1. A method of operating a base station (BS) communicating with a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
transmitting N channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) on N CSI-RS antenna ports to the UE;
wherein a transmission mode is configured that supports coordinated multi-point (COMP) transmissions;
wherein a channel quality information (CQI) feedback configuration requires CQI feedback without a precoding matrix index (PMI) and without a rank indicator (RI); and
receiving a CQI from the UE according to the CQI feedback configuration;
wherein if N is one, the CQI is calculated on a single antenna port, antenna port 7, and the single antenna port is mapped from the N equals one CSI-RS antenna port.
2. The method of claim 1,
wherein an antenna virtualization precoding matrix is applied to the CSI-RS on the multiple antenna ports, where each antenna port carries a CSI-RS precoded with each column vector of a precoding matrix; and
wherein each column vector of the precoding matrix is substantially aligned with an instantaneous channel vector associated with each antenna port that is obtained by uplink sounding.
3. The method of claim 1,
wherein the UE is informed by higher layer signaling whether or not PRB bundling is applied for CSI-RS; and
wherein if the PRB bundling is applied, each of the CSI-RS is precoded with a substantially similar precoding vector within a fixed number of physical resource blocks (PRBs).
4. The method of claim 1,
wherein if N is more than one, the CQI is calculated on demodulation reference signal (DMRS) antenna ports 7 to (7+N\u22121); and
wherein the N CSI-RS antenna ports are mapped one to one to the DMRS antenna ports 7 to (7+N\u22121).
5. The method of claim 4,
wherein the UE assumes a rank of transmission is the same as N for a reference physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission scheme to calculate the CQI.
6. Abase station (BS) configured to communicate with a user equipment (UE), the BS comprising:
a transmit path configured to transmit N channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) on N CSI-RS antenna ports to the UE;
wherein a transmission mode is configured that supports coordinated multi-point (COMP) transmissions;
wherein a channel quality information (CQI) feedback configuration requires CQI feedback without a precoding matrix index (PMI) and without a rank indicator (RI); and
processing circuitry configured to:
receive a CQI from the UE according to the CQI feedback configuration,
wherein if N is one, the CQI is calculated on a single antenna port, antenna port 7, and the single antenna port is mapped from the N equals one CSI-RS antenna port.
7. The BS of claim 6,
wherein an antenna virtualization precoding matrix is applied to the CSI-RS on the multiple antenna ports, where each antenna port carries a CSI-RS precoded with each column vector of a precoding matrix; and
wherein each column vector of the precoding matrix is substantially aligned with an instantaneous channel vector associated with each antenna port that is obtained by uplink sounding.
8. The BS of claim 6,
wherein the UE is informed by higher layer signaling whether or not PRB bundling is applied for CSI-RS; and
wherein if the PRB bundling is applied, each of the CSI-RS is precoded with a substantially similar precoding vector within a fixed number of physical resource blocks (PREs).
9. The BS of claim 6,
wherein if N is more than one, the CQI is calculated on demodulation reference signal (DMRS) antenna ports 7 to (7+N\u22121); and
wherein the N CSI-RS antenna ports are mapped one to one to the DMRS antenna ports 7 to (7+N\u22121).
10. The BS of claim 9,
wherein the UE assumes a rank of transmission is the same as N for a reference physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission scheme to calculate the CQI.
11. A method of operating a user equipment (UE) communicating with a base station (BS), the method comprising:
receiving N channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) on N CSI-RS antenna ports from the BS;
wherein a transmission mode is configured that supports coordinated multi-point (COMP) transmissions;
wherein a channel quality information (CQI) feedback configuration requires CQI feedback without a precoding matrix index (PMI) and without a rank indicator (RI); and
transmitting a CQI to the BS according to the CQI feedback configuration;
wherein if N is one, the CQI is calculated on a single antenna port, antenna port 7, and the single antenna port is mapped from the N equals one CSI-RS antenna port.
