Two-step beam management for near-field communications

Abstract

Systems and methods for beam management for near-field communications are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method performed by a device comprises receiving, from a network node, a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, performing measurements on first downlink reference signals transmitted by the network node, determining a preferred beam of the network node based on the measurements, and transmitting, to the network node, a first report indicating the preferred beam. The method further comprises performing measurements on second downlink reference signals transmitted by the network node in the same direction as the preferred beam wherein the second downlink reference signals have different optimum received powers at different distances from the network node, determining a preferred near-field precoder based on the measurements performed on the second downlink reference signals, and transmitting, to the network node, a second report indicating the preferred near-field precoder.

Description

[0001] TWO-STEP BEAM MANAGEMENT FOR NEAR-FIELD COMMUNICATIONS

[0002] Related Applications

[0003] This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application serial number 63 / 589,093, filed October 10, 2023, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0004] Technical Field

[0005] The present disclosure relates to beam management in a wireless communications system.

[0006] Background

[0007] Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) is one of the key physical layer technologies in the 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) 5thGeneration (5G) system. Here, a gNodeB (gNB) (i.e., a New Radio (NR) base station) with many, e.g., 64, antennas provides large array gains and / or performs spatial multiplexing of many users on the same time-frequency resources. Particularly, the received Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) increases with the number of antennas. Hence, the spectral efficiency can be increased or, equivalently, the required power to satisfy a quality-of-service requirement can be decreased as the number of antennas increases.

[0008] Due to the success of MIMO, it is expected that beyond 5G and 6thGeneration (6G) systems will make use of even larger arrays at both the gNB side and the device side. Here, in some cases, depending on the array size, distance, and frequency, the electromagnetic radiation field needs to be modeled by near-field spherical waves, which differs from the conventional planar- wave based radiation model. As a result, it may be required to consider the near-field MIMO communications in beyond 5G and 6G networks. Particularly, enhancements related to near-field communications have been suggested for possible study in 3GPP Rel-19. Note that, even if the near-field communication is not considered in 3GPP Rel-19, it is one of the important concepts for 6G, since in the future the number of antennas at the gNBs / devices will for sure increase and also there is a chance for moving towards higher frequencies in 6G.

[0009] Implementing very large number of antennas results in fundamental changes of the electromagnetic characteristics. Generally, the electromagnetic radiation field can be divided into far-field and near-field regions. Far-field refers to the propagation range at which the direction and channel gain are approximately the same from all elements in the array to the transmitting / receiving antenna. The amplitude depends only on the propagation distance to the center of the receiver and the phase variations only depend on the incident angle. Also, the mismatch between the polarization of an antenna and of the incident wave is approximately the same for all antennas in the far-field. On the other hand, if the receiver is in the near-field of the transmitter, the propagation distances are so short that there are noticeable amplitude variations over the receiver aperture. Also, the incident wave is arriving from distinctly different angular directions to different elements, thus, e.g., one must model the polarization on an element-by- element basis.

[0010] Theoretically, the boundary between these two regions is determined by the Fraunhofer Distance (FD), also called the Rayleigh distance, which is determined based on the maximum allowable phase error in the antenna array. Outside the Fraunhofer distance, it is the far-field region, where the electromagnetic field can be approximately modeled by planar waves. Within the Fraunhofer distance, the near-field propagation becomes dominant, where the electromagnetic field has to be accurately modeled by spherical waves. For instance, Figure 1 demonstrates the Fraunhofer distance for different communication setups.

[0011] It is interesting to note that, as shown in Figure 1(c), the probability of near-field communication increases significantly in the presence of repeaters, Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IRSs) or Network-Controlled Repeaters (NCRs), where we are basically in near-field as long as one of the gNB-IRS / NCR or the IRS / NCR-User Equipment (UE) links is short. This is especially important because it has been theoretically shown that, for a proper performance of an IRS / NCR, it should be deployed either close to the gNB or the UE (i.e., the coverage hole to be covered by the IRS / NCR), where either or r2in Figure 1(c) is small. Also, it should be mentioned that, while NCR has been specified by 3GPP Rel-18, there is currently high interest from different companies to include IRS as a topic of discussion in 3GPP. Here, the suggested objectives are channel model enhancement and precoding enhancement. In this way, along with 6G aspects, the proposed scheme will be of interest in both cases whether very large antenna arrays are studied in the Rel-19 MIMO or IRS is included into the Rel-19 discussions.

[0012] Note that, in the following, the term “device” may refer to any one of a UE, an IRS, a NCR, an IAB, etc. Also, the proposed scheme is well applicable in the Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) networks.

[0013] Summary

[0014] Systems and methods for beam management for near-field communications are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method performed by a device for beam management for near-field communication with a network node comprises receiving, from the network node, a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, where the report configuration indicates to the device to report a beam of the network node based on received downlink reference signals, performing measurements on first downlink reference signals transmitted by the network node, in accordance with the first downlink reference signal configuration, determining a preferred beam of the network node, based on the measurements performed on the first downlink reference signals, and transmitting, to the network node, a first report indicating the preferred beam of the network node. The method further comprises performing measurements on second downlink reference signals transmitted by the network node in the same direction as the preferred beam of the network node indicated by the first report, wherein the second downlink reference signals have different optimum received powers at different distances from the network node, determining a preferred near-field precoder based on the measurements performed on the second downlink reference signals, and transmitting, to the network node, a second report indicating the preferred near-field precoder. In this manner, a low-overhead beam management scheme for near-field based communication is provided.

[0015] In one embodiment, the first downlink reference signals are transmitted in respective beams. In one embodiment, the first downlink reference signals are Channel State Information Reference Signals (CSI-RSs), Synchronization Signal Blocks (SSBs), or downlink reference signals defined for a 6thGeneration (6G) network. In one embodiment, the respective beams are Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) beams. In one embodiment, the preferred beam of the network node indicated in the first report is reported as a downlink reference signal index. In one embodiment, the downlink reference signal index is a CSI-RS resource index or an SSB resource index.

[0016] In one embodiment, the first downlink reference signal configuration comprises a configuration of a regular Type I codebook, and transmission of the first downlink reference signals by the network node comprises transmission of CSI-RS ports per antenna element. In one embodiment, the preferred beam of the network node indicated in the first report is reported as a Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI) associated with the preferred beam of the network node.

[0017] In one embodiment, the second downlink reference signals are transmitted using respective near-field beams designed based on the preferred beam of the network node indicated in the first report received by the network node from the device. In one embodiment, the second downlink reference signals are downlink reference signal resources, the downlink reference signal resources are transmitted with different precoders, and the different precoders have different maximum gains at different distances. In another embodiment, the second downlink reference signals consist of a single downlink reference signal resource with multiple downlink reference signal ports, the different downlink reference signal ports are transmitted with different precoders, and the different precoders have different maximum gains at different distances. In one embodiment, the near-field precoder indicated in the second report is reported as a downlink reference signal index. In another embodiment, the near-field precoder indicated in the second report is reported as a port index or a PMI from a port selection codebook.

[0018] In one embodiment, a beam selection criterion to be used by the device for determining the preferred beam of the network node and / or for determining the preferred near-field precoder is either configured by the network node or defined by a specification.

[0019] In one embodiment, the beam selection criterion to be used by the device for determining the preferred beam of the network node and / or for determining the preferred near-field precoder comprises one of the following performance measures by the device: highest gain, highest reference signal received power (RSRP), highest signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), highest signal to noise ratio (SNR), or highest reference signal received quality (RSRQ).

[0020] In one embodiment, determining the preferred beam of the network node comprises selecting the preferred beam of the network node based on a center-of-gravity of a beamforming spectrum, and where the center-of-gravity of the beamforming spectrum is calculated based on the measurements on the first downlink reference signals, reference signal indices of the first downlink reference signals are ordered according to corresponding beam directions, the ordering of the reference signal indices is indicated from the network node to the device, the center-of- gravity of the beamforming spectrum is calculated further based on the beam directions corresponding to the first downlink reference signals, and the beam directions corresponding to the first downlink reference signals are indicated from the network node to the device.

[0021] In one embodiment, the second downlink reference signals are transmitted on different near-field based beams that cover different distances in the same direction as the preferred beam of the network node reported in the first report. In one embodiment, the different distances are covered by a non-uniform distance grid.

[0022] In one embodiment, the method further comprises transmitting, to the network node, an indication indicating whether the device is in near-field or far-field.

[0023] In one embodiment, the method further comprises transmitting, to the network node, information based on which the network node can determine whether the device is in near-field or far-field.

