Patent Description:
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. 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, and orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, and single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems.

For example, fourth generating (<NUM>) and/or fifth generation (<NUM>) wireless communications technologies have been, or are being, developed to expand and support diverse usage scenarios and applications with respect to current mobile network generations. <NUM> wireless communications technologies can be defined to use millimeter wave (mmW) systems to facilitate communications among devices in a <NUM> network.

In addition, in <NUM> networks, Node Bs (evolved Node Bs (eNBs), gNBs, etc.) and user equipment (UE) can use direction beams to establish initial mmW links by transmitting synchronization signal (SS) blocks. The Node Bs, which may include consumer premises equipment (CPE), may use large antenna arrays (e.g., arrays of 16x4 antennas, 32x4, 32x8, 64x4, 64x8, 128x16, etc.), which can be assembled using smaller modules (e.g., 4x4, 4x2, 2x2, etc. modules) to achieve the full antenna array, as modular construction may simplify the antenna design and/or be more cost effective for mmW. <NPL> describes an adaptive RF chain management technique.

A method for configuring a number of antennas in an antenna array to use in communicating in a wireless network is provided with reference to the appended claims. Further examples are provided throughout the description to aid with understanding of the invention.

The described features generally relate to techniques for conserving power when using modular antenna structures. For example, wireless communication devices, such as Node Bs, which may include consumer premises equipment (CPE), user equipment (UEs), etc., may use large antenna arrays (e.g., arrays of 16x4 antennas, 32x4, 32x8, 64x4, 64x8, 128x16, etc.), which can be assembled using smaller modules (e.g., 4x4, 4x2, 2x2, etc. modules) to achieve the full antenna array. Using this modular structure with more antennas, however, may result in more radio frequency (RF) and/or modem (MDM) power consumption as different/multiple RF integrated circuits (RFIC) get excited. Accordingly, the wireless communication devices may be configured to select a subset of antennas of an antenna array for communicating with one or more devices in a wireless network, which can enable conserving power consumption by the antenna array, increasing a beamwidth for beamforming signals by the antenna array, etc..

In an example, an effective rate for communicating with the one or more devices can be determined, and a number of antennas to achieve the effective rate can be computed. The wireless communication device communicating with the one or more devices can accordingly select a subset of the antennas in the antenna array to use (e.g., and may terminate power to the other antennas in the antenna array) based on the number of antennas determined for achieving the effective rate. In some examples, the subset of antennas may be selected based on the wireless communication device communicating with other similar nodes in the wireless network (e.g., where the nodes can be Node Bs that serve one or more devices via respective antenna arrays) to exchange information over a backhaul connection. For example, the information can include information to coordinate multiple wireless communication devices being able to use a subset of antennas (e.g., during different periods of time). In another example, the wireless communication device can determine to use the subset of antennas, as opposed to all antennas in its antenna array, based on other considerations (e.g., received parameters or detected conditions) including a network density, UE density (or other device density) at a cell, a time of day (e.g., whether peak or non-peak for network traffic), data payload to be communicated, etc. During times when the other considerations are determined to apply, the wireless communication device can use a subset of the antennas to conserve power and/or increase beamwidth.

As used in this application, the terms "component," "module," "system" and the like are intended to include a computer-related entity, such as but not limited to 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 can 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 can communicate by way of local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets, such as 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.

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" may often be used interchangeably. IS-<NUM> Releases <NUM> and A are commonly referred to as CDMA2000 1X, 1X, etc. IS-<NUM> (TIA-<NUM>) is commonly referred to as CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), etc. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. An OFDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), IEEE <NUM> (Wi-Fi), IEEE <NUM> (WiMAX), IEEE <NUM>, Flash-OFDM™, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) are new releases of UMTS that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, and GSM are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP). The techniques described herein may be used for the systems and radio technologies mentioned above as well as other systems and radio technologies, including cellular (e.g., LTE) communications over a shared radio frequency spectrum band. The description below, however, describes an LTE/LTE-A system for purposes of example, and LTE terminology is used in much of the description below, although the techniques are applicable beyond LTE/LTE-A applications (e.g., to <NUM> networks or other next generation communication systems).