12. The method of claim 11,
wherein an antenna virtualization precoding matrix is applied to the CSI-RS on the multiple antenna ports, where each antenna port carries a CSI-RS precoded with each column vector of a precoding matrix; and
wherein each column vector of the precoding matrix is substantially aligned with an instantaneous channel vector associated with each antenna port that is obtained by uplink sounding.
13. The method of claim 11,
wherein the UE is informed by higher layer signaling whether or not PRB bundling is applied for CSI-RS; and
wherein if the PRB bundling is applied, each of the CSI-RS is precoded with a substantially similar precoding vector within a fixed number of physical resource blocks (PRBs).
14. The method of claim 11,
wherein if N is more than one, the CQI is calculated on demodulation reference signal (DMRS) antenna ports 7 to (7+N\u22121); and
wherein the N CSI-RS antenna ports are mapped one to one to the DMRS antenna ports 7 to (7+N\u22121).
15. The method of claim 14,
wherein the UE assumes a rank of transmission is the same as N for a reference physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission scheme to calculate the CQI.
16. A user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a base station (BS), the UE comprising:
a transceiver configured to receive N channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) on N CSI-RS antenna ports from the BS, wherein a transmission mode is configured that supports coordinated multi-point (COMP) transmissions, wherein a channel quality information (CQI) feedback configuration requires CQI feedback without a precoding matrix index (PMI) and without a rank indicator (RI); and
processing circuitry configured to transmit, via the transceiver, a CQI to the BS according to the CQI feedback configuration, wherein if N is one, the CQI is calculated on a single antenna port, antenna port 7, and the single antenna port is mapped from the N equals one CSI-RS antenna port.
17. The UE of claim 16,
wherein an antenna virtualization precoding matrix is applied to the CSI-RS on the multiple antenna ports, where each antenna port carries a CSI-RS precoded with each column vector of a precoding matrix; and
wherein each column vector of the precoding matrix is substantially aligned with an instantaneous channel vector associated with each antenna port that is obtained by uplink sounding.
18. The UE of claim 16,
wherein the UE is informed by higher layer signaling whether or not PRB bundling is applied for CSI-RS; and
wherein if the PRB bundling is applied, each of the CSI-RS is precoded with a substantially similar precoding vector within a fixed number of physical resource blocks (PRBs).
19. The UE of claim 16,
wherein if N is more than one, the CQI is calculated on demodulation reference signal (DMRS) antenna ports 7 to (7+N\u22121); and
wherein the N CSI-RS antenna ports are mapped one to one to the DMRS antenna ports 7 to (7+N\u22121).
20. The UE of claim 19,
wherein the UE assumes a rank of transmission is the same as N for a reference physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission scheme to calculate the CQI.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of distributing products (P1, P2, P3, . . . , Py, y being a whole number not equal to zero) enabling, by manipulation and displacement of the products, rapid collection of the products, each product having an identifier prior to shipment such that each final product collection corresponds to a list of products itself corresponding to a physical order (C1, C2, C3, . . . , Cx, x being a whole number not equal to zero), the products originating from multiple suppliers (F1, F2, F3, . . . ) or multiple stocks (S 1), the method comprising:
a step of computer processing content of the orders (C1, C2, C3, . . . , Cx) comprising determining a regrouping of each of the orders into a multiplicity of groups of orders (GC 10, GC20, GC30, . . . ) according to at least one selected condition, and determining an ungrouping of the content of each order group into a multiplicity of order subgroups (SGC 10, SGC20, SGC30);
m step(s) of regrouping of the products (P1, P2, P3, . . . , Py), m being a whole number greater than or equal to 1, comprising performing a manual or automated collection of each of the products, reading the identifier of each collected product and provisionally arranging each collected product in a compartment associated with a group of products (GP10, GP20, GP30, . . . ) to obtain an exact concordance between the product groups and the order groups, wherein the products (P1, P2, P3, . . . , Py) are mixed from said multiple suppliers or stocks to form the groups of products and the orders, each group of products fulfilling a group of an order, and each order comprised of products (P1, P2, P3, . . . , Py) from said multiple supplier or stocks; and
