# US 10,455,569 B2 · DCI design for multi-user superposition transmission > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,455,569 B2 - Document ID: US10455569B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/708,687 - Filed: 2017-09-19 - Published: 2018-05-03 - Granted: 2019-10-22 - Earliest claimed: 2016-11-02 - Assignees: QUALCOMM Incorporated - Applicants: QUALCOMM Incorporated - Inventors: Jing Sun; Wanshi Chen; Peter Gaal - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10455569B2 ## CPC - H04W 72/23: in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal - H04B 7/0452: Multi-user MIMO systems - H04L 5/0026: {Division using four or more dimensions, e.g. beam steering or quasi-co-location [QCL]} - H04L 5/0051: {of dedicated pilots, i.e. pilots destined for a single user or terminal} - H04L 5/0055: {Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK (for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861)} - H04L 27/3411: {reducing the peak to average power ratio or the mean power of the constellation; Arrangements for increasing the shape gain of a signal set} - H04W 72/046: {the resource being in the space domain, e.g. beams} - H04W 72/51: based on terminal or device properties - H04W 72/541: using the level of interference - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) - H04B: TRANSMISSION - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) ## Abstract Wireless networks support MU-MIMO transmission in which a base station transmits multiple spatial layers or spatial streams over a shared downlink resource to multiple UEs. However, UEs participating in the MU-MIMO transmission may need to manage interference associated with spatial streams intended for other users. In an aspect of the disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus may be configured to provide an MU-MIMO transmission to a plurality of user UEs over a same set of resource blocks. The apparatus may be configured to generate a DCI message for each UE. The DCI message may indicate a DL grant to each UE and include an MU-MIMO assistance information field that provides each UE with interference information to better decode the spatial layers. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of wireless communication, comprising: determining to provide a multi-user multiple-input-multiple-output (MU-MIMO) transmission to a plurality of user equipments (UEs) over a same set of resource blocks; generating a downlink control information (DCI) message for each UE of the plurality of UEs indicating a downlink (DL) grant of the set of resource blocks, each DCI message comprising an MU-MIMO assistance information field; and transmitting the generated DCI messages to the plurality of UEs; wherein each DCI message indicates a spatial layer assignment for a corresponding UE in the MU-MIMO transmission; and wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field indicates, for the corresponding UE, whether one or more other spatial layers are assigned to at least one other UE. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein each DCI message indicates an orthogonal cover coding (OCC) for the corresponding UE in the MU-MIMO transmission, and wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field provides the corresponding UE with interference information to perform data reception. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field further indicates a modulation order for each other spatial layer of the one or more other spatial layers of the MU-MIMO transmission. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field comprises a set of bits indicating whether the one or more other spatial layers are assigned to the at least one other UE and the modulation order for each other spatial layer of the one or more other spatial layers assigned to the at least one other UE, and wherein the modulation order for each other spatial layer indicates one of quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), 64 QAM, or 256 QAM. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field comprises a set of bits indicating whether the one or more other spatial layers are assigned to the at least one other UE and the modulation order for each other spatial layer of the one or more other spatial layers assigned to the at least one other UE, and wherein the modulation order for each other spatial layer indicates one of quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), 64 or higher QAM. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more other spatial layers comprise two or fewer other spatial layers assigned to the at least one other UE, and the modulation order for each other spatial layer of the two or fewer other spatial layers indicates one of QPSK modulation, 16 QAM, 64 QAM, or 256 QAM. ### Claim 7 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field comprises a set of bits indicating whether the one or more other spatial layers are assigned to the at least one other UE. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more other spatial layers comprise one other spatial layer, and the set of bits further indicate whether the one other spatial layer is assigned and indicate a modulation order of the one other spatial layer for MU-MIMO transmission. