple input multiple output ("MIMO") antenna environments.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Multiple Input, Multiple Output Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing ("MIMO-OFDM") is a wireless communication OFDM technology that uses multiple antennas to transmit and receive radio signals between base stations and mobile terminals. MIMO-OFDM allows service providers to deploy wireless broadband systems that take advantage of the multi-path properties of environments using base station antennas that do not necessarily have line of sight communications with the mobile terminals.

MIMO systems use multiple antennas to simultaneously transmit data, in small pieces and in multiple streams to the receiver, which processes the separate data transmissions and puts them back together. This process, called spatial multiplexing, can be used to proportionally boost the data-transmission speed by a factor equal to the number of transmitting antennas. In addition, since all data is transmitted both in the same frequency band and with separate spatial signatures, this technique utilizes the wireless communication spectrum very efficiently.

In closed loop MIMO systems, the channel state information is fed back from the mobile terminal to the base station to allow the base station to have knowledge of the channel information, e.g., quality, for each data stream (channel layer). The quantity of streams assigned to a mobile terminal can be changed adaptively. This, however, presents a problem in cases where differential encoding, i.e., encoding schemes based on the difference between the previous data to be encoded and the current data to be encoded, is used. It is therefore desirable to have an arrangement in which the encoder can still operate in an environment in which the quantity of data streams, i.e., the "rank" changes. In other words, it is desirable to have a wireless communication system and method that support differential encoding in an environment where the OFDM scattering environment changes, for example, from an environment that was supporting 3 streams but goes to 1 stream. In closed loop MIMO systems, schedulers are used to allocate and establish channel resource usage patterns by the mobile terminals. However, these schedulers, which can be implemented in software in the base station, do not currently consider cases where there are a different number of data streams being transmitted to different mobile terminals within a coverage zone. Accordingly, it is desirable to have a closed loop MIMO arrangement in which the scheduler operates to allocate channel resources in a manner that allows different quantities of data streams to be scheduled to different mobile terminals.

Current closed loop MIMO feedback mechanisms employ the feedback of the carrier to interference ratio ("CIR") from the mobile terminal to the base station to provide an indication of channel quality. This is because feeding back information in addition to CIR reduces efficiency by consuming channel resources for overhead. In other words, efficiency gains that may be realized by feeding back additional information for consideration by the base station can be consumed by the additional overhead used to carry this information. It is desirable, however, to have an arrangement which allows information beyond mere CIR to be fed back to the base station so that the base station can efficiently assign channel resources. It is further desirable to have an arrangement in which this "additional" information is fed back in a manner which minimizes overhead.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention advantageously provides a method and system for closed loop MIMO wireless communications, including improved feedback arrangements.

In accordance with one aspect, the present invention provides a method for wireless multiple input multiple output ("MIMO") antenna communication. An adaptive change in the rank of the wireless communication is detected in which the rank corresponds to a quantity of wireless communication streams. Wireless communication channel resources are scheduled. The scheduling takes into account the adaptively changed rank. In accordance with another aspect, the present invention provides a system for wireless MIMO antenna communication in which the system has a base station The base station has a central processing unit operating to detect an adaptive change in the rank of the wireless communication in which the rank corresponds to a quantity of wireless communication streams, and schedule wireless communication channel resources The scheduling takes into account the adaptively changed rank

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present invention, and the attendant advantages and features thereof, will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein

FIG 1 is a diagram of an embodiment of a system constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention,

FIG 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary base station constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention,

FIG 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary mobile terminal constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention,

FIG 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary OFDM architecture constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention, FIG 5 is a block diagram of the flow of received signal processing in accordance with the principles of the present invention,

FlG 6 is a diagram of an exemplary scatteπng of pilot symbols among available sub- earners,

FIG 7 is a flow chart of a user-centπc scheduling method constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention,

FIG 8 is an exemplary sub-channel packet data unit field arrangement, FIG 9 is an example of a CQICH reset PDU field arrangement, and FIG. 10 is an example of an open loop feedback PDU field arrangement.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawing figures in which like reference designators refer to like elements, there is shown in FIG. 1 , a system constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention and designated generally as "8." System 8 includes a base station controller ("BSC") 10 that controls wireless communications within multiple cells 12, which are served by corresponding base stations ("BS") 14. In general, each base station 14 facilitates communications using OFDM with mobile terminals 16, which are within the cell 12 associated with the corresponding base station 14. The movement of the mobile terminals 16 in relation to the base stations 14 results in significant fluctuation in channel conditions. As illustrated, the base stations 14 and mobile terminals 16 may include multiple antennas in a multiple input multiple output ("MIMO") arrangement to provide spatial diversity for communications. A high level overview of the mobile terminals 16 and base stations 14 of the present invention is provided prior to delving into the structural and functional details of the preferred embodiments. With reference to FIG. 2, a base station 14 configured according to one embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. The base station 14 generally includes a control system 20 such as a central processing unit, a baseband processor 22, transmit circuitry 24, receive circuitry 26, multiple antennas 28, and a network interface 30. The receive circuitry 26 receives radio frequency signals bearing information from one or more remote transmitters provided by mobile terminals 16 (illustrated in FIG. 3). Preferably, a low noise amplifier and a filter (not shown) cooperate to amplify and remove out-of-band interference from the signal for processing. Down conversion and digitization circuitry (not shown) then down converts the filtered, received signal to an intermediate or baseband frequency signal, which is then digitized into one or more digital streams.

The baseband processor 22 processes the digitized received signal to extract the information or data bits conveyed in the received signal. This processing typically comprises demodulation, decoding, and error correction operations. As such, the baseband processor 22 is generally implemented in one or more digital signal processors ("DSPs") or application- specific integrated circuits ("ASICs") The received information is then sent across a wireless network via the network interface 30 or transmitted to another mobile terminal 16 serviced by the base station 14

On the transmit side, the baseband processor 22 receives digitized data, which may represent voice, data, or control information, from the network interface 30 under the control of control system 20, and encodes the data for transmission The encoded data is output to the transmit circuitry 24, where it is modulated by a earner signal having a desired transmit frequency or frequencies A power amplifier (not shown) amplifies the modulated earner signal to a level appropnate for transmission, and delivers the modulated earner signal to the antennas 28 through a matching network (not shown) Modulation and processing details are descnbed in greater detail below

With reference to FIG 3, a mobile terminal 16 configured according to one embodiment of the present invention is descnbed Similar to base station 14, a mobile terminal 16 constructed in accordance with the pnnciples of the present invention includes a control system 32, a baseband processor 34, transmit circuitry 36, receive circuitry 38, multiple antennas 40, and user interface circuitry 42 The receive circuitry 38 receives radio frequency signals beanng information from one or more base stations 14 Preferably, a low noise amplifier and a filter (not shown) cooperate to amplify and remove out-of-band interference from the signal for processing Down conversion and digitization circuitry (not shown) then down convert the filtered, received signal to an intermediate or baseband frequency signal, which is then digitized into one or more digital streams

