Successive interference cancellation stacked branch VAMOS receivers

1. A method of receiving a desired radio sub-channel transmitted by a transmitter during a time slot, wherein an unwanted radio sub-channel is also transmitted by the transmitter during the time slot and wherein the desired radio sub-channel and unwanted radio sub-channel are orthogonal to one another at a time of transmission, the method comprising:

receiving a radio signal during the time slot, wherein the radio signal comprises the desired radio sub-channel and unwanted radio sub-channel;

producing a plurality of signal branches from the received radio signal by treating orthogonal components of the received radio signal as separate branches and also by generating separate signal branches by one or both of oversampling and using multiple receive antennas;

using joint channel estimation to independently process more than one of the plurality of signal branches and to produce therefrom for each of the more than one of the plurality of signal branches a channel estimate for the desired radio sub-channel and a channel estimate for the unwanted radio sub-channel;

producing an estimate of unwanted radio sub-channel bits from a non-stacked form of the received radio signal;

using the channel estimates and the estimate of the unwanted radio sub-channel bits to reconstruct unwanted radio sub-channel components for each of the more than one of the plurality of signal branches;

producing desired radio sub-channel signal branches by subtracting a corresponding one of the reconstructed unwanted radio sub-channel components from each of the more than one of the plurality of signal branches;

producing a non-stacked desired signal by combining the desired radio sub-channel signal branches; and

processing the non-stacked desired signal to receive the desired radio sub-channel.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said more than one of the plurality of signal branches are the plurality of signal branches.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising: selecting the more than one of the signal branches from the plurality of signal branches based on one or more selection criteria.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the one or more selection criteria comprise comparing a sub-channel power imbalance ratio with a predetermined threshold.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the orthogonality between the desired radio sub-channel and unwanted radio sub-channel is achieved by one of the desired radio sub-channel and unwanted radio sub-channel being transmitted as an in-phase component of the radio signal and a different one of the desired radio sub-channel and unwanted radio sub-channel being transmitted as a quadrature component of the radio signal.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein using joint channel estimation to independently process the more than one of the signal branches and to produce therefrom for each of the more than one of the signal branches the channel estimate for the desired radio sub-channel and the channel estimate for the unwanted radio sub-channel comprises:

for each of the more than one of the signal branches, recursively refining a branch channel estimate to derive the branch channel estimate for the desired radio sub-channel and the branch channel estimate for the unwanted radio sub-channel.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein using joint channel estimation to independently process the more than one of the signal branches and to produce therefrom for each of the more than one of the signal branches the channel estimate for the desired radio sub-channel and the channel estimate for the unwanted radio sub-channel comprises:

estimating a value of a sub-channel power imbalance ratio that was used by the transmitter when forming the radio signal from the desired radio sub-channel and the unwanted radio sub-channel; and

for each of the signal branches, scaling a channel estimate of one of a desired user's channel estimate and an unwanted user's channel estimate by a scaling factor that is related to the estimated value of the sub-channel power imbalance ratio.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein estimating the value of the sub-channel power imbalance ratio that was used by the transmitter when forming the radio signal from the desired radio sub-channel and the unwanted radio sub-channel comprises:

choosing an initial sub-channel power imbalance ratio value as a ratio of power of independent least-squares channel estimates; and

using an iterative process that begins with the initial sub-channel power imbalance ratio value and produces refined interim sub-channel power imbalance ratio values until a convergence criterion is satisfied.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein using the channel estimates and the estimate of the unwanted radio sub-channel bits to reconstruct the unwanted radio sub-channel components for each of more than one of the signal branches comprises:

for each of the signal branches, convolving the channel estimate for the unwanted radio sub-channel with the estimate of the unwanted radio sub-channel bits.

10. An apparatus for receiving a desired radio sub-channel transmitted by a transmitter during a time slot, wherein an unwanted radio sub-channel is also transmitted by the transmitter during the time slot and wherein the desired radio sub-channel and unwanted radio sub-channel are orthogonal to one another at a time of transmission, the apparatus comprising:

radio circuitry configured to receive a radio signal during the time slot, wherein the radio signal comprises the desired radio sub-channel and unwanted radio sub-channel;

circuitry configured to produce a plurality of signal branches from the received radio signal by treating orthogonal components of the received radio signal as separate branches and also by generating separate signal branches by one or both of oversampling and using multiple receive antennas;

circuitry configured to use joint channel estimation to independently process more than one of the plurality of signal branches and to produce therefrom for each of the more than one of the plurality of signal branches a channel estimate for the desired radio sub-channel and a channel estimate for the unwanted radio sub-channel;

circuitry configured to produce an estimate of the unwanted radio sub-channel bits from a non-stacked form of the received radio signal;

circuitry configured to use the channel estimates and the estimate of the unwanted radio sub-channel bits to reconstruct unwanted radio sub-channel components for each of the more than one of the plurality of signal branches;

circuitry configured to produce desired radio sub-channel signal branches by subtracting a corresponding one of the reconstructed unwanted radio sub-channel components from each of the more than one of the plurality of signal branches;

circuitry configured to produce a non-stacked desired signal by combining the desired radio sub-channel signal branches; and

circuitry configured to process the non-stacked desired signal to receive the desired radio sub-channel.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein said more than one of the plurality of signal branches are the plurality of signal branches.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , comprising:

circuitry configured to select the more than one of the signal branches from the plurality of signal branches based on one or more selection criteria.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the one or more selection criteria comprise comparing a sub-channel power imbalance ratio with a predetermined threshold.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the orthogonality between the desired radio sub-channel and unwanted radio sub-channel is achieved by one of the desired radio sub-channel and unwanted radio sub-channel being transmitted as an in-phase component of the radio signal and a different one of the desired radio sub-channel and unwanted radio sub-channel being transmitted as a quadrature component of the radio signal.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the circuitry configured to use joint channel estimation to independently process the more than one of the signal branches and to produce therefrom for each of the more than one of the signal branches the channel estimate for the desired radio sub-channel and the channel estimate for the unwanted radio sub-channel comprises:

circuitry configured to recursively refine, for each of the more than one of the signal branches, a branch channel estimate to derive the branch channel estimate for the desired radio sub-channel and the branch channel estimate for the unwanted radio sub-channel.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the circuitry configured to use joint channel estimation to independently process the more than one of the signal branches and to produce therefrom for each of the more than one of the signal branches the channel estimate for the desired radio sub-channel and the channel estimate for the unwanted radio sub-channel comprises:

circuitry configured to estimate a value of a sub-channel power imbalance ratio that was used by the transmitter when forming the radio signal from the desired radio sub-channel and the unwanted radio sub-channel; and

circuitry configured to, for each of the signal branches, scale a channel estimate of one of a desired user's channel estimate and an unwanted user's channel estimate by a scaling factor that is related to the estimated value of the sub-channel power imbalance ratio.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the circuitry configured to estimate the value of the sub-channel power imbalance ratio that was used by the transmitter when forming the radio signal from the desired radio sub-channel and the unwanted radio sub-channel comprises:

circuitry configured to choose an initial sub-channel power imbalance ratio value as a ratio of power of independent least-squares channel estimates; and

circuitry configured to use an iterative process that begins with the initial sub-channel power imbalance ratio value and produces refined interim sub-channel power imbalance ratio values until a convergence criterion is satisfied.

18. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the circuitry configured to use the channel estimates and the estimate of the unwanted radio sub-channel bits to reconstruct the unwanted radio sub-channel components for each of more than one of the signal branches comprises: circuitry configured to, for each of the signal branches, convolve the channel estimate for the unwanted radio sub-channel with the estimate of the unwanted radio sub-channel bits.