<FIG> illustrates an example of a wireless communication system <NUM> in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The wireless communication system <NUM> may include one or more base stations <NUM>, one or more UEs <NUM>, and a core network <NUM>. The core network <NUM> may provide user authentication, access authorization, tracking, internet protocol (IP) connectivity, and other access, routing, or mobility functions. The base stations <NUM> may interface with the core network <NUM> through backhaul links <NUM> (e.g., S1, etc.). The base stations <NUM> may perform radio configuration and scheduling for communication with the UEs <NUM>, or may operate under the control of a base station controller (not shown). In various examples, the base stations <NUM> may communicate, either directly or indirectly (e.g., through core network <NUM>), with one another over backhaul links <NUM> (e.g., X2, etc.), which may be wired or wireless communication links. In one example, the base stations <NUM> may communicate with one another as part of an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network, as described further herein, where a first base station <NUM> can have an access node function (AN-F) for providing access to a second base station <NUM> (e.g., over a backhaul link), and the second base station <NUM> can have both of a UE function (UE-F) to communicate with the first base station <NUM> (e.g., over the backhaul link) and an AN-F to communicate with another downstream base station <NUM> (e.g., over another backhaul link) or UE <NUM> (e.g., over an access link), etc..

The base stations <NUM> may wirelessly communicate with the UEs <NUM> via one or more base station antennas. In some examples, base stations <NUM> may be referred to as a network entity, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, an access point, a radio transceiver, a NodeB, eNodeB (eNB), gNB, Home NodeB, a Home eNodeB, or some other suitable terminology. The geographic coverage area <NUM> for a base station <NUM> may be divided into sectors making up only a portion of the coverage area (not shown). The wireless communication system <NUM> may include base stations <NUM> of different types (e.g., macro or small cell base stations). There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas <NUM> for different technologies.

In some examples, the wireless communication system <NUM> may be or include a Long Term Evolution (LTE) or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network. The wireless communication system <NUM> may also be a next generation network, such as a <NUM> wireless communication network. In LTE/LTE-A networks, the term evolved node B (eNB), gNB, etc. may be generally used to describe the base stations <NUM>, while the term UE may be generally used to describe the UEs <NUM>. The wireless communication system <NUM> may be a heterogeneous LTE/LTE-A network in which different types of eNBs provide coverage for various geographical regions. For example, each eNB or base station <NUM> may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a small cell, or other types of cell. The term "cell" is a 3GPP term that can be used to describe a base station, a carrier or component carrier associated with a base station, or a coverage area (e.g., sector, etc.) of a carrier or base station, depending on context.

A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs <NUM> with service subscriptions with the network provider.

A small cell may include a lower-powered base station, as compared with a macro cell, that may operate in the same or different (e.g., licensed, unlicensed, etc.) frequency bands as macro cells. An eNB for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro eNB, gNB, etc. An eNB for a small cell may be referred to as a small cell eNB, a pico eNB, a femto eNB, or a home eNB.

The communication networks that may accommodate some of the various disclosed examples may be packet-based networks that operate according to a layered protocol stack and data in the user plane may be based on the IP. A packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer can provide header compression, ciphering, integrity protection, etc. of IP packets. A radio link control (RLC) layer may perform packet segmentation and reassembly to communicate over logical channels. A media access control (MAC) layer may perform priority handling and multiplexing of logical channels into transport channels. The MAC layer may also use HARQ to provide retransmission at the MAC layer to improve link efficiency. In the control plane, the radio resource control (RRC) protocol layer may provide establishment, configuration, and maintenance of an RRC connection between a UE <NUM> and the base stations <NUM>. The RRC protocol layer may also be used for core network <NUM> support of radio bearers for the user plane data. At the physical (PHY) layer, the transport channels may be mapped to physical channels.

The UEs <NUM> may be dispersed throughout the wireless communication system <NUM>, and each UE <NUM> may be stationary or mobile. A UE <NUM> may also include or be referred to by those skilled in the art as a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology. A UE <NUM> may be a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, an entertainment device, a vehicular component, or the like. A UE may be able to communicate with various types of base stations and network equipment including macro eNBs, small cell eNBs, relay base stations, and the like.

The communication links <NUM> shown in wireless communication system <NUM> may carry UL transmissions from a UE <NUM> to a base station <NUM>, or downlink (DL) transmissions, from a base station <NUM> to a UE <NUM>. The downlink transmissions may also be called forward link transmissions while the uplink transmissions may also be called reverse link transmissions. Each communication link <NUM> may include one or more carriers, where each carrier may be a signal made up of multiple sub-carriers (e.g., waveform signals of different frequencies) modulated according to the various radio technologies described above. Each modulated signal may be sent on a different subcarrier and may carry control information (e.g., reference signals, control channels, etc.), overhead information, user data, etc. The communication links <NUM> may transmit bidirectional communications using frequency division duplex (FDD) (e.g., using paired spectrum resources) or time division duplex (TDD) operation (e.g., using unpaired spectrum resources). Frame structures may be defined for FDD (e.g., frame structure type <NUM>) and TDD (e.g., frame structure type <NUM>).