The baseband processor 34 processes the digitized received signal to extract the information or data bits conveyed in the received signal This processing typically comprises demodulation, decoding, and error conection operations, as will be discussed on greater detail below The baseband processor 34 is generally implemented in one or more digital signal processors ("DSPs") and application specific integrated circuits ("ASICs")

With respect to transmission, the baseband processor 34 receives digitized data, which may represent voice, data, or control information, from the control system 32, which it encodes for transmission The encoded data is output to the transmit circuitry 36, where it is used by a modulator to modulate a earner signal that is at a desired transmit frequency or frequencies. A power amplifier (not shown) amplifies the modulated carrier signal to a level appropriate for transmission, and delivers the modulated carrier signal to the antennas 40 through a matching network (not shown). Various modulation and processing techniques available to those skilled in the art are applicable to the present invention. In OFDM modulation, the transmission band is divided into multiple, orthogonal carrier waves. Each carrier wave is modulated according to the digital data to be transmitted. Because OFDM divides the transmission band into multiple carriers, the bandwidth per carrier decreases and the modulation time per carrier increases. Since the multiple carriers are transmitted in parallel, the transmission rate for the digital data, or symbols, on any given carrier is lower than when a single carrier is used.

OFDM modulation is implemented, for example, through the performance of an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform ("IFFT") on the information to be transmitted. For demodulation, a Fast Fourier Transform ("FFT") on the received signal is performed to recover the transmitted information. In practice, the IFFT and FFT are provided by digital signal processing carrying out an Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) and Discrete Fourier Transform ("DFT"), respectively. Accordingly, the characterizing feature of OFDM modulation is that orthogonal carrier waves are generated for multiple bands within a transmission channel. The modulated signals are digital signals having a relatively low transmission rate and capable of staying within their respective bands. The individual carrier waves are not modulated directly by the digital signals. Instead, all carrier waves are modulated at once by IFFT processing.

In one embodiment, OFDM is used for at least the downlink transmission from the base stations 14 to the mobile terminals 16. Each base station 14 is equipped with n transmit antennas 28, and each mobile terminal 16 is equipped with m receive antennas 40. Notably, the respective antennas can be used for reception and transmission using appropriate duplexers or switches and are so labeled only for clarity.

With reference to FIG. 4, a logical OFDM transmission architecture is described according to one embodiment. Initially, the base station controller 10 sends data to be transmitted to various mobile terminals 16 to the base station 14. The base station 14 may use the channel quality indicators ("CQIs") associated with the mobile terminals to schedule the data for transmission as well as select appropπate coding and modulation for transmitting the scheduled data The CQIs may be provided directly by the mobile terminals 16 or determined at the base station 14 based on information provided by the mobile terminals 16 In either case, the CQI for each mobile terminal 16 is a function of the degree to which the channel amplitude (or response) vanes across the OFDM frequency band

The scheduled data 44, which is a stream of bits, is scrambled in a manner reducing the peak-to-average power ratio associated with the data using data scrambling logic 46 A cyclic redundancy check ("CRC") for the scrambled data is determined and appended to the scrambled data using CRC adding logic 48 Next, channel coding is performed using channel encoder logic 50 to effectively add redundancy to the data to facilitate recovery and error correction at the mobile terminal 16 Again, the channel coding for a particular mobile terminal 16 is based on the CQI The channel encoder logic 50 uses known Turbo encoding techniques in one embodiment The encoded data is then processed by rate matching logic 52 to compensate for the data expansion associated with encoding Bit interleaver logic 54 systematically reorders the bits in the encoded data to minimize the loss of consecutive data bits The resultant data bits are systematically mapped into corresponding symbols depending on the chosen baseband modulation by mapping logic 56 Preferably, Quadrature Amplitude Modulation ("QAM") or Quadrature Phase Shift Key ("QPSK") modulation is used The degree of modulation is preferably chosen based on the CQI for the particular mobile terminal The symbols may be systematically reordered to further bolster the immunity of the transmitted signal to peπodic data loss caused by frequency selective fading using symbol interleaver logic 58

At this point, groups of bits have been mapped into symbols representing locations in an amplitude and phase constellation When spatial diversity is desired, blocks of symbols are then processed by space-time block code ("STC") encoder logic 60, which modifies the symbols in a fashion making the transmitted signals more resistant to interference and more readily decoded at a mobile terminal 16 The STC encoder logic 60 will process the incoming symbols and provide n outputs corresponding to the number of transmit antennas 28 for the base station 14 The control system 20 and/or baseband processor 22 will provide a mapping control signal to control STC encoding At this point, assume the symbols for the n outputs are representative of the data to be transmitted and capable of being recovered by the mobile terminal 16. See A. F. Naguib, N. Seshadri, and A. R. Calderbank, "Applications of space- time codes and interference suppression for high capacity and high data rate wireless systems," Thirty-Second Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems & Computers, Volume 2, pp. 1803-1810, 1998, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

For the present example, assume the base station 14 has two antennas 28 («=2) and the STC encoder logic 60 provides two output streams of symbols. Accordingly, each of the symbol streams output by the STC encoder logic 60 is sent to a corresponding IFFT processor 62, illustrated separately for ease of understanding. Those skilled in the art will recognize that one or more processors may be used to provide such digital signal processing, alone or in combination with other processing described herein. The IFFT processors 62 will preferably operate on the respective symbols to provide an inverse Fourier Transform. The output of the IFFT processors 62 provides symbols in the time domain. The time domain symbols are grouped into frames, which are associated with a prefix by like insertion logic 64. Each of the resultant signals is up-converted in the digital domain to an intermediate frequency and converted to an analog signal via the corresponding digital up-conversion ("DUC") and digital-to-analog (D/A) conversion circuitry 66. The resultant (analog) signals are then simultaneously modulated at the desired RF frequency, amplified, and transmitted via the RF circuitry 68 and antennas 28. Notably, pilot signals known by the intended mobile terminal 16 are scattered among the sub-carriers. The mobile terminal 16, which is discussed in detail below, will use the pilot signals for channel estimation.

