阅读说明：本技术 用于在无线网络中关联资源信息与信道度量信息的设备和方法 (Apparatus and method for associating resource information with channel metric information in a wireless network ) 是由 丹尼斯·维鲁赫 彼得·琼 伯恩德·霍菲尔德 于 2018-10-01 设计创作，主要内容包括：一种接收器,被配置为接收无线信号,该无线信号包括使用无线通信网络的资源元素通过信道传输的信号,该接收器包括被配置为确定指示资源元素的资源信息并确定信道的信道度量的确定器。该接收器包括被配置为使用信号中包含的身份信息将资源信息与信道度量相关联的关联器。(A receiver configured to receive a wireless signal comprising a signal transmitted over a channel using resource elements of a wireless communication network, the receiver comprising a determiner configured to determine resource information indicative of the resource elements and to determine a channel metric of the channel. The receiver comprises a correlator configured to correlate the resource information with the channel metric using identity information contained in the signal.)

1. A receiver configured to receive a wireless signal (14), the wireless signal (14) comprising a signal (28) transmitted over a channel (h) using a resource element (32) of a wireless communication network, the receiver comprising:

a determiner (18) configured to determine resource information (22) indicative of the resource elements (32) and configured to determine a channel metric (x) of the channel (h); and

a correlator (24) configured to correlate the resource information (22) with the channel metric (x) using identity information (26) contained in the signal (28).

2. The receiver in accordance with claim 1, wherein,

wherein the wireless communicationThe signal (14) is at least a signal (28) and a second signal (28)₂) Is transmitted over a channel (h) using the resource elements (32) of the wireless communication network₁) The first signal (28) transmitted₁) The resource element (32) is a first resource element, the channel (h)₁) Is a first channel, the second signal (28)₂) Is to use a second resource element (32) of the wireless communication network₂) Through the second channel (h)₂) The information is sent out, and the information is sent out,

wherein the determiner (18) is configured to determine the resource information as first resource information (22)₁) And is configured to determine to indicate the second resource element (32)₂) Second resource information (22)₂) And is configured to determine a channel metric of the first channel as a first metric (x)₁) And is configured to determine the second channel (h)₂) Second channel metric (x)₂)；

Wherein the correlator (24) is configured to use the first signal (28)₁) As the first identity information (26) is contained identity information₁) -providing said first resource information (32)₁) And the first channel metric (x)₁) Is associated and configured to use the second signal (28)₂) Second identity information (26) contained therein₂) -providing said second resource information (32)₂) And the second channel metric (x)₂) And (4) associating.

3. The receiver of claim 1 or 2, wherein the identity information (26) comprises one of an identification being part of the information transmitted in the signal (28), an identification being indicated by a selection of the resource element (32) from the overall set of resource elements, and an identification being indicated by a channel metric (x).

4. Receiver according to one of the preceding claims, further comprising a channel determiner (66), the channel determiner (66) being configured to determine the first channel (h)₁) Relative to a first signal (28) of the wireless signals (14)₁) Phase change ofInformation about amplitude variations, and a second channel (h)₂) Relative to the first signal (28)₁) The superimposed second signal (28)₂) Wherein the receiver is configured to use the information on phase variations and amplitude variations for decoding the wireless signal (14).

5. Receiver according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the determiner (18) is configured to determine the resource information (22) and the channel metric (x) based on a determination rule:

so that the user can easily and conveniently select the desired target,

wherein S is a resource map of all K transmitters containing said resource information, phi_KIs a matrix of frequency-transformed blocks, where each block represents a Fourier matrix, x is a channel metric, y is a received frequency-domain signal, and σ is²Representing the allowable residual.

6. Receiver according to claim 5, wherein the determiner (18) is configured to determine the resource information (22) as a plurality of resource values and to determine each of the plurality of resource values to comprise one of at least three values.

7. Receiver according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the wireless signal (14) is a first signal (28)₁) And using a second resource element (32)₂) Through the second channel (h)₂) The second signal (28) of the transmission₂) Wherein the determiner (18) is configured to determine the resource information (22) as the first resource information (22)₁) And is configured to perform a predetermined operation by usingInformation relating to said predetermined rule separates the first signal (28)₁) And a second signal (28)₂) Determining the second resource element (32)₂) Related second resource information (22)₂) Mapping pilot symbols (58) and data symbols (62) to the first and second signals (28) according to the predetermined rule₁，28₂) Among the resources used.

8. Receiver according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the determiner (18) is configured to determine the resource information (22) to comprise, based on a determination rule, a real value for data symbols (62) of the wireless signal (14) and a complex value for pilot symbols (16, 58) of the wireless signal (14):

x_k,d＝(h_k*s_k,d)

wherein the content of the first and second substances,

is representable as x_k∈{x_k,p,x_k,dH, wherein pilot signal x_k,p＝(h_k) Is the k channel, and x_k,dIs the data signal which is the convolution of the kth channel with the kth transmitted signal, where y is the received frequency domain signal mixed with complex values and amplitude-only values.

