CLIAMS:We Claim:

1. A method of scheduling channel information to facilitate a plurality of moving UEs under a serving base station, the method comprising:
receiving timing advance information from the plurality of UE from the nearest three base station to the respective serving base stations, wherein the timing advance information is used to obtain the co-ordinate information;
generating MCS map and UE’s direction map based on a per UE basis, wherein the generated maps are based on ‘x’, ‘y’ location or ‘r’, ‘?’ of the UEs;
receiving a scheduling request at the serving base station for scheduling and allocating a MCS value by at least one UE;
estimating the UE existing co-ordinates by triangulation and the received timing advance information;
extrapolating the UE location in the next scheduling instance using estimated UE existing co-ordinates along with the information about the UE in the UE direction map;
determining the MCS information to be used in the extrapolated location of the UE by hashing into the MCS map; and
scheduling the DL and UL channel information of the UE based on the MCS value information obtained from other UEs through the MCS map

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating MCS map by keeping track of the MCS being used by all the UEs in respective base stations.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of estimating the UE existing co-ordinates in order to estimate the future location of the UE using UE location map.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein scheduling and allocating a MCS value based on the UE location estimate and the information about the MCS allocated previously at the base station.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the estimated location information is used in finding the appropriate MCS value in the next scheduling instance along with the CQI information from the UE.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information of all the UEs within the reach of the base station is tracked continuously for location based on any triangulation mechanism.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information of all the UEs (UE location map) used to estimate the possible direction in which each UE is expected to move within the next scheduling interval.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating MCS map and UE’s direction map for downlink and uplink channel.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of generating MCS map and UE’s direction map for downlink channel further comprising:
generating a three dimensional DL MCS map with the UE coordinates as two axis and the resource blocks as the third axis;
each entry in this DL MCS map matrix is initially kept as NULL entry till the first UE with said coordinate and RBs is indicated by the CQI to have a specific MCS value;
the entry (x,y,z) in DL MCS matrix is changed to the indicated MCS value as specified by the CQI of the UE at (x,y) which is using resource block ‘z’;
each entry in this DL MCS map will have a specified time of persistence before it is reverted back to NULL to take care of fading over a long period of time; and
generating a UE direction map specifying the Cartesian or the spherical coordinate of the UE.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the UE direction map is a finite size list with entries beyond the limit getting dropped, wherein the UE direction map is maintained for all active users under the eNodeB.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of generating MCS map and UE’s direction map for uplink channel further comprising:
generating a three dimensional UL MCS map with the UE coordinates as two axis and the resource blocks as the third axis;
each entry in this UL MCS map matrix is initially kept as NULL entry till the first UE with the said coordinate and RBs is filled by the MCS value estimated based on the DMRS and/or SRS information;
the entry (x,y,z) in UL MCS matrix is changed to the estimated MCS value obtained through the DMRS and/or SRS of the UE at (x,y) which is using resource block ‘z’;
each entry in this UL MCS map will have a specified time of persistence before it is reverted back to NULL to take care of fading over a long period of time; and
generating a UE direction map specifying the Cartesian or the spherical coordinate of the UE.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the UE direction map is a finite size list with entries beyond the limit getting dropped, wherein UE direction map is maintained for all active users under the eNodeB.

13. An eNodeB or a relay node or a BTS, comprising:
a processor including a memory; and
a control unit communicatively coupled the processor, wherein the control circuit is configured for scheduling channel information to facilitate a plurality of moving UEs under a serving base station in a communication network, wherein the configuration includes:
receiving timing advance information from the plurality of UE from the nearest three base station to the respective serving base stations, wherein the timing advance information is used to obtain the co-ordinate information;
generating MCS map and UE’s direction map based on a per UE basis, wherein the generated maps are based on ‘x’, ‘y’ location or ‘r’, ‘?’ of the UEs;
receiving a scheduling request at the serving base station for scheduling and allocating a MCS value by at least one UE;
estimating the UE existing co-ordinates by triangulation and the received timing advance information;
extrapolating the UE location in the next scheduling instance using estimated UE existing co-ordinates along with the information about the UE in the UE direction map;
determining the MCS information to be used in the extrapolated location of the UE by hashing into the MCS map; and
scheduling the DL and UL channel information of the UE based on the MCS value information obtained from other UEs through the MCS map.