[0024] In one embodiment, the method further comprises transmitting, to the network node, a device capability report for the device, the device capability report comprising information about one or more of capability of the device to support a two-step beam management process, location information of the device, information about a pointing direction of an antenna array or antenna panel of the device, number of antennas or antenna panels at the device, a number of antenna polarizations at the device, coordinates of the antennas or antenna panels at the device, or constellation (X-by-Y) of the antennas at the device.

[0025] In one embodiment, the device is a user-equipment, intelligent reflecting surface, network-controlled repeater, integrated access and backhaul node, or a node in fixed wireless access network.

[0026] Corresponding embodiments of a device for beam management for near-field communication with a network node are also disclosed. In one embodiment, the device is adapted to receive, from the network node, a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, where the report configuration indicates to the device to report a beam of the network node based on received downlink reference signals, perform measurements on first downlink reference signals transmitted by the network node, in accordance with the first downlink reference signal configuration, determine a preferred beam of the network node, based on the measurements performed on the first downlink reference signals, and transmit, to the network node, a first report indicating the preferred beam of the network node. The device is further adapted to perform measurements on second downlink reference signals transmitted by the network node in the same direction as the preferred beam of the network node indicated by the first report, wherein the second downlink reference signals have different optimum received powers at different distances from the network node, determine a preferred near-field precoder based on the measurements performed on the second downlink reference signals, and transmit, to the network node, a second report indicating the preferred near-field precoder.

[0027] In one embodiment, a device for beam management for near-field communication with a network node comprises a communication interface comprising a transmitter and a receiver, and processing circuitry associated with the communication interface. The processing circuitry is configured to cause the device to receive, from the network node, a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, where the report configuration indicates to the device to report a beam of the network node based on received downlink reference signals, perform measurements on first downlink reference signals transmitted by the network node, in accordance with the first downlink reference signal configuration, determine a preferred beam of the network node, based on the measurements performed on the first downlink reference signals, and transmit, to the network node, a first report indicating the preferred beam of the network node. The processing circuitry is further configured to cause the device to perform measurements on second downlink reference signals transmitted by the network node in the same direction as the preferred beam of the network node indicated by the first report, wherein the second downlink reference signals have different optimum received powers at different distances from the network node, determine a preferred near-field precoder based on the measurements performed on the second downlink reference signals, and transmit, to the network node, a second report indicating the preferred near-field precoder.

[0028] Embodiments of a method performed by a network node for beam management for near- field communication with a device are also disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises transmitting, to the device, a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, where the report configuration indicates to the device to report a beam of the network node based on received downlink reference signals, transmitting first downlink reference signals to be used by the device to determine a preferred beam of the network node, and receiving, from the device, a first report indicating a preferred beam of the network node. The method further comprises transmitting second downlink reference signals in the same direction as the preferred beam of the network node indicated by the first report, wherein the second downlink reference signals have different optimum received power at different distances from the network node, and receiving, from the device, a second report indicating a preferred near-field precoder.

[0029] Corresponding embodiments of a network node are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a network node for beam management for near-field communication with a device is adapted to transmit, to the device, a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, where the report configuration indicates to the device to report a beam of the network node based on received downlink reference signals, transmit first downlink reference signals to be used by the device to determine a preferred beam of the network node, and receive, from the device, a first report indicating a preferred beam of the network node. The network node is further adapted to transmit second downlink reference signals in the same direction as the preferred beam of the network node indicated by the first report, wherein the second downlink reference signals have different optimum received power at different distances from the network node, and receive, from the device, a second report indicating a preferred near-field precoder.

[0030] In one embodiment, a network node for beam management for near-field communication with a device comprises processing circuitry configured to cause the network node to transmit, to the device, a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, where the report configuration indicates to the device to report a beam of the network node based on received downlink reference signals, transmit first downlink reference signals to be used by the device to determine a preferred beam of the network node, and receive, from the device, a first report indicating a preferred beam of the network node. The processing circuitry is further configured to cause the network node to transmit second downlink reference signals in the same direction as the preferred beam of the network node indicated by the first report, wherein the second downlink reference signals have different optimum received power at different distances from the network node, and receive, from the device, a second report indicating a preferred near- field precoder.

[0031] Brief Description of the Drawings

[0032] The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

[0033] Figure 1 demonstrates the Fraunhofer distance for different communication setups;

[0034] Figure 2 shows examples of far-field and near-field codebooks where with far-field N different angles are covered by, e.g., narrow / wide, beams while in the near-field based codebook N directions and M distances per direction, i.e., a total of N*M direction plus distance beams are considered;

[0035] Figure 3 is a flowchart that illustrates a process performed by a network node or Radio Access Network (RAN) node in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0036] Figure 4 gives an illustration of an example of the proposed two-step procedure;

[0037] Figures 5A, 5B, and 5C shows some examples to illustrate the intuition of the proposed scheme. Here, the results show the beam pattern for beam steered to boresight for different distances R=c*RF , where RF is the Fraunhofer distance (FD), and a comparison of planar and spherical wavefront beamformer design is shown;

[0038] Figure 6 is a flowchart that illustrates the operation of a device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0039] Figure 7 shows an example of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments;

[0040] Figure 8 shows a User Equipment (UE) in accordance with some embodiments;

[0041] Figure 9 shows a network node in accordance with some embodiments;

[0042] Figure 10 is a block diagram of a host, which may be an embodiment of the host of Figure 7, in accordance with various aspects described herein; and

[0043] Figure 11 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. Detailed Description

[0044] The embodiments set forth below represent information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and illustrate the best mode of practicing the embodiments. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the disclosure and will recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure.

[0045] There currently exist certain challenge(s). As opposed to far-field based codebooks which cover the area in different angles, with near-field codebooks, the area is divided and checked in both the angle and distance domains. Here, for instance, considering N directions with M distances per direction, one needs to measure N*M (direction plus distance) beams. Depending on the values of M and N, this may lead to high overhead, compared to legacy far- field based methods with only N directions, which may affect the communication efficiency in near-field significantly. With this background, there is a need for low-overhead beam management and Codebook-based communication schemes targeting near-field communications.

[0046] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. Systems and methods are disclosed herein that provide a low-overhead beam management and codebook-based communication scheme for near-field communications. At a high-level, embodiments of a method are disclosed which are based on the following two-step procedure at the gNodeB (gNB): (1) determining, e.g., the appropriate direction / legacy beam based on transmitting Channel State Information (CSI) Reference Signals (CSI- RSs) / Synchronization Signal Blocks (SSBs) (or similar downlink reference signals in 6thGeneration (6G)) using legacy methods, and (2) further determining the appropriate beamforming weights for near-field communication (i.e., direction plus distance beams) by transmitting a second set of CSI-RSs (or, similar downlink reference signals defined in 6G) in the same direction as the best reported gNB beam. Here, for instance, CSI-RSs (or similar reference signal in 6G) are transmitted using refined near-field beams to determine the appropriate distance plus direction near-field beam in the direction of the determined legacy beam. In this way, the beamforming overhead is reduced significantly and, thereby, the efficiency of near-field communication is improved.

[0047] Note that while a gNB is referred to in the description herein as an example embodiment, the described embodiments are not limited to 5thGeneration (5G) (i.e., New Radio (NR)) and may be used in other similar types of wireless communication networks (e.g., 6G network). As such, in lieu of “gNB”, a more general term such as “network node” or “Radio Access Network (RAN) node” may be used, particularly when desired to express that the described operation is not limited to a gNB / NR.

[0048] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure are as follows. Note, however, that these example embodiments are non-limiting.

[0049] Embodiment 1 : A method in a network node for determining beamforming weights for near-field communication with a device, where the method comprises: a. Transmitting a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, where the report configuration indicates to the device to report a network node’s beam based on the received downlink reference signals, b. Transmitting a first set of downlink reference signals to be used by the device to determine a preferred network node’s beam, c. Receiving a first report from the device indicating a preferred network node’s beam, d. Transmitting a second set of downlink reference signals in the same direction as the preferred reported network node’s beam in 1c, where the second set of downlink reference signals have different optimum received powers at different distances from the network node (i.e., corresponds to different near-field precoders), e. Receiving a second report indicating a preferred near-field precoder.

[0050] Embodiment 2: The method of embodiment 1, wherein transmitting the first set of downlink reference signals comprises transmitting the first set of downlink reference signals (e.g., Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), or similar new downlink reference signal resources in 6G) in a number of beams (e.g., Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) beams).

[0051] Embodiment 3: The method of embodiment 1, wherein the network node configures regular Type I codebook and transmits CSI-RS ports per antenna element.

[0052] Embodiment 4: The method of embodiment 2, wherein the indicated preferred network node’s beam is reported as a downlink reference signal index (e.g., CSI Resource Indicator (CRI), SSB Resource Indicator (SSBRI), or similar indicator in 6G).