9. Receiver according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the determiner (18) is configured to determine the channel metric (x) using pilot symbols (58) comprised in the wireless signal (14) based on a predetermined rule according to which the pilot symbols (58) are mapped into resources used by the signal (28).

10. Receiver according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the signal (28)₁) Is a first signal of a plurality of signals of the wireless signal (14), wherein the determiner (18) is configured to determine a signal for the wireless signal (1)4) To obtain overall resource information, wherein the determiner (18) is configured to determine a channel metric (x) for each channel (h) related to a signal (28) in the wireless signal (14) to obtain an overall channel metric.

11. Receiver according to one of the preceding claims, further comprising an error corrector (72), the error corrector (72) being configured to correct at least one bit error in the signal (28) using resource information.

12. Receiver according to claim 11, wherein the determiner (18) is configured to obtain correction information indicative of a result of error correction and to adjust the determination of the resource information (22) in dependence on the correction information.

13. Receiver according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the error corrector (72) is configured to implement error codes for insertion, deletion and/or replacement.

14. Receiver according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the determiner (18) is configured to determine the resource by using at least one common resource element (32)_1-1，32_2-1) Determining first signals (28) for at least partially overlapping each other of the wireless signals (14)₁) And a second signal (28)₂) The resource information (22).

15. Receiver according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the determiner (18) is configured to determine resource information (22) for each signal (28) comprised in the wireless signal (14); the receiver further comprises:

a decoder (44) configured to decode the first signal (28)₁) To obtain a first signal (28) using said first signal₁) The first message is transmitted and the second signal (28) is decoded₂) To obtain a second signal (28) of utilization₂) A second message to send;

a channel determiner (66) configured to determine a first channel (h)₁) Relative to the first signal (28)₁) And information about the phase change and amplitude change of the second channel (h), and to the second channel (h)₂) Relative to the second signal (28)₂) Information about the phase change and amplitude change of (a);

an error corrector (72) configured to use the first signal (28)₁) To correct said first signal (28) based on the resource information₁) At least one bit error in or using said second signal (28)₂) To correct said second signal (28) based on the resource information₂) At least one bit error.

16. Receiver according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the determiner (18) is configured to determine the resource information (22) using predefined resource information indicating a plurality of resource blocks (76), each resource block (76) having a unique predefined set of resource elements (32), wherein the determiner (18) is configured to determine the resource information (22) by determining at least one resource block (76) for transmitting the signal (28) from the plurality of resource blocks (76).

17. The receiver of claim 16, wherein the resource elements (32) are distributed in the at least one resource block (76), or wherein the resource blocks (76) are distributed in the resource map.

18. Receiver according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the wireless signal (14) comprises a signal transmitted by a first transmitter (16)₁) The first signal (20) transmitted₁) And by a second emitter (16)₂) A second signal transmitted, the second transmitter (16)₂) With the first transmitter (16)₁) Are spatially separated.

19. A transmitter configured to wirelessly transmit a signal (28) to a receiver using a resource element (32) of a wireless communication network, the transmitter comprising:

a resource selector (47) for selecting a resource element (32) from a plurality of resource elements in the wireless communication network, wherein the selection is at least partially unknown at the receiver.

20. The transmitter of claim 19, wherein the transmitter (16) is configured to determine resource elements (32) to be used for transmission of the signal (28), and to map at least one pilot symbol (58) and at least one data symbol (62) to the resource elements according to a predetermined rule.

21. The transmitter according to one of claims 19 or 20, wherein the resource selector (47) is configured to select at least one of a plurality of predefined sets of resources for transmitting the signal (28).

22. The transmitter of claim 21, wherein the resource selector (47) is configured to select the at least one set from the plurality of predefined sets using selection information indicating a subset of the plurality of predefined sets, wherein the transmitter is configured to select a set from the subset of the predefined sets.

23. The transmitter according to claim 21 or 22, wherein the first and second sets of resources (32) of the predefined set partially overlap.

24. The transmitter according to claim 21 or 22, wherein each predefined set comprises resources exclusively associated with the predefined set.

25. The transmitter of one of claims 21 to 24, wherein the transmitter is configured to temporarily use at least one additional resource from a pool of additional resources (84) for transmitting the signal (28) in addition to the set of resources (82).

26. The transmitter of claim 25, wherein the transmitter is configured to temporarily use a plurality of additional resources (84) up to a predefined maximum data rate indicated by the maximum data rate information.

27. The transmitter of claim 26, wherein the transmitter is configured to temporarily use the plurality of additional resources (84) without signaling the use to a receiver of a signal.

28. The transmitter according to one of claims 19 to 27, wherein the resource selector (47) is configured to select at least one additional set of the predefined sets for transmitting the signal (28).

29. The transmitter of one of claims 19 to 28, wherein the transmitter is configured to use a channel metric (x) indicative of channel characteristics of at least part of a channel (h) from the transmitter (16) to a receiver (30);

wherein the resource selector (47) is configured to select a set from a plurality of predefined sets depending on the channel characteristics.

