Full-duplex wireless communication using beamforming

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide systems and techniques for full-duplex communications. A first system is characterized by techniques for communicating in full-duplex using a Butler matrix beamformer to generate spatial beams to be used for both uplink and downlink signal transmissions, wherein the signal transmissions utilize the same time and frequency resources. A second system is characterized by techniques for communicating in full-duplex using a Butler matrix beamformer to generate two spatial beams, one spatial beam to be used for downlink signal transmissions, and one spatial beam to be used for uplink signal transmissions, wherein the signal transmissions utilize the same time and frequency resources. Thus, the systems and techniques described herein are directed to low-complexity, multi-user full-duplex communications.

Description

[0001] Priority information

[0002] This patent application claims priority to U.S. non-provisional application No. 16 / 590,010, filed on October 1, 2019, entitled “FULL-DUPLEX WIRELESS COMMUNICATION USING BEAMFORMING,” and assigned to the assignee of this application, and is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003]

[0004] Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communications and, more particularly, to techniques for full-duplex communications at a base station. Background Art

[0004] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcast, and the like. These wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, and the like). Examples of such multiple-access systems include Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, Advanced LTE (LTE-A) systems, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems, Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) systems, and Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) systems, 5G, New Radio (NR), to name a few.

[0005] In some examples, a wireless multiple access communication system may include multiple base stations (BSs), each of which is capable of simultaneously supporting communications for multiple communication devices (e.g., user equipment (UE)) using multiple antenna techniques that exploit multipath signal propagation so that the information carrying capacity of a wireless link can be multiplied by sending multiple simultaneous streams using multiple antennas. The streams can be sent to multiple UEs, a technique known as multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO). Such a system supports two-way communications for multiple users by sharing available network resources and communicating using time division duplexing (TDD) or frequency division duplexing (FDD).

[0006] Therefore, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, research and development continues to improve wireless communication technologies not only to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, but also to improve and enhance the user experience. Summary of the invention

[0007] The systems, methods, and devices of the present disclosure each have several aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of the present disclosure as expressed by the claims below, some features will now be briefly discussed. After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading the section entitled "Detailed Description," those skilled in the art will understand how the features of the present disclosure provide advantages including improved communications between access points and stations in a wireless network.

[0008] Certain aspects provide a method for full-duplex wireless communication operable at a base station (BS). The method generally includes: receiving a first signal transmitted via a first directional receive beam using one or more first time resources and one or more first frequency resources from a user equipment (UE). In certain aspects, the method further includes: sending a second signal to the UE, wherein the second signal is sent via a first directional transmit beam using one or more first time resources and one or more first frequency resources.

[0009] Certain aspects provide an apparatus for full-duplex wireless communication operable at a BS. The apparatus generally includes a memory and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to receive a first signal transmitted via a first directional receive beam from a UE using one or more first time resources and one or more first frequency resources. In some aspects, the processor is further configured to send a second signal to the UE, wherein the second signal is sent via a first directional transmit beam using one or more first time resources and one or more first frequency resources.

[0010] Certain aspects provide a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a device, cause the device to perform a method for full-duplex wireless communication operable at a BS. In certain aspects, the method includes: receiving a first signal transmitted via a first directional receive beam using one or more first time resources and one or more first frequency resources from a UE. In certain aspects, the method also includes: sending a second signal to the UE, wherein the second signal is sent via a first directional transmit beam using one or more first time resources and one or more first frequency resources.

[0011] Certain aspects provide for an apparatus for full-duplex wireless communication operable at a BS. In certain aspects, the apparatus includes: means for receiving a first signal transmitted via a first directional receive beam from a UE using one or more first time resources and one or more first frequency resources. In certain aspects, the apparatus includes: means for sending a second signal to the UE, wherein the second signal is sent via a first directional transmit beam using one or more first time resources and one or more first frequency resources.

[0012] To achieve the foregoing and related ends, one or more aspects include features fully described below and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the accompanying drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of one or more aspects. However, these features are merely indicative of some of the various ways in which the principles of the various aspects may be employed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] In order to understand in detail the manner in which the above features of the present disclosure are achieved, a more specific description of the content briefly summarized above may be provided by reference to various aspects, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, it should be noted that the accompanying drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of the present disclosure, and since the description may admit of other equally effective aspects, it should not be considered as limiting the scope of protection thereof.

[0014] Figure 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example telecommunications system in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0015] Figure 2 Example components of a base station (BS) and a user equipment (UE) are shown that can be used to implement aspects of the present disclosure.

[0016] Figure 3 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating a 4x4 Butler matrix beamformer in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 4 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating a first transceiver with a Butler matrix beamformer in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 5 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating a second transceiver with a Butler matrix beamformer in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 6 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating a third transceiver with a Butler matrix beamformer in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 7 is a flow chart illustrating a method of full-duplex multi-user wireless transmission according to certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 8

[0013] According to aspects of the present disclosure, a communication device is shown that may include various components configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein.

[0022] To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one aspect may be beneficially utilized in other aspects without specific recitation. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer-readable media for full-duplex wireless communications using beamforming at a base station.

[0024] As used herein, a communication is considered full-duplex if it supports concurrent transmission and reception using the same time resources. That is, uplink communication and downlink communication occur simultaneously. In some cases, full-duplex communication can be achieved by utilizing different frequency resources for uplink communication and downlink communication, such as in a frequency division duplex (FDD) system.

[0025] Certain aspects of the present invention provide improvements to full-duplex communications by utilizing beamforming for such full-duplex communications. In particular, in certain aspects, the use of beamforming for full-duplex communications allows for concurrent transmission and reception using the same time resources and the same one or more frequency resources. Therefore, different frequency resources are not required to achieve full-duplex communications, thereby providing a more efficient use of wireless communication resources.

[0026] In some aspects, a base station (BS) may have multiple physical antennas for sending and receiving signals. However, the BS may not use each physical antenna individually to send a specific signal or receive a specific signal. Instead, the BS may combine one or more physical antennas and use the combination of physical antennas as essentially one virtual antenna (e.g., antenna port) for sending or receiving. Further, a given physical antenna may be used as part of multiple virtual antennas.