[0053] Embodiment 5: The method of embodiment 3, wherein the indicated preferred network node’s beam is reported as a Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI) (where e.g., each PMI is associated with a DFT beam from a codebook).

[0054] Embodiment 6: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 5, wherein the second set of downlink reference signals are transmitted using near-field beams where the beams are designed based on the preferred network node’s beam indicated in the first report received by the network node from the device.

[0055] Embodiment 7: The method of embodiment 6, wherein the second set of downlink reference signals comprises (or, alternatively, consists of) a group of downlink reference signal resources, where the downlink reference signal resources are transmitted with different precoders, and where the different precoders have different maximum gain at different distances.

[0056] Embodiment 8: The method of embodiment 6, wherein the second set of downlink reference signals consists of a single downlink reference signal resource with multiple downlink reference signal ports, and where the different downlink reference signal ports are transmitted with different precoders, and where the different precoders have different maximum gain at different distances.

[0057] Embodiment 9: The method of any of embodiments 6 to 7, wherein the near-field precoder indicated in the second report is reported as a downlink reference signal index (e.g., CRI, SSBRI, or similar in 6G).

[0058] Embodiment 10: The method of embodiment 8, wherein the indicated reported beam (i.e., the near-field precoder indicated in the second report) is reported as a port index (or PMI from a port selection codebook).

[0059] Embodiment 11 : The method of any of embodiments 1 to 10, wherein the first set of downlink reference signals are transmitted in one or more of: a. narrow beams, b. semi-wide beams, c. wide beams, d. 1 la-11c and where beams cover different directions.

[0060] Embodiment 12: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 11, wherein the beam selection criterion to be used by the device for the first and / or second report is configured by the network node.

[0061] Embodiment 13: The method of embodiment 12, wherein the beam selection criterion to be used by the device for the first and / or second report is received from the specification (e.g., defined by a specification such as, e.g., a 3GPP specification) and the network node indicates which criterion to use.

[0062] Embodiment 14: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 13, wherein the beam selection criterion comprises one of the following performance measures by the device a. highest gain, b. highest RSRP, c. highest SINR, d. highest SNR, e. highest RSRQ.

[0063] Embodiment 15: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 13, wherein the best beam is selected based on the center-of-gravity of the beamforming spectrum, and where a. the center-of-gravity of the beamforming spectrum is calculated based on measurements of received power of M (where M>1) reference signals transmitted by the network node, b. Embodiment 15a and where the reference signal indices are ordered according to corresponding beam directions, c. Embodiment 15b and where said ordering is indicated from the network node to the device, d. Embodiment 15a and where the center-of-gravity calculation is further based on the beam directions corresponding to the measured reference signals, e. Embodiment 15d and where the beam directions corresponding to the transmitted reference signals are indicated from the network node to the device.

[0064] Embodiment 16: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 15, wherein the different near- field based beams / precoders cover different distances in a direction corresponding to one of the far-field beams.

[0065] Embodiment 17: The method of embodiment 16, wherein the different distances are covered by a non-uniform distance grid.

[0066] Embodiment 18: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 17, wherein, prior to Id, based on the direction of the preferred network node’s beam received in 1c, the network node selecting a set of near-field beams with similar direction as the preferred network node’s beam covering different distances.

[0067] Embodiment 19: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 18, further comprising (e.g., prior to the steps of embodiment 1) receiving an indication from the device indicating (an estimation) whether the device is in near-field or far-field.

[0068] Embodiment 20: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 18, further comprising (e.g., prior to the steps of embodiment 1) receiving appropriate information from the device such that the network node can determine whether the device is in near-field or far-field.

[0069] Embodiment 21 : The method of any of embodiment 1 to 20, further comprising (e.g., prior to the steps of embodiment 1) receiving a device capability report for the device, the device capability report comprising information about one or more of a. capability to support a two-step beam management process, b. location information of the device, c. information about the pointing direction of the device array / panel, d. number of antennas / panels, polarizations, antennas / panels coordinates, etc., e. antennas’ constellation (X-by-Y).

[0070] Embodiment 22: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 21, wherein the device is a user-equipment, intelligent reflecting surface, network-controlled repeater, integrated access and backhaul node, a node in fixed wireless access network, etc.

[0071] Embodiment 23: The method of embodiment 21, wherein the device capability report is received from the device itself, Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (0AM), higher layers, another network node, etc.

[0072] Embodiment 24: The method of embodiment 21 or 23, wherein the device capability report may be based on Radio Resource Control (RRC), Medium Access Control - Control Element (MAC-CE), or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling.

[0073] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). Embodiments of the present disclosure reduce the beam management overhead of near-field based communication considerably. Here, both cases with beam management and codebookbased communication schemes are considered, and low-overhead methods for near-field communications are proposed. For instance, consider a near-field based codebook with N directions and M distances per direction, as shown in Figure 2(b). Then, instead of measuring N*M (direction and distance) beams, the proposed scheme only requires checking N+M beams. In this way, the proposed solution makes it possible to serve near-field devices efficiently, and it addresses one of the points of interest in Rel-20 as well as 6G.

[0074] Note. In the following, the “device” may refer to any one of a User Equipment (UE), an Intelligent Reflective Surface (IRS), a Network-Controlled Repeater (NCR), an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, etc. Also, the proposed scheme is well applicable in the Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) networks.

[0075] Different from the far-field based codebooks which only cover different angles, for near- field communication, the codebook design should consider both the angle and the distance between the gNB and the device. That is, in near-field, one may consider codebooks with beamfocusing in which both the direction and distance are taken into account and energy of each beam is focused on a specific focal point. As a result, the number of candidate beams to be checked or, equivalently, the overhead of beam management increases significantly, which affects the data transmission efficiency in near-field accordingly. Figure 2 shows examples of far-field and near-field codebooks where with far-field N different angles are covered by, e.g., narrow / wide, beams while in the near-field based codebook N directions and M distances per direction, i.e., a total of N*M direction plus distance beams are considered.

[0076] With this background, the present disclosure relates to low-overhead beam management and codebook-based operation schemes for near-field communications. In this regard, Figure 3 is a flowchart of the proposed scheme from the network node perspective, and Figure 4 gives an illustration of the proposed two-step procedure. In Figure 3, a dashed-line box represents an optional step.

[0077] Here, both beam management and codebook-based communication scheme for near-field communications are considered. In simple words, for these methods, the following two-step procedures may be followed:

[0078] Beam Management:

[0079] - The network node transmits first set of downlink reference signals (e.g., CSI-RS, SSB, or similar new downlink reference signal resources in 6G) in a number of beams (e.g., DFT beams),

[0080] - The network node receives a report from the device about the selected beam (e.g., by the device indicating a CSI-RS resource index or an SSB resource index)

[0081] - The network node transmits another set of downlink reference signals using near-field beams where the beams are designed based on the reported beam. Here, the second set of downlink reference signals have different maximum gains at different distances (i.e., near-field beams).

[0082] - The network node receives a second report about the appropriate near-field beam.

[0083] Codebook-based operation:

[0084] - The network node configures regular Type I codebook and transmits CSI-RS ports per antenna element.

[0085] - The network node receives a report from the device about the selected PMI (includes the DFT beam, i.e., which direction / beam is good to use)

[0086] - The network node transmits precoded CSI-RSs covering different distances in the direction of the reported PMI, using either port selection codebook or beamformed CSI- RS.

[0087] - The network node receives a report from the device with respect to the transmitted precoded CSI-RSs. Figure 3 is a flowchart that illustrates a process performed by a network node or RAN node in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Optional steps are represented by dashed lines / boxes. For the following description, the network node that performs the process is a gNB; however, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The steps of the process of Figure 3 are as follows:

[0088] In Step 310, the gNB transmits, to the device, a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, where the report configuration indicates to the device to report a gNB’s beam based on the received downlink reference signals.

[0089] Note that in an optional Step 300 of Figure 3, prior to Step 310, the gNB may receive a capability report about the device. Such a report may include information about one or more of a. Capability to support a two-step beam management process, b. Location information of the device, c. Information about the pointing direction of the device array / panel, d. Number of antennas / panels, polarizations, antennas / panels coordinates (i.e., relative positions of the antennas / panels), etc., e. Antennas’ constellation (X-by-Y),

[0090] In one embodiment, the capability report may be based on RRC, MAC-CE, or UCI signaling. The gNB may receive the device capability report from the device itself, 0AM, higher layers, another network node, etc.

[0091] In one embodiment, prior to Step 310, the gNB may receive an indication from the device indicating (an estimation) whether the device is in near-field or far-field.

[0092] In another embodiment, prior to Step 310, the gNB may receive appropriate information from the device such that the gNB can determine whether the device is in near-field or far-field.

