AN ARCHITECTURE TO SUPPORT NETWORK-WIDE MULTIPLE-IN-MULTIPLE-OUT WIRELESS COMMUNICATION OVER A DOWNLINK

The present invention provides a method of coordinating the downlink transmissions from a plurality of base stations to at least one mobile unit. The method is implemented in a control plane entity and includes receiving, at the control plane entity and from each of the plurality of base stations, channel state information for a plurality of wireless communication channels between the plurality of base stations and one or more mobile units. The method also includes determining, at the control plane entity and based on the channel state information, transmission formats for downlink transmissions from the plurality of base stations to the mobile unit(s). The method further includes providing the transmission formats to the plurality of base stations.