Patent attributes
An improved approach to noise estimation permits, for example, tighter closed-loop power control in a wireless communication network with attendant improvements in transmit power efficiency and network capacity. In an exemplary embodiment, the received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a data signal is estimated based on noise samples obtained from one or more other signals received in association with the data signal. In general, these associated signals are characterized by the receiver's ability to extract like valued samples from them, such that pairs of these like valued signal samples may be subtracted, thereby canceling their deterministic signal components and leaving only difference values representative of the non-deterministic noise components of the signal samples. Obtaining difference values from more than one associated signal increases the sample size of difference values used in noise estimation, thereby improving the statistical basis for noise estimation and, therefore, the accuracy of SNR estimation.
