Method, mobile station and base station for transmitting data in mobile communication system

1. A method for transmitting data in a mobile communications system, comprising:

determining a set of predefined codebooks;

transmitting the data on at least one channel between at least one base station with multiple antennas and at least one item of user equipment;

applying, after the determining, at the base station precoding to the data based on the set of predefined codebooks, using, in a coarse tracking mode, a first codebook from the set of predefined codebooks for the precoding, and, in at least a fine tracking mode, using at least a second codebook from the set of predefined codebooks for the precoding, wherein the first codebook for use in a coarse tracking mode is associated with a coarse set of beams and the second codebook for use in a fine tracking mode is associated with a fine set of beams;

wherein the second codebook used in the fine tracking mode provides a finer precoding granularity as compared to the first codebook used in the coarse tracking mode; and

switching at the base station between the coarse tracking mode and the fine tracking mode depending on at least one condition of the at least one channel; and

wherein a same number of feedback bits are used for both the fine tracking mode and the coarse tracking mode.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the coarse tracking mode and the fine tracking mode are used intermittently.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the coarse tracking mode is based on unitary precoding and the fine tracking mode is a non-unitary tracking mode.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: measuring a variability of the at least one channel to determine the at least one condition, and comparing the variability of the at least one channel with a threshold.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein said switching by the base station includes switching to the coarse tracking mode in case of the variability of the at least one channel exceeding the threshold.

6. The method as in claim 4 , wherein said switching by the base station includes switching to the fine tracking mode in case of the variability of the at least one channel being not greater than the threshold.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the condition is determined based on at least a long term channel estimation regarding the channel.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein said switching by the base station includes switching between the coarse tracking mode and the fine tracking mode based on a trigger.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8 , further comprising sending the trigger to the base station by the user equipment.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said applying the precoding is achieved by applying beamforming.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10 , further comprising applying a predefined codebook production rule for producing a sub-codebook based on at least one of the first codebook and the second codebook in the fine tracking mode.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the codebook production rule is repeatedly applied in an iterative way for achieving a finer precoding granularity.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein an angle difference between adjacent beams for the second codebook used in the fine tracking mode is less than an angle difference between adjacent beams for the first codebook used in the coarse tracking mode.

14. A base station in a mobile communications system, comprising:

at least one interface configured to receive and transmit data in the mobile communications system on at least one channel using multiple antennas; and

at least one processor configured to:

determine a set of predefined codebooks;

apply, after determining the set of predefined codebooks, precoding to the data based on the set of predefined codebooks, using, in a coarse tracking mode, a first codebook from the set of predefined codebooks for the precoding, using, in at least a fine tracking mode, at least a second codebook from the set of predefined codebooks for the precoding, wherein the first codebook for use in a coarse tracking mode is associated with a coarse set of beams and the second codebook for use in a fine tracking mode is associated with a fine set of beams, and wherein the second codebook used in the fine tracking mode provides a finer precoding granularity as compared to the first codebook used in the coarse tracking mode; and

switch between the coarse tracking mode and the fine tracking mode depending on at least one condition of the channel; and

wherein a same number of feedback bits are used for both the fine tracking mode and the coarse tracking mode.

15. The base station according to claim 14 , wherein said at least one processor is further configured to apply a predefined codebook production rule for producing a sub-codebook based on at least one of the first codebook and the second codebook in the fine tracking mode.

16. The base station according to claim 15 , wherein said at least one processor is configured to repeatedly apply the codebook production rule for achieving a finer precoding granularity.

17. The base station according to claim 14 , wherein the base station is configured to communicate with at least one item of user equipment; and

wherein said at least one processor is further configured to switch between the coarse tracking mode and the fine tracking mode based on a trigger sent by the at least one item of user equipment.

18. A user equipment in a mobile communications system having at least one base station, comprising:

at least one interface configured to transmit data on at least one channel to the at least one base station using multiple antennas and to receive data, on the at least one channel from the at least one base station, to which the base station has determined a set of predefined codebooks and applied precoding data based on the determined set of predefined codebooks, using, in a coarse tracking mode, a first codebook from the set of predefined codebooks for the precoding, and, in at least a fine tracking mode, using at least a second codebook from the set of predefined codebooks for the precoding, wherein the first codebook for use in a coarse tracking mode is associated with a coarse set of beams and the second codebook for use in a fine tracking mode is associated with a fine set of beams, and wherein the second codebook used in the fine tracking mode provides a finer precoding granularity as compared to the first codebook used in the coarse tracking mode; and

at least one processor configured to cause the at least one interface to send a trigger to the at least one base station, the trigger causing the base station to switch between the coarse tracking mode and the fine tracking mode; and

wherein a same number of feedback bits are used for both the fine tracking mode and the coarse tracking mode.

19. The user equipment according claim 18 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine at least one condition of at least one channel, perform a comparison of the at least one condition with a threshold, and decide whether to send the trigger to the at least one base station based on the comparison.

20. The user equipment according to claim 19 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to apply a predefined codebook production rule for producing a sub-codebook based on at least one of the first codebook and the second codebook in the fine tracking mode.

21. The user equipment according to claim 20 , wherein said at least one processor is configured to repeatedly apply the codebook production rule for achieving a finer precoding granularity.

22. A communications system, comprising: at least one base station, including:

at least one interface configured to receive and transmit data in the mobile communications system on at least one channel using multiple antennas;

at least one processor configured to:

determine a set of predefined codebooks;

apply, after determining the set of predefined codebooks, precoding to the data based on the set of predefined codebooks, using, in a coarse tracking mode, a first codebook from the set of predefined codebooks for the precoding, using, in at least a fine tracking mode, at least a second codebook from the set of predefined codebooks for the precoding; and

switch between the coarse tracking mode and the fine tracking mode depending on at least one condition of the channel, wherein the first codebook for use in a coarse tracking mode is associated with a coarse set of beams and the second codebook for use in a fine tracking mode is associated with a fine set of beams, and wherein the second codebook used in the fine tracking mode provides a finer precoding granularity as compared to the first codebook used in the coarse tracking mode; and

at least one item of user equipment, including at least one interface configured to transmit and receive the data on the at least one channel to and from the at least one base station using multiple antennas; and

wherein a same number of feedback bits are used for both the fine tracking mode and the coarse tracking mode.