Multi-device synchronization and data transmission

Abstract

The invention relates to multi-device synchronization and data transmission. A first user equipment (UE) exchanges at least a portion of data to be transmitted to a communication network with a second UE on a side channel. The UEs then transmit the data to the network at increased transmit power by using transmit antennas of both the first UE and the second UE rather than only those of the first UE. In some cases, the second UE may transmit a change in the data transmitted by the first UE to perform transmit diversity and improve signal-to-noise ratio. To avoid unintended beamforming of the transmissions, the network may mix signals received (e.g., with the same symbol) at the same time period but at different subcarriers, or mix signals received at different time periods but at the same subcarrier. The network may inform the UEs of phase correction values based on the signals, and the UEs may adjust using the phase correction values.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application filed on May 26, 2022, with application number 202210589336.0 and invention name “Multi-device synchronization and data transmission”.

[0002] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0003] This application claims the U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 247,476, filed on September 23, 2021, entitled “MULTI-DEVICE SYNCHRONIZATION AND DATA TRANMISSION,” the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference. Background Art

[0004] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly to increasing transmit power and / or data throughput in wireless communication devices.

[0005] One common challenge for user equipment (e.g., wireless communication devices) is the limitations on transmit power, which can prevent the user equipment from sending data to a recipient (e.g., a network device such as a base station or satellite). These limitations can include power sources (e.g., batteries) having limited capacity and regulatory constraints on transmit power. Large distances between the device and the recipient can exacerbate this problem, causing the transmit signal to experience large path losses.

[0006] Another problem that user equipment often faces is insufficient data throughput. While allocating more time and / or frequency to wireless communications can help alleviate this problem, doing so requires valuable network resources. In addition, while spatial multiplexing techniques can be used to send and receive multiple concurrent signals, this requires adding more antennas—to both the transmitter of the user equipment and the receiver of the network device—which may be impossible or expensive to implement. Summary of the invention

[0007] The following is a summary of certain embodiments disclosed herein. It should be understood that these aspects are presented only to provide the reader with a concise summary of these specific embodiments, and these aspects are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. In fact, the present disclosure may cover a number of aspects that may not be described below.

[0008] In one embodiment, the user equipment includes: a transmitter; a receiver; and a processing circuit that is communicatively coupled to the transmitter and the receiver. The processing circuit uses the transmitter and the receiver to exchange data to be transmitted to the communication hub with other user equipment. The processing circuit also uses the transmitter to send an indication to the communication hub that the data is ready to be sent. The processing circuit further receives permission from the communication hub to send data using the receiver, and sends the data to the communication hub using the transmitter.

[0009] In another embodiment, the communication hub includes: a transmitter; a receiver; and a signal processing circuit having a mixer, a low pass filter, and a phase detector. The communication hub also includes a processing circuit communicatively coupled to the transmitter and the receiver. The processing circuit receives a first signal from a first user equipment and a second signal from a second user equipment via the receiver. The processing circuit sends the first signal and the second signal to the signal processing circuit, and receives an indication of a phase difference between the first signal and the second signal from the signal processing circuit. The processing circuit further causes the first user equipment, the second user equipment, or both to adjust the phase based on the phase difference.

[0010] In another embodiment, a method for wireless communication includes: receiving a first signal having a first power level from a first user equipment at a communication hub; receiving a second signal having a second power level from a second user equipment at the communication hub; and transmitting a phase adjustment signal to at least one of the first user equipment and the second user equipment based on a phase difference between the first signal and the second signal. The method also includes: receiving data from the first user equipment and the second user equipment at a third power level greater than or equal to the first power level, the second power level, or both based on the phase adjustment signal.

[0011] Various improvements to the above features may exist with respect to various aspects of the present invention. Other features may also be added to these various aspects. These improvements and additional features may exist alone or in any combination. For example, the various features associated with one or more of the illustrated embodiments discussed below may be incorporated into any of the above aspects of the present invention alone or in any combination. The brief summary presented above is intended only to familiarize the reader with the specific aspects and context of the disclosed embodiments and does not limit the claimed subject matter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Various aspects of the present disclosure may be better understood upon reading the following detailed description and referring to the drawings described hereinafter, wherein like numerals refer to like parts.

[0013] Figure 1 is a block diagram of user equipment (e.g., an electronic device) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0014] Figure 2 According to the embodiments of the present disclosure Figure 1 Functional diagram of a user equipment ("UE");

[0015] Figure 3 According to the embodiments of the present disclosure Figure 1 Schematic diagram of a transmitter of a UE;

[0016] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the communication system having a wireless communication network supported by a communication hub and comprising Figure 1 UE

[0017] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of a communication system with multiple UEs transmitting signals to a receiver (e.g., of a communication hub) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0018] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of a communication system with multiple UEs according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the multiple UEs Figure 5 Variations of the signals shown are sent to the receiver to perform transmit diversity;

[0019] Figure 7 According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, multiple UEs send data to Figure 4 A flow chart of a method for a network in which a UE functions in a primary role and a secondary role;

[0020] Figure 8 According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, multiple UEs send data to Figure 4 A flowchart of a method for a network in which a UE acts as an equal role;

[0021] Fig. 9 is a diagram of operations that may be performed by multiple UEs using a side channel or side link according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0022] Fig.10 is a schematic diagram of a communication system with two UEs according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the two UEs sending signals to (e.g., Figure 4 A receiver having two receiving antennas of a wireless network communication hub;

[0023] Fig.11 is a schematic diagram of a communication system with four UEs according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the four UEs use four transmit antennas to send signals to a receiver (eg, Figure 4 a receiver of a communication hub of a wireless network;

[0024] Fig.12 is a set of drawings of RS structures for receiving demodulation reference signal (DMRS) carrying symbols in the same time period and at different subcarriers according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0025] Fig.13 is a schematic diagram of a signal processing chain of a receiver of a communication hub of a network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the receiver transmitting signals in the same time period and at different subcarriers (e.g., using Fig.12 RS structure) receiving a DMRS signal (e.g., having the same DMRS carrying symbol);

[0026] Fig.14 According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first UE and / or the second UE are caused to perform the following operations based on the same time period and at different subcarriers (for example, using Fig.12 A flowchart of a method for aligning phases of DMRS signals (e.g., having the same DMRS carrying symbol) received by the user (e.g., having an RS structure of a plurality of DMRS signals) with each other;

[0027] Fig.15 is a set of drawings of RS structures for receiving demodulation reference signal (DMRS) carrying symbols in the same time period and at different subcarriers according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0028] Fig.16 is a schematic diagram of a signal processing chain of a receiver of a communication hub of a network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the receiver transmitting signals in different time periods and on the same subcarrier (e.g., using Fig.15 RS structure) receiving a DMRS signal (e.g., having the same DMRS carrying symbol); and

[0029] Fig.17 According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first UE and / or the second UE are caused to perform the following operations based on different time periods and on the same subcarrier (for example, using Fig.15 A flowchart of a method for aligning phases of DMRS signals (eg, having the same DMRS carrying symbols) received by the user (eg, having an RS structure). DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] One or more specific embodiments will be described below. In order to provide a brief description of these embodiments, not all features of the actual implementation are described in this specification. It should be understood that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, decisions specific to many implementations must be made to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints that may change from one implementation to another. In addition, it should be understood that such development work may be complex and time-consuming, but it will still be a routine task of design, processing and manufacturing for those of ordinary skill in the art who benefit from this disclosure.

[0031] When introducing the elements of various embodiments of the present disclosure, the articles "one / a kind of" and "the / said" are intended to mean one or more of the elements present. The terms "comprise", "comprising" and "having" are intended to be included, and mean that there may be additional elements in addition to the listed elements. Additionally, it should be understood that reference to "one embodiment" or "embodiment" of the present disclosure is not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also combine the quoted features. In addition, specific features, structures or characteristics can be combined in one or more embodiments in any appropriate manner. The use of the terms "roughly", "close", "approximately", "close to" and / or "substantially" should be understood to mean including close to a target (e.g., design, value, amount), such as within the limits of any suitable or conceivable error (e.g., within 0.1% of a target, within 1% of a target, within 5% of a target, within 10% of a target, within 25% of a target, etc.). Furthermore, it should be understood that any exact value, number, measurement, etc. provided herein is contemplated to include approximations of the exact value, number, measurement, etc. (e.g., within an appropriate or assumed margin of error).