[0093] In a Step 320 of Figure 3, the gNB transmits a first set of downlink reference signals to be used by the device to determine a preferred gNB’s beam (i.e., a preferred downlink beam of the gNB). In one embodiment, the gNB may transmit the first set of downlink reference signals (e.g., CSLRS, SSB, or similar new downlink reference signal resources in 6G) in a number of beams (e.g., DFT beams). In another embodiment, the gNB may configure regular Type I codebook and transmit CSLRS ports per antenna element.

[0094] In one embodiment, the first set of downlink reference signals may be transmitted in one or more of wide, semi-wide, or narrow beams, where the beams cover different directions.

[0095] In a Step 330 of Figure 3, the gNB receives a first report from the device indicating a preferred gNB’s beam (i.e., a preferred downlink beam of the gNB). In one embodiment, upon the gNB transmitting the first set of downlink reference signals in a number of beams (e.g., DFT beams), the indicated (i.e., reported) beam is reported as a downlink reference signal index (CSI- RS Resource Indicator (CRI), SSB Resource Indicator (SSBRI), or similar in 6G). In another embodiment, upon the gNB configuring regular Type I codebook and transmitting CSI-RS ports per antenna element, the indicated reported beam is reported as a PMI (where e.g., each PMI is associated with a DFT beam from a codebook).

[0096] The device may consider different beam selection criteria in both steps of selecting the far- or near-field beams, i.e., Steps (330) and (350) of Figure 3. For instance, the best beam may be selected based on any one or more of the following: a. Highest gain, b. Highest Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), c. Highest Signal-to-Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR), d. Highest Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), or e. highest Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), observed by the device. Alternatively, the best far-field beam may be selected based on the center-of-gravity of the beamforming spectrum. The device can measure the power on reference signals transmitted by the gNB in different beams and calculate an estimate of the center-of-gravity of the beamforming spectrum according to where 0nis the beam direction of the n-th transmitted reference signal and P(0n) is the measured power on that reference signal. The device can then select the beam with a direction that is closest to 0. Such a criterion can be beneficial for devices very close to the gNB or when the gNB has an extremely large array. In such a case, the beamforming spectrum based on a far- field assumption can have multiple peaks which do not correspond to the true direction, see the bottom plot in Figure 5. With a center-of-gravity based selection, the correct direction is obtained.

[0097] In one embodiment, the beam selection criterion to be used by the device is configured by the gNB. In another embodiment, the beam selection criterion to be used by the device is received from the specification (e.g., defined by a specification such as, e.g., a 3GPP specification) and the gNB indicates which criterion to use.

[0098] In a Step 340 of Figure 3, the gNB transmits a second set of downlink reference signals in the same direction as the preferred gNB’s beam reported in Step 330, where the second set of downlink reference signals have different optimum received powers at different distances from the gNB (i.e., corresponds to different near-field precoders). That is, the second set of downlink reference signals are transmitted using near-field beams where the beams are designed based on the reported beam received in Step 330. In one embodiment, the second set of downlink reference signals may consist of a group of downlink reference signal resources, where the downlink reference signal resources are transmitted with different precoders, and where the different precoders have different maximum gains at different distances. In another embodiment, the second set of downlink reference signals may consist of a single downlink reference signal resource with multiple downlink reference signal ports, and where the different downlink reference signal ports are transmitted with different precoders, and where the different precoders have different maximum gains at different distances.

[0099] Here, prior to transmission of the second set of reference signals, as shown in Figure 4, based on the direction of the selected best legacy beam, the gNB determines a sub-set of near- field beams with similar direction as the selected best legacy beam covering different distances. In one embodiment, the gNB may inform the device about the selected sub-set of near-field beams.

[0100] Figure 5 shows some examples to illustrate the intuition of the proposed scheme. Here, the results show the beam pattern for beam steered to boresight for different distances R=c*RF , where RF is the Fraunhofer distance (FD), and a comparison of planar and spherical wavefront beamformer design is shown. As shown in Figure 5, it is possible to estimate the angle using a DFT beamformer even for near-field UEs. For the extreme cases with very close devices, e.g., the case with R=0.1 RF in the figure, the best beam can be selected based on, e.g., the center-of- gravity of the beamforming spectrum. In the other cases, the best beam can be selected based on the highest gain.

[0101] In one embodiment, the near-field based beams may cover the distance plus direction in a non-uniform distance grid, since the wavefront is more spherical for shorter distances. This makes it possible to reduce search complexity even further.

[0102] Returning to Figure 3, in a Step 350, the gNB receives second report indicating preferred near-field precoder. In one embodiment, the near-field precoder indicated in the second report is reported as a downlink reference signal index (CRI, SSBRI, or similar in 6G). In another embodiment, the indicated reported beam is reported as a port index (or PMI from a port selection codebook). In one embodiment, the report may indicate only the distance-related indicator of the selected near-field beam in the considered sub-set of beams. This is because the direction-related indicator is already known by the gNB. For instance, considering Figure 4(b), only the distance-related index m may be reported, as the direction-related index i is already known by the gNB. In this way, the proposed two-step process makes it possible to reduce the overhead of configurations in the near-field setup and, thereby, improve the data transmission efficiency.

[0103] While not shown in Figure 3, the gNB may then utilize the preferred near-field precoder for communication with (e.g., downlink transmission to) the device.

[0104] Figure 4 is an illustration of the two-step process. First, legacy beams are used to determine the direction and the appropriate sub-set of near-field based beams as shown in Figure 4 (left side). Then, the considered sub-set of near-field beams are evaluated to find the appropriate near-field beam as shown in Figure 4 (right side).

[0105] Figure 6 is a flowchart that illustrates the operation of a device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Optional steps are represented by dashed lines / boxes. The steps of the procedure of Figure 6 are as follows:

[0106] In an optional Step 600, the device may transmit a capability report about the device. As discussed above, such a report may include information about one or more of: a. Capability to support a two-step beam management process, b. Location information of the device, c. Information about the pointing direction of the device array / panel, d. Number of antennas / panels, polarizations, antennas / panels coordinates, etc., e. Antennas’ constellation (X-by-Y),

[0107] In one embodiment, the capability report may be based on RRC, MAC-CE, or UCIsignaling. The device may transmit the capability report to the gNB or to some other network node.

[0108] In Step 610, the device receives, from the network node (e.g., gNB in this description of Figure 6), a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, where the report configuration indicates to the device to report a gNB’s beam based on the received downlink reference signals.

[0109] In one embodiment, prior to Step 610, the device may transmit, to the gNB, an indication indicating (an estimation) whether the device is in near-field or far-field. In another embodiment, prior to Step 610, the device may transmit, to the gNB, appropriate information such that the gNB can determine whether the device is in near-field or far-field.

[0110] In Step 620, the device performs measurements on a first set of downlink reference signals (e.g., in accordance with the configuration of step 610) to be used by the device to determine a preferred gNB’s beam (i.e., a preferred downlink beam of the gNB). In one embodiment, the first set of downlink reference signals (e.g., CSLRS, SSB, or similar new downlink reference signal resources in 6G) are transmitted by the gNB in a number of beams (e.g., DFT beams). In another embodiment, the device may be configured, by the gNB, for regular Type I codebook and receive, from the gNB, CSI-RS ports per antenna element. In one embodiment, the first set of downlink reference signals may be transmitted by the gNB in one or more of wide, semi-wide or narrow beams, where the beams cover different directions.

[0111] In Step 630, the device determines (e.g., selects) a preferred network node’s beam based on the measurements performed on the first set of downlink reference signals in Step 620. The device may consider different beam selection criteria Step 630 for selecting the preferred network node’s beam (i.e., the far-field beam) (and in the following step for near-field precoder / beam selection). For instance, the preferred beam may be selected based on any one or more of the following: a. Highest gain, b. Highest RSRP, c. Highest SINR, d. Highest SNR, or e. highest RSRQ, observed by the device. Alternatively, the best far-field beam may be selected based on the center-of-gravity of the beamforming spectrum, the details of which are provided above and not repeated here.

[0112] In one embodiment, the beam selection criterion to be used by the device is configured by the gNB. In another embodiment, the beam selection criterion to be used by the device is received from the specification (e.g., defined by a specification such as, e.g., a 3GPP specification) and the gNB indicates which criterion to use.

[0113] In Step 640, the device transmits, to the network node, a first report indicating the preferred gNB’s beam determined (e.g., selected) in Step 630. In one embodiment, upon the gNB transmitting the first set of downlink reference signals in a number of beams (e.g., DFT beams), the preferred gNB’s beam is reported as a downlink reference signal index (CRI, SSBRI, or similar in 6G). In another embodiment, upon the gNB configuring regular Type I codebook and transmitting CSI-RS ports per antenna element, the preferred gNB’s beam is reported as a PMI (where, e.g., each PMI is associated with a DFT beam from a codebook).