30. A transmitter configured to wirelessly transmit a signal (28) to a receiver using a resource element (32) of a wireless communication network;

wherein the transmitter is configured to use a set of kernels for transmitting a first signal during a first time instance;

wherein the transmitter is configured to use, in addition to the core set (82), at least one additional resource from the pool of additional resources (84) for transmitting the second signal (28) during the second time instance without signaling use of the additional resource.

31. A wireless communication network providing a plurality of resource elements for transmitting signals, the network comprising:

the receiver (30) of one of claims 1 to 18; and

at least a first transmitter (16) of one of claims 19 to 30₁，16₂)。

32. The wireless network of claim 30, comprising a transmitter configured to transmit the first signal (28)₁) First emitter (16)₁) And is configured to transmit a second signal (28)₂) Second emitter (16)₂) Wherein the first and second transmitters are configured to use predefined resources for transmitting the first and second signals (28)₁，28₂) Wherein the predefined resources are predefined to indicate non-overlapping resources.

33. The wireless communication network of claim 31 or 32,

wherein the at least first emitter (16)₁) Is configured to select at least a first set from a plurality of predefined sets of resources for transmitting the signal (28);

wherein the at least first transmitter is configured to select a first set of resources from the plurality of predefined sets using first selection information indicating a first subset of the plurality of predefined sets.

34. The wireless network according to one of claims 31 to 33,

wherein the first emitter (16)₁) Is configured to select at least a first set from a plurality of predefined sets of resources for transmitting a signal (28)₁)；

Wherein the second emitter (16)₂) Is configured to select at least a second set from a plurality of predefined sets of resources for transmitting a second signal (28)₂)；

Wherein the first emitter (16)₁) Is configured to use an indication from the first transmitter (16)₁) A first channel (h) to the receiver₁) Of at least part of the first channel characteristics of (a) a first channel metric (x)₁) For being dependent on said firstSelecting at least a first set by channel characteristics;

wherein the second emitter (16)₂) Is configured to use an indication from the second transmitter (16)₂) A second channel (h) to the receiver₂) Of at least part of the second channel characteristics of (a) a second channel metric (x)₂) For selecting at least a second set in dependence on the second channel characteristic.

35. The network of one of claims 31 to 34, wherein the first and second transmitters (16)₁，16₂) Is configured to select the same resource for the first signal (28)₁) And said second signal (28)₂) Wherein the first and second transmitters (16)₁，16₂) Is configured to apply a non-orthogonal multiple access scheme to the first and second signals (28)₁，28₂) To be transmitted.

36. The wireless network according to one of claims 31 to 35, wherein the network is configured to operate according to a multi-carrier concept comprising a plurality of carriers.

37. A method for receiving a wireless signal (14), the wireless signal (14) comprising a signal (28) transmitted over a channel (h) using a resource element (32) of a wireless communication network, the method comprising:

determining resource information (22) indicative of the resource element (32);

determining a channel metric (x) for the channel (h); and

associating the resource information (22) with the channel metric (x) using identity information (26) contained in the signal (28).

38. A method for wirelessly transmitting a signal (28) using a resource element of a wireless communication network, the method comprising:

at a transmitter (16), a resource element (32) is selected from a plurality of resource elements in the wireless communication network such that the selection is at least partially unknown at a receiver of the signal (28).

39. A non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon a computer program having a program code for performing the method of claim 37 or 38 when the program code runs on a computer.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a receiver, a transmitter, a wireless communication network with at least one transmitter and at least one receiver, two methods of operating the same, and a computer program. The invention also relates to an unlicensed access, e.g. in a wireless communication network.

Background

One of the major challenges in wireless communications is the improvement of spectral efficiency. One way to achieve better spectral efficiency is by reducing communication overhead. Especially for upcoming network types such as device-to-device (D2D) communication, a reduction in communication overhead would be beneficial. This includes radio resource management of the exchanged resource map and the exchange of channel quality measurements and pilots for channel estimation. Another challenge is low latency communication. Scheduling requires an initial communication process, which introduces delay to the wireless transmission. Especially for uncertain traffic, where the data rate or the time of transmission is not known a priori, scheduling results in a constant delay offset. Contention-based schemes (such as listen before send) provide medium access without scheduling. For a single device scenario, instant media access over the desired frequency band can be simply achieved. However, the listen-before-send scheme is not scalable. The greater the number of devices or device activities in a scenario, the higher the probability of occupying the desired frequency band, and the device must wait an indeterminate time until the desired transmission frequency band is available. A third challenge is the design of low complexity and low power consumption devices. Especially for transmitters with reduced or no receiver functionality, medium access without previous control messages is required.

In wireless communications, in order to send a message from a source device to a sink device (sink device) over a wireless channel, both devices must know the transmission resources used.

Two main concepts are used to determine (a subset of) transmission resources:

contention-free access: scheduling resources by, for example, a central coordinator (including token passing and polling mechanisms)

A L OHA protocol and advances, such as listen before send occupying the full transmission band.

