Method of scheduling transmissions in a communication system

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a first network element, a first scheduling grant that contains a precoding scheme used for transmitting a first signal over a connection from the first network element to a second network element;

transmitting the first signal over the connection to the second network element according to the first scheduling grant;

receiving, by the first network element, a second scheduling grant used for transmitting a second signal over the connection from the first network element to the second network element, wherein the second scheduling grant does not contain a precoding scheme used for transmitting the second signal; and

transmitting the second signal over the connection to the second network element according to the first scheduling grant or the precoding scheme used for transmitting the first signal.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the precoding scheme comprises selecting a precoding arrangement or a precoding matrix or a precoding vector.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first scheduling grant comprises information about Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator or selected precoding mode.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the second scheduling grant does not contain information about Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said second network element is a base station or evolved Node B, and said first network element is a user equipment.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the second network element updates the precoding scheme and provides the updated precoding scheme to the first network element for a subsequent transmission from the first network element to the second network element.

7. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the precoding vector is predetermined in such a manner that the phase of a one antenna is rotated 180 degrees between slots and phase of another antenna is left unchanged, or the phase of the one antenna is left unchanged and the phase of another antenna is rotated 180 degrees between slots.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator is updated using a DCI Type C.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said precoding scheme or precoding pertains to the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and/or the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH).

10. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium bearing computer program code embodied therein for use with a computer, said computer program code comprising code for performing the method of claim 1 .

11. A network element comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memories including computer program code, the one or more memories and the computer program code configured, with the one or more processors, to cause the system to perform the following:

receiving, by the network element, a first scheduling grant that contains a precoding scheme used for transmitting a first signal over a connection from the network element to another network element;

transmitting the first signal over the connection to said another network element according to the first scheduling grant;

receiving, by the network element, a second scheduling grant used for transmitting a second signal over the connection from the network element to said another network element, wherein the second scheduling grant does not contain a precoding scheme used for transmitting the second signal; and

transmitting the second signal over the connection to said another network element according to the first scheduling grant or the precoding scheme used for transmitting the first signal.

12. The network element as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the first scheduling grant comprises a pre-coding arrangement, information of selected precoding mode, a Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator or other scheduling grant information.

13. The network element as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the second scheduling grant does not contain information about Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator.

14. The network element as claimed in claim 11 , wherein said another network element updates the first precoding scheme and provides the updated precoding scheme to the network element for a subsequent transmission from the network element to said another network element.

15. The network element as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the precoding scheme is selected such that the average phase difference between elements of precoding vectors is maximized.

16. The network element as claimed in claim 11 , wherein said another network element is a base station or an evolved Node B and said network element is a user equipment.

17. The network element as claimed in claim 11 , wherein said precoding scheme pertains to the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and/or the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH).

18. A method comprising:

forwarding a first scheduling grant that contains a precoding scheme used for transmitting a first signal over a connection from a first network element to a second network element;

receiving the first signal over the connection from the first network element according to the first scheduling grant;

forwarding a second scheduling grant used for transmitting a second signal over the connection from the first network element to the second network element, wherein the second scheduling grant does not contain a precoding scheme used for transmitting the second signal; and

receiving the second signal over the connection from the first network element according to the first scheduling grant or the precoding scheme used for transmitting the first signal.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the precoding scheme includes a pre-coding arrangement, information of selected precoding mode, a Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator or other scheduling grant information.

20. The method as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the second scheduling grant does not include a Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator.

21. The method as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the precoding scheme is selected such that the average phase difference between elements of precoding vectors is maximized.

22. The method as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the first scheduling grant and the second scheduling grant pertain to the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and/or the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH).

23. The method as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the first network element is a user equipment and the second network element is a base station or an evolved Node B.

24. A network element comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memories including computer program code, the one or more memories and the computer program code configured, with the one or more processors, to cause the network element to perform the following:

forwarding a first scheduling grant that contains a precoding scheme used for transmitting a first signal over a connection from another network element to the network element;

receiving the first signal over the connection from said another network element according to first scheduling grant;

forwarding a second scheduling grant used for transmitting a second signal over the connection from said another network element to the network element, wherein the second scheduling grant does not contain a precoding scheme used for transmitting the second signal; and

receiving the second signal over the connection from said another network element according to the first scheduling grant or the precoding scheme used for transmitting the first signal.

25. The network element as claimed in claim 24 , wherein the precoding scheme comprises a pre-coding arrangement, information of selected precoding mode, a Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator or other scheduling grant information.

26. The network element as claimed in claim 24 , which is a base station or an evolved Node B, and wherein said another network element is a user equipment.