WO2025040236A1

WO2025040236A1 - Interlaced beamforming for power spectral density (psd) limited transmissions

Info

Publication number: WO2025040236A1
Application number: PCT/EP2023/072828
Authority: WO
Inventors: Leif Wilhelmsson; Rocco Di Taranto; Abhishek AMBEDE; Joao VIEIRA
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Current assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Priority date: 2023-08-18
Filing date: 2023-08-18
Publication date: 2025-02-27
Anticipated expiration: 2026-02-18

Abstract

A transmitter device (14) arranged for transmitting to a plurality of receiver devices (16) is provided. The transmitter device (14) is configured to: determine whether to interlace a plurality of subcarriers for transmission, where each respective subset of the plurality of subcarriers is configured for a respective one of a plurality of receiver devices, interlace the plurality of subcarriers based on the determination; and transmit the interlaced plurality of subcarriers at least in part by beamforming each of the respective subset of the plurality of subcarriers using respective beamforming.

Description

INTERLACED BEAMFORMING FOR POWER SPECTRAL DENSITY (PSD) LIMITED TRANSMISSIONS

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to wireless communications, and in particular, to configurations for interlaced beamformed transmissions.

BACKGROUND

Wi-Fi, also known as Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), is a technology that currently mainly operates in the 2.4 GHz, the 5 GHz band, and the 6 GHz band. There are specifications regulating an access points' or wireless terminals' physical (PHY) layer, medium access layer (MAC) layer and other aspects in order to secure compatibility and inter-operability between different WLAN entities, e.g., between an access point and mobile terminals, both of which may be referred to as stations (STAs) herein. Wi-Fi is generally operated in unlicensed bands, and as such, communication over Wi-Fi may be subject to interference sources from both known and unknown devices. Wi-Fi is commonly used as wireless extensions to fixed broadband access, e.g., in domestic environments and hotspots, like airports, train stations, and restaurants.

In certain frequency bands and in certain regions of the world, the maximum transmission power that can be used for wireless transmission is limited by a requirement on maximum power spectral density (PSD), rather than on a corresponding requirement on maximum power. As an example, if the maximum PSD is limited to 10 dBm/MHz and the maximum total power is limited to 20 dBm, a signal with a bandwidth of less than 10 MHz cannot be transmitted at the maximum power of 20 dBm, since the PSD limitation would then be violated. When this is the case, the transmission is commonly referred to as being PSD limited, rather than power limited. The PSD limitation may be a problem for a signal that is relatively narrowband.

One approach to counteract the PSD limitation for a narrowband signal is to spread out the signal over a larger bandwidth. This can be performed in a way that does not sacrifice spectrum efficiency by considering how the PSD is measured. Specifically, if the PSD is measured over a bandwidth of 1 MHz, one can, in case of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), deliberately spread the signal over a larger bandwidth by only transmitting on every Nth sub-carrier, so that the number of used sub-carriers per MHz is reduced. Consequently, the sub-carriers used can be transmitted with a correspondingly higher power if the PSD measured per MHz is within the limit. One reason why the spectrum efficiency is not sacrificed is that the sub-carriers that are unused by one wireless device can instead be allocated to another wireless device. This is commonly referred to as distributed OFDMA, as the sub-carriers of one wireless device are distributed over a larger bandwidth than needed.

This approach (but with PRB interlacing rather than sub-carrier interlacing) was adopted by 3GPP and is considered a possible approach for Wi-Fi. One work in Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 has pointed out that power spectral density (PSD) limitations are very strict for the non-access point (AP) stations (STAs), collectively referred to as STAs, particularly in the 6 GHz band. For example, in the Low Power Indoor (LPI) case, the PSD limitation is -1 dBm/MHz, which in turn means that for one 52-tone resource unit (RU), the maximum transmit power is only about 6 dBm. By noting that the PSD limitations are defined per MHz and per STA, the idea in this approach is to distribute tones of a small-size RU over a wide bandwidth. By doing so, the tones for each STA become non-contiguous and as a consequence, each tone may be transmitted with higher power while still fulfilling the strict PSD requirements overall.

The following terminology is used in the approach described above:

• IEEE 802.1 lax/be RUs with contiguous tones are defined as regular RUs (rRUs)

• RUs with non-contiguous distributed tones are termed distributed tone RUs (dRUs) Distributing tones across a larger bandwidth may be useful for uplink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (UL-OFDMA) transmissions within a basic service set (BSS). If for example there are 3 STAs transmitting in UL to the same AP, each of them can boost its transmit power by using dRU. Compared to using rRU, all tones get higher transmit power and therefore the overall Signal to Interference plus Noise (SINR) ratio may be enhanced significantly. However, to maximize the power boost, the tones in one dRU should be sufficiently spread out considering the measurement bandwidth (e.g., 1 MHz in 6 GHz band for LPI devices).

When instead the transmission is in the downlink (DL), i.e., from the AP to STAs, the use of dRUs does not result in similar gains as for the UL. The reason is that typically all sub-carriers will be used for data transmission and therefore contribute to the totally transmitted power, irrespective of to what STA the sub-carrier is intended.

In other words, the methods described in the approach above are designed for UL OFDMA transmissions, and cannot be applied in DL OFDMA transmission. More generally, the methods described above are applicable to many-to-one transmissions, but not to one-to-many transmissions. Even if the AP would use disjoint non-contiguous dRUs to serve each different STA, there would still not be room for power boosting, as effectively the AP uses all contiguous tones anyway. As such, using the approach described above results in that DL OFDMA operations cannot overcome the strict PSD limitations and overall operations occur at low transmit power.

SUMMARY

Some embodiments advantageously provide methods, systems, and apparatuses for interlaced beamformed transmissions in wireless communication systems.

In one or more embodiments, PSD measurements are performed taking beamforming into account. Specifically, the PSD may be measured over 1 MHz of bandwidth in all and/or multiple directions from the transmitter and the PSD limitation must be fulfilled in all directions. Effectively this means that if a transmitter has a beamforming gain of x dB in one direction, the average transmission power must be reduced by x dB in such direction.