At least for the initial transmission, two cases introduce a delay to the communication process. In the first case, scheduling decisions must be communicated between the coordinator and the devices, which results in a constant delay offset. However, in the second case, the device must wait until the transmission band is free for communication. Thus, communication delay is uncertain and stringent delay requirements cannot be achieved.

[1] A common conventional communication system with baseband and analog units for L TE (long term evolution), where resource allocation is performed by the base station as a central coordinator, is described.

Disclosure of Invention

Therefore, there is a need to provide a concept that allows for efficient communication that enables media access without the need for prior control messages.

This object is achieved by the subject matter defined in the independent claims.

The inventors have found that resources for a communication channel may be associated with respective communication nodes that have performed said communication, and that determination/association thereof with a transmitter may be performed at a receiver. This allows the communication properties to be determined at the receiver to avoid signalling for scheduling the communication resources and thus allows efficient communication without the need for dedicated control messages. This concept even enables handling conflicts so that delays due to snooping in a listen-before-send scheme can also be avoided. By avoiding the time of transmission scheduling and/or listening, low latency communication may be performed.

According to an embodiment, the receiver is configured to receive a wireless signal comprising at least one signal transmitted over a channel using resource elements of a wireless communication network. The receiver includes a determiner configured to determine resource information indicating resource elements for transmitting a signal and configured to determine a channel metric of a channel for transmission. The receiver comprises an associator configured to associate the resource information with the channel metric using identity information contained in the signal. This allows resource elements for the transmitted signal to be attributed or allocated to the respective transmitter transmitting the signal to determine the transmission system and establish appropriate communication between the receiver and the transmitter. This may be done by using the received signal.

According to an embodiment, the wireless signal is a superposition of at least a signal (which is a first signal) transmitted over a channel (which is a first channel) using a resource element (which is a first resource element) of the wireless communication network and a second signal transmitted over a second channel using a second resource element of the wireless communication network. The determiner is configured to determine the resource information as first resource information and to determine second resource information indicative of second resource elements and to determine a channel metric of the first channel as the first metric and to determine a second channel metric of the second channel. The associator is configured to associate the first resource information with the first channel metric using identity information contained in the first signal as the first identity information, and configured to associate the second resource information with the second channel metric using the second identity information contained in the second signal. Thus, despite being received as a super-localized signal, the receiver is configured to associate information related to the first resource element with the first channel metric and the first identity information to separate the communication for the first signal from the communication for the second signal, which allows the receiver to perform communication with the first node that has transmitted the first signal and the second node that has transmitted the second signal without a priori knowledge due to a scheduling mechanism or a requirement to wait for a silent channel at the transmitter. According to an embodiment, the identity information comprises one of an identification being part of the information transmitted in the signal, an identification indicated by a selection of resource elements from the overall set of resource elements, and an identification indicated by the channel metric. This allows logical separation of users at the receiver side.

According to an embodiment, the receiver comprises a channel determiner configured to determine information on phase and amplitude variations of the first channel with respect to a first signal of the wireless signals and information on phase and amplitude variations of the second channel with respect to a second signal superimposed with the first signal, wherein the receiver is configured to use the information on phase and amplitude variations for decoding the wireless signals.

According to an embodiment, the determiner is configured to determine the resource information and the channel metric based on a determination rule:

so as to facilitate the use of

Wherein S is a resource map of all K transmitters, the resource map containing resource information of all K transmitters. This allows the use of signals with pilot symbols and amplitude-only symbols and the decoding of the signals, for example, phase recovery techniques can be used for decoding.

According to an embodiment, the determiner is configured to determine the resource information as a plurality of resource values (e.g. in vector form or in matrix form) and to determine each of the plurality of resource values to comprise one of at least three values. That is, the resource value may be multivalued. This allows encoding other information in the resource information than the information on whether to use the resource element, for example, a plurality of transmitters using the respective resource information.

According to an embodiment, the wireless signal is a superposition of at least a signal (which is the first signal) and a second signal transmitted over the second channel using the second resource element. The determiner is configured to determine resource information as first resource information and to determine second resource information related to the second resource element by separating the first signal and the second signal using information related to a predetermined rule based on the predetermined rule according to which pilot symbols and data symbols are mapped into resources used by the first signal and the second signal. That is, the receiver may be configured to distinguish between resources used to transmit the first signal and resources used to transmit the second signal using information that each indicates a set of resource elements that are used together for transmission. This allows to enhance the separation of the different emitters.

According to an embodiment, the determiner is configured to determine the channel metric based on a predetermined rule using pilot symbols comprised in the wireless signal, according to which the pilot symbols are mapped into resources used by the signal. This may allow, additionally or as an alternative to using a predetermined rule according to which resource elements are located in the resource map, to identify the user and/or to isolate the user at the receiver.