In aspects of the wireless communication system <NUM>, base stations <NUM> or UEs <NUM> may include multiple antennas or antenna elements for employing antenna diversity schemes to improve communication quality and reliability between base stations <NUM> and UEs <NUM>. Additionally or alternatively, base stations <NUM> or UEs <NUM> may employ multiple input multiple output (MIMO) techniques that may take advantage of multi-path environments to transmit multiple spatial layers carrying the same or different coded data. As used herein, it is to be appreciated that the term "antenna" can be used to include a single antenna, multiple antennas, a single or multiple antenna elements, or substantially any antenna design. Thus, for example, an array of antennas may include a set of multiple antennas or antenna elements and/or may include a grid arrangement of antennas or antenna elements. It is to be appreciated that substantially any arrangement of antenna(s) may benefit from the concepts described herein. In addition, such arrangements of antennas and/or antenna elements can use a corresponding transmission technique for arrays of antennas/antenna elements, etc..

Wireless communication system <NUM> may support operation on multiple cells or carriers, a feature which may be referred to as carrier aggregation (CA) or multi-carrier operation. A carrier may also be referred to as a component carrier (CC), a layer, a channel, etc. The terms "carrier," "component carrier," "cell," and "channel" may be used interchangeably herein. A UE <NUM> may be configured with multiple downlink CCs and one or more uplink CCs for carrier aggregation.

In aspects of the wireless communication system <NUM>, one or more of the base stations <NUM> may include an antenna array that is used for communicating with one or more wireless communication devices, such as UEs <NUM>, another base station <NUM> over a backhaul link (e.g., a UE-F of the other base station <NUM>), etc. For instance, a base station <NUM> can include a communicating component <NUM> for configuring a subset of antennas in the antenna array for communicating with the one or more UEs <NUM> to conserve power consumption, increase beamwidth, etc. For example, though a macrocell type of base station <NUM> is shown as including the communicating component <NUM>, substantially any type of access point can include the communicating component <NUM> (and base station <NUM> can be the type of access point), such as a consumer premises equipment (CPE) or smaller scale access point. In addition, the communicating component <NUM> can facilitate communications between the base station <NUM> and other base stations in the wireless communication system <NUM> over the backhaul link <NUM> such to coordinate use of subsets of antennas in certain periods of time and/or based on detected parameters or conditions.

Referring to <FIG>, in accordance with various aspects described herein, an example of another wireless communication access network <NUM> that can provide an IAB network is depicted. The wireless communication access network <NUM> can include one or more IAB-donor nodes <NUM>, which may be anchor nodes that may provide a backhaul link for accessing a core network, one or more IAB-nodes <NUM>, which may be relay nodes that may provide a backhaul link for accessing one or more upstream IAB-nodes <NUM> or IAB-donor nodes <NUM> and an access link for communication with one or more UEs <NUM>, and one or more UEs <NUM>. The IAB-donor nodes <NUM> can include a wireline connection to a network and may terminate a Ng interface. The IAB-nodes <NUM> can provide the AN-F and the UE-F, as described. In this regard, the IAB-nodes <NUM> can communicate with the IAB-donor node <NUM> or other upstream IAB-nodes using the UE-F, which is controlled and scheduled by the IAB-donor node <NUM> or other upstream IAB-node <NUM> connected as parent nodes, and uses a backhaul link. The IAB-nodes <NUM> can also communicate with one or more UEs <NUM> or other downstream IAB-nodes <NUM> using the AN-F, which schedules the UEs <NUM> and/or other downstream IAB-nodes <NUM> connected as child nodes, and controls both access links and backhaul links under its coverage.

In this example in <FIG>, solid lines can represent backhaul links between nodes, such as backhaul link <NUM>, dashed lines can represent backup backhaul links between the nodes, such as backup backhaul link <NUM>, and dotted lines can represent access links between IAB-nodes <NUM> (or IAB-donor nodes <NUM>) and UEs <NUM>, such as access link <NUM>. In addition, IAB-nodes <NUM> (e.g., and/or IAB-donor nodes) can include a communicating component <NUM> for selecting a subset of antennas of an antenna array for communicating with one or more devices in a wireless network (e.g., with one or more IAB-nodes <NUM>, IAB-donor nodes <NUM>, and/or UEs), which can enable conserving power consumption by the antenna array, increasing a beamwidth for beamforming signals by the antenna array, etc., as described herein.