[0032] One of the main challenges of user equipment (e.g., wireless communication devices) is the limitation on transmit power. These limitations may be due to power sources (e.g., batteries) having limited capacity and / or regulatory constraints on transmit power. In addition, due to the large distance between user equipment ("UE") and a communication hub (such as a base station, a high altitude base station, a satellite, a ground station, an access point, etc.), the transmitted signal may experience large path losses. In the case of inter-UE communication, the receiving UE may not have a large antenna gain (e.g., when compared to the communication hub). In some cases, implementing multiple receive antennas, higher transmit power, and / or retransmission of signals (e.g., and combining the signals at the receiver) may improve the received signal quality. However, these improvements may still be insufficient to meet certain reception quality standards.

[0033] Because the UE may have multiple transmit antennas, transmitting radio frequency (RF) signals on multiple antennas will apportion the total transmit power of the UE on these antennas. That is, if the UE has N transmit antennas and transmits signals concurrently on the N transmit antennas, the transmit power of each signal on each transmit antenna is the total transmit power of the UE divided by N. Therefore, in order to increase the transmit power of the UE, the number of transmit antennas used to transmit signals can be reduced and concentrated to less than the total number of transmit antennas of the UE. For example, if the UE has four transmit antennas, the UE can transmit signals through only one of these transmit antennas and use the full transmit power of the UE on a single antenna. In addition, in order to increase throughput, the UE can send data to be transmitted to the communication hub to another UE (or more UEs), which can also use a reduced number of antennas to send data. In this way, due to the use of multiple UEs, the transmit power of the data can be increased while maintaining good throughput.

[0034] However, transmitting data only once on a reduced number of antennas in this manner may make the RF signal susceptible to errors without transmission redundancy. Therefore, other UEs may be used to perform transmit diversity to improve the signal-to-noise ratio in the signal by transmitting variations of the signal. The signal and the variations of the signal may then be combined at the receiver to ensure good signal quality. Specifically, the first UE and the second UE may exchange signals to be transmitted on, for example, a side channel (e.g., a device-to-device or peer-to-peer channel such as a Wi-Fi channel, an ultra-wideband (UWB) channel, A UE may be a primary UE and a secondary UE may be a secondary UE, wherein the primary UE confirms that the symbols have been correctly exchanged (e.g., using the network). In additional or alternative embodiments, the UEs may have the same role so that both UEs can confirm that the symbols have been correctly exchanged (e.g., using the network).

[0035] The UE may then use space-time orthogonal block (STOB) coding to send the first symbol and the second symbol to the network (eg, 4G or long term evolution). Network, 5G or new radio network, etc.). For example, at a first time, a first UE may send a first symbol to the network (e.g., using one antenna at the full transmit power of the first UE), and a second UE may send a second symbol concurrently to the network (e.g., using one antenna at the full transmit power of the second UE). The network may receive the first symbol and the second symbol as a single signal. At a second (e.g., subsequent) time, the first UE may then send a variation of the first symbol (e.g., a negative complex conjugate of the second symbol) to the network (e.g., using one antenna at the full transmit power of the first UE), and the second UE may send a variation of the second symbol (e.g., a complex conjugate of the first symbol) concurrently to the network (e.g., using one antenna at the full transmit power of the first UE). The network may receive the variation of the first symbol and the second symbol as a single signal. The network may then use SPDB decoding to extract the first symbol and the second symbol from the received signal. In this way, the UE can send symbols using a larger transmit power (e.g., at the full power of the corresponding UE) while ensuring good signal quality.

[0036] Another problem that UEs often face is insufficient data throughput. While allocating more time and / or frequency to wireless communications can help alleviate this problem, doing so requires valuable network resources. In addition, while spatial multiplexing techniques can be used to send and receive multiple concurrent signals, this requires adding more antennas—to both the UE's transmitter and the network device's receiver—which may be impossible or expensive to implement. That is, hardware resources may be particularly limited to UEs due to their limited size, power, and capabilities. For example, the number of transmit antennas is limited to a single UE, and increasing this number may increase design complexity and cost.

[0037] Thus, the first UE and the second UE may exchange a certain number of symbols (e.g., data) between the UEs, corresponding to the number of up to the number of transmit antennas. Each UE may then transmit symbols, each symbol being transmitted by the corresponding antenna of the UE. For example, if each UE has two transmit antennas, four symbols may be exchanged between the UEs, and the UEs may concurrently transmit each symbol (e.g., one symbol per transmit antenna) using the corresponding transmit antennas. In this way, the second UE may increase data throughput (e.g., double the data throughput in the previous example) compared to using only the transmit antenna of the first UE. Advantageously, one UE may use the network registration parameters of another UE so that only one UE needs to register with the network. That is, from the perspective of the network, only one UE is coupled, although both UEs transmit symbols to the network. The network may extract symbols using any suitable technique, including maximum likelihood (ML) techniques, zero forcing (ZF) techniques, minimum mean square error (MMSE) techniques, successive interference cancellation (SIC) techniques, ordered SIC (OSIC) techniques, and the like.

[0038] In some cases, concurrent transmissions from different UEs may result in unexpected beamforming due to the misalignment of the transmissions in time. This may cause an unexpected cancellation of the signal at the communication hub. To avoid this problem, the network may align the phase of the received signal. In order to detect and correct the phase difference, a reference signal (RS) structure that performs alternating resource element allocation to the UE is used. The RS uses the same symbol time, but these RSs are separated by frequency. Therefore, the network can receive only one RS on each subcarrier. In some embodiments, the network may mix signals (e.g., with the same demodulation reference signal (DMRS) carrying symbols) received in the same time period but at different subcarriers. In an additional or alternative embodiment, the network may mix signals (e.g., with the same DMRS carrying symbols) received in different time periods but at the same subcarrier. After detecting the phase difference, the network may notify the N-1 transmitting UEs of the phase correction values ​​of these UEs, and the N-1 UEs may offset the phase of the output signal based on the phase correction value.

[0039] Although the disclosed embodiments refer to communications between a UE and a communication hub or network, it should be understood that these embodiments may also be applicable to communications between a UE and other electronic devices, such as other UEs.

[0040] Figure 1 1 is a block diagram of a user equipment ("UE") 10 (e.g., an electronic device) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The UE 10 may include, among other things, one or more processors 12 (collectively referred to herein as a single processor for convenience, which may be implemented in any suitable form of processing circuitry), a memory 14, a non-volatile storage device 16, a display 18, an input structure 22, an input / output (I / O) interface 24, a network interface 26, and a power supply 29. Figure 1 The various functional blocks shown may include hardware elements (including circuits), software elements (including machine executable instructions), or a combination of hardware and software elements (which may be referred to as logic). Processor 12, memory 14, non-volatile storage device 16, display 18, input structure 22, input / output (I / O) interface 24, network interface 26, and / or power supply 29 may each be directly or indirectly communicatively coupled to each other (e.g., through or via another component, a communication bus, a network) to transmit and / or receive data between each other. It should be noted that Figure 1 This is merely one example of a particular implementation and is intended to illustrate the types of components that may be present in the UE 10 .

[0041] By way of example, UE 10 may include any suitable computing device, including a desktop or notebook computer (e.g., a computer such as the iPod, available from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California). Pro, MacBook mini, or Mac ), portable electronic or handheld electronic devices such as wireless electronic devices or smart phones (e.g., available from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California) ), tablet computers (e.g., in the form of models available from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California ), wearable electronic devices (e.g., Apple Inc. available from Cupertino, California ), or other similar devices. It should be noted that Figure 1 The processor 12 and other related items in the embodiment of the present invention may be generally referred to as "data processing circuitry" herein. Such data processing circuitry may be embodied in whole or in part as software, hardware, or both. Figure 1 Other related items in the UE 10 may be a single independent processing module, or may be fully or partially integrated into any of the other elements in the UE 10. The processor 12 may be implemented with a general-purpose microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a controller, a state machine, a gated logic, a discrete hardware component, a dedicated hardware finite state machine, or a combination of any other suitable entities that can perform calculations or other manipulations of information. The processor 12 may include one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, or both, and perform various functions described herein.

