Controlled superposition coding in multi-user communication systems

An apparatus for superposition coding in a wireless communication system, the apparatus comprising:

• a scheduler module for selecting two or more user terminals from a plurality of user terminals within the wireless communication system to be scheduled on a traffic segment, wherein the selected two or more user terminals differ in channel quality by at least one predefined amount;
• and
• a transmitter coupled to the scheduler module for performing the following:
• a) transmitting, via the traffic segment, a composite traffic signal using superposition coding to the selected two or more user terminals;
• and
• b) transmitting an assignment signal using superposition coding to the selected two or more user terminals, the assignment signal comprising a plurality of protected signals, each of the protected signals associated with one of the two or more user terminals, wherein a transmit power of each of the protected signals corresponds inversely to a signal strength of its associated user terminal of the selected two or more user terminals.

An apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, the memory containing program code executable by the processor for performing the following:

• selecting two or more user terminals from a plurality of user terminals to be scheduled on a traffic segment, wherein the selected two or more user terminals differ in channel quality by at least one predefined amount;
• transmitting, via the traffic segment, a composite traffic signal using superposition coding to the selected two or more user terminals;
• and
• transmitting an assignment signal using superposition coding to the selected two or more user terminals, the assignment signal comprising a plurality of protected signals, each of the protected signals associated with one of the two or more user terminals, wherein a transmit power of each of the protected signals corresponds inversely to a signal strength of its associated user terminal of the selected two or more user terminals.

An apparatus for superposition coding in a wireless communication system, the apparatus comprising:

• means for selecting two or more user terminals from a plurality of user terminals to be scheduled on a traffic segment, wherein the selected two or more user terminals differ in channel quality by at least one predefined amount;
• means for transmitting, via the traffic segment, a composite traffic signal using superposition coding to the selected two or more user terminals;
• and
• means for transmitting an assignment signal using superposition coding to the selected two or more user terminals, the assignment signal comprising a plurality of protected signals, each of the protected signals associated with one of the two or more user terminals, wherein a transmit power of each of the protected signals corresponds inversely to a signal strength of its associated user terminal of the selected two or more user terminals.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to:

• select two or more user terminals from a plurality of user terminals to be scheduled on a traffic segment, wherein the selected two or more user terminals differ in channel quality by at least one predefined amount;
• transmit, via the traffic segment, a composite traffic signal using superposition coding to the selected two or more user terminals;
• and
• transmit an assignment signal using superposition coding to the selected two or more user terminals, the assignment signal comprising a plurality of protected signals, each of the protected signals associated with one of the two or more user terminals, wherein a transmit power of each of the protected signals corresponds inversely to a signal strength of its associated user terminal of the selected two or more user terminals.