14. The eNodeB or a relay node or a BTS of claim 13, wherein the communications network is at least one of the following: a 3rd Generation mobile communications system, a 4th Generation mobile communications system, a 3rd Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution mobile communications system.
,TagSPECI:FORM 2

THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10, rule 13)

“A method and System of scheduling channel information to facilitate a plurality of moving UEs under a serving base station”

Tejas Networks Limited
Plot No. 25, JP Software Park,
Electronics City, Phase-1, Hosur Road
Bangalore - 560 100, Karnataka, India

The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communications and more particularly to a location based mechanism of finding the data modulation or the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) information for a communication channel in a wireless network.

Background of the Invention
Wireless communication networks, such as cellular networks, operate by sharing resources among mobile terminals operating in the communication network. As part of the sharing process, resources are allocated by one or more controlling devices within the system. Certain types of wireless communication networks are used to support cell-based high speed services such as those under the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Other standards include the IEEE 802.16 standards (also known as WiMAX), and the IEEE 802.11 standards (also known as WiFi).
The 3GPP LTE standard aims to improve the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) terrestrial radio access mobile phone standard to cope with future requirements. The 3GPP LTE technical specification is described in a set of reference documents including LTE; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); Overall description; Stage 2; 3GPP TS 36.300 version 9.3.0 Release 9 (2010 April). In 3GPP LTE (E-UTRA and E-UTRAN) terminology, a base station is called an “eNode-B” (eNB) and a mobile terminal or device is called a “user equipment” (UE).
Wireless communications over time-varying radio channels are subject to radio channel impairments such as Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) and fading, which introduce losses in the received information and degrade the quality of the delivered service. To ensure that the required Quality-of-Service (QoS) for a specific application is met under varying radio channel conditions, radio link adaptation techniques become necessary. The ultimate goal of radio link adaptation in wireless communication systems is to attain the required quality of service (QoS) in a particular connection—for example, a downlink (DL) from the base station to the mobile terminal or terminal unit, or, uplink (UL) from the mobile terminal to the base station—with a minimum level of resources.
Conventionally, in link adaptation for the DL and UL channels to a given mobile terminal, the base station may use a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) value associated with the mobile terminal to schedule resources for data transmission including selecting an appropriate modulation and coding scheme (MCS) level for the data transmission. The CQI value is a function of DL channel quality measurements performed by the mobile terminal on pilot signals transmitted from the base station, such as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), the received signal strength (RSS), the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the bit-error-rate (BER) before or after the channel decoder, etc. The CQI value may be periodically updated by the base station based on channel quality reports received on the UL from the mobile terminal. A report may consist of a CQI value, or information sufficient to enable the base station to determine a CQI value for the reporting mobile station. The base station may thus adapt the MCS level of signals transmitted on the DL and UL channels based on the link quality measurements by mapping the CQI value to an MCS level based on a static CQI-to-MCS mapping table.
For example, in 3GPP LTE, the UE provides a measure of channel quality to the eNB by means of Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) values that are continuously fed back to the eNB on an uplink (UL). The UE determines the CQI values based on channel quality measurements (e.g. SNR, SINR, etc.) made on pilot signals transmitted from the eNB. The CQI values are defined as indexes into a mapping table containing possible MCS levels.

As known in the art each UE needs to be scheduled to a resource block and an appropriate MCS has to be provided for these resource blocks for proper operation. This is done for both uplink and downlink. In order to populate the MCS this is based only on the information provided by the UE through CQI. The CQI information from the UE is directly used to set the MCS value for the downlink through enodeB/ base station is free to modify it based on additional information not available to the UE. The channel estimate on the uplink may be based on aperiodic estimate whenever needed by setting the CSI bit in the scheduling grant and after which using the SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) or DMRS (Demodulation Reference Signal) for the PUSCH or PUCCH. In case of TDD, CQI reported for downlink can be used to get an estimate of the uplink CQI as well by assuming channel reciprocity. Estimation of MCS obtained solely based on CQI or Sound Reference Signal (SRS) or De-modulation Reference Signal (DMRS) is not good enough to estimate especially with user mobility. The channel information provided at a time‘t’ may be completely different at ‘t+?t’, due to change in location of UE.

