Channel quality indicator apparatus and method

A method of operating a wireless communication system comprising:

• storing a plurality of channel quality indicator (CQI) tables at a base station and one or more user equipment, the tables generated according to a set of block error rate (BLER) versus signal to noise ratio (SNR) curves, each table comprising a set of indices, each index corresponding to a respective modulation and coding scheme (MCS) level and to a respective measured signal-to-noise ratio, and
• for each table, the MCS levels being chosen based on expected block error rates for a respective channel statistic and/or Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) transmission mode;
• and
• the base station selecting one of the plurality of tables for use in communication with the one or more user equipment;
• the base station signalling the selection of the table to the one or more user equipment;
• and
• the one or more user equipment measuring CQI values and feeding back indices corresponding to the measured CQI values to the base station based on the selected table.

An apparatus in a base station, the apparatus comprising

• a storage device for storing a plurality of channel quality indicator (CQI) tables generated according to a set of block error rate (BLER) versus signal to noise ratio (SNR) curves, each table comprising a set of indices, each index corresponding to a respective modulation and coding scheme (MCS) level and to a respective measured signal-to-noise ratio, and for each table, the MCS levels being chosen based on expected block error rates for a respective channel statistic and/or Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) transmission mode;
• a module for selecting one of the plurality of tables;
• a module for signalling the selection of the table to at least one user equipment;
• and
• a module for receiving CQI indices from the selected table fed back from the at least one user equipment.