However, with an assignment between dRUs and AP beams (e.g., where each dRU is uniquely assigned to one AP beam (e.g., transmitter device beam)), a similar averaging effect as obtained for the UL with different transmitters can be achieved and by that, a corresponding increase in the TX power is possible to transmit in the DL to an STA. As an example, if distributed OFDMA would be applied where 0.5 MHz is allocated to each STA in every 1 MHz and where the main lobe of the transmitted beams to the two STAs would be perfectly non-overlapping, then the PSD sent to each one of the STA can be increased by 3 dB compared to if the STAs would be allocated channels of 1 MHz contiguous bandwidth.

This example also indicates at least two things that make the approach described herein effective. First, the more users (e.g., receiver devices, STAs) that can be interlaced, the larger the potential gain. Second, it may be preferred that the beamforming patterns for the different STAs overlap as little as possible to obtain the desired gain.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a transmitter device arranged for transmitting to a plurality of receiver devices is provided. The transmitter device is configured to: determine whether to interlace a plurality of subcarriers for transmission, where each respective subset of the plurality of subcarriers is configured for a respective one of a plurality of receiver devices. The transmitter device is configured to interlace the plurality of subcarriers based on the determination, and transmit the interlaced plurality of subcarriers at least in part by beamforming each of the respective subset of the plurality of subcarriers using respective beamforming.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the transmitter device is an access point, AP and the receiver devices are stations, STAs.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the beamforming is performed on a per subcarrier basis.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, a first quantity of a power characteristic of the transmission meets a restriction threshold, and a second quantity of the power characteristic associated with a transmission of the plurality of subcarriers without interlacing fails to meet the restriction threshold.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the power characteristic is a power spectral density, PSD, and where the restriction threshold is a PSD restriction threshold.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the power characteristic is associated with a predefined bandwidth.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the interlacing of the plurality of subcarriers corresponds to interlaced orthogonal frequency division multiple access, OFDMA.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, at least two of the plurality of receiver devices are assigned different interlace configurations from each other based on inter-carrier interference.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, each respective beam is selected to be at least substantially non-overlapping with respect to other beams that are part of the transmission.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the determination whether to interlace the plurality of subcarriers is based at least on a determination whether to increase transmission power to a level that would be restricted without interlacing the plurality of subcarriers.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the transmitter device is further configured to determine a quantity of the plurality of receiver devices associated with the interlacing of the plurality of subcarriers based at least on an amount of increase of a transmission power that is configured to result from the interlacing and the beamforming. According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method implemented by a transmitter device is provided. A determination is performed whether to interlace a plurality of subcarriers for transmission, where each respective subset of the plurality of subcarriers is configured for a respective one of a plurality of receiver devices. The plurality of subcarriers are interlaced based on the determination. The interlaced plurality of subcarriers are transmitted at least in part by beamforming each of the respective subset of the plurality of subcarriers using respective beamforming.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the transmitter device is an access point, AP, and the receiver devices are stations, STAs.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the power characteristic is a power spectral density, PSD, where the restriction threshold is a PSD restriction threshold.

According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, a quantity of the plurality of receiver devices associated with the interlacing of the plurality of subcarriers is determined based at least on an amount of increase of a transmission power that is configured to result from the interlacing and the beamforming.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present embodiments, and the attendant advantages and features thereof, will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. l is a schematic diagram of an example network architecture illustrating a communication system according to the principles in the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a transmitter device communicating with a receiver device over an at least partially wireless connection according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an example network architecture illustrating a communication system connected via an intermediate network to a host computer according to the principles in the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a host computer communicating via a transmitter device with a receiver device over an at least partially wireless connection according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating example methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a transmitter device and a receiver device for executing a client application at a receiver device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating example methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a transmitter device and a receiver device for receiving user data at a receiver device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating example methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a transmitter device and a receiver device for receiving user data from the receiver device at a host computer according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating example methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a transmitter device and a receiver device for receiving user data at a host computer according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example process in a transmitter device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an example deployment of transmitter device and receiver devices according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a diagram of an example distributed OFDMA for receiver devices according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 12 is a diagram of example transmissions of beamformed signals to receiver devices according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before describing in detail example embodiments, it is noted that the embodiments reside primarily in combinations of apparatus components and processing steps related to interlaced beamformed transmissions. Accordingly, components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout the description.

As used herein, relational terms, such as “first” and “second,” “top” and “bottom,” and the like, may be used solely to distinguish one entity or element from another entity or element without necessarily requiring or implying any physical or logical relationship or order between such entities or elements. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the concepts described herein. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

In embodiments described herein, the joining term, “in communication with” and the like, may be used to indicate electrical or data communication, which may be accomplished by physical contact, induction, electromagnetic radiation, radio signaling, infrared signaling or optical signaling, for example. One having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that multiple components may interoperate and modifications and variations are possible of achieving the electrical and data communication.

In some embodiments described herein, the term “coupled,” “connected,” and the like, may be used herein to indicate a connection, although not necessarily directly, and may include wired and/or wireless connections.

In some embodiments, the term “transmitter device” is used interchangeably and may comprise, or be, a network node. The transmitter device may include any of access point (AP), base station (BS), radio base station, base transceiver station (BTS), base station controller (BSC), radio network controller (RNC), g Node B (gNB), evolved Node B (eNB or eNodeB), Node B, multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, multi-cell/multicast coordination entity (MCE), relay node, integrated access and backhaul (IAB), donor node controlling relay, radio access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU) Remote Radio Head (RRH), a core network node (e.g., mobile management entity (MME), self-organizing network (SON) node, a coordinating node, positioning node, MDT node, etc.), an external node (e.g., 3rd party node, a node external to the current network), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), a spectrum access system (SAS) node, an element management system (EMS), etc. The transmitter device may also comprise test equipment. The transmitter device may comprise a radio router, a radio transceiver, WiFi access point, wireless local area network (WLAN) access point, a network controller, etc.