A need exists for a location based method and system of finding the data modulation or the modulation and coding schemes information being carried in Download Control Information (DCI) or Upload Control Information (UCI) in order to increase performance and throughput.

Summary of the Invention

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more embodiments in order to provide a basic understanding of such embodiments. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated embodiments, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all embodiments nor delineate the scope of any or all embodiments. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more embodiments in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention is a method of scheduling channel information to facilitate a plurality of moving UEs under a serving base station, the method comprising: receiving timing advance information from the plurality of UE from the nearest three base station to the respective serving base stations, wherein the timing advance information is used to obtain the co-ordinate information, generating MCS map and UE’s direction map based on a per UE basis, wherein the generated maps are based on Cartesian coordinate system (‘x’, ‘y’) location or Spherical coordinate (‘r’, ‘?’) of the UEs, receiving a scheduling request at the serving base station for scheduling and allocating a MCS value by at least one UE, estimating the UE existing co-ordinates by triangulation and the received timing advance information, extrapolating the UE location in the next scheduling instance using estimated UE existing co-ordinates along with the information about the UE in the UE direction map, determining the MCS information to be used in the extrapolated location of the UE by hashing into the MCS map and scheduling the DL and UL channel information of the UE based on the MCS value information obtained from other UEs through the MCS map.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention is an eNodeB or a relay node or a BTS, comprising: a processor including a memory and a control unit communicatively coupled the processor, wherein the control circuit is configured for scheduling channel information to facilitate a plurality of moving UEs under a serving base station in a communication network, wherein the configuration includes: receiving timing advance information from the plurality of UE from the nearest three base station to the respective serving base stations, wherein the timing advance information is used to obtain the co-ordinate information, generating MCS map and UE’s direction map based on a per UE basis, wherein the generated maps are based on ‘x’, ‘y’ location or ‘r’, ‘?’ of the UEs; receiving a scheduling request at the serving base station for scheduling and allocating a MCS value by at least one UE, estimating the UE existing co-ordinates by triangulation and the received timing advance information, extrapolating the UE location in the next scheduling instance using estimated UE existing co-ordinates along with the information about the UE in the UE direction map, determining the MCS information to be used in the extrapolated location of the UE by hashing into the MCS map and scheduling the channel information of the UE based on the MCS value information obtained from other UEs through the MCS map.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

Brief description of the drawings

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only certain typical embodiments of this disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the description may admit to other equally effective embodiments.

Figure 1 is an illustration showing the cell structure of a mobile communication system for explaining a location measuring method using the triangulation technology.

Figure 2 shows a flow chart method of scheduling channel information to facilitate a plurality of moving UEs under a serving base station, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 a pictorial representation of MCS Map and UE Direction Map according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating components of a wireless node, such as a mobile station or a base station, according to several embodiments of the present invention.

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may have not been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.

Detail description of the Invention
Various example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying figures, it being noted that specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are merely representative for purposes of describing example embodiments. Example embodiments may be embodied in many alternate forms and should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms since such terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein the description, the term “and” is used in both the conjunctive and disjunctive sense and includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising,”, “includes” and “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which example embodiments belong. It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions/acts noted may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, one or more figures shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.

FIG. 1 is an illustration showing the cell structure of a mobile communication system 100 for explaining a location measuring method using the triangulation technology. The system 100 generally includes a plurality 102 of base stations, including base station 104, base station 106, and base station 108, and network controller 110. The network controller 110 is coupled to the public switched telephone network 112. The network controller 110 further is in wire line communication with each base station of the plurality 102 of base stations. The individual connections between the network controller 110 and the plurality 102 of base stations are not illustrated in FIG. 1 so as not to unduly complicate the figure.