According to an embodiment, the signal is a first signal of a plurality of signals in the wireless signal. The determiner is configured to determine resource information for each signal contained in the wireless signal to obtain overall resource information, e.g., a common resource map. The determiner is configured to determine a channel metric for each channel associated with a signal in the wireless signal to obtain an overall channel metric. The overall channel metric may be combined with resource information to allow the use of conventional error correction based on a memoryless channel model. However, error correction using an insertion/deletion/replacement channel based model may be optimized. If only partial information of the overall resource information is present, e.g. the resource information of the first signal, and the corresponding channel metrics, the error correction is based on an insert/delete/replace channel model.

According to an embodiment, the receiver comprises an error corrector configured to correct at least one bit error in the first signal using resource information determined for a respective one of the wireless signals. This may allow for enhanced communication by correcting errors.

According to an embodiment, the determiner is configured to obtain correction information indicating a result of the error correction, and to adjust the determination of the resource information in dependence on the correction information. For example, the concept according to a turbo receiver can be used by providing feedback from the error corrector to the determiner. This may allow for high quality error correction.

Depending on the embodiment, the resources or their respective sets may be distributed in an exclusive manner (no or little overlap) or in a non-exclusive manner (i.e. overlap is allowed). The first may allow for enhanced separation of the different signals, wherein the latter may allow for enhanced spectral efficiency.

According to an embodiment, the determiner is configured to determine resource information for each signal contained in the wireless signal. The receiver includes a decoder configured to decode the first signal to obtain a first message transmitted with the first signal and decode the second signal to obtain a second message transmitted with the second signal. The receiver includes a channel determiner configured to determine information related to phase and amplitude variations of the channel relative to the first signal and relative to the second signal. The receiver includes an error corrector configured to correct at least one bit error in the first signal using the resource information determined for the first signal or to correct at least one bit error in the second signal using the resource information determined for the second signal. This may allow low latency communication on the transmitter side that supports unlicensed access.

According to an embodiment, resource elements used for transmitting signals are distributed in a resource map. This may be achieved by using blocks of resource elements, each block having a set of adjacent resource elements (e.g., 6, 12, etc.), where the blocks are distributed in the resource map. Alternatively, each block may include distributed resource elements. The distributed resource elements in the resource map may allow for an accurate determination of channel metrics due to signal distribution over multiple resource constraints that are modified differently within a common channel.

According to an embodiment, the transmitter is configured to wirelessly transmit a signal using a resource element of a wireless communication network. The transmitter includes a resource selector for selecting a resource element from a plurality of resource elements in a wireless communication network. The selection is at least partially unknown at the receiver of the signal. Thus, the receiver may decide on its own (while not excluding consideration of boundary conditions) which resource elements to use, e.g. based on self-determined channel metrics. Based on the selection being at least partially unknown to the receiver, overhead due to signaling can be avoided. The at least partly unknown selection may refer to partial knowledge in terms of boundary conditions, e.g. information about which carriers or subbands have to remain unused etc.

According to an embodiment, the transmitter is configured to determine resource elements to be used for transmission of a signal and to map at least one pilot symbol and at least one data symbol to the resource elements according to a predetermined rule. By using predetermined rules, additional information may be sent to the receiver, allowing the receiver to identify the transmitter.

According to an embodiment, the resource selector is configured to select at least one of a plurality of predefined sets of resources for transmitting the signal. The identity information may be sent using one of the predefined sets or at least two of the predefined sets.

According to an embodiment, the resource selector is configured to select at least one set from the plurality of predefined sets using selection information indicating a subset of the plurality of predefined sets, wherein the transmitter is configured to select the set from the subset of the predefined sets. Such a set may be an exclusive set or an overlapping set and may allow identity information to be enforced.

According to an embodiment, the transmitter is configured to temporarily use at least one additional resource from the pool of additional resources for transmitting the signal, in addition to the set of resources. The set of resources may be a core set. Temporarily, for example when higher throughput is required, the transmitter may use additional resources. Additional resources may be associated with respective sets of cores such that identity information may be maintained when such additional resources are used. Such an association may also be replaced if other identity information is sent.

According to an embodiment, the transmitter is configured to temporarily use a plurality of additional resources up to a predefined maximum data rate indicated by the maximum data rate information. This may allow to avoid an overuse of resources of a single transmitter. The additional resources may be selected for transmitting signals individually or by selecting at least one additional set of the predefined sets. This may allow for increasing or decreasing bandwidth on a block-by-block basis. According to an embodiment, the transmitter is configured to use a channel metric indicative of a channel characteristic of at least part of a channel from the transmitter to the receiver. The channel metrics may include channel gain, phase and amplitude of the channel, and/or other characteristics. The resource selector is configured to select a set from a plurality of predefined sets depending on the channel characteristics. For example, a channel may be selected that includes low attenuation through the channel. Alternatively or additionally, a set comprising low interference to other receivers may be selected.

According to an embodiment, the transmitter is configured to wirelessly transmit the signal to the receiver and to use resource elements of the wireless communication network for said transmission. The transmitter is configured to transmit a first signal during a first time instance using a core set of resource elements. The transmitter is configured to use at least one additional resource from the pool of additional resources for transmitting the second signal during the second time instance, other than the core set, without signaling use of the additional resource. This allows for dynamic adjustment of the transmission rate while avoiding signaling overhead.