In some embodiments, the non-limiting term “receiver device” is used to describe a wireless device (WD) and/or user equipment (UE) that may be used to implement some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the receiver device may be and/or comprise an access point (AP) station (STA). In some embodiments, the receiver device may be and/or comprise a non-access point station (non-AP STA). In some embodiments, the receiver device may be any type of device capable of communicating with a network node, such as an AP, over radio signals. The receiver device may be any radio communication device, target device, a portable device, device-to-device (D2D) device, machine type device or device capable of machine to machine communication (M2M), low-cost and/or low-complexity device, a sensor equipped with a device, a computer, Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipped (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, or a Narrowband loT (NB-IOT) device, Reduced Capability (RedCap) device, etc.

A transmitter device and/or receiver device may be considered a network node and may include physical components, such as processors, allocated processing elements, or other computing hardware, computer memory, communication interfaces, and other supporting computing hardware. The network node may use dedicated physical components, or the node may be allocated use of the physical components of another device, such as a computing device or resources of a datacenter, in which case the network node is said to be virtualized. A network node may be associated with multiple physical components that may be located either in one location, or may be distributed across multiple locations.

For DL communication, the transmitter device may be an AP station that may be the transmitter, and the receiver device may be the non-AP station that is the receiver. For the UL communication, the transmitter device may be the non-AP station and the receiver device may be the AP station.

Note also that some embodiments of the present disclosure may be supported by an Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard. IEEE 802.11 denotes a set of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) air interface standards developed by the IEEE 802.11 committee for short-range communications (e.g., tens of meters to a few hundred meters). Some embodiments may also be supported by standard documents disclosed in Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) technical specifications. That is, some embodiments of the description can be supported by the above documents. In addition, all the terms disclosed in the present document may be described by the above standard documents.

Note that although terminology from one particular wireless system, such as, for example, IEEE 802.11, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Long Term Evolution (LTE), 5th Generation (5G) and/or New Radio (NR), may be used in this disclosure, this should not be seen as limiting the scope of the disclosure to only the aforementioned system. Other wireless systems, including without limitation Wide Band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), may also benefit from exploiting the ideas covered within this disclosure.

Note further, that functions described herein as being performed by one or more of a receiver device and/or transmitter device (e.g., STA, AP, non-AP STA, wireless device, network node, etc.), may be distributed over a plurality of one or more of receiver devices and/or transmitter devices . In other words, it is contemplated that the functions of the devices described herein are not limited to performance by a single physical device and, in fact, can be distributed among several physical devices of the same type or of different types.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. It will be further understood that terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

Some embodiments provide configurations for interlaced beamformed transmissions.

Referring again to the drawing figures, in which like elements are referred to by like reference numerals, there is shown in FIG. 1 a schematic diagram of the communication system 10, according to one embodiment, constructed in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure. The communication system 10 in FIG. 1 is a nonlimiting example and other embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by one or more other systems and/or networks. Referring to FIG. 1, system 10 may comprise a wireless local area network (WLAN). The devices in the system 10 may communicate over one or more spectrums, such as, for example, an unlicensed spectrum, which may include frequency bands typically used by Wi-Fi technology. One or more of the devices may be further configured to communicate over other frequency bands, such as shared licensed frequency bands, etc. The system 10 may include one or more coverage areas 12a, 12b, etc. (collectively referred to herein as “coverage area 12”), which may be defined by corresponding transmitter devices 14a, 14b, etc. (collectively referred to herein as “transmitter device 14”). According to one or more embodiments, transmitter device 14 is an AP. The transmitter device 14 may or may not be connectable to another network, such as a core network over a wired or wireless connection. The system 10 includes a plurality of receiver devices, such as, for example, receiver devices 16a, 16b, 16c (collectively referred to as receiver devices 16). According to one or more embodiments, receiver device 16 is a non-AP station (STA). Each of the receiver devices 16 may be located in one or more coverage areas 12 and may be configured to wirelessly connect to one or more transmitter devices 14. Note that although two transmitter devices 14a and 14b and two receiver devices 16a and 16b are shown for convenience, the communication system may include many more receiver devices 16 and transmitter devices 14. Each transmitter device 14 may connect to/serve/configure/schedule/etc. one or more receiver devices 16.

It should be understood that the system 10 may include additional nodes/devices not shown in FIG. 1. In addition, the system 10 may include many more connect! ons/interfaces than those shown in FIG. 1. Thus, the elements shown in FIG. 1 are presented for ease of understanding.

Also, it is contemplated that a receiver device 16 can be in communication and/or configured to separately communicate with more than one transmitter device 14 and/or more than one type of transmitter device 14. Furthermore, a transmitter device 14 may be in communication and/or configured to separately communicate with other transmitter devices 14, which may be via wired and/or wireless communication channels.

A transmitter device 14 is configured to include an interlace unit 18, which is configured to perform one or more transmitter device 14 functions described herein, such as with respect to interlaced beamformed transmissions.

Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the transmitter device 14 and receiver device 16 discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIG. 2.

The transmitter device 14 includes hardware 20 including a communication interface 22, processing circuitry 24, a processor 26, and memory 28. The communication interface 22 may be configured to communicate with any of the nodes/devices in the system 10 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure, such as with one or more other transmitter devices 14 and/or one or more receiver devices 16. In some embodiments, the communication interface 22 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more radio frequency (RF) transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers, and/or may be considered a radio interface. In some embodiments, the communication interface 22 may also include a wired interface.

