US Patent 9571246 Reference signal interference management in heterogeneous network deployments

Methods and apparatus for enabling interference coordination in a communication network. A base station includes a plurality of antenna ports. Each antenna port is configured to transmit a reference signal, and each antenna port is associated with a respective cell. The base station determines a set of cells where transmissions of reference signals is to be performed from a reduced set of the plurality of antenna ports. The base station determines a subset of antenna ports in at least one cell of the determined set of cells to enable interference coordination in the network, and transmits the reference signal from the subset of antenna ports.