Methods and systems for scheduling in a virtual MIMO communication environment
View Patent ↗A system and method for scheduling cooperative uplink transmissions in a virtual multiple input multiple output (MIMO) wireless communication environment are provided. More specifically, both random and channel aware orthogonal scheduling techniques for identifying a sub-set of N mobile terminals to provide cooperative uplink transmissions for each transmit time interval are provided.
1. A method of scheduling uplink transmissions, comprising:
scheduling a plurality of mobile terminals for virtual multiple input multiple output (MIMO) operation;
assigning at least one sub-channel comprising a plurality of sub-carriers to each of the plurality of mobile terminals to be simultaneously used by each mobile terminal in the plurality of mobile terminals;
determining that at least one parameter for at least one mobile terminal of the plurality of mobile terminals fails to meet a criterion; and
scheduling the at least one mobile terminal of the plurality of mobile terminals for single input multiple output (SIMO) operation.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one parameter is a measure of long term signal to noise ratio (SNR).
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising monitoring at least one parameter for each mobile terminal of the group of mobile terminals.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the uplink transmission is a SC-FDMA transmission.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of mobile terminals are scheduled at least partially based on a proportionally fair scheduling algorithm.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising assigning different pilot signals for each of the plurality of mobile terminals.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising assigning the same sub-channel to each of the plurality of mobile terminals.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a pilot signal from each of the plurality of mobile terminals.
9. An apparatus for scheduling uplink transmissions, comprising:
at least one network interface; and
a control system associated with the at least one network interface and configured to:
schedule a plurality of mobile terminals for virtual multiple input multiple output (MIMO) operation;
assign at least one sub-channel comprising a plurality of sub-carriers to each of the plurality of mobile terminals to be simultaneously used by each mobile terminal in the plurality of mobile terminals;
determine that at least one parameter for at least one mobile terminal of the plurality of mobile terminals fails to meet a criterion; and
schedule the at least one mobile terminal of the plurality of mobile terminals for single input multiple output (SIMO) operation.
10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the at least one parameter is a measure of long term signal to noise ratio (SNR).
11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the control system is further configured to monitor at least one parameter for each mobile terminal of the group of mobile terminals.
12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the uplink transmission is a SC-FDMA transmission.
13. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the control system is further configured to schedule the plurality of mobile terminals at least partially based on a proportionally fair scheduling algorithm.
14. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the control system is further configured to assign different pilot signals for each of the plurality of mobile terminals.
15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the control system is further configured to assign the same sub-channel to each of the plurality of mobile terminals.
16. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the control system is further configured to receive a pilot signal from each of the plurality of mobile terminals.