Wireless communication device, scheduling method, and scheduling program

Abstract

The purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a wireless communication device, a wireless communication system, a scheduling method, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium, with which it is possible to reduce a calculation amount for selecting a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed while suppressing deterioration of communication quality. A wireless communication device (11) according to the present disclosure comprises: an acquisition unit (111) that acquires, from a plurality of wireless terminals (12), measuring results on the reception quality of a plurality of beams received by the wireless terminals (12); a calculation unit (112) that calculates a similarity in the reception quality among the wireless terminals (12) on the basis of the measuring results; and a selection unit (113) that selects, on the basis of the similarity, a combination of wireless terminals (12) to be spatially multiplexed from among the wireless terminals (12).

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a wireless communication device, a wireless communication system, a scheduling method, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium. [Background technology]

[0002] Fifth-generation mobile communication systems (5G) and wireless LANs (Local Area Networks) use multi-user MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) transmission to achieve high-speed communications. Multi-user MIMO transmission is a communication method that spatially multiplexes signals from multiple terminals simultaneously at the same frequency. The performance of multi-user MIMO transmission depends on the spatial correlation of the channels between the multiplexed wireless terminals. When multi-user MIMO transmission is applied to a combination of wireless terminals with high spatial correlation of channels, communication quality deteriorates due to the effects of interference between the wireless terminals.

[0003] Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose wireless communication methods to which multi-user MIMO transmission is applied.

[0004] Patent Document 2 discloses a method for selecting wireless terminals to which multi-user MIMO transmission is applied. The method disclosed in Patent Document 2 calculates right singular vectors of a channel matrix for each wireless terminal, and selects a combination of terminals that reduces the inner product of the right singular vectors as wireless terminals to which multi-user MIMO transmission is applied. Patent Document 2 discloses that this selection method makes it possible to select a combination of wireless terminals with low spatial correlation of channels, thereby improving communication quality when multi-user MIMO transmission is applied. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-214995 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-98940 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The method described in Patent Document 2 requires a large amount of calculation to calculate the right singular vectors of the channel matrix. Furthermore, since the elements of the right singular vectors are complex numbers, a large amount of calculation is also required to calculate the inner product of the right singular vectors. This large amount of calculation is particularly required when there are a large number of wireless terminals or a large number of antennas in a base station.

[0007] One of the objectives of the present disclosure has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is to provide a wireless communication device, a wireless communication system, a scheduling method, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium that can reduce the amount of calculation required to select a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed while suppressing degradation of communication quality. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] A wireless communication device according to the present disclosure includes: an acquisition unit that acquires, from each of a plurality of wireless terminals, measurement results of reception quality of a plurality of beams received by the plurality of wireless terminals; a calculation unit that calculates a similarity of the reception qualities between the plurality of wireless terminals based on the measurement results; a selection unit that selects a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed from among the plurality of wireless terminals based on the similarity; Equipped with.

[0009] The wireless communication system according to the present disclosure includes: a plurality of wireless terminals; and a wireless communication device that communicates with the plurality of wireless terminals; The wireless communication device an acquisition unit that acquires, from each of the plurality of wireless terminals, measurement results of reception qualities of the plurality of beams received by the plurality of wireless terminals; a calculation unit that calculates a similarity of the reception qualities between the plurality of wireless terminals based on the measurement results; a selection unit that selects a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed from among the plurality of wireless terminals based on the similarity; The wireless terminal a measurement unit for measuring the reception quality of the plurality of beams; and a terminal transmitting unit that transmits the measurement result to the wireless communication device.

[0010] The scheduling method according to the present disclosure includes: acquiring, from each of a plurality of wireless terminals, measurement results of reception quality of a plurality of beams received by the plurality of wireless terminals; calculating a similarity of the reception qualities between the plurality of wireless terminals based on the measurement results; selecting a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed from among the plurality of wireless terminals based on the similarity; Equipped with.

[0011] The present disclosure provides a non-transitory computer-readable medium, comprising: acquiring, from each of a plurality of wireless terminals, measurement results of reception quality of a plurality of beams received by the plurality of wireless terminals; calculating a similarity of the reception qualities between the plurality of wireless terminals based on the measurement results; selecting a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed from among the plurality of wireless terminals based on the similarity; A scheduling program that causes a computer to execute the above is stored. [Effects of the Invention]

[0012] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a wireless communication device, a wireless communication system, a scheduling method, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium that can reduce the amount of calculation required to select a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed while suppressing degradation of communication quality. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1]1 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication device according to a first embodiment. [Figure 2] 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the wireless communication device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication system according to a second embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication device according to a second embodiment. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a scheduling unit according to a second embodiment. [Figure 6] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a wireless communication device according to a second embodiment. [Figure 7] 1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a computer (information processing device) capable of realizing a wireless communication device according to each embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0014] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding elements are designated by the same reference numerals, and for clarity of explanation, duplicate explanations will be omitted as necessary.

