Multi-cell signals in OFDM wireless networks

1. A wireless device comprising:

a) one or more communication interfaces to communicate with at least one base station;

b) one or more processors; and

c) memory storing instructions that, when executed by said one or more processors, cause said wireless device to perform the following:

i) receive from a first base station at least one radio resource control (RRC) message indicating:

(1) a channel state information (CSI) transmission period;

(2) a CSI transmission resource;

(3) a physical uplink control channel format; and

(4) CSI measurement resources of a subset of cells, each CSI measurement resource corresponding to a plurality of resource elements in a plurality of subframes on an antenna port of a cell in said subset of cells, cells in said subset of cells belonging to at least two base stations or belonging to at least two sectors of said first base station;

ii) measure CSI employing at least said CSI measurement resources of said subset of cells;

iii) quantize said measured CSI jointly across cells in said subset of cells;

iv) encode said jointly quantized CSI according to said physical uplink control channel format;

v) transmit said encoded CSI employing single-carrier OFDM transmission on said CSI transmission resource according to said CSI transmission period;

vi) receive a resource assignment for at least one data packet from one serving cell in said subset of cells; and

vii) simultaneously receive signals from multiple cells in said subset of cells, said signals carrying said at least one data packet for said wireless device, said multiple cells belonging to said at least two base stations or belonging to at least two sectors of said first base station.

2. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein said CSI is represented by a matrix.

3. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein said at least one control message comprise:

a) CSI reference signal subframe configuration parameter;

b) CSI reference signal antenna port configuration parameter; and

c) CSI reference signal radio resource configuration parameter.

4. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein an instance of said CSI comprises a precoding matrix indicator calculated for said subset of cells.

5. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein said CSI measurement resources determine sub-band or wideband CSI measurement, wherein said wideband CSI measurement corresponds to CSI measurement on a carrier bandwidth.

6. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein said at least one control message determines a plurality of subframes for said CSI measurement.

7. A wireless device comprising:

a) one or more communication interfaces to communicate with at least one base station;

b) one or more processors; and

c) memory storing instructions that, when executed by said one or more processors, cause said wireless device to perform the following:

i) receive from a first base station at least one control message indicating channel state information (CSI) measurement resources of a subset of cells, each CSI measurement resource corresponding to a plurality of resource elements in a plurality of subframes on an antenna port of a cell in said subset of cells, cells in said subset of cells belonging to at least two base stations or belonging to at least two sectors of said first base station;

ii) measure CSI employing at least said CSI measurement resources of said subset of cells;

iii) quantize said measured CSI jointly across cells in said subset of cells;

iv) encode said jointly quantized CSI according to a physical uplink control channel format;

v) transmit said encoded CSI employing single-carrier OFDM transmission on a CSI transmission resource according to a CSI transmission period; and

vi) simultaneously receive signals from multiple cells in said subset of cells, said signals carrying at least one data packet for said wireless device, said multiple cells belonging to said at least two base stations or belonging to at least two sectors of said first base station.

8. The wireless device of claim 7 , wherein said instructions, when executed, further cause said wireless device to receive a resource assignment for said at least one data packet from one serving cell in said subset of cells.

9. The wireless device of claim 7 , wherein said CSI is represented by a matrix.

10. The wireless device of claim 7 , wherein said at least one control message comprise:

a) CSI reference signal subframe configuration parameter;

b) CSI reference signal antenna port configuration parameter; and

c) CSI reference signal radio resource configuration parameter.

11. The wireless device of claim 7 , wherein an instance of said CSI comprises a precoding matrix indicator calculated for said subset of cells.

12. The wireless device of claim 7 , wherein said physical uplink control channel format determines whether any of the following measurements are comprised in said CSI:

a) a channel quality indicator (CQI);

b) a precoding matrix indicator (PMI);

c) a precoding type indicator (PTI); and

d) a rank indicator (RI).

13. A wireless device comprising:

a) one or more communication interfaces to communicate with at least one base station;

b) one or more processors; and

c) memory storing instructions that, when executed by said one or more processors, cause said wireless device to perform the following:

i) receive from a first base station at least one control message indicating channel state information (CSI) measurement resources of a subset of cells, each CSI measurement resource corresponding to a plurality of resource elements in a plurality of subframes on an antenna port of a cell in said subset of cells, cells in said subset of cells belonging to at least two base stations or belonging to at least two sectors of said first base station;

ii) measure CSI employing at least said CSI measurement resources of said subset of cells;

iii) quantize said measured CSI jointly across cells in said subset of cells;

iv) encode and transmit said jointly quantized CSI according to a physical uplink control channel format;

v) receive a resource assignment for at least one data packet from one serving cell in said subset of cells; and

vi) simultaneously receive signals from multiple cells in said subset of cells, said signals carrying said at least one data packet for said wireless device, said multiple cells belonging to said at least two base stations or belonging to at least two sectors of said first base station.

14. The wireless device of claim 13 , wherein said at least one control message comprise:

a) CSI reference signal subframe configuration parameter;

b) CSI reference signal antenna port configuration parameter; and

c) CSI reference signal radio resource configuration parameter.

15. The wireless device of claim 13 , wherein said at least one control message determines a plurality of subframes for said CSI measurement.

16. The wireless device of claim 13 , wherein said CSI is represented by a precoding matrix indicator.

17. The wireless device of claim 13 , wherein an instance of said CSI comprises a precoding matrix indicator calculated for said subset of cells.

18. The wireless device of claim 13 , wherein said physical uplink control channel format determines whether any of the following measurements are comprised in said CSI:

a) a channel quality indicator (CQI);

b) a precoding matrix indicator (PMI);

c) a precoding type indicator (PTI); and

d) a rank indicator (RI).

19. The wireless device of claim 13 , wherein said CSI measurement resources determine sub-band or wideband CSI measurement, wherein said wideband CSI measurement corresponds to CSI measurement on a carrier bandwidth.

20. The wireless device of claim 19 , wherein said CSI measurement resources comprise reference signals in said sub-band or said wideband.