Abstract: A system and method for providing an eNodeB with the flexibility to configure a Channel State Information (CSI) report to match a specific Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP) transmission hypothesis, which is a candidate for a downlink transmission to a User Equipment (UE) is disclosed. A UE receives, from the eNodeB, a configuration message that specifies a CSI report. The CSI report is specified by a particular interference hypothesis and a particular desired signal hypothesis corresponding to data transmission over at least one effective channel characterized by a specific reference signal. The UE estimates interference according to the interference hypothesis, and/or estimates at least one effective channel by performing measurements on the specific reference signal, and determines a CSI report based on the interference estimation and on the estimated effective channel. The UE also transmits the CSI report to the eNodeB.

Abstract: The teachings herein present a method and apparatus that implement and use a factorized precoder structure that is advantageous in terms of performance and efficiency. In particular, the teachings presented herein disclose an underlying precoder structure that allows for full PA utilization. According to this structure, an overall precoder is constructed from a conversion precoder and a tuning precoder. The conversion precoder comprises a block diagonal matrix and has 2?k/2? columns, where k is a non-negative integer. Each tuning precoder has the following properties: all non-zero elements are constant modulus; every column has exactly two non-zero elements; and every row has exactly two non-zero elements; two columns either have non-zero elements in the same two rows or do not have any non-zero elements in the same rows; and two columns having non-zero elements in the same two rows are orthogonal to each other. If row m in a tuning precoder column has a non-zero element, so does row m+?k/2?.

Abstract: An object of some embodiments is to enable more dynamic and flexible transmission of reduced-power subframes. Particular embodiments provide a method in a network node. The method comprises transmitting a downlink scheduling assignment for a subframe to a wireless terminal. The scheduling assignment is comprised in control information. The control information further comprises an indication of a power offset that is or will be used for data transmission in the subframe relative to reference signal transmission.

Abstract: In a transmitter or transceiver, signals can be precoded by multiplying symbol vectors with various matrices. For example, symbol vectors can be multiplied with a first column subset of unitary matrix which spreads symbols in the symbol vectors across virtual transmit antennas, a second diagonal matrix which changes a phase of the virtual transmit antennas, and a third precoding matrix which distributes the transmission across the transmit antennas.

Abstract: A high-power point and one or more low-power points transmit signals that are associated with the same cell-identifier in a heterogeneous cell deployment. The coverage areas corresponding to the low-power points fall at least partly within the coverage area for the high-power point, so that mobile stations within range of a low-power point are also within range of the high-power point, from a downlink perspective. The same CRS signals are transmitted by both the high-power (macro) point and some or all of the low-power (pico) points. At the same time, the network transmits CRS-based PDSCH for a particular UE on both the high-power point as well as on some or all of the low-power points. In some embodiments only a subset of the points, e.g., those points that the UE hears sufficiently well, participate in the PDSCH transmission using CRS for channel estimation.

Abstract: Embodiments of systems and methods for flexible Channel State Information (CSI) feedback in a cellular communications network are disclosed. In some embodiments, a base station configures a wireless device with a set of CSI-RS resources, dynamically configures a CSI-RS resource from the set of CSI-RS resources for measurement, and receives a CSI report from the wireless device determined from the CSI-RS resource dynamically configured for measurement. In this manner, the base station is enabled to dynamically configure and re-configure the CSI-RS resource(s) for measurement by the wireless device, which in turn provides flexible CSI feedback that is particularly well-suited for embodiments in which the base station transmits beamformed CSI-RS.

Abstract: A receiving unit or a transmitting unit of a wireless network, for facilitating noise and interference measurements on an air interface and a method of using the receiving/transmitting unit for measuring noise and interference. The receiving unit includes: a network interface which obtains information relating to a time-varying layout of a silent resource element (RE) grid; an electronic memory having code in communication with the network interface which stores the information; and a processing unit in communication with the electronic memory that takes a presence of a silent RE grid into account in the reception of a control or a data channel.

Abstract: The present invention provides a unified, rank independent mapping between antenna ports and group/code pairs. Each antenna port is uniquely associated with one code division multiplexing (CDM) group and one orthogonal cover code (OCC). The mapping between antenna ports and group/code pairs is chosen such that, for a given antenna port, the CDM group and OCC will be the same for every transmission rank.

Abstract: Systems and methods relating to transmitting and using multiple Channel State Information Reference Signals (CSI-RSs) for different purposes are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method of operation of a user equipment device in a cellular communications network comprises receiving multiple Zero-Power (ZP) CSI-RS configurations from the cellular communications network, the multiple ZP CSI-RS configurations comprising a first ZP CSI-RS configuration for small-cell or transmission point discovery and a second ZP CSI-RS configuration for a purpose other than small-cell or transmission point discovery, and performing one or more actions based on an assumption that, within a subframe, a set of resource elements defined by a union of all resource elements in the multiple ZP CSI-RS configurations are muted.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for enabling accurate link quality estimation of a wireless link between a sending node and a receiving node. When the sending node receives link state reports from the receiving node, it estimates the current state of the wireless link. The sending node also determines a measurement adjusting parameter if the link state reports are deemed inaccurate in relation to the estimated link state, based on a deviation between the received link state reports and the estimated actual link state. The sending node then sends the determined measurement adjusting parameter to the receiving node, and the receiving node provides a link state report based on signal measurements adjusted by the measurement adjusting parameter. The adjusted link state report can then be used for link adaptation of the wireless link and/or for packet scheduling decisions.