[0042] exist Figure 1 In the UE 10, the processor 12 may be operably coupled to the memory 14 and the non-volatile storage device 16 to execute various algorithms. Such programs or instructions executed by the processor 12 may be stored in any suitable article including one or more tangible computer-readable media. The tangible computer-readable medium may include the memory 14 and / or the non-volatile storage device 16, individually or collectively, to store instructions or routines. The memory 14 and the non-volatile storage device 16 may include any suitable article for storing data and executable instructions, such as random access memory, read-only memory, rewritable flash memory, hard drive, and optical disk. In addition, the program (e.g., operating system) encoded on such a computer program product may also include instructions that can be executed by the processor 12 to enable the UE 10 to provide various functions.

[0043] In certain embodiments, display 18 may facilitate a user viewing images generated on UE 10. In some embodiments, display 18 may include a touch screen that may facilitate a user interacting with a user interface of UE 10. Furthermore, it should be appreciated that in some embodiments, display 18 may include one or more liquid crystal displays (LCDs), light emitting diode (LED) displays, organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) displays, or some combination of these and / or other display technologies.

[0044] The input structures 22 of the UE 10 may enable a user to interact with the UE 10 (e.g., pressing a button to increase or decrease a volume level). As with the network interface 26, the I / O interface 24 may enable the UE 10 to interact with various other electronic devices. In some embodiments, the I / O interface 24 may include an I / O port for a hardwired connection for charging and / or content manipulation using a standard connector and protocol such as the Lightning connector provided by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California, a universal serial bus (USB), or other similar connectors and protocols. The network interface 26 may include, for example, one or more interfaces for: a personal area network (PAN) such as an ultra-wideband (UWB) or Network; Local Area Network (LAN) or Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) such as one of the IEEE 802.11x family of protocols (e.g., ) networks; and / or wide area networks (WANs) such as any standards associated with the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including, for example, third generation (3G) cellular networks, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), fourth generation (4G) cellular networks, long term evolution Cellular network, Long Term Evolution Licensed Assisted Access (LTE-LAA) cellular network, fifth generation (5G) cellular network and / or new radio (NR) cellular network, satellite network, etc. Specifically, the network interface 26 may include, for example, one or more interfaces for using the version 15 cellular communication standard of the 5G specification including a millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency range (e.g., 24.25-300 gigahertz (GHz)), and / or any other cellular communication standard version (e.g., version 16, version 17, any future version) that defines and / or implements a frequency range for wireless communication. The network interface 26 of the UE 10 may allow communication through the aforementioned networks (e.g., 5G, Wi-Fi, LTE-LAA, etc.).

[0045] The network interface 26 may also include, for example, one or more interfaces for broadband fixed wireless access networks (eg, ), mobile broadband wireless network (mobile ), asynchronous digital subscriber line (e.g., ADSL, VDSL), digital video terrestrial broadcasting Network and its extension DVB Handheld network, an ultra-wideband (UWB) network, an alternating current (AC) power line, etc. The power supply 29 of the UE 10 may include any suitable power source, such as a rechargeable lithium polymer (Li-poly) battery and / or an alternating current (AC) power converter.

[0046] Figure 2 According to the embodiments of the present disclosure Figure 1 1 is a functional diagram of a UE 10. As shown, the processor 12, memory 14, transceiver 30, transmitter 52, receiver 54 and / or antenna 55 (shown as 55A-55N, collectively referred to as antenna 55) can be directly or indirectly communicatively coupled to each other (e.g., through or via another component, a communication bus, a network) to transmit and / or receive data between each other.

[0047] UE 10 may include a transmitter 52 and / or a receiver 54, which respectively enable transmitting and receiving data between UE 10 and an external device via, for example, a network (e.g., including a base station) or a direct connection. As shown, the transmitter 52 and the receiver 54 may be combined into a transceiver 30. UE 10 may also have one or more antennas 55A-55N, which are electrically coupled to the transceiver 30. Antennas 55A-55N may be configured with omnidirectional or directional configurations, single beams, dual beams or multi-beam arrangements, etc. Each antenna 55 may be associated with one or more beams and various configurations. In some embodiments, multiple antennas in the antennas 55A-55N of an antenna group or module may be communicatively coupled to corresponding transceivers 30 and each transmits a radio frequency signal that may be advantageously and / or destructively combined to form a beam. UE 10 may include multiple transmitters, multiple receivers, multiple transceivers and / or multiple antennas suitable for various communication standards. In some embodiments, transmitter 52 and receiver 54 may transmit and receive information via other wired or wired systems or devices.

[0048] As shown, the various components of the UE 10 can be coupled together via a bus system 56. The bus system 56 may include, for example, a data bus and, in addition to the data bus, a power bus, a control signal bus, and a status signal bus. The components of the UE 10 may be coupled together or accept or provide input to each other using some other mechanism.

[0049] Figure 3is a schematic diagram of a transmitter 52 (e.g., a transmit circuit) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown, the transmitter 52 may receive outgoing data 60 in the form of a digital signal to be transmitted via one or more antennas 55. A digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 62 of the transmitter 52 may convert the digital signal into an analog signal, and a modulator 64 may combine the converted analog signal with a carrier signal to generate a radio wave. A power amplifier (PA) 66 receives the modulated signal from the modulator 64. The power amplifier 66 amplifies the modulated signal to a suitable level to drive the signal to be transmitted via one or more antennas 55. A filter 68 (e.g., a filter circuit and / or software) of the transmitter 52 may then remove undesirable noise from the amplified signal to generate transmit data 70 to be transmitted via one or more antennas 55. The filter 68 may include any suitable filter or filters for removing undesirable noise from the amplified signal, such as a bandpass filter, a bandstop filter, a lowpass filter, a highpass filter, and / or a decimation filter. Additionally, the transmitter 52 may include any suitable additional components not shown, or may exclude some of the components shown, such that the transmitter 52 may send outgoing data 60 via one or more antennas 55. For example, the transmitter 52 may include a mixer and / or a digital upconverter. As another example, if the power amplifier 66 outputs an amplified signal at or about a desired frequency range (such that filtering of the amplified signal may not be necessary), the transmitter 52 may not include the filter 68.

[0050] Using multiple UEs to increase transmit power

[0051] As previously mentioned, one of the main challenges of wireless communication is the limitation of the transmit power of the UE 10. These limitations may be due to the power source 29 (e.g., a battery) having limited capacity and / or regulatory constraints on transmit power. In addition, due to the large distance between the UE 10 and the communication hub (such as a base station, a high altitude base station, a satellite, a ground station, an access point (e.g., generating a wireless local area network (WLAN)), etc.), the transmitted signal may experience a large path loss. In the case of inter-UE communication, the receiving UE 10 may not have a large antenna gain (e.g., when compared to the communication hub). In some cases, implementing multiple receive antennas, higher transmit power and / or retransmission of signals (e.g., and combining the signals at the receiver) may improve the received signal quality. However, these improvements may still be insufficient to meet certain reception quality standards.

[0052] Because the UE 10 may have multiple transmit antennas 55, transmitting radio frequency (RF) signals on the multiple antennas 55 apportions the total transmit power of the UE 10 on these antennas 55. That is, if the UE 10 has N transmit antennas 55 and transmits signals concurrently on the N transmit antennas 55, the transmit power of each signal on each transmit antenna 55 is the total transmit power of the UE 10 divided by N. Therefore, in order to increase the transmit power of the UE 10, the number of transmit antennas 55 used to transmit signals may be reduced and concentrated to less than the total number of transmit antennas 55 of the UE 10. For example, if the UE 10 has four transmit antennas 55, the UE 10 may transmit signals through only one of the transmit antennas 55 and use the full transmit power of the UE on the single antenna 55. In addition, in order to increase throughput, the UE 10 may send data to be transmitted to the communication hub to another UE (or more UEs), which may also use a reduced number of antennas to send data.

