Multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) systems with multiple transmission modes

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 , wherein the specific transmission scheme is selected by evaluating performance of each of the plurality of possible transmission scheme.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 , wherein the specific transmission scheme is selected based on an operating signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SNR).

Claim 5

The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more data streams are further processed based on channel-state information.

Claim 6

The method of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of transmission schemes includes a partial channel-state information (CSI) transmission scheme.

Claim 7

The method of claim 5 , wherein the channel-state information for the partial-CSI transmission scheme comprises signal-to-noise-and-interference ratios (SNRs).

Claim 8

The method of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of transmission schemes include a beam-forming transmission scheme.

Claim 9

The method of claim 7 , wherein a single transmission channel is selected for use for the beam-forming transmission scheme, and wherein beam-forming is used for a data transmission on the single selected transmission channel.

Claim 10

The method of claim 7 , wherein the channel-state information for the beam-forming transmission scheme comprises signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SNR) and a singular vector for a single selected transmission channel.

Claim 11

The method of claim 9 , wherein each element of the singular vector is quantized to five bits or less per dimension.

Claim 12

The method of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of transmission schemes include a beam-steering transmission scheme.

Claim 13

The method of claim 11 , wherein the channel-state information for the beam-steering transmission scheme comprises signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SNR) and a vector of phase values for a plurality of transmit antennas used for data transmission.

Claim 14

The method of claim 12 , wherein the vector of phase values is based on a singular vector for a principal eigenmode.

Claim 15

The method of claim 1 , further comprising: selecting a rate for each data stream based on a signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SNR) achievable for the data stream.

Claim 16

The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication system is a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system and the plurality of transmission channels correspond to a plurality of spatial subchannels of the MIMO communication system.

Claim 17

The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication system is a wideband multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system and the plurality of transmission channels correspond to a plurality of spatial subchannels of a plurality of frequency bands.

Claim 18

The method of claim 16 , wherein one transmission scheme is selected for use for all frequency bands, and wherein one or more data streams are transmitted on each frequency band and are processed based on the selected transmission scheme.

Claim 19

The method of claim 16 , wherein one transmission scheme is selected for use for each frequency band, and wherein one or more data streams are transmitted on each frequency band and are processed based on the transmission scheme selected for that frequency band.

Claim 20

The method of claim 16 , wherein a beam-forming transmission scheme is selected for use for each of the plurality of frequency bands.

Claim 21

The method of claim 19 , wherein total transmit power is allocated such that a common coding and modulation scheme is used for all data streams transmitted on the plurality of frequency bands.

Claim 22

The method of claim 16 , wherein a partial-CSI transmission scheme is selected for use for each of the plurality of frequency bands.

Claim 23

The method of claim 21 , wherein total transmit power is allocated such that a common coding and modulation scheme is used for all data streams transmitted on each frequency band.

Claim 24

The method of claim 21 , wherein total transmit power is allocated such that a common coding and modulation scheme is used for all data streams transmitted on each spatial subchannel.

Claim 25

The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication system is an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication system and the plurality of transmission channels correspond to a plurality of frequency subchannels.

Claim 30

The apparatus of claim 26 , wherein the wireless communication system is a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system and the plurality of transmission channels correspond to a plurality of spatial subchannels of the MIMO communication system.

Claim 31

The apparatus of claim 26 , further comprising: means for selecting a rate for each data stream based on a signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SNR) achievable by the data stream.

Claim 32

A transmitter unit in a wireless communication system, comprising: a controller operative to direct data transmission over a plurality of transmission channels by receiving an indication of an operating condition of the communication system, identifying a specific power allocation transmission scheme selected from among a plurality of possible power allocation transmission schemes based on the operating condition, determining one or more data streams to be transmitted based on the selected transmission scheme, selecting a rate for each data stream based in part on an amount of transmit power allocated to the data stream, and directing processing of the one or more data streams based on the selected transmission scheme; a transmit (TX) data processor operative to process each data stream based on the selected rate to provide a respective stream of symbols; and one or more transmitters operative to process one or more symbol streams to provide one or more modulated signals suitable for transmission over a communication channel; wherein the plurality of transmission schemes include a partial-CSI transmission scheme and a beam-forming transmission scheme and wherein the controller is operative to select the partial-CSI transmission scheme if an operating signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SNR) of the communication system is above a threshold SNR and to select the beam-forming transmission scheme if the operating SNR is below the threshold SNR.

