System and method for synchronized and coordinated beam switching and scheduling in a wireless communications system

1. A method for controller operation, the method comprising:

determining a beam cycle pattern, the beam cycle pattern comprising a list of beam patterns transmitted by the controller;

sharing the beam cycle pattern with neighboring controllers;

generating scheduling information from the beam cycle pattern and beam cycle patterns from other controllers;

receiving beam information from a communications device;

receiving a transmission intended for the communications device; and

causing the transmission to be transmitted to the communications device, wherein the transmission is transmitted using the scheduling information and the received beam information.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, transmitting reference sequences precoded with the beam patterns in the beam cycle pattern.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein sharing the beam cycle pattern comprises:

sending the beam cycle pattern to the neighboring controllers; and

receiving the beam cycle patterns from the neighboring controllers.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein sending the beam cycle pattern further comprises sending a period of the beam cycle pattern.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein generating scheduling information comprises, generating all combinations of beam patterns in the beam cycle pattern and beam patterns from the beam cycle patterns from neighboring controllers.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein each beam pattern transmitted by the controller results in a corresponding received signal strength level at the communications device, wherein each beam pattern transmitted by a neighboring controller results in a corresponding interference level at the communications device, and wherein generating scheduling information further comprises:

combining beam patterns producing substantially equal received signal strength levels into replacement beam patterns, wherein there is one replacement beam pattern per set of beam patterns producing substantially equal received signal strength levels;

combining beam patterns from a single neighboring controller producing substantially equal interference levels into replacement interference beam patterns, wherein there is one replacement interference beam pattern per set of beam patterns from a single neighboring controller producing substantially equal interference levels; and

substituting beam patterns in the scheduling information with associated replacement beam patterns or replacement interference beam patterns.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beam information comprises an index of one of the beam patterns transmitted by the controller and at least one index of a neighbor beam pattern transmitted by one of the neighboring controllers that results in a highest measured signal to interference ratio at the communications device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beam information comprises an index of a beam pattern transmitted by the controller and at least one index of a neighbor beam pattern transmitted by one of the neighboring controllers that results in a measured signal to interference ratio exceeding a threshold.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein causing the transmission to be transmitted comprises:

selecting a first index to a network resource from the scheduling information based on the transmission and the received beam information;

scheduling the transmission for the network resource based on the first index; and

transmitting the transmission at the occurrence of the network resource.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the scheduling information comprises all combinations of beam patterns in the beam cycle pattern and beam patterns from beam cycle patterns from neighboring controllers, and wherein selecting a first index comprises, selecting a second index of a combination of beam patterns in the beam cycle pattern and beam patterns from the beam cycle patterns from neighboring controllers corresponding to the received beam information.

11. A method for communications device operation, the method comprising:

measuring a first communications channel between a controller and the communications device for each beam pattern in a beam cycle pattern of the controller, thereby producing a plurality of channel estimates;

measuring a second communications channel between a neighboring controller and the communications device for each beam pattern in a beam cycle pattern of the neighboring controller, thereby producing a plurality of interference estimates; and

reporting indices of one of the beam patterns in the beam cycle pattern of the controller and one of the beam pattern in the beam cycle pattern of the neighboring controller meeting a criteria, wherein the criteria is based on the plurality of channel estimates and the plurality of interference estimates.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the criteria comprises a highest measured signal to interference ratio.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the criteria comprises a measured signal to interference ratio exceeding a threshold.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the criteria comprises a highest received signal strength.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the beam patterns in the beam cycle pattern of the controller are used to precode a reference sequence.

16. A method for controller operation, the method comprising:

determining a beam cycle pattern, the beam cycle pattern comprising a list of beam patterns transmitted by the controller;

sharing the beam cycle pattern with neighboring controllers;

generating scheduling information from the beam cycle pattern and beam cycle patterns from other controllers, the scheduling information comprises all combinations of beam patterns in the beam cycle pattern and beam patterns from the beam cycle patterns from neighboring controllers;

transmitting information related to the beam cycle pattern to a communications device;

receiving an index to a preferred beam pattern in the beam cycle pattern and beam patterns from beam cycle patterns from neighboring controllers;

receiving a transmission intended for the communications device; and

causing the transmission to be transmitted to the communications device, wherein the transmission is transmitted using the received index.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the index comprises an offset into the scheduling information.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein causing the transmission to be transmitted comprises:

selecting a network resource index to a network resource from the scheduling information based on the transmission and the received index;

scheduling the transmission for the network resource based on the network resource index; and

transmitting the transmission when the network resource appears.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the information related to the beam cycle pattern comprises the beam cycle pattern and the beam cycle patterns from neighboring controllers.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the information related to the beam cycle pattern comprises the scheduling information.