Patent ID: 8724717
Filing Date: 2014-05-13
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: a) defining a resource block by a wireless communication device in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communications system, wherein the resource block is a two-dimensional block having an array of frequency tones along frequency domain and an array of time slots along time domain; b) determining a specified number of pilots to be allocated within the resource block by the device based on a set of communications system requirements; c) determining whether two or more adjacent resource blocks are used for channel estimation; and d) positioning two pilots by the device near two edges of the resource block in the frequency domain with zero or more spaces from the frequency edges to avoid channel extrapolation based on the determining in c), and positioning remaining pilots of the specified number of pilots to be substantially equally spaced in between the allocated two pilots along the frequency domain; and e) reserving one or more frequency tones at two edges of the resource block in the frequency domain such that edge pilots of adjacent resource blocks are substantially equally spaced with each other and with other pilots along the frequency domain to improve channel estimation if two or more adjacent resource blocks are available to be used for channel estimation.