Each of the plurality 102 of base stations is configured to be in radio communication with one or more mobile stations such as mobile station 116. Such radio communication is conducted according to a standardized protocol, as is well known in the art. The terms "mobile station" or "mobile" as used herein, refer to mobile radiotelephones such as may be mounted in a car or other vehicle or portable radiotelephone handsets which are self-contained and may be carried by the user. Through radio communication with one or more of the base stations 104, 106, 108, the mobile station 116 may complete a call with another mobile station (not shown) in the system 100 or with another subscriber coupled to the public switched telephone network 112.

To provide effective radiotelephone communication, each base station of the plurality 102 of base stations serves a respective service area. Thus, base station 104 serves service area 118, base station 106 serves service area 120, and base station 108 serves service area 122. In FIG. 1, the service areas are illustrated as being hexagonal in shape. However, it will be recognized by those ordinarily skilled in the art that the service areas 118, 120, 122 may have any shape, such as triangular, square, or otherwise. Moreover, it will also be recognized by those ordinarily skilled in the art that the system 100 may include any number of base stations and any number of mobile stations such as mobile station 116 may be operated in conjunction with the system 100.

In the mobile communication network that has a cell structure centering on base stations, a mobile station receives signals from at least three base stations a, b, and c, and determines its relative location with respect to each base station using the base station's coordinate and signal-sending time.

Figure 2 shows a flow chart 200 of a method of scheduling channel information to facilitate a plurality of moving UEs under a serving base station, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

At step 210, the method receives timing advance information from the plurality of UE from the nearest three base station to the respective serving base stations. The timing advance information is used to obtain the co-ordinate information.

At step 220, the method generates Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS) map and User Equipment’s (UE’s) direction map based on a per UE basis. The generated maps are based on ‘x’, ‘y’ location or ‘r’, ‘?’ of the UEs. The MCS map is generated by keeping track of the MCS being used by all the UEs in respective base stations. The MCS map is generated for downlink and uplink channel, the UE’s direction map is same for downlink and uplink direction. .

At step 230, the method receives a scheduling request at the serving base station for scheduling and allocating a MCS value by at least one UE.

At step 240, the method estimates the UE existing co-ordinates by triangulation and the received timing advance information, where estimating the UE existing co-ordinates in order to estimate the future location of the UE using UE location map.

At step 250, the method extrapolates the UE location in the next scheduling instance using estimated UE existing co-ordinates along with the information about the UE in the UE direction map.

At step 260, the method determines the MCS information being used in location of the UE using the extrapolated location of the UE by hash into the MCS map. The location information of all the UEs within the reach of the base station is tracked continuously for location based on any triangulation mechanism. The location information of all the UEs (UE location map) used to estimate the possible direction in which each UE is expected to move within the next scheduling interval.

At step 270, the method schedules the channel information to facilitate the UE using UE location map to detect the appropriate MCS value for other UEs. The scheduling and allocating a MCS value is based on the UE location estimate and the information about the MCS allocated previously at the base station. The estimated location information is used in finding the appropriate MCS value in the next scheduling instance along with the CQI information from the UE.

In an operation, using the location based information for creating a MCS map of the region under a given base station and the MCS being used by different UE at different location. The location information of all the UE within the reach of base station is tracked continuously for location based on any triangulation mechanism. This is also used to estimate the possible direction in which each UE is expected to move within in the next scheduling interval by creating a UE location map. The estimated location information is used in finding the appropriate MCS value in the next scheduling instance along with the CQI information from the UE.