According to an embodiment, a wireless communication network providing a plurality of resource elements for transmitting signals comprises a receiver according to an embodiment and at least a first transmitter according to an embodiment.

According to an embodiment, a wireless network includes at least first and second transmitters. The first and second transmitters are configured to use predefined resources for transmitting the first and second signals, wherein the predefined resources are predefined to indicate non-overlapping resources, i.e. at least parts of the used resources do not overlap.

According to an embodiment, the at least first transmitter is configured to select at least a first set from a plurality of predefined sets of resources for transmitting the first signal. The at least first transmitter is configured to select a first set of resources from the plurality of predefined sets using first selection information indicating the first subset of the plurality of predefined subsets. This allows reducing the search space at the receiver, since only sets of the predefined set may be used. This may therefore allow for an increase in the efficiency of the wireless network.

According to an embodiment, the first transmitter is configured to select at least a first set from a plurality of predefined sets of resources for transmitting the first signal. A second transmitter of the wireless network is configured to select at least a second set from the plurality of predefined sets of resources for transmitting a second signal. The first transmitter is configured to use a first channel metric indicative of a first channel characteristic of at least part of a first channel from the first transmitter to the receiver for selecting the at least first set in dependence on the first channel characteristic. The second transmitter is configured to use a second channel metric indicative of a second channel characteristic of at least part of a second channel from the second transmitter to the receiver for selecting the at least second set in dependence on the second channel characteristic. Thus, the first and second transmitters may select the resources they use depending on the channel existing between the respective transmitter and receiver. Thus, an overall enhancement of the communication may be obtained.

According to an embodiment, the first and second transmitters are configured to select the same resource for transmission of the first and second signals, wherein the first and second transmitters are configured to apply a non-orthogonal multiple access scheme to the transmission of the first and second signals. This may allow for high resource efficiency.

According to an embodiment, the network is configured to operate according to a multi-carrier concept comprising a plurality of carriers.

According to an embodiment, a method for receiving a wireless signal including a signal transmitted through a channel using resource elements of a wireless communication network includes: the method includes determining resource information indicative of resource elements, determining a channel metric for a channel, and associating the resource information with the channel metric using identity information contained in the signal.

According to an embodiment, a method for wirelessly transmitting a signal using a resource element of a wireless communication network comprises: at a transmitter, a resource element is selected from a plurality of resource elements in a wireless communication network in order to select a resource element that is at least partially unknown at a receiver of a signal.

Further embodiments relate to a non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon a computer program having a program code for performing a method according to an embodiment when run on a computer. Other embodiments relate to such a computer program.

Drawings

For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 shows a schematic representation of an example network infrastructure in accordance with embodiments;

fig. 2 shows an exemplary L TE OFDMA-based subframe with two antenna ports for different selected Tx antenna ports, according to an embodiment;

fig. 3a shows a schematic block diagram of a receiver according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3b shows where the wireless signal 14 is a first signal and a second signal 28 according to an embodiment₂A schematic block diagram of the receiver of fig. 3a in a superimposed scenario;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a plurality of transmitters, each transmitting a signal superimposed on each other to generate a wireless signal to a receiver, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example wireless system for estimation of a resource map;

fig. 6 shows a schematic block diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment;

fig. 7 illustrates an example diagram for pilot and data mapping according to an embodiment;

8a-c show schematic diagrams of an example binary version of an insert/delete/replace channel;

fig. 9 shows a schematic block diagram of a wireless network according to an embodiment;

fig. 10 shows a schematic diagram of a wireless network including a wireless transmitter and receiver, according to an embodiment;

fig. 11 shows a schematic block diagram of a wireless network according to an embodiment, comprising a possibly single transmitter and receiver;

FIG. 12 illustrates a diagram of error introduction due to noisy channel and resource map estimation and its correction by IDS error codes, according to an embodiment;

fig. 13 shows a schematic block diagram of a transmitter according to an embodiment;

FIG. 14a shows a schematic diagram of blocks each comprising a resource element according to an embodiment;

fig. 14b shows a schematic diagram of a distributed resource element in which a block is formed of sub-blocks, according to an embodiment;

fig. 15 shows an example of the Power Spectral Densities (PSDs) of two randomly selected channels over a frequency band in accordance with an embodiment; and

fig. 16 illustrates a resource map over time, in accordance with an embodiment.

In the following description, the same or equivalent elements or elements having the same or equivalent functions are denoted by the same or equivalent reference numerals even though they appear in different drawings.

Detailed Description

In the following description, numerous details are described to provide a more thorough explanation of embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form, rather than in detail, in order to avoid obscuring embodiments of the present invention. Furthermore, the features of the different embodiments described hereinafter may be combined with each other, unless specifically stated otherwise.

