Abstract:
A method and apparatus for signaling interference information in a multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) system including a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) and a base station are disclosed. The method includes the base station signaling interference information including rank information or a number of WTRUs to a particular WTRU based on beamforming vector feedback information received from the WTRUs. In order to reduce the downlink signaling overhead, confirmation of the beamforming vector feedback from WTRUs is used. The interference beamforming vectors and rank information or the number of WTRUs can be signaled separately or jointly.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/978,170 filed Oct. 8, 2007, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/982,866 filed Oct. 26, 2007, which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth. 
     
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
       [0002]    This application is related to wireless communications. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Long term evolution (LTE) for the third generation partnership project (3GPP) includes many improvements to radio interfaces and network architecture of a wireless communication system  100  including at least one base station  105  and a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs)  110   1 ,  110   2  and  110   3 , as shown in  FIG. 1 . This includes specifications for an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) network. 
         [0004]    Efficient signaling for interference information in a multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) system is important to an E-UTRA. Availability of interference information for a WTRU improves MIMO link and system performance, and increases spectrum efficiency. 
         [0005]    Signaling overhead may be a problem with MU-MIMO, particularly when interference information from other WTRUs is needed for a given WTRU. Additional signaling is required to communicate the interference information to the given WTRU. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    A method and apparatus for signaling interference information in a MU-MIMO system including a plurality of WTRUs and a base station are disclosed. The method includes the base station signaling the interference information including rank information or a number of WTRUs to a particular WTRU based on beamforming vector feedback information received from the WTRUs. In order to reduce the downlink signaling overhead, confirmation of the beamforming vector feedback from the WTRUs is used. When beamforming vector feedback information from a particular WTRU is confirmed by the base station, a positive acknowledgement (ACK) or a beamforming message indicating positive confirmation of the WTRU&#39;s beamforming feedback information is sent along with the interference information to the particular WTRU from the base station. When beamforming vector feedback information from a particular WTRU is not confirmed by the base station, a negative acknowledgement (NACK) or a beamforming message indicating negative confirmation of the particular WTRU&#39;s beamforming feedback information is sent along with the interference beamforming information to the particular WTRU from the base station. The interference beamforming vectors and rank information or the number of WTRUs can be signaled separately or jointly. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]    A more detailed understanding may be had from the following description, given by way of example in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein: 
           [0008]      FIG. 1  shows a conventional wireless communication system including a base station and a plurality of WTRUs; 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  shows a table of possible combinations of beamforming vectors for different numbers of users (WTRUs) scheduled for simultaneous transmission in the same frequency/time resource; 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  shows a table that indicates the required number of bits for signaling the index of interfering vectors when the own (desired) beamforming vector is known; 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  shows a table that indicates the required number of bits for signaling the interfering vectors and rank when the own (desired) beamforming information is known; 
           [0012]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram of a WTRU; and 
           [0013]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram of a base station. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0014]    When referred to hereafter, the terminology “wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU)” includes but is not limited to a user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a pager, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a computer, or any other type of user device capable of operating in a wireless environment. 
         [0015]    When referred to hereafter, the terminology “base station” includes but is not limited to a Node-B, a site controller, an access point (AP), or any other type of interfacing device capable of operating in a wireless environment. 
         [0016]    Interference information regarding other WTRUs may be signaled to a WTRU when a desired beamforming vector is known by the WTRU. This may include the use of a codebook that includes a number of vectors. By way of example, eight vectors may be used. 
         [0017]    Referring to the table of  FIG. 2 , shown is a MU-MIMO codebook consisting of 8 vectors (U 1 , . . . , U 8 ). Assume that vectors U 1 , U 2 , U 3  and U 4  can form a unitary matrix and vectors U 5 , U 6 , U 7  and U 8  can form another unitary matrix. Then, if grouping using a unitary approach is applied, vectors U 1 , U 2 , U 3  and U 4  are grouped into one group M 1 . Similarly, vectors U 5 , U 6 , U 7  and U 8  are grouped into a second group M 2 . The grouping of the vectors may be based on a unitary rule. Other rules may be applied, e.g., a non-unitary approach with a correlation threshold, whereby the, vectors are grouped based on the correlation level between them. If the correlation level between vectors is below a predetermined threshold, then the vectors can be grouped together. No rule may also be used, (i.e., no restriction is used), when vectors are grouped, whereby vectors can be grouped in any possible way without any restriction as long as it is desired. 