Generation of MCS map and UE’s direction map for downlink channel

Each UE inform the timing advance information from the nearest three BS to the serving BS. For this UEs may use the Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) from the neighboring BSs. This information is used to figure out the location of the UE within the BS region. This can be used to obtain the coordinate information through any well known schemes in the prior art. The UE location is based on a per UE basis in a UE direction map table. This is either the x, y location of the UE or the r, ? of the UE. The CQI information provided by the UE indicates the maximum possible MCS value that could allow data transmission with <10% error. This CQI value is loaded onto the DL MCS map of the BS region. The CQI value may need to be normalized before entering it to DL MCS map if the power levels used by the UEs are different.. DL MCS map is a three dimensional matrix with the two dimension being either the planar Cartesian coordinate (x,y) location of the UE or the planar spherical coordinate (r,?) of the UE. The third dimension is the RBs (6, 15,.., 100 depending on the channel bandwidth) and it can take any one of the 29 MCS values allowed as per the DCI. Each entry in DL MCS map is kept initially as NULL in the third dimension till sufficient information on a particular entry is obtained from any UE using the said coordinate and RB. For every new entry into the DL MCS map once loaded triggers a reverse timer which when counts down to 0, will reset the entry in the DL MCS map to NULL. This will ensure that stale data are purged of the DL MCS map. In case of TDD downlink and uplink channel are assumed to be symmetric then the same procedure mentioned in this invention for DL MCS map generation is used for the UL and a separate UL MCS map is not generated. The present invention is extended to UL (uplink) MCS map but not limited to be used only in the DL and use any other scheduling mechanism in the UL.

Generation of MCS map and UE’s direction map for Uplink channel

Each UE inform the timing advance information from the nearest three BS to the serving BS. This information is used to figure out the location of the UE within the BS region. This can be used to obtain the coordinate information through any well known schemes. The UE location is based on a per UE basis in a UE direction map table. This is either the x, y location of the UE or the r, ? of the UE. The sub-frame in which SRS are to be transmitted by the UE is indicated using the cell specific broadcast signaling by the eNodeB/BS. This will indicate the 15 possible sub-frame in which SRS may be transmitted within each radio frame, with the 16th configuration switching off the SRS for example for high speed UEs. DM-RS transmitted in every uplink PUSCH data or PUCCH control is measured for channel estimation of the UL data and control channel within the UE scheduled RBs. The DMRS and/or SRS information is used to estimate the maximum possible MCS value which could be used in the uplink so that the error is less than 10%. This estimate of MCS value is loaded onto the UL MCS map of the BS region. UL MCS map is a three dimensional matrix with the two dimension being either the planar Cartesian coordinate (x,y) location of the UE or the planar spherical coordinate (r,?) of the UE. The third dimension is the RB (6, 15,.., 100 depending on the channel bandwidth) and can take any one of the 29 MCS values allowed as per the DCI. Each entry in UL MCS map is kept initially as NULL in the third dimension till sufficient information on a particular entry is obtained from any UE using the said coordinate and RB. For every entry in UL MCS map once loaded triggers a reverse timer which when counts down to 0, will reset the entry in the DL MCS map to NULL. This will ensure that stale data are purged of the DL MCS map.

Figure 3(a) and 3(b) shows pictorial representation of MCS Map and UE Direction Map and their usage by using coordinates provided by UEs according to one embodiment of the present invention. Any UE which needs to be scheduled and allocated a MCS value, will request the same from the eNodeB MAC scheduler. UE existing coordinate is estimated by triangulation and the timing advance information provided by the UEs. An example table coordinates is shown in figure 3 (b) The scheduler will use this information along with the information about the UE in the UE direction map to extrapolate the UE location in the next scheduling instance (will be >= TTI depending on the processing power of the eNodeB/BS). The extrapolated location of the UE is used to hash into the MCS map and figure out the MCS information being used in that location. If the value output from DL/UL MCS map hashing is NULL, then MCS is derived based purely on the information of CQI/DM-RS/SRS information from the UE. If the value is not NULL then the MCS information provided over DCS as part of scheduling by the MAC scheduler is a weighted average of the MCS entry value from DL/UL MCS map (The DL/UL MCS map used is based on the RBs which are being used for scheduled the UE. If the granularity of selection is coarse then the entry from the neighboring RBs DL/UL MCS map can also be used in case exact RBs are returning NULL information) and the MCS value of derived from the CQI/DM-RS/SRS (For DL/UL) from the UE.

