Abstract:
Methods, apparatuses and articles of manufacture are disclosed that provide for partial downlink and uplink resource allocations among cooperating cells in a CoMP transmission to a user equipment. The resource allocation can be based on channel conditions and differing capabilities and restrictions of cooperating cells such as in support of heterogeneous network configurations. This Abstract is provided for the sole purpose of complying with the Abstract requirement rules that allow a reader to quickly ascertain the disclosed subject matter. Therefore, it is to be understood that it should not be used to interpret or limit the scope or the meaning of the claims.

Description:
[0001]    The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/302,038, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Resource Allocation and Transmission in a Wireless Transmission System,” filed Feb. 5, 2010, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates generally to the field of wireless communications and, more particularly to resource allocation and transmission for coordinated multi-point transmission. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    This section is intended to provide a background or context to the disclosed embodiments. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section. 
         [0004]    Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, data, and so on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., bandwidth and transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems. 
         [0005]    Coordinated multi-point (CoMP) transmission and reception is proposed for 3GPP LTE Advanced (LTE-A). CoMP utilizes multiple, geographically dispersed nodes connected over a backhaul connection to a central processing unit to provide enhanced coverage and performance over conventional single node operation. 
         [0006]    Coordinating the transmission from multiple, geographically dispersed antennas can be used to increase the signal-to-noise ratio for users far from the antenna sites, for example by transmitting the same time-frequency resources from multiple sites. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0007]    Disclosed embodiments relate to methods, apparatuses and articles of manufacture for receiving an aggregate downlink resource allocation at a user equipment, where the aggregate downlink resource allocation comprises a plurality of scheduled resources for the user equipment, and receiving, based on the aggregate downlink resource allocation, a transmission from a plurality of cells in a cooperating set of cells, comprising receiving a portion of the transmission from a first cell on fewer than the plurality of scheduled resources. 
         [0008]    Other embodiments relate to methods, apparatuses and articles of manufacture for determining, at a serving cell, an aggregate downlink resource allocation for a user equipment, where the aggregate downlink resource allocation comprises a plurality of scheduled resources, and coordinating a transmission to the UE by a plurality of cells in a cooperating set of cells based on the aggregate downlink resource allocation, where at least one cell in the cooperating set transmits on fewer than the plurality of scheduled resources. 
         [0009]    Yet other embodiments relate to methods, apparatuses and articles of manufacture for receiving at a cooperating cell notification of an aggregate downlink resource allocation comprising a plurality of scheduled resources, selecting a portion of the scheduled resources for a transmission to a user equipment based on channel state information, capabilities, restrictions, etc. associated with the cooperating cell, and transmitting to the user equipment on the selected portion of the scheduled resources. 
         [0010]    Still other embodiments relate to methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture for receiving an aggregate uplink resource grant at a user equipment, where the aggregate uplink resource grant comprises a plurality of resources scheduled for a transmission from the user equipment, and transmitting on the plurality of resources, where at least one cell receives the transmission on a portion of the plurality of resources that is less than the aggregated uplink resource grant. 
         [0011]    Other embodiments relate to methods, apparatus and articles of manufacturer for transmitting an aggregate uplink resource grant from a serving cell, where the aggregate uplink resource grant comprises a plurality of resources scheduled for a transmission from a user equipment, and receiving resources in the transmission, where the resources consist of less than the plurality of resources. 
         [0012]    Additional embodiments relate to methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture for receiving at a cooperating cell, a notification from a serving cell of an aggregate uplink resource grant to a user equipment, where the aggregate uplink resource grant comprises a plurality of resources scheduled for a transmission, selecting to receive resources that are less than the plurality of resources, based on received channel state information and/or capabilities of the cooperating cell, and receiving the transmission on the selected resources. 
         [0013]    These and other features of various embodiments, together with the organization and manner of operation thereof, will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals are used to refer to like parts throughout. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0014]    Provided embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and not of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which: 
           [0015]      FIG. 1  illustrates a wireless communication system in one embodiment; 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  illustrates a block diagram of a communication system in one embodiment; 
           [0017]      FIG. 3A  illustrates a downlink CoMP transmission in one embodiment; 
           [0018]      FIG. 3B  illustrates an uplink CoMP transmission in one embodiment; 
           [0019]      FIG. 4  illustrates a CoMP system in one embodiment; 
           [0020]      FIG. 5  illustrates a CoMP transmission in one embodiment; 
           [0021]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating a method in one embodiment; 
           [0022]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart illustrating a method in one embodiment; 
           [0023]      FIG. 8  is a flowchart illustrating a method in one embodiment; 
           [0024]      FIG. 9  is a flowchart illustrating a method in one embodiment; 
           [0025]      FIG. 10  is a flowchart illustrating a method in one embodiment; 
           [0026]      FIG. 11  is a flowchart illustrating a method in one embodiment; 
           [0027]      FIG. 12  illustrates a CoMP system in one embodiment; and 
           [0028]      FIG. 13  illustrates an apparatus in one embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0029]    In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, details and descriptions are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various disclosed embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the various embodiments may be practiced in other embodiments that depart from these details and descriptions. 
         [0030]    As used herein, the terms “component,” “module,” “system” and the like are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a computing device and the computing device can be a component. One or more components can reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon. The components may communicate by way of local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., data from one component interacting with another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across a network such as the Internet with other systems by way of the signal). 
         [0031]    Furthermore, certain embodiments are described herein in connection with a user equipment. A user equipment can also be called a user terminal, and may contain some or all of the functionality of a system, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, mobile wireless terminal, mobile device, node, device, remote station, remote terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, wireless communication apparatus or user agent. A user equipment can be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a smart phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop, a handheld communication device, a handheld computing device, a satellite radio, a wireless modem card and/or another processing device for communicating over a wireless system. Moreover, various aspects are described herein in connection with a base station. A base station may be utilized for communicating with one or more wireless terminals and can also be called, and may contain some or all of the functionality of, an access point, node, Node B, evolved NodeB (eNB) or some other network entity. A base station communicates over the air-interface with wireless terminals. The communication may take place through one or more sectors. The base station can act as a router between the wireless terminal and the rest of the access network, which can include an Internet Protocol (IP) network, by converting received air-interface frames to IP packets. The base station can also coordinate management of attributes for the air interface, and may also be the gateway between a wired network and the wireless network. 
         [0032]    Various aspects, embodiments or features will be presented in terms of systems that may include a number of devices, components, modules, and the like. It is to be understood and appreciated that the various systems may include additional devices, components, modules, and so on, and/or may not include all of the devices, components, modules and so on, discussed in connection with the figures. A combination of these approaches may also be used. 
