Method for sounding reference signal transmission

Abstract

Described herein is an apparatus of a next generation NodeB (gNB), the apparatus comprising: a radio frequency (RF) interface; and one or more processors coupled to the RF interface. The one or more processors are configured to: generate a first message, the first message comprising an indication of a path loss reference signal (RS) for a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set; and encode the first message for transmission to a user equipment (UE) via the RF interface. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Various embodiments herein relate generally to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly, to methods for sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission. Background Art

[0002] Mobile communications have evolved significantly from early voice systems to today's highly complex integrated communications platforms. The next generation of wireless communication systems 5G (or New Radio (NR)) will enable a variety of users and applications to access information and share data anytime, anywhere. NR is expected to be a unified network / system designed to meet very different and sometimes conflicting performance dimensions and services. These different multi-dimensional requirements are driven by different services and applications. In general, NR will be based on the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) LTE (Long Term Evolution)-Advanced evolution, with potential new radio access technologies (RATs) attached, enriching people's lives with better, simple and seamless wireless connectivity solutions. NR will connect everything wirelessly and provide fast, rich content and services. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0003] The features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 The invention illustrates features of the present disclosure by way of example; and wherein:

[0004] Figure 1 An example architecture of a system of networks according to various embodiments is shown.

[0005] Figure 2 An example medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) to activate a sounding reference signal (SRS) path loss reference signal (RS) is shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0006] Figure 3 An example method for configuring a path loss reference RS according to some embodiments is shown.

[0007] Figure 4 An example method for updating the transmission power for an SRS resource set according to some embodiments is shown.

[0008] Figure 5 Examples of infrastructure equipment according to various embodiments are shown.

[0009] Figure 6 An example of a platform (or "device") in accordance with various embodiments is shown.

[0010] Figure 7Example components of a baseband circuit and a radio front end module (RFEM) are shown according to various embodiments.

[0011] Figure 8 Various protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device according to various embodiments are shown.

[0012] Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (eg, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, according to some example embodiments.

[0013] Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated, and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. However, it will be understood that no limitation of the scope of the technology is intended thereby. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals may be used in different figures to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, specific details such as specific structures, architectures, interfaces, technologies, etc. are set forth for the purpose of explanation rather than limitation, so as to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of the claimed embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art who benefit from the present disclosure that various aspects of the claimed embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In some cases, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted to avoid obscuring the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure by unnecessary details.

[0015] The various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described using terms commonly used by those skilled in the art to convey the essence of their work to other persons skilled in the art. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that alternative embodiments may be practiced with only some of the described aspects. For purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials, and configurations are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrative embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that alternative embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other cases, well-known features have been omitted or simplified to avoid obscuring the illustrative embodiments.

[0016] In addition, various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations in a manner that is most helpful for understanding the illustrative embodiments. However, the order of description should not be interpreted as implying that these operations must be dependent on the order. In particular, these operations do not need to be performed in the order presented.

[0017] The phrase "in various embodiments," "in some embodiments," etc. is used repeatedly. The phrase generally does not refer to the same embodiment; however, it may. The terms "comprising," "having," and "including" are synonymous unless the context dictates otherwise. The phrase "A or B" means (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0018] Example embodiments may be described as a process, which is depicted as a flow chart, a flowchart, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flow chart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many operations may be performed in parallel, concurrently, or simultaneously. In addition, the order of the operations may be rearranged. A process may terminate when its operations are completed, but may also have additional operations not included in the figures. A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process corresponds to a function, its termination may correspond to the function returning to the calling function and / or the main function.

[0019] As used herein, the term "processor" refers to, is part of, or includes the following circuits: capable of sequentially and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations; recording, storing, and / or transmitting digital data. The term "processor" may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and / or any other device capable of executing or operating computer-executable instructions (e.g., program code, software modules, and / or function processing). As used herein, the term "interface" refers to, is part of, or includes the following circuits: providing information exchange between two or more components or devices. The term "interface" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces (e.g., a bus, an input / output (I / O) interface, a peripheral component interface, etc.).

