Systems and methods that utilize a capacity-based signal-to-noise ratio to predict and improve mobile communication

Abstract

Techniques for utilizing a capacity-based effective signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to improve wireless communication are described herein. In an embodiment, a mobile terminal can determine the effective SNR from a forward link channel using pilot/data symbols. The mobile terminal can convey the effective SNR to a base station. In order to minimize transmission overhead, the mobile terminal can quantize the effective SNR prior to transmitting it to the base station. In another embodiment, the base station can determine the effective SNR from a reverse link. The base station can utilize the effective SNR to facilitate scheduling transmissions from the mobile terminal, transmitting power control commands to the mobile terminal, and determining a supporting data rate for the mobile terminal, for example. Suitable SNRs include constrained, unconstrained, average, and/or approximated effective SNRs. In addition, various filters, such as an averaging filter, can be utilized to further process the effective SNR.

1 - 87 . (canceled) 
     
     
         88 . A method for facilitating wireless communication, the method comprising:
 receiving information associated with a forward link at a mobile terminal, the information includes channel related information and power related information;   determining an effective signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) from the received information based on either a constrained effective SNR or an unconstrained effective SNR;   employing a filter to facilitate determining the effective SNR;   conveying the effective SNR to a base station; and   utilizing the effective SNR to facilitate wireless communication.   
     
     
         89 . The method of  claim 88 , further comprising quantizing the effective SNR to minimize overhead associated with conveying the effective SNR to the base station. 
     
     
         90 . The method of  claim 88 , further comprising utilizing the effective SNR to determine an error probability of a codeword when channel and interference power varies over a duration of the codeword. 
     
     
         91 . The method of  claim 88 , further comprising utilizing the effective SNR as a performance metric to predict turbo code performance. 
     
     
         92 . The method of  claim 88 , further comprising defining the effective SNR for a set of modulation symbols spanning a codeword in the presence of channel and interference power variations. 
     
     
         93 . The method of  claim 88 , further comprising
 computing an effective “C/Average I” based SNR as a function of the following:
     C (SNR eff )= C   −1 (1 −N  sum( C (SNR i )), 
   wherein SNR i  is |h i | 2 /N o ; and
     N   0 =1 /N  sum( N   0,i ). 
   
     
     
         94 . The method of  claim 88 , further comprising comparing the effective SNR to a set of thresholds corresponding to different packet formats to determine which packet to decode. 
     
     
         95 . The method of  claim 88 , further comprising comparing the effective SNR to a target effective SNR, wherein an up command is sent if the effective SNR is less than the target effective SNR and a down command is sent otherwise. 
     
     
         96 . The method of  claim 88 , wherein the filter is selected based on at least one of the following: transmission scheduling; sending power control commands, predicting supporting data rate based on a modulation scheme and/or code rate, achieving a desired SNR accuracy, or determining a frequency at which the base station desires to respond to an instantaneous fade realization. 
     
     
         97 . A method for facilitating wireless communication, the method comprising:
 obtaining reverse link channel and interference power variations at a base station;   computing a capacity-based effective SNR from the obtained reverse link channel and interference power variations based on either a constrained effective SNR or an unconstrained effective SNR;   employing a filter to facilitate computing the capacity-based effective SNR; and   utilizing the capacity-based effective SNR to facilitate wireless communication.   
     
     
         98 . The method of  claim 97 , further comprising at least one of the following: utilizing the capacity-based effective SNR to schedule a mobile terminal transmission when an associated channel condition is favorable in order to maximize system capacity, adjusting power delivered to the mobile terminal to achieve a desired channel quality, or predicting a supporting rate for the mobile terminal. 
     
     
         99 . The method of  claim 97 , wherein the filter is an averaging filter. 
     
     
         100 . The method of  claim 99 , wherein the filter is selected based on at least one of the following: transmission scheduling, sending power control commands, predicting a supporting data rate based on a modulation scheme or code rate, achieving a desired SNR accuracy, or determining a frequency at which the base station desires to respond to an instantaneous fade realization. 
     
     
         101 . The method of  claim 97 , wherein the filter is either a short filter that improves timeliness or a long filter that improves accuracy. 
     
     
         102 . The method of  claim 97 , further comprising quantizing the capacity-based effective SNR and utilizing the capacity-based effective SNR to predict turbo code performance. 
     
     
         103 . A mobile terminal for facilitating wireless communication, the mobile terminal comprising a processor and a memory wherein the memory containing program code executable by the processor for performing the following:
 receiving information associated with a forward link at the mobile terminal, the information includes channel related information and power related information;   determining an effective signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) from the received information based on either a constrained effective SNR or an unconstrained effective SNR;   employing a filter to facilitate determining the effective SNR;   conveying the effective SNR to a base station; and   utilizing the effective SNR to facilitate wireless communication.   
     
     
         104 . The mobile terminal of  claim 103 , wherein the memory further comprising program code for quantizing the effective SNR to minimize overhead associated with conveying the effective SNR to the base station. 
     
     
         105 . The mobile terminal of  claim 103 , wherein the memory further comprising program code for utilizing the effective SNR to determine an error probability of a codeword when channel and interference power varies over a duration of the codeword. 
     