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field comprises a set of bits indicating whether one or more other spatial layers are assigned to at least one other UE and a modulation order for each other spatial layer, including other spatial layers associated with a different scrambling identity, in the MU-MIMO transmission, and wherein the modulation order for each other spatial layer indicates one of quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), 64 QAM, or 256 QAM. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field indicates a usage of a non-orthogonal demodulation reference signal (DMRS) port. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field comprises a set of bits, each bit of the set of bits indicating the usage of one non-orthogonal DMRS port, or comprises 1 bit indicating whether any non-orthogonal DMRS port is used. ### Claim 12 A method of wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving a downlink control information (DCI) message indicating a downlink (DL) grant of a set of resource blocks shared by other UEs for a multi-user multiple-input-multiple-output (MU-MIMO) transmission, the DCI message comprising an MU-MIMO assistance information field; receiving the set of resource blocks on at least one spatial layer of the MU-MIMO transmission based on the DL grant; and processing the set of resource blocks based on the MU-MIMO assistance information field; wherein the DCI message indicates an assignment of the at least one spatial layer for the UE in the MU-MIMO transmission; and wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field indicates whether one or more other spatial layers of the MU-MIMO transmission are assigned to at least one other UE. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the DCI message indicates an assignment of an orthogonal cover coding (OCC) for the UE in the MU-MIMO transmission. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field further indicates a modulation order for each other spatial layer of the one or more other spatial layers assigned to the at least one other UE for the MU-MIMO transmission. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, wherein the modulation order for the each other spatial layer indicates one of quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), 64 QAM, or 256 QAM. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14, wherein the modulation order for the each other spatial layer indicates one of quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), 64 or higher QAM. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more other spatial layers comprise two or fewer other spatial layers assigned to the at least one other UE, and the modulation order for each other spatial layer of the two or fewer other spatial layers indicates one of QPSK modulation, 16 QAM, 64 QAM, or 256 QAM. ### Claim 18 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field comprises 3 bits indicating whether the one or more other spatial layers are assigned to the at least one other UE. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The method of claim 18, wherein the one or more other spatial layers comprise one other spatial layer, and the 3 bits further indicate whether the one other spatial layer is assigned and the modulation order of the other spatial layer for MU-MIMO transmission. ### Claim 20 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field indicates whether one or more other spatial layers are assigned to at least one other UE and a modulation order for each other spatial layer of the one or more other spatial layers, including other spatial layers associated with a different scrambling identity, in the MU-MIMO transmission, and wherein the modulation order for each other spatial layer indicates one of quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), 64 QAM, or 256 QAM. ### Claim 21 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field indicates a usage of a non-orthogonal demodulation reference signal (DMRS) port. ### Claim 22 (depends on 21) The method of claim 21, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance field comprises a set of bits, a bit of the set of bits indicating the usage of one non-orthogonal DMRS port or comprises 1 bit to indicate whether any non-orthogonal DMRS port is used. ### Claim 23 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one spatial layer comprises a demodulation reference signal, and wherein the processing comprises: performing channel estimation based on the received demodulation reference signal and the MU-MIMO assistance information field. ### Claim 24 An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to: determine to provide a multi-user multiple-input-multiple-output (MU-MIMO) transmission to a plurality of user equipments (UEs) over a same set of resource blocks; generate a downlink control information (DCI) message for each UE of the plurality of UEs indicating a downlink (DL) grant of the set of resource blocks, each DCI message comprising an MU-MIMO assistance information field; and transmit the generated DCI messages to the plurality of UEs; wherein each DCI message indicates a spatial layer assignment for a corresponding UE in the MU-MIMO transmission; and wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field indicates, for the corresponding UE, whether one or more other spatial layers are assigned to at least one other UE. ### Claim 25 (depends on 24) The apparatus