[0053] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 72 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure having a wireless communication network 74 supported by a communication hub 76 and including Figure 1 UE 10. Specifically, the communication hub 76 may include a base station, a high altitude base station, a satellite, a ground station, etc. For example, the communication hub 76 may include an evolved Node B (eNodeB) base station that provides 4G / LTE coverage to the UE 10 via the wireless communication network 74. In some embodiments, the communication hub 76 may include a next-generation Node B (gNodeB or gNB) base station, and may provide 5G / new radio (NR) coverage to the UE 10 via the wireless communication network 74. As another example, the communication hub 76 may include satellites and / or ground stations that provide satellite network coverage to the UE 10 via the wireless communication network 74. As yet another example, the communication hub 76 may include an access point that generates a wireless local area network (WLAN). Each of the UE 10 and the communication hub 76 may include Figure 1 and Figure 2 At least some of the components of the electronic device 10 shown include one or more processors 12, memory 14, storage 16, transmitter 52, receiver 54, and Figure 3 The associated circuit is shown.

[0054] Figure 51 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 78 with multiple UEs 10A, 10B transmitting signals to a receiver 80 (e.g., of a communication hub 76 of a network 74) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The receiver 80 may be part of a base station, a high altitude base station, a satellite, a ground station, etc., which may be part of a communication network 74 (such as 4G or Long Term Evolution). network, 5G or new radio network, terrestrial communication network, satellite network, non-terrestrial communication network, etc.).

[0055] The first UE 10A may be intended to send data to a receiver 80. Prior to sending, the first UE 10A may establish a side channel or side link 82 with the second UE 10B. In some embodiments, both the first UE 10 and the second UE 10 may include smartphones, or one of the UEs may include a smartphone and the other UE may include a smart watch (e.g., with a wireless modem). As discussed in further detail below, the side link 82 may have any suitable communication protocol that enables UEs 10A, 10B (collectively referred to as 10) to exchange data, such as a device-to-device communication protocol, a peer-to-peer communication protocol, a Wi-Fi communication protocol, an ultra-wideband (UWB) communication protocol, a Wi-Fi ... communication protocol, near field communication (NFC) communication protocol, etc. In some embodiments, the first UE 10A may send a first signal having a first portion of data to the receiver 80 (e.g., using a single antenna 55A), and the second UE 10B may send a second signal having a second portion of data to the receiver 80 (e.g., using a single antenna 55B). Specifically, the UE 10 may use space-time orthogonal block (STOB) coding to send the first symbol x1 and the second symbol x2 to the receiver 80.

[0056] For example, the first UE 10 and the second UE 10 may (e.g., at a first time) exchange first and second symbols (e.g., x1 and x2) of data to be transmitted on the side link 82 (e.g., to the receiver 80). The symbols x1, x2 may be data that the first UE 10A intends to send to the receiver 80, the second UE 10B intends to send to the receiver 80, or both. The first UE 10A may then (e.g., at a second time) use the antenna 55A to send the first symbol x1 to the receiver 80, while the second UE 10B may use the antenna 55B to concurrently send the second symbol x2 to the receiver 80. Thus, instead of, for example, the first UE 10A allocating the UE's transmit power to send the first symbol x1 and the second symbol x2, thereby increasing the transmit power used to send the two symbols (e.g., possibly doubling the transmit power or more). In this way, since multiple UEs are used, the transmission power of data can be increased while maintaining good throughput. In addition, UE 10 transmits different symbols x1 and x2 concurrently (e.g., simultaneously) and / or on overlapping (e.g., the same) frequency (or channel), thereby avoiding increasing network resource complexity.

[0057] Receiver 80 of communication hub 76 may receive the two RF signals sent by UE 10 as a single received signal at receive antenna 84 and recover the original symbols x1 and x2 from the received signal using Equation 1:

[0058] y j = ∑ i H ij x i + n j (Formula 1)

[0059] where y j is the extracted symbol received at the receiving antenna j, H ij is the channel matrix from transmit antenna i to receive antenna j, and n j is the noise at the receiving antenna j.

[0060] However, transmitting the signal with data only once on the reduced number of antennas 55 in this manner can make the signal susceptible to errors without transmission redundancy. Therefore, the second UE 10B can be used to perform transmit diversity to improve the signal-to-noise ratio in the signal by transmitting variations of the signal. The signal and variations of the signal can then be combined at the receiver 80 to ensure good signal quality.

[0061] Figure 6is a schematic diagram of a communication system with UEs 10A and 10B according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 5 Variations of the signal shown are sent to the receiver 80 to perform transmit diversity. One way to maintain a high transmit power level and improve the receiver signal-to-noise ratio is to have the UEs 10 cooperate to transmit variations of the same data. A scheme similar to space-time orthogonal block (STOB) codes may be used. UE i may transmit the symbol at row number i and column number j of the STOB codeword at time index j. For example, when the number (N) of transmitting UEs 10 is Tx ) is equal to 2, the corresponding STOB codeword can be:

[0062]

[0063] That is, at a first time (eg, t=1 corresponding to a first transmission time index), as Figure 5 As shown, the first UE 10A transmits a first symbol x1, and the second UE 10B (eg, concurrently) transmits a second symbol x2. At a second time (eg, t=2 corresponding to a second transmission time index), as Figure 6 As shown, the first UE 10A transmits a variation of the second symbol x2, and the second UE 10B (eg, concurrently) transmits a variation of the first symbol x1. The variation of the second symbol x2 transmitted by the first UE 10A may include the negative complex conjugate of the second symbol (eg, ), and the variation of the first symbol x1 sent by the second UE 10B may include the positive complex conjugate of the first symbol (e.g., ), but in some cases this can be the opposite.

[0064] The network 74 can recover the first symbol x1 by estimating using Equation 3:

[0065]

[0066] in is an estimate of the first symbol x1. Similarly, network 74 can recover the second symbol x2 by estimating using equation 4:

[0067]

[0068] This transmit diversity can increase communication quality by reducing the bit error rate, resulting in an increase in transmit power of approximately 3 decibels (dB) in some cases. Figure 5 and Figure 6Two UEs 10 are shown transmitting two symbols at two times via two transmit antennas 55, but it should be noted that N symbols may be transmitted by N transmit signals from N transmit antennas 55 (from less than or equal to N UEs 10), and N variations of the N symbols may be transmitted by N transmit signals from N transmit antennas 55 to perform transmit diversity.

[0069] UE 10 and network 74 may coordinate to exchange symbols. In some implementations, one UE (e.g., 10A) may act as a primary UE and another UE (e.g., 10B) may act as a secondary UE, with primary UE 10A confirming that the symbols have been correctly exchanged (e.g., using network 74). Figure 7 is a flow chart of a method 90 for a UE 10 to send data to a network 74, wherein the UE 10 functions in a primary role and a secondary role, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Any suitable device (e.g., a controller) that can control components of the UE 10, the network 74, and / or the communication hub 76 (such as one or more processors 12) can perform the method 90. In some embodiments, the method 90 can be implemented by using one or more processors 12 to execute instructions stored in a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium such as a memory 14 or a storage device 16. For example, the method 90 can be performed at least in part by one or more software components (such as an operating system of the UE 10, a software application, etc.), the network 74, and / or the communication hub 76. Although the method 90 is described using a particular order of steps, it should be understood that the present disclosure contemplates that the described steps can be performed in an order different from the order shown, and that some described steps can be skipped or not performed at all.

[0070] In process block 92, a first UE (e.g., "UE 1" 10A) initiates an inter-UE data exchange with a second UE (e.g., "UE 2" 10B). Specifically, the first UE 10A, the second UE 10B, or both may have data to be transmitted to the network 74. The UEs may then exchange at least a portion of the data via a side channel or side link 82 (e.g., a portion to be transmitted by the first UE 10A may be sent by the second UE 10B, and / or a portion to be transmitted by the second UE 10B may be sent by the first UE 10A), as discussed in further detail below. In this example, since the first UE 10A is in a primary role and the second UE 10B is in a secondary role, the first UE 10A may initiate an inter-UE data exchange with the second UE 10B (e.g., by sending an indication of initiating a data exchange to the second UE 10B). In process block 94, the data is then exchanged between the UEs 10.