Reference is now made to FIG. 5 to illustrate reception of the transmitted signals by a mobile terminal 16. Upon arrival of the transmitted signals at each of the antennas 40 of the mobile terminal 16, the respective signals are demodulated and amplified by corresponding RF circuitry 70. For the sake of conciseness and clarity, only one of the two receive paths is described and illustrated in detail. Analog-to-digital ("A/D") converter and down-conversion circuitry 72 digitizes and downconverts the analog signal for digital processing. The resultant digitized signal may be used by automatic gain control circuitry ("AGC") 74 to control the gain of the amplifiers in the RF circuitry 70 based on the received signal level. Initially, the digitized signal is provided to synchronization logic 76, which includes coarse synchronization logic 78, which buffers several OFDM symbols and calculates an auto-correlation between the two successive OFDM symbols. A resultant time index corresponding to the maximum of the correlation result determines a fine synchronization search window, which is used by fine synchronization logic 80 to determine a precise framing starting position based on the headers. The output of the fine synchronization logic 80 facilitates frame acquisition by frame alignment logic 84. Proper framing alignment is important so that subsequent FFT processing provides an accurate conversion from the time to the frequency domain. The fine synchronization algorithm is based on the correlation between the received pilot signals carried by the headers and a local copy of the known pilot data. Once frame alignment acquisition occurs, the prefix of the OFDM symbol is removed with prefix removal logic 86 and resultant samples are sent to frequency offset correction logic 88, which compensates for the system frequency offset caused by the unmatched local oscillators in the transmitter and the receiver. Preferably, the synchronization logic 76 includes frequency offset and clock estimation logic 82, which is based on the headers to help estimate such effects on the transmitted signal and provide those estimations to the correction logic 88 to properly process OFDM symbols.

At this point, the OFDM symbols in the time domain are ready for conversion to the frequency domain using FFT processing logic 90. The results are frequency domain symbols, which are sent to processing logic 92. The processing logic 92 extracts the scattered pilot signal using scattered pilot extraction logic 94, determines a channel estimate based on the extracted pilot signal using channel estimation logic 96, and provides channel responses for all sub-carriers using channel reconstruction logic 98. In order to determine a channel response for each of the sub-carriers, the pilot signal is essentially multiple pilot symbols that are scattered among the data symbols throughout the OFDM sub-carriers in a known pattern in both time and frequency. FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary scattering of pilot symbols among available sub-carriers over a given time and frequency plot in an OFDM environment. Referring again to FIG. 5, the processing logic compares the received pilot symbols with the pilot symbols that are expected in certain sub-carriers at certain times to determine a channel response for the sub-carriers in which pilot symbols were transmitted. The results are interpolated to estimate a channel response for most, if not all, of the remaining sub-earners for which pilot symbols were not provided The actual and interpolated channel responses are used to estimate an overall channel response, which includes the channel responses for most, if not all, of the sub-carriers in the OFDM channel The frequency domain symbols and channel reconstruction information, which are deπved from the channel responses for each receive path are provided to an STC decoder 100, which provides STC decoding on both received paths to recover the transmitted symbols The channel reconstruction information provides equalization information to the STC decoder 100 sufficient to remove the effects of the transmission channel when processing the respective frequency domain symbols

The recovered symbols are placed back in order using symbol de-interleaver logic 102, which corresponds to the symbol interleaver logic 58 of the transmitter The de- mterleaved symbols are then demodulated or de-mapped to a corresponding bitstream using de-mapping logic 104 The bits are then de-interleaved using bit de-interleaver logic 106, which corresponds to the bit interleaver logic 54 of the transmitter architecture The de- mterleaved bits are then processed by rate de-matching logic 108 and presented to channel decoder logic 1 10 to recover the initially scrambled data and the CRC checksum Accordingly, CRC logic 1 12 removes the CRC checksum, checks the scrambled data in traditional fashion, and provides it to the de-scrambling logic 1 14 for de-scrambling using the known base station de-scrambling code to recover the originally transmitted data 1 16

Three general areas of closed loop MIMO communications are addressed by the present invention, and are descπbed below in detail First, the present invention provides a method and system for wireless MIMO communication in which precoding and the resultant feedback to support precoding changes Such changes can be a result of, for example, changes in the πchness of the scatteπng environment In other words, when the rank with a mobile terminal 16 is changing, the feedback arrangement of present invention supports and reports the change in rank for, by example, arranging precoding matπces according to the rank information and providing this information to base station 14 Second, the present invention provides arrangements and methods that use the rank and CIR information provided to base station 14 to allow base station 14 to efficiently schedule channel resources. Such is accomplished even where the rank is changing.

Third, the present invention provides arrangements and methods to allow the efficient feedback of information from mobile terminal 16 to base station 14. As discussed below in detail, the feedback information provided to base station 14 goes beyond mere CIR information. For example, the information provided can include but is not limited to a precoding matrix, selection by mobile terminal 16 of preferred base station transmit antenna(s). Efficient feedback can be employed, for example, through the use of differential feedback in a manner that is periodically reset. Methods for resetting are described in detail below.

Turning to the first aspect of the invention, and referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, a differential encoder in mobile terminal 16, such as in baseband processor 34, is provided which supports a changing/adaptive number of wireless communication streams. Differential encoder decreases the feedback rate in closed-loop MIMO-OFDM systems. Base station 14 uses channel information for each channel layer (streams) in closed-loop MIMO-OFDM. As noted above, it is assumed that the number of streams assigned to a mobile terminal 16 can be adaptively changed.

In closed loop MIMO, base station 14 uses information about the downlink channel matrix and mobile terminal 16 encodes and sends back the channel information to base station 14 through the uplink channel. In accordance with the present invention, encoder quantizes an input variable to a codeword. This input variable might be a scalar, a vector, a matrix, or in general a multidimensional matrix. The codeword may be selected by encoder from a given codebook having a limited number of codewords. A unique index may be assigned to each codeword of the codebook.

The best codeword among the all possibilities in the codebook is selected by encoder based on a predefined criterion. It is noted that the output of the encoder can be the index of the selected codeword.

Differential encoder considers a sequence of variables to be quantized. The sequence may be defined in time, frequency, or any other domains. If the variation of the input sequence is slow in the corresponding domain, the variation of the quantized sequence may be slow, as well. It is noted that the variation of a sequence may be defined based on a given criterion. By using codeword indexing, the sequence of indexes may likewise be arranged to have a slow variation. The differential encoder of the present invention uses the slow variation property of the codeword index sequence. The output of differential encoder may be the difference of the index sequence instead of the index sequence itself. Because of the slow variation of the index sequence, the difference of the index sequence may be small. These differences are referred to as "differential offset indexes". It is noted that indexing enables one to use the differential encoding for the sequence of the indexes. In accordance with the present invention, an encoding/decoding method is provided as a general coding tool which can be applied to any type of input variable and any type of codebook with any kind of quantization criterion.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention a differential encoder using an adaptive number of streams is provided. It is noted that existing differential encoders may be modified in accordance with the present invention to allow operation in cases where that the number of streams is adaptively changed. Consider

^HN^χM as a downlink channel matrix for a tone of a MIMO-OFDM system. The SVD decomposition of the channel matrix may be defined as

where D is diagonal matrix, and U and V are unitary matrices. The diagonal elements of D are represented by d. If the system supports "s" streams, then base station 14 may use the knowledge of s columns of V and s elements of d. Vs represents a sub-matrix containing s selected columns of V. ds depicts s corresponding elements of d.

