Adjustment of downlink radio-frame timing for coordinated multi-point reception by user equipment in advanced communication networks

Abstract

The technology described herein is directed towards aligning the downlink symbol timing boundaries of coordinated multi-point (CoMP) transmitting radio units, so that a user equipment receives transmitted signals from each cell at generally the same time. In a CoMP scenario, synchronized downlink transmissions from a connected cell and a cooperating cell are generally not received at the same time by a target user equipment because of different propagation distances from the transmitting radio units; such misalignment leads to performance degradation. By offsetting the downlink symbol timing boundaries relative to each other, a targeted user equipment receives symbols at the desired time boundary, resulting in constructive interference that improves and a cell's downlink throughput and/or coverage. Time alignment via offset symbol timing boundaries also eliminates inter-symbol interference. Modified scheduling can be used to ensure that downlink and uplink transmissions from the coordinated radio units do not interfere with one another.