[0015] [Embodiment 1] <Overview of the wireless communication device configuration> FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 1 shows a minimum configuration of a wireless communication device according to the first embodiment.

[0016] 1, a wireless communication device 11 according to the first embodiment performs wireless communication with a plurality of wireless terminals (not shown). The wireless communication device 11 includes an acquisition unit 111, a calculation unit 112, and a selection unit 113.

[0017] The acquisition unit 111 acquires, from each of the wireless terminals, measurement results of the reception quality of the multiple beams received by the multiple wireless terminals.

[0018] The calculation unit 112 calculates the similarity of the reception qualities between the plurality of wireless terminals based on the measurement results acquired by the acquisition unit 111.

[0019] The selection unit 113 selects a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed from among the plurality of wireless terminals based on the similarity of the reception qualities calculated by the calculation unit 112 .

[0020] <Overview of wireless communication device operation> FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the wireless communication device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 shows the operation when the minimum configuration of the wireless communication device according to the first embodiment is used.

[0021] As shown in FIG. 2, the acquisition unit 111 acquires measurement results of the reception quality of a plurality of beams transmitted by the wireless communication device 11 and received by a plurality of wireless terminals (step S101).

[0022] The calculation unit 112 calculates the similarity of the reception qualities between a plurality of wireless terminals based on the measurement results acquired by the acquisition unit 111. That is, the calculation unit 112 calculates the similarity of the reception qualities between different wireless terminals (step S102).

[0023] The selection unit 113 selects a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed from among the plurality of wireless terminals based on the similarity of the reception qualities calculated by the calculation unit 112 (step S103).

[0024] As described above, the wireless communication device 11 acquires, from each of the wireless terminals, measurement results of the reception quality of the multiple beams received by the multiple wireless terminals, calculates the similarity of the reception quality between the multiple wireless terminals based on the measurement results of the reception quality, and selects a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed based on the similarity of the reception quality.

[0025] The wireless communication device 11 estimates (estimates) the spatial correlation of channels between wireless terminals based on the similarity of the reception qualities of multiple beams. Because the reception qualities of multiple beams are real values, the wireless communication device 11 can calculate the similarity of the reception qualities with a small amount of calculation. Therefore, the wireless communication device 11 can reduce the amount of calculation required to select wireless terminals to which multi-user MIMO transmission is applied, while suppressing degradation of communication quality.

[0026] This allows wireless communication device 11 to reduce the amount of calculation required to select a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed, while suppressing degradation in communication quality.

[0027] [Embodiment 2] <Wireless communication system configuration> FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication system according to the second embodiment. Embodiment 2 is a specific system expansion of Embodiment 1. The wireless communication system 10 shown in Fig. 3 may be an LTE (Long Term Evolution) system, a fifth generation mobile communication system, a sixth generation mobile communication system, or a wireless LAN system.

[0028] As shown in Fig. 3, the wireless communication system 10 includes a plurality of wireless terminals 12 and a wireless communication device 11 that communicates with the plurality of wireless terminals 12. In the example shown in Fig. 3, the plurality of wireless terminals 12 are shown as wireless terminals 12a and 12b. Note that, although Fig. 3 illustrates the wireless communication system 10 as including two wireless terminals (wireless terminals 12a and 12b), the present invention is not limited to this. The wireless communication system 10 may include three or more wireless terminals 12.

[0029] The wireless communication device 11 may be, for example, a base station, an access point, an eNodeB (evolved Node B or eNB), an NR NodeB (NR NB), a gNodeB (gNB), or an ng-eNB.

[0030] The wireless communication device 11 includes antennas 114a to 114n in addition to an acquisition unit 111 and a calculation unit 112. The wireless communication device 11 connects to and communicates with the wireless terminal 12 via the antennas 114a to 114n. In the following description, when there is no need to distinguish between the antennas 114a to 114n, the antennas will be simply referred to as "antennas 114."

[0031] The wireless terminal 12 may be, for example, a mobile station, a UE (User Equipment), or a relay device having a relay function.

[0032] Wireless terminal 12 has a measurement unit (not shown) that measures the reception quality of multiple beams transmitted by wireless communication device 11, and a terminal transmission unit (not shown) that transmits the measurement results to wireless communication device 11. In addition to the measurement unit and terminal transmission unit, wireless terminal 12 has antenna 124 (wireless terminal 12a has antenna 124a, and wireless terminal 12b has antenna 124b). Wireless terminal 12 connects to and communicates with wireless communication device 11 via antenna 124.