If V and D' are matrix of eigenvectors and diagonal matrix of eigenvalues of H'=H^HH, respectively, then

V£> = D In addition, ignoring the phase rotations of the matπx columns (phase rotation has no effect on the closed-loop MIMO), V and V are the same Thus, H' contains information that base station 14 may wish to use A differential encoder/decoder, such as encoder can be used if the channel vaπation is slow in the frequency and/or time directions The feedback vaπable may be H, H', (V,d), or (Vs,ds)

The input to differential encoder can be H, H', V, Vs , or individual columns of Vs If the input of the differential encoder is H, H', or V, then the number of streams may have no effect on the operation of the encoder

If the input of the encoder is Vs , then the encoder may be reset when s is changed The codebook may be also changed according to s If the input to encoder is individual columns of Vs, it means that s independent encoders work simultaneously The codebooks can be the same for all the encoders

If s is increased, new encoders may be set up to work in parallel with the previous differential encoders Increasing s may have no effect on the previous encoders If s is decreased, some current encoders may be removed The other encoders may keep working Differential encoder can be used to decrease the feedback rate value in closed-loop MIMO- OFDM systems

As noted above, different types of channel related parameters can be used as feedback information and the number of streams assigned to a user may be changed adaptively according to the channel condition and user traffic Differential encoder can support a MIMO-OFDM system with adaptive number of streams per tone or a set of tones

Regarding the second general feature of the present invention, for the case where the number of streams is adaptively changed, a scheduler is used to allocate resources to mobile terminals based on, for example, the feedback from the mobile terminals 16 This second general feature is descπbed in more detail for a number of exemplary scenaπos

In closed loop MIMO, mobile terminal 16 may send data such as the channel, CQI and codeword indices to base station 14 on the uplink The scheduler for base station 14 makes use of this data to improve the performance of closed loop MIMO system 8 In operation, mobile terminals 16 expeπence different channel conditions and thus may only be able to receive one or more streams of data from base station 14 This presents an issue as to how to schedule mobile terminals 16 having different number of streams in a single step prioritization process.

In accordance with various aspects of the invention, the scheduling method can be user-centric, i.e., tailored to meet a mobile terminal 16 QoS, or a group-centric approach may be used to maximize an overall predetermined system priority when selecting mobile terminals 16, e.g., the scheduling method can maximize the total system capacity (sum capacity). Alternatively, under the latter aspect, the scheduling method of the present invention can seek to minimize delay or maximize fairness or use other scheduling parameters. Multiple mobile terminals 16 having lower CQIs may yield a higher sum capacity than selecting a mobile terminal 16 with the best CQI due to the non-linear relationship of signal to noise ratio ("SNR") vs. capacity. The scheduler for base station 14 can switch between a user-centric to a group-centric approach depending on, but not limited to, the amount of mobile terminals 16 using real-time services vs. those using best effort services. An exemplary group-centric scheduling method is described. Initially, mobile terminals 16 are grouped into orthogonal sets, e.g., based on the orthogonality of the precoding vectors. In a system that supports a maximum of Mt_max streams, the scheduler can choose to schedule 1 , 2, . . ., Mt max streams. For example, for a 3 stream case, the scheduler may select three mobile terminals 16 with one stream or one mobile terminal 16 with one stream plus another mobile terminal 16 with two streams etc.

For each orthogonal set for Mt i = 1 ... Mt max, the scheduler determines the sum priority of all possible combination that sum up to Mt_i. If the sum priority > max priority, then max priority = sum priority. Mobile terminals 16 that belong to the max priority are selected to transmit. This search may be computationally intensive; a reduced set can be used by limiting the possible combinations instead of allowing all combinations.

The sum priority may be a function that maximizes the sum capacity, e.g.,

where f(C/I) = Iog2(l + C/I). The C/I used by the scheduler can take into account that the transmit power is reduced per stream in a multi-stream transmission. Hence a modified C/I may be used based on the reported C/I from mobile terminals 16.

Referring to FIG. 7, an exemplary user-centric (mobile terminal-centric) method for scheduling is described. Based on the C/I and preferred codeword, the scheduler can establish the mobile terminal scheduler priority. The maximum amount of data a mobile terminal 16 can send is the sum of the payloads for Mt streams, where Mt is the number of streams to a mobile terminal 16.

Initially, mobile terminals 16 are ranked according to a priority equation (step S 100). Such a scheduler priority equation, apart from containing terms such as average rate or QoS components, can also take into account the effect of different number of streams to different mobile terminals 16. An example of priority equation for the k-th mobile terminal 16 is:

∑AC/i,) (^r(0) where the numerator prioritizes mobile terminals 16 with different numbers of streams. f(C/I) is a mapping of C/I to data rate, e.g., f(C/I) = Iog2(l + C/I). C/I i is the C/I for the i-th stream and Mt_i is the number of streams supported by the k-th mobile terminal 16. The best mobile terminal 16 is selected and given the highest scheduling priority (step S 102). If the number of streams used by the selected mobile terminal 16 is less than Mt max either because the channel rank for mobile terminal 16 is less than the maximum or the mobile terminal 16 does not have enough data (step S 104), the scheduler may search for mobile terminals 16 that use the orthogonal codeword as the selected mobile terminal 16 and require less than or equal to (Mt max - Mt selected) number of streams (step S 106). The mobile terminals having the next best i streams are selected (step S 108). If the number of selected streams is equal to the maximum number of streams, scheduling is completed for band/sub-band k. The above is applicable to both wideband and sub-band scheduling. For sub-band scheduling, the same mobile terminal 16 can transmit on multiple sub-bands provided that the mobile terminal 16 has data to transmit. In group or user-centric scheduling, the scheduler may try to minimize the amount of interference and/or the interference variation of the scheduled mobile terminal 16. In order to reduce the interference unpredictability due to mobile terminal 16 multiplexing, the scheduler can select mobile terminals 16 that report the same set of codeword vectors. This is a step that can be taken in addition to scheduling mobile terminals 16 within the same orthogonal set of vectors as described above. For example, if [Vl, V2, V3, V4] is a set of column vectors that are orthogonal to each other, mobile terminal A prefers vectors Vl and V3 while mobile terminal B also prefers vectors Vl and/or V3. The scheduler can multiplex mobile terminals that have the same or similar choice of precoding vectors. In this case, if the scheduler precodes the data of mobile terminal A using Vl and mobile terminal B using V3, the interference experienced by mobile terminal A should be similar to what was reported assuming both Vl and V3 are used to send data to mobile terminal A due to the interference from the other layer. The performance is expected to be the best when the scheduler can find a group of mobile terminals that prefer the same set of precoding vectors. In other cases where an exact matching set cannot be found, some mobile terminals 16 will still be able to benefit from this additional step.