Turning now to <FIG>, aspects are depicted with reference to one or more components and one or more methods that may perform the actions or operations described herein, where aspects in dashed line may be optional. Although the operations described below in <FIG> are presented in a particular order and/or as being performed by an example component, it should be understood that the ordering of the actions and the components performing the actions may be varied, depending on the implementation. Moreover, it should be understood that the following actions, functions, and/or described components may be performed by a specially-programmed processor, a processor executing specially-programmed software or computer-readable media, or by any other combination of a hardware component and/or a software component capable of performing the described actions or functions.

Referring to <FIG>, a block diagram <NUM> is shown that includes a portion of a wireless communications system having multiple UEs <NUM> in communication with a base station <NUM> via communication links <NUM>, where the base station <NUM> is also connected to a network <NUM>, which may include one or more components of a core network (e.g., core network <NUM>). The base station <NUM> may be examples of the base stations described in the present disclosure that are configured to configure UEs with measurement reporting functionality, which may include certain parameters that define when the UE <NUM> can generate and transmit measurement reports to the base station <NUM>.

In an aspect, the base station <NUM> in <FIG> may include one or more processors <NUM> and/or memory <NUM> that may operate in combination with a communicating component <NUM> to perform the functions, methods (e.g., method <NUM> of <FIG>), etc., presented in the present disclosure. In accordance with the present disclosure, the communicating component <NUM> may include one or more components for selecting a subset of antennas in an antenna array to be used for communicating with one or more UEs <NUM>. In an example, base station <NUM> can include antenna <NUM>, which may include an array of antennas (also referred to herein as an "antenna array"). For example, communicating component <NUM> may include an optional effective rate determining component <NUM> for determining an effective rate desired for communicating with the one or more UEs <NUM>, an antenna selecting component <NUM> for selecting a subset of antennas in the antenna array to achieve the effective rate, and/or a backhaul component <NUM> for communicating with one or more other base stations in the network <NUM> over a backhaul connection and/or associated interface.

The one or more processors <NUM> may include a modem <NUM> that uses one or more modem processors. The various functions related to the communicating component <NUM>, and/or its sub-components, may be included in modem <NUM> and/or processor <NUM> and, in an aspect, can be executed by a single processor, while in other aspects, different ones of the functions may be executed by a combination of two or more different processors. For example, in an aspect, the one or more processors <NUM> may include any one or any combination of a modem processor, or a baseband processor, or a digital signal processor, or a transmit processor, or a transceiver processor associated with transceiver <NUM>, or a system-on-chip (SoC). In particular, the one or more processors <NUM> may execute functions and components included in the communicating component <NUM>. In another example, communicating component <NUM>, or sub-components thereof, may operate at one or more communication layers, such as physical layer or L1, MAC layer or L2, a PDCP/RLC layer or L3, etc., to configure measurement reporting, associated measurement gaps, etc..

In some examples, the communicating component <NUM> and each of the sub-components may comprise hardware, firmware, and/or software and may be configured to execute code or perform instructions stored in a memory (e.g., a computer-readable storage medium, such as memory <NUM> discussed below). Moreover, in an aspect, the base station <NUM> in <FIG> may include an RF front end <NUM> and transceiver <NUM> for receiving and transmitting radio transmissions to, for example, base stations <NUM>. The transceiver <NUM> may coordinate with the modem <NUM> to receive signals that include packets (e.g., and/or one or more related PDUs). RF front end <NUM> may be connected to one or more antennas <NUM> and can include one or more switches <NUM>, one or more amplifiers (e.g., PAs <NUM> and/or LNAs <NUM>), and one or more filters <NUM> for transmitting and receiving RF signals on uplink channels and downlink channels. In an aspect, the components of the RF front end <NUM> can connect with transceiver <NUM>. The transceiver <NUM> may connect to one or more of modem <NUM> and processors <NUM>.