[0033] 3, the wireless terminal 12 is illustrated as having one antenna, but is not limited to this. The wireless terminal 12 may have two or more antennas. In the following description, when there is no need to distinguish between the wireless terminals 12a and 12b, they will simply be referred to as "wireless terminal 12." In the following description, when there is no need to distinguish between the antennas 124a and 124b, they will simply be referred to as "antenna 124."

[0034] <Configuration of wireless communication device> FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication device according to the second embodiment. 4, a wireless communication device 11 includes antennas 11a to 11n, a wireless transmission / reception unit 11tr, a reception signal processing unit 11r, a scheduling unit 11s, and a transmission signal processing unit 11t. Note that in FIG. 4, units that are not directly related to the second embodiment are not shown.

[0035] The antennas 11a to 11n receive radio signals transmitted by the wireless terminal 12 and output the received radio signals to the wireless transceiver unit 11tr. The antennas 11a to 11n also transmit the radio signals input from the wireless transceiver unit 11tr to the wireless terminal 12.

[0036] The radio transmission / reception unit 11tr converts radio signals input to the antennas 11a to 11n into baseband signals and outputs them to the reception signal processing unit 11r. The radio transmission / reception unit 11tr also converts baseband signals input from the transmission signal processing unit 11t into radio signals and outputs them to the antennas 11a to 11n.

[0037] The received signal processing unit 11r demodulates and decodes the baseband signal input from the radio transceiver unit 11tr. The received signal processing unit 11r receives data signals and control signals transmitted from the radio terminal 12 via antennas 11a to 11n and the radio transceiver unit 11tr. The received signal processing unit 11r outputs measurement results of the reception quality at the received radio terminal 12 to the scheduling unit 11s.

[0038] The scheduling unit 11s allocates radio resources to the radio terminal 12 using the measurement results of the reception quality at the radio terminal 12 input from the reception signal processing unit 11r, and outputs the allocation results to the transmission signal processing unit 11t. When the scheduling unit 11s allocates radio resources for transmitting a data signal from the radio terminal 12, it also outputs the radio resource allocation results to the reception signal processing unit 11r so that the data signal from the radio terminal 12 can be received.

[0039] Based on the radio resource allocation result input from the scheduling unit 11s, the transmission signal processing unit 11t generates a baseband signal for notifying the radio terminal 12 of the radio resource allocation. When the scheduling unit 11s allocates radio resources for transmitting a data signal from the radio communication device 11 to the radio terminal 12, the transmission signal processing unit 11t generates a baseband signal including the data signal. The transmission signal processing unit 11t outputs the generated baseband signal to the radio transmission / reception unit 11tr.

[0040] <Configuration of the scheduling unit> FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a scheduling unit according to the second embodiment.

[0041] As shown in Fig. 5, the scheduling unit 11s includes a measurement result acquisition unit 111, a similarity calculation unit 112, and a terminal selection unit 113. Note that units not directly related to the second embodiment are not shown in Fig. 5. The measurement result acquisition unit corresponds to the acquisition unit shown in Fig. 1, the similarity calculation unit corresponds to the calculation unit shown in Fig. 1, and the terminal selection unit corresponds to the selection unit shown in Fig. 1.

[0042] Radio communication device 11 further includes a transmitter (corresponding to the transmitter portion of the radio transceiver shown in FIG. 4) that transmits reference signals to a plurality of radio terminals 12 using a plurality of beams.

[0043] The measurement result acquisition unit 111 acquires the measurement result of the reception quality at the wireless terminal 12 from the received signal processing unit 11r, and outputs the acquired measurement result of the reception quality to the similarity calculation unit 112. The measurement result acquisition unit 111 acquires the reception quality of the reference signal as the reception quality.

[0044] The measurement of reception quality in the wireless terminal 12 may be performed based on, for example, a reference signal transmitted by the wireless communication device 11. The reference signal may be, for example, a reference signal periodically transmitted by the wireless communication device 11 for monitoring the wireless channel quality. The reference signal may be, for example, a Cell-specific Reference Signal (CRS), a Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS), or a Physical Broadcast Channel-Demodulation Reference Signal (PBCH-DMRS) of NR.

[0045] The wireless communication device 11 transmits a reference signal using multiple beams with different radiation directions. The wireless terminal 12 measures the reception quality of the reference signal for each beam and reports the measurement results to the wireless communication device 11. The measurement results of the reception quality may be, for example, measurement results of the reception quality that the wireless terminal 12 periodically measures and reports in order to monitor the quality of the wireless line.

