Methods for adapting density of demodulation reference signals

1. A method, in a first wireless node, the method comprising:

selecting a set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports for use in transmitting data to or receiving data from a plurality of User Equipments, UEs, in a given transmit time interval, from a plurality of sets of demodulation reference signal antenna ports that are available for use, wherein the plurality of sets of demodulation reference signal antenna ports include demodulation reference signal antenna ports having different demodulation reference signal densities in frequency dimension, time dimension, or both; and

sending a message to a UE indicating a demodulation reference signal assignment to the UE, wherein the message includes an indication of the selected set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports;

sending a second message to a different UE indicating a demodulation reference signal density for a layer in a multi-layer transmission; and

wherein the transmitting or receiving of data is on a plurality of layers of a Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output, MU-MIMO, transmission; and

wherein the selected set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports for the UE has a different reference signal density than for the different UE using a different layer in the MU-MIMO transmission.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the message indicates a number of layers of a multi-layer transmission on which the selected set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports are for use in the transmitting or receiving of data.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the message indicates one or more values of a plurality of values, wherein the indicated one or more values correspond to the selected set of one or more demodulation reference signal antenna ports, and wherein the plurality of values corresponds to demodulation reference signal antenna ports having different demodulation reference signal densities and/or a different number of layers on which the selected set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports are for use.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of values is a single set of values corresponding to all of the plurality of sets of demodulation reference signal antenna ports that are available for use.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the message indicates to the UE different demodulation reference signal densities for different layers in a multi-layer transmission.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending the message comprises sending a scheduling message.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the demodulation reference signal antenna port corresponds to a mapping on a code-time-frequency grid.

8. A first wireless node, wherein the first wireless node is adapted to:

select a set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports for use in transmitting data to or receiving data from a plurality of Users Equipments, UEs, in a given transmit time interval, from a plurality of sets of demodulation reference signal antenna ports that are available for use, wherein the plurality of sets of demodulation reference signal antenna ports include demodulation reference signal antenna ports having different demodulation reference signal densities in frequency dimension, time dimension, or both;

send a message to a UE indicating a demodulation reference signal assignment to the UE, wherein the message includes an indication of the selected set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports; and

send a second message to a different UE indicating a demodulation reference signal density for a layer in a multi-layer transmission; and

wherein the transmitting or receiving of data is on a plurality of layers of a Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output, MU-MIMO, transmission; and

wherein the selected set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports for the UE has a different reference signal density than for the different UE using a different layer in the MU-MIMO transmission.

9. The first wireless node of claim 8 , wherein the first wireless node is a base station.

10. A method, in a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising:

receiving, from a first wireless node, a message indicating a demodulation reference signal assignment to the UE, wherein the message includes an indication of a set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports selected from a plurality of available sets of demodulation reference signal antenna ports known to the UE, and wherein the plurality of sets of demodulation reference signal antenna ports include demodulation reference signal antenna ports having different demodulation reference signal densities in frequency dimension, time dimension, or both; and

identifying the indicated set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports from the received indication;

wherein the transmitting or receiving of data is on a plurality of layers of a multi-layer Multiple-Input Multiple-Output, MIMO, transmission; and

wherein the indicated set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports for the UE has a different demodulation reference signal density than indicated for a different UE.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the message indicates a number of layers of a multi-layer transmission on which the selected set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports are for use in the transmitting or receiving of data.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the message indicates one or more values of a plurality of values, wherein the indicated one or more values correspond to the selected set of one or more demodulation reference signal antenna ports, and wherein the plurality of values corresponds to demodulation reference signal antenna ports having different demodulation reference signal densities and/or a different number of layers on which the selected set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports are for use.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of values is a single set of values corresponding to all of the plurality of sets of demodulation reference signal antenna ports that are available for use.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the message indicates to the UE different demodulation reference signal densities for different layers in a multi-layer transmission.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the message comprises a scheduling message.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the demodulation reference signal antenna port corresponds to a mapping on a code-time-frequency grid.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising receiving data, using the indicated demodulation reference signal antenna ports, wherein using the indicated demodulation reference signal antenna ports comprises performing channel estimation using reference signal symbols on the indicated set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports.

18. The method of claim 10 , further comprising transmitting data to the first wireless node, accompanied by reference signal symbols on the indicated set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports.

19. A User Equipment, UE, wherein the UE is adapted to:

receive, from a first wireless node, a message indicating a demodulation reference signal assignment to the UE, where the message includes an indication of a set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports selected from a plurality of available sets of demodulation reference signal antenna ports known to the UE, wherein the plurality of sets of demodulation reference signal antenna ports include demodulation reference signal antenna ports having different demodulation reference signal densities in frequency dimension, time dimension, or both; and

identify the indicated set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports from the received indication;

wherein the transmitting or receiving of data is on a plurality of layers of a Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output, MU-MIMO, transmission; and

wherein the indicated set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports for the UE has a different demodulation reference signal density than indicated for a different UE.

20. The UE of claim 19 , wherein the first wireless node is a base station.

21. A first wireless node configured for operation in a wireless communication network, wherein the first wireless node comprises a transceiver circuit and a processing circuit operatively coupled to the transceiver circuit,

wherein the processing circuit is configured to select a set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports for use in transmitting data to or receiving data from one or more other wireless nodes in a given transmit time interval, from a plurality of sets of demodulation reference signal antenna ports that are available for use, where the plurality of sets of demodulation reference signal antenna ports include demodulation reference signal antenna ports having different demodulation reference signal densities in frequency dimension and/or time dimension,

the processing circuit is configured to send to a User Equipment, UE, via the transceiver circuit, a message indicating a demodulation reference signal assignment to the UE, where the message includes an indication of the selected set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports;

the processing circuit is configured to send a second message to a different UE indicating a demodulation reference signal density for a layer in a multi-layer transmission; and

wherein the transmitting or receiving of data is on a plurality of layers of a Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output, MU-MIMO, transmission; and

wherein the selected set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports for the UE has a different reference signal density than for the different UE using a different layer in the MU-MIMO transmission.

22. A User Equipment, UE configured for operation in a wireless communication network, wherein the UE comprises a transceiver circuit and a processing circuit operatively coupled to the transceiver circuit,

wherein the processing circuit is configured to receive from a first wireless node, via the transceiver circuit, a message indicating a demodulation reference signal assignment to the UE, where the message includes an indication of a set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports selected from a plurality of available sets of demodulation reference signal antenna ports known to the UE, and the plurality of sets of demodulation reference signal antenna ports include demodulation reference signal antenna ports having different demodulation reference signal densities in frequency dimension and/or time dimension, and

the processing circuit is configured to identify the indicated set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports from the received indication;

wherein the transmitting or receiving of data is on a plurality of layers of a Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output, MU-MIMO, transmission; and

wherein the indicated set of demodulation reference signal antenna ports for the UE has a different demodulation reference signal density than indicated for a different UE.