[0071] Because the first UE 10A is the primary UE, in process block 96, the first UE sends an indication that data is ready to be transmitted (by both UEs) to the network 74. In response to receiving the indication, the network 74 (e.g., via the communication hub 76) sends an indication of permission to exchange data with the UE 10 back to the primary UE (e.g., the first UE 10A) in process block 98. In response to receiving the permission, in process block 100, the first UE 10A may send an indication that the permission from the network 74 has been received to the second UE 10B. The permission may be dynamic or semi-static and include a UE index so that the demodulation reference signal (DMRS) pattern used to synchronize the UE 10 may be adjusted accordingly. In process block 102, the UE 10 sends the data to the network 74. Specifically, the UE 10 may use a scheme similar to the STOB code as shown in Formula 2 to send symbols, and the network 74 may extract the symbols using STOB decoding as shown in Formulas 3 and 4. The data and / or symbols may include, for example, voice call data and / or messaging data (eg, email data, Short Message Service (SMS) data, etc.).

[0072] In additional or alternative embodiments, the UEs 10 may have the same or equal roles (eg, neither primary nor secondary) such that both UEs 10 may confirm that the symbols were correctly exchanged (eg, using the network 74). Figure 8 1 is a flow chart of a method 110 for UE 10 to send data to network 74, wherein UE 10 acts in an equal role, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Any suitable device (e.g., a controller) that can control components of UE 10, network 74, and / or communication hub 76 (such as one or more processors 12) can perform method 110. In some embodiments, method 110 can be implemented by using one or more processors 12 to execute instructions stored in a tangible non-transitory computer-readable medium such as memory 14 or storage device 16. For example, method 110 can be performed at least in part by one or more software components (such as an operating system of UE 10, software applications, etc.), network 74, and / or communication hub 76. Although method 110 is described using a specific order of steps, it should be understood that the present disclosure contemplates that the described steps can be performed in an order different from the order shown, and that some of the described steps can be skipped or not performed at all.

[0073] In process block 94, similar to Figure 7In the method 90 of the present invention, UEs 10 exchange data to be transmitted to a network 74. Either UE 10 may initiate the data exchange with another UE 10. In process block 112, both UEs 10 send an indication that the data is ready to be transmitted to the network 74. Specifically, the first UE 10A may indicate that the first portion of the data that the UE 10 is intended to send to the network 74 is ready, and the second UE 10B may indicate that the second portion of the data that the UE 10 is intended to send to the network 74 is ready. In response to receiving the indication, and in process block 114, the network 74 grants the exchange of data with the UE 10 by sending the indication to each of the UEs 10. The grant may be dynamic or semi-static and include a UE index so that the DMRS pattern used to synchronize the UE 10 may be adjusted accordingly. In response to receiving the grant, in process block 102, the UE 10 sends the data to the network 74. The data and / or symbols may, for example, include voice call data and / or messaging data (e.g., email data, SMS data, etc.). Specifically, the UE 10 may transmit symbols using a scheme similar to the STOB code as shown in Equation 2, and the network 74 may extract the symbols using STOB decoding as shown in Equations 3 and 4. Figure 7 and Figure 8 Two UEs 10 are shown coordinating to send data to the network 74 , but it should be understood that any suitable number of UEs (eg, two or more, four or more, eight or more, etc.) may coordinate to send data to the network 74 .

[0074] Fig. 9 82 as described above, may be performed by a UE 10 using a side channel or side link 82 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The side link 82 may be implemented over a relatively short distance between two UEs 10 (e.g., within 1 meter (m), 2m, 3m, 5m, 10m, 25m, 50m, 100m, etc.). Thus, near-ideal channel conditions may exist on the side link 82 (e.g., negligible to no delay or latency, large bandwidth, etc.). The two UEs 10 may be synchronized (e.g., using similar timing or clock conditions). For example, distributed processing may be implemented (e.g., where one UE (e.g., 10A) may handle at least some tasks of another UE (e.g., 10B)). The side link 82 may be implemented over any suitable device-to-device or peer-to-peer communication protocol such as Wi-Fi, ultra-wideband (UWB), This is achieved by near field communication (NFC) and the like.

[0075] As shown, the first UE (e.g., 10A) may include two antennas (e.g., 55A, 55C), and the second UE (e.g., 10B) may include two antennas (e.g., 55B, 55D), but each UE 10 may include any suitable number of antennas (e.g., one or more antennas). Using the side link 82, one UE (e.g., 10A) may send a service request 120 to another UE (e.g., 10B) to, for example, send data to the network 74. In such a case, the UE 10A that sends the service request 120 may be a primary UE, and the UE 10B that receives the service request 120 may be a secondary UE. Thus, the secondary UE may assist the primary UE in the activities of the primary UE, such as sending and / or receiving data to and / or from the network 74. In addition, the UE 10 may exchange the capabilities 122 of these UEs (e.g., supported frequency bands, antenna information, etc.), and set appropriate configurations 124 (e.g., operating parameters, such as frequencies for transmitting and / or receiving on antennas, timing, clock signals) for use based on these exchanged capabilities. The UE 10 may synchronize 126 RF transmission and / or reception by setting appropriate configurations 124 (e.g., timing and / or clock signals) and / or exchanging application programming interface (API) information 128 (e.g., date, time, frequency, etc.). The UE 10 may then collaborate to transmit data to the network 74. Advantageously, both UEs 10 may operate on the network 74 (or provider) to which the first UE 10A subscribes, even if the second UE 10B subscribes to a different network 74 or does not have a subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module (SIM) card. This is because the first UE 10A is the primary UE 10A, a connection to the network 74 may be established, and the second UE 10B may carry or use the same credentials as the first UE 10A (these credentials may be sent from the first UE 10A to the second UE 10B on the side link 82).

[0076] Using multiple UEs to increase transmit throughput

[0077] Another problem that UE 10 often faces is insufficient data throughput. Although allocating more time and / or frequency to wireless communication can help alleviate this problem, doing so requires valuable network resources. In addition, although spatial multiplexing techniques can be used to send and receive multiple concurrent signals, this requires adding more antennas—to both the transmitter 52 of the UE 10 and the receiver 80 of the network device 74—which may be impossible or expensive to implement. That is, due to the limited size, power, and capabilities of the UE 10, hardware resources may be particularly limited to the UE. For example, the number of transmit antennas 55 is limited to a single UE 10, and increasing this number may increase design complexity and cost.

[0078] Thus, the first UE and the second UE (e.g., 10A, 10B) may exchange a number of symbols (e.g., data) between the UEs 10 that corresponds to up to the number of transmit antennas 55. In addition, the network 74 may receive data via any suitable number (e.g., multiple) of receive antennas 84.

[0079] Fig.10 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 140 having multiple UEs 10A, 10B that utilize two transmit antennas 55A, 55B to send signals to a receiver 80 (e.g., of a communication hub 76 of a network 74) having two receive antennas 84A, 84B according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 5 , Figure 6 and Fig. 9 As explained, the first UE 10A (and / or the second UE 10B) may be intended to transmit data (e.g., at least a first symbol x1 and a second symbol x2, which at least the first symbol and the second symbol may be represented as transmit symbol vectors s1 and s2) to a receiver 80 of a communication hub 76 of a network 74. Prior to transmission, the first UE 10A may establish a side channel or side link 82 with the second UE 10B. The first UE 10A may then transmit a first portion of the data (e.g., at least symbol x2) to the second UE 10B, and intend to transmit a second portion of the data (e.g., at least symbol x1) to the receiver 80 of the communication hub 76 of the network 74, while the second UE 10B transmits at least the first portion of the data (e.g., concurrently) to the receiver 80 of the communication hub 76 of the network 74.