         [0033]    Additionally, in the subject description, the word “exemplary” is used to mean serving as an example, instance or illustration. Any embodiment or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, use of the word exemplary is intended to present information in a concrete manner. 
         [0034]    The various disclosed embodiments may be incorporated into a communication system. In one example, such communication system utilizes an orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) that effectively partitions the overall system bandwidth into multiple (N F ) subcarriers, which may also be referred to as frequency sub-channels, tones or frequency bins. For an OFDM system, the data to be transmitted (i.e., the information bits) is first encoded with a particular coding scheme to generate coded bits, and the coded bits are further grouped into multi-bit symbols that are then mapped to modulation symbols. Each modulation symbol corresponds to a point in a signal constellation defined by a particular modulation scheme (e.g., M-PSK or M-QAM) used for data transmission. At each time interval, which may be dependent on the bandwidth of each frequency subcarrier, a modulation symbol may be transmitted on each of the N F  frequency subcarriers. Thus, OFDM may be used to combat inter-symbol interference (ISI) caused by frequency selective fading, which is characterized by different amounts of attenuation across the system bandwidth. 
         [0035]    Generally, a wireless multiple-access communication system can simultaneously support communication for multiple wireless terminals. Each terminal communicates with one or more base stations through transmissions on the forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from the base stations to the terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from the terminals to the base stations. This communication link can be established through a single-in-single-out, multiple-in-single-out or a multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) system. 
         [0036]    A MIMO system employs multiple (N T ) transmit antennas and multiple (N R ) receive antennas for data transmission. A MIMO channel formed by the N T  transmit and N R  receive antennas may be decomposed into N S  independent channels, which are also referred to as spatial channels, where N S ≦min{N T , N R }. Each of the N S  independent channels corresponds to a dimension. The MIMO system can provide improved performance (e.g., higher throughput and/or greater reliability) if the additional dimensionalities created by the multiple transmit and receive antennas are utilized. A MIMO system also supports time division duplex (TDD) and frequency division duplex (FDD) systems. In a TDD system, the forward and reverse link transmissions are on the same frequency region so that the reciprocity principle allows the estimation of the forward link channel from the reverse link channel. This enables the base station to extract transmit beamforming gain on the forward link when multiple antennas are available at the base station. 
         [0037]      FIG. 1  illustrates a wireless communication system within which the various disclosed embodiments may be implemented. A base station  100  may include multiple antenna groups, and each antenna group may comprise one or more antennas. For example, if the base station  100  comprises six antennas, one antenna group may comprise a first antenna  104  and a second antenna  106 , another antenna group may comprise a third antenna  108  and a fourth antenna  110 , while a third group may comprise a fifth antenna  112  and a sixth antenna  114 . It should be noted that while each of the above-noted antenna groups were identified as having two antennas, more or fewer antennas may be utilized in each antenna group. 
         [0038]    Referring back to  FIG. 1 , a first user equipment  116  is illustrated to be in communication with, for example, the fifth antenna  112  and the sixth antenna  114  to enable the transmission of information to the first user equipment  116  over a first forward link  120 , and the reception of information from the first user equipment  116  over a first reverse link  118 .  FIG. 1  also illustrates a second user equipment  122  that is in communication with, for example, the third antenna  108  and the fourth antenna  110  to enable the transmission of information to the second user equipment  122  over a second forward link  126 , and the reception of information from the second user equipment  122  over a second reverse link  124 . In a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, the communication links  118 ,  120 ,  124   126  that are shown in  FIG. 1  may use different frequencies for communication. For example, the first forward link  120  may use a different frequency than that used by the first reverse link  118 . 
         [0039]    In some embodiments, each group of antennas and/or the area in which they are designed to communicate is often referred to as a sector of the base station. For example, the different antenna groups that are depicted in  FIG. 1  may be designed to communicate to the user equipment in a sector of the base station  100 . In communication over the forward links  120  and  126 , the transmitting antennas of the base station  100  utilize beamforming in order to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the forward links for the different user equipment  116  and  122 . Also, a base station that uses beamforming to transmit to user equipment scattered randomly throughout its coverage area causes less interference to user equipment in the neighboring cells than a base station that transmits omni-directionally through a single antenna to all its user equipment. 
         [0040]    The communication networks that may accommodate some of the various disclosed embodiments may include logical channels that are classified into Control Channels and Traffic Channels. Logical control channels may include a broadcast control channel (BCCH), which is the downlink channel for broadcasting system control information, a paging control channel (PCCH), which is the downlink channel that transfers paging information, a multicast control channel (MCCH), which is a point-to-multipoint downlink channel used for transmitting multimedia broadcast and multicast service (MBMS) scheduling and control information for one or several multicast traffic channels (MTCHs). Generally, after establishing radio resource control (RRC) connection, MCCH is only used by the user equipments that receive MBMS. Dedicated control channel (DCCH) is another logical control channel that is a point-to-point bi-directional channel transmitting dedicated control information, such as user-specific control information used by the user equipment having an RRC connection. Common control channel (CCCH) is also a logical control channel that may be used for random access information. Logical traffic channels may comprise a dedicated traffic channel (DTCH), which is a point-to-point bi-directional channel dedicated to one user equipment for the transfer of user information. Also, a multicast traffic channel (MTCH) may be used for point-to-multipoint downlink transmission of traffic data. 
         [0041]    The communication networks that accommodate some of the various embodiments may additionally include logical transport channels that are classified into downlink (DL) and uplink (UL). The DL transport channels may include a broadcast channel (BCH), a downlink shared data channel (DL-SDCH), a multicast channel (MCH) and a Paging Channel (PCH). The UL transport channels may include a random access channel (RACH), a request channel (REQCH), an uplink shared data channel (UL-SDCH) and a plurality of physical channels. The physical channels may also include a set of downlink and uplink channels. 
         [0042]    In some disclosed embodiments, the downlink physical channels may include at least one of a common pilot channel (CPICH), a synchronization channel (SCH), a common control channel (CCCH), a shared downlink control channel (SDCCH), a multicast control channel (MCCH), a shared uplink assignment channel (SUACH), an acknowledgement channel (ACKCH), a downlink physical shared data channel (DL-PSDCH), an uplink power control channel (UPCCH), a paging indicator channel (PICH), a load indicator channel (LICH), a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and a physical multicast channel (PMCH). The uplink physical channels may include at least one of a physical random access channel (PRACH), a channel quality indicator channel (CQICH), an acknowledgement channel (ACKCH), an antenna subset indicator channel (ASICH), a shared request channel (SREQCH), an uplink physical shared data channel (UL-PSDCH), a broadband pilot channel (BPICH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). 