The transceiver <NUM> may be configured to transmit (e.g., via transmitter (TX) radio <NUM>) and receive (e.g., via receiver (RX) radio <NUM>) wireless signals through antennas <NUM> via the RF front end <NUM>. In an aspect, the transceiver <NUM> may be tuned to operate at specified frequencies such that the base station <NUM> can communicate with, for example, base stations <NUM>. In an aspect, for example, the modem <NUM> can configure the transceiver <NUM> to operate at a specified frequency and power level based on the configuration of the base station <NUM> and communication protocol used by the modem <NUM>.

The base station <NUM> in <FIG> may further include a memory <NUM>, such as for storing data used herein and/or local versions of applications or communicating component <NUM> and/or one or more of its sub-components being executed by processor <NUM>. Memory <NUM> can include any type of computer-readable medium usable by a computer or processor <NUM>, such as RAM, ROM, tapes, magnetic discs, optical discs, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, and any combination thereof. In an aspect, for example, memory <NUM> may be a computer-readable storage medium that stores one or more computer-executable codes defining communicating component <NUM> and/or one or more of its sub-components. Additionally or alternatively, the base station <NUM> may include a bus <NUM> for coupling one or more of the RF front end <NUM>, the transceiver <NUM>, the memory <NUM>, or the processor <NUM>, and to exchange signaling information between each of the components and/or sub-components of the base station <NUM>.

In an aspect, the processor(s) <NUM> may correspond to one or more of the processors described in connection with the base station <NUM> in <FIG>. Similarly, the memory <NUM> may correspond to the memory described in connection with the base station <NUM> in <FIG>.

<FIG> illustrates an example of an antenna array <NUM> in accordance with aspects described herein. For example, base station <NUM> can utilize the antenna array <NUM> for communicating with one or more devices. In an example, antenna <NUM> in <FIG> can be part of or can otherwise include antenna array <NUM>. As shown, the antenna array can include multiple modules (which can include RF integrated circuit (RFIC) modules, also referred to herein as RF components), such as module <NUM>, each having a number of antennas, such as antenna <NUM>. In the depicted example, the antenna array <NUM> can be a 16x4 antenna array including <NUM>2x4 antenna RFIC modules (e.g., in a modular construction). When all the antennas are used, the gain/rate can grow with antenna dimensions. Due to the modular construction, as described however, the more antennas that are used results in more RF and modem (MDM) power consumption as different RFICs get excited. Higher data rates may be achievable at the cost of more power in the antenna array <NUM>, but more power may also lead to increase in operating expenditure (OPEX) of the antenna array <NUM>. In addition, given that synchronization signal (SS) blocks are used for broadcast/common gNB side transmissions, there can be a desirable antenna size, which may not include all antennas/modules, to use at the gNB/CPE for energy efficiency in transmitting wireless communications.

<FIG> illustrates a flow chart of an example of a method <NUM> for determining (e.g., by a base station) a number of antennas in an antenna array to utilize in communicating with one or more devices (e.g., one or more UEs, one or more other base stations, etc.) in a wireless network.

At Block <NUM>, a number of antennas of an antenna array to achieve a RF power that results in an effective data rate for communications can be determined. In an aspect, antenna selecting component <NUM>, e.g., in conjunction with processor(s) <NUM>, memory <NUM>, transceiver <NUM>, communicating component <NUM>, antenna array <NUM>, <NUM>, etc., can determine the number of antennas of the antenna array (which may be less than all antennas in the antenna array) to achieve an RF power that results in an effective data rate for communications. For example, using the number of antennas (e.g., a subset of the antennas and/or corresponding modules), rather than all antennas in the antenna array, can result in lower power consumption, increased beamwidth, etc. by the antenna array.

