Methods and apparatus for providing soft and blind combining for PUSCH CQI processing

1. A method, comprising:

generating a plurality of hypothetical rank indicator (RI) values associated with a user equipment (UE);

concurrently soft-combining channel quality information (CQI) and RI information associated with the UE that are contained in a received sub-frame of symbols, wherein the RI information is soft-combined to generate a soft-combined RI bit stream and the CQI information is soft-combined based on the plurality of hypothetical RI values to generate a plurality of soft-combined CQI bit streams, respectively;

decoding the soft-combined RI bits stream to generate a decoded RI value; and

decoding a selected soft-combined CQI bit stream based on the decoded RI value to generate a decoded CQI value, wherein the decoding the selected soft-combined CQI bit stream includes decoding the plurality of soft-combined CQI bits streams to generate a plurality of decoded soft-combined CQI values and selecting the decoded CQI value from the plurality of decoded soft-combined CQI values based on the decoded RI value.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the plurality of hypothetical RI values comprises:

receiving inputs comprising a transmission mode and a number of antenna ports; and

cross referencing a memory using the inputs to obtain the plurality of hypothetical RI values.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the plurality of soft-combined CQI bit streams in a memory.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving the sub-frame of symbols in an uplink transmission from the UE.

5. The method of claim 4 , the uplink transmission comprising an LTE uplink transmission.

6. The method of claim 4 , the uplink transmission received over a physical uplink shared channel (“PUSCH”).

7. The method of claim 1 , performing the method for a plurality of UE.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

a hypothetical RI generator that generates a plurality of hypothetical rank indicator (RI) values associated with a user equipment (UE);

a first soft-combiner that soft-combines channel quality information (CQI) associated with the UE that is contained in a received sub-frame of symbols, wherein the CQI information is soft-combined using the plurality of hypothetical RI values to generate a plurality of soft-combined CQI bit streams;

a second soft-combiner that soft-combines RI information associated with the UE that is contained in the received sub-frame of symbols, wherein the RI information is soft-combined to generate a soft-combined RI bit stream, and wherein the first soft combiner operates concurrently with the second soft-combiner;

a first decoder that decodes the soft-combined RI bit stream to generate a decoded RI value; and

a second decoder that decodes a selected soft-combined CQI bit stream based on the decoded RI value to generate a decoded CQI value, wherein the second decoder includes a CQI decoder that decodes the plurality of soft-combined CQI bit streams to generate a plurality of decoded soft-combined CQI values and a selector that selects the decoded CQI value from the plurality of decoded soft-combined CQI values based on the decoded RI value.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the hypothetical RI generator comprises:

an input register that receives inputs comprising a transmission mode, a number of antenna ports value relating to transmission mode, number of transmission antennas, number of receiving antennas, and number of channels within a session; and

a processor that cross-references a memory using the inputs to obtain the plurality of hypothetical RI values.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising a memory that stores the plurality of soft-combined CQI bit streams.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising a receiver that receives the sub-frame of symbols in an uplink transmission from the UE.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , the uplink transmission comprising an LTE uplink transmission.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , the uplink transmission received over a physical uplink shared channel (“PUSCH”).

14. A method, comprising:

generating a plurality of hypothetical rank indicator (RI) values associated with a user equipment (UE);

concurrently soft-combining channel quality information (CQI) and RI information associated with the UE that are contained in a received sub-frame of symbols, wherein the RI information is soft-combined to generate a soft-combined RI bit stream and the CQI information is soft-combined based on the plurality of hypothetical RI values to generate a plurality of soft-combined CQI bit streams, respectively;

decoding the soft-combined RI bits stream to generate a decoded RI value; and

decoding a selected soft-combined CQI bit stream based on the decoded RI value to generate a decoded CQI value, wherein the decoding the selected soft-combined CQI bit stream includes selecting the selected soft-combined CQI bit stream based on the decoded RI value and decoding the selected soft-combined CQI bit stream to generate the decoded CQI value.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein generating the plurality of hypothetical RI values comprises:

receiving inputs comprising a transmission mode and a number of antenna ports; and

cross referencing a memory using the inputs to obtain the plurality of hypothetical RI values.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising storing the plurality of soft-combined CQI bit streams in a memory.

17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising receiving the sub-frame of symbols in an uplink transmission from the UE.

18. The method of claim 17 , the uplink transmission comprising an LTE uplink transmission.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

a hypothetical RI generator that generates a plurality of hypothetical rank indicator (RI) values associated with a user equipment (UE);

a first soft-combiner that soft-combines channel quality information (CQI) associated with the UE that is contained in a received sub-frame of symbols, wherein the CQI information is soft-combined using the plurality of hypothetical RI values to generate a plurality of soft-combined CQI bit streams;

a second soft-combiner that soft-combines RI information associated with the UE that is contained in the received sub-frame of symbols, wherein the RI information is soft-combined to generate a soft-combined RI bit stream, and wherein the first soft combiner operates concurrently with the second soft-combiner;

a first decoder that decodes the soft-combined RI bit stream to generate a decoded RI value; and

a second decoder that decodes a selected soft-combined CQI bit stream based on the decoded RI value to generate a decoded CQI value, wherein the second decoder includes a selector that selects the selected soft-combined CQI bit stream based on the decoded RI value and a CQI decoder that decodes the selected soft-combined CQI bit stream to generate the decoded CQI value.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the hypothetical RI generator comprises:

an input register that receives inputs comprising a transmission mode, a number of antenna ports value relating to transmission mode, number transmission antennas, number of receiving antennas, and number channels within a session; and

a processor that cross-references a memory using the inputs to obtain the plurality of hypothetical RI values.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 , further comprising a memory that stores the plurality of soft-combined CQI bit streams.

22. The apparatus of claim 19 , further comprising a receiver that receives the sub-frame of symbols in an uplink transmission from the UE.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 , the uplink transmission comprising an LTE uplink transmission.