         [0043]    Further, the following terminology and features may be used in describing the various disclosed embodiments: 
         [0044]    3G 3rd Generation 
         [0045]    3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project 
         [0046]    ACLR Adjacent channel leakage ratio 
         [0047]    ACPR Adjacent channel power ratio 
         [0048]    ACS Adjacent channel selectivity 
         [0049]    ADS Advanced Design System 
         [0050]    AMC Adaptive modulation and coding 
         [0051]    A-MPR Additional maximum power reduction 
         [0052]    ARQ Automatic repeat request 
         [0053]    BCCH Broadcast control channel 
         [0054]    BTS Base transceiver station 
         [0055]    CDD Cyclic delay diversity 
         [0056]    CCDF Complementary cumulative distribution function 
         [0057]    CDMA Code division multiple access 
         [0058]    CFI Control format indicator 
         [0059]    Co-MIMO Cooperative MIMO 
         [0060]    CP Cyclic prefix 
         [0061]    CPICH Common pilot channel 
         [0062]    CPRI Common public radio interface 
         [0063]    CQI Channel quality indicator 
         [0064]    CRC Cyclic redundancy check 
         [0065]    DCI Downlink control indicator 
         [0066]    DFT Discrete Fourier transform 
         [0067]    DFT-SOFDM Discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM 
         [0068]    DL Downlink (base station to subscriber transmission) 
         [0069]    DL-SCH Downlink shared channel 
         [0070]    DSP Digital signal processing 
         [0071]    DT Development toolset 
         [0072]    DVSA Digital vector signal analysis 
         [0073]    EDA Electronic design automation 
         [0074]    E-DCH Enhanced dedicated channel 
         [0075]    E-UTRAN Evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network 
         [0076]    eMBMS Evolved multimedia broadcast multicast service 
         [0077]    eNB Evolved Node B 
         [0078]    EPC Evolved packet core 
         [0079]    EPRE Energy per resource element 
         [0080]    ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute 
         [0081]    E-UTRA Evolved UTRA 
         [0082]    E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN 
         [0083]    EVM Error vector magnitude 
         [0084]    FDD Frequency division duplex 
         [0085]    FFT Fast Fourier transform 
         [0086]    FRC Fixed reference channel 
         [0087]    FS 1  Frame structure type 1 
         [0088]    FS 2  Frame structure type 2 
         [0089]    GSM Global system for mobile communication 
         [0090]    HARQ Hybrid automatic repeat request 
         [0091]    HDL Hardware description language 
         [0092]    HI HARQ indicator 
         [0093]    HSDPA High speed downlink packet access 
         [0094]    HSPA High speed packet access 
         [0095]    HSUPA High speed uplink packet access 
         [0096]    IFFT Inverse FFT 
         [0097]    IOT Interoperability test 
         [0098]    IP Internet protocol 
         [0099]    LO Local oscillator 
         [0100]    LTE Long term evolution 
         [0101]    MAC Medium access control 
         [0102]    MBMS Multimedia broadcast multicast service 
         [0103]    MBSFN Multicast/broadcast over single-frequency network 
         [0104]    MCH Multicast channel 
         [0105]    MIMO Multiple input multiple output 
         [0106]    MISO Multiple input single output 
         [0107]    MME Mobility management entity 
         [0108]    MOP Maximum output power 
         [0109]    MPR Maximum power reduction 
         [0110]    MU-MIMO Multiple user MIMO 
         [0111]    NAS Non-access stratum 
         [0112]    OBSAI Open base station architecture interface 
         [0113]    OFDM Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing 
         [0114]    OFDMA Orthogonal frequency division multiple access 
         [0115]    PAPR Peak-to-average power ratio 
         [0116]    PAR Peak-to-average ratio 
         [0117]    PBCH Physical broadcast channel 
         [0118]    P-CCPCH Primary common control physical channel 
         [0119]    PCFICH Physical control format indicator channel 
         [0120]    PCH Paging channel 
         [0121]    PDCCH Physical downlink control channel 
         [0122]    PDCP Packet data convergence protocol 
         [0123]    PDSCH Physical downlink shared channel 
         [0124]    PHICH Physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel 
         [0125]    PHY Physical layer 
         [0126]    PRACH Physical random access channel 
         [0127]    PMCH Physical multicast channel 
         [0128]    PMI Pre-coding matrix indicator 
         [0129]    P-SCH Primary synchronization signal 
         [0130]    PUCCH Physical uplink control channel 
         [0131]    PUSCH Physical uplink shared channel. 
         [0132]      FIG. 2  illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary communication system that may accommodate the various embodiments. The MIMO communication system  200  that is depicted in  FIG. 2  comprises a transmitter system  210  (e.g., a base station or access point) and a receiver system  250  (e.g., an access terminal or user equipment) in a MIMO communication system  200 . It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill that even though the base station is referred to as a transmitter system  210  and a user equipment is referred to as a receiver system  250 , as illustrated, embodiments of these systems are capable of bi-directional communications. In that regard, the terms “transmitter system  210 ” and “receiver system  250 ” should not be used to imply single directional communications from either system. It should also be noted the transmitter system  210  and the receiver system  250  of  FIG. 2  are each capable of communicating with a plurality of other receiver and transmitter systems that are not explicitly depicted in  FIG. 2 . At the transmitter system  210 , traffic data for a number of data streams is provided from a data source  212  to a transmit (TX) data processor  214 . Each data stream may be transmitted over a respective transmitter system. The TX data processor  214  formats, codes and interleaves the traffic data for each data stream, based on a particular coding scheme selected for that data stream, to provide the coded data. 
         [0133]    The coded data for each data stream may be multiplexed with pilot data using, for example, OFDM techniques. The pilot data is typically a known data pattern that is processed in a known manner and may be used at the receiver system to estimate the channel response. The multiplexed pilot and coded data for each data stream is then modulated (symbol mapped) based on a particular modulation scheme (e.g., BPSK, QSPK, M-PSK or M-QAM) selected for that data stream to provide modulation symbols. The data rate, coding and modulation for each data stream may be determined by instructions performed by a processor  230  of the transmitter system  210 . 
         [0134]    In the exemplary block diagram of  FIG. 2 , the modulation symbols for all data streams may be provided to a TX MIMO processor  220 , which can further process the modulation symbols (e.g., for OFDM). The TX MIMO processor  220  then provides N T  modulation symbol streams to N T  transmitter system transceivers (TMTR)  222   a  through  222   t . In one embodiment, the TX MIMO processor  220  may further apply beamforming weights to the symbols of the data streams and to the antenna from which the symbol is being transmitted. 