The identity information may include information that allows identification of the transmitter, i.e., in terms of, but not limited to, Media Access Control (MAC) identification, and the like. Each information allowing to distinguish a transmitter from a different transmitter may be suitably the identity information. By way of non-limiting example, it may also include corresponding channel metrics. Especially for fixed transmitters, the channel metric may face a slow change or may even remain constant. Thus, the channel metric may also be adapted to distinguish a transmitter having this channel metric from another transmitter having a different channel metric.

FIG. 1 is a diagram such as an eNB including multiple base stations₁To eNB₅Each serving a respective cell 100₁To 100₅Schematically represented as a certain area around the base station. A base station is providedTo serve users within the cell. The user may be a fixed device or a mobile device. Further, the wireless communication system may be accessed by an IoT device connected to a base station or a user. Fig. 1 shows an exemplary view of only 5 cells, however, a wireless communication system may include many more such cells. Figure 1 shows a cell 100₂And by base station eNB₂Serving two user UE₁And UE₂Also known as User Equipment (UE). Another user UE₃Shown in eNB by base station₄Serving cell 100₄And (4) the following steps. Arrow 100₂、102₂And 102₃Schematic representation for slave user UE₁、UE₂And UE₃To base station eNB₂、eNB₄For transmitting data or for transmitting data from base station eNB₂、eNB₄To the user UE₁、UE₂、UE₃Uplink/downlink connections that transmit data. Furthermore, fig. 1 shows a cell 100₄Two IoT devices 104 in₁And 104₂Which may be a fixed or mobile device. IoT device 104₁Via base station eNB₄Accessing a wireless communication system to receive and transmit data, as indicated by arrow 105₁Schematically represented. IoT device 104₂Via user UE₃Accessing a wireless communication system, as indicated by the arrow 105₂Schematically represented. UE (user Equipment)₁、UE₂And UE₃A wireless communication system or network may be accessed by communicating with a base station. Arrow 105₂Device-to-device (D2D) communication may also be indicated, such as IoT devices 104₂And UE₃The devices communicate directly with each other. Can be generated by eNB₄Scheduling such communications, e.g., when determining which resources are to be used for such communications, however, such communications may also be scheduled autonomously, e.g., when the eNB₄And out of range.

The wireless communication network system may be any single-tone or multi-carrier system based on frequency division multiplexing, such as an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) system defined by the L TE standard, or any other IFFT-based signal (e.g., DFT-SOFDM) with or without a CP.

An OFDMA system for data transmission may include an OFDMA-based physical resource grid including a plurality of Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) each defined by 7 OFDM symbols × subcarriers and including a set of resource elements to which various physical channels and physical signals are mapped, the resource elements consisting of one symbol in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain, for example, according to the L TE standard, a system bandwidth of 1.4MHz includes 6 PRBs, and NB-IoT enhancements according to the L TE Rel 13 standard, a 200kHz bandwidth includes 1 PRB, according to L TE and NB-IoT, the physical channels may include a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) including user-specific data (also referred to as downlink payload data), a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) including, for example, a master information block (SIB) or a System Information Block (SIB), a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) including, for example, Downlink Control Information (DCI), etc. physical signals may include Reference Signals (RS), synchronization signals, etc. a physical channel may include, in a frequency domain, a preamble frame with a prefix length of 1.10 MHz in a frequency domain, and a cyclic subframe length of 10ms depending on the OFDM frame.

Fig. 2 shows an exemplary L TE OFDMA-based subframe with two antenna ports, e.g., for possibly different selected Tx antenna ports, the subframe comprises two Resource Blocks (RBs), each consisting of one slot of the subframe and 12 subcarriers in the frequency domain, the subcarriers in the frequency domain are shown as subcarriers 0 to 11, and in the time domain, each slot comprises 7 OFDM symbols, e.g., OFDM symbols 0 to 6 in slot 0 and OFDM symbols 7 to 13 in slot 1 the white box 106 represents resource elements allocated to PDSCH (also referred to as payload region) including payload or user data, the resource elements for physical control channels (including non-payload or non-user data) (also referred to as control region) are represented by the shaded box 103, according to an example, resource elements 103 may be allocated to PDCCH, physical control format indicator channel (fich) and physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH), the shaded box 107 represents resource elements allocated to RS which may be used for channel estimation, the black box 108 represents resource elements which may correspond to the current antenna port in another antenna, and the physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH) indicated that the channel is allocated to RS, the resource elements in the slot 1, the slot, the resource elements are allocated to the resource elements in the subframe 1, the data symbol, the data symbols, the resource elements are allocated to the resource elements in the slot 1, the reference symbols, the data symbols are allocated to the resource elements in the data symbols.

Resource elements 106 of a PDSCH slot may be used by multiple nodes for downlink purposes. Similarly, there may be resource elements that may be used for uplink purposes. According to an embodiment, there may be situations where the transmitter is not allocated resources and therefore cannot send user data to a (common) receiver such as a base station. Such a transmitter allows such resource elements to be used for uplink purposes without prior scheduling. Such a concept may also be referred to as authorization-free. Embodiments described herein relate to scenarios in which a transmitter implements unlicensed access.