In one example, determining the number of antennas at Block <NUM> can optionally include, at Block <NUM>, determining the effective data rate as a function of at least a computed beamforming or array gain with the number of antennas and a utility function of the RF power consumed by the number of antennas (or RF power consumed by individual RF components in RF circuitry activated by the number of antennas in the antenna array). In an aspect, effective rate determining component <NUM>, e.g., in conjunction with processor(s) <NUM>, memory <NUM>, transceiver <NUM>, communicating component <NUM>, antenna array <NUM>, <NUM>, etc., can determine the effective data rate as a function of at least the computed beamforming or array gain with the number of antennas and the utility function of the RF power consumed by the number of antennas. In a specific example, where H can denote the channel (e.g., channel matrix) between the base station <NUM> (e.g., a gNB) and a certain UE <NUM>, such that: <MAT> where L denotes the number of clusters (e.g., scatterers, reflectors, objects, etc.) in the environment, Nr denotes the number of receive antennas in the antenna array, Nt denotes the number of transmit antennas in the antenna array, αℓ is the cluster gain for a given cluster, aR (θR,ℓ,ϕR,ℓ) is the receiver side array steering vector for the receive antennas of the cluster, and aT(θT,ℓ,ϕT,ℓ) is the transmit side array steering vector. In this regard, for example, an array gain of the antenna array using a certain number of clusters, receive antennas, and transmit antennas, with rank-<NUM> beamforming at both ends, can be represented as: <MAT> where f and g are unit-norm beamforming vectors at the base station <NUM> and UE <NUM>, and ρ is a pre-beamforming signal-to-noise ratio. In this example, effective rate determining component <NUM> can use a utility function to translate RF power to rate for comparing with a desired rate for communications. In an example, RF power with an Nt element antenna array can be increasing with Nt, as described, and the antenna array may have a baseline power consumption (also referred to herein as U<NUM>) that is independent of how many antennas are used or activated for wireless communications. Where the utility function can be represented by U(RF power), the effective data rate can be defined in one or more measurements of data rate per unit of time per RF power (e.g., bits/sec/mW, which can correspond to bits/millijoule (mJ)), as: <MAT>.

In other examples, effective rate determining component <NUM> may receive an indication of the effective data rate and/or one or more parameters from the formulas above, from a UE <NUM>, one or more other base station <NUM> (e.g., over a backhaul), from a network device in network <NUM>, etc. In another example, effective rate determining component <NUM> can store the formula or algorithm for determining the effective rate, the number of antennas (and/or which of the antennas to use, etc.) based on the effective rate, and/or the like.

In one example, determining the number of antennas at Block <NUM> can also optionally include, at Block <NUM>, determining the utility function based at least in part on a baseline power consumption of the antenna array, or an incremental power consumption associated with the RF components activated by use of the number of antennas. In an aspect, effective rate determining component <NUM>, e.g., in conjunction with processor(s) <NUM>, memory <NUM>, transceiver <NUM>, communicating component <NUM>, antenna array <NUM>, <NUM>, etc., can determine the utility function based at least in part on the baseline power consumption of the antenna array, or the incremental power consumption associated with the RF components activated by use of the number of antennas. In one example, as described, effective rate determining component <NUM> may receive these parameters in a communication from one or more network nodes. In another example, however, effective rate determining component <NUM> can determine the utility function for a number of antennas as follows. Assuming K antennas can be controlled by one RFIC on the antenna array <NUM>, <NUM>, with <NUM>, <NUM>,. , K antennas per RFIC consumes U<NUM>,. ,UK milliamperes (mA) in terms of current, and there may be different values U<NUM>,. ,UK depending on whether the base station <NUM> is transmitting or receiving. In this example utility function U(RF power with Nt antennas) = U<NUM> + (# of RFICs) · UK + UM, corresponding to a maximum set of K antennas controlled per RFIC and Nt = (# of RFICs) * K + M with <NUM> ≤ K ≤ M, and where U<NUM> is the baseline power of the antenna array and UM is an incremental power consumption associated with RFICs activated by use of the number of antennas of the antenna array.

Thus, in one example, in determining the number of antennas (e.g., at Block <NUM>), the antenna selecting component <NUM> can determine a functional f(. ) corresponding to the an antenna array size, which may correspond to: <MAT> where the base station <NUM>/CPE can be equipped with up to <MAT> antennas, <MAT> can be a number of antennas from <NUM> to <MAT>, and a desirable or an optimal number can depend on L, the channel structure (e.g., angular spread, fading statistics, etc.), pre-beamforming SNR, and/or U(. Accordingly, in this example, antenna selecting component <NUM> can determine the number of antennas based at least in part on the determined effective rate.

Additionally, for example, antenna selecting component <NUM> may determine when to utilize the determined number of antennas (e.g., where the number of antennas can be determined as described above or otherwise specified/indicated to the base station <NUM>). For example, determining when to use the reduced number of antennas may correspond to coordinating (e.g., scheduling), with one or more other base stations, times for utilizing a reduced set of antennas, detecting certain parameters, conditions, etc. In this regard, for example, base station <NUM> may not always use a reduced subset of antennas of the antenna array for the wireless communications.

