Method and apparatus for estimating channel quality information, base station and network central processing device

1. A method of estimating channel quality information, wherein a macro cell includes multiple transmission points, the method comprising:

receiving the channel quality information which is measured by a user equipment based on a cell specific reference signal;

obtaining channel matrix information for the multiple transmission points;

calculating beamforming information on a single cell transmission and a coordinated multi-point transmission based on the channel matrix information; and

estimating the channel quality information for the single cell transmission and the coordinated multi-point transmission based on the channel quality information, the channel matrix information, and the beamforming information,

wherein the beamforming information comprises beamforming matrix information and beamforming gain information, and

wherein the estimating the channel quality information for the single cell transmission and the coordinated multi-point transmission comprises:

estimating noise and interference from outside of the macro cell based on the channel quality information, the channel matrix information, and antenna virtualization matrix information for the multiple transmission points;

estimating noises and interferences from the inside of the macro cell for the single cell transmission and the coordinated multi-point transmission based on the channel matrix information and the beamforming matrix information; and

calculating the channel quality information for the single cell transmission and the coordinated multi-point transmission based on the beamforming gain information, the noise and interference from the outside of the macro cell, and the noises and interferences from the inside of the macro cell for the single cell transmission and the coordinated multi-point transmission.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

obtaining receive power information on the multiple transmission points; and

wherein the channel matrix information comprises the channel matrix normalized based on the receive power information relative to receive power of one of transmission points for the coordinated multi-point transmission.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the one of the multiple transmission points is a serving point of the user equipment which is selected from the multiple transmission points based on the receive power information.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a cooperating set of the user equipment for the coordinated multi-point transmission.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the cooperating set of the user equipment is determined based on receive power information on the multiple transmission points.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining channel matrix information on the multiple transmission points comprises:

receiving the channel matrix information from the multiple transmission points, and wherein the channel matrix information is measured by the multiple transmission points based on a sounding reference signal transmitted by the user equipment.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

scheduling the user equipment based on the estimated channel quality information for the single cell transmission and the coordinated multi-point transmission; and

sending a scheduling result to the multiple transmission points.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

re-estimating the channel quality information for the single cell transmission and the coordinated multi-point transmission based on the beamforming information which is obtained during scheduling the user equipment.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

modifying the channel quality information for the single cell transmission and the coordinated multi-point transmission with an adjustment factor in response to a transmission result fed back from the user equipment.

10. An apparatus for estimating channel quality information, wherein a macro cell includes multiple transmission points, the apparatus comprising:

channel quality information receiving unit for receiving the channel quality information which is measured by a user equipment based on a cell specific reference signal;

channel matrix information obtaining unit for obtaining channel matrix information for the multiple transmission points;

beamforming information calculation unit for calculating beamforming information on a single cell transmission and a coordinated multi-point transmission based on the channel matrix information; and

channel quality information estimation unit for estimating the channel quality information for the single cell transmission and the coordinated multi-point transmission based on the channel quality information, the channel matrix information, and the beamforming information,

wherein the beamforming information comprises beamforming matrix information and beamforming gain information, and

wherein the channel quality information estimation unit comprises:

outside noise and interference estimation unit for estimating noise and interference from outside of the macro cell based on the channel quality information, the channel matrix information, and antenna virtualization matrix information for the multiple transmission points;

inside noise and interference estimation unit for estimating noises and interferences from the inside of the macro cell for the single cell transmission and the coordinated multi-point transmission based on the channel matrix information and the beamforming matrix information; and

channel quality information calculation unit for calculating the channel quality information for the single cell transmission and the coordinated multi-point transmission based on the beamforming gain information, the noise and interference from the outside of the macro cell, and the noises and interferences from the inside of the macro cell for the single cell transmission and the coordinated multi-point transmission.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising:

receive power information obtaining unit for obtaining receive power information on the multiple transmission points; and

wherein the channel matrix information comprises the channel matrix normalized based on the receive power information relative to receive power of one of transmission points for the coordinated multi-point transmission.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the one of the multiple transmission points is a serving point of the user equipment which is selected from the multiple transmission points based on the receive power information.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising:

cooperating set determination unit for determining a cooperating set of the user equipment for the coordinated multi-point transmission.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the cooperating set of the user equipment is determined based on receive power information on the multiple transmission points.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the channel matrix information obtaining unit is configured for:

receiving the channel matrix information from the multiple transmission points, and wherein the channel matrix information is measured by the multiple transmission points based on a sounding reference signal transmitted by the user equipment.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising:

scheduling unit for scheduling the user equipment based on the estimated channel quality information for the single cell transmission and the coordinated multi-point transmission; and

result sending unit for sending a scheduling result to the multiple transmission points.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising:

channel quality information re-estimation unit for re-estimating the channel quality information for the single cell transmission and the coordinated multi-point transmission based on the beamforming information which is obtained during scheduling the user equipment.

18. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising:

channel quality information modification unit for modifying the channel quality information for the single cell transmission and the coordinated multi-point transmission with an adjustment factor in response to a transmission result fed back from the user equipment.

19. A base station, comprising the apparatus of claim 10 .

20. A network central processing device, comprising the apparatus of claim 10 .