         [0018]    If no rule is used for grouping, there will be more vector combinations than if rules for grouping are applied. This is because when a rule is applied, there are more restrictions in combining vectors. If a unitary rule is applied, as shown in the table of  FIG. 2 , the vectors are combined within the same group, M. More specifically, U 1 , U 2 , U 3  and U 4  may be combined together within group M 1 , and U 5 , U 6 , U 7  and U 8  may be combined together within group M 2 . Combinations of beamforming vectors used with different numbers of WTRUs using the unitary approach are shown in  FIG. 2 . For example, when two WTRUs are scheduled for transmission and they are assigned two different vectors from group M 1 , there are (4, 2)=6 possible combinations. The same is true when the vectors are selected from group M 2 . Therefore, the total number of combinations is 12. 
         [0019]    As shown in the table of  FIG. 2 , the largest number of combinations occurs with two WTRUs. Therefore, all possible combinations can be indicated with log 2 (12)=4 bits. If unitary preceding is used with a codebook of size 8, all the beamforming vectors can be signaled using 4 bits in the downlink as long as the number of WTRUs is given. 
         [0020]    According to the table of  FIG. 2 , using one or two bits to indicate the desired beamforming vector is necessary. For example, one bit may be needed to signal the desired beamforming vector within a selected vector combination, and four additional bits may be needed to indicate the selected combination among the 12 vector combinations when there are two WTRUs. This requires a total of five bits to signal both desired and interfering beamforming vectors for two WTRUs. For three WTRUs, two bits may be needed to signal the desired beamforming vector within the selected vector combination, in addition to three bits to indicate the selected combination among eight possible combinations. For four WTRUs, two bits may be needed to signal the desired beamforming vector within the selected vector combination, in addition to one bit to indicate the selected combination among two combinations. This requires five, five and three bits in total to signal both desired and interfering beamforming vectors for 2, 3 and 4 WTRUs cases of the table of  FIG. 2 , respectively. Note that 2 bits are also needed to signal the number of WTRUs. 
         [0021]    However, if the desired beamforming vector is known to the WTRU, signaling all the possible combinations in the table of  FIG. 2  may not be necessary. An assumption can be made that the desired beamforming vector may be known to WTRU. Such an assumption can be made if the beamforming/precoding confirmation scheme is used. Therefore, an efficient method of signaling interference information using a small subset of the combinations in the table of  FIG. 2 , when the desired beamforming vector is known, is disclosed below. 
         [0022]    One technique for helping the WTRU know a desired beamforming vector is by using a one-bit indicator, (i.e., a positive acknowledgement (ACK)), to inform a WTRU that the beamforming vector fed back by WTRU is used at base station. This technique operates as follows. A WTRU feeds back the beamforming vector and receives an ACK from a base station. The WTRU then knows that the desired beamforming vector is exactly the same as the one it feeds back. In a MU-MIMO system, if K is the number of WTRUs in the system, a base station sends a one-bit indicator to each WTRU to respond to each WTRU&#39;s feedback of the desired beamforming vector. If the beamforming vector is the same for both the base station and the WTRU, (say the k-th WTRU), the base station sends a one-bit indicator, (which can be denoted by PMI_IND (k)  as an example), representing an ACK to the k-th WTRU. If the beamforming vector is not the same for the base station and the k-th WTRU, the base station sends a one-bit indicator (PMI_IND (k)  representing a negative acknowledgement (NACK) to the k-th WTRU. The base station may also send a beamforming vector of the k-th WTRU, (which can be denoted by PMI (k)  as an example), to the k-th WTRU. Alternatively, a bits-combination or one state can be used to indicate either an ACK or a NACK. 
         [0023]    An ACK may be sent to respond to the WTRU as feedback if, for example, the base station does not override the WTRU&#39;s feedback and the feedback signal is reliable, (for example no error occurs in feedback signal). A NACK may be sent to respond to a WTRU&#39;s feedback if, for example, the base station overrides the WTRU&#39;s feedback or a WTRU feedback signal is not reliable. 