As another scheduling method, it is noted that each mobile terminal 16 can feedback one or more CQIs and codeword vectors based on the rank of the channel. If a mobile terminal 16 feeds back Mt (Mt > 1) CQIs and Mt codeword vectors, it may presumed that the mobile terminal 16 is capable of receiving Mt streams. In such a case, the scheduling priority for this mobile terminal may be:

Mt,

PU) = J=L. .

(HOT

Where C/I_i is the CIl for the i-th stream and f(C/I) is a function that maps the C/I to a data rate. The scheduler in this case can choose multiple modulation and coding scheme ("MCS") levels for the different streams. The scheduler can schedule mobile devices 16 to the remaining unused streams (Mt_max - Mt). In accordance with another scheduling method embodiment of the invention, each mobile terminal 16 can report a single CQI and a single index of preferred codeword

The single index can be an index to a differential codebook, an index to a single codeword vector or an index to a mapping table of codewords. Because each mobile terminal 16 can report only a single CQI, the scheduler can use this CQI to determine the appropriate data rate mapping. Even with single index feedback, the scheduler may have knowledge of the number of streams the mobile terminal is capable of receiving.

If the indexing method uses a single codeword vector, then Mt is equal to 1. If the indexing method uses a differential codebook, Mt is equal to the number of streams corresponding to the differential codebook configured at codebook setup/reset. If the indexing method uses a mapping table having various combinations of code vectors, Mt is equal to the number of code vectors that correspond to the mapping table index.

The mobile terminal 16 priority equation in such case is:

The same MCS level can be assigned to the Mt streams of a user in this case. As with the method described above, the scheduler can schedule additional users if (Mt max - Mt) > 0 (step S 104). The above embodiments describe group-centric and user-centric prioritization methods that advantageously work with adaptive number of streams for different mobile terminals 16. In sum, with user-centric prioritization, the best overall mobile terminal 16 is selected and this prioritization method can be used for both best effort or real-time services. With group-centric prioritization, the best set of mobile terminals 16 that maximize the system priority are selected and can be used for best effort services. In either case, the scheduler works with the rank adaptation method and any codeword feedback mechanism.

Methods and arrangements by which feedback information may be efficiently provided to base station 14 are described. In order to feedback closed loop MIMO information, e.g., CQIs and codewords, from mobile terminal 16 to base station 14 in a manner that supports rank adaptation, the feedback arrangement should be flexible and not present excessive overhead Such an arrangement is provided by the present invention In particular, a closed loop MIMO feedback mechanism that works with rank adaptation and reduces overhead compared to per stream feedback is provided by the present invention

One option for such a feedback arrangement is to use a per-stream feedback of closed loop MIMO information (e g CQI and codewords) from mobile terminal 16 to base station 14 Such an arrangement is acceptable for a single stream but may be costly for multi-stream in terms of added overhead because some fed back information may be redundant Another option is to feed back the actual code vector index on a per stream basis

Still another option is to use differential feedback In accordance with this arrangement, a set of codewords most correlated with the current codeword is determined

The index of this reduced set of codewords can be represented by fewer numbers of bits For example, for 64 codewords, only 3 bits may be needed for differential encoding of the codeword The differential feedback, once configured, however, works for a fixed number of streams In accordance with aspect of the invention, arrangements are descπbed that work with rank adaptation These arrangements are descπbed below

As a first arrangement, feedback for rank adaptation is implemented by periodically feeding back the preferred number of streams and code vectors to reset the codebook used, e g (3 + x/T) bits/TTI where x is the overhead associated with this peπodic feedback and T is the periodicity in number of transmission time intervals ("TTIs") As a second arrangement, a codeword mapping table can be implemented by building a mapping table of possible codeword combinations from one to the maximum number of streams Once the mapping table is constructed, each entry conveys data corresponding to the number of streams and the code vectors used For example, for 64 code vectors, there are 16 4x4 matπces according to one method of generating orthogonal codes The total size of the mapping table is 16 x (₄C₁ + ₄C₂ + ₄C₃ + ₄C4) = 240 => 8 bits As such, the overhead is 8 bits/TTI regardless of the actual number of streams

Feedback information overhead may be reduced by combining different types of feedback information, such as codeword feedback (using a differential or absolute index) and multi-stream CQI feedback (whether using differential or absolute CQI) information This reduces resource usage, e g , codes or tones, when feeding back information for closed loop MIMO operation. As such this arrangement provides a good trade-off between overhead of combined multi-stream feedback vs. per-stream feedback.

Closed loop arrangements supported by the present invention include, but are not limited to, beamforming, spatial multiplexing ("SM") for both single codeword ("SCW") and multiple codeword ("MCW") operation, combined SDMA + SM for SCW and MCW operation, antenna grouping and/or antenna selection for SCW and MCW operation.

It is noted that the CQI channel ("CQICH") fed back to base station 14 includes at least one or multiple sub-channels for a mobile terminal 16. As used herein, sub-channel is defined as, but is not limited to, a Walsh code or a group of OFDM sub carriers. It is also noted that the SCW and MCW can use the same formats and that SCW or MCW modes can be configured through OSI Layer 3 ("L3") signalling.

In accordance with the present invention, each sub-channel includes information for multiple-streams (not just for a single stream) and is described as follows. The first subchannel includes a codeword index, differential codeword index or codeword mapping table index (1 :1 mapping), and CQIs for two or more streams. It is noted that the number of streams may be fixed to avoid variable bit rate overhead and that the CQIs may be absolute CQI (quantized) or differentially encoded. For differentially encoded CQI values, at least one stream's CQI may be differentially encoded and at least one stream's CQI serves as the reference for the other differentially encoded CQI. Information for the remaining sub-channels is optional depending on the number of streams. However, CQI data for two or more streams can be provided such that the number of streams can be fixed to avoid variable bit rate overhead or can contain the same number of streams as the first sub-channel. Data corresponding to the codeword used may already be contained in the codeword index in the first sub-channel so it need not be provided as part of the information for the remaining sub-channels.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention a specific example of a (4 x K) four antenna MIMO system where K = 1 ,2,3,4 may be provided. An exemplary sub-channel packet arrangement is described with reference to FIG. 8. Each sub-channel may be Walsh code covered. For SCW, only Walsh code A 124 may be needed as only one CQI, CQI 126, is reported. It is noted that base station 14 is aware that the mobile terminal 16 is in SCW or MCW mode through Layer 3 signalling. In this case, CQI 128 may be set to zero or a repetition of CQl 126 for redundancy. For MCW operation, Walsh code A 124 may be the first sub-channel and may contain the codeword index 130 and CQI information for two streams. 3-bits can specify 64 codewords if differential encoding is used or 8 codewords if differential encoding is not used. IfCQI 128 is differentially encoded with reference to CQI 126, the number of bits required can be even smaller.

