Power based gain control adjustment

1. A method for use in a receiver comprising:

receiving a signal over a plurality of time segments, the signal over each time segment comprising a plurality of resource element blocks;

for each time segment:

selecting at least one resource element block from the plurality of resource element blocks of the time segment based on information determined about the time segment;

determining a power value associated with the at least one resource element block of the time segment which comprises:

for each of the at least one resource element block, determining an average power value per resource element of the resource element block; and

determining the power value associated with the at least one resource element block by averaging all of the average power values per resource element for the at least one resource element block within the time segment, which further comprises:

determining if each of the at least one resource element blocks is an occupied resource element block by comparing the average power value per resource element for the resource element block to a threshold that defines an occupied resource element block; and

if the average power value per resource element for a resource element block is less than the threshold, not including the resource element block in the average when determining the power value; and

determining a gain adjustment value to adjust the gain of the time segment or one or more subsequent time segments based upon the power value associated with the at least one resource element block.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the signal over each time segment comprises a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, each resource element block comprises a plurality of resource elements and each resource element comprises an OFDM symbol duration on an OFDM subcarrier.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising converting the signal from time domain into frequency domain.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the average power value per resource element for each at least one resource element block comprises:

for each of the at least one resource element block:

measuring the power of each resource element of the resource element block; and

determining the average power value per resource element for the resource element block by averaging the powers of the resource elements within the resource element block.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the power value associated with the at least one resource element block of the time segment comprises determining the power value when the at least one resource element block is a portion of one of one or more pilots, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); a physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH); a primary synchronization channel (PSS); a secondary synchronization channel (SSS); and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH).

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining information about the time segment by decoding physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH) information to determine how many OFDM symbol durations are carrying physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) information.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising based on the PDCCH information, determining where physical downlink shared channels (PDSCH) are located in the time segment.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the gain adjustment value further comprises determining a target power level based on Doppler frequency estimate and comparing the power level with the target power level for the gain adjustment.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining a target power level based on Doppler frequency estimate further comprises setting the target power level to a first value if the Doppler frequency estimate is equal to or less than a Doppler frequency estimate threshold and setting the target power level to a second value if the Doppler frequency estimate is large than the Doppler frequency estimate threshold.

10. A method for use in a receiver comprising:

receiving a signal over a plurality of time segments, the signal over each time segment comprising a plurality of resource element blocks;

for each time segment:

selecting at least one resource element block from the plurality of resource element blocks of the time segment based on information determined about the time segment;

determining a power value associated with the at least one resource element block of the time segment; and

determining a gain adjustment value to adjust the gain of the time segment or one or more subsequent time segments based upon the power value associated with the at least one resource element block,

further comprising determining information about the time segment by:

determining if there is any physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) information for the receiver in the time segment;

if there is PDSCH information for the receiver, determining the location of the PDSCH information in the time segment; and

if there is no PDSCH information for the receiver and the receiver is configured to temporarily shut down if no PDSCH information is detected, determining how many resource elements in the resource element block are available for power measurement before the receiver temporarily shuts down for at least a remainder of the time segment.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising, if there is no PDSCH information for the receiver and if the resource element block for which the power value is to be determined is the PDSCH;

for each of the at least one resource element block available for power measurement:

measuring the power of each resource element of the resource element block; and

determining an average power value per resource element for the resource element block by averaging the powers of the resource elements within the resource element block; and

determining if the resource element block is an occupied resource element block by comparing the average power value per resource element for the resource element block to a threshold that defines an occupied resource element block; and

determining the power value for the at least one resource element block by averaging all of the average power per resource element values for the at least one resource element block within the time segment.

12. A wireless device comprising a receiver, the wireless device comprising:

a processor;

a memory storing a gain adjustment function that when executed by the processor is configured to:

receive a signal over a plurality of time segments, the signal over each time segment comprising a plurality of resource element blocks;

for each time segment:

select at least one resource element block from the plurality of resource element blocks of the time segment based on information determined about the time segment;

determine a power value associated with the at least one resource element block of the time segment, which comprises:

for each of the at least one resource element block, determine an average power value per resource element of the resource element block; and

determine the power value associated with the at least one resource element block by averaging all of the average power values per resource element for the at least one resource element block within the time segment, which comprises:

when determining the power value associated with the at least one resource element block, determine if each of the at least one resource element blocks is an occupied resource element block by comparing the average power value per resource element for the resource element block to a threshold that defines an occupied resource element block; and

if the average power value per resource element for a resource element block is less than the threshold, not include the resource element block in the average when determining the power value; and

determine a gain adjustment value to adjust the gain of the time segment or one or more subsequent time segments based upon the power value associated with the at least one resource element block.

13. The wireless device of claim 12 , wherein the signal over each time segment comprises a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, each resource element block comprises a plurality of resource elements and each resource element comprises an OFDM symbol duration on an OFDM subcarrier.

14. The wireless device of claim 12 , wherein the gain adjustment function is further configured to convert the signal from time domain into frequency domain.

15. The wireless device of claim 12 , wherein the gain adjustment function being configured to determine an average power value per resource element for the resource element block comprises the gain adjustment function being configured to:

for each of the at least one resource element block:

measure the power of each resource element of the resource element block; and

determine the average power value per resource element for the resource element block by averaging the powers of the resource elements within the resource element block.

16. The wireless device of claim 12 , wherein the gain adjustment function is further configured to determine the power value when the at least one resource element block is a portion of one of:

one or more pilots; physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); a physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH); a primary synchronization channel (PSS); a secondary synchronization channel (SSS); and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH).

17. The wireless device of claim 12 , wherein the gain adjustment function is further configured to determine information about the time segment by decoding physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH) information to determine how many OFDM symbol durations are carrying physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) information.

18. The wireless device of claim 17 , wherein the gain adjustment function is further configured to, for each time segment, based on the PDCCH information, determine where physical downlink shared channels (PDSCH) are located in the time segment.

19. A wireless device comprising a receiver, the wireless device comprising:

a processor;

a memory storing a gain adjustment function that when executed by the processor is configured to:

receive a signal over a plurality of time segments, the signal over each time segment comprising a plurality of resource element blocks;

for each time segment:

select at least one resource element block from the plurality of resource element blocks of the time segment based on information determined about the time segment;

determine a power value associated with the at least one resource element block of the time segment; and

determine a gain adjustment value to adjust the gain of the time segment or one or more subsequent time segments based upon the power value associated with the at least one resource element block,

wherein the gain adjustment function is further configured to, for each time segment determine information about the time segment such that the gain adjustment function is configured to:

determine if there is any physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) information for the wireless device in the time segment;

if there is PDSCH information for the wireless device, determine the location of the PDSCH information in the time segment; and

if there is no PDSCH information for the wireless device and the wireless device is configured to temporarily shut down if no PDSCH information is detected, determine how many resource elements in the resource element block are available for power measurement before the wireless device temporarily shuts down for at least a remainder of the time segment.

20. The wireless device of claim 19 , wherein if there is no PDSCH information for the wireless device and if the at least one resource element block for which the power value is to be determined is the PDSCH, the gain adjustment function is configured to:

for each of the at least one resource element block available for power measurement:

measure the power of each resource element of the resource element block; and

determine an average power value per resource element for the resource element block by averaging the powers of the resource elements within the resource element block;

determine if the resource element block is an occupied resource element block by comparing the average power value per resource element for the resource element block to a threshold that defines an occupied resource element block; and

determine the power value for the at least one resource element block by averaging all of the average power per resource element values for the at least one resource element block within the time segment.