[0020] Figure 1 An example architecture of a system 100 of a network according to various embodiments is shown. The following description is provided for an example system 100 operating in conjunction with LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the example embodiments are not limited thereto, and the described embodiments may be applicable to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G) systems), IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), and the like.

[0021] like Figure 1As shown, system 100 includes UE 101a and UE 101b (collectively referred to as "UE 101"). In this example, UE 101 is shown as a smart phone (e.g., a handheld touch screen mobile computing device that can connect to one or more cellular networks), but can also include any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as consumer electronic devices, cellular phones, smart phones, feature phones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, instrument clusters (ICs), heads-up display (HUD) devices, on-board diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashboard mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminals (MDTs), electronic engine management systems (EEMS), electronic / engine control units (ECUs), electronic / engine control modules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMS), networked or "smart" appliances, MTC devices, M2M, IoT devices, etc.

[0022] In some embodiments, any UE 101 may be an IoT UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may exchange data with an MTC server or device via PLMN, ProSe or D2D communications, a sensor network, or an IoT network using technologies such as M2M or MTC. The M2M or MTC data exchange may be a machine-initiated data exchange. The IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs utilizing short-term connections, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure). The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network.

[0023] UE 101 may be configured to connect (e.g., be communicatively coupled) to RAN 110. In an embodiment, RAN 110 may be an NG RAN or a 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN (e.g., a UTRAN or a GERAN). As used herein, the term "NG RAN" or the like may refer to RAN 110 operating in an NR or 5G system 100, while the term "E-UTRAN" or the like may refer to RAN 110 operating in an LTE or 4G system 100. UE 101 utilizes connections (or channels) 103 and 104, respectively, each of which includes a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below).

[0024] In this example, connections 103 and 104 are shown as air interfaces that implement communication coupling, and may conform to a cellular communication protocol, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and / or any other communication protocol discussed herein. In an embodiment, the UE 101 may directly exchange communication data via the ProSe interface 105. The ProSe interface 105 may alternatively be referred to as a SL interface 105, and may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to PSCCH, PSSCH, PSDCH, and PSBCH.

[0025] UE 101b is shown as being configured to access AP 106 (also referred to as "WLAN node 106", "WLAN 106", "WLAN terminal 106", "WT 106", etc.) via connection 107. Connection 107 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection compliant with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein AP 106 may include wireless fidelity router. In this example, AP 106 is shown as being connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, UE 101b, RAN 110, and AP 106 may be configured to utilize LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. LWA operation may involve: UE 101b under RRC_CONNECTED is configured by RAN nodes 111a-b to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve: UE 101b, via an IPsec protocol tunnel, using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 107) to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over connection 107. The IPsec tunnel may include: encapsulating the entire original IP packet and adding a new packet header to protect the original header of the IP packet.

[0026] The RAN 110 may include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 111a and 111b (collectively referred to as "RAN node 111") that implement connections 103 and 104. As used herein, the terms "access node", "access point", etc. may describe a device that provides radio baseband functionality for data and / or voice connections between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP or TRP, etc., and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the terms "NG RAN node" and the like may refer to a RAN node 111 (e.g., a gNB) operating in an NR or 5G system 100, while the terms "E-UTRAN node" and the like may refer to a RAN node 111 (e.g., an eNB) operating in an LTE or 4G system 100. According to various embodiments, the RAN node 111 may be implemented as one or more dedicated physical devices (e.g., a macrocell base station) and / or a low power (LP) base station for providing a femtocell, a picocell, or other similar cells having a smaller coverage area, a smaller user capacity, or a higher bandwidth than a macrocell.

