Common channel configuration for multipoint communications

Abstract

A user equipment UE obtains channel configurations from each of a serving cell and n neighbor cells which have been determined to be suitable for data communications with the UE, from which the UE creates a combined channel configuration and utilizes it for multipoint communications with those cells. In specific embodiments: the respective channel configurations are obtained from the respective cells' system information; the n neighbor cells are determined to be suitable by the UE comparing each cell's received signal strength/quality against a threshold. The UE may get a neighbor cell list NCL and the threshold and consider each cell on the NCL as one of the n neighbor cells if its signal strength/quality exceed the threshold, then the UE may acquire system information for only those n neighbor cells instead of all cells on the NCL. The UE then reports in uplink signaling that the n neighbor cells are suitable.