The processing circuitry 24 may include one or more processors 26 and memory, e.g., memory 28. In addition to a processor 26 and memory 28, the processing circuitry 24 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 26 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) the memory 28, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

The transmitter device 14 may further include software 30 stored internally in, for example, memory 28, or stored in external memory (e.g., database) accessible by the transmitter device 14 via an external connection. The software 30 may be executable by the processing circuitry 24. The processing circuitry 24 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., transmitter device 14. The memory 28 is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software 30 may include instructions stored in memory 28 that, when executed by the processor 26 and/or interlace unit 18 causes the processing circuitry 24 and/or configures the transmitter device 14 to perform the processes described herein with respect to the transmitter device 14 (e.g., processes described with reference to FIG. 9, and/or any of the other figures herein).

Referring still to FIG. 2, the receiver device 16 (e.g., non-AP STA) includes hardware 32, which may include a communication interface 34, processing circuitry 36, a processor 38, and memory 40. The communication interface 34 may be configured to communicate with one or more transmitter devices 14, such as via wireless connection 35, and/or with other elements in the system 10, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the communication interface 34 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more radio frequency (RF) transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers, and/or may be considered a radio interface. In some embodiments, the communication interface 34 may also include a wired interface.

The processing circuitry 36 may include one or more processors 38 and memory, such as, the memory 40. Furthermore, in addition to a traditional processor and memory, the processing circuitry 36 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 38 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) the memory 40, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

Thus, the receiver device 16 may further include software 42 stored internally in, for example, memory 40, or stored in external memory (e.g., database) accessible by the receiver device 16 via an external connection. The software 42 may be executable by the processing circuitry 36. The processing circuitry 36 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by the receiver device 16. The memory 40 is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software may include instructions stored in memory 40 that, when executed by the processor 38, causes the processing circuitry 36 and/or configures the receiver device 16 to perform the processes described herein with respect to the receiver device 16 (e.g., processes described with reference to FIG. 9, and/or any of the other figures herein).

In FIG. 2, the connection between the transmitter device 14 and the receiver devices 16 is shown without explicit reference to any intermediary devices or connections. However, it should be understood that intermediary devices and/or connections may exist between these devices, although not explicitly shown.

Although FIG. 2 shows interlace unit 18, as being within a processor, it is contemplated that this element may be implemented such that a portion of the element is stored in a corresponding memory within the processing circuitry. In other words, the element may be implemented in hardware or in a combination of hardware and software within the processing circuitry.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 10, according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. In the example of FIG. 3, the transmitter device 14 and receiver devices 16 may be similar to those of the example of FIG. 1, described herein. Additionally, in the example of FIG. 3, one or more transmitter devices 14 and/or receiver devices 16 may form and/or be part of a service set network 44 (e.g., a basic service set, or any other network, set, and/or grouping of transmitter devices 14 and receiver devices 16). The communication system 10 and/or service set network 44 may itself be connected to a host computer 46, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server or as processing resources in a server farm. The host computer 46 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The connections 48, 50 between the communication system 10 and/or the service set network 44 and the host computer 46 may extend directly from the service set network 44 to the host computer 46 or may extend via an optional intermediate network 52. The intermediate network 52 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network. The intermediate network 52, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet. In some embodiments, the intermediate network 52 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).

The communication system of FIG. 3 as a whole enables connectivity between one of the connected receiver devices 16 and the host computer 46. The connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection. The host computer 46 and the connected receiver devices 16 are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via the OTT connection, using the service set network 44, any intermediate network 52 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. The OTT connection may be transparent in the sense that at least some of the participating communication devices through which the OTT connection passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, a transmitter device 14 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from a host computer 46 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected receiver device 16. Similarly, the transmitter device 14 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the receiver device 16 towards the host computer 46.

Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the receiver device 16, transmitter device 14, and host computer 46 discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIG. 4. In the example of FIG. 4, the transmitter device 14 and the receiver device 16 may have similar features and components as the transmitter device 14 and receiver device 16 depicted in FIG. 2. Additionally, the host computer 46 comprises hardware (HW) 53 including a communication interface 54 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system 10. The host computer 46 further comprises processing circuitry 56, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities. The processing circuitry 56 may include a processor 58 and memory 60. In particular, in addition to or instead of a processor, such as a central processing unit, and memory, the processing circuitry 56 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 58 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) memory 60, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

Processing circuitry 56 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by host computer 46. Processor 58 corresponds to one or more processors 58 for performing host computer 46 functions described herein. The host computer 46 includes memory 60 that is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software 62 and/or the host application 64 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 58 and/or processing circuitry 56, causes the processor 58 and/or processing circuitry 56 to perform the processes described herein with respect to host computer 46. The instructions may be software associated with the host computer 46.

The software 62 of host computer 46 may be executable by the processing circuitry 56. The software 62 includes a host application 64. The host application 64 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as an receiver device 16 connecting via an OTT connection 66 terminating at the receiver device 16 and the host computer 46. In providing the service to the remote user, the host application 64 may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 66. The “user data” may be data and information described herein as implementing the described functionality. In one embodiment, the host computer 46 may be configured for providing control and functionality to a service provider and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The processing circuitry 56 of the host computer 46 may enable the host computer 46 to observe, monitor, control, transmit to and/or receive from the transmitter device 14 and/or the receiver device 16. The processing circuitry 56 of the host computer 46 may include a Cloud Configuration unit 68 configured to enable the service provider to observe/monitor/control/transmit to/receive from/configure/etc. the transmitter device 14 and/or the receiver device 16.

The communication interface 22 of transmitter device 14 may be configured to facilitate a connection 66 to the host computer 46. The connection 66 may be direct or it may pass through a service set network 44 of the communication system 10 and/or through one or more intermediate networks 52 outside the communication system 10. The communication interface 34 of receiver device 16 may be configured to facilitate a connection 66 to the host computer 46. The connection 66 may be direct or it may pass through a service set network 44 of the communication system 10 and/or through one or more intermediate networks 52 outside the communication system 10.

The software 42 of receiver device 16 may include a client application 70. The client application 70 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the receiver device 16, with the support of the host computer 46. In the host computer 46, an executing host application 64 may communicate with the executing client application 70 via the OTT connection 66 terminating at the receiver device 16 and the host computer 46. In providing the service to the user, the client application 70 may receive request data from the host application 64 and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 66 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application 70 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.