In an example embodiment, at each location as indicated by the two base dimensions of the MCS map, the entry which indicates the MCS value as experienced by a UE, sometime ?t before is a good enough indication of the probable channel expected in that location. This is better than the UEs estimate as it is for a channel which is slightly behind the actual location. Especially at higher user mobility when the device moves over the ?t interval the channel can considerably deteriorate and this invention helps to improve the spectral efficiency obtained by the UE (UE#1) by using the information of another UE (UE#2) present at the same location at a small time ahead of it along the direction of this UE#1. An example MCS map generated is shown in figure 3(a). By using the UE location map one can detect the appropriate MCS value for another UE. Ability to get a much better estimate of the MCS value will increase the data throughput (and the spectral efficiency) obtained by a UE within the scheduled resource block.

Those skilled in the art will further appreciate that practical embodiments of the techniques described above will include signaling methods, practiced in a base station such as an eNB, a mobile station such as a UE, or both, as well as devices, including base stations, e.g. eNBs, and mobile stations, e.g. UEs. In some cases, the methods/techniques described above will be implemented in a wireless transceiver apparatus such as the one pictured in Figure 4, which illustrates a few of the components relevant to the present techniques, as realized in either a mobile station such as wireless terminal 120, or a network node such as network node 110, e.g. an eNB.

The pictured apparatus includes radio circuitry 410 and baseband & control processing circuit 420. Radio circuitry 410 includes receiver circuits and transmitter circuits that use known radio processing and signal processing components and techniques, typically according to a particular telecommunications standard such as the 3GPP standard for LTE-Advanced. Because the various details and engineering tradeoffs associated with the design of such circuitry are well known and are unnecessary to a full understanding of the invention, additional details are not shown here.

Baseband & control processing circuit 420 includes one or more microprocessors or microcontrollers 430, as well as other digital hardware 435, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. Either or both of microprocessor(s) 430 and digital hardware may be configured to execute program code 442 stored in memory 440, along with radio parameters 444. Again, because the various details and engineering tradeoffs associated with the design of baseband processing circuitry for mobile devices and wireless base stations are well known and are unnecessary to a full understanding of the invention, additional details are not shown here.

The program code 442 stored in memory circuit 440, which may comprise one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory, cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc., includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols, as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein, in several embodiments. Radio parameters 444 may include one or more predetermined tables or other data for supporting these techniques, in some embodiments. Particular embodiments of network node 110 will now be described with reference to Figure 4 and the embodiments presented above in connection with Figures 2 and 3. The network node comprises radio circuitry 410 and one or more processing circuits 420. The one or more processing circuits 420 are configured to select, based on at least one parameter related to transmission of a CSI-only report, a transport block out of two or more available transport block, such that the at least one parameter is derivable from an indication of which transport block was selected. The one or more processing circuits 420 are further configured to transmit an uplink grant via radio circuitry 410 to a wireless terminal 120, the uplink grant comprising the request for the CQI-only report, and comprising an indication of the selected transport block.

The at least one parameter may be one or more of a CQI modality, a modulation order, a transmission rank, an indication of one or more coordinated multipoint transmission points for which to report CSI, an indication of one or more component carriers for which to report CSI, an index of a codeword on which to map the CSI report, or an indication of the layers which the CSI report should be mapped to.

In some variants, the processing circuits 420 are configured to also use one or more other bits in the uplink grant to indicate the at least one parameter, such that the at least one parameter is derivable from the one or more other bits in combination with one or more bits derivable from the indication of the selected transport block. The one or more bits are not used for triggering, e.g. requesting, the CSI-only report. The one or more other bits may comprise one or more of a new data indicator for a selected or non- selected transport block, one or more bits of a CSI request field, or one or more bits of a modulation coding scheme field for a selected or non-selected transport block.

In a particular variant, the processing circuits 420 are configured to combine one or more other bits with one or more bits derivable from the indication of the selected transport block to form a bitmap indicating for which component carriers to report CSI.