[0027] Certain aspects of the present invention provide techniques that allow at least one virtual antenna to be used simultaneously for receiving a first signal and another virtual antenna to be used for transmitting a second signal on the same one or more frequency resources. In some aspects, as part of combining multiple physical antennas into virtual antennas, the amplitude gain and / or phase offset applied to the signal transmitted / received using each physical antenna can be individually configured (e.g., precoded or controlled) to increase the gain in one or more spatial directions, and to reduce the gain in one or more other spatial directions, so that the transmission / reception is essentially beamformed in a specific spatial direction called a directional beam. In some aspects, from the BS perspective, uplink signals can be received and downlink signals can be sent using a single beam or using different beams, utilizing signal filtering and an NxN Butler matrix for beamforming.

[0028] The following description provides examples, and is not a limitation of the scope of protection, applicability or examples set forth in the claims. Without departing from the scope of protection of the present disclosure, changes may be made in the functions and arrangements of the elements discussed. Various examples may omit, replace or add various processes or components as needed. For example, the method described may be performed in a different order from that described, and various steps may be added, omitted or combined. In addition, the features described with respect to some examples may be combined in other examples. For example, a device may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of protection of the present disclosure is intended to cover such a device or method, which is implemented using other structures, functions, or structures and functions of various aspects of the present disclosure set forth herein or structures and functions of various aspects of the present disclosure set forth herein different from those set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of the claims. The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "used as an example, instance or illustration". Any aspect described as "exemplary" herein is not necessarily interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other aspects.

[0029] The techniques described herein can be used for various wireless communication technologies, such as 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), Advanced LTE (LTE-A), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), and other networks. The terms "network" and "system" are often used interchangeably.

[0030] A CDMA network may implement radio technologies such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, and the like. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95, and IS-856 standards. A TDMA network may implement radio technologies such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA network may implement radio technologies such as NR (e.g., 5G RA), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash OFDMA, and the like. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). LTE and LTE-A are releases of UMTS using E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, and GSM are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP). cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2).

[0031] New Radio (NR) is an emerging wireless communication technology being developed in conjunction with the 5G Technology Forum (5GTF). NR access (e.g., 5G NR) can support a variety of wireless communication services, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) targeting wide bandwidth (e.g., 80MHz or above), millimeter wave (mmW) targeting high carrier frequencies (e.g., 25GHz or above), massive machine type communication MTC (mMTC) targeting non-backward compatible MTC technologies, and / or mission critical ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC). These services may include latency and reliability requirements. These services may also have different transmission time intervals (TTIs) to meet their respective quality of service (QoS) requirements. In addition, these services can coexist in the same subframe.

[0032] The techniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks and radio technologies mentioned above as well as other wireless networks and radio technologies. For clarity, although various aspects may be described herein using terms commonly associated with 3G and / or 4G wireless technologies, various aspects of the present disclosure may also be applied to communication systems based on other generations, such as 5G and later versions including NR technology.

[0033] Figure 1 An example wireless communication network 100 is shown in which aspects of the present disclosure may be performed. For example, the wireless communication network 100 may be a NR system (e.g., a 5G NR network). Figure 1 As shown in , according to various aspects described herein, BS 110a includes a full-duplex module 140 configured to use beamforming to enable full-duplex communication with each of one or more surrounding users (e.g., user equipment (UE) 120). In certain aspects, full-duplex module 140 may include a Butler matrix beamformer configured to generate spatial beams to be used for uplink signal reception (e.g., receiving signals from UE 120) and downlink signal transmission (e.g., transmitting signals to UE 120) for a given UE 120 using the same time and frequency resources. In certain aspects, full-duplex module 140 is configured to generate two spatial beams, one spatial beam to be used for downlink signal transmission for a given UE 120 using the same time and frequency resources, and one spatial beam to be used for uplink signal reception for a given UE 120 using the same time and frequency resources.

[0034] like Figure 1 As shown in , the wireless communication network 100 may include multiple base stations (BS) 110 and other network entities. A BS may be a station that communicates with a user equipment (UE). Each BS 110 may provide communication coverage for a specific geographical area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" may refer to the coverage area of ​​a Node B (NB) and / or a NB subsystem serving the coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In NR systems, the terms "cell" and BS, next generation Node B (gNB or gNodeB), access point (AP), distributed unit (DU), carrier or transmit receive point (TRP) may be used interchangeably. In some examples, the cell is not necessarily stationary, and the geographical area of ​​the cell may move according to the location of the mobile BS. In some examples, the BSs may be interconnected to each other and / or to one or more other BSs or network nodes (not shown) in the wireless communication network 100 using any appropriate transport network through various types of backhaul interfaces (such as direct physical connections, wireless connections, virtual networks, etc.).

[0035] Typically, any number of wireless networks can be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network can support a specific radio access technology (RAT) and can operate on one or more frequencies. RAT can also be referred to as radio technology, air interface, etc. Frequency can also be referred to as carrier, subcarrier, frequency channel, tone, subband, etc. Each frequency can support a single RAT in a given geographic area to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs. In some cases, NR or 5G RAT networks can be deployed.

[0036] A BS may provide communication coverage for macro cells, pico cells, femto cells, and / or other types of cells. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a residence) and may allow restricted access by UEs associated with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a closed subscriber group (CSG), UEs for users in a residence, etc.). A BS for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. A BS for a pico cell may be referred to as a pico BS. A BS for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS. In Figure 1 In the illustrated example, BSs 110a, 110b, and 110c may be macro BSs for macro cells 102a, 102b, and 102c, respectively. BS 110x may be a pico BS for pico cell 102x. BSs 110y and 110z may be femto BSs for femto cells 102y and 102z, respectively. A BS may support one or more (e.g., three) cells.

[0037] The wireless communication network 100 may also include a relay station. A relay station is a station that can receive transmissions of data and / or other information from an upstream station (e.g., a BS or a UE) and send transmissions of data and / or other information to a downstream station (e.g., a UE or a BS). A relay station may also be a UE that relays transmissions for other UEs. Figure 1 In the illustrated example, a relay station 110r may communicate with the BS 110a and the UE 120r to facilitate communication between the BS 110a and the UE 120r. A relay station may also be referred to as a relay BS, a relay, or the like.