For example, determining the number of antennas at Block <NUM> may optionally include, at Block <NUM>, coordinating the number of antennas based on receiving a different number of antennas used by one or more other access points. In an aspect, backhaul component <NUM> (and/or communicating component <NUM>), e.g., in conjunction with processor(s) <NUM>, memory <NUM>, transceiver <NUM>, etc., can receive an indication (e.g., over a backhaul link) of a different number of antennas used by the one or more other access points, and antenna selecting component <NUM> can accordingly determine whether to use the subset of antennas in the antenna array (as opposed to all antennas in the antenna array) based on the received indication. In an example, the base station <NUM> and other access point can coordinate or schedule periods of time during which each of the base station <NUM> or other access points can use a subset of all available antennas in their corresponding antenna arrays. For example, the access points can coordinate in a round-robin pattern or via other approaches, which may be based on one or more parameters of the base stations such as to determine an order (e.g., an identifier of the base station where the base stations can determine time periods in descending order based on the identifier, etc.). An instantiation of this parameter could include hard-coding an order for different base stations. Another instantiation could include a base station array size to coverage area and time mapping function that allows the determination of the precise times at which different base stations are used. An example is shown in <FIG>.

<FIG> illustrates examples <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> of network configurations of base stations at different time periods. For example, base stations <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> can operate near one another, and can communicate (e.g., over a backhaul) to coordinate when to use a subset of all antennas in their respective antenna arrays at different time periods, as described in relation to Block <NUM> in <FIG>. For example, base stations <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may negotiate with one another (e.g., over a backhaul) for time periods during which to use a subset of antennas. For example, in time period <NUM>, in example <NUM>, base stations <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may coordinate such that base station <NUM> utilizes a subset of antennas in its antenna array (e.g., such that some antennas are turned off) while the other base stations <NUM>, <NUM> transmit using all antennas in their antenna arrays for the time period <NUM>. In time period <NUM>, in example <NUM>, base stations <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may coordinate such that base station <NUM> utilizes a subset of antennas in its antenna array (e.g., such that some antennas are turned off) while the other base stations <NUM>, <NUM> transmit using all antennas in their antenna arrays for the time period <NUM>. In time period <NUM>, in example <NUM>, base stations <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may coordinate such that base station <NUM> utilizes a subset of antennas in its antenna array (e.g., such that some antennas are turned off) while the other base stations <NUM>, <NUM> transmit using all antennas in their antenna arrays for the time period <NUM>. The base stations <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may continue this pattern in subsequent time periods, and may accordingly optimize array sizes for energy and spectral efficiencies.

For example, the length, start time, etc. of the time periods can be negotiated among the base stations <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> as well. Moreover, in an example, negotiations may allow more than one base station to use a subset of antennas at a time. In an example, the subsets of antennas can be used by each base station <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> in the corresponding time period to transmit SS blocks with increased beamwidth and decreased coverage, such to allow monitoring UEs <NUM> in an expanded beamwidth to more readily detect the base station transmitting SS blocks using a subset of antennas in the corresponding time period. Negotiating the time periods for using the subset of antennas in this regard may result in improved user experience where the network is over-densified with base stations, or has a low UE density, during times or areas of non-peak rate/traffic, where low data payloads are to be communicated at the base stations, etc..

Referring back to <FIG>, determining the number of antennas at Block <NUM> may also optionally include, at Block <NUM>, determining to use the number of antennas based on one or more parameters or detected conditions. In an aspect, antenna selecting component <NUM>, e.g., in conjunction with processor(s) <NUM>, memory <NUM>, transceiver <NUM>, etc., can determine to use the number of antennas based on the one or more parameters or detected conditions. For example, antenna selecting component <NUM> can detect the one or more parameters or conditions, such as a network load or signal strength, achieving a threshold, which may indicate an over-densified network, a load or signal strength of UEs achieving (or failing to achieve) a threshold, which may indicate low UE density, a time of day, day of week, etc. indicative of peak hours of network usage, a payload of data to be transmitted by the base station <NUM>, and/or the like. Antenna selecting component <NUM> can use this information in determining to use the subset of the antennas (e.g., as opposed to all antennas) to provide more desirable network conditions/usage. For example, in conditions such as high network load, high network signal strength, a detected low load of UEs. UEs failing to achieve a threshold signal strength, a peak time of day, day of week, etc., antenna selecting component <NUM> can determine to use a selected subset of antennas in certain time periods, negotiate the time periods with nearby base stations, etc., as described.