         [0024]    When a WTRU receives an ACK from a base station for its feedback signal, the WTRU then knows the value of the desired beamforming vector. Therefore, only interference information needs to be sent to the WTRU. 
         [0025]    Referring to the table of  FIG. 3 , assuming that the WTRU knows the desired beamforming vector value, (e.g., U 1 ), because a one-bit indicator (carrying an ACK) is sent from the base station to the WTRU, the combinations without the desired beamforming vector U 1  may be excluded from the combinations in the table of  FIG. 2 , and the table of  FIG. 3  can be generated so that it has the combinations containing only U 1 . The number of possible combinations is reduced as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0026]    For example, by comparing the table of  FIG. 3  to the table of  FIG. 2 , it can be seen that the number of possible combinations is reduced to 3, 3 and 1, from 12, 8 and 2 for system ranks 2, 3 and 4, respectively, whereby the system ranks indicate the number of users (i.e., WTRUs). Therefore, the number of bits needed to communicate interference information is reduced. The number of bits needed to communicate interference beamforming vectors is reduced to 2 bits, 2 bits, 0 bits (in  FIG. 3 ) from 4 bits, 3 bits and 1 bit (in  FIG. 2 ) for system ranks 2, 3 and 4, correspondingly. Accordingly, the signaling overhead is reduced. 
         [0027]    In summary, one bit used as an indicator representing either an ACK or a NACK, is sent to the desired WTRU. Let b 1 =the number of bits used to signal interference information. If the indicator indicates an ACK, which means the desired beamforming vector is known to the WTRU, then two bits (b 1 =2) are used to signal the interference information to the desired WTRU. It should be noted that the two bits to signal the interference are for illustration purposes of a codebook size of 8. The number of bits changes appropriately for different size of codebook, and the like. 
         [0028]    In a second scheme, the interference information is signaled when the desired beamforming vector is unknown to the WTRU. While this scheme can be applied to any codebook that consists of any number of vectors, for illustration purpose eight vectors are used in the following description. In this scheme, one bit may be used as an indicator, representing either an ACK or a NACK, to the desired WTRU. If a one bit indicator indicates a NACK, (indicating that the desired beamforming vector is not known to the WTRU), then at most two bits (b 1 =2) are used to signal the desired beamforming vector to the desired WTRU. Additional b 2 =1, 3 or 4 bits are used to signal the interference information to the desired WTRU for the cases of 4 WTRUs, 3 WTRUs and 2 WTRUs respectively. The numerical value of b 2  depends on the design such as whether a subset restriction is used or a selection of vector combinations is used. According to this scheme, two or more control signaling formats are needed. Additionally, blind detection on control signaling format may also be required. It should be understood that the numbers b 1 =2, b 2 =2, 3 or 4 are for illustration purposes for a codebook size of 8. However, the numbers b 1 , b 2  may be changed accordingly for a codebook of a different size, and the like. 
         [0029]    In a third scheme, both the desired information and interference information are signaled when the desired beamforming vector is not known to the WTRU. While this scheme may be applied to any codebook that consists of any number of vectors, eight vectors are used for illustration purposes in the following description. According to this scheme, one bit is used as an indicator, representing either an ACK or a NACK, to the desired WTRU. If the one-bit indicator is used to signal a NACK, which means the desired beamforming vector is not known to the WTRU, then two bits (b 1 =2) are used to signal the desired beamforming vector to the desired WTRU. Reference signals, such as dedicated reference signals, are used to signal the interference information to the desired WTRU. According to this scheme, only a single control channel format is needed. Blind detection on the interference information using a reference signal may be required. The number of bits used to signal the desired beamforming vector (b 1 =2) is, for illustration purposes, of a codebook size of eight. The number b may change appropriately and accordingly for a codebook of a different size, and the like. 