[0038] The wireless communication network 100 may be a heterogeneous network including different types of BSs (e.g., macro BSs, pico BSs, femto BSs, repeaters, etc.). These different types of BSs may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different effects on interference in the wireless communication network 100. For example, a macro BS may have a high transmit power level (e.g., 20 watts), while a pico BS, a femto BS, and a repeater may have a lower transmit power level (e.g., 1 watt).

[0039] The wireless communication network 100 may support synchronous operation or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, the BSs may have similar frame timings, and transmissions from different BSs may be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the BSs may have different frame timings, and transmissions from different BSs may not be aligned in time. The techniques described herein may be used for both synchronous and asynchronous operation.

[0040] A network controller 130 may couple to a set of BSs and provide coordination and control for these BSs. The network controller 130 may communicate with the BSs 110 via a backhaul. The BSs 110 may also communicate with each other via a wireless backhaul or a wired backhaul (eg, directly or indirectly).

[0041] UE 120 (e.g., UE 120x, UE 120y, etc.) may be dispersed throughout the wireless communication network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. UE may also be referred to as a mobile station, a terminal, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a station, a customer premises equipment (CPE), a cellular phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a tablet computer, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, an appliance, a medical device or medical equipment, a biosensor / device, a wearable device (such as a smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, a smart wristband, smart jewelry (e.g., a smart ring, a smart bracelet, etc.)), an entertainment device (e.g., a music device, a video device, a satellite radio unit, etc.), a vehicle component or sensor, a smart meter / sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium. Some UEs may be considered as machine type communication (MTC) devices or evolved MTC (eMTC) devices. MTC and eMTC UEs include, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, etc. that can communicate with a BS, another device (e.g., a remote device), or some other entity. A wireless node may provide, for example, connectivity to a network or to a network (e.g., a wide area network such as the Internet or a cellular network) via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered as Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which may be narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) devices.

[0042] Certain wireless networks (e.g., LTE) utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and single carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as tones, frequency bins, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. Typically, modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain using OFDM and in the time domain using SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers can be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) can depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the spacing of the subcarriers can be 15kHz, and the minimum resource allocation (called a "resource block" (RB)) can be 12 subcarriers (or 180kHz). Therefore, for a system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10 or 20 megahertz (MHz), the nominal fast Fourier transform (FFT) size can be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024 or 2048, respectively. The system bandwidth can also be divided into subbands. For example, a subband can cover 1.08MHz (i.e., 6 RBs), and for a system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10 or 20MHz, there can be 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 subbands, respectively. In LTE, the basic transmission time interval (TTI) or packet duration is a 1ms subframe. In NR, the subframe is still 1ms, but the basic TTI is called a time slot. A subframe contains a variable number of time slots (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, ... time slots) depending on the subcarrier spacing. NR RBs are 12 consecutive frequency subcarriers. NR can support a basic subcarrier spacing of 15KHz, and other subcarrier spacings can be defined relative to the basic subcarrier spacing, such as 30kHz, 60kHz, 120kHz, 240kHz, etc. Symbol and slot lengths scale with the subcarrier spacing. CP length also depends on the subcarrier spacing.

[0043] NR may utilize OFDM with CP on both the uplink and downlink, and includes support for half-duplex operation using TDD. Beamforming may be supported, and the beam direction may be dynamically configured. MIMO transmissions with precoding may also be supported. In some examples, the MIMO configuration in the DL may support up to 8 transmit antennas with up to 8 streams and multi-layer DL transmissions of up to 2 streams per UE. In some examples, multi-layer transmissions of up to 2 streams per UE may be supported. Aggregation of multiple cells with up to 8 serving cells may be supported.

[0044] In some examples, access to the air interface can be scheduled. The scheduling entity (e.g., BS) allocates resources for communication among some or all devices and equipment within its service area or cell. The scheduling entity can be responsible for scheduling, allocating, reconfiguring and releasing resources for one or more subordinate entities. That is, for scheduled communications, the subordinate entity utilizes the resources allocated by the scheduling entity. The base station is not just the only entity that can act as a scheduling entity. In some examples, the UE can act as a scheduling entity, and resources for one or more subordinate entities (e.g., one or more other UEs) can be scheduled, and other UEs can utilize the resources scheduled by the UE for wireless communication. In some examples, the UE can act as a scheduling entity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network and / or a mesh network. In the mesh network example, the UE can communicate directly with each other in addition to communicating with the scheduling entity.

[0045] In some examples, two or more slave entities (e.g., UEs) can communicate with each other using sidelink signals. Practical applications of such sidelink communications may include public safety, proximity services, UE-to-network relay, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, Internet of Everything (IoE) communications, IoT communications, mission-critical grids, and / or various other appropriate applications. Generally, a sidelink signal may refer to a signal transmitted from one slave entity (e.g., UE1) to another slave entity (e.g., UE2) without relaying the communication through a scheduling entity (e.g., UE or BS), even though the scheduling entity may be used for scheduling and / or control purposes. In some examples, the sidelink signal may be transmitted using a licensed spectrum (unlike wireless local area networks that typically use an unlicensed spectrum).

[0046] exist Figure 1 In FIG. 1 , a solid line with double arrows indicates desired transmissions between a UE and a serving BS, which is a BS designated to serve the UE on the downlink and / or uplink. A thin dashed line with double arrows indicates potentially interfering transmissions between a UE and a BS.

[0047] Figure 2 BS 110 and UE 120 are shown (e.g., Figure 1 The example components 200 of the wireless communication network 100 of the present disclosure may be used to implement various aspects of the present disclosure. For example, the antenna 252, processors 266, 258, 264 and / or controller / processor 280 of the UE 120 and / or the antenna 234, processors 220, 230, 238 and / or controller / processor 240 of the BS 110 may be used to perform the various techniques and methods described herein. Figure 2As shown in , according to various aspects described herein, the BS 110 includes a full-duplex circuit 290 configured to implement full-duplex communication using beamforming with one or more UEs 120. In certain aspects, the full-duplex circuit 290 can include a Butler matrix beamformer configured to generate spatial beams to be used for both uplink signal reception and downlink signal transmission using the same time and frequency resources for a given UE 120. In certain aspects, the full-duplex circuit 290 is configured to generate two spatial beams, one spatial beam to be used for downlink signal transmission and one spatial beam to be used for uplink signal reception using the same time and frequency resources for a given UE 120.