Walsh code B 132 may be the second sub-channel and need only be allocated if there are more than 2 streams. If there are only 1 or 3 streams, the fields for CQI 128 and 136 may be set to zero or provide a repetition of CQI information for CQI 126 or 134 for redundancy. Base station 14 is aware of the quantity of streams based on implicit indication by evaluating the codeword index.

It is contemplated that sub-band closed loop MIMO operation can be supported. Such can be accomplished, for example, by adding an additional field can be added in the first CQICH sub-channel of Walsh code A 124 to indicate the sub-band index. However, the sub- band index information need not be repeated in other CQICH sub-channel, i.e., Walsh code 132. The sub-band index is optional if some method is used to identify the sub-band with a dedicated resource allocation. In this case, the format may be as described above with reference to FIG 8. Procedures to interpret the fields in SCW/MCW modes are the same as previously described. As noted above, the present invention supports differential codebook feedback. As such, the reset of the codebook may periodically be warranted. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention reset of the codebook may occur when a differential codebook is used and mobile terminal 16 detects a feedback error through beaconing or there is a differential encoder error due to changes in channel conditions, e.g., changing mobile terminal 16 speed. Reset may also occur when the rank of the channel changes, i.e., the number of streams changes.

Dynamic and fixed reset may be used. As one option for dynamic reset, the reset information can be provided in a single CQICH transmission. As another option, the need for reset can be provided in the current TTI and the reset information sent in the subsequent TTI. For fixed reset, base station 14 is aware when a full set of codeword information is sent from mobile terminal 16. If base station 14 does not successfully receive the reset information, the scheduler won't schedule the mobile terminal 16 until reset information is received.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, feedback reset may be provided by reset data indicating the number of streams and codeword indices, e.g., using the codeword mapping table index to indicate both the number of streams and codewords in a single field. The reset data also indicates the CQI of the streams. In this case the CQI data can include CQI of all streams or the effective CQI representative of all streams. This option may configured through Layer 3 signalling.

When the CQI is the effective CQI, the effective CQI may be an average or minimum CQI among all streams. This arrangement reduces overhead and the impact on scheduler performance is small because the reset period may not occur or be needed very often. Afterwards, individual CQI for each stream may be sent if mobile terminal 16 is in MCW mode.

An example of a CQICH reset PDU format is shown in FIG. 9 in which Walsh code A 138 includes the codeword index 140 and the CQI 142 for the first stream. Walsh code B 144 includes the CQI for the remaining streams 146, 148 and 150. Of course, it is understood that more or fewer streams can be supported and the use of four streams is merely exemplary.

Feedback reset in a sub-band is also supported by the present invention. To accommodate sub-band closed loop MIMO operation, an additional field may be added in the first CQICH sub-channel, i.e., Walsh code A 138 to indicate the sub-band index. In such case, there no need to repeat the sub-band index information in other CQICH sub-channel. As noted above, the sub-band index is optional if some scheme is used to identify the sub-band with a dedicated resource allocation. In this case, the format can be the same as described above with reference to FIG. 9. Procedures to interpret the fields in SCW/MCW modes are also the same as described above.

The feedback arrangements discussed above relate to the use of a vector codebook where the vectors are weighted so as to determine which codes to use from the codebook. It is also contemplated feedback can be used to establish which antenna(s) base station 14 should use for communication with mobile terminal 16. As an initial matter, the arrangement shown in FIG. 8 can be used and adapted for antenna selection. In particular, the codeword index field in the CQICH sub-channel can be replaced by an antenna selection index field. The remaining fields are the same. Antenna selection can be established using Layer 3 signalling to mobile terminals 16.

In particular, referring to FIG. 8, but assuming that the codeword index 130 field is replaced by an antenna index field (not shown), in accordance with an embodiment of the invention a specific example of a (4 x K) four antenna MIMO system where K = 1,2,3,4 is provided. Each sub-channel may be Walsh code covered. For SCW, only Walsh code A 124 may be needed as only one CQI, CQI 126, is reported. It is noted that base station 14 is aware that the mobile terminal 16 is in SCW or MCW mode through Layer 3 signalling. In this case, CQI 128 may be set to zero or a repetition of CQI 126 for redundancy.

For MCW operation, Walsh code A 124 may be the first sub-channel and may contain the antenna index (not shown) and CQI information for two antennas. The antenna index may be, for example, 4 bits. The mapping can be a mapping to an antenna combination or can be a bitmap of the 4 antennas with a "1" indicating that a corresponding antenna is selected for use. Walsh code B 132 may be the second sub-channel and need only be allocated if there are more than 2 antennas. If there are only 1 or 3 antennas, the fields for CQI 128 and 136 may be set to zero or provide a repetition of CQI information for CQI 126 or 134 for redundancy. Base station 14 is aware of the quantity of antennas based on implicit indication by evaluating the number of antennas selected as indicated in the index. It is contemplated that an antenna selection arrangement for sub-bands can be implanted using techniques as described above for sub-bands in a codeword environment, applied based on the use of the antenna selection methods described above.

It is also contemplated that open loop feedback arrangements can be used. Explanation of an open loop feedback field arrangement of the present invention is explained with reference to FIG. 10. Open loop feedback uses a different set of Walsh codes than closed loop. For example, FIG. 10 shows Walsh codes C 152, D 154 and E 156. Also, it is noted that space-time transmitter diversity ("STTD") and spatial multiplexing ("SM") arrangements may be covered by different Walsh codes, e.g., Walsh code C 152 for STTD and Walsh codes D 154 and E 156 for SM arrangements. STTD and SM MIMO are generally known and not described in detail herein. Vertical encoding, i.e., SCW, is used for STTD. The format includes a rank 158 and CQI 160 fields. For SM arrangements, vertical or horizontal, i.e., MCW, encoding configured through layer 3 can be used. For MCW, system 8 operates, for example, in 2 Tx or 4 Tx modes. It is noted that, for sub-band feedback, the format can include a sub-band index field (not shown). It is noted that antenna selection feedback in an MCW environment is accomplished by using the same structure as MCW SM as shown in Figure 10 for the SM case. According to this arrangement, one or more preferred antennas for future transmissions can be inferred by the use of one or more of the CQI layer fields. For example, a NULL CQI field may indicate a corresponding transmit antenna is not preferred. The first CQI field need not correspond to the first antenna. As will be apparent to one or ordinary skill in the art, the correspondence of CQI fields to antennas can be accomplished in numerous ways and is merely a design choice.