Abstract: An objective problem of the invention is to provide a mechanism for improving the performance of a radio access network. According to a first aspect of the present invention, the object is achieved by a method in a first node for adapting a multi-antenna transmission to a second node over an effective channel. The first node and the second node are comprised in a wireless communication system. The method comprises the steps of obtaining at least one symbol stream and determining a precoding matrix having a block diagonal structure. The method comprises the further steps of precoding the at least one symbol stream with the determined precoding matrix, and transmitting the at least one precoded symbol stream over the effective channel to the second node.

Abstract: A high-power point (110) and one or more low-power points (120) transmit signals that are associated with the same cell-identifier in a heterogeneous cell deployment. The coverage areas corresponding to the low-power points (120) fall at least partly within the coverage area for the high-power point (110), so that mobile stations (130) within range of a low-power point are also within range of the high-power point (110), from a downlink perspective. The same CRS signals are transmitted by both the high-power (macro) point (110) and some or all of the low-power (pico) points (120). At the same time, the network transmits CRS-based PDSCH for a particular UE on both the high-power point (110) as well as on some or all of the low-power points (120). In some embodiments only a subset of the points, e.g., those points that the UE hears sufficiently well, participate in the PDSCH transmission using CRS for channel estimation.

Abstract: According to some embodiments, a method of adapting reference signals of a wireless network comprises establishing a first wireless connection with a first user equipment. The first wireless connection is associated with one or more references signals and each of the one or more reference signals is associated with one or more antenna ports. The method further comprises mapping one of the one or more reference signals associated with one or more antenna ports to at least two antenna port reference signal resources (APRSR) for the first user equipment, wherein the APRSR comprises a pair of consecutive time-frequency resource elements of a radio subframe of the first wireless connection.

Abstract: A method of spatially precoding data includes determining a transmission rank of a communication channel and selecting a set of one or more precoding filters derived from a single generator matrix based on said transmission rank. The method also includes precoding data for transmission to a remote device using said precoding filters in a predetermined order according to a predetermined precoding sequence. The precoding may include using different ones of said precoding filters during different precoding intervals in a predetermined precoding period of the predetermined precoding sequence. Additionally, precoding data for transmission may involve traversing an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) resource block in an alternating pattern during said predetermined precoding period.

Abstract: A device and method for communicating frequency-coded symbols that include data elements and reference symbols are disclosed. In one aspect, a carrier frequency band includes a plurality of subcarrier frequency bands. Data elements are transmitted and received on respective pairs of adjacent subcarrier frequency bands to provide diversity. Reference symbols are transmitted and received on predetermined subcarrier frequency bands. Muting is applied to selected subcarrier frequency bands based on the number and frequency configuration of the reference symbols.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are disclosed for receiving user data in a wireless communication system that employs coordinated multi-point transmission of the user data from a first cell serving a wireless terminal and a second cell site neighboring the first cell site. In an exemplary system, the first cell site maps control signals and user data to a time-frequency resources according to a first mapping pattern, while the second cell site maps control data and traffic data to the time-frequency resources according to a second mapping pattern.

Abstract: A method and arrangement in a first node (110) for sending feedback data on a feedback channel (121) to a second node (111) is provided. The feedback data is indicative of channel properties of a data channel (120) for sending data from the second node (111) to the first node (110). A wireless MIMO communications system (100) comprises the first and second nodes (110, 111). The first node (110) sends (420), in a time period of the feedback channel (121), feedback data comprising a first rank indicator of the data channel (120). Furthermore, the first node (110) sends additional data (212, 242) being independent of the first rank indicator in the time period. Moreover, a corresponding method and arrangement in a second node (111) for receiving feedback data on a feedback channel is provided.

Abstract: A method implemented by a wireless terminal of reporting channel state information to a wireless communication network is disclosed. The wireless terminal receives reference symbols on a set of channel state information reference symbol (CSI-RS) resources, and determines a common transmission rank for the set of CSI-RS resources, based on the reference symbols received on a subset of those CSI-RS resources. The terminal then generates CSI feedback as a function of the common transmission rank, and transmits the CSI feedback to the communication network. The CSI feedback may include the common transmission rank itself, or may include different transmission ranks for different CSI-RS resources each determined as a function of the common transmission rank. A complementary method in which a network node uses such a CSI feedback to perform rank adaptation for the set of CSI-RS resources is also disclosed.

Abstract: A high-power point and one or more low-power points transmit signals associated with the same cell-identifier in a heterogeneous cell deployment. Coverage areas corresponding to the low-power points fall at least partly within the coverage area for the high-power point, so that mobile stations within range of a low-power point are also within range of the high-power point. Channel-state-information reference symbols, CSI-RS, are transmitted using different CSI-RS resources on different transmission points within the cell, while configuration of CSI-RS measurement resources is conducted on a UE-specific basis. The choice of measurement resources to be used is determined by the network, based on the properties of the channels from the transmission points to the UE. As the UE moves around within the cell, the network tracks the channel properties and reconfigures the CSI-RS resources measured by the UE, to correspond to the resource of the closest transmission point or points.

Abstract: In a transmitter or transceiver, signals can be precoded by multiplying symbol vectors with various matrices. For example, symbol vectors can be multiplied with a first column subset of unitary matrix which spreads symbols in the symbol vectors across virtual transmit antennas, a second diagonal matrix which changes a phase of the virtual transmit antennas, and a third precoding matrix which distributes the transmission across the transmit antennas.