In some variants, the processing circuits 420 are configured to jointly encode two or more parameters using the one or more other bits combined with one or more bits derivable from the indication of the selected transport block. The processing circuits 420 may be configured to transmit the uplink grant via radio circuitry 410 on a Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH and using a downlink control information, DCi, format. Particular embodiments of wireless terminal 110 will now be described with reference to Figure 4 and the embodiments presented above in connection with Figures 2 and 3. The wireless terminal 120 comprises radio circuitry 410, and one or more processing circuits 420. The one or more processing circuits 420 are configured to receive an uplink grant comprising a request for a CSI-only report, wherein the uplink grant indicates a selected transport block, out of two or more available transport blocks. The one or more processing circuits 420 are further configured to derive at least one parameter related to transmission of the CSI-only report based on the indication of the selected transport block, for example from the index of the selected transport block. The processing circuits are further configured to transmit the CSI-only report via radio circuitry 410 according to the derived parameter.

The at least one parameter may be one or more of a CQI modality, a modulation order, a transmission rank, an indication of one or more coordinated multipoint transmission points for which to report CSI, an indication of one or more component carriers for which to report CSI, an index of a codeword on which to map the CSI report, or an indication of the layers which the CSI report should be mapped to.

In particular variants, processing circuits 420 are further configured to derive the at least one parameter from one or more other bits in the uplink grant in combination with one or more bits derived from the indication of the selected transport block, wherein the one or more other bits are not used for triggering the CSI-only report. The one or more other bits may comprise one or more of a new data indicator for a selected or non- selected transport block, one or more bits of a CSI request field, or one or more bits of a modulation coding scheme field for a selected or non-selected transport block.

In a particular variant, the processing circuits 420 are configured to derive a bitmap from the one or more other bits in combination with one or more bits derivable from the indication of the selected transport block, where the bitmap indicates for which component carriers to report CSI.

In some variants, the processing circuits 420 are configured to derive two or more parameters by jointly decoding the one or more other bits and the one or more bits derived from the indication of the selected transport block.

The processing circuits 420 may be configured to receive the uplink grant on a Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH, using a downlink control information, DC I, format, via radio circuitry 410. The processing circuits 420 may be further configured to transmit the CSI-only report on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH, via radio circuitry 410.

Examples of several embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, with reference to the attached illustrations of specific embodiments. As it is not possible, of course, to describe every conceivable combination of components or techniques, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be implemented in other ways than those specifically set forth herein, without departing from essential characteristics of the invention. Note that although terminology from 36PP LTE-Advanced has been used in this disclosure to exemplify the invention, this should not be seen as limiting the scope of the invention to only the aforementioned system. Other wireless systems including or adapted to include multi-layer transmission techniques may also benefit from exploiting the ideas covered within this disclosure. Also note that terminology such as base station and UE should be considered non-limiting as applied to the principles of the invention. In particular, while detailed proposals applicable to the uplink in LTE-Advanced are described here, the described techniques may be applied to the downlink in other contexts.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the term "Channel State Information", CSI, encompasses the term CQI. Thus, CQI is one example of CSI. However, CSI may comprise other or additional information, such as a rank indicator (Rl). Thus, although certain examples herein refer to CQI or CQI-only reports, the concepts described apply equally to CSI or CSI-only reports in genera). When using the word "comprise" or "comprising" it shall be interpreted as non- limiting, i.e. meaning "consist at least of.

The present invention is not limited to the above-describe preferred embodiments. Various alternatives, modifications and equivalents may be used. Therefore, the above embodiments should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention, which is defined by the appending claims.

We Claim:

1. A method of scheduling channel information to facilitate a plurality of moving UEs under a serving base station, the method comprising:
receiving timing advance information from the plurality of UE from the nearest three base station to the respective serving base stations, wherein the timing advance information is used to obtain the co-ordinate information;
generating MCS map and UE’s direction map based on a per UE basis, wherein the generated maps are based on ‘x’, ‘y’ location or ‘r’, ‘?’ of the UEs;
receiving a scheduling request at the serving base station for scheduling and allocating a MCS value by at least one UE;
estimating the UE existing co-ordinates by triangulation and the received timing advance information;
extrapolating the UE location in the next scheduling instance using estimated UE existing co-ordinates along with the information about the UE in the UE direction map;
determining the MCS information to be used in the extrapolated location of the UE by hashing into the MCS map; and
scheduling the DL and UL channel information of the UE based on the MCS value information obtained from other UEs through the MCS map

