(12) United States Patent
`Li et al.
`
`(io) Patent No.: US 11,388,034 B2
`Jul. 12, 2022
`(45) Date of Patent:
`
`US011388034B2
`
`(54) METHOD AND APPARATUS USING
`CELL-SPECIFIC AND COMMON PILOT
`SUBCARRIERS IN MULTI-CARRIER,
`MULTI-CELL WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
`NETWORKS
`
`(71) Applicant: Neo Wireless LLC, Wayne, PA (US)
`
`(72)
`
`Inventors: Xiaodong Li, Kirkland, WA (US);
`Titus Lo, Bellevue, WA (US); Kemin
`Li, Bellevue, WA (US); Haiming
`Huang, Bellevue, WA (US)
`
`(73) Assignee: NEO WIRELESS LLC, Wayne, PA
`(US)
`
`( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
`patent is extended or adjusted under 35
`U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.
`
`(21) Appl. No.: 17/201,703
`
`(22) Filed:
`
`Mar. 15, 2021
`
`(65)
`
`Prior Publication Data
`US 2021/0203535 Al Jul. 1, 2021
`Related U.S. Application Data
`(63) Continuation of application No. 17/012,813, filed on
`Sep. 4, 2020, now Pat. No. 10,965,512, which is a
`(Continued)
`
`(51)
`
`Int. Cl.
`H04W 4/00
`H04L 27/26
`
`(2018.01)
`(2006.01)
`(Continued)
`
`(52) U.S. Cl.
`CPC ......... H04L 27/2637 (2013.01); H04B 1/707
`(2013.01); H04B 7/0413 (2013.01);
`(Continued)
`(58) Field of Classification Search
`CPC ...............H04W 52/367; H04W 52/34; H04W
`52/04; H04W 52/143; H04W 52/325
`See application file for complete search history.
`
`(56)
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`(Continued)
`
`Primary Examiner — Omoniyi Obayanju
`(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm — Volpe Koenig
`
`(57)
`ABSTRACT
`A multi-carrier cellular wireless network (400) employs base
`stations (404) that transmit two different groups of pilot
`subcarriers: (1) cell-specific pilot subcarriers, which are
`used by a receiver to extract information unique to each
`individual cell (402), and (2) common pilots subcarriers,
`which are designed to possess a set of characteristics com­
`mon to all the base stations (404) of the system. The design
`criteria and transmission formats of the cell-specific and
`common pilot subcarriers are specified to enable a receiver
`to perform different system functions. The methods and
`processes can be extended to other systems, such as those
`with multiple antennas in an individual sector and those
`where some subcarriers bear common network/system infor­
`mation.
`
`22 Claims, 13 Drawing Sheets
`
`Common pilot
`subcarrier
`
`Common data
`subcarrier
`
`Common subcarrier arrangement for Ceil p
`
`Common pilot
`subcarrier
`
`Common data
`subcarrier
`
`Common subcarrier arrangement for Ceil Q
`
`VWGoA EX1037
`VWGoA V. Neo Wireless
`IPR2022-01539
`
`

`

`US 11,388,034 B2
`Page 2
`
`Related U.S. Application Data
`continuation of application No. 16/440,754, filed on
`Jun. 13, 2019, now abandoned, which is a continu­
`ation of application No. 15/688,441, filed onAug. 28,
`2017, now Pat. No. 10,326,631, which is a continu­
`ation of application No. 14/746,676, filed on Jun. 22,
`2015, now Pat. No. 9,749,168, which is a continu­
`ation of application No. 14/595,132, filed on Jan. 12,
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`ation of application No. 13/874,278, filed on Apr. 30,
`2013, now Pat. No. 8,934,473, which is a continu­
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`(60) Provisional application No. 60/540,032, filed on Jan.
`29, 2004.
`
`(51)
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`(2009.01)
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`(2006.01)
`(2006.01)
`(2006.01)
`(2009.01)
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`(2006.01)
`
`Int. Cl.
`H04W16/02
`H04B 1/707
`H04L 5/00
`H04L 25/03
`H04L 27/00
`H04W 72/04
`H04B 7/0413
`H04J11/00
`H04L 25/02
`(52) U.S. Cl.
`CPC .......... H04J11/005 (2013.01); H04L 5/0007
`(2013.01); H04L 5/0028 (2013.01); H04L
`5/0048 (2013.01); H04L 25/03834 (2013.01);
`H04L 27/0008 (2013.01); H04L 27/0012
`(2013.01); H04L 27/2602 (2013.01); H04L
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`

`US 11,388,034 B2
`Page 3
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`
`