         [0030]    In a fourth scheme, both the desired information and interference information are signaled when the desired beamforming vector is not known to the WTRU. This scheme can be applied to any codebook that consists of any number of vectors. For illustration purposes, eight vectors are used in the following description. For example, one-bit is used for an indicator, representing either an ACK or a NACK, to the desired WTRU. If the one-bit indicator indicates a NACK, which means the desired beamforming vector is not known to the WTRU, then three bits (b 1 =3) are used to signal the desired beamforming vector among eight vectors (U 1 , U 2 , . . . , U 8 ) to the desired WTRU. An additional two bits (b 2  = 2 ), two bits (b 2  = 2 ), and zero bits (b 2 =0) for two WTRUs, three WTRUs and four WTRUs, respectively, are used to signal the interference information to the desired WTRU, (i.e., at most two bits are used to indicate the specific combination that contains interference vectors for up to three interfering WTRUs), as depicted in the table of  FIG. 2 . Note that the desired beamforming vector in the table of  FIG. 2  is shown to be U 1  as an example. Multiple control channel formats may be needed in this scheme. Blind detection on control channel format may be required. The numbers b 1 =3, and b 2 =2, 2, 0, are for illustration purposes, of a codebook size of eight. The numbers b 1 , b 2  are system parameters and change appropriately and accordingly for different size of codebook, and the like. 
         [0031]    In a fifth scheme, both the interference beamforming vector and rank information are signaled when the desired beamforming vector is known to the WTRU. While this scheme may be applied to any codebook that consists of any number of vectors, eight vectors are used in the following description for illustration purposes. Accordingly, one bit is used for an indicator, representing either an ACK or a NACK, to the desired WTRU. If the one-bit indicator indicates an ACK, which means that the desired beamforming vector is known to the WTRU, then no bit is needed to signal the desired beamforming vector to the desired WTRU. An additional three bits (b 2 =3) are used to signal the interference and rank information to the desired WTRU, three bits to indicate the specific combination among seven combinations, in the table of  FIG. 3 , assuming U 1  is the desired beamforming vector. According to this scheme, multiple control signaling formats may be needed. Blind detection on control channel format may be required. The number of bits needed for signaling (e.g., b 2 =3) is for illustration purposes for a codebook size of eight. The actual number of bits is a system parameter and changes appropriately for a code book of different size, and the like. 
         [0032]    In a sixth scheme, the desired and interference beamforming vectors and rank information are signaled when the desired beamforming vector is not known to the WTRU. While this scheme may be applied to any codebook that consists of any number of vectors, for illustration purpose, eight vectors are used in the following description. According to this scheme, one bit is used as an indicator, representing either an ACK or a NACK, to the desired WTRU. If the one-bit indicator indicates a NACK, which means the desired beamforming vector is not known to the WTRU, then three bits (b 1 =3) are used to signal the desired beamforming vector among the eight vectors (U 1 , U 2 , . . . , U 8 ) to the desired WTRU. An additional three bits (b 2 =3) are used to signal the interference and rank information to the desired WTRU, the three bits indicate the specific combination among seven combinations, as shown in  FIG. 4 , assuming U 1  is the desired beamforming vector. In this scheme, multiple control channel formats may be needed. Additionally, blind detection on control channel format may be required. The numbers b 1 =3 and b 2 =3 are for illustration purposes, of a codebook size of eight. The numbers b 1  and b 2  are system parameters and change appropriately and accordingly for different size codebooks, and the like. 
         [0033]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram of a WTRU  500  including a MIMO antenna  505 , a transmitter  510 , a receiver  515 , a processor  520  and a memory  525 . The memory  525  is configured to store a MU-MIMO codebook  530  including a plurality of beamforming vectors. The receiver  515  receives the beamforming/precoding confirmation indication, (e.g., in the form of ACK/NACK or confirmation message indicating positive/negative confirmation), the own (desired) beamforming information. (e.g., own beamforming vector index), and the interference beamforming information, (e.g., interference beamforming vectors indices received from other WTRUs). The processor  520  translates the beamforming indices, (own/interference), into beamforming vectors based on the codebook  530 , as shown in  FIGS. 2-4 . The WTRU  500  also feeds back the preferred beamforming information (vector index) to a base station through the transmitter  510  and antenna  505 . 