n steps of ungrouping the products (P1, P2, P3, . . . , Py), n being a whole number greater than 1, from each of the groups of products, the n steps of ungrouping comprising (i) at least one intermediate step of ungrouping comprising for each product group performing a manual or automated collection of each of the products, reading the identifier of each collected product and provisionally arranging each collected product in a compartment associated with a product subgroup (SGP10, SGP20, SGP30, . . . ) to obtain an exact concordance between the product subgroups and the order subgroups, and (ii) a last step of ungrouping comprising a step of final separation comprising for each product subgroup performing a manual or automated collection of each of the products, reading the identifier of each collected product and provisionally arranging each collected product in a compartment associated with a physical order;
wherein the steps of regrouping, ungrouping, final separation, and identification are performed in a single workroom by an identical device for each step comprising at least one sorting station equipped with an identification reader connected to a computer-based system to identify each product by reading an identifier and an equipment unit having a multiplicity of compartments for arranging the products in the compartments according to instructions issued by the computer-based system, each of the compartments having its position referenced by a signalizer controlled by the computer-based system.
2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising performing, prior to the m step(s) of regrouping, an advance identification step of the products (P1, P2, P3 . . . Py) comprising performing an unsequenced manual or automatic collection of each of the products and reading the identification means of each collected product.
3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising subsequent to the identification step and prior to the m step(s) of regrouping, withdrawing non-executable orders from the set of orders.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein available products are allocated to an order according to at least one defined rule.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the numbers n and m are optimized to be as small as possible, taking into account product selection capacity of a human or automated operator.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the ungrouping of the content of each order group (GC10, GC20, GC30, . . . ) into a multiplicity of order subgroups (SGC10, SGC20, SGC30, . . . ) is performed according to at least one selected condition.
7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the steps of regrouping, ungrouping, final separation and optionally advance identification are performed in a single workroom by an identical device for each step.
8. A device for distributing products (P1, P2, P3, . . . , Py, y being a whole number not equal to zero) such that each final collection of products itself corresponds to a list of products itself corresponding to a physical order (C1, C2, C3, . . . , Cx, x being a whole number not equal to zero), the products originating from multiple suppliers (F1, F2, F3 . . . ) or multiple stocks (S 1) the device comprising: a single workroom comprising at least one sorting station equipped with an identification reader connected to a computer-based system to identify each product by reading an identifier and an equipment unit having a multiplicity of compartments to arrange the products in the compartments according to instructions issued by the computer-based system, each of the compartments having its position referenced by a signalizer controlled by the computer-based system, the computer-based system implementing a data processing step and the workroom enabling activation of steps of regrouping, ungrouping, final separation and, optionally, identification, wherein the products (P1, P2, P3 . . . , Py) are mixed from said multiple suppliers or stocks to form groups of products (GP10, GP20, GP30, . . . ) and the orders, each group of products fulfilling a group of an order, and each order comprised of products (P1, P2, P3 . . . Py) from said multiple suppliers or stocks, wherein the steps of regrouping, ungrouping, final separation and, optionally, identification are performed by an identical device for each step.
9. The device according to claim 7, wherein the signalizer is not associated in an unequivocal manner with a specific compartment and a specific product, and the computer-based system comprises a digital table in which are registered at least an identifier of an order, composition of an order, an identifier of a compartment associated with the order and a digital flag indicating for each of the products composing the order whether or not it has already been stored, the computer-based system controlling activation of the signalizer of a compartment as a function of the identifier of a product by the identifier and membership of the product in the composition of an order group, an order subgroup or an order associated with a compartment.