Fig. 3a shows a schematic block diagram of a receiver 30 according to an embodiment. For example, the receiver 30 may be used as the base station eNB shown in fig. 1₁To eNB₅Of fig. 1, however, the User Equipment (UE) of fig. 1 may also be implemented. The receiver 30 includes an antenna 12 for receiving the wireless signal 14. The antenna array 12 may be a single antenna element or may be an antenna array that may allow techniques such as beamforming to be implemented. Wireless signals 14 may be sent or received from transmitter 16. There is a physical medium between the transmitter 16 and the receiver 30 that causes a change or manipulation of the signal sent at the transmitter 16. This change may be referred to as a wireless signal 14 transmitted over the channel. The channel may be represented by channel metrics. For example, the channel metric may be represented as a channel impulse response and/or a cyclic autocorrelation of the channel impulse response. The channel impulse response may be obtained directly by the resource determiner 42, e.g., when the pilot is transmitted and received, or may be obtained by channel estimation via a phase recovery technique, e.g., when there is an amplitude-only signal. For example, if only amplitude knowledge is available, the cyclic autocorrelation of the signal impulse response may be obtained from a resource map estimate such as described herein above. Hereafter, the channel metric may be represented as a channel matrix H, which should not exclude other embodiments. Thus, the channel metric may describe the change in the wireless signal 14 as it travels from the transmitter 16 to the receiver 30. To transmit the wireless signal 14, resources may be occupied or used. Referring to fig. 2, such resources may be referred to as portions or segments in the time domain, frequency domain, code domain, and/or spatial domain. By way of non-limiting example only, transmission of symbols in OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) may occupy or use resource elements defined at least in part as time/frequency elements. The receiver 30 comprises a determiner 18, the determiner 18 being configured to determine resource information 22 indicative of resource elements for transmitting the wireless signal 14. The determiner 22 is further configured to determine a channel metric x of the channel, the channel metric x describing the change (indicated by H) at least in part.

Receiver 30 further comprises an associator 24, which associator 24 is configured to associate the resource information 22 with the channel metric x using identity information 26 contained in a signal 28 of the wireless signal 14. For example, the identity information may be an identification that is part of the information transmitted in the signal 28, an identification indicated by a selection of resource elements from the overall set of resource elements, and/or an identification indicated by the channel metric x. For example, the identity information (which is the information sent in the signal) may be obtained by decoding the signal or a message sent with it to obtain the corresponding information. For example, it may be a transmitter ID, location information, or any suitable information for identifying transmitter 16. In this connection, the identification does not necessarily require a unique identification, since it can be obtained, for example, when using a MAC address. It is sufficient to distinguish between all transmitters that transmit signals, where two or more signals may be superimposed onto the wireless signal 14. That is, in the case of only one transmitter 16, the identity information may be any information indicating, for example, the transmitter that occupied the channel when sending the signal 28. Such information may also be obtained by indicating the identity of itself by the selection of the resource element. The selection of resource elements may be done by the transmitter according to a certain pattern, wherein the transmitter may at least identify itself by the respective pattern selected when compared to other transmitters. Alternatively or additionally, the identity information may be indicated by the channel metric x. For example, a fixed or slow moving transmitter may be confronted with a channel metric that varies slowly over time or even is constant. Thus, a channel metric different from the channel metrics of other transmitters or the behavior of a different channel metric when compared to the behavior of other channel metrics may be used as a distinguishing feature, i.e. as identity information.

Fig. 3b shows a situation in which the wireless signal 14 is the first signal 28₁And a second signal 28₂In a superimposed scenario, wherein the first signal 28 is a first signal 28₁By way of non-limiting example only, is the signal 28 in FIG. 3a, and the second signal 28₂In the reaction of H₂Indicating and measuring x by signal₂From a second transmitter 16 on a representable second channel₂And (5) sending. In other words, the signal 28₁And 28₂May at least partially overlap in time upon arrival at the receiver 30, wherein the receiver 30 receives or views the wireless signal 14. The signal 28 may be transmitted by using a second resource element₂. The determiner 18 may be configured to determine the signal 28 for₁Resource ofInformation 22₁And for the signal 28₂Resource information 22 of₂. Furthermore, determiner 18 may be configured to determine for rating and/or quantifying emitter 16₁And a first channel metric x of the channel between the receiver 30₁And for evaluating and/or quantifying the transmitter 16₂And a channel metric x of the channel between the receiver 30₂. Correlator 24 may be configured to use signal 28₁Identity information 26 contained therein₁Resource information 22₁And channel metric x₁And (4) associating. Further, correlator 24 may be configured to use signal 28₂Identity information 26 contained therein₂Resource information 22₂And channel metric x₂And (4) associating. Thus, signal 28₁And 28₂Processing of both may be possible at the receiver 30, although the two signals are superimposed on each other at the receiver 30. Thus, emitter 16₁And 16₂It may operate according to an unlicensed access, i.e. it may simply be transmitted over the channel.