         [0034]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram of a base station  600  including a MIMO antenna  605 , a transmitter  610 , a receiver  615 , a processor  620  and a memory  625 . The memory  625  is configured to store a MU-MIMO codebook  630  including a plurality of beamforming vectors. The transmitter  610  and the receiver  615  are coupled to the MIMO antenna  605 . The processor  620  is coupled to the memory  625 , the transmitter  610  and the receiver  515 . The transmitter  610  is configured to signal interference information to a particular WTRU based on the MU-MIMO codebook  630 , which may include indices of a plurality of different combinations of the beamforming vectors based on a number of WTRUs that are scheduled for transmission. 
         [0035]    The beamforming vectors may be divided into groups to form a plurality of unitary matrices (or non-unitary matrices if desired), wherein a subset of the beamforming vectors are combined within each group such that there are no common beamforming vectors among the groups. In one example, when each group includes four beamforming vectors, two WTRUs including the particular WTRU may be scheduled for transmission, and there are six different possible combinations of the beamforming vectors for each group. In another example, three WTRUs including the particular WTRU may be scheduled for transmission, and there are four different possible combinations of the beamforming vectors for each group. In yet another example, four WTRUs including the particular WTRU are scheduled for transmission, and there is one possible combination of the beamforming vectors for each group. 
         [0036]    The interference information may include four bits that indicate all possible combinations of the beamforming vectors. The interference information may include a plurality of bits that indicate all possible combinations of the beamforming vectors. 
         [0037]    The receiver  615  may be configured to receive an indication from the particular WTRU that one of the beamforming vectors is a desired beamforming vector. The processor  620  may be configured to exclude the beamforming vector combinations without the desired beamforming vector from the possible combinations such that the number of bits needed to communicate the interference information is reduced. 
         [0038]    The receiver  615  may be configured to receive a beamforming vector that is fed back from the particular WTRU. The transmitter  610  may be configured to transmit a positive indication (ACK) or a confirmation message indicating a positive confirmation to the particular WTRU to indicate that the fed back beamforming vector is a desired beamforming vector. 
         [0039]    The receiver  615  may be configured to receive a beamforming vector that is fed back from the particular WTRU. The transmitter  610  may be configured to transmit a negative indication (NACK) or a confirmation message indicating negative confirmation to the particular WTRU to indicate that the fed back beamforming vector is not a desired beamforming vector. 
         [0040]    The receiver  615  may receive beamforming vector index feedback from each of a plurality of WTRUs  500 . The processor  620  determines the beamforming vector to be used for each of the WTRUs. The processor  620  may use the beamforming vector index fed back from each WTRU  500  and transmit a beamforming confirmation, (e.g., an ACK), to the WTRU  500  to confirm that the fed back beamforming vector is used at the base station  600 . The processor  620  may also use a beamforming vector, other than the beamforming vector indicated by the vector index fed back from the WTRU  500 , and transmit a vector index that is translated from the beamforming vector using the codebook  630  via the transmitter  610  and the MIMO antenna  605 . In this case, the base station  600  may transmit a negative confirmation message, (e.g., a NACK), to the WTRU  500  to inform the WTRU  500  that beamforming vectors different than the beamforming vector fed back from the WTRU  500  is used at the base station  600 . 
         [0041]    Although features and elements are described above in particular combinations, each feature or element can be used alone without the other features and elements or in various combinations with or without other features and elements. The methods or flow charts provided herein may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable storage medium for execution by a general purpose computer or a processor. Examples of computer-readable storage mediums include a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a register, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks, and digital versatile disks (DVDs). 
         [0042]    Suitable processors include, by way of example, a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) circuits, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), and/or a state machine. 
         [0043]    A processor in association with software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for use in a wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU), user equipment (UE), terminal, base station, radio network controller (RNC), or any host computer. The WTRU may be used in conjunction with modules, implemented in hardware and/or software, such as a camera, a video camera module, a videophone, a speakerphone, a vibration device, a speaker, a microphone, a television transceiver, a hands free headset, a keyboard, a Bluetooth® module, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit, an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit, a digital music player, a media player, a video game player module, an Internet browser, and/or any wireless local area network (WLAN) or Ultra Wide Band (UWB) module.