Interference reduction in cellular communication systems

1. A method of operating a phased array antenna system to communicate with a mobile user equipment (UE), said method comprising:

when communicating with the UE, repeatedly switching between a downlink (DL) transmission time period and an uplink (UL) transmission time period;

during the DL transmission time period, generating a DL transmit beam, wherein the DL transmit beam during the DL transmission time period has a first DL transmit beam pattern; and

during the UL transmission time period, simultaneously generating a DL transmit beam and a DL receive beam, wherein the DL transmit beam during the UL transmission time period has a second DL transmit beam pattern and wherein the second DL transmit beam pattern during the UL transmission time period is different from the first DL transmit beam pattern during the DL transmission time period and wherein the second DL transmit beam pattern produces lower antenna gain to the UE as compared to the first DL transmit beam pattern.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

during the DL transmission time period, while generating the DL transmit beam simultaneously generating a DL receive beam.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second DL transmit beam pattern during the UL transmission time period is substantially different from the first DL transmit beam pattern during the DL transmission time period.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first DL transmit beam pattern during the DL transmission time period has a main lobe and the second DL transmit beam pattern during the UL transmission time period has a main lobe, wherein the main lobe of the first DL transmit beam pattern during the DL transmission time period is directed at the UE, and wherein the main lobe of the second DL transmit beam pattern during the UL transmission time period is directed away from the UE.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the main lobe of the second DL transmit beam pattern during the UL transmission time period is directed away from the UE in an azimuthal direction.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the main lobe of the second DL transmit beam pattern during the UL transmission time period is directed away from the UE in an elevational direction.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first DL transmit beam pattern during the DL transmission time period has a main lobe, multiple side lobes, and multiple nulls and wherein the second DL transmit beam during the UL transmission time period has a main lobe, multiple side lobes, and multiple nulls, wherein the main lobe of the first DL transmit beam pattern during the DL transmission time period is directed at the UE, and wherein second DL transmit beam pattern during UL transmission time period is directed so that the UE lies within one of the multiple nulls of the second DL transmit beam pattern.

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first DL transmit beam pattern during the DL transmission time period has a main lobe and the second DL transmit beam pattern during the UL transmission time period has a main lobe, wherein the main lobe of the first DL transmit beam pattern during the DL transmission time period is narrow and directed toward the UE, and wherein the second DL transmit beam pattern during the UL transmission time period has a wide main lobe that is much wider than the narrow main lobe of the first DL transmit beam pattern during the DL transmit time period.

9. The method of claim 3 , wherein the phased array includes one or more gain elements for adjusting a transmission gain and wherein said method further comprises:

during the DL transmission time period setting said gain elements to produce a first transmission gain for the DL transmit beam for the DL transmission time period; and

during the UL transmission time period setting said gain elements to produce a second transmission gain for the DL transmit beam for the UL transmission time period, wherein the second transmission gain is lower than the first transmission gain.