[0048] In a MIMO system, BS 110 and UE 120 include multiple antennas (234a to 234t and 252a to 252r) to generate multiple signal paths between UE 120 and BS 110. The use of such multi-antenna technology enables wireless communication systems to utilize the spatial domain to support spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and transmit diversity. Spatial multiplexing can be used to send different data streams (also called layers) simultaneously on the same time-frequency resources. The data stream can be sent to a single UE to increase the data rate, or to multiple UEs to increase the overall system capacity, the latter is called multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO). This is achieved by spatially precoding each data stream (i.e., multiplying the data stream with different weights and phase shifts), and then sending each spatially precoded stream through multiple transmit antennas on the DL. The spatially precoded data stream arrives at the UE with different spatial characteristics, which enables each of the UEs to recover one or more data streams intended for the UE. On the UL, each UE transmits a spatially precoded data stream, which enables the base station to identify the source of each spatially precoded data stream.

[0049] At BS 110, a transmit processor 220 may receive data from a data source 212 and control information from a controller / processor 240. The control information may be for a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), a physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH), etc. The data may be for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc. The processor 220 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and the control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols such as for a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a cell-specific reference signal (CRS). A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​data symbols, control symbols, and / or reference symbols (if applicable), and provide output symbol streams to modulators (MODs) 232a-232t. Each modulator 232 can process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator can further process the output sample stream (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) to obtain a downlink signal. The downlink signals from modulators 232a-232t can be transmitted via antennas 234a-234t, respectively.

[0050] At the UE 120, antennas 252a-252r can receive downlink signals from the BS 110 and can provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) in transceivers 254a-254r, respectively. Each demodulator 254 can condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) the respective received signals to obtain input samples. Each demodulator can further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. The MIMO detector 256 can obtain received symbols from all demodulators 254a-254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols (if applicable), and provide detected symbols. The receive processor 258 can process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for the UE 120 to the data sink 260, and provide decoded control information to the controller / processor 280.

[0051] On the uplink, at the UE 120, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from a data source 262 (e.g., for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)) and control information from a controller / processor 280 (e.g., for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)). The transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for a reference signal (e.g., for a sounding reference signal (SRS)). The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266 (if applicable), further processed by a demodulator in a transceiver 254a-254r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), and transmitted back to the base station 110. At the BS 110, the uplink signal from the UE 120 may be received by the antenna 234, processed by the modulator 232, detected by the MIMO detector 236 (if applicable), and further processed by the receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information transmitted by the UE 120. Receive processor 238 may provide decoded data to a data sink 239 and decoded control information to controller / processor 240 .

[0052] Controllers / processors 240 and 280 may direct the operation at BS 110 and UE 120, respectively. Processor 240 and / or other processors and modules at BS 110 may perform or direct the execution of processes for the techniques described herein. Memories 242 and 282 may store data and program codes for BS 110 and UE 120, respectively. Scheduler 244 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and / or uplink.

[0053] Figure 34x4 Butler Matrix beamformer 300 is conceptually illustrated according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. The beamformer 300 has four 4-port couplers 302a-d. In certain aspects, the couplers are branch orthogonal couplers. Each coupler in the couplers 302a-d can receive a signal on one of the ports and output a signal offset by 0 degrees or 90 degrees on two of the other ports. The 0 degree path through each coupler 302a-d is indicated by a dotted line through each coupler in the couplers 302a-d. The 90 degree offset path is indicated by a solid line through each coupler in the couplers 302a-d. The port numbers described for the couplers will correspond to the first port p1, the second port p2, the third port p3, and the fourth port p4 as shown for the coupler 302a. The 4x4 Butler matrix also includes a cross-over 304 and 45 degree phase shifters 306a, 306b. It should be noted that higher order Butler matrices will require different values ​​for the phase shifters.

[0054] The coupler 302a has a first port and a second port connected to a first terminal t1 and a second terminal t2, which may be referred to as transceiver terminals. The third port of the coupler 302a is connected to a first port of the coupler 302b via a 45-degree phase shifter 306a. The fourth port of the coupler 302a is connected to a first port of the coupler 302d via a jumper 304.

[0055] Coupler 302c has a first port and a second port coupled to third terminal t3 and fourth terminal t4. The third port of coupler 302c is connected to the second port of coupler 302b via cross coupler 304. The fourth port of coupler 302c is connected to the second port of coupler 302d via 45 degree phase shifter 306b.

[0056] The third and fourth ports of the coupler 302b are connected to respective antenna terminals a1 and a3. The third and fourth ports of the coupler 302d are connected to respective antenna terminals a2 and a4. The antenna terminals a1 to a4 are operatively connected to respective antennas 314a-d.

[0057] The beamformer 300 may be connected to a transceiver configured to send and receive wireless communication signals. The transceiver may be connected to transceiver terminals t1 to t4, such as Figure 4-Figure 6. The signal generated by the transceiver for transmission from the antenna terminal is passed to one of the four terminals t1 to t4. Each terminal t1 to t4 can be associated with a different spatial beam (e.g., corresponding to a different spatial direction) or a virtual antenna, meaning that depending on which terminal the signal is input to, the signal will be output on the corresponding spatial beam using antenna 314a-d.

[0058] Because the Butler matrix beamformer 300 operates symmetrically, it will be understood that the antennas 314a-d can also be used to receive signals while the antennas 314a-d are transmitting signals. Typically, for an N×N Butler matrix network consisting of N transceiver terminals and N antenna terminals, (N / 2)log2(N) couplers and (N / 2)(log2(N)-1) phase shifters are required. The N×N Butler matrix can produce N beams corresponding to N different beam angles. It should be noted that each of the N outputs or antenna feeds generated by the NxN Butler matrix is ​​a synthesis of the N signals input to the Butler matrix. Therefore, as the value of N increases, the matrix complexity increases, and the insertion loss may also increase. The Butler matrix is ​​typically implemented as part of an antenna feed network using microstrip transmission lines arranged on a printed circuit board (PCB).

