Downlink resource allocation and mapping

An apparatus comprising:

• a scheduler configured to:
• identify downlink resource requirements for transmission of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols to a plurality of users over a time unit of a wireless channel, wherein the downlink resource requirements are arranged as distributed virtual resource elements;
• sort the plurality of users according to their respective downlink resource requirements to provide a sorted list of the plurality of users, wherein a size of a first downlink resource requirement for a first user of the plurality of users is different than a size of a second downlink resource requirement for a second user of the plurality of users and the sorted list is in an order of decreasing downlink resource requirements;
• determine available downlink resource elements of the time unit of the wireless channel, wherein the available downlink resource elements are physical resource elements of one or more resource blocks assigned for distributed transmission, wherein individual resource blocks of the one or more resource blocks are to include information transmitted to more than one user;
• compute indices for the available downlink resource elements;
• and
• assign the available downlink resource elements to the plurality of users based at least in part on the sorted list and the computed indices, wherein said assignment of the available downlink resource elements is done in a manner to distribute the assigned downlink resource elements across the plurality of users with a desired measure of evenness and/or spacing between adjacent assigned downlink resource elements;
• and
• transmit circuitry operatively coupled to the scheduler and configured to receive information to be transmitted to the plurality of users and to map the received information to the available downlink resource elements based at least in part on assignments of the available downlink resource elements to the plurality of users provided by the scheduler.

A non-transitory machine-accessible medium having associated instructions, which, when executed, results in a machine:

• identifying downlink resource requirements for transmission of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols to a plurality of users over a time unit of a wireless channel, wherein the downlink resource requirements are arranged as distributed virtual resource elements;
• sorting the plurality of users according to their respective downlink resource requirements to provide a sorted list of the plurality of users, wherein a size of a first downlink resource requirement for a first user of the plurality of users is different than a size of a second downlink resource requirement for a second user of the plurality of users and the sorted list is in an order of decreasing downlink resource requirements;
• determining available downlink resource elements of the time unit of the wireless channel, wherein the available downlink resource elements are physical resource elements of one or more resource blocks assigned for distributed transmission, wherein individual resource blocks of the one or more resource blocks are to include information transmitted to more than one user;
• computing indices for the available downlink resource elements;
• and
• assigning the available downlink resource elements to the plurality of users based at least in part on the sorted list and the computed indices, wherein said assigning the available downlink resource elements is done in a manner to distribute the assigned downlink resource elements across the plurality of users with a desired measure of evenness and/or spacing between adjacent assigned downlink resource elements.

A system comprising:

• a scheduler configured to:
• identify downlink resource requirements for transmission of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols to a plurality of users over a time unit of a wireless channel, wherein the downlink resource requirements are arranged as distributed virtual resource elements;
• sort the plurality of users according to their respective downlink resource requirements to provide a sorted list of the plurality of users, wherein a size of a first downlink resource requirement for a first user of the plurality of users is different than a size of a second downlink resource requirement for a second user of the plurality of users and the sorted list is in an order of decreasing downlink resource requirements;
• determine available downlink resource elements of the time unit of the wireless channel, wherein the available downlink resource elements are physical resource elements of one or more resource blocks assigned for distributed transmission, wherein individual resource blocks of the one or more resource blocks are to include information transmitted to more than one user;
• compute indices for the available downlink resource elements;
• and
• assign the available downlink resource elements to the plurality of users based at least in part on the sorted list and the computed indices, wherein said assignment of the available downlink resource elements is done in a manner to distribute the assigned downlink resource elements across the plurality of users with a desired measure of evenness and/or spacing between adjacent assigned downlink resource elements;
• transmit circuitry operatively coupled to the scheduler and configured to receive information to be transmitted to the plurality of users and to map the received information to the available downlink resource elements based at least in part on assignments of the available downlink resource elements to the plurality of users provided by the scheduler;
• and
• a plurality of substantially omnidirectional antennas, operatively coupled to the transmit circuitry, wherein at least a first antenna of the plurality of substantially omnidirectional antennas is configured to transmit the mapped information over a wireless medium.