[0027] In some embodiments, all or part of the RAN nodes 111 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement RAN functional separation, such as: PDCP separation, where the RRC layer and the PDCP layer are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while other L2 protocol entities are operated by each RAN node 111; MAC / PHY separation, where the RRC layer, PDCP layer, RLC layer, and MAC layer are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while the PHY layer is operated by each RAN node 111; or "lower PHY" separation, where the RRC layer, PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer, and upper part of the PHY layer are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while the lower part of the PHY layer is operated by each RAN node 111. The virtualization framework allows the processor cores of the freed-up RAN nodes 111 to execute other virtualized applications. In some implementations, a single RAN node 111 may represent a plurality of RAN nodes 111 connected to the RAN via each F1 interface ( Figure 1 In these implementations, the gNB-DU may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, for example, Figure 5), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server (not shown) located in the RAN 110, or by a server pool in a manner similar to CRAN / vBBUP. Additionally or alternatively, one or more RAN nodes 111 may be a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), which is a RAN node that provides E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations to the UE 101, and is connected to the 5GC (discussed below) via an NG interface.

[0028] In a V2X scenario, one or more RAN nodes 111 may be or act as an RSU. The term "roadside unit" or "RSU" may refer to any traffic infrastructure entity used for V2X communication. The RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a fixed (or relatively fixed) UE, wherein an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU", and the like. In one example, the RSU is a computing device coupled to a radio frequency circuit located on the roadside that provides connection support to a passing vehicle UE 101 (vUE 101). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry for storing the geometry of intersection maps, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU can operate on the 5.9 GHz dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) band to provide extremely low latency communications required for high-speed events (e.g., crash avoidance, traffic warnings, etc.). Additionally or alternatively, the RSU can operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low latency communications as well as other cellular communication services. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU can operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and / or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. The computing device and some or all of the RF circuitry of the RSU can be encapsulated in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and can include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and / or backhaul network.

[0029] Any one of the RAN nodes 111 may terminate the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UE 101. In some embodiments, any one of the RAN nodes 111 may perform various logical functions of the RAN 110, including but not limited to the functions of a radio network controller (RNC), such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0030] In an embodiment, UE 101 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any RAN node 111 on a multi-carrier communication channel using OFDM communication signals according to various communication techniques, such as but not limited to OFDMA communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communication) or SC-FDMA communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communication), but the scope of the embodiment is not limited thereto. The OFDM signal may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0031] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any RAN node 111 to UE 101, while uplink transmissions may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. This representation of the time-frequency plane is common practice for OFDM systems, which makes radio resource allocation intuitive. Each column and row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to a time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is called a resource element. Each resource grid includes a plurality of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a set of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the minimum amount of resources that can currently be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels that are transmitted using such resource blocks.

[0032] According to various embodiments, the UE 101 and the RAN node 111 communicate data (e.g., send and receive data) on a licensed medium (also referred to as "licensed spectrum" and / or "licensed frequency band") and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as "unlicensed spectrum" and / or "unlicensed frequency band"). The licensed spectrum may include channels operating in a frequency range of about 400 MHz to about 3.8 GHz, and the unlicensed spectrum may include a 5 GHz frequency band.

[0033] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UE 101 and the RAN node 111 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, the UE 101 and the RAN node 111 may perform one or more known medium sensing operations and / or carrier sensing operations to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum are unavailable or occupied before transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium / carrier sensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0034] LBT is a mechanism in which a device (e.g., UE 101, RAN node 111, etc.) can listen to a medium (e.g., a channel or carrier frequency) and transmit when it is sensed that the medium is idle (or when it is sensed that a particular channel in the medium is not occupied). The medium sensing operation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine whether other signals are present on the channel in order to determine whether the channel is occupied or idle. This LBT mechanism allows cellular / LAA networks to coexist with incumbent systems and other LAA networks in unlicensed spectrum. ED may include: listening for RF energy on the expected transmission band for a period of time and comparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

[0035] Typically, the incumbent system in the 5 GHz band is a WLAN based on IEEE 802.11 technology. WLAN adopts a contention-based channel access mechanism, called CSMA / CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) (e.g., UE 101, AP 106, etc.)) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmitting. In addition, in the case where more than one WLAN node senses that the channel is idle and transmits at the same time, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid conflicts. The backoff mechanism may be a counter randomly drawn within the CWS that increases exponentially when a conflict occurs and is reset to a minimum value when the transmission is successful. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to CSMA / CA for WLAN. In some implementations, the LBT process for DL ​​or UL transmission bursts (including PDSCH or PUSCH transmissions), respectively, may have a LAA contention window whose length may vary between X and Y ECCA time slots, where X and Y are the minimum and maximum values ​​of the CWS for LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for LAA transmissions may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWS and MCOT (eg, transmission burst) may be based on government regulatory requirements.