         [0135]    Each transmitter system transceiver  222   a  through  222   t  receives and processes a respective symbol stream to provide one or more analog signals, and further condition the analog signals to provide a modulated signal suitable for transmission over the MIMO channel. In some embodiments, the conditioning may include, but is not limited to, operations such as amplification, filtering, up-conversion and the like. The modulated signals produced by the transmitter system transceivers  222   a  through  222   t  are then transmitted from the transmitter system antennas  224   a  through  224   t  that are shown in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0136]    At the receiver system  250 , the transmitted modulated signals may be received by the receiver system antennas  252   a  through  252   r , and the received signal from each of the receiver system antennas  252   a  through  252   r  is provided to a respective receiver system transceiver (RCVR)  254   a  through  254   r . Each receiver system transceiver  254   a  through  254   r  conditions a respective received signal, digitizes the conditioned signal to provide samples and may further processes the samples to provide a corresponding “received” symbol stream. In some embodiments, the conditioning may include, but is not limited to, operations such as amplification, filtering, down-conversion and the like. 
         [0137]    An RX data processor  260  then receives and processes the symbol streams from the receiver system transceivers  254   a  through  254   r  based on a particular receiver processing technique to provide a plurality of “detected” symbol streams. In one example, each detected symbol stream can include symbols that are estimates of the symbols transmitted for the corresponding data stream. The RX data processor  260  then, at least in part, demodulates, de-interleaves and decodes each detected symbol stream to recover the traffic data for the corresponding data stream. The processing by the RX data processor  260  may be complementary to that performed by the TX MIMO processor  220  and the TX data processor  214  at the transmitter system  210 . The RX data processor  260  can additionally provide processed symbol streams to a data sink  264 . 
         [0138]    In some embodiments, a channel response estimate is generated by the RX data processor  260  and can be used to perform space/time processing at the receiver system  250 , adjust power levels, change modulation rates or schemes, and/or other appropriate actions. Additionally, the RX data processor  260  can further estimate channel characteristics such as signal-to-noise (SNR) and signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) of the detected symbol streams. The RX data processor  260  can then provide estimated channel characteristics to a processor  270 . In one example, the RX data processor  260  and/or the processor  270  of the receiver system  250  can further derive an estimate of the “operating” SNR for the system. The processor  270  of the receiver system  250  can also provide channel state information (CSI), which may include information regarding the communication link and/or the received data stream. This information, which may contain, for example, the operating SNR and other channel information, may be used by the transmitter system  210  (e.g., base station or eNodeB) to make proper decisions regarding, for example, the user equipment scheduling, MIMO settings, modulation and coding choices and the like. At the receiver system  250 , the CSI that is produced by the processor  270  is processed by a TX data processor  238 , modulated by a modulator  280 , conditioned by the receiver system transceivers  254   a  through  254   r  and transmitted back to the transmitter system  210 . In addition, a data source  236  at the receiver system  250  can provide additional data to be processed by the TX data processor  238 . 
         [0139]    In some embodiments, the processor  270  at the receiver system  250  may also periodically determine which pre-coding matrix to use. The processor  270  formulates a reverse link message comprising a matrix index portion and a rank value portion. The reverse link message may comprise various types of information regarding the communication link and/or the received data stream. The reverse link message is then processed by the TX data processor  238  at the receiver system  250 , which may also receive traffic data for a number of data streams from the data source  236 . The processed information is then modulated by a modulator  280 , conditioned by one or more of the receiver system transceivers  254   a  through  254   r , and transmitted back to the transmitter system  210 . 
         [0140]    In some embodiments of the MIMO communication system  200 , the receiver system  250  is capable of receiving and processing spatially multiplexed signals. In these systems, spatial multiplexing occurs at the transmitter system  210  by multiplexing and transmitting different data streams on the transmitter system antennas  224   a  through  224   t . This is in contrast to the use of transmit diversity schemes, where the same data stream is sent from multiple transmitter systems antennas  224   a  through  224   t . In a MIMO communication system  200  capable of receiving and processing spatially multiplexed signals, a precode matrix is typically used at the transmitter system  210  to ensure the signals transmitted from each of the transmitter system antennas  224   a  through  224   t  are sufficiently decorrelated from each other. This decorrelation ensures that the composite signal arriving at any particular receiver system antenna  252   a  through  252   r  can be received and the individual data streams can be determined in the presence of signals carrying other data streams from other transmitter system antennas  224   a  through  224   t.    
         [0141]    Since the amount of cross-correlation between streams can be influenced by the environment, it is advantageous for the receiver system  250  to feed back information to the transmitter system  210  about the received signals. In these systems, both the transmitter system  210  and the receiver system  250  contain a codebook with a number of precoding matrices. Each of these precoding matrices can, in some instances, be related to an amount of cross-correlation experienced in the received signal. Since it is advantageous to send the index of a particular matrix rather than the values in the matrix, the feedback control signal sent from the receiver system  250  to the transmitter system  210  typically contains the index of a particular precoding matrix. In some instances the feedback control signal also includes a rank index which indicates to the transmitter system  210  how many independent data streams to use in spatial multiplexing. 
         [0142]    Other embodiments of MIMO communication system  200  are configured to utilize transmit diversity schemes instead of the spatially multiplexed scheme described above. In these embodiments, the same data stream is transmitted across the transmitter system antennas  224   a  through  224   t . In these embodiments, the data rate delivered to receiver system  250  is typically lower than spatially multiplexed MIMO communication systems  200 . These embodiments provide robustness and reliability of the communication channel. In transmit diversity systems each of the signals transmitted from the transmitter system antennas  224   a  through  224   t  will experience a different interference environment (e.g., fading, reflection, multi-path phase shifts). In these embodiments, the different signal characteristics received at the receiver system antennas  252   a  through  254   r  are useful in determining the appropriate data stream. In these embodiments, the rank indicator can be set to 1, telling the transmitter system  210  not to use spatial multiplexing. 
         [0143]    Other embodiments may utilize a combination of spatial multiplexing and transmit diversity. For example in a MIMO communication system  200  utilizing four transmitter system antennas  224   a  through  224   t , a first data stream may be transmitted on two of the transmitter system antennas  224   a  through  224   t  and a second data stream transmitted on remaining two transmitter system antennas  224   a  through  224   t . In these embodiments, the rank index is set to an integer lower than the full rank of the precode matrix, indicating to the transmitter system  210  to employ a combination of spatial multiplexing and transmit diversity. 
