System and method for hybrid beamforming diversity

A method by a network with one or more transmit antenna ports, each of the transmit antenna ports associated with a plurality of transmit beam ports, the method comprising:

• sending, by the network, a reporting configuration to a UE indicating configurations of the transmit antenna ports, the reporting configuration further indicating a validity period and a plurality of reference signals, each of the reference signals associated with one of the transmit beam ports for the transmit antenna ports;
• transmitting, by the network, the plurality of reference signals;
• receiving, by the network, one or more reporting sets from the UE, each of the one or more reporting sets indicating one or more of the transmit beam ports for use during the validity period, wherein the one or more of the transmit beam ports correspond to a receive beam port for the UE;
• selecting, by the network, one or more selected transmit beam ports for each one of the reporting sets, each of the selected transmit beam ports having different transmit antenna ports;
• transmitting a plurality of demodulation reference signals using the selected transmit beam ports during the validity period;
• and
• transmitting, by the network, data using the selected transmit beam ports according to the transmitted demodulation reference signals during the validity period, wherein transmitting comprises modulating and encoding Alamouti-coded data tone pairs for the data when the one or more received reporting sets indicate more than one selected transmit beam port.

A user equipment (UE) with one or more receive antenna ports, each of the receive antenna ports associated with a plurality of receive beam ports, the UE comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program to be executed by the processor, the program including instructions to:
• receive a reporting configuration from a network indicating configurations of one or more transmit antenna ports, each of the transmit antenna ports associated with a plurality of transmit beam ports, the reporting configuration further indicating a validity period and a plurality of reference signals, each of the reference signals associated with one of the transmit beam ports for the transmit antenna ports;
• receive a subset of the reference signals;
• measure receive signal quality for each signal in the subset of the reference signals;
• determine a selected receive beam port for each of the receive antenna ports according to the receive signal quality measured;
• derive one or more reporting sets, each of the one or more reporting sets corresponding to a respective one of the receive antenna ports, each of the reporting sets indicating one or more selected transmit beam ports the network should use during the validity period, the one or more reporting sets derived according to the receive signal quality measured;
• transmit the one or more reporting sets to the network;
• detect a plurality of demodulation reference signals using the selected receive beam ports during the validity period, each of the demodulation reference signals being from one of the selected transmit beam ports;
• receive a data transmission from the selected transmit beam ports according to the demodulation reference signals during the validity period using the selected receive beam port for each of the receive antenna ports;
• and
• demodulate and decode Alamouti-coded data tone pairs received in the data transmission when the one or more reporting sets indicate more than one selected transmit beam port.

A network with one or more transmit antenna ports, each of the transmit antenna ports associated with a plurality of transmit beam ports, the network comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program to be executed by the processor, the program including instructions to:
• send a reporting configuration to a UE indicating configurations of the transmit antenna ports, the reporting configuration further indicating a validity period and a plurality of reference signals, each of the reference signals associated with one of the transmit beam ports for the transmit antenna ports;
• transmit the plurality of reference signals;
• receive one or more reporting sets from the UE, each of the one or more reporting sets indicating one or more of the transmit beam ports for use during the validity period, wherein the one or more of the transmit beam ports correspond to a receive beam port for the UE;
• select one or more selected transmit beam ports for each one of the reporting sets, each of the selected transmit beam ports having different transmit antenna ports;
• transmit a plurality of demodulation reference signals using the selected transmit beam ports during the validity period;
• and
• transmit data using the selected transmit beam ports according to the transmitted demodulation reference signals during the validity period, wherein transmitting comprises modulating and encoding Alamouti-coded data tone pairs for the data when the one or more received reporting sets indicate more than one selected transmit beam port.