[0046] The measurement result of the reception quality may be, for example, at least one of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), and Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR). If the acquired reception quality of the beam is a relative value, the measurement result acquisition unit 111 may convert it into an absolute value. Furthermore, if the acquired reception quality of the beam is a decibel value, the measurement result acquisition unit 111 may convert it into a linear value.

[0047] The similarity calculation unit 112 uses the reception quality measurement results input from the measurement result acquisition unit 111 to calculate the similarity in reception quality between different wireless terminals 12, i.e., calculates the similarity in reception quality between multiple wireless terminals 12 based on the measurement results, and outputs the calculated similarity in reception quality to the terminal selection unit 113.

[0048] An example of the calculation of the similarity of (the measurement result of) reception quality calculated by the similarity calculation unit 112 will now be shown.

[0049] A first example of similarity in reception quality is to extract a combination of a predetermined number of beams from the combinations with the highest reception quality received by multiple wireless terminals 12, and calculate the similarity based on the number of common beams included in the combinations of the predetermined number of beams.

[0050] That is, A combinations of beams (A is an integer equal to or greater than 1) with high reception quality are compared between different wireless terminals 12, and the number of common beams included in the combinations of A beams is taken as the similarity. In the first example, the similarity is an integer ranging from 0 to A.

[0051] For example, consider the case where A=2, the combination of two beams with the highest reception quality for the ith (i is an integer) wireless terminal 12i is beam #1 and beam #2, and the combination of two beams with the highest reception quality for the jth (j is an integer) wireless terminal 12j is beam #1 and beam #3. In this case, the common beam between wireless terminal 12i and wireless terminal 12j is beam #1, so the similarity in reception quality between wireless terminal 12i and wireless terminal 12j is 1.

[0052] The maximum similarity value may be used to normalize the similarity value so that it is 1 or less. For example, if A=2 and the similarity is 1, the normalized similarity will be (1 / 2)=0.5, where " / " indicates division. Furthermore, if the number of beams for which reception quality measurement results have been obtained is limited, the value of A may be set so that it is less than the number of beams for which measurement results have been obtained.

[0053] As described above, according to the first example, the similarity can be calculated with a small amount of calculation, simply by comparing combinations of beams with high reception quality between different wireless terminals 12. Furthermore, according to the first example, since combinations of beams with high reception quality are compared, it is also possible to suppress degradation of communication quality.

[0054] In a second example of the similarity of reception quality, a reception quality vector having the reception quality of each of a plurality of beams as an element is calculated for each of a plurality of wireless terminals 12, and the similarity is calculated based on the inner product of the reception quality vector. That is, each wireless terminal 12 generates a reception quality vector having the reception quality of each beam as an element. Here, the number of beams is B, and the reception quality of the b-th beam (b is an integer between 1 and B) at the i-th wireless terminal 12i is expressed as r i,b In this case, the reception quality vector r of the i-th wireless terminal 12i is i can be expressed as equation (1).

[0055] TIFF0007754277000001.tif653 (1)

[0056] Here, T represents transposition. If there is a beam for which the measurement result of the reception quality has not been acquired, a predetermined value or a previously acquired measurement result may be substituted for the element of the reception quality vector corresponding to that beam.

[0057] and the reception quality vector r i For example, the similarity S of the reception quality between the i-th wireless terminal 12i and the j-th wireless terminal 12j is calculated as follows: i,j is the reception quality vector r i and r j Using this, it can be expressed as equation (2).

[0058] TIFF0007754277000002.tif1643·············(2)

[0059] however, TIFF0007754277000003.tif512 shows the norm of the vector a. As can be seen from equation (2), the second example is a normalized reception quality vector r i and r jTherefore, before calculating the similarity, the reception quality vector of each wireless terminal 12 may be normalized in advance. This reduces the calculation of the similarity to just the dot product of the vectors, thereby reducing the amount of calculation.

[0060] As described above, according to the second example, the similarity can be calculated from the inner product of real vectors, so that the similarity can be calculated with a small amount of calculation. Furthermore, since the value of the reception quality of each beam is taken into consideration, the similarity of reception quality can be calculated with higher accuracy than in the first example.

[0061] The terminal selection unit 113 selects a combination of wireless terminals 12 to be spatially multiplexed using the similarity in reception quality between different wireless terminals 12 input from the similarity calculation unit 112, and outputs the selection result to the transmission signal processing unit 11t. Note that when the terminal selection unit 113 selects a combination of wireless terminals 12 to be spatially multiplexed when transmitting a data signal from the wireless terminal 12, it also outputs the selection result of the combination of wireless terminals 12 to be spatially multiplexed to the reception signal processing unit 11r so that the data signal from the wireless terminal 12 can be received.