10. The device according to claim 8, wherein an optional advance identification step and steps of regrouping, ungrouping and final separation are implemented in the workroom, the workroom comprising at least one sorting station equipped with a microcomputer or similar device connected to the computer-based system and linked to an identification reader to identify by reading an identifier of each product and an equipment unit having a multiplicity of compartments to arrange the products in the compartments according to instructions issued by the microcomputer.
11. The device according to claim 8, wherein the compartments of the equipment unit each comprise a position referencing module comprising at least one light source, each position referencing module being connected directly or via an intermediary of other position referencing modules to the computer-based system by an intermediary of the microcomputer, the position referencing module being activated by the computer-based system via an intermediary of the microcomputer to issue an instruction to arrange an identified product in the thereby position-referenced compartment.
12. The device according to claim 8, wherein the compartments of the equipment unit each comprise a controller, each controller being connected directly or via an intermediary of another controller to the computer-based system, via an intermediary of the microcomputer, activation of the controller being controlled by the computer-based system via an intermediary of the microcomputer to ensure that an identified product is correctly arranged.
13. The device according to claim 8, further comprising sets of compartments comprising rows of compartments or columns of compartments, each set of compartments comprising a bar code identifier.
14. The device according to claim 13, wherein each set of compartments comprises at least one rail supporting a guiding system for attachment of position referencing modules.
15. The device according to claim 13, wherein each set of compartments comprises a multiplicity of infrared transmitters and a multiplicity of infrared receivers, the infrared transmitters and the infrared receivers being positioned, respectively, back to back.
16. The device according to claim 8, wherein each compartment has a bar code identifier.
17. The device according to claim 8, wherein the equipment unit has a bar code identifier.
18. The device according to claim 8, further comprising transport carriers to transport the products originating from or with a destination of a workroom(s), each transport carrier comprising a bar code identifier.
19. A method of distributing products (P1, P2, P3, . . . , Py, y being a whole number not equal to zero) enabling, by the manipulation and displacement of the products, rapid collection of the products, each product having an identifier prior to their shipment such that each final product collection corresponds to a list of products itself corresponding to a physical order (C1, C2, C3, . . . , Cx, x being a whole number not equal to zero), the products originating from multiple suppliers (F1, F2, F3, . . . ) or multiple stocks (S 1), the method comprising:
processing content of the orders (C1, C2, C3, . . . , Cx) by determining a regrouping of the orders into a multiplicity of groups of orders (GC10, GC20, GC30, . . . ) according to at least one selected condition, and determining an ungrouping of the content of each order group into a multiplicity of order subgroups (SGC 10, SGC20, SGC30);
regrouping the products (P1, P2, P3, . . . , Py) in m step(s), m being a whole number greater than or equal to 1, by performing a manual or automated collection of each of the products, reading the identifier of each collected product and provisionally arranging each collected product in a compartment associated with a group of products (GP10, GP20, GP30, . . . ) to obtain concordance between the product groups and the order groups, wherein the products (P1, P2, P3, . . . , Py) are mixed from said multiple suppliers or stocks to form the groups of products (GP10, GP20, GP30, . . . ) and the orders, each group of products fulfilling a group of an order, and each order comprised of products (P1, P2, P3, . . . , Py) from said multiple supplier or stocks; and
ungrouping the products (P1, P2, P3, . . . , Py) in n steps, n being a whole number greater than 1, from each of the groups of products, the n steps of ungrouping comprising (i) at least one intermediate step of ungrouping by performing a manual or automated collection of each of the products for each product group, reading the identifier of each collected product and provisionally arranging each collected product in a compartment associated with a product subgroup (SGP10, SGP20, SGP30, . . . ) to obtain concordance between the product subgroups and the order subgroups, and (ii) a last step of ungrouping comprising performing a final separation for each product subgroup by manually or automatically collecting each of the products, reading the identifier of each collected product and provisionally arranging each collected product in a compartment associated with a physical order; wherein the steps of regrouping, ungrouping, final separation, and identification are performed in a single workroom by an identical device for each step.