[0114] In Step 650, the device receives a second set of downlink reference signals transmitted by the gNB in the same direction as the preferred gNB’s beam reported in Step 640 and performs measurements on the second set of downlink reference signals, where the second set of downlink reference signals have different optimum received powers at different distances from the gNB (i.e., corresponds to different near-field precoders). That is, the second set of downlink reference signals are transmitted using near-field beams where the beams are designed based on the reported beam in Step 640. In one embodiment, the second set of downlink reference signals may consist of a group of downlink reference signal resources, where the downlink reference signal resources are transmitted with different precoders, and where the different precoders have different maximum gain at different distances. In another embodiment, the second set of downlink reference signals may consist of a single downlink reference signal resource with multiple downlink reference signal ports, and where the different downlink reference signal ports are transmitted with different precoders, and where the different precoders have different maximum gains at different distances.

[0115] In Step 660, the device determines (e.g., selects) a preferred near-field precoder based on the measurements performed on the second set of downlink reference signals in Step 650.

[0116] In Step 670, the device transmits, to the gNB, a second report indicating the preferred near-field precoder determined in Step 660. In one embodiment, the near-field precoder indicated in the second report is reported as a downlink reference signal index (CRI, SSBRI, or similar in 6G). In another embodiment, the indicated near-field precoder indicated in the second report is reported as a port index (or PMI from a port selection codebook). In one embodiment, the report may indicate only the distance-related indicator of the selected near-field beam in the considered sub-set of beams. This is because the direction-related indicator is already known by the gNB. For instance, considering Figure 4(b), only the distance-related index m may be reported, as the direction-related index z is already known by the gNB.

[0117] Figure 7 shows an example of a communication system 700 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0118] In the example, the communication system 700 includes a telecommunication network 702 that includes an access network 704, such as a Radio Access Network (RAN), and a core network 706, which includes one or more core network nodes 708. The access network 704 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 710A and 710B (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 710), or any other similar Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP Access Points (APs). Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 702 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 702 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the 0-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 702, including one or more network nodes 710 and / or core network nodes 708.

[0119] Examples of an ORAN network node include an Open Radio Unit (O-RU), an Open Distributed Unit (O-DU), an Open Central Unit (O-CU), including an O-CU Control Plane (O- CU-CP) or an O-CU User Plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non- real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an Al, Fl, Wl, El, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface defined by the 0-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 710 facilitate direct or indirect connection of User Equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 712A, 712B, 712C, and 712D (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 712) to the core network 706 over one or more wireless connections.

[0120] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 700 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 700 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0121] The UEs 712 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 710 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 710 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 712 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 702 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 702.

[0122] In the depicted example, the core network 706 connects the network nodes 710 to one or more hosts, such as host 716. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 706 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 708) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 708. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-Concealing Function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0123] The host 716 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 704 and / or the telecommunication network 702, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 716 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0124] As a whole, the communication system 700 of Figure 7 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system 700 may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable Second, Third, Fourth, or Fifth Generation (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G) standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., Sixth Generation (6G)); Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0125] In some examples, the telecommunication network 702 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunication network 702 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 702. For example, the telecommunication network 702 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / massive Internet of Things (loT) services to yet further UEs.

[0126] In some examples, the UEs 712 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 704 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 704. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-Radio Access Technology (RAT) or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of WiFi, New Radio (NR), and LTE, i.e. being configured for Multi -Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC), such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial RAN (E-UTRAN) NR - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0127] In the example, a hub 714 communicates with the access network 704 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 712C and / or 712D) and network nodes (e.g., network node 710B). In some examples, the hub 714 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 714 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 706 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 714 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 710, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 714. As another example, the hub 714 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 714 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a Virtual Reality (VR) headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 714 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 714 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 714 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0128] The hub 714 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 710B. The hub 714 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 714 and UEs (e.g., UE 712C and / or 712D), and between the hub 714 and the core network 706. In other examples, the hub 714 is connected to the core network 706 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 714 may be configured to connect to a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) service provider over the access network 704 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 710 while still connected via the hub 714 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 714 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs from / to the network node 710B. In other embodiments, the hub 714 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and the network node 710B, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0129] Figure 8 shows a UE 800 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), wireless camera, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, Laptop Embedded Equipment (LEE), Laptop Mounted Equipment (LME), smart device, wireless Customer Premise Equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3GPP, including a Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UE, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0130] A UE may support Device-to-Device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3 GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), Vehi cl e-to- Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), or Vehicle- to-Everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0131] The UE 800 includes processing circuitry 802 that is operatively coupled via a bus 804 to an input / output interface 806, a power source 808, memory 810, a communication interface 812, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 8. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0132] The processing circuitry 802 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 810. The processing circuitry 802 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or Digital Signal Processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 802 may include multiple Central Processing Units (CPUs).

[0133] In the example, the input / output interface 806 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 800. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0134] In some embodiments, the power source 808 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 808 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 808 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 800 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 808. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 808 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 800 to which power is supplied.

[0135] The memory 810 may be or be configured to include memory such as Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Erasable PROM (EPROM), Electrically EPROM (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 810 includes one or more application programs 814, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 816. The memory 810 may store, for use by the UE 800, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0136] The memory 810 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, High Density Digital Versatile Disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, Holographic Digital Data Storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM), Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as a tamper resistant module in the form of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) including one or more Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs), such as a Universal SIM (USIM) and / or Internet Protocol Multimedia Services Identity Module (ISIM), other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as a ‘SIM card.’ The memory 810 may allow the UE 800 to access instructions, application programs, and the like stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system, may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 810, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0137] The processing circuitry 802 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 812. The communication interface 812 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 822. The communication interface 812 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 818 and / or a receiver 820 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 818 and receiver 820 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., the antenna 822) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0138] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 812 may include cellular communication, WiFi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, NFC, location-based communication such as the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, NR, UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP), Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Quick User Datagram Protocol Internet Connection (QUIC), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0139] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 812, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0140] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0141] A UE, when in the form of an loT device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application, and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a television, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or VR, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or itemtracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 800 shown in Figure 8.

[0142] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3 GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3 GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship, an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0143] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g., by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0144] Figure 9 shows a network node 900 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, APs (e.g., radio APs), Base Stations (BSs) (e.g., radio BSs, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), NR Node Bs (gNBs)), and O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O- CU).

[0145] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node), and / or Remote Radio Units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such RRUs may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a Distributed Antenna System (DAS).

[0146] Other examples of network nodes include multiple Transmission Point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, Multi -Standard Radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as Radio Network Controllers (RNCs) or BS Controllers (BSCs), Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, Multi-Cell / Multicast Coordination Entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0147] The network node 900 includes processing circuitry 902, memory 904, a communication interface 906, and a power source 908. The network node 900 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and an RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 900 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 900 may be configured to support multiple RATs. In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 904 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 910 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 900 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 900, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within the network node 900.

[0148] The processing circuitry 902 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, CPU, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 900 components, such as the memory 904, to provide network node 900 functionality.

[0149] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 902 includes a System on a Chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 902 includes one or more of Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 912 and baseband processing circuitry 914. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 912 and the baseband processing circuitry 914 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of the RF transceiver circuitry 912 and the baseband processing circuitry 914 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0150] The memory 904 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, RAM, ROM, mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD), or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable, and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 902. The memory 904 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 902 and utilized by the network node 900. The memory 904 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 902 and / or any data received via the communication interface 906. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 902 and the memory 904 are integrated.

[0151] The communication interface 906 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between a network node, access network, and / or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 906 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 916 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 906 also includes radio front-end circuitry 918 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 910. The radio front-end circuitry 918 comprises filters 920 and amplifiers 922. The radio front-end circuitry 918 may be connected to the antenna 910 and the processing circuitry 902. The radio front-end circuitry 918 may be configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna 910 and the processing circuitry 902. The radio front-end circuitry 918 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 918 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of the filters 920 and / or the amplifiers 922. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 910. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 910 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 918. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 902. In other embodiments, the communication interface 906 may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0152] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 900 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 918; instead, the processing circuitry 902 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 910. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 912 is part of the communication interface 906. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 906 includes the one or more ports or terminals 916, the radio frontend circuitry 918, and the RF transceiver circuitry 912 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 906 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 914, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0153] The antenna 910 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 910 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 918 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 910 is separate from the network node 900 and connectable to the network node 900 through an interface or port.

[0154] The antenna 910, the communication interface 906, and / or the processing circuitry 902 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node 900. Any information, data, and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 910, the communication interface 906, and / or the processing circuitry 902 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node 900. Any information, data, and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment.