`

`US 11,388,034 B2
`Page 4
`
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`
`* cited by examiner
`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`U.S. Patent
`
`Jul. 12, 2022
`Jul. 12, 2022
`
`Sheet 1 of 13
`Sheet 1 of 13
`
`US 11,388,034 B2
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`

`U.S. Patent
`U.S. Patent
`
`Jul. 12, 2022
`Jul. 12, 2022
`
`Sheet 2 of 13
`Sheet 2 of 13
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`US 11,388,034 B2
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`U.S. Patent
`
`Jul. 12, 2022
`
`Sheet 3 of 13
`
`US 11,388,034 B2
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`

`U.S. Patent
`U.S. Patent
`
`Jul. 12, 2022
`Jul. 12, 2022
`
`Sheet 4 of 13
`Sheet 4 of 13
`
`US 11,388,034 B2
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`

`U.S. Patent
`
`Jul. 12, 2022
`
`Sheet 5 of 13
`
`US 11,388,034 B2
`
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`
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`
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`
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`
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`
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`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`U.S. Patent
`
`Jul. 12, 2022
`Jul. 12, 2022
`
`Sheet 6 of 13
`Sheet 6 of 13
`
`US 11,388,034 B2
`US 11,388,034 B2
`
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`Pilotgenerationandinsertionfunctional
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`
`
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`
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`
`

`

`U.S. Patent
`U.S. Patent
`
`Jul. 12, 2022
`Jul. 12, 2022
`
`Sheet 7 of 13
`Sheet 7 of 13
`
`US 11,388,034 B2
`US 11,388,034 B2
`
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`
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`U.S. Patent
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`Jul. 12, 2022
`Jul. 12, 2022
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`Sheet 8 of 13
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`US 11,388,034 B2
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`U.S. Patent
`U.S. Patent
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`Jul. 12, 2022
`Jul. 12, 2022
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`Sheet 10 of 13
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`US 11,388,034 B2
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`U.S. Patent
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`Jul. 12, 2022
`Jul. 12, 2022
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`Sheet 11 of 13
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`US 11,388,034 B2
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`Jul. 12, 2022
`Jul. 12, 2022
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`Sheet 12 of 13
`Sheet 12 of 13
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`US 11,388,034 B2
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`U.S. Patent jui. 12,2022 sheet 13 of 13
`U.S. Patent
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`Sheet 13 of 13
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`US 11,388,034 B2
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`US 11,388,034 B2
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`1
`METHOD AND APPARATUS USING
`CELL-SPECIFIC AND COMMON PILOT
`SUBCARRIERS IN MULTI-CARRIER,
`MULTI-CELL WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
`NETWORKS
`
`CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED
`APPLICATION(S)
`
`This application is a continuation of U.S. patent applica­
`tion Ser. No. 17/012,813, filed Sep. 4, 2020, which is a
`continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/440,754,
`filed Jun. 13, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S. patent
`application Ser. No. 15/688,441, filed Aug. 28, 2017, which
`issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,326,631 on Jun. 18, 2019, which
`is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/746,
`676, filed Jun. 22, 2015, which issued as U.S. Pat. No.
`9,749,168 on Aug. 29, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S.
`patent application Ser. No. 14/595,132, filed Jan. 12, 2015,
`which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,065,614 on Jun. 23, 2015,
`which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.
`13/874,278, filed Apr. 30, 2013, which issued as U.S. Pat.
`No. 8,934,473 on Jan. 13, 2015, which is a continuation of
`U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/212,116, filed Aug. 17,
`2011, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,432,891 on Apr. 30,
`2013, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.
`No. 10/583,530, filed May 30, 2007, which issued as U.S.
`Pat. No. 8,009,660 on Aug. 30, 2011, which is a U.S.
`National Stage of PCT Application No. PCT/US05/01939,
`filed Jan. 20, 2005, which claims the benefit of and priority
`to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/540,032, filed
`on Jan. 29, 2004, the entire contents of all of which are
`hereby incorporated by reference herein.
`
`BACKGROUND
`
`In multi-carrier wireless communications, many impor­