Claim 33

A transmitter unit in a wireless communication system, comprising: a controller operative to direct data transmission over a plurality of transmission channels by receiving an indication of an operating condition of the communication system, identifying a specific power allocation transmission scheme selected from among a plurality of possible power allocation transmission schemes based on the operating condition, determining one or more data streams to be transmitted based on the selected transmission scheme, selecting a rate for each data stream based in part on an amount of transmit power allocated to the data stream, and directing processing of the one or more data streams based on the selected transmission scheme; a transmit (TX) data processor operative to process each data stream based on the selected rate to provide a respective stream of symbols; and one or more transmitters operative to process one or more symbol streams to provide one or more modulated signals suitable for transmission over a communication channel; wherein the plurality of transmission schemes include a partial-CSI transmission scheme and a beam-forming transmission scheme and wherein the controller is operative to select the partial-CSI transmission scheme if an operating signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SNR) of the communication system is above a threshold SNR and to select the beam-forming transmission scheme if the operating SNR is below the threshold SNR.

Claim 34

The transmitter unit of claim 29 , wherein the controller is further operative to utilize peak transmit power for each data stream for the partial-CSI transmission scheme and to allocate all transmit power to a single data stream for the beam-forming transmission scheme.

Claim 35

The transmitter unit of claim 29 , further comprising: a TX MIMO processor operative to precondition the stream of symbols for a single data stream based on a singular vector for the beam-forming transmission scheme.

Claim 36

A base station comprising the transmitter unit of claim 29 .

Claim 37

A receiver unit in a wireless communication system, comprising: a receive (RX) MIMO processor operative to receive and process a plurality of streams of received symbols in accordance with a particular receiver processing scheme to provide at least one stream of recovered symbols, and to derive channel-state information (CSI) for each recovered symbol stream; a RX data processor operative to process at least one recovered symbol stream in accordance with at least one demodulation and decoding scheme to provide decoded data; and a TX data processor operative to process the CSI for transmission back to a transmitter unit, and wherein a specific power allocation transmission scheme is selected from among a plurality of possible power allocation transmission schemes based on the CSI, wherein one or more data streams are transmitted to the receiver unit based on the selected power allocation transmission scheme, wherein total available transmit power is allocated to the one or more data streams based on the selected power allocation transmission scheme, wherein the plurality of transmission schemes include a partial-CSI transmission scheme and a beam-forming transmission scheme, and wherein the partial-CSI transmission scheme is selected if an operating signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SNR) is above a threshold SNR and the beam-forming transmission scheme is selected if the operating SNR is below the threshold SNR.

Claim 38

A receiver unit in a wireless communication system, comprising: a receive (RX) MIMO processor operative to receive and process a plurality of streams of received symbols in accordance with a particular receiver processing scheme to provide at least one stream of recovered symbols, and to derive channel-state information (CSI) for each recovered symbol stream; a RX data processor operative to process at least one recovered symbol stream in accordance with at least one demodulation and decoding scheme to provide decoded data; and a TX data processor operative to process the CSI for transmission back to a transmitter unit, and wherein a specific power allocation transmission scheme is selected from among a plurality of possible power allocation transmission schemes based on the CSI, wherein one or more data streams are transmitted to the receiver unit based on the selected power allocation transmission scheme, wherein total available transmit power is allocated to the one or more data streams based on the selected power allocation transmission scheme, wherein the plurality of transmission schemes include a partial-CSI transmission scheme and a beam-forming transmission scheme, and wherein the partial-CSI transmission scheme is selected if an operating signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SNR) is above a threshold SNR and the beam-forming transmission scheme is selected if the operating SNR is below the threshold SNR.

Claim 39

The receiver unit of claim 33 , wherein for the beam-forming transmission scheme the RX MIMO processor is further operative to pre-condition the plurality of received symbol streams with a singular vector to provide a single recovered symbol stream.

Claim 40

The receiver unit of claim 33 , wherein for the partial-CSI transmission scheme the RX MIMO processor is further operative to process the plurality of received symbol streams based on a minimum mean square error with successive cancellation (MMSE-SC) receiver processing technique to provide a plurality of recovered symbol streams.