METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR A HYBRID NODE IN A CELLULAR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

摘要

A new approach to deployment of a hybrid node in a cellular communication network is proposed, wherein the hybrid node includes a plurality of antennas that simultaneously serve a plurality of cells in the cellular communication network by transmitting or receiving signals to or from the cells at the same time. The cellular communication network further includes a partner cell among the plurality of cells served by the hybrid node, wherein the partner cell is a soft cell that maintains communication channels with antennas of more than one node at the same time. The cellular communication network further includes a hybrid cell among the plurality of cells also served by the hybrid node, wherein the hybrid cell is a hard cell that maintains communication channels with antennas of only one node at any one time. The partner cell and the hybrid cell have different cell-ids and they each connects to and serves a plurality of user equipment (UE) for uplink communication to and downlink communication from the hybrid node.