         [0144]    At the transmitter system  210 , the modulated signals from the receiver system  250  are received by the transmitter system antennas  224   a  through  224   t , are conditioned by the transmitter system transceivers  222   a  through  222   t , are demodulated by a transmitter system demodulator  240 , and are processed by the RX data processor  242  to extract the reserve link message transmitted by the receiver system  250 . In some embodiments, the processor  230  of the transmitter system  210  then determines which pre-coding matrix to use for future forward link transmissions, and then processes the extracted message. In other embodiments, the processor  230  uses the received signal to adjust the beamforming weights for future forward link transmissions. Processor  230  may also make scheduling decisions (e.g. downlink assignments and uplink grants) for receiver system  250  and may send information to or receive information from other transmitter systems  210  via a backhaul interface  235 . For instance, as described herein, when acting as a serving cell, the transmitter system  210  may provide scheduling as well as control information and data to a group of cells comprising a CoMP set of the receiver system  250 , or may receive such from other cells when operating as a cooperating member of the CoMP set. 
         [0145]    Processor  230  can use CSI information to determine, for example, data rates as well as coding and modulation schemes to be used for one or more data streams. The determined coding and modulation schemes can then be provided to one or more transmitter system transceivers  222   a  through  222   t  at the transmitter system  210  for quantization and/or use in later transmissions to the receiver system  250 . Additionally and/or alternatively, the reported CSI can be used by the processor  230  of the transmitter system  210  to generate various controls for the TX data processor  214  and the TX MIMO processor  220 . In one example, the CSI and/or other information processed by the RX data processor  242  of the transmitter system  210  can be provided to a data sink  244 . 
         [0146]    In some embodiments, the processor  230  at the transmitter system  210  and the processor  270  at the receiver system  250  may direct operations at their respective systems. Additionally, a memory  232  at the transmitter system  210  and a memory  272  at the receiver system  250  can provide storage for program codes and data used by the transmitter system processor  230  and the receiver system processor  270 , respectively. Further, at the receiver system  250 , various processing techniques can be used to process the N R  received signals to detect the N T  transmitted symbol streams. These receiver processing techniques can include spatial and space-time receiver processing techniques, which can include equalization techniques, “successive nulling/equalization and interference cancellation” receiver processing techniques, and/or “successive interference cancellation” or “successive cancellation” receiver processing techniques. 
         [0147]    In Release 8 (Rel-8) and Release 9 (Rel-9) of LTE, time-frequency resources for a user equipment are scheduled (allocated or assigned) via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). The PDCCH is used to schedule downlink resources from the serving cell to the user equipment on a physical downlink shared data channel (PDSCH), and uplink resources from the user equipment to the serving cell on a physical uplink shared data channel (PUSCH). The resource allocations are controlled by different downlink control information (DCI) formats, which are different for the downlink and uplink resource assignments. There are three types of downlink resource assignments in LTE Rel-8 and Rel-9; type 0, type 1 and type 2. Type 0 and type 1 are bitmapped based assignments that address resource block groups (type 0) or individual resource blocks in a subset of resource block groups (resource blocks are the basic time frequency resource elements used in LTE with a duration 6 or 7 orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) symbols in the time domain and 12 contiguous OFDM subcarriers in the frequency in the frequency domain. Type 2 resource assignments are virtually contiguous assignments requiring the fewest number of assignment bits for a given number of assigned resource blocks. 
         [0148]    In the uplink, LTE Rel-8 and Rel-9 uses single-carrier frequency division multiple access and physically contiguous type 2 resource assignments (although the assignments may hop between resource blocks in a transmission subframe, or between two different subframes (where a subframe is two consecutive resource blocks). For LTE Rel-10 (LTE Advanced), clustered uplink assignments have been proposed, where a user equipment may be assigned two or more clusters of resource blocks, where each cluster is physically contiguous but the clusters may not be contiguous. 
         [0149]    As noted above, coordinated multi-point transmission (CoMP) is also proposed for LTE-A. Typically, cells involved in a CoMP downlink transmission to a user equipment (hereinafter UE) all use the same resources on the downlink (PDSCH). Similarly, for uplink CoMP reception, all involved cells may attempt to receive the same resources on the PUSCH. This situation is illustrated in  FIG. 3A  for the downlink and  FIG. 3B , for the uplink. In  FIG. 3A , the UE receives the same PDSCH resources from both participating cells, Cell k and cell j (non-contiguous resource allocation is shown. In  FIG. 3B , the UE transmits the same PUSCH resources to both participating cells (where the resource allocations are contiguous. 
         [0150]    However, in scenarios such as heterogeneous networks, the cells involved in the transmission for a given UE may have different resource management schemes or constraints. For example, while cell k in  FIG. 3A  may be able to use noncontiguous allocations  301  and  302  without any restrictions, cell j may have limited capability or different priorities and may need to limit its transmission to the UE to resource allocation  301  only. Such a limitation or restriction may be due to, for example, possible interference cell j would cause to other cells if it attempts to transmit allocation  301  to the UE, If the UE were restricted to receiving the same DL resources from both cell k and cell j, then it would be limited to the reception of the smallest common component, resource allocation  302 , resulting in a loss of resource utilization efficiency. 
         [0151]    In one aspect of the present disclosure, a resource allocation mode may be configured where, for cells involved in a downlink CoMP transmission to a given UE, the PDSCH resources used by each cell are not necessarily the same. In another aspect, a resource allocation mode may be configured where, for cells involved in an uplink CoMP reception from a given UE, the PUSCH resources transmitted from the UE to each CoMP participating cell are not necessarily the same. The resource allocations may be applicable to all of the resource allocation types discussed above (i.e., types 0, 1 and 2) 
         [0152]    In order to clarify the following discussion, the following terms are defined: As used herein, the term serving cell refers to a single cell that provides uplink and downlink assignments to a UE. 
         [0153]    As used herein, a transmission point (point) is any entity (including a cell, an access point, an eNodeB, etc.) that is capable of transmission to, or reception from, a UE in a CoMP scenario. 
         [0154]    As used herein, the term CoMP cooperating set refers to a set of points capable of transmission/reception with respect to a UE in a CoMP scenario, including the serving cell. This set may or may not be transparent to the UE. 
         [0155]    As used herein, the term CoMP transmission point(s) refers to the point or set of points that are transmitting to the UE. The set of CoMP transmission points is a subset of the CoMP cooperating set. 
         [0156]    As used herein, the term joint processing refers to the capability of each transmission point in a CoMP cooperating set to send/receive data to/from a UE. 
         [0157]    As used herein, the term joint transmission refers to PDSCH transmission from multiple points in the CoMP cooperating set at a given time. 
         [0158]    As used herein, the term dynamic cell selection refers to PDSCH transmission from one or more points within the CoMP cooperating set at a particular time. The transmitting cell or cells can change dynamically from subframe to subframe. 
         [0159]    As used herein, the term coordinated scheduling/beamforming (CS/CB) refers to data transmission from a serving cell and in connection with which user scheduling and beamforming decisions are made in coordination with cells in the CoMP cooperating set. 