In some embodiments, the inner workings of the transmitter device 14, receiver device 16, and host computer 46 may be as shown in FIG. 4 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of FIG. 3.

In FIG. 4, the OTT connection 66 has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host computer 46 and the receiver device 16 via the transmitter device 14, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices. Network infrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured to hide from the receiver device 16 or from the service provider operating the host computer 46, or both. While the OTT connection 66 is active, the network infrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamically changes the routing (e.g., on the basis of load balancing consideration or reconfiguration of the network).

The wireless connection 35 between the receiver device 16 and the transmitter device 14 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the receiver device 16 using the OTT connection 66, in which the wireless connection 35 may form the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of some of these embodiments may improve the data rate, latency, and/or power consumption and thereby provide benefits such as reduced user waiting time, relaxed restriction on file size, better responsiveness, extended battery lifetime, etc.

In some embodiments, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 66 between the host computer 46 and receiver device 16, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 66 may be implemented in the software 62 of the host computer 46 or in the software 42 of the receiver device 16, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which the OTT connection 66 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software 62, 42 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 66 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect the transmitter device 14, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to the transmitter device 14. Some such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary wireless device signaling facilitating the host computer’s 46 measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. In some embodiments, the measurements may be implemented in that the software 62, 42 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 66 while it monitors propagation times, errors, etc.

Thus, in some embodiments, the host computer 46 includes processing circuitry 56 configured to provide user data and a communication interface 54 that is configured to forward the user data to a wireless network and/or cellular network for transmission to the receiver device 16. In some embodiments, the wireless network and/or cellular network also includes the transmitter device 14 with a communication interface 22. In some embodiments, the transmitter device 14 is configured to, and/or the transmitter device 14 processing circuitry 24 is configured to perform the functions and/or methods described herein for preparing/initiating/maintaining/supporting/ending a transmission to the receiver device 16, and/or preparing/terminating/maintaining/supporting/ending in receipt of a transmission from the receiver device 16. In some embodiments, the host computer 46 includes processing circuitry 56 and a communication interface 54 that is configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a receiver device 16 to an transmitter device 14. In some embodiments, the receiver device 16 is configured to, and/or comprises a communication interface 34 and/or processing circuitry 36 configured to perform the functions and/or methods described herein for preparing/initiating/maintaining/supporting/ending a transmission to the transmitter device 14, and/or preparing/terminating/maintaining/supporting/ending in receipt of a transmission from the transmitter device 14.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of FIGS. 3 and 4, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer 46, a transmitter device 14 and a receiver device 16, which may be those described with reference to FIG. 4. In a first step of the method, the host computer 46 provides user data (Block SI 00). In an optional substep of the first step, the host computer 46 provides the user data by executing a host application, such as, for example, the host application 64 (Block SI 02). In a second step, the host computer 46 initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the receiver device 16 (Block SI 04). In an optional third step, the transmitter device 14 transmits to the receiver device 16 the user data which was carried in the transmission that the host computer 46 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure (Block SI 06). In an optional fourth step, the receiver device 16 executes a client application, such as, for example, the client application 70, associated with the host application 64 executed by the host computer 46 (Block SI 08).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of FIG. 3, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer 46, an transmitter device 14 and a receiver device 16, which may be those described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. In a first step of the method, the host computer 46 provides user data (Block SI 10). In an optional substep (not shown) the host computer 46 provides the user data by executing a host application, such as, for example, the host application 64. In a second step, the host computer 46 initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the receiver device 16 (Block SI 12). The transmission may pass via the transmitter device 14, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In an optional third step, the receiver device 16 receives the user data carried in the transmission (Block SI 14).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of FIG. 3, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer 46, an transmitter device 14 and a receiver device 16, which may be those described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. In an optional first step of the method, the receiver device 16 receives input data provided by the host computer 46 (Block SI 16). In an optional substep of the first step, the receiver device 16 executes the client application 70, which provides the user data in reaction to the received input data provided by the host computer 46 (Block SI 18). Additionally or alternatively, in an optional second step, the receiver device 16 provides user data (Block S120). In an optional substep of the second step, the receiver device 16 provides the user data by executing a client application, such as, for example, client application 70 (Block S122). In providing the user data, the executed client application 70 may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the receiver device 16 may initiate, in an optional third substep, transmission of the user data to the host computer 46 (Block S124). In a fourth step of the method, the host computer 46 receives the user data transmitted from the receiver device 16, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure (Block S126).

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example method implemented in a communication system, such as, for example, the communication system of FIG. 3, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer 46, a transmitter device 14 and a receiver device 16, which may be those described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. In an optional first step of the method, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the transmitter device 14 receives user data from the receiver device 16 (Block S128). In an optional second step, the transmitter device 14 initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer 46 (Block SI 30). In a third step, the host computer 46 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the transmitter device 14 (Block SI 32).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example process in a transmitter device 14 (e.g., AP) according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. One or more Blocks and/or functions and/or methods performed by the transmitter device 14 may be performed by one or more elements of the transmitter device 14 such as by interlace unit 18 in processing circuitry 24, memory 28, processor 26, communication interface 22, etc. according to the example process/method.

Transmitter device 14 may be arranged for transmitting to a plurality of receiver devices 16. Transmitter device 14 is configured to determine (Block S134) whether to interlace a plurality of subcarriers for transmission, where each respective subset of the plurality of subcarriers is configured for a respective one of a plurality of receiver devices 16, as described herein. Transmitter device 14 is configured to interlace (Block S136) the plurality of subcarriers based on the determination, as described herein. Transmitter device 14 is configured to transmit (Block S138) the interlaced plurality of subcarriers at least in part by beamforming each of the respective subset of the plurality of subcarriers using respective beamforming, as described herein.

According to one or more embodiments, the transmitter device 14 is an access point, AP and the receiver devices are stations, STAs.

According to one or more embodiments, the beamforming is performed on a per subcarrier basis.