     
         106 . The mobile terminal of  claim 103 , wherein the memory further comprising program code for utilizing the effective SNR as a performance metric to predict turbo code performance. 
     
     
         107 . The mobile terminal of  claim 103 , wherein the memory further comprising program code for defining the effective SNR for a set of modulation symbols spanning a codeword in the presence of channel and interference power variations. 
     
     
         108 . The mobile terminal of  claim 103 , wherein the memory further comprising program code for computing an effective “C/Average I” based SNR as a function of the following:
     C (SNR eff )= C   −1 (1 −N  sum( C (SNR i )),   wherein SNR i  is |h i | 2 /N o ; and
     N   0 =1 /N  sum( N   0,i ). 
   
     
     
         109 . The mobile terminal of  claim 103 , wherein the memory further comprising program code for comparing the effective SNR to a set of thresholds corresponding to different packet formats to determine which packet to decode. 
     
     
         110 . The mobile terminal of  claim 103 , wherein the memory further comprising program code for comparing the effective SNR to a target effective SNR, wherein an up command is sent if the effective SNR is less than the target effective SNR and a down command is sent otherwise. 
     
     
         111 . The mobile terminal of  claim 103 , wherein the filter is selected based on at least one of the following: transmission scheduling, sending power control commands, predicting supporting data rate based on a modulation scheme and/or code rate, achieving a desired SNR accuracy, or determining a frequency at which the base station desires to respond to an instantaneous fade realization. 
     
     
         112 . A mobile terminal for facilitating wireless communication, the mobile terminal comprising a processor and a memory wherein the memory containing program code executable by the processor for performing the following:
 obtaining reverse link channel and interference power variations at a base station;   computing a capacity-based effective SNR from the obtained reverse link channel and interference power variations based on either a constrained effective SNR or an unconstrained effective SNR;   employing a filter to facilitate computing the capacity-based effective SNR; and   utilizing the capacity-based effective SNR to facilitate wireless communication.   
     
     
         113 . The mobile terminal of  claim 112 , wherein the memory further comprising program code for performing at least one of the following: utilizing the capacity-based effective SNR to schedule a mobile terminal transmission when an associated channel condition is favorable in order to maximize system capacity, adjusting power delivered to the mobile terminal to achieve a desired channel quality, or predicting a supporting rate for the mobile terminal. 
     
     
         114 . The mobile terminal of  claim 112 , wherein the filter is an averaging filter. 
     
     
         115 . The mobile terminal of  claim 114 , wherein the filter is selected based on at least one of the following: transmission scheduling, sending power control commands, predicting a supporting data rate based on a modulation scheme or code rate, achieving a desired SNR accuracy, or determining a frequency at which the base station desires to respond to an instantaneous fade realization. 
     
     
         116 . The mobile terminal of  claim 112 , wherein the filter is either a short filter that improves timeliness or a long filter that improves accuracy. 
     
     
         117 . The mobile terminal of  claim 112 , wherein the memory further comprising program code for quantizing the capacity-based effective SNR and utilizing the capacity-based effective SNR to predict turbo code performance. 
     
     
         118 . An apparatus for facilitating wireless communication, the receiver comprising:
 means for receiving information associated with a forward link at a mobile terminal, the information includes channel related information and power related information;   means for determining an effective signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) from the received information based on either a constrained effective SNR or an unconstrained effective SNR;   means for employing a filter to facilitate determining the effective SNR;   means for conveying the effective SNR to a base station; and   means for utilizing the effective SNR to facilitate wireless communication.   
     
     
         119 . The apparatus of  claim 118 , further comprising means for computing an effective “C/Average I” based SNR as a function of the following:
     C (SNR eff )= C   −1 (1 −N  sum( C (SNR i )),   wherein SNR i  is |h i | 2 /N o ; and
     N   0 =1 /N  sum( N   0,i ). 
   
     
     
         120 . An apparatus for facilitating wireless communication, the method comprising:
 means for obtaining reverse link channel and interference power variations at a base station;   means for computing a capacity-based effective SNR from the obtained reverse link channel and interference power variations based on either a constrained effective SNR or an unconstrained effective SNR;   means for employing a filter to facilitate computing the capacity-based effective SNR; and   means for utilizing the capacity-based effective SNR to facilitate wireless communication.   
     
     
         121 . A computer-readable medium storing a computer program, wherein execution of the computer program is for:
 receiving information associated with a forward link at a mobile terminal, the information includes channel related information and power related information;   determining an effective signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) from the received information based on either a constrained effective SNR or an unconstrained effective SNR;   employing a filter to facilitate determining the effective SNR;   conveying the effective SNR to a base station; and   utilizing the effective SNR to facilitate wireless communication.   
     
     
         122 . A computer-readable medium storing a computer program, wherein execution of the computer program is for:
 obtaining reverse link channel and interference power variations at a base station;   computing a capacity-based effective SNR from the obtained reverse link channel and interference power variations based on either a constrained effective SNR or an unconstrained effective SNR;   employing a filter to facilitate computing the capacity-based effective SNR; and   utilizing the capacity-based effective SNR to facilitate wireless communication.