[0059] In certain aspects, the present disclosure provides a transceiver coupled to an NxN Butler matrix beamformer. Figure 4-Figure 6 Various example arrangements for implementing a transceiver coupled to an NxN Butler Matrix beamformer capable of full-duplex communication using beamforming are shown. Figure 4 and Figure 5 An example apparatus is shown for communicating in full-duplex utilizing a Butler matrix beamformer for generating a single spatial beam to be used for both uplink signal reception and downlink signal transmission using the same time and frequency resources for a given wireless device. Figure 6 An example apparatus is shown for utilizing a Butler matrix beamformer in full duplex to generate two spatial beams for communication, one for downlink signal transmission and one for uplink signal reception for a given wireless device using the same time and frequency resources. Thus, in certain aspects, the systems and methods described herein provide low-complexity, full-duplex communications for one or more wireless devices using beamforming.

[0060] Example of a full-duplex transceiver with a non-reciprocal circulator

[0061] Figure 4is a block diagram conceptually illustrating a communication device 400 including a first transceiver 402 having Butler matrix circuitry (Butler matrix beamformer 404) configured for beamforming, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0062] The first transceiver 402 includes a plurality of circuit components configured to simultaneously transmit and receive wireless communication signals on the same beam using the same time and frequency resources. The transceiver terminals t1-tN provide bidirectional signal communication between the beamformer 404 and the first full-duplex system 402. For example, the terminal t1 provides a path to the first full-duplex system 402 for signals received at the antennas 424a-N coupled to the beamformer 404 (e.g., uplink communications from the UE 120), and simultaneously provides a path to the beamformer 404 for signals transmitted from the first duplex system 402 (e.g., downlink communications from the BS 110) on the same spatial beam (e.g., beam 422a). In order to filter or separate bidirectional signals from a single path of the terminals, the first full-duplex system 402 includes a plurality of duplexers, and in particular, "circulators" 406a-N configured to transmit radio frequency signals entering any port to the next port in turn. In one example, circulator 406a is a three-port (p1-3) circulator configured to receive and transmit signals via p1 connected to terminal t1. In this example, signals received at p1 are only transmitted from p2 (e.g., signals from any other port are severely attenuated), and signals received at p3 are only transmitted from p1. A port in this context is a point at which an external waveguide or transmission line (e.g., a microstrip line or a coaxial cable) is connected to circulator 406a.

[0063] In one example, circulator 406a directs a signal received from terminal t1 at p1 (e.g., an uplink signal received by beam 422a) to p2, wherein the uplink signal is passed to low noise amplifier (LNA) 408a, which is configured to amplify a relatively low-power uplink signal. In some aspects, the amplified uplink signal is passed to analog interference cancellation device 410a, which is configured to eliminate or reduce the noise caused by circulator 406a. In some examples, circulator 406a can provide a relatively low isolation (e.g., 40dB) between an uplink signal and another signal processed by circulator 406a (e.g., a downlink signal for transmission performed on beam 422a via terminal t1). Therefore, the analog transmit signal is directed to a cancellation device 410a (e.g., an adder or subtractor) to cancel echo and any other noise artifacts generated by processing both the uplink signal and the downlink signal at the circulator 406a. After noise cancellation, the uplink signal is passed to a block 412a, which includes a mixer, an analog-to-digital converter, and a filter for further processing of the uplink signal before passing to a digital baseband 414 for digital cancellation of the noise caused by the downlink signal.

[0064] The digital baseband 414 provides a downlink signal to be sent via a beam or virtual antenna from the beamformer 404. For example, the digital baseband 414 provides a downlink signal for transmission via terminal t1. Initially, the downlink signal is a digital signal directed to a box 416a, which includes a mixer, a digital-to-analog converter, and a filter, where the downlink signal is converted to an analog signal. From box 416a, the analog downlink signal is directed to the elimination device 410a and a power amplifier (PA) driver 418a for driving a high-gain PA 420a. The amplified downlink signal is sent to p3 of the circulator, where the amplified downlink signal is processed together with the uplink signal and output to the beamformer 404 via terminal t1 for beamformed transmission. Therefore, the beamformer 404 can use antennas 424a-N to generate a single directional beam 422a for simultaneously sending downlink signals and receiving uplink signals using the same one or more frequency resources.

[0065] It should be noted that in some aspects, the circulators 406a-N may include ferrimagnetic materials. However, in other configurations, the circulators 406a-N may include metamaterials. As used in the present disclosure, metamaterials are materials characterized by tunable dielectric constants and / or magnetic permeabilities. Typically, metamaterials are man-made and do not exist in nature, but are manufactured using nanofabrication methods. It should also be noted that each component in the communication device 400 may be designed using metamaterials, including antennas, switches, phase shifters, couplers, filters and resonators, and oscillators.

[0066] Example full-duplex transceiver with branch line coupler

[0067] Figure 5 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating a communication device 500 including a second transceiver 502 and a Butler matrix beamformer 504 according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. The second full-duplex system 502 is similar in some aspects to Figure 4 . For example, the second transceiver 502 includes LNA 508a-N, analog interference cancellation devices 510a-N (e.g., adders or subtractors), blocks 512a-N (which include mixers, analog-to-digital converters, and filters for further processing of received signals (e.g., uplink signals)), digital baseband 514, blocks 516a-N (which include mixers, digital-to-analog converters, and filters for processing signals to be transmitted (e.g., downlink signals)), PA drivers 518a-N, and PA 520a-N. However, unlike the first transceiver 402, the second transceiver 502 includes a plurality of "branch couplers" 506a-N, which are configured as duplexers instead of circulators to separate uplink and downlink signals into isolated parts.

[0068] For example, terminal t1 provides a path to the second full-duplex system 502 for signals received at antennas 524a-N coupled to the beamformer 504 (e.g., uplink communications from UE 120), and simultaneously provides a path to the beamformer 504 for signals to be sent from the second duplex system 502 (e.g., downlink communications from BS 110) on the same spatial beam (e.g., beam 522a). In order to filter or separate the bidirectional signals from a single path of t1, the second full-duplex system 502 includes a plurality of branch couplers 506a-N, which are configured to separate the uplink signal and the downlink signal into isolated portions. For example, an uplink signal received through beam 522a enters branch coupler 506a through port p1 via t1 and is then evenly divided between two output ports (p2 and p3). In some examples, port p3 is isolated from other ports by impedance 526a (e.g., 50 ohm termination). Port p4 is configured to receive a downlink signal from PA 520a for transmission on beam 522a via t1, which is output via p1. Thus, beamformer 504 can generate a single directional beam 522a for both transmitting downlink signals and receiving uplink signals simultaneously using the same one or more frequency resources using antennas 524a-N.