According to one or more embodiments, a first quantity of a power characteristic of the transmission meets a restriction threshold, and a second quantity of the power characteristic associated with a transmission of the plurality of subcarriers without interlacing fails to meet the restriction threshold.

According to one or more embodiments, the power characteristic is a power spectral density, PSD, and where the restriction threshold is a PSD restriction threshold.

According to one or more embodiments, the power characteristic is associated with a predefined bandwidth.

According to one or more embodiments, the interlacing of the plurality of subcarriers corresponds to interlaced orthogonal frequency division multiple access, OFDMA.

According to one or more embodiments, at least two of the plurality of receiver devices 16 are assigned different interlace configurations from each other based on intercarrier interference.

According to one or more embodiments, each respective beam is selected to be at least substantially non-overlapping with respect to other beams that are part of the transmission. According to one or more embodiments, the determination whether to interlace the plurality of subcarriers is based at least on a determination whether to increase transmission power to a level that would be restricted without interlacing the plurality of subcarriers.

According to one or more embodiments, the transmitter device 14 is further configured to determine a quantity of the plurality of receiver devices 16 associated with the interlacing of the plurality of subcarriers based at least on an amount of increase of a transmission power that is configured to result from the interlacing and the beamforming.

Having described the general process flow of arrangements of the disclosure and having provided examples of hardware and software arrangements for implementing the processes and functions of the disclosure, the sections below provide details and examples of arrangements for interlaced beamformed transmissions. As was explained above, the interlaced beamformed transmissions may be applicable for one-to-many communication in general, wherein a transmitter device transmits to a plurality of receiver devices, including but not limited by the DL communication, wherein the transmitter device may be an AP and the receiver devices may be STAs, or the UL communication, wherein the transmitter device may be an STA and the receiver devices may be APs. For the sake of conciseness, this one-to-many communication is described below in the examples as DL interlaced beamformed transmissions from one AP to many STAs.

One or more transmitter device 14 functions described below may be performed by one or more of processing circuitry 24, processor 26, interlace unit 18, communication interface 22, etc. One or more receiver device 16 functions described below may be performed by one or more of processing circuitry 36, processor 38, communication interface 34, etc.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of an example deployment of system 10 that includes a transmitter device 14 (e.g., AP) and three receiver devices 16 (e.g., STAs) according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

In particular, one or more embodiments related to the following example where a transmitter device 14 is transmitting in the downlink (DL) to three receiver devices 16, where the location of the transmitter device 14 and the receiver devices 16 are illustrated in FIG. 10.

One objective for FIG. 10 is to transmit to all three receiver devices 16 using as high data rate as possible, which in turn means that the goal is that the received power at each one of the receiver devices 16 should be as high as possible. A method for increasing the received power at a receiver device 16 without increasing the transmission power is to beamform the signal toward the intended receiver. Beamforming may refer to a situation where a signal is transmitted from different antennas in a way such that the signals add up constructively at the intended receiver. Optimally, the beamforming may be tailored for each frequency, i.e., in a system based on OFDM different beamforming vectors are applied to the different sub-carriers. This also means that it is possible to effectively transmit different sub-carriers in different directions.

The beamforming results in that the received power at a specific receiver device 16 can be increased without increasing the total transmitted power at the transmitter device 14. However, according to certain regulations, the transmitted power from an transmitter device 14 is measured by taking the beamforming gain into account. That is, the transmitted power from the transmitter device 14 is not measured with an antenna connector, but the actual radiated power in the different directions is determined, and then this power is used to calculate the equivalent effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP). Thus, beamforming may only increase the transmitted power in a certain direction as long as the EIRP is not exceeding what is allowed. Once this limit is reached, increasing the beamforming gain further may only result in that the total transmitted power has to be reduced. This may still be desirable since an increased beamforming gain implies that the interference caused in other directions will decrease proportionally.

In addition to having a requirement on the maximum total transmitted power (in a certain direction), there are typically also requirements on the maximum transmitted power spectral density (PSD). Also, the PSD may be measured taking the beamforming gain into account so that an equivalent isotropic quantity is measured. A transmission may thus either be limited by the total power or by the PSD. PSD is typically more restrictive when the bandwidth of the transmission is small.

The PSD may, e.g., be measured over a bandwidth of 1 MHz. This effectively means that as long as the average PSD within a 1 MHz bandwidth fulfills the requirements, it does not matter how the PSD varies within this bandwidth.

One or more embodiments described herein combine distributed OFDMA and beamforming to allow for an increase of the transmitted power in a specific direction. Continuing with the example of FIG. 10 with three receiver devices 16, the signals to the three users are interlaced as illustrated in the example of FIG. 11. In FIG. 11, the sub-carrier spacing may be assumed to be relatively small compared to 1 MHz such that roughly 1/3 of the signal power within every 1 MHz is intended to each one of the three receiver devices 16.

Next, beamforming is applied to enhance the performance. As discussed above, the beamforming may be per sub-carrier, and the signals may be beamformed as illustrated in FIG. 12. Because the three receiver devices 16 are located relatively far from each other in different directions, it may be expected that the three beams will be largely nonoverlapping.

The PSD that is measured in any direction within a bandwidth of 1 MHz is now considered, where it follows that irrespective of what direction is considered there will either be no signal or a signal transmitted to only one of the receiver devices 16. Thus, referring to FIG. 11, it follows that the power of each one of the signals transmitted to the three receiver devices 16 can be increased by a roughly factor of 3 or roughly 5 dB.

Some variations are given in the examples below.

Example 1 - Interlaced beamforming

The example covers the configuration of combining distributed OFDMA and beamforming by, for example, transmitter device 14, to allow for transmitting at a higher power to a specific receiver device 16 (e.g., user). In one or more embodiments, the beamforming is performed on per subcarrier basis.