[0080] For example, Fig.10 As shown, the two UEs 10 may establish a side link 82, and the first UE 10A may transmit the second symbol x2 to the second UE 10B via the side link 82. Then, the first UE 10A may transmit the second symbol x2 which may be transmitted from the first transmit antenna 55A through the channel matrix H 11 The RF channel is received at the first receiving antenna 84A of the receiver 80 of the communication hub 76 of the network 74 and is transmitted through the channel matrix H 12 The first symbol x1 (eg, as a transmit symbol vector s1) is received at the second receive antenna 84B of the receiver 80 via the RF channel of the receiver 80. Similarly, the second UE 10B may transmit a first symbol x2 (eg, as a transmit symbol vector s1) which may be transmitted from the second transmit antenna 55B via the channel matrix H 21 The RF channel is received at the first receiving antenna 84A and is transmitted through the channel matrix H 22The RF channel of the first UE 10A receives the second symbol x2 (e.g., as a transmit symbol vector s2) at the second receive antenna 84B. In this way, the UE 10 transmits different symbols x1 and x2 (e.g., as transmit symbol vectors s1 and s2) concurrently (e.g., simultaneously) and / or on overlapping (e.g., the same) frequencies (or channels), thereby avoiding increasing network resource complexity. Therefore, the first UE 10A effectively utilizes the transmit antenna 55B of the second UE 10B.

[0081] Using a matrix expression (e.g., of the general relationship shown in Equation 1), the network 74 may use the following relationship to extract the symbols into received symbol vectors r1 and r2, which correspond to s1 and s2, respectively:

[0082]

[0083] Among them, usually, r j is the extracted symbol received at the receiving antenna j, H ij is the channel matrix from transmit antenna i to receive antenna j, s i is the symbol transmitted at transmit antenna i, and n j is the noise at the receiving antenna j. In addition, n1 is the noise at the first receiving antenna 84A, and n2 is the noise at the second receiving antenna 84B. Specifically, the network 74 may extract the symbols x1 and x2 using any suitable detection processing technique, such as a maximum likelihood (ML) technique, a zero forcing (ZF) technique, a minimum mean square error (MMSE) technique, a successive interference cancellation (SIC) technique, an ordered SIC (OSIC) technique, etc.

[0084] For example, when using a linear equalization-based ZF technique for spatial multiplexing to extract symbols, the network 74 may estimate the transmit symbol vector s as:

[0085] y zf =G×r (Formula 6)

[0086] where y zf is the result of ZF equalization (e.g., before quantization), G is the equalization matrix given by the pseudo-inverse of the channel matrix H, and r is the received vector at the receiver 80 of the network 74. r can be defined using a more generalized version of Equation 1 and can be expressed as:

[0087] r=H×s+n (Formula 7)

[0088] Where n is the noise received at the receiving antenna 84. In addition, G can be expressed as follows:

[0089] G=(H H ×H) -1×H H (Formula 8)

[0090] As another example, when using MMSE decoding for spatial multiplexing to extract symbols, network 74 may estimate the transmit symbol vector s as:

[0091] y MMSE =G×r (Formula 9)

[0092] where y MMSE is the result of MMSE equalization (e.g., before quantization), r can be expressed by the above formula 7, and G minimizes the following mean square error:

[0093] E{‖G×rs‖×2}(Formula 10)

[0094] Therefore, G can be expressed as follows:

[0095] G=(H H ×H+σ 2 ×I) -1 ×H H (Formula 11)

[0096] In some embodiments, two UEs 10 may use Figure 7 The method 90 of sending symbols to the network 74, wherein the first UE 10A acts as a primary UE and the second UE 10B acts as a secondary UE. In an additional or alternative embodiment, the two UEs 10 may use Figure 8 The method 110 is used to send symbols to the network 74, where the UE 10 plays an equal role.

[0097] As discussed above, it should be appreciated that any suitable number of UEs 10 and any number of transmit antennas 55 may be used to send data to the network 74 . Fig.11 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 150 with multiple UEs 10A, 10B that utilize four transmit antennas 55A, 55B, 55C, 55D to transmit signals to a receiver 80 (e.g., of a communication hub 76 of a network 74) having four receive antennas 84A, 84B, 84C, 84D according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Using a matrix expression (e.g., of the general relationship shown in Equation 1), the network 74 can extract the transmit symbols x1, x2, x3, x4 (sent as transmit symbol vectors s1, s2, s3, s4) as receive symbol vectors r1, r2, r3, r4 using the following relationship:

[0098]

[0099] Among them, usually, r j is the extracted symbol received at the receiving antenna j, Hij is the channel matrix from transmit antenna i to receive antenna j, s i is the symbol transmitted at transmit antenna i, and n j is the noise at the receiving antenna j.

[0100] In this way, the second UE 10B can increase data throughput (e.g., double the data throughput when only the first UE 10A is used). In addition, using the four transmit antennas 55A, 55B, 55C, 55D of two UEs 10A, 10B instead of, for example, four transmit antennas of a single UE (e.g., 10A) to transmit data to the network 74 can split the aggregate transmit power of the two UEs 10 on the four transmit antennas instead of splitting the aggregate transmit power of a single UE 10 on the four transmit antennas, thereby increasing the transmit power of the data to the network 74 (e.g., doubling the transmit power), thereby improving the reliability of the overall transmission and reducing the bit error rate. For example, the gain for sending symbols s1, s2, s3, s4 using two UEs 10A, 10B through four transmit antennas 55A, 55B, 55C, 55D can be about 6 decibels (dB) compared to using a single UE 10A. Advantageously, one UE (e.g., 10B) may use the network registration parameters of another UE (e.g., 10A) such that only one UE (e.g., 10A) needs to register with the network (e.g., 74). That is, from the perspective of the network 74, only one UE 10A is coupled, although both UEs 10A, 10B transmit symbols to the network 74. In practice, only one UE (e.g., 10A) may be in the coverage area of ​​the base station 76 and in communication with the network 74 supported by the base station 76, while the other UE (e.g., 10B) may be outside the coverage area, although both UEs 10A, 10B transmit symbols to the network 74.

[0101] Use a reference signal to synchronize

[0102] In some cases, concurrent transmissions from multiple UEs 10 may result in unintended beamforming due to the misalignment of the transmissions in time. This may cause undesired cancellation of signals to occur at the communication hub 76. To avoid this problem, the network 74 may facilitate aligning the phases of the transmitted signals from the UEs. To detect and correct for phase differences, the network 74 may implement a reference signal (RS) structure 160 that alternates resource element allocations to the UEs 10, such as Fig.12As shown. The RSs may use the same symbol time or duration, separated by frequency. Thus, the network 74 may receive one RS on each subcarrier 162 (where each block in the grid represents a subcarrier). As shown, block 164 represents a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sent by a first UE (e.g., 10A), block 166 represents a DMRS sent by a second UE (e.g., 10B), block 168 represents a time period with data transmission (e.g., sent by at least one of UEs 10A, 10B), and block 169 represents a time period without data transmission (e.g., sent by at least one of UEs 10A, 10B).

[0103] like Fig.12 As shown, the network 74 may receive signals (e.g., having the same DMRS carrying symbol) in the same time period but at different subcarriers 162 or mix these signals. A set of drawings of the RS structure 160 each has a horizontal axis representing time (assigned to the time period) and a vertical axis representing frequency (assigned to the subcarrier 162). As shown, the first UE 10A may transmit a first signal x1(t) on a first subcarrier 172 (e.g., carrying a DMRS symbol for the purpose of aligning the phases of the first UE 10A and the second UE 10B), and the second UE 10B may transmit a second signal x2(t) on a second subcarrier 174 in the same time period (e.g., at approximately the same time) (e.g., carrying the same DMRS symbol). Therefore, the network 74 may receive the first signal x1(t) from the first UE 10A and the second signal x2(t) from the second UE 10B in the same time period (e.g., at approximately the same time) to align the phases of the first UE 10A and the second UE 10B.