[0062] The first selection method of wireless terminals 12 to be spatially multiplexed is, for example, a method of comparing the similarity of reception quality with a preset first threshold and selecting wireless terminals 12 so that a pair of wireless terminals 12 whose similarity of reception quality is equal to or greater than the first threshold is not included in the combination of wireless terminals 12 to be spatially multiplexed. In other words, the first selection method is a method of selecting a combination of wireless terminals 12 to be spatially multiplexed so that the similarity between multiple wireless terminals 12 included in the combination of wireless terminals 12 to be spatially multiplexed is less than the first threshold.

[0063] The second method for selecting wireless terminals 12 to be spatially multiplexed is a method for selecting a combination of wireless terminals 12 to be spatially multiplexed so that the sum of the mutual similarities between multiple wireless terminals 12 included in the combination of wireless terminals 12 to be spatially multiplexed is less than a second threshold.

[0064] The third selection method of wireless terminals 12 to be spatially multiplexed is a method of calculating the sum of similarities in reception quality between unselected wireless terminals 12 and already selected wireless terminals 12, and not selecting wireless terminals 12 for which the calculated sum of similarities in reception quality is equal to or greater than a third threshold. That is, the third selection method is a method of calculating the sum of similarities in reception quality between unselected wireless terminals 12 and already selected wireless terminals 12, and selecting wireless terminals 12 for which the calculated sum of similarities in reception quality is less than the third threshold.

[0065] The third selection method may be a method of calculating the sum of similarities in reception quality between an unselected wireless terminal 12 and an already selected wireless terminal 12, and preferentially selecting a wireless terminal 12 with a smaller sum of similarities in reception quality. The already selected wireless terminal 12 may be, for example, a wireless terminal 12 selected by the first selection method or the second selection method. Alternatively, the unselected wireless terminal 12 may be, for example, a wireless terminal 12 not selected by the first selection method or the second selection method.

[0066] <Operation of wireless communication device> FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the wireless communication device according to the second embodiment.

[0067] As shown in FIG. 6, the received signal processor 11r receives a data signal and a control signal transmitted by the wireless terminal 12 (step S201).

[0068] The measurement result acquisition unit 111 acquires the measurement results of the reception quality of the plurality of beams received by the wireless terminal 12 (step S202).

[0069] Based on the measurement results of the reception quality, the similarity calculation unit 112 calculates the similarity of the reception quality between different wireless terminals 12 (between a plurality of wireless terminals 12) (step S203).

[0070] The terminal selection unit 113 selects a combination of wireless terminals 12 for spatial multiplexing based on the similarity of reception quality (step S204).

[0071] The transmission signal processing unit 11t transmits radio resource allocation information and data signals to the radio terminals 12 based on the result of the selection of the combination of radio terminals 12 to be spatially multiplexed (step S205).

[0072] As described above, the reception signal processing unit 11r receives data signals and control signals transmitted by the wireless terminals 12. The measurement result acquisition unit 111 acquires measurement results of the reception quality of multiple beams received by each wireless terminal 12. The similarity calculation unit 112 calculates the similarity of reception quality between different wireless terminals 12 based on the measurement results of reception quality. The terminal selection unit 113 selects a combination of wireless terminals 12 to be spatially multiplexed based on the similarity of reception quality. The transmission signal processing unit 11t transmits wireless resource allocation information and data signals to the wireless terminals 12 based on the selection result of the combination of wireless terminals 12 to be spatially multiplexed.

[0073] Terminal selecting unit 113 according to the second embodiment estimates (estimates) the spatial correlation of channels between wireless terminals 12 by using (based on) the similarity of the reception qualities of a plurality of beams. Because the reception qualities of a plurality of beams are real values, similarity calculating unit 112 can calculate the similarity of the reception qualities with a small amount of calculation. Therefore, wireless communication device 11 according to the second embodiment can reduce the amount of calculation required to select wireless terminals 12 to which multi-user MIMO transmission is applied, while suppressing degradation of communication quality.

[0074] [Other embodiments] The wireless communication device 11 and wireless terminal 12 (hereinafter referred to as wireless communication device 11, etc.) according to the above-described embodiments may have the following hardware configuration: Fig. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of a computer (information processing device) capable of realizing the wireless communication device, etc. according to each embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0075] 7, the wireless communication device 11 or the like includes a network interface 1101, a processor 1102, and a memory 1103. The network interface 1101 is used to communicate with other communication devices included in the wireless communication system 10.