`tant system functions such as frequency synchronization and
`channel estimation, depicted in FIG. 1, are facilitated by
`using the network information provided by a portion of total
`subcarriers such as pilot subcarriers. The fidelity level of the
`received subcarriers dictates how well these functions can be
`achieved, which in turn affect the efficiency and capacity of
`the entire network.
`In a wireless network, there are a number of base stations,
`each of which provides coverage to designated areas, nor­
`mally called a cell. If a cell is divided into sectors, from a
`system engineering point of view each sector can be con­
`sidered a cell. In this context, the terms “cell” and “sector”
`are interchangeable. The network information can be cat­
`egorized into two types: the cell-specific information that is
`unique to a particular cell, and the common information that
`is common to the entire network or to a portion of the entire
`networks such as a group of cells.
`In a multi-cell environment, for example, the base station
`transmitter of each cell transmits its own pilot subcarriers, in
`addition to data carriers, to be used by the receivers within
`the cell. In such an environment, carrying out the pilot­
`dependent functions becomes a challenging task in that, in
`addition to the degradation due to multipath propagation
`channels, signals originated from the base stations at differ­
`ent cells interfere with each other.
`One approach to deal with the interference problem has
`been to have each cell transmit a particular pattern of pilot
`subcarriers based on a certain type of cell-dependent random
`process. This approach, to a certain degree, has mitigated the
`impact of the mutual interference between the pilot subcar­
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`2
`riers from adjacent cells; however, it has not provided for a
`careful and systematic consideration of the unique require­
`ments of the pilot subcarriers.
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`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`FIG. 1 depicts a basic multi-carrier wireless communica­
`tion system consisting of a transmitter and a receiver.
`FIG. 2 shows basic structure of a multi-carrier signal in
`the frequency domain, which is made up of subcarriers.
`FIG. 3 shows a radio resource divided into small units in
`both the frequency and time domains: subchannels and time
`slots.
`FIG. 4 depicts a cellular wireless network comprised of
`multiple cells, in each of which coverage is provided by a
`base station (BS).
`FIG. 5 shows pilot subcarriers divided into two groups:
`cell-specific pilot subcarriers and common pilot subcarriers.
`FIG. 6 is an embodiment of pilot-generation-and-insertion
`functional block shown in FIG. 1, which employs a micro­
`processor to generate pilot subcarriers and insert them into
`a frequency sequence contained in the electronic memory.
`FIG. 7 shows that common pilot subcarriers are generated
`by a microprocessor of FIG. 6 to realize phase diversity.
`FIG. 8 is an embodiment of delay diversity, which effec­
`tively creates phase diversity by adding a random delay time
`duration, either in baseband or RF, to the time-domain
`signals.
`FIG. 9 shows two examples for extension to multiple
`antenna applications.
`FIG. 10 is an embodiment of synchronization in fre­
`quency and time domains of two collocated base stations
`sharing a common frequency oscillator.
`FIG. 11 is an embodiment of synchronization in fre­
`quency and time domains with base stations at different
`locations sharing a common frequency reference signal
`generated from the GPS signals.
`FIG. 12 is an embodiment depicting a wireless network
`consisting of three groups of cells (or sectors) and base
`stations in each group that share their own set of common
`pilot subcarriers.
`FIG. 13 shows all base stations within a network transmit,
`along with a common pilot subcarrier, a data subcarrier
`carrying data information common to all cells in the net­
`work.
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION
`
`In the following description the invention is explained
`with respect to some of its various embodiments, providing
`specific details for a thorough understanding and enable­
`ment. However, one skilled in the art will understand that the
`invention may be practiced without such details. In other
`instances, well-known structures and functions have not
`been shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring the
`depiction of the embodiments.
`Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout
`the description and the claims, the words “comprise,” “com­
`prising,” and the like are to be construed in an inclusive
`sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is
`to say, in the sense of “including, but not limited to.” Words
`using the singular or plural number also include the plural or
`singular number respectively. Additionally, the words
`“herein,” “above,” “below” and words of similar import,
`when used in this application, shall refer to this application
`as a whole and not to any particular portions of this
`application. When the claims use the word “or” in reference
`
`