[0036] The LAA mechanism is built on the CA technology of the LTE-Advanced system. In CA, each aggregated carrier is called a CC. A CC can have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, or 20 MHz, and can aggregate up to five CCs, so the maximum aggregate bandwidth is 100 MHz. In an FDD system, the number of aggregated carriers can be different for DL ​​and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or less than the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, each CC may have a different bandwidth from other CCs. In a TDD system, the number of CCs and the bandwidth of each CC are typically the same for DL ​​and UL.

[0037] CA also includes individual serving cells to provide individual CCs. The coverage of the serving cells may be different because, for example, CCs on different frequency bands will experience different path losses. The primary serving cell or PCell may provide the PCC for both UL and DL and may handle RRC and NAS related activities. Other serving cells are called SCells, and each SCell may provide separate SCCs for UL and DL. SCCs may be added and removed as needed, and changing the PCC may require the UE 101 to switch. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all SCells may operate in unlicensed spectrum (referred to as "LAA SCells"), and the LAA SCells are assisted by the PCells operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL approvals on the configured LAA SCells indicating different PUSCH start positions within the same subframe.

[0038] The PDSCH carries user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 101. The PDCCH carries information about the transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel, etc. It can also inform the UE 101 of the transport format, resource allocation and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. In general, downlink scheduling (assigning control channel resource blocks and shared channel resource blocks to UE 101b within the cell) can be performed at any RAN node 111 based on the channel quality information fed back from any UE 101. Downlink resource assignment information can be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., assigned to) each UE 101.

[0039] PDCCH uses CCE to transmit control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quadruplets, which can then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH can be sent using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE can correspond to nine groups of four physical resource elements called REGs. Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the DCI and the channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to send the PDCCH. Four or more different PDCCH formats with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8) can be defined in LTE.

[0040] Some embodiments may use the concept as an extension of the above concept for resource allocation of control channel information. For example, some embodiments may utilize EPDCCH, which uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more ECCEs may be used to send EPDCCH. Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to nine groups of four physical resource elements called EREGs. In some cases, ECCEs may have other numbers of EREGs.

[0041] The RAN nodes 111 may be configured to communicate with each other via an interface 112. In an embodiment where the system 100 is an LTE system (e.g., when the CN 120 is an EPC), the interface 112 may be an X2 interface 112. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 111 (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to the EPC 120, and / or between two eNBs connected to the EPC 120. The X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provide a flow control mechanism for user data packets transmitted over the X2 interface, and may be used to convey information about transmitting user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide: specific sequence number information for user data transmitted from the MeNB to the SeNB; information about successfully transmitting the PDCP PDUs from the SeNB to the UE 101 in sequence for the user data; information about the PDCP PDUs that have not yet been transmitted to the UE 101; information about the current minimum expected buffer size at the SeNB for sending user data to the UE; etc. X2-C can provide intra-LTE access mobility functions, including context transfer from the source eNB to the target eNB, user plane transmission control, etc.; load management functions; and inter-cell interference coordination functions.