Example 2 - Dynamic use of interlaced beamforming

According to this example, interlaced beamforming is used for some of the transmissions whereas non-interlaced beamforming is used for some other transmissions. For example, transmitter device 14 is configured to determine whether to interlace a plurality of subcarriers for transmission where each respective subset of subcarriers are configured for a respective receiver device 16. Non-interlaced transmission here refers to that all sub-carriers intended for a specific receiver device 16 are sent adjacent to one another and not interlaced with sub-carriers intended for other receiver devices 16. In general, if there is no need for increasing the transmission power, non-interlaced OFDMA may allow for less complex reception as the total bandwidth of the signal sent to a specific receiver device 16 will be smaller.

In another alternative according to this example, the number of receiver devices 16 that are interlaced are varied. For instance, if there is a need to significantly increase the transmission power (e.g., increase the transmission power by a predefined amount), interlacing a relatively large number of receiver devices 16 may be required, whereas if only a small increase in the transmission power is needed interlacing a smaller number of receiver devices 16 may suffice. Hence, in one or more embodiments, a determination by transmitter device 14 as to whether to interlace the plurality of subcarriers is based at least on whether to increase the transmission power, e.g., whether to increase transmission power by a predefined amount, and/or based on a predefined amount of increase of transmission power that results from the interlacing and beamforming. Interlacing a smaller number of receiver devices 16 may be less complex than interlacing a larger number of receiver devices 16.

Example 3 - Scheduling for interlaced beamforming

As discussed above, it may be assumed that beams intended for different receiver devices 16 do not overlap too much in order to obtain the gain. For example, there may be at least substantially no overlap between beams. Therefore, according to this example, the scheduling of the different receiver devices 16 are performed taking the characteristics of the different beams into account and in particular trying to schedule receiver devices 16 with beams that are non-overlapping and/or substantially non-overlapping.

Although the one or more embodiments and/or examples described herein have been described with interlacing performed on the sub-carrier level, the teachings described herein are also applicable to other methods for interlacing that may not be on sub-carrier level. For example, interlacing may occur using groups of N sub-carriers from each receiver device 16, where N >1. N = 1 would correspond to what has been used in one or more embodiments and/or examples described above. If, for instance, the sub-carrier spacing is 100 kHz and the bandwidth used for the PSD measurement is 1 MHz, two receiver devices 16 may be interlaced by using N = 5, i.e., interlacing groups of 5 subcarriers.

According to one or more embodiments, to obtain a particular gain, N may be selected small enough to ensure that not too many sub-carriers intended to the same receiver device 16 is transmitted in any 1 MHz of the used bandwidth.

Example 4 - interlace/user assignment for reduced inter-carrier interference

This example optimizes the assignment of interlaces to receiver devices 16 for reducing inter-carrier interference effects. One motivation for this example is that if a beam intended for a first receiver device 16 also is received by a second receiver device 16 as well (e.g., with a signal strength and/or signal characteristics being above a threshold) then the second receiver device 16 may experience inter-carrier interference effects based on the received signals originally intended for the first receiver device 16. Thus, according to this example, if two or more receiver devices 16 are within the reception area of one beam, such receiver devices 16 may be, if possible, assigned non-neighboring interlaces, or alternatively, interlaces that are far apart in frequency. For example, in a setup with four receiver devices 16 or four STAs (e.g., STA1, STA2, STA3 and STA4), assume that the beam assigned to STA1 reaches STA1 and STA2 with significant received power, the beam assigned to STA2 reaches only STA2 with significant received power, the beam assigned to STA3 reaches only STA3 with significant received power, and the beam assigned to STA4 reaches only STA4 with significant received power. In this case, and assuming that 4 different interlaces are available, the first interlace may be assigned to STA1, the second interlace may be assigned to STA3, the third interlace may be assigned to STA2, and the fourth interlace may be assigned to STA4. In other words, at least two of the plurality of receiver devices 16 are assigned different interlace configurations from each other based on inter-carrier interference. With that, STA2 is likely to experience lower inter-carrier interference when trying to receive its own intended signals based on the signals intended for ST Al, since such signals are far apart in frequency, or as far apart in frequency as possible given the configuration.

Some Additional Examples

1 A. A method for interlaced OFDMA DL transmissions to two or more receiver devices 16 where different beamforming is applied to the receiver devices 16, resulting in that the transmitted power to the receiver devices 16 can be increased compared to if the signals to the receiver devices 16 would not have been interlaced. Further, a first quantity of a power characteristic of the transmission meets a restriction threshold (e.g., PSD restriction threshold or PSD limit) while a second quantity of the power characteristic associated with a transmission of the plurality of subcarriers without interleaving fails to meet the restriction threshold (e.g., PSD restriction threshold or PSD limit). The power characteristic may be associated with a predefined bandwidth.

2A. The method of Example 1 A, where interlaced OFDMA is only used when it is determined that it is beneficial to in this way increase the allowed transmission power that can be used.

3A. The method of Example 1A, where the number of receiver devices 16 that are interlaced is flexible.

4A. The method of Example 3 A, where the number of receiver devices 16 is selected based on the required transmission power and where a larger number is selected when a larger required transmission power desired. 5 A. The method of any one of Examples 1A-4A, where the interlaced receiver devices 16 are selected at least in part on how much their beampattems overlap and where the selection is performed such that non-overlapping beampattems are given priority.

6 A. The method of any one of Examples 1A-5A, where the interlaced OFDMA DL transmissions are performed such that the transmitted power is not increased by the same amount for each interlaced receiver device 16.

7 A. The method of any one of Examples 1A-6A, interlace/receiver device 16 assignment is performed in order to reduce inter-carrier interference effects.