of claim 24, wherein each DCI message indicates an orthogonal cover coding (OCC) for the corresponding UE in the MU-MIMO transmission, and wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field provides the corresponding UE with interference information to perform data reception. ### Claim 26 (depends on 25) The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field further indicates a modulation order for each other spatial layer of the one or more other spatial layers of the MU-MIMO transmission. ### Claim 27 (depends on 26) The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field comprises a set of bits indicating whether the one or more other spatial layers are assigned to the at least one other UE and the modulation order for each other spatial layer of the one or more other spatial layers assigned to the at least one other UE, and wherein the modulation order for each other spatial layer indicates one of quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), 64 QAM, or 256 QAM. ### Claim 28 (depends on 26) The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field comprises a set of bits indicating whether the one or more other spatial layers are assigned to the at least one other UE and the modulation order for each other spatial layer of the one or more other spatial layers assigned to the at least one other UE, and wherein the modulation order for each other spatial layer indicates one of quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), 64 or higher QAM. ### Claim 29 (depends on 28) The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the one or more other spatial layers comprise two or fewer other spatial layers assigned to the at least one other UE, and the modulation order for each other spatial layer of the two or fewer other spatial layers indicates one of QPSK modulation, 16 QAM, 64 QAM, or 256 QAM. ### Claim 30 (depends on 28) The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field comprises a set of bits indicating whether the one or more other spatial layers are assigned to the at least one other UE. ### Claim 31 (depends on 30) The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the one or more other spatial layers comprise one other spatial layer, and the set of bits further indicate whether the one other spatial layer is assigned and the modulation order of the one other spatial layer for MU-MIMO transmission. ### Claim 32 (depends on 24) The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field comprises a set of bits indicating whether one or more other spatial layers are assigned to at least one other UE and a modulation order for each other spatial layer, other including spatial layers associated with a different scrambling identity, in the MU-MIMO transmission, and wherein the modulation order for each other spatial layer indicates one of quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), 64 QAM, or 256 QAM. ### Claim 33 (depends on 24) The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field indicates a usage of a non-orthogonal demodulation reference signal (DMRS) port. ### Claim 34 (depends on 33) The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field comprises a set of bits, each bit of the set of bits indicating the usage of one non-orthogonal DMRS port, or comprises 1 bit indicating whether any non-orthogonal DMRS port is used. ### Claim 35 A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to: receive a downlink control information (DCI) message indicating a downlink (DL) grant of a set of resource blocks shared by other UEs for multi-user multiple-input-multiple-output (MU-MIMO) transmission, the DCI message comprising an MU-MIMO assistance information field; receive the set of resource blocks on at least one spatial layer of the MU-MIMO transmission based on the DL grant; and process the set of resource blocks based on the MU-MIMO assistance information field; wherein the DCI message indicates an assignment of the at least one spatial layer for the UE in the MU-MIMO transmission; and wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field indicates whether one or more other spatial layers of the MU-MIMO transmission are assigned to at least one other UE. ### Claim 36 (depends on 35) The UE of claim 35, wherein the DCI message indicates an orthogonal cover coding (OCC) for the UE in the MU-MIMO transmission. ### Claim 37 (depends on 36) The UE of claim 36, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field further indicates a modulation order for each other spatial layer of the one or more other spatial layers assigned to the at least one other UE for the MU-MIMO transmission. ### Claim 38 (depends on 37) The UE of claim 37, wherein the modulation order for the each other spatial layer indicates one of quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), 64 QAM, or 256 QAM. ### Claim 39 (depends on 37) The UE of claim 37, wherein the modulation order for the each other spatial layer indicates one of quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), 64 or higher QAM. ### Claim 40 (depends on 39) The UE of claim 39, wherein the one or more other spatial layers comprise two or fewer other spatial layers assigned to the at least one other UE, and the modulation order for each other spatial layer of the two or fewer other spatial layers indicates one of QPSK modulation, 16 QAM, 