[0155] The power source 908 provides power to the various components of the network node 900 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 908 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 900 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 900 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid or an electricity outlet) via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 908. As a further example, the power source 908 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0156] Embodiments of the network node 900 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 9 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 900 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 900 and to allow output of information from the network node 900. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 900.

[0157] Figure 10 is a block diagram of a host 1000, which may be an embodiment of the host 716 of Figure 7, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 1000 may be or comprise various combinations of hardware and / or software including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 1000 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0158] The host 1000 includes processing circuitry 1002 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1004 to an input / output interface 1006, a network interface 1008, a power source 1010, and memory 1012. Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as Figures 8 and 9, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the host 1000.

[0159] The memory 1012 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 1014 and data 1016, which may include user data, e.g. data generated by a UE for the host 1000 or data generated by the host 1000 for a UE. Embodiments of the host 1000 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs 1014 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC), Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, and heads-up display systems). The host application programs 1014 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network. Accordingly, the host 1000 may select and / or indicate a different host for Over-The-Top (OTT) services for a UE. The host application programs 1014 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH or MPEG-DASH), etc.

[0160] Figure 11 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1100 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices, and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more Virtual Machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 1100 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment 1100 includes components defined by the 0-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface.

[0161] Applications 1102 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment 1100 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0162] Hardware 1104 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input / output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1106 (also referred to as hypervisors or VM Monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 1108 A and 1108B (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1108), and / or perform any of the functions, features, and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1106 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 1108.

[0163] The VMs 1108 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking, or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1106. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1102 may be implemented on one or more of the VMs 1108, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as Network Function Virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers and customer premise equipment.

[0164] In the context of NFV, a VM 1108 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 1108, and that part of the hardware 1104 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs 1108, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 1108 on top of the hardware 1104 and corresponds to the application 1102.

[0165] The hardware 1104 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. The hardware 1104 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware 1104 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g., such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 1110, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of the applications 1102. In some embodiments, the hardware 1104 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a RAN or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 1112 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0166] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions, and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining, or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box or nested within multiple boxes, in practice computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0167] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device- readable storage medium, such as in a hardwired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

[0168] Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of the present disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.

[0169] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure are as follows: Group A Embodiments

[0170] Embodiment 1 : A method performed by a device for determining and reporting beamforming weights for near-field communication with a network node, the method comprising any one or more of the following: receiving (610), from the network node, a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, where the report configuration indicates to the device to report a network node’s beam based on received downlink reference signals; performing (620) measurement on a first set of downlink reference signals transmitted by the network node (e.g., in accordance with the first downlink reference signal configuration); determining (630) a preferred network node’s beam based on the measurements performed on the first set of downlink reference signals; transmitting (640), to the network node, a first report indicating the preferred network node’s beam; receiving and performing (650) measurements on a second set of downlink reference signals transmitted by the network node in the same direction as the preferred reported network node’s beam indicated by the first report, wherein the second set of downlink reference signals have different optimum received powers at different distances from the network node (i.e., correspond to different near- field precoders); determining (660) a preferred near-field precoder based on the measurements performed on the second set of downlink reference signals; and transmitting (670), to the network node, a second report indicating the preferred near-field precoder.

[0171] Embodiment 2: The method of embodiment 1, wherein the first set of downlink reference signals (e.g., Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), or similar new downlink reference signal resources in 6G) are transmitted in a plurality of beams (e.g., Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) beams).

[0172] Embodiment 3 : The method of embodiment 2, wherein the preferred network node’s beam indicated in the first report is reported as a downlink reference signal index (e.g., CSI Resource Indicator (CRI), SSB Resource Indicator (SSBRI), or similar indicator in 6G).

[0173] Embodiment 4: The method of embodiment 1, wherein the network node configures regular Type I codebook and transmits CSI-RS ports per antenna element.

[0174] Embodiment 5: The method of embodiment 4, wherein the preferred network node’s beam indicated in the first report is reported as a Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI) (where e.g., each PMI is associated with a DFT beam from a codebook).

[0175] Embodiment 6: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 5, wherein the second set of downlink reference signals are transmitted using near-field beams where the beams are designed based on the preferred network node’s beam indicated in the first report received by the network node from the device. Embodiment 7: The method of embodiment 6, wherein the second set of downlink reference signals comprises (or alternatively consists of) a group of downlink reference signal resources, where the downlink reference signal resources are transmitted with different precoders, and where the different precoders have different maximum gains at different distances.

[0176] Embodiment 8: The method of embodiment 6, wherein the second set of downlink reference signals consists of a single downlink reference signal resource with multiple downlink reference signal ports, and where the different downlink reference signal ports are transmitted with different precoders, and where the different precoders have different maximum gains at different distances.

[0177] Embodiment 9: The method of any of embodiments 6 to 8, wherein the near-field precoder indicated in the second report is reported as a downlink reference signal index (e.g., CRI, SSBRI, or similar in 6G).

[0178] Embodiment 10: The method of embodiment 7, wherein the near-field precoder indicated in the second report is reported as a port index (or PMI from a port selection codebook).

[0179] Embodiment 11 : The method of any of embodiments 1 to 10, wherein the first set of downlink reference signals are transmitted in one or more of:

[0180] (a) narrow beams,

[0181] (b) semi-wide beams,

[0182] (c) wide beams,

[0183] (d) narrow beams, semi-wide beams, or wide-beams where different beams cover different directions.

[0184] Embodiment 12: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 11, wherein beam selection criterion to be used by the device for the first and / or second report (i.e., for determining the prefer network node’s beam and / or determining the preferred near-field precoder) is configured by the network node.

[0185] Embodiment 13: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 11, wherein beam selection criterion to be used by the device for the first and / or second report (i.e., for determining the prefer network node’s beam and / or determining the preferred near-field precoder) is received from the specification (e.g., defined by a specification such as, e.g., a 3GPP specification) and the network node indicates which criterion to use.

[0186] Embodiment 14: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 13, wherein beam selection criterion to be used by the device for the first and / or second report (i.e., for determining the prefer network node’s beam and / or determining the preferred near-field precoder) comprises one of the following performance measures by the device:

[0187] • highest gain,

[0188] • highest RSRP,

[0189] • highest SINR,

[0190] • highest SNR,

[0191] • highest RSRQ.

[0192] Embodiment 15: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 4, wherein determining the preferred network node’s beam comprises selecting the preferred network node’s beam based on a center-of-gravity of a beamforming spectrum, and where f. the center-of-gravity of the beamforming spectrum is calculated based on measurements of received power of M (where M>1) reference signals transmitted by the network node; g. 15a and where the reference signal indices are ordered according to corresponding beam directions; h. 15b and where said ordering is indicated from the network node to the device; i. 15a and where the center-of-gravity calculation is further based on the beam directions corresponding to the measured reference signals; j . 15d and where the beam directions corresponding to the transmitted reference signals are indicated from the network node to the device.

[0193] Embodiment 16: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 15, wherein different near-field based beams (corresponding to different near-field precoders) cover different distances in a direction corresponding to the reported preferred far-field beam.

[0194] Embodiment 17: The method of embodiment 16, wherein the different distances are covered by a non-uniform distance grid.

[0195] Embodiment 18: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 17, further comprising (e.g., prior to the steps of embodiment 1) transmitting, to the network node, an indication indicating (an estimation) whether the device is in near-field or far-field.

[0196] Embodiment 19: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 17, further comprising (e.g., prior to the steps of embodiment 1) transmitting, to the network node, appropriate information such that the network node can determine whether the device is in near-field or far-field.

[0197] Embodiment 20: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 19, further comprising (e.g., prior to the steps of embodiment 1) transmitting (e.g., to the network node) a device capability report for the device, the device capability report comprising information about one or more of • capability to support a two-step beam management process,

[0198] • location information of the device,

[0199] • information about the pointing direction of the device array / panel,

[0200] • number of antennas / panels, polarizations, antennas / panels coordinates, etc.,

[0201] • antennas’ constellation (X-by-Y).

[0202] Embodiment 21 : The method of any of embodiments 1 to 20, wherein the device is a user-equipment, intelligent reflecting surface, network-controlled repeater, integrated access and backhaul node, or a node in fixed wireless access network.

[0203] Embodiment 22: The method of embodiment 20, wherein the device capability report may be based on Radio Resource Control (RRC), Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE), or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling.

[0204] Embodiment 23: The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host via the transmission to the network node.