         [0160]    As used herein, the term CoMP measurement set refers to a set of cells that can provide channel state information reports to the serving cell regarding their link with the UE. The CoMP cooperating set may be coextensive with the CoMP measurement set or a subset thereof based on a down-selection by the serving cell (or by a backhaul joint transmission processor as described in greater detail below) 
         [0161]    In some aspects, resource assignments for a UE in a CoMP scenario may be transmitted on a PDCCH from a single point, the serving cell. Data on a PDSCH may be transmitted from one or more cells (dynamic cell selection) at a given time, which may or may not include the serving cell. Similarly, data on a PUSCH from the UE may be received at a single cell or multiple cells. 
         [0162]      FIG. 4  illustrates a system  400  in one embodiment, where UE 1  is a user equipment involved in a CoMP transmission according to disclosed embodiments. In  FIG. 4 , a backhaul processor  401  (also known as a joint transmission processor) is linked to cells (points) h, i, j, k and m via links  410 ,  411 ,  412 ,  413  and  414 , respectively, and provides backhaul communication tasks therebetween. 
         [0163]    For purposes of the following discussion, let point j be the serving cell as defined above. Points j, k and m comprise the cooperating set of cells within boundary  415 . Points j and k are transmission points involved in a joint transmission to (from) UE 1  or a dynamic cell selection transmission. Point m, a member of the cooperating set of cells (e.g., based on the potential quality of a link to UE 1 ), is not a participant in the joint transmission or dynamic cell selection. For example, point m may have limited capability or need to allocate resources to UE 2  that cannot be allocated to UE 1  without causing interference to another point, such as point k, or to another UE, such as UE 3   
         [0164]    Points h and i, in additional to points j, k and m, are assumed to form the measurement set with respect to UE 1  within the boundary  416 . The measurement set is the set of all points that can receive a channel status indication (CSI) from UE 1  and report the CSI to the serving cell, point j (or, alternatively, to backhaul processor  401  as a proxy for point j). As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , point k may be involved in a CoMP transmission with respect to UE 1 , and may also be in communication with another UE, such as UE 3 . It will be appreciated that, while only a limited number of points and UEs are illustrated in  FIG. 4  for convenience, disclosed embodiments are not so limited. 
         [0165]      FIG. 5  illustrates one embodiment where cells j and k constitute the subset of the cooperating set of cells involved in a joint transmission to UE 1 . In  FIG. 5 , it is assumed that cell j is the serving cell and that cell j transmits resource assignments to UE 1  indicating that the PDSCH resources allocated to UE 1  are to occupy resources  301  and  302 . However, all the resources may not be available from all of the cells involved in the transmission (e.g., cell j may need to allocate resources  301  to another UE or not transmit resources  301  due to potential interference problems). 
         [0166]    Note that, while such resource assignments may be transparent to the UE, the information can be made available to the UE as well. This is possible if the resource management schemes are relatively static. For example, if cell j, as the serving cell, semi-statically restricts PDSCH transmissions (e.g., either via power control or complete transmission blanking) in some of its resource sub-bands (e.g., resource sub-band  301 ), it may inform UE 1  of such a restriction, which may improve the quality of PDSCH demodulation. Conventionally, a UE detects cell-specific or UE specific demodulation reference symbols (DM-RS) in order to perform channel estimation for its allocated resources. If the UE is aware that particular resources will not be allocated by a particular cell, then the UE can conserve processing power by not searching for reference symbols that would normally be associated with the resources. For example, if UE 1  in  FIG. 5  is notified that cell j will not transmit resources to UE 1  on resource sub-band  301 , then UE 1  will not need to demodulate reference symbols from cell j in resource sub-band  301 . 
         [0167]    For uplink CoMP reception, similar selections can be made with respect to which resources are received and processed by cells in the cooperating set of cells. That is, all of the cells in the cooperating set of cells may not be selected to decode all of the resources transmitted by the UE on the PUSCH. Depending on potential interference reported by the members of the cooperating set of cells, and scheduling restrictions based, for example, on the need to service other UEs, each cell in the cooperating set of cells may attempt to decode only a fraction of the total PUSCH resources allocated to the UE by the serving cell. 
         [0168]    While decoding outputs from all or some of the cells in the cooperating set of cells could be used to perform soft decoding of the allocated PUSCH resources, in one embodiment, each cluster transmitted by the UE may include an error detection code (such as a CRC) such that each cell involved in the CoMP reception can determine if it has successfully decoded the PUSCH resource. The UE can be configured to encode each PUSCH resource with a CRC via higher layer signaling (e.g., layer 2 or layer 3). 
         [0169]    In one embodiment, the UE may be informed of system bandwidth partitioning restrictions (e.g., via higher layer signaling or hard-coded limits). For each bandwidth partition, the UE may be scheduled with one or more clusters for PUSCH transmission. The UE can add an error detection code, such as a CRC, to each bandwidth partition. Different cells in the cooperating set of cells may participate in the uplink CoMP transmission with different bandwidth restrictions, and decode different clusters corresponding to different CRCs. 
         [0170]    In one embodiment, the cooperating cells participating in the CoMP reception may report the results of CRC decode and verification operations to the serving cell via ACK/NACK transmissions to the serving cell through the backhaul processor, and the serving cell bundles the ACK/NACK transmissions from the cooperating cells into a consolidated ACK/NACK (e.g., a single bit) transmitted on an existing physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH). The UE may retransmit based on the contents of the PHICH using the same or different cooperating cells used for the original transmission. 
         [0171]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart  600  illustrating a method in a user equipment according to one provided embodiment. For purposes of simplicity of explanation, the method is shown and described as a series of operations. It is to be understood that the method is not limited by the order of operations, as some operations can, in accordance with one or more embodiments, occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other operations from that shown and described herein. For example, those skilled in the art will understand and appreciate that a method could alternatively be represented as a series of interrelated states or events, such as in a state diagram. Moreover, not all illustrated operations may be required to implement a method in accordance with one or more of the disclosed embodiment. 
         [0172]    In  FIG. 6 , the method  600  begins at operation  602 , receiving an aggregate downlink resource allocation at a user equipment, where the aggregate downlink resource allocation comprises a plurality of scheduled resources for the user equipment (e.g., sub-bands of PDSCH resources). The method continues at operation  604 , receiving, based on the aggregate downlink resource allocation, a transmission from a plurality of cells in a cooperating set of cells, comprising receiving a portion of the transmission from a first cell on fewer than the plurality of scheduled resources. 
         [0173]    As previously described, the UE may receive an indication of which cell or cells in the cooperating set will transmit on resources forming part of the aggregate resource allocation, or the selection of transmitting cells may be transparent to the UE. 