[0076] The processor 1102 reads and executes software (computer programs) from the memory 1103 to perform the processing of the wireless communication device 11 and the like described using flowcharts in the above-described embodiments. The processor 1102 may be, for example, a microprocessor, an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), or a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The processor 1102 may include multiple processors.

[0077] The memory 1103 is configured by a combination of volatile memory and non-volatile memory. The memory 1103 may include storage located remotely from the processor 1102. In this case, the processor 1102 may access the memory 1103 via an I / O (Input / Output) interface (not shown).

[0078] 7, memory 1103 is used to store software modules. Processor 1102 reads these software modules from memory 1103 and executes processing according to instructions from the software modules, thereby realizing the operations of wireless communication device 11 and the like described in the above-described embodiment.

[0079] As described with reference to FIG. 7, each of the processors included in the wireless communication device 11 etc. executes one or more programs including a group of instructions for causing a computer to perform the algorithm described with reference to the drawings.

[0080] In the above examples, the program includes instructions (or software code) that, when loaded into a computer, cause the computer to perform one or more functions described in the embodiments. The program may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium or a tangible storage medium. By way of example and not limitation, computer-readable medium or tangible storage medium includes random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, solid-state drive (SSD) or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disc (DVD), Blu-ray disc or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassette, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage device. The program may also be transmitted on a transitory computer-readable medium or communication medium. By way of example and not limitation, transitory computer-readable medium or communication medium includes electrical, optical, acoustic, or other forms of propagated signals.

[0081] In this specification, a user equipment (UE) (or mobile station, mobile terminal, mobile device, or wireless device, etc.) is an entity connected to a network via a radio interface.

[0082] This specification is not limited to dedicated communication devices, but can be applied to any device having the following communication functions.

[0083] The terms "User Equipment (UE)" (as used in 3GPP), "mobile station," "mobile terminal," "mobile device," and "wireless terminal" are generally intended to be synonymous with each other and may refer to standalone mobile stations such as terminals, mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, cellular IoT terminals, IoT devices, etc. It will be understood that the terms "mobile station," "mobile terminal," and "mobile device" also encompass equipment that is installed for a long period of time.

[0084] The UE may also be, for example, an item of production or manufacturing equipment and / or energy-related machinery (by way of example only, boilers, engines, turbines, solar panels, wind turbines, hydroelectric generators, thermal power generators, nuclear generators, batteries, nuclear systems, nuclear-related equipment, heavy electrical equipment, pumps including vacuum pumps, compressors, fans, blowers, hydraulic equipment, pneumatic equipment, metalworking machinery, manipulators, robots, robotic application systems, tools, dies, rolls, conveying equipment, lifting equipment, cargo handling equipment, textile machinery, sewing machinery, printing presses, printing-related machinery, paper-converting machinery, chemical machinery, mining machinery, mining-related machinery, construction machinery, construction-related machinery, agricultural machinery and / or equipment, forestry machinery and / or equipment, fishing machinery and / or equipment, safety and / or environmental protection equipment, tractors, bearings, precision bearings, chains, cogwheels, power transmissions, lubrication systems, valves, fittings, and / or application systems of any of the above-mentioned equipment or machinery). It should be noted that "A and / or B" means "both A and B or either A or B."

[0085] A UE may also be, for example, an item of transportation equipment (by way of example only, a vehicle, automobile, motorcycle, bicycle, train, bus, handcart, rickshaw, ship and other watercraft, airplane, rocket, satellite, drone, balloon, etc.).

[0086] A UE may also be, for example, an item of information and communication equipment (eg, electronic computers and related equipment, communication equipment and related equipment, electronic components, etc.).

[0087] The UE may also be, for example, a refrigerator, refrigerator-applied products and equipment, commercial and service equipment, vending machines, automatic service machines, office machines and equipment, consumer electrical and electronic machinery and appliances (for example, audio equipment, speakers, radios, video equipment, televisions, oven ranges, rice cookers, coffee makers, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, fans, ventilation fans and related products, vacuum cleaners, etc.).

[0088] The UE may also be, for example, an electronic application system or electronic application device (for example, an X-ray device, a particle accelerator device, a radioactive material application device, a sonic application device, an electromagnetic application device, a power application device, etc.).

[0089] The UE may also be, for example, a light bulb, lighting, a weighing machine, analytical equipment, testing and measuring equipment (for example, a smoke alarm, a occupancy alarm sensor, a motion sensor, a radio tag, etc.), a watch, a laboratory machine, an optical machine, medical equipment and / or a medical system, a weapon, a sharp tool, or a hand tool.

