Dynamic SNR adjustment in a receiver supporting 256QAM

1. A method of wireless communication of a user equipment (UE) including a receiver, comprising:

changing a mode of operation from a first signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) mode to an increased SNR mode, the mode of operation being changed by adjusting a gain state of at least one of a low-noise amplifier or a baseband amplifier within the receiver;

sending channel quality information (CQI) to a base station indicating an ability to receive data at the increased SNR; and

receiving the data from the base station according to a higher order modulation and coding scheme (MCS) corresponding to the increased SNR when the base station is capable of providing the data at the higher order MCS.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the changing the mode of operation comprises:

obtaining a downlink SNR measurement; and

changing the mode of operation to the increased SNR mode based on the downlink SNR measurement.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the changing the mode of operation comprises:

receiving signaling from the base station to report at least one CQI value corresponding to the higher order MCS; and

changing the mode of operation to the increased SNR mode based on the received signaling.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the changing the mode of operation comprises:

receiving data from the base station according to a first MCS while operating at the first SNR mode; and

changing the mode of operation to the increased SNR mode after receiving the data from the base station according to the first MCS for a number of consecutive timeslots.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

continuing to receive the data according to the first MCS, or failing to receive any data, after sending the CQI indicating the ability to receive the data at the increased SNR;

determining that the base station is not capable of providing the data at the higher order MCS; and

reverting the mode of operation back to the first SNR mode.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first MCS comprises 64-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and the higher order MCS comprises 256-QAM.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first MCS comprises quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) and the higher order MCS comprises 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) or 64-QAM.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjusting the gain state of the at least one of the low-noise amplifier or the baseband amplifier within the receiver comprises:

moving the gain state such that a low noise figure (NF) and a low gain are achieved simultaneously by a fixed high-gain low noise amplifier state of the low-noise amplifier and a post-mixer adjustable-gain base band amplifier state of the baseband amplifier.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein signaling from the base station is received via multi-carrier downlink signaling in a network configuration where base station downlink signals are:

co-located or not co-located; or

time-aligned or not time-aligned.

10. An apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus being a user equipment (UE) including a receiver and comprising:

means for changing a mode of operation from a first signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) mode to an increased SNR mode, the mode of operation being changed by adjusting a gain state of at least one of a low-noise amplifier or a baseband amplifier within the receiver;

means for sending channel quality information (CQI) to a base station indicating an ability to receive data at the increased SNR; and

means for receiving the data from the base station according to a higher order modulation and coding scheme (MCS) corresponding to the increased SNR when the base station is capable of providing the data at the higher order MCS.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the means for changing the mode of operation is configured to:

obtain a downlink SNR measurement; and

change the mode of operation to the increased SNR mode based on the downlink SNR measurement.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the means for changing the mode of operation is configured to:

receive signaling from the base station to report at least one CQI value corresponding to the higher order MCS; and

change the mode of operation to the increased SNR mode based on the received signaling.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the means for changing the mode of operation is configured to:

receive data from the base station according to a first MCS while operating at the first SNR mode; and

change the mode of operation to the increased SNR mode after receiving the data from the base station according to the first MCS for a number of consecutive timeslots.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising:

means for continuing to receive the data according to the first MCS, or failing to receive any data, after sending the CQI indicating the ability to receive the data at the increased SNR;

means for determining that the base station is not capable of providing the data at the higher order MCS; and

means for reverting the mode of operation back to the first SNR mode.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the first MCS comprises 64-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and the higher order MCS comprises 256-QAM.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the first MCS comprises quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) and the higher order MCS comprises 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) or 64-QAM.

17. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the adjusting the gain state of the at least one of the low-noise amplifier or the baseband amplifier within the receiver comprises:

moving the gain state such that a low noise figure (NF) and a low gain are achieved simultaneously by a fixed high-gain low noise amplifier state of the low-noise amplifier and a post-mixer adjustable-gain base band amplifier state of the baseband amplifier.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein signaling from the base station is received via multi-carrier downlink signaling in a network configuration where base station downlink signals are:

co-located or not co-located; or

time-aligned or not time-aligned.

19. An apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus being a user equipment including a receiver and comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:

change a mode of operation from a first signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) mode to an increased SNR mode, the mode of operation to be changed by adjustment of a gain state of at least one of a low-noise amplifier or a baseband amplifier within the receiver;

send channel quality information (CQI) to a base station indicating an ability to receive data at the increased SNR; and

receive the data from the base station according to a higher order modulation and coding scheme (MCS) corresponding to the increased SNR when the base station is capable of providing the data at the higher order MCS.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the at least one processor configured to change the mode of operation is configured to:

obtain a downlink SNR measurement; and

change the mode of operation to the increased SNR mode based on the downlink SNR measurement.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the at least one processor configured to change the mode of operation is configured to:

receive signaling from the base station to report at least one CQI value corresponding to the higher order MCS; and

change the mode of operation to the increased SNR mode based on the received signaling.

22. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the at least one processor configured to change the mode of operation is configured to:

receive data from the base station according to a first MCS while operating at the first SNR mode; and

change the mode of operation to the increased SNR mode after receiving the data from the base station according to the first MCS for a number of consecutive timeslots.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 , the at least one processor further configured to:

continue to receive the data according to the first MCS, or failing to receive any data, after sending the CQI indicating the ability to receive the data at the increased SNR;

determine that the base station is not capable of providing the data at the higher order MCS; and

revert the mode of operation back to the first SNR mode.

24. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the first MCS comprises 64-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and the higher order MCS comprises 256-QAM.

25. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the first MCS comprises quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) and the higher order MCS comprises 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) or 64-QAM.

26. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the adjustment of the gain state of the at least one of the low-noise amplifier or the baseband amplifier within the receiver comprises:

moving the gain state such that a low noise figure (NF) and a low gain are achieved simultaneously by a fixed high-gain low noise amplifier state of the low-noise amplifier and a post-mixer adjustable-gain base band amplifier state of the baseband amplifier.

27. The apparatus of claim 26 , wherein signaling from the base station is received via multi-carrier downlink signaling in a network configuration where base station downlink signals are:

co-located or not co-located; or

time-aligned or not time-aligned.

28. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code for wireless communication of a user equipment (UE) including a receiver, comprising code for:

changing a mode of operation from a first signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) mode to an increased SNR mode, the mode of operation being changed by adjusting a gain state of at least one of a low-noise amplifier or a baseband amplifier within the receiver;

sending channel quality information (CQI) to a base station indicating an ability to receive data at the increased SNR; and

receiving the data from the base station according to a higher order modulation and coding scheme (MCS) corresponding to the increased SNR when the base station is capable of providing the data at the higher order MCS.

29. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mode of operation is further changed to the increased SNR mode by at least one of:

increasing a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO)/phase-locked loop (PLL) current;

invoking real-time residual side band (RSB) calibration; or

bypassing front-end lossy components.

30. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the mode of operation is further changed to the increased SNR mode by at least one of:

increasing a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO)/phase-locked loop (PLL) current;

invoking real-time residual side band (RSB) calibration; or

bypassing front-end lossy components.