[0069] A port in this context is a point at which an external waveguide or transmission line (e.g., a microstrip line or a coaxial cable) connects to a branch coupler 506a. It should be noted that while a single branch coupler 506 may be used at each terminal (t1-tN), other configurations are contemplated, including a single branch coupler with more or fewer ports, or multiple branch couplers at each terminal. It should also be noted that each component in the communication device 500 may be designed using metamaterials, including antennas, switches, phase shifters, couplers, filters and resonators, and oscillators.

[0070] Example full-duplex transceiver with separate beams on downlink and uplink

[0071] Figure 66 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating a communication device 600 including a third transceiver 602 and a Butler matrix beamformer 604 according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. The third full-duplex system 602 is similar in some aspects to the first transceiver 402 and the second transceiver 502. For example, the third transceiver 602 includes LNAs 608a-N, blocks 612a-N (which include mixers, analog-to-digital converters, and filters for further processing of received signals (e.g., uplink signals)), a digital baseband 614, blocks 616a-N (which include mixers, digital-to-analog converters, and filters for processing signals to be transmitted (e.g., downlink signals)), PA drivers 618a-N, and PAs 620a-N.

[0072] However, Figure 6 The third full-duplex system 602 can be connected with Figure 4 and Figure 5 Different in that it utilizes the beamformer 604 to generate separate beams (e.g., beam 622a and beam 622b) for transmitting uplink signals and downlink signals using the same time and frequency resources. For example, beam 622a is used for receiving uplink signals, and beam 622b is used for transmitting downlink signals, such as using the same frequency resources at the same time. Therefore, the uplink and downlink signals are isolated from each other, which leads to a reduction in necessary circuit devices (e.g., no duplexer is required), and an increase in the number of antennas. For example, terminal t1 is configured to provide a path from the full-duplex system 602 to the beamformer 604 for downlink signals received from the digital baseband 614 and to be transmitted through beam 622a. In the isolated path, terminal t2 is configured to provide a path from the beamformer 604 to the full-duplex system 602 for uplink signals received through beam 622b from antennas 624a-N coupled to the beamformer 604. Furthermore, by utilizing two spatially separated beams for full-duplex communications as described, multi-user full-duplex communications may be implemented utilizing ubiquitous semiconductor and PCB technologies.

[0073] It should also be noted that each component in the communication device 600 may be designed using metamaterials, including antennas, switches, phase shifters, couplers, filters and resonators, and oscillators.

[0074] Figure 7 700 is a flow chart illustrating example operations 700 for wireless communications according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. Operations 700 may be performed, for example, by a BS (e.g., such as BS 110 in wireless communication network 100). Operations 700 may be implemented as a processor (e.g., Figure 2Further, the transmission and reception of signals by the BS in operation 700 may be, for example, via one or more antennas (e.g., Figure 2 In some aspects, the transmission and / or reception of signals by the BS may be implemented via a bus interface of one or more processors (eg, controller / processor 240) for obtaining and / or outputting signals.

[0075] Operations 700 begin at block 705 by receiving, from a UE, a first signal transmitted via a first directional receive beam using one or more first time resources and one or more first frequency resources.

[0076] At block 710, operations 700 proceed with transmitting a second signal to the UE, wherein the second signal is transmitted via a first directional transmit beam using one or more first time resources and one or more first frequency resources.

[0077] In certain aspects, the operations 700 further include generating the first directional receive beam and the first directional transmit beam using Butler matrix beamforming.

[0078] In certain aspects, the first directional receive beam and the first directional transmit beam are spatially separated.

[0079] In some aspects, the first directional receive beam and the first directional transmit beam are spatially collocated. In some aspects, operation 700 also includes: receiving the second signal and the first signal via the circuit, passing the second signal to a plurality of branch orthogonal couplers via the circuit, performing Butler matrix beamforming on the second signal via the plurality of branch orthogonal couplers to generate the first directional transmit beam, and passing the first signal to an analog-to-digital converter via the circuit. In some aspects, the circuit includes a duplexer. In some aspects, the circuit includes one or more of a metamaterial or a material having a tunable dielectric constant or permeability. In some aspects, operation 700 also includes performing interference cancellation on the first signal to eliminate interference generated by the second signal at the circuit.

[0080] Figure 8 The diagram may include a system configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein (e.g. Figure 7 800 includes various components (e.g., corresponding to functional module components) of the communication device 800 and the operation shown in FIG. 800. The communication device 800 includes a processing system 802 coupled to a transceiver 808. The transceiver 808 is configured to send and receive signals for the communication device 800 via an antenna 810, such as various signals described herein. The processing system 802 can be configured to perform processing functions for the communication device 800, including processing signals received and / or to be sent by the communication device 800.

[0081] The processing system 802 includes a processor 804 coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 812 via a bus 806. In some aspects, the computer-readable medium / memory 812 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that, when executed by the processor 804, cause the processor 804 to perform Figure 7 , or other operations for performing various techniques discussed herein. In some aspects, the computer-readable medium / memory 812 stores code 814 for sending. The code 814 for sending can operate in conjunction with the circuit 820 for sending, which includes one or more hardware components that provide a physical structure for performing various processes related to signal transmission, as described herein. In one example, the code 814 for sending and the circuit 820 for sending can use a beam that is spatially separated or spatially collocated with a signal received via the transceiver 808 to send a signal to the UE.

[0082] In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium / memory 812 stores code for receiving 816. The code for receiving 816 can operate in conjunction with circuitry for receiving 824, which includes one or more hardware components that provide a physical structure for performing various processes related to signal reception, as described herein. In one example, the code for receiving 816 and circuitry for receiving 824 can receive signals from a UE using a beam that is spatially separated or spatially collocated with a signal transmitted via the transceiver 808.

[0083] The method disclosed herein includes one or more steps or actions for implementing the method. The method steps and / or actions may be interchangeable without departing from the scope of protection of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is specified, the order and / or use of specific steps and / or actions may be modified without departing from the scope of protection of the claims.

