Channel feedback for TDM scheduling in heterogeneous networks having multiple cell classes

摘要

A method includes receiving in a communication terminal a sequence of downlink frames from a communication network that includes multiple cells arranged in first and second layers. The first layer corresponds to a first class of cells selected from a group of classes consisting of macro-cells, micro-cells, pico-cells, femto-cells and low-power nodes (LPN). The second layer corresponds to a second class of cells, different from the first class. One or more cross-layer frames in which at least a first cell in the first layer and at least a second cell in the second layer transmit data, and one or more same-layer frames in which only one or more of the cells in a single layer that currently serves the terminal transmit the data, are identified in the sequence. Cross-layer channel feedback is calculated over the cross-layer frames, and same-layer channel feedback is calculated over the same-layer frames.