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating MCS map by keeping track of the MCS being used by all the UEs in respective base stations.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of estimating the UE existing co-ordinates in order to estimate the future location of the UE using UE location map.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein scheduling and allocating a MCS value based on the UE location estimate and the information about the MCS allocated previously at the base station.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the estimated location information is used in finding the appropriate MCS value in the next scheduling instance along with the CQI information from the UE.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information of all the UEs within the reach of the base station is tracked continuously for location based on any triangulation mechanism.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information of all the UEs (UE location map) used to estimate the possible direction in which each UE is expected to move within the next scheduling interval.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating MCS map and UE’s direction map for downlink and uplink channel.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of generating MCS map and UE’s direction map for downlink channel further comprising:
generating a three dimensional DL MCS map with the UE coordinates as two axis and the resource blocks as the third axis;
each entry in this DL MCS map matrix is initially kept as NULL entry till the first UE with said coordinate and RBs is indicated by the CQI to have a specific MCS value;
the entry (x,y,z) in DL MCS matrix is changed to the indicated MCS value as specified by the CQI of the UE at (x,y) which is using resource block ‘z’;
each entry in this DL MCS map will have a specified time of persistence before it is reverted back to NULL to take care of fading over a long period of time; and
generating a UE direction map specifying the Cartesian or the spherical coordinate of the UE.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the UE direction map is a finite size list with entries beyond the limit getting dropped, wherein the UE direction map is maintained for all active users under the eNodeB.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of generating MCS map and UE’s direction map for uplink channel further comprising:
generating a three dimensional UL MCS map with the UE coordinates as two axis and the resource blocks as the third axis;
each entry in this UL MCS map matrix is initially kept as NULL entry till the first UE with the said coordinate and RBs is filled by the MCS value estimated based on the DMRS and/or SRS information;
the entry (x,y,z) in UL MCS matrix is changed to the estimated MCS value obtained through the DMRS and/or SRS of the UE at (x,y) which is using resource block ‘z’;
each entry in this UL MCS map will have a specified time of persistence before it is reverted back to NULL to take care of fading over a long period of time; and
generating a UE direction map specifying the Cartesian or the spherical coordinate of the UE.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the UE direction map is a finite size list with entries beyond the limit getting dropped, wherein UE direction map is maintained for all active users under the eNodeB.

13. An eNodeB or a relay node or a BTS, comprising:
a processor including a memory; and
a control unit communicatively coupled the processor, wherein the control circuit is configured for scheduling channel information to facilitate a plurality of moving UEs under a serving base station in a communication network, wherein the configuration includes:
receiving timing advance information from the plurality of UE from the nearest three base station to the respective serving base stations, wherein the timing advance information is used to obtain the co-ordinate information;
generating MCS map and UE’s direction map based on a per UE basis, wherein the generated maps are based on ‘x’, ‘y’ location or ‘r’, ‘?’ of the UEs;
receiving a scheduling request at the serving base station for scheduling and allocating a MCS value by at least one UE;
estimating the UE existing co-ordinates by triangulation and the received timing advance information;
extrapolating the UE location in the next scheduling instance using estimated UE existing co-ordinates along with the information about the UE in the UE direction map;
determining the MCS information to be used in the extrapolated location of the UE by hashing into the MCS map; and
scheduling the DL and UL channel information of the UE based on the MCS value information obtained from other UEs through the MCS map.

14. The eNodeB or a relay node or a BTS of claim 13, wherein the communications network is at least one of the following: a 3rd Generation mobile communications system, a 4th Generation mobile communications system, a 3rd Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution mobile communications system.

Abstract
A method and System of scheduling channel information to facilitate a plurality of moving UEs under a serving base station

The present invention relates to wireless communications and more particularly to a location based mechanism of finding the data modulation or the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) information for a communication channel in a wireless network. In one embodiment, this is accomplished by use of MCS map to keep track of the MCS being used by the UE in BS region, use of UE location map to estimate the future location of UE, and based on the UE location estimate and the information about the MCS allocated previously at the said location MAC scheduler in eNodeB allocating an appropriate value of MCS.
Figure 2 (for publication)