Method and system for operating a multi-user multiple-input multiple output (mu-mimo) wireless communications system

A method in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

• at a mobile station;
• generating inter-cell interference information, and
• transmitting the inter-cell interference information to the base station;
• and
• at the base station;
• calculating a channel quality indicator (CQI) for the mobile station using the inter-cell interference information transmitted from the mobile station,
• making a scheduling decision in response to the CQI, and
• transmitting data to the mobile station according to the scheduling decision.

A base station for use in a wireless communications system that supports multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) communications between the base station and multiple mobile stations, the base station comprising:

• a channel quality indicator (CQI) calculator configured to calculate CQIs for the mobile stations in response to inter-cell interference information received from the mobile stations;
• a scheduler configured to make a scheduling decision in response to the CQI;
• and
• a MU-MIMO transmitter configured to transmit data to the mobile stations according to the scheduling decision.

A method for a base station usable in a wireless communications system:

• at the base station;
• calculating a channel quality indicator (CQI) for a mobile station using the inter-cell interference information received from the mobile station;
• making a scheduling decision in response to the CQI;
• and
• transmitting data to the mobile station according to the scheduling decision.

A method for a mobile station usable in a wireless communications system, the method comprising:

• at a mobile station,
• receiving and measuring multiple incoming signals;
• generating inter-cell interference information;
• and
• transmitting the inter-cell interference information to the base station for use in calculating a channel quality indicator (CQI).