[0205] Group B Embodiments

[0206] Embodiment 24: A method performed by a network node for determining beamforming weights for near-field communication with a device, the method comprising: transmitting (310), to the device, a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, where the report configuration indicates to the device to report a network node’s beam based on received downlink reference signals; transmitting (320) a first set of downlink reference signals to be used by the device to determine a preferred network node’s beam; receiving (330) a first report from the device indicating a preferred network node’s beam; transmitting (340) a second set of downlink reference signals in the same direction as the preferred reported network node’s beam indicated by the first report, wherein the second set of downlink reference signals have different optimum received power at different distances from the network node (i.e., correspond to different near-field precoders); and receiving (350) a second report indicating a preferred near-field precoder.

[0207] Embodiment 25: The method of embodiment 24, wherein transmitting (320) the first set of downlink reference signals comprises transmitting (320) the first set of downlink reference signals (e.g., Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), or similar new downlink reference signal resources in 6G) in a plurality of beams (e.g., Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) beams). Embodiment 26: The method of embodiment 25, wherein the preferred network node’s beam indicated in the first report is reported as a downlink reference signal index (e.g., CSI Resource Indicator (CRI), SSB Resource Indicator (SSBRI), or similar indicator in 6G).

[0208] Embodiment 27: The method of embodiment 24 , wherein the network node configures regular Type I codebook and transmits CSI-RS ports per antenna element.

[0209] Embodiment 28: The method of embodiment 27, wherein the preferred network node’s beam indicated in the first report is reported as a Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI) (where e.g., each PMI is associated with a DFT beam from a codebook).

[0210] Embodiment 29: The method of any of embodiments 24 to 28, wherein the second set of downlink reference signals are transmitted using near-field beams where the beams are designed based on the preferred network node’s beam indicated in the first report received by the network node from the device.

[0211] Embodiment 30: The method of embodiment 29, wherein the second set of downlink reference signals comprises (or alternatively consists of) a group of downlink reference signal resources, where the downlink reference signal resources are transmitted with different precoders, and where the different precoders have different maximum gains at different distances.

[0212] Embodiment 31 : The method of embodiment 29, wherein the second set of downlink reference signals consists of a single downlink reference signal resource with multiple downlink reference signal ports, and where the different downlink reference signal ports are transmitted with different precoders, and where the different precoders have different maximum gains at different distances.

[0213] Embodiment 32: The method of any of embodiments 29 to 31, wherein the near-field precoder indicated in the second report is reported as a downlink reference signal index (e.g., CRI, SSBRI, or similar in 6G).

[0214] Embodiment 33: The method of embodiment 30, wherein the near-field precoder indicated in the second report is reported as a port index (or PMI from a port selection codebook).

[0215] Embodiment 34: The method of any of embodiments 24 to 33, wherein the first set of downlink reference signals are transmitted in one or more of:

[0216] (a) narrow beams,

[0217] (b) semi-wide beams,

[0218] (c) wide beams, (d) narrow beams, semi-wide beams, or wide-beams where different beams cover different directions.

[0219] Embodiment 35: The method of any of embodiments 24 to 34, wherein beam selection criterion to be used by the device for the first and / or second report is configured by the network node.

[0220] Embodiment 36: The method of any of embodiments 24 to 34, wherein beam selection criterion to be used by the device for the first and / or second report is received from the specification (e.g., defined by a specification such as, e.g., a 3GPP specification) and the network node indicates which criterion to use.

[0221] Embodiment 37: The method of any of embodiments 24 to 36, wherein beam selection criterion to be used by the device for the first and / or second report comprises one of the following performance measures by the device:

[0222] • highest gain,

[0223] • highest RSRP,

[0224] • highest SINR,

[0225] • highest SNR,

[0226] • highest RSRQ.

[0227] Embodiment 38: The method of any of embodiments 24 to 36, wherein the preferred network node’s beam is selected based on a center-of-gravity of a beamforming spectrum, and where a. the center-of-gravity of the beamforming spectrum is calculated based on measurements of received power of M (where M>1) reference signals transmitted by the network node; b. 38a and where the reference signal indices are ordered according to corresponding beam directions; c. 38b and where said ordering is indicated from the network node to the device; d. 38a and where the center-of-gravity calculation is further based on the beam directions corresponding to the measured reference signals; e. 38d and where the beam directions corresponding to the transmitted reference signals are indicated from the network node to the device.

[0228] Embodiment 39: The method of any of embodiments 24 to 38, wherein different near- field based beams (corresponding to different near-field precoders) cover different distances in a direction corresponding to one of the far-field beams (i.e., the reported preferred beam). Embodiment 40: The method of embodiment 39, wherein the different distances are covered by a non-uniform distance grid.

[0229] Embodiment 41 : The method of any of embodiments 24 to 40, further comprising, prior to transmitting the second set of downlink reference signals, based on the direction of the preferred network node’s beam, selecting a set of near-field beams with similar direction as the preferred network node’s beam covering different distances.

[0230] Embodiment 42: The method of any of embodiments 24 to 41, further comprising (e.g., prior to the steps of embodiment 24) receiving an indication from the device indicating (an estimation) whether the device is in near-field or far-field.

[0231] Embodiment 43: The method of any of embodiments 24 to 41, further comprising (e.g., prior to the steps of embodiment 24) receiving appropriate information from the device such that the network node can determine whether the device is in near-field or far-field.

[0232] Embodiment 44: The method of any of embodiment 24 to 43, further comprising (e.g., prior to the steps of embodiment 24) receiving a device capability report for the device, the device capability report comprising information about one or more of

[0233] • capability to support a two-step beam management process,

[0234] • location information of the device,

[0235] • information about the pointing direction of the device array / panel,

[0236] • number of antennas / panels, polarizations, antennas / panels coordinates, etc.,

[0237] • antennas’ constellation (X-by-Y).

[0238] Embodiment 45: The method of any of embodiments 24 to 44, wherein the device is a user-equipment, intelligent reflecting surface, network-controlled repeater, integrated access and backhaul node, or a node in fixed wireless access network.

[0239] Embodiment 46: The method of embodiment 44, wherein the device capability report is received from the device itself, Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (0AM), higher layers, another network node, etc.

[0240] Embodiment 47: The method of embodiment 44 or 46, wherein the device capability report may be based on Radio Resource Control (RRC), Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE), or Uplink Control Information (UCI) signaling.

[0241] Embodiment 48: The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host or a user equipment. Group C Embodiments

[0242] Embodiment 49: A user equipment comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

[0243] Embodiment 50: A network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

[0244] Embodiment 51 : A user equipment (UE) comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

[0245] Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of the present disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.

Claims

Claims1. A method performed by a device for beam management for near-field communication with a network node, the method comprising: receiving (610), from the network node, a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, where the report configuration indicates to the device to report a beam of the network node based on received downlink reference signals; performing (620) measurements on first downlink reference signals transmitted by the network node, in accordance with the first downlink reference signal configuration; determining (630) a preferred beam of the network node, based on the measurements performed on the first downlink reference signals; transmitting (640), to the network node, a first report indicating the preferred beam of the network node; performing (650) measurements on second downlink reference signals transmitted by the network node in the same direction as the preferred beam of the network node indicated by the first report, wherein the second downlink reference signals have different optimum received powers at different distances from the network node; determining (660) a preferred near-field precoder based on the measurements performed on the second downlink reference signals; and transmitting (670), to the network node, a second report indicating the preferred near-field precoder.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first downlink reference signals are transmitted in respective beams.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first downlink reference signals are Channel State Information Reference Signals, CSI-RSs, or Synchronization Signal Blocks, SSBs, or downlink reference signals defined for a 6thGeneration, 6G, network.

4. The method of claim 2 or 3, wherein the respective beams are Discrete Fourier Transform, DFT, beams.

5. The method of any of claims 2 to 4, wherein the preferred beam of the network node indicated in the first report is reported as a downlink reference signal index..

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the downlink reference signal index is a CSI-RS resource index or an SSB resource index.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first downlink reference signal configuration comprises a configuration of a regular Type I codebook, and transmission of the first downlink reference signals by the network node comprises transmission of CSI-RS ports per antenna element.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the preferred beam of the network node indicated in the first report is reported as a Precoding Matrix Indicator, PMI, associated with the preferred beam of the network node.

9. The method of any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the second downlink reference signals are transmitted using respective near-field beams designed based on the preferred beam of the network node indicated in the first report received by the network node from the device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein: the second downlink reference signals are downlink reference signal resources; the downlink reference signal resources are transmitted with different precoders; and the different precoders have different maximum gains at different distances.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein: the second downlink reference signals consist of a single downlink reference signal resource with multiple downlink reference signal ports; the different downlink reference signal ports are transmitted with different precoders; and the different precoders have different maximum gains at different distances.

12. The method of any of claims 9 to 11, wherein the near-field precoder indicated in the second report is reported as a downlink reference signal index.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the near-field precoder indicated in the second report is reported as a port index or a precoding matrix indicator, PMI, from a port selection codebook.

