Selecting modulation and coding scheme in the presence of interference

1. A wireless device comprising:

an interference sensing module configured to selectively receive an interference signal over a channel, wherein the interference signal is modulated using P modulation and coding schemes (MCSs), where P is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

an MCS selection module configured to select an MCS based on the P MCSs;

a transmit module configured to transmit a transmit signal over the channel using the MCS; and

a channel capacity module configured to generate modulation constrained capacities (MCCs) for the channel based on first modulation schemes of the P MCSs and second modulation schemes of Q MCSs that include the MCS, where Q is an integer greater than 1.

2. The wireless device of claim 1 , further comprising a capacity selection module configured to:

select one of the MCCs for each of the second modulation schemes, and

generate selected capacities for the second modulation schemes.

3. The wireless device of claim 2 , wherein the capacity selection module is configured to generate the selected capacities by (i) selecting a smallest of the MCCs or (ii) averaging the MCCs of respective ones of the second modulation schemes.

4. The wireless device of claim 2 , further comprising a capacity averaging module configured to:

average the selected capacities over a plurality of slots when the interference signal is modulated using a plurality of the first modulation schemes over the slots, and

generate average capacities for the second modulation schemes,

wherein the slots include one of time slots and frequency slots.

5. The wireless device of claim 4 , wherein the MCS selection module is configured to select one of the Q MCSs as the MCS when one of the average capacities of one of the second modulation schemes corresponding to the one of the Q MCSs is greater than a threshold capacity of the one of the Q MCSs.

6. The wireless device of claim 5 , wherein when the average capacities of a plurality of the second modulation schemes are greater than threshold capacities of corresponding ones of the Q MCSs, the MCS selection module is configured to select one of the ones of the Q MCSs having a highest data rate as the MCS.

7. The wireless device of claim 1 , further comprising a capacity averaging module configured to:

average the MCCs over a plurality of slots when the interference signal is modulated using one of the first modulation schemes over the slots, and

generate average MCCs,

wherein the slots include one of time slots and frequency slots.

8. The wireless device of claim 7 , further comprising a capacity selection module configured to:

select one of the average MCCs for each of the second modulation schemes and

generate selected capacities for the second modulation schemes.

9. The wireless device of claim 8 , wherein the capacity selection module is configured to generate the selected capacities by (i) selecting a smallest of the average MCCs or (ii) averaging the average MCCs of respective ones of the second modulation schemes.

10. The wireless device of claim 8 , wherein the MCS selection module is configured to select one of the Q MCSs as the MCS when one of the selected capacities of one of the second modulation schemes corresponding to the one of the Q MCSs is greater than a threshold capacity of the one of the Q MCSs.

11. The wireless device of claim 10 , wherein when the selected capacities of a plurality of the second modulation schemes are greater than threshold capacities of corresponding ones of the Q MCSs, the MCS selection module is configured to select one of the ones of the Q MCSs having a highest data rate as the MCS.

12. A cellular communication system comprising;

the wireless device of claim 1 ; and

a base station (BS),

wherein the wireless device is configured to transmit the MCS to the BS, and

wherein the BS is configured to transmit data to the wireless device using the MCS.

13. A cellular communication system comprising:

a plurality of the wireless devices of claim 1 ; and

a plurality of base stations (BSs),

wherein a first of the plurality of the wireless device (Device 1 ) is associated with a first of the BSs (BS 1 ), and

wherein a second of the plurality of the wireless device (Device 2 ) is associated with a second of the BSs (BS 2 ).

14. The cellular communication system of claim 13 , wherein:

at least one of the BS 2 and the Device 2 is configured to transmit data using the P MCSs,

the BS 1 is configured to select and transmit the MCS to the Device 1 , and

the Device 1 is configured to transmit data to the BS 1 using the MCS.

15. A method comprising:

selectively receiving an interference signal over a channel, wherein the interference signal is modulated using P modulation and coding schemes (MCSs), where P is an integer greater than or equal to 1;

selecting an MCS based on the P MCSs;

transmitting a transmit signal over the channel using the MCS; and

generating modulation constrained capacities (MCCs) for the channel based on first modulation schemes of the P MCSs and second modulation schemes of Q MCSs that include the MCS, where Q is an integer greater than 1.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

selecting one of the MCCs for each of the second modulation schemes; and

generating selected capacities for the second modulation schemes.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

generating the selected capacities by one of selecting a smallest of the MCCs; and

averaging the MCCs of respective ones of the second modulation schemes.

18. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

averaging the selected capacities over a plurality of slots when the interference signal is modulated using a plurality of the first modulation schemes over the slots; and

generating average capacities for the second modulation schemes, wherein the slots include one of time slots and frequency slots.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising selecting one of the Q MCSs as the MCS when one of the average capacities of one of the second modulation schemes corresponding to the one of the Q MCSs is greater than a threshold capacity of the one of the Q MCSs.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising selecting one of the ones of the Q MCSs having a highest data rate as the MCS when the average capacities of a plurality of the second modulation schemes are greater than threshold capacities of corresponding ones of the Q MCSs.

21. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

averaging the MCCs over a plurality of slots when the interference signal is modulated using one of the first modulation schemes over the slots; and

generating average MCCs, wherein the slots include one of time slots and frequency slots.

22. The method of claim 21 , further comprising:

selecting one of the average MCCs for each of the second modulation schemes; and

generating selected capacities for the second modulation schemes.

23. The method of claim 22 , further comprising:

generating the selected capacities by one of selecting a smallest of the average MCCs; and

averaging the average MCCs of respective ones of the second modulation schemes.

24. The method of claim 22 , further comprising selecting one of the Q MCSs as the MCS when one of the selected capacities of one of the second modulation schemes corresponding to the one of the Q MCSs is greater than a threshold capacity of the one of the Q MCSs.

25. The method of claim 24 , further comprising selecting one of the ones of the Q MCSs having a highest data rate as the MCS when the selected capacities of a plurality of the second modulation schemes are greater than threshold capacities of corresponding ones of the Q MCSs.

26. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

selecting and transmitting the MCS from a mobile station (MS) to a base station (BS) of a cellular communication system; and

transmitting data from the BS to the MS using the MCS.

27. The method of claim 15 , further comprising selecting and transmitting the MCS from a first base station (BS 1 ) to a first mobile station (MS 1 ) that is associated with the BS 1 and transmitting data from the MS 1 to the BS 1 using the MCS when a second base station (BS 2 ) and a second mobile station (MS 2 ) communicate using the P MCSs.