64 QAM, or 256 QAM. ### Claim 41 (depends on 36) The UE of claim 36, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field comprises 3 bits indicating whether the one or more other spatial layers are assigned to the at least one other UE. ### Claim 42 (depends on 41) The UE of claim 41, wherein the one or more spatial layers comprise one spatial layer, and the 3 bits further indicate whether the one spatial layer is assigned and the modulation order of the spatial layer for MU-MIMO transmission. ### Claim 43 (depends on 35) The UE of claim 35, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field indicates whether one or more other spatial layers are assigned to at least one other UE and a modulation order for each other spatial layer of the one or more other spatial layers, including other spatial layers associated with a different scrambling identity, in the MU-MIMO transmission, and wherein the modulation order for each other spatial layer indicates one of quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation, 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), 64 QAM, or 256 QAM. ### Claim 44 (depends on 35) The UE of claim 35, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field indicates a usage of a non-orthogonal demodulation reference signal (DMRS) port. ### Claim 45 (depends on 44) The UE of claim 44, wherein the MU-MIMO assistance field comprises a set of bits, a bit of the set of bits indicating the usage of one non-orthogonal DMRS port or comprises 1 bit to indicate whether any non-orthogonal DMRS port is used. ### Claim 46 (depends on 35) The UE of claim 35, wherein the at least one spatial layer comprises demodulation reference signal, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to process by: performing channel estimation based on the received demodulation reference signal and the MU-MIMO assistance information field. ### Claim 47 An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: means for determining to provide a multi-user multiple-input-multiple-output (MU-MIMO) transmission to a plurality of user equipments (UEs) over a same set of resource blocks; means for generating a downlink control information (DCI) message for each UE of the plurality of UEs indicating a downlink (DL) grant of the set of resource blocks, each DCI message comprising an MU-MIMO assistance information field; and means for transmitting the generated DCI messages to the plurality of UEs; wherein each DCI message indicates a spatial layer assignment for a corresponding UE in the MU-MIMO transmission; and wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field indicates, for the corresponding UE, whether one or more other spatial layers are assigned to at least one other UE. ### Claim 48 A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: means for receiving a downlink control information (DCI) message indicating a downlink (DL) grant of a set of resource blocks shared by other UEs for a multi-user multiple-input-multiple-output (MU-MIMO) transmission, the DCI message comprising an MU-MIMO assistance information field; means for receiving the set of resource blocks on at least one spatial layer of the MU-MIMO transmission based on the DL grant; and means for processing the set of resource blocks based on the MU-MIMO assistance information field; wherein the DCI message indicates an assignment of the at least one spatial layer for the UE in the MU-MIMO transmission; and wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field indicates whether one or more other spatial layers of the MU-MIMO transmission are assigned to at least one other UE. ### Claim 49 A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable code, comprising code to: determine to provide a multi-user multiple-input-multiple-output (MU-MIMO) transmission to a plurality of user equipments (UEs) over a same set of resource blocks; generate a downlink control information (DCI) message for each UE of the plurality of UEs indicating a downlink (DL) grant of the set of resource blocks, each DCI message comprising an MU-MIMO assistance information field; and transmit the generated DCI messages to the plurality of UEs; wherein each DCI message indicates a spatial layer assignment for a corresponding UE in the MU-MIMO transmission; and wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field indicates, for the corresponding UE, whether one or more other spatial layers are assigned to at least one other UE. ### Claim 50 A non-transitory computer-readable medium of a user equipment (UE) storing computer executable code, comprising code to: receive a downlink control information (DCI) message indicating a downlink (DL) grant of a set of resource blocks shared by other UEs for a multi-user multiple-input-multiple-output (MU-MIMO) transmission, the DCI message comprising an MU-MIMO assistance information field; receive the set of resource blocks on at least one spatial layer of the MU-MIMO transmission based on the DL grant; and process the set of resource blocks based on the MU-MIMO assistance information field; wherein the DCI message indicates an assignment of the at least one spatial layer for the UE in the MU-MIMO transmission; and wherein the MU-MIMO assistance information field indicates whether one or more other spatial layers of the MU-MIMO transmission are assigned to at least one other UE.