Hence, one or more embodiments and/or examples described herein allow for using an increased transmission power, which in turn results in a better link budget and therefore typically also enables transmission with a higher data rate. Because of this, the duration of a transmission may be reduced which typically results in decreased energy consumption. Due at least in part to the enhanced link performance and that at least some of the data transmission will take a shorter time, the overall system performance may also be improved, resulting in increased aggregate throughput and the ability to support an increased number of users.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the concepts described herein may be embodied as a method, data processing system, computer program product and/or computer storage media storing an executable computer program. Accordingly, the concepts described herein may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects all generally referred to herein as a “circuit” or “module.” Any process, step, action and/or functionality described herein may be performed by, and/or associated to, a corresponding module, which may be implemented in software and/or firmware and/or hardware. Furthermore, the disclosure may take the form of a computer program product on a tangible computer usable storage medium having computer program code embodied in the medium that can be executed by a computer. Any suitable tangible computer readable medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD-ROMs, electronic storage devices, optical storage devices, or magnetic storage devices.

Some embodiments are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, systems and computer program products. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer (to thereby create a special purpose computer), special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable memory or storage medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

It is to be understood that the functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the operational illustrations. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved. Although some of the diagrams include arrows on communication paths to show a primary direction of communication, it is to be understood that communication may occur in the opposite direction to the depicted arrows.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the concepts described herein may be written in an object oriented programming language such as Python, Java® or C++. However, the computer program code for carrying out operations of the disclosure may also be written in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

Many different embodiments have been disclosed herein, in connection with the above description and the drawings. It will be understood that it would be unduly repetitious and obfuscating to literally describe and illustrate every combination and subcombination of these embodiments. Accordingly, all embodiments can be combined in any way and/or combination, and the present specification, including the drawings, shall be construed to constitute a complete written description of all combinations and subcombinations of the embodiments described herein, and of the manner and process of making and using them, and shall support claims to any such combination or subcombination.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein are not limited to what has been particularly shown and described herein above. In addition, unless mention was made above to the contrary, it should be noted that all of the accompanying drawings are not to scale. A variety of modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings without departing from the scope of the following claims.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A transmitter device (14) arranged for transmitting to a plurality of receiver devices (16), the transmitter device is configured to: determine whether to interlace a plurality of subcarriers for transmission, each respective subset of the plurality of subcarriers being configured for a respective one of a plurality of receiver devices (16); interlace the plurality of subcarriers based on the determination; and transmit the interlaced plurality of subcarriers at least in part by beamforming each of the respective subset of the plurality of subcarriers using respective beamforming.

2. The transmitter device (14) of Claim 1, wherein the transmitter device (14) is an access point, AP and the receiver devices (16) are stations, STAs.

3. The transmitter device (14) of Claims 1-2, wherein the beamforming is performed on a per subcarrier basis.

4. The transmitter device (14) of any one of Claims 1-3, wherein a first quantity of a power characteristic of the transmission meets a restriction threshold; and a second quantity of the power characteristic associated with a transmission of the plurality of subcarriers without interlacing fails to meet the restriction threshold.

5. The transmitter device (14) of Claim 4, wherein the power characteristic is a power spectral density, PSD; and the restriction threshold is a PSD restriction threshold.

6. The transmitter device (14) of any one of Claims 4-5, wherein the power characteristic is associated with a predefined bandwidth.

7. The transmitter device (14) of any one of Claims 1-6, wherein the interlacing of the plurality of subcarriers corresponds to interlaced orthogonal frequency division multiple access, OFDMA.

8. The transmitter device (14) of Claim 7, wherein at least two of the plurality of receiver devices (16) are assigned different interlace configurations from each other based on inter-carrier interference.

9. The transmitter device (14) of any one of Claims 1-8, wherein each respective beam is selected to be at least substantially non-overlapping with respect to other beams that are part of the transmission.

10. The transmitter device (14) of any one of Claims 1-9, wherein the determination whether to interlace the plurality of subcarriers is based at least on a determination whether to increase transmission power to a level that would be restricted without interlacing the plurality of subcarriers.

11. The transmitter device (14) of any one of Claims 1-10, wherein the transmitter device (14) is further configured to determine a quantity of the plurality of receiver devices (16) associated with the interlacing of the plurality of subcarriers based at least on an amount of increase of a transmission power that is configured to result from the interlacing and the beamforming.

12. A method implemented by a transmitter device (14), the method comprising: determining (SI 34) whether to interlace a plurality of subcarriers for transmission, each respective subset of the plurality of subcarriers being configured for a respective one of a plurality of receiver devices (16); interlacing (SI 36) the plurality of subcarriers based on the determination; and transmitting (SI 38) the interlaced plurality of subcarriers at least in part by beamforming each of the respective subset of the plurality of subcarriers using respective beamforming.

13. The method of Claim 12, wherein the transmitter device (14) is an access point, AP and the receiver devices (16) are stations, STAs.

14. The method of any one of Claims 11-12, wherein the beamforming is performed on a per subcarrier basis.

15. The method of any one of Claims 12-14, wherein a first quantity of a power characteristic of the transmission meets a restriction threshold; and a second quantity of the power characteristic associated with a transmission of the plurality of subcarriers without interlacing fails to meet the restriction threshold.

16. The method of Claim 15, wherein the power characteristic is a power spectral density, PSD; and the restriction threshold is a PSD restriction threshold.

17. The method of any one of Claims 15-16, wherein the power characteristic is associated with a predefined bandwidth.

18. The method of any one of Claims 12-17, wherein the interlacing of the plurality of subcarriers corresponds to interlaced orthogonal frequency division multiple access, OFDMA.

19. The method of Claim 18, wherein at least two of the plurality of receiver devices are assigned different interlace configurations from each other based on intercarrier interference.

20. The method of any one of Claims 12-19, wherein each respective beam is selected to be at least substantially non-overlapping with respect to other beams that are part of the transmission.

21. The method of any one of Claims 12-20, wherein the determination whether to interlace the plurality of subcarriers is based at least on a determination whether to increase transmission power to a level that would be restricted without interlacing the plurality of subcarriers.

22. The method of any one of Claims 12-21, further comprising determining a quantity of the plurality of receiver devices (16) associated with the interlacing of the plurality of subcarriers based at least on an amount of increase of a transmission power that is configured to result from the interlacing and the beamforming.