Information related to a codeword selection in the feedback channel can be indicated by a bitmap. For example, a "1 " in a bitmap position may correspond to a selected vector in a precoding matrix. Once again the correspondence between a specific bitmap position and precoding matrix vector is a design choice. A bitmap may be applied in the case of SCW where there are no multiple CQI reports. A bitmap may also be applied in a MCW situation when the number of CQI reports is different from the number of columns in a precoding matrix. It is also contemplated that the CQI information reported for different transmit diversity and MIMO modes can be dynamically switched. This can be accomplished, for example, by indicating the MIMO mode being reported on the feedback format. Alternatively, CQI reporting information for the different modes can be assigned different channel resources that are known to the mobile terminal 16 and base station 14. For example different Walsh codes, scrambling codes and/or subcarriers can be used to indicate the type of CQI being reported. For example, feedback reported on subcarrier #1 can indicate diversity information is being reported whereas feedback on subcarrier #2 can indicate that MIMO CQI information is being reported.

Feedback operation in accordance with the present invention was described above. The information relating to feedback operation is provided between devices such as mobile terminals 16 and base station 14 using feedback signalling channels Feedback information relating to forward link ("FL") advanced MIMO antenna operations is provided using the following feedback signalling channels

Reverse Link ("RL") CQI Channel Wideband ("R-CQICH-WB"), RL CQI Channel Sub-band ("R-CQICH-SB"), RL MIMO CQI Channel Wideband ("R-MCQICH-WB"), RL MIMO CQI Channel Sub-band ("R-MCQICH-SB"), RL Beam Feedback Channel Wideband ("R-BFCH- WB") and RL Beam Feedback Channel Sub-band ("R-BFCH-SB") Each of these feedback signalling channels are descπbed in detail

R-CQICH-WB can carry a broadband channel quality indicator in which the channel quality indicator corresponds to a default mode, e g , single input single output ("SISO"), default transmit diversity, etc R-CQICH-WB can carry a desired forward link serving sector indicator for forward link handoff R-CQICH-SB can carry a sub-band channel quality indicator in which the channel quality indicator corresponds to a default mode, e g , SISO, default transmit diversity, etc R-MCQICH-WB can carry wideband MIMO related feedback data and can include three formats, namely, SCW l , SCW_2, and MCW depending on the codebook and base station 14 capabilities Regarding SCW l ,SCW l includes a vector bitmap and a CQI field The SCW_1 format can be used for SCW and DFT-based precoders having a linear phase ramp or used for antenna selection In this case, a vector bitmap indicates the preferred codeword vector in the preferred matπx where the number of 1 's in the bitmap establishes the rank Alternatively, SCW l may also be used with DFT-based precoders having random phase entπes A rank field can be provided as a 2-bit field and be indicated in the vector bitmap by using the two least significant bits ("LSBs") The two most significant bits ("MSBs") are set to default values of "00" As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the numbers of bits used to indicate the rank is merely for purposes of example and does not limit the broader scope of the invention as claimed

For SCW 2, this format can be used for SCW and DFT-based precoders having random phase entπes This format can also be used for SCW and non-precoded transmission such as transmit diversity & non-precoded spatial multiplexing It contains a rank field and a CQI field In this case, the rank field can be used to indicate the transmission rate An exemplary arrangement is described for the case of 2 and 4 transmit antennas. Rank "00" = rate-1 transmission, where 2 Tx = STTD rate 1 and 4 Tx = STTD rate 1. Rank "01" = rate-2 transmission where 2 Tx = SM and 4 Tx = STTD rate 2. Rank "10" is reserved and Rank "1 1 " = rate-4 transmission where 2 Tx = N/ A and 4 Tx = SM. It is noted that one or more of the SCW_1 and/or SCW_2 formats can co-exist by mapping them to different physical channel resources. This arrangement can facilitate, for example, dynamic switching between non-precoded feedback using SCW_2 and precoded feedback (a DFT precoder with linear phase ramp) using SCW l . As another example, dynamic switching between non-precoded feedback using SCW 2 and precoded feedback (a DFT precoder with random phase entries) using SCW_2.

An exemplary MCW format is provided. For MCW arrangements, CQI information is carried per layer. The MCW format contains a preferred vector index ("PVI") and a CQI for the corresponding layer. For mandatory CQI reporting, the PVI is redundant and is set to a default value of "00". The PVI is the index of the vector selected by mobile terminal 16 from the preferred matrix index. In the case of a DFT precoder having a random phase ramp, two cases can be considered. In the first case, per layer CQI is reported in sequence. In this case, the PVI is redundant and is set to a default value of "00". One CQI report implies it is the first layer CQI, two CQI reports imply they correspond to the first and second layer, etc. In the second case. If the CQI value is not reported in sequence the PVI is used to indicate the corresponding layer. In this case, the reporting format is configured by base station 14 via Layer 3 signalling.

R-MCQICH-SB can carry sub-band MIMO related feedback and can include the three formats mentioned above with respect to wideband MIMO, namely, the SCW l , SCW_2 and MCW formats. In this case, in addition to the above, the LSBs of the sub-band index are included in the channel.

R-BFCH-WB can carry a preferred codebook matrix index ("PMI") for pre-coded MIMO and SDMA. The PMI is the codebook matrix selected by mobile terminal 16. For DFT-based precoders having a linear phase ramp, the 5 MSBs of the PMI field are set to zero. For DFT-based precoders having random phase entries, all 6 bits are used. For base stations 14 performing antenna selection with SDMA, the PMI field is set to zero. A differential SDMA CQI field is set based on the corresponding R-MCQICH-WB report.

R-BFCH-SB carries the sub-band preferred codebook matrix index for precoded MIMO and SDMA and is the same as described above for the R-BFCH-WB wideband channel except that the channel includes a sub-band index field and the differential SDMA CQI field is set base on the corresponding R-MCQICH-SB report.

The present invention provides exemplary reporting rules for the logical channels. The exemplary rules are provided for general reporting, wideband reporting and sub-band reporting. General reporting rules are described first. For general reporting, base station 14 can instruct mobile terminal 16 to feedback information related to one, a subset, or all of transmit diversity, non-precoded MIMO, precoded MIMO and SDMA, via Layer 3 signalling. Similarly, the use of SCW and/or MCW can be configured on a per-mobile terminal 16 basis using Layer 3 signalling depending on the capability of mobile terminal 16. One or multiple precoding methods can be configured per mobile terminal 16 via Layer 3 signalling. These precoding methods include but are not limited to DFT-based precoders having a linear phase ramp, DFT-based precoders having random phase entries and antenna selection. In general, mobile terminal 16 can report wideband and/or sub-band feedback. Also, the R-CQICH-WB PDU can be used, via Layer 3 signalling, to report the CQI for SISO, a default transmit diversity or a particular transmit diversity mode.

