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US 2022/0286169 A1Published application
Enhanced base station user scheduling
AssigneeAT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
InventorsAditya Chopra, Andrew Thornburg, Saeed Ghassemzadeh
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Abstract
Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a base station that includes a phased array antenna system and a MIMO antenna system. The MIMO antenna system may receive sounding signals sent by user equipment (UE) and determine angular location information for each UE. The angular location information may be used by the phased array antenna system to create antenna beams. The angular location information may also be used to schedule communications with multiple UEs in common beams. Other embodiments are disclosed.
Claims20
A device, comprising:
- a first antenna array;
- an analog beamformer coupled to the first antenna array;
- a second antenna array;
- a digital beamformer coupled to the second antenna array;
- a processing system coupled to the analog beamformer and the digital beamformer, the processing system including a processor;
- and
- a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
- forming a first beam with the analog beamformer coupled to the first antenna array;
- transmitting, in the first beam, a signal requesting a plurality of user equipment (UEs) to transmit sounding signals at a first time and a first frequency;
- receiving the sounding signals at the second antenna array;
- processing the sounding signals using the digital beamformer coupled to the second antenna array to determine an angular direction information for at least a portion of the plurality of UEs;
- identifying a first grouping of the plurality of UEs that are within a particular angular distance, and identifying a second grouping of the plurality of UEs that are within the particular angular distance;
- responsive to the identifying the first grouping and the identifying the second grouping, scheduling downlink communications with the first grouping in a first downlink beam and scheduling downlink communications with the second grouping in a second downlink beam, the first and second downlink beams to be generated by the analog beamformer;
- and
- transmitting, in the first downlink beam, downlink communications to the first grouping of the plurality of UEs, and transmitting, in the second downlink beam, downlink communications to the second grouping of the plurality of UEs.
12 more elements
A non-transitory, machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
- forming a first beam with an analog beamformer coupled to a first antenna array;
- transmitting, in the first beam, a signal requesting a plurality of user equipment (UEs) to transmit sounding signals at a first time and a first frequency;
- receiving the sounding signals at a second antenna array;
- processing the sounding signals using a digital beamformer coupled to the second antenna array to determine an angular direction information for at least a portion of the plurality of UEs;
- identifying a first grouping of the plurality of UEs that are within a particular angular distance, and identifying a second grouping of the plurality of UEs that are within the particular angular distance;
- responsive to the identifying the first grouping and the identifying the second grouping, scheduling downlink communications with the first grouping in a first downlink beam and scheduling downlink communications with the second grouping in a second downlink beam, the first and second downlink beams to be generated by the analog beamformer;
- and
- transmitting, in the first downlink beam, downlink communications to the first grouping of the plurality of UEs, and transmitting, in the second downlink beam, downlink communications to the second grouping of the plurality of UEs.
5 more elements
A method comprising:
- determining, by a processing system including a processor, a first plurality of gain and phase values to form a first beam with an analog beamformer coupled to a first antenna array;
- transmitting by the processing system, in the first beam, a signal requesting a plurality of user equipment (UEs) to transmit sounding signals at a first time and a first frequency;
- receiving, by the processing system, the sounding signals at a second antenna array;
- processing, by the processing system, the sounding signals using a digital beamformer coupled to the second antenna array to determine angular direction information for at least a portion of the plurality of UEs;
- identifying, by the processing system, a first grouping of the plurality of UEs that are within a particular angular distance, and identifying a second grouping of the plurality of UEs that are within the particular angular distance;
- responsive to the identifying the first grouping and the identifying the second grouping, scheduling, by the processing system, downlink communications with the first grouping in a first downlink beam and scheduling downlink communications with the second grouping in a second downlink beam, the first and second downlink beams to be generated by the analog beamformer;
- and
- transmitting by the processing system, in the first downlink beam, downlink communications to the first grouping of the plurality of UEs, and transmitting, in the second downlink beam, downlink communications to the second grouping of the plurality of UEs.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.