14. The method of any of claims 1 to 13, wherein a beam selection criterion to be used by thedevice for determining the preferred beam of the network node and / or for determining the preferred near-field precoder is either configured by the network node or defined by a specification.

15. The method of any of claims 1 to 14, wherein the beam selection criterion to be used by the device for determining the preferred beam of the network node and / or for determining the preferred near-field precoder comprises one of the following performance measures by the device:• highest gain;• highest reference signal received power, RSRP;• highest signal to interference plus noise ratio, SINR;• highest signal to noise ratio, SNR;• highest reference signal received quality, RSRQ.

16. The method of any of claims 1 to 13, wherein determining the preferred beam of the network node comprises selecting the preferred beam of the network node based on a center-of- gravity of a beamforming spectrum, and where the center-of-gravity of the beamforming spectrum is calculated based on the measurements on the first downlink reference signals; reference signal indices of the first downlink reference signals are ordered according to corresponding beam directions; the ordering of the reference signal indices is indicated from the network node to the device; the center-of-gravity of the beamforming spectrum is calculated further based on the beam directions corresponding to the first downlink reference signals; the beam directions corresponding to the first downlink reference signals are indicated from the network node to the device.

17. The method of any of claims 1 to 16, wherein the second downlink reference signals are transmitted on different near-field based beams that cover different distances in the same direction as the preferred beam of the network node reported in the first report.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the different distances are covered by a non-uniform distance grid.

19. The method of any of claims 1 to 18, further comprising, prior to the operations of claim 1, transmitting, to the network node, an indication indicating whether the device is in near-field or far-field.

20. The method of any of claims 1 to 18, further comprising, prior to the operations of claim 1, transmitting, to the network node, information based on which the network node can determine whether the device is in near-field or far-field.

21. The method of any of claims 1 to 20, further comprising, prior to the operations of claim 1, transmitting (300), to the network node, a device capability report for the device, the device capability report comprising information about one or more of• capability of the device to support a two-step beam management process,• location information of the device,• information about a pointing direction of an antenna array or antenna panel of the device,• number of antennas or antenna panels at the device;• a number of antenna polarizations at the device;• coordinates of the antennas or antenna panels at the device;• constellation (X-by-Y) of the antennas at the device.

22. The method of any of claims 1 to 21, wherein the device is a user-equipment, intelligent reflecting surface, network-controlled repeater, integrated access and backhaul node, or a node in fixed wireless access network.

23. A device for beam management for near-field communication with a network node, the device adapted to: receive (610), from the network node, a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, where the report configuration indicates to the device to report a beam of the network node based on received downlink reference signals; perform (620) measurements on first downlink reference signals transmitted by the network node, in accordance with the first downlink reference signal configuration; determine (630) a preferred beam of the network node, based on the measurements performed on the first downlink reference signals;transmit (640), to the network node, a first report indicating the preferred beam of the network node; perform (650) measurements on second downlink reference signals transmitted by the network node in the same direction as the preferred beam of the network node indicated by the first report, wherein the second downlink reference signals have different optimum received powers at different distances from the network node; determine (660) a preferred near-field precoder based on the measurements performed on the second downlink reference signals; and transmit (670), to the network node, a second report indicating the preferred near-field precoder.

24. The device of claim 23, further adapted to perform the method of any of claims 2 to 22.

25. A device (800) for beam management for near-field communication with a network node, the device (800) comprising: a communication interface (812) comprising a transmitter (818) and a receiver (820); and processing circuitry (802) associated with the communication interface (812), the processing circuitry (802) configured to cause the device (800) to: receive (610), from the network node, a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, where the report configuration indicates to the device to report a beam of the network node based on received downlink reference signals; perform (620) measurements on first downlink reference signals transmitted by the network node, in accordance with the first downlink reference signal configuration; determine (630) a preferred beam of the network node, based on the measurements performed on the first downlink reference signals; transmit (640), to the network node, a first report indicating the preferred beam of the network node; perform (650) measurements on second downlink reference signals transmitted by the network node in the same direction as the preferred beam of the network node indicated by the first report, wherein the second downlink reference signals have different optimum received powers at different distances from the network node; determine (660) a preferred near-field precoder based on the measurements performed on the second downlink reference signals; andtransmit (670), to the network node, a second report indicating the preferred near- field precoder.

26. The device of claim 25, wherein the processing circuitry (802) is further configured to cause the device (800) to perform the method of any of claims 2 to 22.

27. A method performed by a network node for beam management for near-field communication with a device, the method comprising: transmitting (310), to the device, a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, where the report configuration indicates to the device to report a beam of the network node based on received downlink reference signals; transmitting (320) first downlink reference signals to be used by the device to determine a preferred beam of the network node; receiving (330), from the device, a first report indicating a preferred beam of the network node; transmitting (340) second downlink reference signals in the same direction as the preferred beam of the network node indicated by the first report, wherein the second downlink reference signals have different optimum received power at different distances from the network node; and receiving (350), from the device, a second report indicating a preferred near-field precoder.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein transmitting (320) the first downlink reference signals comprises transmitting (320) the first downlink reference signals in respective beams.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the first downlink reference signals are Channel State Information Reference Signals, CSI-RSs, or Synchronization Signal Blocks, SSBs, or downlink reference signals defined for a 6thGeneration, 6G, network.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the respective beams are Discrete Fourier Transform, DFT, beams.

31. The method of any of claims 28 to 30, wherein the preferred beam of the network node indicated in the first report is reported as a downlink reference signal index.

32. The method of claim 27, wherein the first downlink reference signal configuration comprises a configuration of a regular Type I codebook, and transmitting (320) the first downlink reference signals comprises transmitting CSI-RS ports per antenna element.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the preferred beam of the network node indicated in the first report is reported as a Precoding Matrix Indicator, PMI, associated with the preferred beam of the network node.

34. The method of any of claims 27 to 33, wherein the second downlink reference signals are transmitted using respective near-field beams designed based on the preferred beam of the network node indicated in the first report received by the network node from the device.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein: the second downlink reference signals are a group of downlink reference signal resources; the downlink reference signal resources are transmitted with different precoders; and the different precoders have different maximum gains at different distances.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein: the second set of downlink reference signals consist of a single downlink reference signal resource with multiple downlink reference signal ports; the different downlink reference signal ports are transmitted with different precoders; and the different precoders have different maximum gains at different distances.

37. The method of any of claims 34 to 36, wherein the near-field precoder indicated in the second report is reported as a downlink reference signal.

38. The method of claim 35, wherein the near-field precoder indicated in the second report is reported as a port index or a precoding matrix indicator, PMI, from a port selection codebook.

39. The method of any of claims 27 to 38, wherein the second downlink reference signals are transmitted on different near-field based beams that cover different distances in the same direction as the preferred beam of the network node reported in the first report.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the different distances are covered by a non-uniform distance grid.

41. The method of any of claims 27 to 40, further comprising, prior to the operations of claim 27, receiving an indication from the device indicating whether the device is in near-field or far- field.

42. The method of any of claims 27 to 40, further comprising, prior to the operations of claim 27, receiving information from the device that enables the network node to determine whether the device is in near-field or far-field.

43. The method of any of claims 27 to 42, wherein the device is a user-equipment, intelligent reflecting surface, network-controlled repeater, integrated access and backhaul node, or a node in fixed wireless access network.

44. A network node for beam management for near-field communication with a device, the network node adapted to: transmit (310), to the device, a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, where the report configuration indicates to the device to report a beam of the network node based on received downlink reference signals; transmit (320) first downlink reference signals to be used by the device to determine a preferred beam of the network node; receive (330), from the device, a first report indicating a preferred beam of the network node; transmit (340) second downlink reference signals in the same direction as the preferred beam of the network node indicated by the first report, wherein the second downlink reference signals have different optimum received power at different distances from the network node; and receive (350), from the device, a second report indicating a preferred near-field precoder.

45. The network node of claim 44, further adapted to perform the method of any of claims 28 to 43.

46. A network node (900) for beam management for near-field communication with a device, the network node comprising processing circuitry (902) configured to cause the network node(900) to: transmit (310), to the device, a first downlink reference signal configuration and an associated report configuration, where the report configuration indicates to the device to report a beam of the network node based on received downlink reference signals; transmit (320) first downlink reference signals to be used by the device to determine a preferred beam of the network node; receive (330), from the device, a first report indicating a preferred beam of the network node; transmit (340) second downlink reference signals in the same direction as the preferred beam of the network node indicated by the first report, wherein the second downlink reference signals have different optimum received power at different distances from the network node; and receive (350), from the device, a second report indicating a preferred near-field precoder.

47. The network node of claim 46, wherein the processing circuitry (902) is further configured to cause the network node to perform the method of any of claims 28 to 43.

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