At Block <NUM>, the number of antennas can be indicated, over a backhaul connection, to one or more other access points to coordinate using the number of antennas. In an aspect, backhaul component <NUM>, e.g., in conjunction with processor(s) <NUM>, memory <NUM>, transceiver <NUM>, communicating component <NUM>, etc., can indicate, over the backhaul connection (e.g., backhaul link <NUM>), the number of antennas to one or more other access points to coordinate using the number of antennas. As described, for example, backhaul component <NUM> can indicate the number of antennas being used and/or the time at which the base station <NUM> plans to use the number of antennas in an effort to coordinate reduced antenna usage among base stations/access points, as described with reference to <FIG>. Moreover, indicating the number of antennas may include indicating an integer number of antennas, identifying the antennas being used (e.g., based on an antenna identifier, which may include an identifier of a corresponding module), identifying beamforming parameters of the antennas being used, and/or the like.

At Block <NUM>, one or more devices in a wireless network can be communicated with by using the number of antennas. In an aspect, communicating component <NUM>, e.g., in conjunction with processor(s) <NUM>, memory <NUM>, transceiver <NUM>, etc., can communicate, using the number of antennas, with one or more devices in the wireless network, such as one or more UEs <NUM>, one or more other base stations, etc. Using the number of antennas (e.g., as opposed to all antennas in the antenna array <NUM>, <NUM>) may allow for decreasing power consumption, increasing beamwidth, etc., which may be desirable in certain network deployments, as described.

In an example, in using the one or more antennas (e.g., at Block <NUM>), communicating component <NUM> can terminate power to at least certain parts of RF circuitry for the antennas of the antenna array that are not included in the selected subset of antennas. This can result in actual power consumption savings. For example, this can be distinguished from merely setting beam weights to zero in an antenna code book for the antenna array, which may result in these antennas not being used, but they may still be powered (e.g., the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), variable gain amplifiers (VGAs), etc., may still be powered in these scenarios). Thus, for example, the examples described herein rather than using codebook adaptations, may terminate or result in turning off power to parts of the RF circuitry associated with the antennas, though the examples are not limited to such functions.

<FIG> is a block diagram of a MIMO communication system <NUM> including a base station <NUM> and a UE <NUM>. The MIMO communication system <NUM> may illustrate aspects of the wireless communication system <NUM> described with reference to <FIG>. The base station <NUM> may be an example of aspects of the base station <NUM> described with reference to <FIG>. The base station <NUM> may be equipped with antennas <NUM> and <NUM>, and the UE <NUM> may be equipped with antennas <NUM> and <NUM>. In the MIMO communication system <NUM>, the base station <NUM> may be able to send data over multiple communication links at the same time. Each communication link may be called a "layer" and the "rank" of the communication link may indicate the number of layers used for communication. For example, in a 2x2 MIMO communication system where base station <NUM> transmits two "layers," the rank of the communication link between the base station <NUM> and the UE <NUM> is two.

The UE <NUM> may be an example of aspects of the UEs <NUM> described with reference to <FIG>. At the UE <NUM>, the UE antennas <NUM> and <NUM> may receive the DL signals from the base station <NUM> and may provide the received signals to the modulator/demodulators <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively. Each modulator/demodulator <NUM> through <NUM> may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each modulator/demodulator <NUM> through <NUM> may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector <NUM> may obtain received symbols from the modulator/demodulators <NUM> and <NUM>, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols, if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive (Rx) processor <NUM> may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, providing decoded data for the UE <NUM> to a data output, and provide decoded control information to a processor <NUM>, or memory <NUM>.

The processor <NUM> may in some cases execute stored instructions to instantiate a communicating component <NUM> (see e.g., <FIG>).

Claim 1:
A method for configuring a number of antennas in an antenna array to use in communicating in a wireless network, comprising:
determining (<NUM>), by an access point, a selection of a number of antennas of the antenna array, less than all available antennas for transmission or reception in the antenna array, to achieve a radio frequency, RF, power for the antenna array that results in a certain bits per millijoule effective data rate for communicating in the wireless network, wherein the effective data rate is a function of at least a computed beamforming or antenna array gain with the number of antennas and a utility function of the RF power consumed by the number of antennas;
indicating (<NUM>), by the access point over a backhaul connection to one or more other access points of the wireless network, the number of antennas in the selection that are provided power and not including a second number of antennas of the antenna array to which power is terminated, to coordinate using of the number of antennas at a determined time; and
communicating (<NUM>), using the number of antennas, with one or more devices in the wireless network.