[0104] Fig.13 is a schematic diagram of a signal processing chain 180 of a receiver 80 of a communication hub 76 of a network 74 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the receiver transmitting signals in the same time period and at different subcarriers 162 (e.g., using Fig.12RS structure 160) receives a DMRS signal (e.g., having the same DMRS carrying symbol). The signal processing chain 180 may include a mixer 182, which may combine two input signals or multiply the two input signals and generate an output signal. As shown, the mixer 182 may receive a first signal x1(t) and a second signal x2(t) (e.g., both carrying the same DMRS carrying symbol), and multiply the two signals together to output a signal x3(t). The signal processing chain 180 may also include a first low-pass filter (LPF1) 184, which may allow a desired (e.g., low-frequency) component of the input signal (e.g., x3(t)) to pass and filter an undesired (e.g., high-frequency) component from the input signal to generate a filtered output signal x4(t). The signal processing chain 180 may also include a phase detector 186, which detects the phase of the input signal (e.g., x4(t)) and generates a phase signal x5(t) representing the phase. The signal processing chain 180 may also include a second low-pass filter (LPF2) 188, which may allow desired (e.g., low-frequency) components of the input signal (e.g., x5(t)) to pass and filter undesirable (e.g., high-frequency) components from the input signal to generate a filtered output signal x6(t).

[0105] Fig.14 According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a first UE (eg, 10A) and / or a second UE (eg, 10B) are caused to perform a plurality of operations based on the same time period and at different subcarriers (eg, using Fig.12 RS structure 160) received DMRS signals (eg, having the same DMRS carrying symbol) are phase-aligned with each other (eg, using Fig.13 180 ). Any suitable device (e.g., a controller) that can control components of the network 74 (such as the communication hub 76 and / or the processor 12 of the network 74) can perform the method 190. In some embodiments, the method 190 can be implemented by using the processor 12 to execute instructions stored in a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium such as a memory 14 or storage device 16 of the network 74. For example, the method 190 can be performed at least in part by one or more software components (such as an operating system of the network 74, one or more software applications of the network 74, etc.). Although the method 190 is described using a particular order of steps, it should be understood that the present disclosure contemplates that the described steps may be performed in an order different from the order shown, and that certain described steps may be skipped or not performed at all.

[0106] In process block 192, the network 74 receives a first DMRS x1(t) from a first UE (e.g., 10A) on a first subcarrier in the same time period (e.g., at approximately the same time) and receives a second DMRS x2(t) from a second UE (e.g., 10B) on a second subcarrier in the same time period (e.g., at approximately the same time). For example, the first DMRS may be represented by Formula 13:

[0107] x 1(t) =cos(ω1t+φ1)+n1(t) (Formula 13)

[0108] Where ω1 represents the angular frequency of the first DMRS, φ1 represents the phase of the first DMRS, and n1 represents the noise of the first DMRS. Similarly, the second DMRS can be expressed by formula 14:

[0109] x 2(t) =cos(ω2t+φ2)+n2(t) (Formula 14)

[0110] Wherein ω2 represents the angular frequency of the second DMRS, φ2 represents the phase of the second DMRS, and n2 represents the noise of the second DMRS.

[0111] In process block 194, the network 74 then combines the first DMRS x1(t) and the second DMRS x2(t) (e.g., by multiplying the two together using mixer 182) to generate a product x3(t). Specifically, the network 74 may input the first DMRS x1(t) and the second DMRS x2(t) into the mixer 182, which may multiply the two signals together to generate a combined signal x3(t), which may be represented by Formula 15:

[0112] x 3(t) =cos((ω1+ω2)t+φ1+φ2)+cos((ω1–ω2)t+φ1–φ2)+n3(t)

[0113] (Formula 15)

[0114] In process block 196, network 74 filters the undesired (e.g., high frequency) components from the combined signal x3(t). Specifically, network 74 may pass x3(t) through a first low pass filter 184 to allow the desired (e.g., low frequency) components to pass through, and filter the undesired components, resulting in a filtered signal x4(t), as represented by Equation 16:

[0115] x 4(t) =cos((ω1–ω2)t+φ1–φ2)+n4(t) (Formula 16)

[0116] In process block 198, network 74 determines the phase signal of the filtered signal x4(t). That is, network 74 may pass x4(t) through phase detector 186 to generate phase signal x5(t), as represented by equation 17:

[0117] x 5(t) =(ω1–ω2)t+φ1–φ2+n5(t)(Formula 17)

[0118] In process block 200, network 74 filters the undesirable (e.g., high frequency) components from the phase signal x4(t). Specifically, network 74 may pass x5(t) through a second low pass filter 188 to filter out the undesirable (e.g., high frequency) components from the phase signal, resulting in a filtered signal x6(t), as represented by Equation 18:

[0119] x 6(t) =φ1–φ2+n6(t)(Formula 18)

[0120] Thus, the network 74 determines the phase difference (e.g., x6(t)) between the first DMRS x1(t) and the second DMRS x2(t), and may send an indication of the phase difference (e.g., in the form of a correction signal) to the first UE 10A and / or the second UE 10B to cause either or both of the UEs 10 to adjust the phases of these UEs based on the phase difference (e.g., 1-φ2) as shown in process block 202. The UE 10 may then Figures 5 to 11 The data may be transmitted in any suitable manner as discussed above with reference. The data may, for example, include voice call data and / or messaging data (e.g., email data, SMS data, etc.). Specifically, each UE 10 may transmit data without excessively allocating the transmit power of the UE among an excessive number of transmit antennas 55. Therefore, the transmit power at which each UE 10 transmits the data of the UE may be higher than or equal to the transmit power at which each UE 10 transmits the DMRS signal of the UE (which may have been transmitted using transmit power that is not allocated among the corresponding transmitter antennas 55 of these UEs in the best case). In this way, the UE 10 may avoid unintended beamforming caused by misalignment of transmissions in time.

[0121] Figures 15 to 17 Shows Figure 12 to Figure 14 An alternative or additional embodiment is shown in which the network 74 receives a first DMRS x1(t) from a first UE (e.g., 10A) on a subcarrier at a first time and receives a second DMRS x2(t) from a second UE (e.g., 10B) on the same subcarrier at a second time. Fig.151 is a set of plots of RS structures 210 for receiving demodulation reference signal (DMRS) carrying symbols at the same time period and different subcarriers 162 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The set of plots of RS structures 210 each have a horizontal axis representing time (assigned to time periods) and a vertical axis representing frequency (assigned to subcarriers 162). As shown, a first UE 10A may transmit a first signal x1(t) on a subcarrier 162 in a first time period 212 (e.g., carrying a DMRS symbol for the purpose of aligning the phases of the first UE 10A and a second UE 10B), and a second UE 10B may transmit a second signal x2(t) on the same subcarrier 162 in a second time period 214 (e.g., carrying the same DMRS symbol). Thus, the network 74 may receive a first signal x1(t) from the first UE 10A and a second signal x2(t) from the second UE 10B on the same subcarrier 162 and in different time periods (eg, 212, 214) to align the phases of the first UE 10A and the second UE 10B.

[0122] Fig.16 is a schematic diagram of a signal processing chain 220 of a receiver 80 of a communication hub 76 of a network 74 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the receiver transmitting signals at different time periods (e.g., 212, 214) and at the same subcarrier 162 (e.g., using Fig.15RS structure 210) receives a DMRS signal (e.g., having the same DMRS carrying symbol). The signal processing chain 220 may include a mixer 182 that combines two input signals or multiplies the two input signals and generates an output signal. As shown, the mixer 182 may receive a first signal x1(t) and a second signal x2(t) (e.g., both carrying the same DMRS carrying symbol), and multiply the two signals together to output a signal x3(t). The signal processing chain 220 may also include a first low-pass filter (LPF1) 184 that allows a desired (e.g., low-frequency) component of the input signal (e.g., x3(t)) to pass and filters an undesired (e.g., high-frequency) component from the input signal to generate a filtered output signal x4(t). The signal processing chain 220 may also include a phase detector 186 that detects the phase of the input signal (e.g., x4(t)) and generates a phase signal x5(t) representing the phase. The signal processing chain 220 may also optionally include a second low-pass filter (LPF2) 188, which may allow desired (e.g., low-frequency) components of the input signal (e.g., x5(t)) to pass and filter undesired (e.g., high-frequency) components from the input signal to generate a filtered output signal x6(t). That is, because the same subcarrier 162 is used to send the same DMRS carrying symbol from the UE 10, the angular frequency ω may be the same between the first DMRS x1(t) and the second DMRS x2(t). Therefore, the second low-pass filter 188 may be omitted because the second low-pass filter may not be needed to determine the phase difference (e.g., φ1–φ2) (but may optionally be included to reduce noise). Advantageously, Figures 15 to 17 The illustrated embodiment can reduce the complexity and / or power usage of the receiver 80 of the communication hub 76 of the network 74 by removing the use of a low pass filter to determine the phase difference. However, because the DMRS signals x1(t) and x2(t) are not received simultaneously, when implementing this embodiment, Figure 12 to Figure 14 There may be added delays compared to the illustrated embodiment.