`

`3
`to a list of two or more items, that word covers all of the
`following interpretations of the word: any of the items in the
`list, all of the items in the list and any combination of the
`items in the list.
`FIG. 1 depicts a basic multi-carrier wireless communica­
`tion system consisting of a transmitter 102 and a receiver
`104. A functional block 106 at the transmitter, called Pilot
`generation and insertion, generates pilot subcarriers and
`inserts them into predetermined frequency locations. These
`pilot subcarriers are used by the receiver to carry out certain
`functions. In aspects of this invention, pilot subcarriers are
`divided into two different groups according to their func­
`tionalities, and hence their distinct requirements. The trans­
`mission format of each group of pilot subcarriers will be
`designed so that it optimizes the performance of the system
`functions such as frequency synchronization and channel
`estimation.
`The first group is called “cell-specific pilot subcarriers,”
`and will be used by the receiver 104 to extract information
`unique to each individual cell. For example, these cell­
`specific pilot subcarriers can be used in channel estimation
`where it is necessary for a particular receiver to be able to
`differentiate the pilot subcarriers that are intended for its use
`from those of other cells. For these pilot subcarriers, coun­
`ter-interference methods are necessary.
`The second group is termed “common pilot sub-carriers,”
`and are designed to possess a set of characteristics common
`to all base stations of the system. Thus, every receiver 104
`within the system is able to exploit these common pilot
`subcarriers to perform necessary functions without interfer­
`ence problem. For instance, these common pilot subcarriers
`can be used in the frequency synchronization process, where
`it is not necessary to discriminate pilot subcarriers of dif­
`ferent cells, but it is desirable for the receiver to combine
`coherently the energy of common pilot subcarriers with the
`same carrier index from different cells, so as to achieve
`relatively accurate frequency estimation.
`Aspects of this invention provide methods to define the
`transmission formats of the cell-specific and common pilot
`subcarriers that enable a receiver to perform different system
`functions. In particular, a set of design criteria are provided
`for pilot subcarriers. Other features of this invention further
`provide apparatus or means to implement the above design
`processes and methods. In particular, signal reception can be
`improved by manipulating phase values of the pilot subcar­
`riers and by using power control.
`The methods and processes can also be extended to other
`cases, such as where multiple antennas are used within an
`individual sector and where some subcarriers are used to
`carry common network/system information. Base stations
`can be synchronized in frequency and time by sharing a
`common frequency oscillator or a common frequency ref­
`erence signal, such as the one generated from the signals
`provided by the Global Positioning System (GPS).
`Multi-Carrier Communication System
`In a multi-carrier communication system such as multi­
`carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) and
`orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA),
`information data are multiplexed on subcarriers that are
`mutually orthogonal in the frequency domain. In effect, a
`frequency selective channel is broken into a number of
`parallel but small segments in frequency that can be treated
`as flat fading channels and hence can be easily dealt with
`using simple one-tap equalizers. The modulation/demodu-
`lation can be performed using the fast Fourier transform
`(FFT).
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`US 11,388,034 B2
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`In a multi-carrier communication system the physical
`media resource (e.g., radio or cable) can be divided in both
`the frequency and the time domains. This canonical division
`provides a high flexibility and fine granularity for resource
`sharing. The basic structure of a multi-carrier signal in the
`frequency domain is made up of subcarriers, and within a
`particular spectral band or channel there are a fixed number
`of subcarriers. There are three types of subcarriers:
`1. Data subcarriers, which carry information data;
`2. Pilot subcarriers, whose phases and amplitudes are
`predetermined and made known to all receivers and which
`are used for assisting system functions such as estimation of
`system parameters; and
`3. Silent subcarriers, which have no energy and are used
`for guard bands and DC carriers.
`The data subcarriers can be arranged into groups called
`subchannels to support multiple access and scalability. The
`subcarriers forming one subchannel are not necessarily
`adjacent to each other. This concept is illustrated in FIG. 2,
`showing a basic structure of a multi-carrier signal 200 in the
`frequency domain, which is made up of subcarriers. Data
`subcarriers can be grouped into subchannels in a particular
`way. The pilot subcarriers are also distributed over the entire
`channel in a particular way.
`The basic structure of a multi-carrier signal in the time
`domain is made up of time slots to support multiple-access.
`The resource division in both the frequency and time
`domains is depicted in FIG. 3 which shows a radio resource
`divided into small units in both the frequency and time
`domains: subchannels and time slots, 300. The basic struc­
`ture of a multi-carrier signal in the time domain is made up
`of time slots.
`As depicted in FIG. 1, in a multi-carrier communication
`system, a generic transmitter may consist of the following
`functional blocks:
`1. Encoding and modulation 108
`2. Pilot generation and insertion 106
`3. Inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) 110
`4. Transmission 112
`And a generic receiver may consist of the following func­
`tional blocks:
`1. Reception 114
`2. Frame synchronization 116
`3. Frequency and timing compensation 118
`4. Fast Fourier transform (FFT) 120
`5. Frequency, timing, and channel estimation 122
`6. Channel compensation 124
`7. Decoding 126
`Cellular Wireless Networks
`In a cellular wireless network, the geographical region to
`be serviced by the network is normally divided into smaller
`areas called cells. In each cell the coverage is provided by
`a base station. Thus, this type of structure is normally
`referred to as the cellular structure depicted in FIG. 4, which
`illustrates a cellular wireless network 400 comprised of
`multiple cells 402, in each of which coverage is provided by
`a base station (BS) 404. Mobile stations are distributed
`within each coverage area.
`A base station 404 is connected to the backbone of the
`network via a dedicated link and also provides radio links to
`mobile stations within its coverage. A base station 404 also
`serves as a focal point to distribute information to and collect
`information from its mobile stations by radio signals. The
`mobile stations within each coverage area are used as the
`interface between the users and the network.
`In an M-cell wireless network arrangement, with one-way
`or two-way communication and time division or frequency
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`US 11,388,034 B2
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