[0042] In an embodiment where the system 100 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when the CN 120 is a 5GC), the interface 112 may be an Xn interface 112. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 111 (e.g., two or more eNBs) connected to the 5GC 120, between a RAN node 111 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB connected to the 5GC 120, and / or between two eNBs connected to the 5GC 120. In some implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support / provide data forwarding and flow control functions. The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functions for managing the functions of the Xn-C interface; mobility support for UE 101 in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED), including functions for managing UE mobility in a connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 111. Mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) serving RAN node 111 to the new (target) serving RAN node 111; and control of the user plane tunnel between the old (source) serving RAN node 111 and the new (target) serving RAN node 111. The protocol stack of Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on an Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer for carrying user plane PDUs on top of the UDP and / or IP layer. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as the Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer built on SCTP. SCTP may be located above the IP layer and may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, point-to-point transport is used to transmit signaling PDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and / or the Xn-C protocol stack may be the same or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0043] RAN 110 is shown as being communicatively coupled to a core network, in this embodiment a core network (CN) 120. CN 120 may include a plurality of network elements 122 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UE 101) connected to CN 120 via RAN 110. The components of CN 120 may be implemented in one physical node, or in separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-described network node functions (described in further detail below) via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media. A logical instantiation of CN 120 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of CN 120 may be referred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architecture and infrastructure may be used to virtualize one or more network functions (alternatively performed by proprietary hardware) onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, the NFV system can be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0044] In general, the application server 130 may be an element that provides applications (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data service, etc.) using IP bearer resources to the core network. The application server 130 may also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP session, PTT session, group communication session, social network service, etc.) for the UE 101 via the EPC 120.

[0045] In an embodiment, CN 120 may be a 5GC (referred to as "5GC 120" or the like), and RAN 110 may be connected to CN 120 via an NG interface 113. In an embodiment, NG interface 113 may be split into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 114, which carries service data between RAN node 111 and UPF; and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 115, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 111 and AMF.

[0046] In an embodiment, CN 120 may be a 5G CN (referred to as "5GC 120", etc.), while in other embodiments, CN 120 may be an EPC. In the case where CN 120 is an EPC (referred to as "EPC 120", etc.), RAN 110 may be connected to CN 120 via an S1 interface 113. In an embodiment, S1 interface 113 may be split into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 114, which carries service data between RAN node 111 and S-GW; and an S1-MME interface 115, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 111 and MME.

[0047] Beam management (BM) schemes have been standardized in 3GPP New Radio (NR) Rel-15. These schemes are designed for UEs with directional antennas. Specifically, these schemes enable the transmission of beam indications to UEs, reporting of L1-RSRP based on CSI-RS and SS / PBCH blocks (SSBs), and implementation of beam recovery solutions. Rel-16 NR eMIMO work items include improvements to beam management, such as multi-beam operation enhancements.

[0048] For the sounding reference signal (SRS), in, for example, TS 38.331, “NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) Protocol Specification (Release 15, V15.7.0, September 2019)”, a path loss reference reference signal (RS) is configured as part of the SRS resource set. In order to update the path loss reference RS for the SRS, RRC reconfiguration may currently be required. For reasons of reducing signaling, it has been agreed that the spatial relationship of the non-periodic SRS should be able to be updated using MAC CE, which is a signaling option that already exists for semi-persistent SRS (see, for example, TS 38.321, “NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol Specification (Release 15, V15.7.0, September 2019)”). However, since this update of the spatial relationship does not affect the path loss reference RS, the UE may continue to use the configured path loss reference RS, which causes the UE to use too high a TX power to send the SRS.

[0049] One way to solve the above problem is to move the path loss reference RS to the SRS spatial relationship for PUCCH. Any update of the spatial relationship will cause the path loss reference RS to be updated as well. Including the path loss reference RS in the SRS spatial relationship results in moving the power control from the resource set level to the resource level. However, this is not preferred in the sense that SRS resources will usually exist in multiple SRS resource sets.

[0050] To address these and other issues, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a variety of signaling methods for configuring path loss reference RSs for SRS resource sets in a more dynamic and flexible manner than existing systems. Embodiments disclosed herein enable the gNB to more dynamically reconfigure the path loss reference RSs for SRS resource sets with less signaling overhead when the spatial characteristics of the SRS resource sets are updated. As a result, the transmission power of the SRS resource sets can be adjusted more quickly based on the updated transmission direction of each SRS resource.

