Transmission mode selection between beamforming and MU-MIMO

1. A method for transmission mode selection, the method comprising:

determining that a first wireless device out of a plurality of wireless devices connected to an access node qualifies for a beamforming transmission mode;

determining that a pair of wireless devices out of the plurality of wireless devices qualifies for a multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) transmission mode;

prioritizing the first wireless device higher than the pair of wireless devices based on one or more of a content type, a device type, or a device capability; and

selecting the beamforming transmission mode based on the prioritizing.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first wireless device is part of the pair of wireless devices.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising prioritizing the pair of wireless devices based on the one or more of the content type, the device type, or the device capability of a second wireless device in the pair of wireless devices.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pair of wireless devices comprises a second wireless device and a third wireless device, the method further comprising:

prioritizing at least one of the second and third wireless devices higher than the first wireless device; and

selecting the MU-MIMO transmission mode.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining that the first wireless device and the pair of wireless devices are equally prioritized; and

selecting the MU-MIMO transmission mode as a default downlink transmission mode.

6. A system for transmission mode selection, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory to store computer-readable instructions that are executed by the processor to perform operations comprising:

upon a first wireless device qualifying for a beamforming transmission mode and a pair of wireless devices qualifying for a multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) transmission mode, determining a first priority for the first wireless device and a second priority for the pair of wireless devices, wherein the first and second priorities are based on one or more of a content type, a device type, or a device capability;

upon the first priority being higher than the second priority, selecting the beamforming transmission mode; and

upon the second priority being higher than the first priority, selecting the MU-MIMO transmission mode.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein:

the pair of wireless devices comprises a second wireless device and a third wireless device;

determining the second priority further comprises determining a third priority for the second wireless device and a fourth priority for the third wireless device; and

the second priority is equal to the higher of the third and fourth priorities.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the operations further comprise determining that the first wireless device qualifies for the beamforming transmission mode based on a sounding reference signal transmitted from the first wireless device.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise determining one or more of an angle of arrival and a distance based on the sounding reference signal.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein the operations further comprise determining that the pair of wireless devices qualifies for the MU-MIMO transmission mode based on a channel orthogonality of each of the second and third wireless devices meeting a first threshold.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise determining that the pair of wireless devices qualifies for the MU-MIMO transmission mode based on a signal-to-interference-plus-noise (SINK) of each of the second and third wireless devices meeting a second threshold.

12. A processing node for transmission mode selection, the processing node comprising a processor that enables the processing node to perform operations comprising:

determining that a first wireless device qualifies for a beamforming transmission mode and a pair of wireless devices qualifies for a multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) transmission mode, wherein the pair of wireless devices comprises a second wireless device and a third wireless device;

determining a priority of one or more of a content type, a device type, or a device capability of each wireless device from among the first, second, and third wireless devices; and

based on the priority of the first wireless device being higher than the priority of the pair of wireless devices, selecting the beamforming transmission mode.

13. The processing node of claim 12 , wherein the content type for each wireless device comprises one of an online game, a video stream, an email, or a web page.

14. The processing node of claim 13 , wherein a priority of each of the video stream and the online game is higher than a priority of each of the email and the web page.

15. The processing node of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise determining the content type based on a deep packet inspection.

16. The processing node of claim 12 , wherein the device type for each wireless device comprises one of a preferred device type or a standard device type.

17. The processing node of claim 16 , wherein a priority of the preferred device type is higher than a priority of the standard device type.

18. The processing node of claim 12 , wherein:

the device capability for each wireless device comprises a number of accessible bands, and

a smaller number of accessible bands is prioritized higher than a greater number of accessible bands.

19. The processing node of claim 12 , wherein:

the device capability for each wireless device comprises a number of carriers that can be aggregated, and

a smaller number of carriers is prioritized higher than a greater number of carriers.