For wideband reporting, rules, the rules can be divided into wideband operation with SCW, and wideband operation with MCW. Wideband operation with SCW is described first. For wideband and SCW and no precoding, R-MCQICH-WB SCWJ is reported. Also, base station 14 interprets the rank field for the corresponding non-precoded method. For wideband and SCW and DFT precoding/SDMA using a linear phase ramp, R-

MCQICH-WB SCWJ and R-BFCH-WB are reported. For wideband and SCW and precoding with antenna selection, R-MCQICH-WB SCW 1 is reported. In this case, the PVI field may be set to zero if the report is a mandatory CQI report. For wideband and SCW and SDMA and antenna Selection, R-MCQICH-WB SCWJ and R-BFCH-WB are reported. In this case, the PMI field in R-BFCH-WB is set to zero and the PVI field may be set to zero the report is a mandatory CQI report. For wideband and SCW and DFT precoding/SDMA having random phase entries, R- MCQICH-WB SCW_2 and R-BFCH-WB are reported.

Wideband operation with MCW is described next. For wideband and MCW and no precoding, R-MCQICH-WB MCW is reported. For wideband and MCW and DFT precoding/SDMA using a linear phase ramp, R-MCQICH-WB MCW and R-BFCH-WB are reported. For wideband and MCW and precoding with antenna selection, R-MCQICH-WB MCW is reported. In this case, the PVI field may be set to zero if the report is a mandatory CQI report. For wideband and MCW and SDMA with antenna selection, R-MCQICH-WB MCW and R-BFCH-WB are reported. In this case, the PMI field in R-BFCH-WB is set to zero and the PVI field is set to zero if the report is a mandatory CQI report. For wideband and MCW and DFT precoding/SDMA having random phase entries, R-MCQICH-WB MCW and R-BFCH-WB are reported.

Sub-band reporting rules are described. For sub-band and SCW and no precoding, R- MCQICH-SB SCWJ is reported. In this case, base station 14 interprets the rank field for the corresponding non-precoded scheme. For sub-band and SCW and DFT precoding/SDMA using a linear phase ramp, R-MCQICH-SB SCW_1 and R-BFCH-SB are reported. For sub-band and SCW and precoding and antenna selection, R-MCQICH-SB SCW l is reported. In this case, the PVI field is set to zero if the report is a mandatory CQI report. For sub-band and SCW and SDMA with antenna selection, R-MCQICH-SB SCWJ and R-BFCH-SB are reported. In this case, the PMI field in R- BFCH-SB is set to zero and the PVI field may be set to zero if the report is a mandatory CQI report. For sub-band and SCW and DFT precoding/SDMA having random phase entries, R- MCQICH-SB SCW 2 and R-BFCH-SB is reported.

The present invention advantageously provides a method and system for wireless MIMO communication in which the differential encoder for precoding works with the changing channel rank. The present invention also provides arrangements and methods that use the rank, the precoder and CIR information provided to a base station to allow the base station to efficiently schedule channel resources, even where the rank is changing. The present invention also provides arrangements and methods that support efficient feedback of information from mobile terminal to base station.

The present invention advantageously provides a CQICH design that is flexible for adaptive numbers of streams as well as overhead reduction methods using differential feedback of codeword and multi-stream CQIs. The present invention also reduces radio resources consumption, e.g., Walsh codes and OFDM tones, by packing multi-stream feedback data using an advantageous data format.

The present invention can be realized in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. Any kind of computing system, or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein, is suited to perform the functions described herein.

A typical combination of hardware and software could be a specialized or general purpose computer system having one or more processing elements and a computer program stored on a storage medium that, when loaded and executed, controls the computer system such that it carries out the methods described herein. The present invention can also be embedded in a computer program product, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation of the methods described herein, and which, when loaded in a computing system is able to carry out these methods. Storage medium refers to any volatile or nonvolatile storage device. Computer program or application in the present context means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended to cause a system having an information processing capability to perform a particular function either directly or after either or both of the following a) conversion to another language, code or notation; b) reproduction in a different material form. In addition, unless mention was made above to the contrary, it should be noted that all of the accompanying drawings are not to scale.

Significantly, this invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and accordingly, reference should be had to the following claims, rather than to the foregoing specification, as indicating the scope of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method for wireless multiple input multiple output ("MIMO") antenna communication, the method comprising: detecting an adaptive change in the rank of the wireless communication, the rank corresponding to a quantity of wireless communication streams; and scheduling wireless communication channel resources, the scheduling taking into account the adaptively changed rank.

2. The method according to Claim 1, further comprising differentially encoding channel information, the scheduling taking into account the channel information.

3. The method according to Claim 2, wherein differential encoding includes quantizing an input variable to a codeword.

4. The method according to Claim 3, wherein differential encoding further includes determining an output, the output being an index of the codeword.

5. The method according to Claim 1 , wherein scheduling is user-centric, user-centric scheduling being performed to meet the QoS of a single mobile terminal.

6. The method according to Claim 1, wherein scheduling is group-centric, the group- centric scheduling being performed to maximize an overall predetermined system priority.

7. The method according to Claim 1 , further comprising using feedback to feed back MIMO channel information, the feedback being comprised of combined feedback information.

8. The method according to Claim 7, wherein the combined feedback includes differential feedback, the differential feedback including: determining a reduced set of codewords most correlated with a current codewode; and indexing the reduced set of codewords.

9. The method according to Claim 8, further comprising periodically feeding back at least one parameter to reset the codebook used.

10. The method according to Claim 9, wherein the codebook reset is one of a dynamic and fixed reset, the dynamic reset being provided in a single feedback transmission.

11. The method according to Claim 9, wherein the codebook reset includes reset data, the reset data including the number of streams and codeword indices.

12. A system for wireless multiple input multiple output ("MIMO") antenna communication, the system comprising: a base station, the base station having a central processing unit, the central processing unit operating to: detect an adaptive change in the rank of the wireless communication, the rank corresponding to a quantity of wireless communication streams; and schedule wireless communication channel resources, the scheduling taking into account the adaptively changed rank.

13. The system according to Claim 12, further comprising a mobile terminal, the mobile terminal having an encoder, the encoder differentially encoding channel information, the base station scheduling taking into account the channel information.

14. The system according to Claim 13, wherein differential encoding includes quantizing an input variable to a codeword.

15. The system according to Claim 14, wherein differential encoding further includes determining an output, the output being an index of the codeword.

16. The system according to Claim 12, wherein the scheduling is user-centric, the user- centric scheduling being performed to meet the QoS of a single mobile terminal.

17. The system according to Claim 12, wherein the scheduling is group-centric, the group-centric scheduling being performed to maximize an overall predetermined system priority.

18. The system according to Claim 12, where the mobile terminal uses feedback to feed back MIMO channel information, the feedback being comprised of combined feedback information..

19. The system according to Claim 18, wherein the mobile terminal uses an index to a reduced set of codewords to feed back MIMO channel information.

20. The system according to Claim 19, wherein the mobile terminal periodically feeds back at least one parameter to reset a codebook being used.

21. The system according to Claim 20, wherein the codebook reset is one of a dynamic and fixed reset, the dynamic reset being provided in a single feedback transmission.

22. The system according to Claim 20, wherein the codebook reset includes reset data, the reset data including the number of streams and codeword indices.