[0084] Additional considerations

[0085] As used herein, a phrase referring to "at least one of" a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. For example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to cover a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and abc, as well as any combination with multiple of the same elements (e.g., aa, aaa, aab, aac, abb, acc, bb, bbb, bbc, cc, and ccc or any other ordering of a, b, and c).

[0086] As used herein, the term "determine" encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, "determine" may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, querying (e.g., querying in a table, a database, or another data structure), ascertaining, and the like. In addition, "determine" may also include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory), and the like. In addition, "determine" may also include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like.

[0087] The foregoing description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications to these aspects will be apparent, and the general principles defined herein may be applicable to other aspects. Therefore, the claims are not intended to be limited to the various aspects shown herein, but to be given a full range consistent with the language expression of the claims, wherein unless specifically stated otherwise, references to elements in the singular form are not intended to mean "one and only one", but "one or more". Unless otherwise specifically stated, the term "some" refers to one or more. All structural and functional equivalents of the elements of the various aspects described in this disclosure, known to those of ordinary skill in the art or to be known later, are expressly incorporated herein by reference, and are intended to be included by the claims. In addition, no disclosure herein is intended to be dedicated to the public, regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recorded in the claims. No claim element is to be interpreted in accordance with 35 U.S.C. § 112 (f), unless the element is explicitly recorded using the phrase "unit for...", or in the case of a method claim, the element is recorded using the phrase "step for...".

[0088] The various operations of the methods described above may be performed by any suitable unit capable of performing the corresponding functions. The unit may include various hardware and / or software components and / or modules, including but not limited to circuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or processors. Typically, where operations are shown in the accompanying drawings, these operations may have corresponding paired functional module components that are similarly numbered.

[0089] The various illustrative logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the present disclosure may be implemented or performed using a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in an alternative manner the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in combination with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0090] If implemented in hardware, an example hardware configuration may include a processing system in a wireless node. The processing system may be implemented using a bus architecture. Depending on the specific application of the processing system and the overall design constraints, the bus may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges. The bus may link together various circuits including a processor, a machine-readable medium, and a bus interface. Among other things, the bus interface may be used to connect a network adapter to the processing system via the bus. The network adapter may be used to implement the signal processing functions of the PHY layer. In the user terminal 120 (see Figure 1 ), a user interface (e.g., keyboard, display, mouse, joystick, etc.) may also be connected to the bus. The bus may also link various other circuits such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, etc., which are well known in the art and therefore will not be described any further. The processor may be implemented using one or more general purpose processors and / or special purpose processors. Examples include microprocessors, microcontrollers, DSP processors, and other circuits capable of executing software. Those skilled in the art will recognize how to best implement the described functionality for the processing system depending on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the entire system.

[0091] If implemented in software, the function may be stored on a computer-readable medium or sent as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium. Software should be broadly interpreted as meaning instructions, data, or any combination thereof, whether it is referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or other terms. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, and communication media include any medium that facilitates the transmission of computer programs from one place to another. The processor may be responsible for managing the bus and general processing, including the execution of software modules stored on a machine-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium may be coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. In an alternative manner, the storage medium may be necessary for the processor. For example, the machine-readable medium may include a transmission line, a carrier waveform modulated by data, and / or a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon separated from a wireless node, all of which may be accessed by the processor through a bus interface. Alternatively or additionally, the machine-readable medium or any part thereof may be integrated into the processor, such as the case may be with a cache and / or a general register file. For example, examples of machine-readable storage media may include RAM (random access memory), flash memory, ROM (read-only memory), PROM (programmable read-only memory), EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory), EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory), registers, magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, or any other suitable storage media, or any combination thereof. The machine-readable medium may be embodied in a computer program product.

[0092] A software module may include a single instruction or multiple instructions, and may be distributed over several different code segments, distributed among different programs, and distributed across multiple storage media. A computer-readable medium may include multiple software modules. A software module includes instructions that, when executed by a device such as a processor, cause a processing system to perform various functions. A software module may include a sending module and a receiving module. Each software module may be located in a single storage device, or distributed across multiple storage devices. For example, when a triggering event occurs, a software module may be loaded from a hard disk into a RAM. During execution of the software module, the processor may load some of the instructions into a cache to increase access speed. Subsequently, one or more cache lines may be loaded into a general register file for execution by the processor. When referring to the functions of the software modules below, it will be understood that such functions are implemented by the processor when executing instructions from the software module.

[0093] Moreover, any connection may be properly referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared (IR), radio and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio and microwave are included in the definition of medium. As used herein, disk and disc include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Optical disks, where magnetic disks typically reproduce data magnetically, and optical disks use lasers to reproduce data optically. Thus, in some aspects, computer-readable media may include non-transitory computer-readable media (e.g., tangible media). In addition, for other aspects, computer-readable media may include transient computer-readable media (e.g., signals). The above combinations should also be included within the scope of protection of computer-readable media.

[0094] Thus, certain aspects may include a computer program product for performing the operations presented herein. For example, such a computer program product may include a computer-readable medium having instructions stored (and / or encoded) thereon, the instructions being executable by one or more processors to perform the operations described herein. For example, the instructions for performing the operations are those described herein and in Figure 7 As shown in .

[0095] Further, it should be appreciated that the modules and / or other appropriate units for performing the methods and techniques described herein can be downloaded and / or otherwise obtained by a user terminal and / or base station on demand. For example, such a device can be coupled to a server to facilitate the transmission of the unit for performing the methods described herein. Alternatively, the various methods described herein can be provided via a storage unit (e.g., RAM, ROM, a physical storage medium such as a compact disc (CD) or a floppy disk, etc.), so that the user terminal and / or base station can obtain the various methods when the storage unit is coupled to or provided to the device. In addition, any other appropriate technology for providing the methods and techniques described herein to the device can be utilized.

