US 11,902,188 B1
Systems and methods for location based uplink (UL) multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) pairing
Shilpa X. Kowdley, Brambleton, VA (US); Hemanth Pawar, Brambleton, VA (US); Chunmei Liu, Great Falls, VA (US); and Krishna Sitaram, Chantilly, VA (US)
Assigned to Sprint Spectrum LP, Overland Park, KS (US)
Filed by Sprint Spectrum LP, Overland Park, KS (US)
Filed on Sep. 19, 2016, as Appl. No. 15/268,886.
Int. Cl. H04L 5/00 (2006.01); H04B 7/0452 (2017.01); H04B 17/336 (2015.01); H04W 36/08 (2009.01); H04W 36/38 (2009.01)
CPC H04L 5/0037 (2013.01) [H04B 7/0452 (2013.01); H04B 17/336 (2015.01); H04W 36/08 (2013.01); H04W 36/38 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for selecting wireless devices for pairing in a cellular network, the method comprising:
prioritizing a plurality of wireless devices located within a radio range of a first access node for uplink (UL) multi-user multiple-input-multiple-output (MU-MIMO) pairing, the prioritized wireless devices having a channel orthogonality meeting a channel orthogonality condition;
detecting a second access node located within the radio range of the first access node;
determining a location of each of the prioritized wireless devices with respect to the second access node to detect underlying coverage deployed by the second access node for at least one prioritized wireless device;
selecting, based on the detection of underlying coverage, the at least one prioritized wireless device located within the underlying coverage deployed by the second access node for de-prioritization for UL MU-MIMO pairing;
de-prioritizing the selected wireless device for UL MU-MIMO pairing;
pairing remaining prioritized wireless devices to share a same set of resource blocks; and
serving the at least one de-prioritized wireless device by one of (a) handing over the at least one de-prioritized wireless device to the second access node; or (b) distributing remaining resource blocks from the first access node to the at least one de-prioritized wireless device.