[0090] The UE may also be, for example, a personal digital assistant or device with wireless communication capabilities (for example, an electronic device (e.g., a personal computer, electronic measuring instrument, etc.) configured to accommodate or insert a wireless card, wireless module, etc.).

[0091] The UE may also be, or be part of, a device that provides the following applications, services, and solutions in the Internet of Things (IoT) using wired and wireless communication technologies:

[0092] IoT devices (or Things) are equipped with appropriate electronics, software, sensors, network connections, etc. that enable the devices to collect and exchange data with each other and with other communicating devices.

[0093] IoT devices may also be automated appliances that follow software instructions stored in their internal memory.

[0094] IoT devices may also operate without the need for human supervision or attention. IoT devices may also be stationary devices and / or may remain inactive for extended periods of time.

[0095] IoT devices can also be implemented as part of a stationary device, embedded in a non-stationary device (such as a vehicle), or attached to the animal or person being monitored / tracked.

[0096] It will be appreciated that IoT technology can be implemented on any communication device that can be connected to a communication network to send and receive data, regardless of whether it is controlled by human input or software instructions stored in memory.

[0097] It will be appreciated that IoT devices may also be referred to as Machine Type Communication (MTC) devices or Machine to Machine (M2M) communication devices.

[0098] It will also be appreciated that a UE may support one or more IoT or MTC applications.

[0099] Some examples of MTC applications are listed in the following table (Source: 3GPP TS22.368 V13.2.0(2017-01-13) Annex B, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference): This list is not exhaustive but is intended to illustrate exemplary MTC applications. [Table 1]

[0100] Examples of applications, services, and solutions include MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) services / systems, disaster prevention radio services / systems, private branch exchange (PBX) services / systems, PHS / digital cordless telephone services / systems, POS (Point of sale) systems, advertising services / systems, multicast (MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service)) services / systems, V2X (Vehicle to Everything: vehicle-to-vehicle communication and road-to-vehicle / pedestrian-to-vehicle communication) services / systems, in-train mobile radio services / systems, location information related services / systems, disaster / emergency radio communication services / systems, IoT (Internet of Things) services / systems, community services / systems, video distribution services / systems, Femtocell application services / systems, and VoLTE (Voice over LTE) services / systems. It may also be a LTE (LTE) service / system, wireless TAG service / system, billing service / system, radio on-demand service / system, roaming service / system, user behavior monitoring service / system, communication carrier / communication network selection service / system, function restriction service / system, PoC (Proof of Concept) service / system, personal information management service / system for terminals, display and video service / system for terminals, non-communication service / system for terminals, ad hoc network / DTN (Delay Tolerant Networking) service / system, etc.

[0101] It should be noted that the above-mentioned UE categories are merely examples of application of the technical concepts and embodiments described in this specification, and are not limited to these examples, and various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art.

[0102] The present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be modified as appropriate within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0103] A part or all of the above-described embodiments can be described as, but not limited to, the following supplementary notes. (Appendix 1) an acquisition means for acquiring, from each of a plurality of wireless terminals, measurement results of reception qualities of a plurality of beams received by the plurality of wireless terminals; a calculation means for calculating a similarity of the reception qualities between the plurality of wireless terminals based on the measurement results; a selection means for selecting a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed from among the plurality of wireless terminals based on the similarity; A wireless communication device comprising: (Appendix 2) a transmitting means for transmitting a reference signal to the plurality of wireless terminals using the plurality of beams; the acquiring means acquires the reception quality of the reference signal as the reception quality. 2. The wireless communication device of claim 1. (Appendix 3) The reception quality is at least one of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), and Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR). 3. The wireless communication device of claim 2. (Appendix 4) The calculation means extracting a combination of a predetermined number of beams in order of the highest reception qualities received by the plurality of wireless terminals; calculating the similarity based on the number of common beams included in the combination of the predetermined number of beams; 4. A wireless communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. (Appendix 5) The calculation means calculating a reception quality vector having elements each representing the reception quality of each of the plurality of beams for each of the plurality of wireless terminals; calculating the similarity based on an inner product of the reception quality vectors; 4. A wireless communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. (Appendix 6) the calculation means assigns a predetermined value to an element of the reception quality vector corresponding to a beam for which the reception quality has not been acquired. 6. The wireless communication device of claim 5. (Appendix 7) the selection means selects the combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed such that the similarity between the plurality of wireless terminals included in the combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed is less than a first threshold value. 7. A wireless communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 6. (Appendix 8) the selection means selects the combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed such that a sum of the mutual similarities between the plurality of wireless terminals included in the combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed is less than a second threshold. 7. A wireless communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 6. (Appendix 9) a plurality of wireless terminals; and a wireless communication device that communicates with the plurality of wireless terminals; The wireless communication device an acquisition means for acquiring, from each of the plurality of wireless terminals, measurement results of reception qualities of the plurality of beams received by the plurality of wireless terminals; a calculation means for calculating a similarity of the reception qualities between the plurality of wireless terminals based on the measurement results; a selection means for selecting a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed from among the plurality of wireless terminals based on the similarity; The wireless terminal a measuring means for measuring the reception quality of the plurality of beams; a terminal transmitting means for transmitting the measurement result to the wireless communication device, Wireless communication system. (Appendix 10) a transmitting means for transmitting a reference signal to the plurality of wireless terminals using the plurality of beams; the acquiring means acquires the reception quality of the reference signal as the reception quality. 10. The wireless communication system of claim 9. (Appendix 11) acquiring, from each of a plurality of wireless terminals, measurement results of reception quality of a plurality of beams received by the plurality of wireless terminals; calculating a similarity of the reception qualities between the plurality of wireless terminals based on the measurement results; selecting a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed from among the plurality of wireless terminals based on the similarity; A scheduling method comprising: (Appendix 12) acquiring, from each of a plurality of wireless terminals, measurement results of reception quality of a plurality of beams received by the plurality of wireless terminals; calculating a similarity of the reception qualities between the plurality of wireless terminals based on the measurement results; selecting a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed from among the plurality of wireless terminals based on the similarity; A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a scheduling program that causes a computer to execute the above. [Explanation of symbols]