[0096] It is to be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise configuration and components shown above. Various modifications, changes and variations may be made to the arrangement, operation and details of the methods and apparatus described above without departing from the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of full-duplex wireless communication operable at a base station (BS), comprising: receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a first signal transmitted via a first directional receive beam using one or more first time resources and one or more first frequency resources; sending a second signal to the UE simultaneously with receiving the first signal, wherein: The second signal is sent via a first directional transmit beam using the one or more first time resources and the one or more first frequency resources; The first directional receive beam and the first directional transmit beam are spatially collocated; and The first directional receive beam and the first directional transmit beam include spatial beams for both uplink signal reception and downlink signal transmission of the UE; receiving the second signal and the first signal via a circuit having a duplexer; passing the second signal to a plurality of branch line couplers via the circuit; performing Butler matrix beamforming on the second signal via the plurality of branch couplers to generate the first directional transmit beam; passing the first signal to an analog-to-digital converter via the circuit; performing analog interference cancellation on the first signal to cancel interference generated by the second signal at the duplexer; and Digital interference cancellation is performed on the first signal to cancel interference generated at the circuit by the second signal.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: The first directional receive beam is generated using Butler matrix beamforming.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The plurality of branch line couplers include branch line quadrature couplers.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The duplexer includes a branch line coupler.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The duplexer includes a circulator.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The material of the duplexer includes one or more of a metamaterial or a material with a tunable dielectric constant or permeability.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The materials of the circuit include one or more of a metamaterial or a material having a tunable dielectric constant or magnetic permeability.

8. An apparatus for full-duplex wireless communication operable at a base station (BS), comprising: Memory; as well as a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, wherein the memory includes instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a first signal transmitted via a first directional receive beam using one or more first time resources and one or more first frequency resources; sending a second signal to the UE simultaneously with receiving the first signal, wherein: The second signal is sent via a first directional transmit beam using the one or more first time resources and the one or more first frequency resources; The first directional receive beam and the first directional transmit beam are spatially collocated; and The first directional receive beam and the first directional transmit beam include spatial beams for both uplink signal reception and downlink signal transmission of the UE; receiving the second signal and the first signal via a duplexer; passing the second signal to a plurality of branch line couplers via the duplexer; performing Butler matrix beamforming on the second signal via the plurality of branch couplers to generate the first directional transmit beam; passing the first signal to an analog-to-digital converter via the duplexer; performing analog interference cancellation on the first signal via an analog interference cancellation device to cancel interference generated by the second signal at the duplexer; and Digital interference cancellation is performed on the first signal to cancel interference generated by the second signal.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising: A Butler matrix circuit is configured to generate the first directional receive beam and the first directional transmit beam using Butler matrix beamforming.

10. The device according to claim 9, wherein: The Butler matrix circuit includes the plurality of branch couplers, and wherein two or more of the plurality of branch couplers are communicatively coupled via a phase shifter circuit.

11. The device according to claim 10, wherein: The material of the Butler matrix circuit includes one or more of a metamaterial or a material with a tunable dielectric constant or magnetic permeability.

12. The device according to claim 8, wherein: The plurality of branch line couplers include branch line quadrature couplers.

13. The device according to claim 8, wherein: The duplexer includes a circulator.

14. The device according to claim 8, wherein: The material of the duplexer includes one or more of a metamaterial or a material with a tunable dielectric constant or permeability.

15. The device according to claim 8, wherein: The duplexer includes a branch line coupler.

16. The device according to claim 15, wherein: The material of the branch line coupler includes one or more of a metamaterial or a material having a tunable dielectric constant or permeability.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform a method of full-duplex wireless communication operable at a base station (BS), the method comprising: receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a first signal transmitted via a first directional receive beam using one or more first time resources and one or more first frequency resources; sending a second signal to the UE simultaneously with receiving the first signal, wherein: The second signal is sent via a first directional transmit beam using the one or more first time resources and the one or more first frequency resources; The first directional receive beam and the first directional transmit beam are spatially collocated; and The first directional receive beam and the first directional transmit beam include spatial beams for both uplink signal reception and downlink signal transmission of the UE; receiving the second signal and the first signal via a circuit having a duplexer; passing the second signal to a plurality of branch line couplers via the circuit; performing Butler matrix beamforming on the second signal via the plurality of branch couplers to generate the first directional transmit beam; passing the first signal to an analog-to-digital converter via the circuit; performing analog interference cancellation on the first signal to cancel interference generated by the second signal at the duplexer; and Digital interference cancellation is performed on the first signal to cancel interference generated at the circuit by the second signal.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein: The method also includes generating the first directional receive beam using Butler matrix beamforming.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein: The plurality of branch line couplers include branch line quadrature couplers.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein: The duplexer includes a branch line coupler.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein: The duplexer includes a circulator.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein: The material of the duplexer includes one or more of a metamaterial or a material with a tunable dielectric constant or permeability.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein: The materials of the circuit include one or more of a metamaterial or a material having a tunable dielectric constant or magnetic permeability.

24. An apparatus for full-duplex wireless communication operable at a base station (BS), comprising: means for receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a first signal transmitted via a first directional receive beam using one or more first time resources and one or more first frequency resources; means for sending a second signal to the UE simultaneously with receiving the first signal, wherein: The second signal is sent via a first directional transmit beam using the one or more first time resources and the one or more first frequency resources; The first directional receive beam and the first directional transmit beam are spatially collocated; and The first directional receive beam and the first directional transmit beam include spatial beams for both uplink signal reception and downlink signal transmission of the UE; means for receiving the second signal and the first signal via a circuit having a duplexer; means for transmitting said second signal to a plurality of branch line couplers via said circuit; means for performing Butler matrix beamforming on the second signal via the plurality of branch couplers to generate the first directional transmit beam; means for transmitting said first signal to an analog-to-digital converter via said circuit; means for performing analog interference cancellation on the first signal to cancel interference generated by the second signal at the duplexer; and Means for performing digital interference cancellation on the first signal to cancel interference generated at the circuit by the second signal.

25. The apparatus according to claim 24, further comprising: Means for generating the first directional receive beam using Butler matrix beamforming.

26. The device according to claim 24, wherein: The plurality of branch line couplers include branch line quadrature couplers.

27. The device according to claim 24, wherein: The duplexer includes a branch line coupler.

28. The device according to claim 24, wherein: The duplexer includes a circulator.

29. The device according to claim 24, wherein: The material of the duplexer includes one or more of a metamaterial or a material with a tunable dielectric constant or permeability.

30. The device according to claim 24, wherein: The materials of the circuit include one or more of a metamaterial or a material having a tunable dielectric constant or magnetic permeability.

Images