         [0174]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart  700  illustrating a method in a serving cell according to one provided embodiment. In  FIG. 7 , the method begins at operation  702 , determining an aggregate downlink resource allocation for a user equipment (UE), wherein the aggregate downlink resource allocation comprises a plurality of scheduled resources. For example, the aggregate resource allocation may include a plurality of PDSCH resources on which the serving cell has scheduled a data transmission for the UE. The method  700  continues at operation  704 , with coordinating a transmission to the UE by a plurality of cells in a cooperating set of cells based on the aggregate downlink resource allocation, wherein at least one cell in the cooperating set transmits on fewer than the plurality of scheduled resources. 
         [0175]    Coordinating the transmission may be performed in a centralized fashion in which the serving cell informs each transmission point as to which resources in the aggregate resource allocation should be utilized for data transmission to the UE. Alternatively, coordinating the transmission may be decentralized where each transmission point is notified as to some or all of the aggregate resource allocation and each transmission point transmits to the UE on at least a portion of the allocated resources. In each case, the portion of the aggregate resource allocation on which a cooperating cell transmits may be based on its corresponding capabilities and restrictions. 
         [0176]      FIG. 8  illustrates a method  800  in a cooperating cell in one embodiment. In  FIG. 8 , the method  800  begins at operation  802 , receiving notification of an aggregate downlink resource allocation comprising a plurality of scheduled resources for transmission to a user equipment from a cooperating set of cells. The method  800  continues at operation  804 , selecting a portion of the scheduled resources for a transmission to a user equipment. Selecting the portion of scheduled resources can be based, for example, on channel state information or the particular capabilities and/or restrictions on the operation of the cooperating cell. The method  800  concludes with operation  806 , transmitting to the user equipment on the selected portion of the scheduled resources. 
         [0177]      FIG. 9  illustrates a method  900  in a user equipment in one embodiment. In  FIG. 9 , the method  900  begins at operation  902 , receiving an aggregate uplink resource grant, wherein the aggregate uplink resource grant comprises a plurality of resources allocated for use by the user equipment. The aggregate resource grant, for example, may include an uplink grant from the serving cell comprising a plurality of PUSCH resources on which the user equipment may transmit. The method  900  continues at operation  904 , transmitting on the plurality of resources, wherein at least one cell in a plurality of cooperating cells is scheduled for reception of less than all of the plurality of resources. The UE may direct portions of the uplink transmission to specific cells in the CoMP set, for example, by using cell-specific information to encode selected portions of the transmission or by associating portions of the transmission with particular cell identifiers. Alternatively, the portions of the UL transmission may be received and decoded by particular cells in the CoMP set in a manner that is transparent to the UE. 
         [0178]      FIG. 10  is a flowchart  1000  illustrating a method in a serving cell. In  FIG. 10 , the method  1000  begins at operation  1002 , transmitting an aggregate uplink resource grant, wherein the aggregate uplink resource grant comprises a plurality of resources allocated for a transmission by the UE. The method continues at operation  1004 , receiving resources associated with the transmission, wherein the resources include less than the plurality of resources. 
         [0179]      FIG. 11  is a flowchart  1100  illustrating a method in a cooperating cell in one embodiment. In  FIG. 11 , the method  1100  begins at operation  1102 , receiving from a serving cell, a notification of an aggregate uplink resource grant to a user equipment, wherein the aggregate uplink resource grant comprises a plurality of resources scheduled for a transmission by the user equipment. The method continues at operation  1104 , selecting to receive a portion of the transmission including fewer than the plurality of resources based, for example, on channel state information relating to the user equipment and information concerning other user equipments associated with the cooperating cell. The method concludes at operation  1106 , receiving the selected portion of the transmission from the user equipment. 
         [0180]      FIG. 12  illustrates a CoMP communication system  1200  capable of supporting the various operations described herein and, in particular, the methods as described in  FIGS. 6-10 . System  1200  includes a serving cell  1202  having a transceiver module  1212  that can transmit and/or receive information, signals, data, instructions, commands, bits, symbols and the like. The serving cell  1202  can communicate with a user equipment (UE)  1201  via a downlink that  402  that includes a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a physical downlink shared data channel (PDSCH). The serving cell  1202  can also communicate with the UE  1201  via an uplink  403  that includes a physical uplink shared data channel (PUSCH). The serving cell  1202  can also communicate with backhaul processor  401  via a backhaul link  412 . The serving cell  1202  includes a scheduling/coordination module  1222  for scheduling, coordinating and distributing downlink and uplink resources to the UE  1201  in coordination with a cooperating cell  1203  and, in some cases, the backhaul processor  401 . 
         [0181]    The cooperating cell  1203  includes a transceiver module  1213  that can transmit and/or receive information, signals, data, instructions, commands, bits, symbols and the like. The cooperating cell  1203  can communicate with the UE  1201  via a downlink  404  that includes a physical downlink shared data channel (PDSCH). The cooperating cell  1203  can also communicate with the UE  1201  via an uplink  405  that includes a PUSCH. The cooperating cell  1202  includes a scheduling/coordination module  1222  for receiving and processing aggregate resource allocation information from the serving cell  1202  and selecting resources for transmission to the UE  1201  on the downlink  404  and transmission from the UE  1202  on the uplink  405 . The cooperating cell  1203  can also communicate with the backhaul processor  401  via a backhaul link  413  to support the scheduling, coordination and distribution of resources between the serving cell  1202  and the cooperating cell  1203 . 
         [0182]    The UE  1201  includes a transceiver module  1211  for communication with the serving cell  1202  and the cooperating cell  1203  as described above. Additionally, the UE  1202  includes a channel status information (CSI) reporting module  1221  that reports CSI to the cooperating cell  1202  and the serving cell  1202  that can be used to determine the distribution of aggregate resources, allocated to the UE  1201 , between the cooperating cell  1203  and the serving cell  1202 . Moreover, although not shown, it is contemplated that any number of serving cells similar to serving cell  1202 , any number of UEs similar to UE  1201  and any number of cooperating cells similar to cooperating cell  1203  can be included in system  1200 . 
         [0183]      FIG. 13  illustrates an apparatus  1300  within which the various disclosed embodiments may be implemented. The apparatus  1300  shown in  FIG. 13  may comprise at least a portion of a serving cell or cooperating cell, or at least a portion of a user equipment (such as the serving cell j, cooperating cell k and user equipment UE 1  that are depicted in  FIG. 4 ) and/or at least a portion of a transmitter system or a receiver system (such as the transmitter system  210  and the receiver system  250  that are depicted in  FIG. 2 ). The apparatus  1300  that is depicted in  FIG. 13  can be resident within a wireless network and receive incoming data via, for example, one or more receivers and/or the appropriate reception and decoding circuitry (e.g., antennas, transceivers, demodulators and the like). The apparatus  1300  that is depicted in  FIG. 13  can also transmit outgoing data via, for example, one or more transmitters and/or the appropriate encoding and transmission circuitry (e.g., antennas, transceivers, modulators and the like). Additionally, or alternatively, the apparatus  1300  that is depicted in  FIG. 13  may be resident within a wired network. 
