Apparatuses and methods for CSI-RS configuration in distributed RRH systems

1. A wireless infrastructure component comprising:

a transmission point selection module (TPSM) configured to:

receive, from a user equipment device (UE), a UE signal via one or more of the transmission points, wherein each slot of a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) index in the UE signal corresponds to a single CSI-RS pattern and includes CSI-RS measurements derived from the single CSI-RS pattern, wherein each of the transmission points uniquely corresponds to a CSI-RS pattern; and

select a downlink transmission point from the transmission points based on the CSI-RS index in the UE signal;

a configuration module configured to communicate instructions to the UE, the instructions configured to cause the UE to report CSI-RS measurements for the selected downlink transmission point, including instructions to map CSI-RS patterns to slots in the CSI-RS index; and

wherein the transmission points share a single cell identification (ID) and each transmission point comprises at least one radio transceiver.

2. The wireless infrastructure component of claim 1 , wherein the UE signal is an uplink signal; and

wherein to select the downlink transmission point based on the UE signal includes the TPSM further configured to:

measure the uplink signal at each receiving transmission point to create uplink signal measurements;

rank the receiving transmission points based on the uplink signal measurements; and

select the downlink transmission point based on the ranking.

3. The wireless infrastructure component of claim 2 , wherein the rank is further based on a transmission metric of the transmission point.

4. The wireless infrastructure component of claim 2 , wherein the uplink signal is a sounding reference signal (SRS).

5. The wireless infrastructure component of claim 4 , wherein the SRS is transmitted, by the UE, at a higher power than SRS transmission power for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) link adaption.

6. The wireless infrastructure component of claim 1 , wherein the wireless infrastructure component is an eNB according to a 3GPP Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) family of standards.

7. The wireless infrastructure component of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the transmission points includes a plurality of antennas and is configured to communicate with the UE using a multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) radio channel.

8. The wireless infrastructure component of claim 1 , wherein the UE signal further includes a channel quality indicator (CQI) corresponding to a CSI-RS pattern selected by the UE to maximize a communication performance metric, the CQI correlated to the CSI-RS pattern via the CSI-RS index; and

wherein to select the downlink transmission point includes selecting a transmission point corresponding to the CQI.

9. The wireless infrastructure component of claim 8 , wherein each of the transmission points correspond to one of a plurality of layers, wherein a layer in the plurality of layers corresponds to a transmission range; and

the TPSM is further configured to configure the UE to bias CSI-RS pattern selection based on a layer corresponding to the CSI-RS pattern's transmission point.

10. The wireless infrastructure component of claim 1 , wherein the CSI-RS measurements include reference signal received power and reference signal received quality (RSRP/RSRQ) measurements, wherein the RSRP/RSRQ measurements are relative to the UE; and

wherein to select the downlink transmission point based on the CSI-RS index includes the TPSM configured to:

rank the transmission points based on the RSRP/RSRP measurements; and

select the downlink transmission point based on the ranking.

11. The wireless infrastructure component of claim 10 , wherein to rank the transmission points based on the RSRP/RSRQ measurements includes the TPSM further configured to favorably weight the rank of a current downlink transmission point based on a transition threshold.

12. The wireless infrastructure component of claim 1 , wherein the CSI-RS index includes fewer slots than UE observable transmission points; and

wherein the instructions to map CSI-RS patterns to slots in the CSI-RS index include instructions to map CSI-RS patterns to a slot of the CSI-RS index according to a sequence, wherein the sequence advances after a predetermined period.

13. A method comprising:

receiving, at a transmission point selection module (TPSM) of the wireless infrastructure component from a user equipment device (UE), a UE signal via one or more transmission points, wherein the one or more transmission points are in a plurality of transmission points sharing a single cell identification (ID), wherein each slot of a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) index in the UE signal corresponds to a single CSI-RS pattern and includes CSI-RS measurements derived from the single CSI-RS pattern, wherein each of the transmission points uniquely corresponds to a CSI-RS pattern;

selecting a downlink transmission point from the transmission points based on the CSI-RS index in the UE signal; and

configuring the UE to report CSI-RS measurements for the selected downlink transmission point by sending instructions to the UE to map CSI-RS patterns to slots in the CSI-RS index.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the UE signal is an uplink signal; and wherein selecting the downlink transmission point based on the UE signal includes:

measuring the uplink signal at each receiving transmission point to create uplink signal measurements;

ranking the receiving transmission points based on the uplink signal measurements; and

selecting the downlink transmission point based on the ranking.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the uplink signal is a sounding reference signal (SRS); and

the method further comprising transmitting, by the UE, the SRS at a higher power than SRS transmission power for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) link adaption.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the wireless infrastructure component is an eNB according to a 3GPP Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) family of standards.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the UE signal further includes a channel quality indicator (CQI) corresponding to a CSI-RS pattern selected by the UE to maximize a communication performance metric, the CQI correlated to the CSI-RS pattern via the CSI-RS index; and

wherein selecting the downlink transmission point includes selecting a transmission point corresponding to the CSI-RS pattern.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the CSI-RS measurements include reference signal received power and reference signal received quality (RSRP/RSRQ) measurements, wherein the RSRP/RSRQ measurements are relative to the UE; and

wherein selecting the downlink transmission point based on the CSI-RS index includes:

ranking the transmission points based on the RSRP/RSRP measurements, including favorably weighting the rank of a current downlink transmission point based on a transition threshold; and

selecting the downlink transmission point based on the ranking.

19. The method of claim 13 , wherein the CSI-RS index includes fewer slots than UE observable transmission points; and

wherein mapping CSI-RS patterns to slots in the CSI-RS index includes mapping CSI-RS patterns to a slot of the CSI-RS index according to a sequence, wherein the sequence advances after a predetermined period.

20. A non-transitory machine readable medium including instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a transmission point selection module (TPSM) from a user equipment device (UE), a UE signal via one or more transmission points, wherein the one or more transmission points are in a plurality of transmission points sharing a single cell identification (ID), wherein each slot of a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) index in the UE signal corresponds to a single CSI-RS pattern and includes CSI-RS measurements derived from the single CSI-RS pattern, wherein each of the transmission points uniquely corresponds to a CSI-RS pattern;

selecting a downlink transmission point from the transmission points based on the CSI-RS index in the UE signal; and

configuring the UE to report CSI-RS measurements for the selected downlink transmission point by sending instructions to the UE to map CSI-RS patterns to slots in the CSI-RS index.

21. The machine readable medium of claim 20 , wherein configuring the UE to report CSI for the selected downlink transmission point includes configuring a CSI-RS index using remote radio control (RRC); and

wherein the CSI-RS index includes one or more slots, the CSI-RS index having fewer slots than observable CSI-RS patterns.

22. The machine readable medium of claim 20 , wherein configuring the CSI-RS index includes remapping the one or more slots to candidate CSI-RS patterns in response to selecting a downlink transmission point different from a current downlink transmission point of the UE, the candidate CSI-RS patterns corresponding to likely transmission points from the plurality of transmission points based on the downlink transmission point.

23. The machine readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the CSI-RS index is carried on the eleventh quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) symbol according to a 3GPP Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) family of standards uplink control channel (PUCCH) 2b.