[0123] Fig.17 According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a first UE (eg, 10A) and / or a second UE (eg, 10B) is caused to perform a plurality of operations based on different time periods and at the same subcarrier (eg, using Fig.15 RS structure 210) received DMRS signals (eg, having the same DMRS carrying symbol) are phase-aligned with each other (eg, using Fig.16230). The method 230 may be performed by any suitable device (e.g., a controller) that may control components of the network 74 (such as the communication hub 76 and / or the processor 12 of the network 74). In some embodiments, the method 230 may be implemented by using the processor 12 to execute instructions stored in a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium such as a memory 14 or storage device 16 of the network 74. For example, the method 230 may be performed at least in part by one or more software components (such as an operating system of the network 74, one or more software applications of the network 74, etc.). Although the method 230 is described using a particular order of steps, it should be understood that the present disclosure contemplates that the described steps may be performed in an order different from that shown, and that certain described steps may be skipped or not performed at all.

[0124] In process block 232, the network 74 receives a first DMRS x1(t) from a first UE (e.g., 10A) on subcarrier 162 at a first time (e.g., 212). In process block 234, the network receives a second DMRS x2(t) from a second UE (e.g., 10B) on the same subcarrier 162 at a second different time period (e.g., 214). For example, the first DMRS may be represented by Formula 19:

[0125] x 1(t) =cos(ωt+φ1)+n1(t) (Formula 19)

[0126] The second DMRS can be expressed by formula 20:

[0127] x 2(t) =cos(ωt+φ2)+n2(t)(Formula 20)

[0128] In process block 236, the network 74 then combines the first DMRS x1(t) and the second DMRS x2(t) (e.g., by multiplying the two together using the mixer 182) to generate a product x3(t). Specifically, the network 74 may input the first DMRS x1(t) and the second DMRS x2(t) into the mixer 182, which may multiply the two signals together to generate a combined signal x3(t), which may be represented by Formula 21:

[0129] x 3(t) =cos(2ωt+φ1+φ2)+cos(φ1–φ2)+n3(t) (Formula 21)

[0130] In process block 238, network 74 filters the undesired (e.g., high frequency) components from the combined signal x3(t). Specifically, network 74 may pass x3(t) through a first low pass filter 184 to allow the desired (e.g., low frequency) components to pass through, and filter the undesired components, resulting in a filtered signal x4(t), as represented by Equation 22:

[0131] x 4(t) =cos(φ1–φ2)+n4(t)(Formula 22)

[0132] In process block 240, network 74 determines the phase signal of the filtered signal x4(t). That is, network 74 may pass x4(t) through phase detector 186 to generate phase signal x5(t), as represented by equation 23:

[0133] x 5(t) =φ1–φ2+n5(t)(Formula 23)

[0134] As previously mentioned, the signal processing chain 180 may also optionally include a second low pass filter (LPF2) 188 to reduce noise in the signal x5(t). Therefore, the network 74 may pass x5(t) through the second low pass filter 188. In this way, the network 74 determines the phase difference (e.g., x5(t)) between the first DMRS x1(t) and the second DMRS x2(t), and may send an indication of the phase difference (e.g., in the form of a correction signal) to the first UE 10A and / or the second UE 10B to cause either or both of the UEs 10 to adjust the phases of these UEs based on the phase difference (e.g., φ1-φ2) as shown in process block 242. The UE 10 may then Figures 5 to 11 The data is transmitted in any suitable manner discussed above with reference to avoid unintended beamforming due to misalignment of the transmissions in time while reducing the complexity and / or power usage of the receiver 80 of the communication hub 76 of the network 74 by removing the use of the second low pass filter 188 to determine the phase difference. The data may, for example, include voice call data and / or messaging data (e.g., email data, SMS data, etc.).

[0135] The above specific embodiments have been shown by way of example, and it should be understood that these embodiments are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms. It should also be understood that the claims are not intended to be limited to the specific forms disclosed, but are intended to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives that fall within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

[0136] The technology described and claimed herein is cited and applied to specific examples of a physical and practical nature that significantly improves the art and is therefore not abstract, intangible, or purely theoretical. In addition, if any claim appended to the end of this specification contains one or more elements designated as "means for [performing] [the function] ..." or "steps for [performing] [the function] ...", then those elements will be interpreted in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f). However, for any claim containing elements designated in any other manner, those elements will not be interpreted in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f).

[0137] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication, comprising: At a communication hub, receiving a first signal having a first power level from a first user equipment; receiving, at the communication hub, a second signal having a second power level from a second user equipment; transmitting a phase adjustment signal to at least one of the first user equipment and the second user equipment based on a phase difference between the first signal and the second signal; and Based on the phase adjustment signal, data is received from the first user equipment and the second user equipment at a third power level that is higher than or equal to the first power level or the second power level.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first signal is received on a first subcarrier during a time period, and the second signal is received on a second subcarrier during the time period.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first signal is received on a subcarrier during a first time period and the second signal is received on the subcarrier during a second time period. 4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first signal and the second signal each include the same demodulation reference signal carrying symbols. The method of claim 1 , comprising determining a phase difference between the first signal and the second signal.

6. The method of claim 5, comprising determining the phase adjustment signal to avoid unintended beamforming between the first user equipment and the second user equipment. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data comprises voice call data.

8. A communication hub comprising: Receiver; a processing circuit communicatively coupled to the receiver, the processing circuit being configured to: receiving a first signal having a first power level from a first electronic device; receiving a second signal having a second power level from a second electronic device; transmitting a correction signal to the first electronic device or the second electronic device based on a phase difference between the first signal and the second signal; and Based on the correction signal, data is received from the first electronic device and the second electronic device at a third power level that is higher than or equal to the first power level or the second power level.

9. The communication hub of claim 8, comprising a mixer coupled to the processing circuit, wherein the processing circuit is configured such that the mixer combines the first signal and the second signal to generate a combined signal. 10 . The communication hub of claim 9 , wherein the mixer is configured to combine the first signal and the second signal by multiplying the first signal and the second signal.

11. The communication hub of claim 9, comprising a first low pass filter coupled to the processing circuit, wherein the processing circuit is configured to cause the first low pass filter to filter the combined signal to generate a filtered signal.

12. The communication hub of claim 11, comprising a phase detector coupled to the processing circuit, wherein the processing circuit is configured such that the phase detector receives the filtered signal as input and generates a phase signal indicative of the phase difference.

13. The communication hub of claim 12, wherein the processing circuit is configured to generate the correction signal based on the phase difference.

14. The communication hub of claim 13, comprising a second low pass filter coupled to the processing circuit, wherein the processing circuit is configured to cause the second low pass filter to filter the phase signal to generate a filtered phase signal indicative of the phase difference.

15. The communication hub of claim 9, wherein the correction signal enables the first electronic device to adjust a first phase to align with a second phase of the second electronic device.

16. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions configured to cause a processing circuit to: At a communication hub, receiving a first signal having a first power level from a first user equipment; receiving, at the communication hub, a second signal having a second power level from a second user equipment; transmitting a phase adjustment signal to at least one of the first user equipment and the second user equipment based on a phase difference between the first signal and the second signal; and Data is received from the first user equipment and the second user equipment at a third power limit level greater than each of the first power level and the second power level based on the phase adjustment signal.

17. The tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the first signal comprises a first symbol and the second signal comprises a second symbol.

18. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions cause the processing circuit to: receive a third signal from the first user equipment and a fourth signal from the second user equipment, the third signal comprising a first negative complex conjugate of the second symbol, and the fourth signal comprising a second negative complex conjugate of the first symbol.

19. The tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the phase adjustment signal enables the second user equipment to adjust a first phase to align with a second phase of the first user equipment.

20. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the data comprises messaging data.

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