[0104] 10: Wireless communication system 11: Wireless communication device 11tr: Radio transmitter / receiver 11t: Transmit signal processing unit 11r: Received signal processing unit 11s: Scheduling department 111: Acquisition unit, measurement result acquisition unit 112: Calculation unit, similarity calculation unit 113: Selection unit, terminal selection unit 114, 114a, 114n: antennas 12, 12a, 12b: wireless terminal 124, 124a, 124b: Antenna 1101: Network Interface 1102: Processor 1103:Memory

Claims

1. an acquisition means for acquiring, from each of a plurality of wireless terminals, measurement results of reception qualities of a plurality of beams received by the plurality of wireless terminals; a calculation means for calculating a similarity of the reception qualities between the plurality of wireless terminals based on the measurement results; a selection means for selecting a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed from among the plurality of wireless terminals based on the similarity; Equipped with The calculation means calculating a reception quality vector having elements each representing the reception quality of each of the plurality of beams for each of the plurality of wireless terminals; Calculating the similarity based on an inner product of the reception quality vectors; the calculation means assigns a predetermined value to an element of the reception quality vector corresponding to a beam for which the reception quality has not been acquired. Wireless communication device.

2. a transmitting means for transmitting a reference signal to the plurality of wireless terminals using the plurality of beams; the acquiring means acquires the reception quality of the reference signal as the reception quality. The wireless communication device of claim 1 .

3. The reception quality is at least one of a reference signal received power (RSRP), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), and a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR). The wireless communication device according to claim 2 .

4. the selection means selects the combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed such that the similarity between the plurality of wireless terminals included in the combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed is less than a first threshold.

4. The wireless communication device according to claim 1.

5. the selection means selects the combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed such that a sum of the mutual similarities between the plurality of wireless terminals included in the combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed is less than a second threshold value.

4. The wireless communication device according to claim 1.

6. acquiring, from each of a plurality of wireless terminals, measurement results of reception quality of a plurality of beams received by the plurality of wireless terminals; calculating a similarity of the reception qualities between the plurality of wireless terminals based on the measurement results; selecting a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed from among the plurality of wireless terminals based on the similarity; Equipped with The calculation of the similarity is calculating, for each of the plurality of wireless terminals, a reception quality vector having the reception quality of each of the plurality of beams as an element; Calculating the similarity based on an inner product of the reception quality vectors; Substituting a predetermined value into an element of the reception quality vector corresponding to a beam for which the reception quality has not been acquired. Scheduling methods.

7. acquiring, from each of a plurality of wireless terminals, measurement results of reception quality of a plurality of beams received by the plurality of wireless terminals; calculating a similarity of the reception qualities between the plurality of wireless terminals based on the measurement results; selecting a combination of wireless terminals to be spatially multiplexed from among the plurality of wireless terminals based on the similarity; on the computer, The calculation of the similarity is calculating, for each of the plurality of wireless terminals, a reception quality vector having the reception quality of each of the plurality of beams as an element; Calculating the similarity based on an inner product of the reception quality vectors; Substituting a predetermined value into an element of the reception quality vector corresponding to a beam for which the reception quality has not been acquired. Scheduling program.

Images