         [0184]      FIG. 13  further illustrates that the apparatus  1300  can include a memory  1302  that can retain instructions for performing one or more operations, such as signal conditioning, analysis and the like. Additionally, the apparatus  1300  of  FIG. 13  may include a processor  1304  that can execute instructions that are stored in the memory  1302  and/or instructions that are received from another device. The instructions can relate to, for example, configuring or operating the apparatus  1300  or a related communications apparatus. It should be noted that while the memory  1302  that is depicted in  FIG. 13  is shown as a single block, it may comprise two or more separate memories that constitute separate physical and/or logical units. In addition, the memory while being communicatively connected to the processor  1304 , may reside fully or partially outside of the apparatus  1300  that is depicted in  FIG. 13 . It is also to be understood that one or more components, such as the serving cell j, the cooperating cell k and the user equipment UE 1  depicted in  FIG. 4  can exist within a memory such as memory  1302 . 
         [0185]    It will be appreciated that the memories that are described in connection with the disclosed embodiments can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. By way of illustration, and not limitation, nonvolatile memory can include read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable ROM (EEPROM) or flash memory. Volatile memory can include random access memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in many forms such as synchronous RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM) and direct Rambus RAM (DRRAM). 
         [0186]    It should also be noted that the apparatus  1300  of  FIG. 13  can be employed as a user equipment or mobile device, and can be, for instance, a module such as an SD card, a network card, a wireless network card, a computer (including laptops, desktops, personal digital assistants PDAs), mobile phones, smart phones or any other suitable terminal that can be utilized to access a network. The user equipment accesses the network by way of an access component (not shown). In one example, a connection between the user equipment and the access components may be wireless in nature, in which access components may be the base station and the user equipment is a wireless terminal. For instance, the terminal and base stations may communicate by way of any suitable wireless protocol, including but not limited to Time Divisional Multiple Access (TDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), FLASH OFDM, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) or any other suitable protocol. 
         [0187]    Access components can be an access node associated with a wired network or a wireless network. To that end, access components can be, for instance, a router, a switch and the like. The access component can include one or more interfaces, e.g., communication modules, for communicating with other network nodes. Additionally, the access component can be a base station (or wireless access point) in a cellular type network, wherein base stations (or wireless access points) are utilized to provide wireless coverage areas to a plurality of subscribers. Such base stations (or wireless access points) can be arranged to provide contiguous areas of coverage to one or more cellular phones and/or other wireless terminals. 
         [0188]    It is to be understood that the embodiments and features that are described herein may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware or any combination thereof. Various embodiments described herein are described in the general context of methods or processes, which may be implemented in one embodiment by a computer program product, embodied in a computer-readable medium, including computer-executable instructions, such as program code, executed by computers in networked environments. As noted above, a memory and/or a computer-readable medium may include removable and non-removable storage devices including, but not limited to, Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), compact discs (CDs), digital versatile discs (DVD) and the like. When implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or a general-purpose or special-purpose processor. 
         [0189]    Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair or DSL are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media. 
         [0190]    Generally, program modules may include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Computer-executable instructions, associated data structures and program modules represent examples of program code for executing steps of the methods disclosed herein. The particular sequence of such executable instructions or associated data structures represents examples of corresponding acts for implementing the functions described in such steps or processes. 
         [0191]    The various illustrative logics, logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but, in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. Additionally, at least one processor may comprise one or more modules operable to perform one or more of the steps and/or actions described above. 
         [0192]    For a software implementation, the techniques described herein may be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The software codes may be stored in memory units and executed by processors. The memory unit may be implemented within the processor and/or external to the processor, in which case it can be communicatively coupled to the processor through various means as is known in the art. Further, at least one processor may include one or more modules operable to perform the functions described herein. 
         [0193]    The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication systems such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA and other systems. The terms “system” and “network” are often used interchangeably. A CDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) and other variants of CDMA. Further, cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM®, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a release of UMTS that uses E-UTRA, which employs OFDMA on the downlink and SC-FDMA on the uplink. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE and GSM are described in documents from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project” (3GPP). Additionally, cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2). Further, such wireless communication systems may additionally include peer-to-peer (e.g., user equipment-to-user equipment) ad hoc network systems often using unpaired unlicensed spectrums, 802.xx wireless LAN, BLUETOOTH and any other short- or long-range, wireless communication techniques. 
         [0194]    Single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), which utilizes single carrier modulation and frequency domain equalization is a technique that can be utilized with the disclosed embodiments. SC-FDMA has similar performance and essentially a similar overall complexity as those of OFDMA systems. SC-FDMA signal has lower peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) because of its inherent single carrier structure. SC-FDMA can be utilized in uplink communications where lower PAPR can benefit a user equipment in terms of transmit power efficiency. 
         [0195]    Moreover, various aspects or features described herein may be implemented as a method, apparatus or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques. The term “article of manufacture” as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier or media. For example, computer-readable media can include but are not limited to magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips, etc.), optical disks (e.g., compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., EPROM, card, stick, key drive, etc.). Additionally, various storage media described herein can represent one or more devices and/or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term “machine-readable medium” can include, without being limited to, media capable of storing, containing, and/or carrying instruction(s) and/or data. Additionally, a computer program product may include a computer readable medium having one or more instructions or codes operable to cause a computer to perform the functions described herein. 
         [0196]    Further, the steps and/or actions of a method or algorithm described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to the processor, such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. Further, in some embodiments, the processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. Additionally, the ASIC may reside in a user equipment (e.g.  1201   FIG. 12 ). In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user equipment (e.g.,  1201   FIG. 12 ). Additionally, in some embodiments, the steps and/or actions of a method or algorithm may reside as one or any combination or set of codes and/or instructions on a machine readable medium and/or computer readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computer program product. 
         [0197]    While the foregoing disclosure discusses illustrative embodiments, it should be noted that various changes and modifications could be made herein without departing from the scope of the described embodiments as defined by the appended claims. Accordingly, the described embodiments are intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fall within scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, although elements of the described embodiments may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated. Additionally, all or a portion of any embodiment may be utilized with all or a portion of any other embodiments, unless stated otherwise. 
         [0198]    To the extent that the term “includes” is used in either the detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as “comprising” is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim. Furthermore, the term “or” as used in either the detailed description or the claims is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or.” That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from the context, the phrase “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, the phrase “X employs A or B” is satisfied by any of the following instances: X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from the context to be directed to a singular form.