[0051] Option I: SRS path loss reference RS set configuration

[0052] In some embodiments, a list of SRS path loss reference RSs (defined as SRS-PathlossReferenceRS) may be configured in SRS-Config. As referred to herein, SRS-Config may be a radio link control (RRC) information element (IE) that defines the SRS configuration within an uplink BWP (fractional bandwidth) (see, for example, TS 38.331 "NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) Protocol Specification (Release 15, V15.7.0, September 2019)"). In these embodiments, each SRS path loss reference RS may be configured with a unique index within the SRS-Config. For an SRS resource set (i.e., SRS-ResourceSet), the path loss reference RS of the SRS resource set may be defined using the index of the SRS-PathlossReferenceRS configured in the SRS-Config (defined as SRS-PathlossReferenceRS-Id). In some embodiments, the SRS path loss reference RS may be configured using the following RRC information element (IE).

[0053]

[0054] In some embodiments, in addition to the existing parameters, two new parameters about the SRS path loss reference RS list may be added: srs-PathlossReferenceRSToAddModList and srs-PathlossReferenceRSToRemoveList. The parameter srs-PathlossReferenceRSToAddModList may include a list of SRS-PathlossReferenceRS configured in SRS-Config that can be used by the SRS resource set in SRS-Config. The parameter srs-PathlossReferenceRSToRemoveList may include a list of SRS-PathlossReferenceRS that cannot be used by the SRS resource set in SRS-Config.

[0055] In some embodiments, the RRC IE SRS-PathlossReferenceRS may include the following parameters: srs-PathlossReferenceRS-Id and referenceSignal. The parameter srs-PathlossReferenceRS-Id may define the index of each SRS path loss reference RS in the UL BWP within the SRS-Config. The parameter referenceSignal may define the RS to be used for the path loss reference RS. In some embodiments, the RS may be an SSB (SS / PBCH block) or an NZP (non-zero power) CSI-RS.

[0056] In some embodiments, the SRS-ResourceSet may be a radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE) that defines a set of SRS resources for a certain purpose (e.g., codebook, non-codebook, beam management, or antenna switching). In some embodiments, the SRS-ResourceSet may include a path loss reference RS, which may be configured by the following parameter: pathlossReferenceRS. The parameter pathlossReferenceRS may be defined according to the index of the path loss reference RS to be used by the SRS-ResourceSet.

[0057] In some embodiments, when multiple SRS path loss reference RSs are configured in SRS-Config and a specific SRS path loss reference RS is configured for SRS-ResourceSet, the path loss reference RS of SRS-ResourceSet can be (re)configured through RRC signaling. In addition, it can be reconfigured more dynamically through the MAC CE described in Option III below.

[0058] Option II: Joint SRS-PUSCH path loss reference RS set configuration

[0059] In some embodiments, the PUSCH path loss reference RS (i.e., PUSCH-PathlossReferenceRS) configured in PUSCH-PowerControl (see, e.g., TS 38.331, "NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) Protocol Specification (Release 15, V15.7.0, September 2019)") can be extended for the path loss reference RS configured as an SRS resource set. In this case, an increased number of PUSCH path loss reference RSs can be configured in PUSCH-PowerControl, so that more flexible options can be provided for SRS resource set configuration. In some embodiments, the path loss reference RS for SRS-ResourceSet can be configured as follows:

[0060]

[0061] Among them, the parameter pathlossReferenceRS defines the path loss reference RS of SRS-ResourceSet, which corresponds to the index of PUSCH-PathlossReferenceRS configured in PUSCH-PowerControl, and the parameter maxNrofPUSCH-PathlossReferenceRSs defines the maximum number of PUSCH path loss reference RS supported, and can be increased from 4 to 64 to enhance configurable flexibility.

[0062] Option III: MAC CE-based SRS resource set path loss reference signal activation

[0063] In some embodiments, a MAC CE may be used to activate for SRS-ResourceSets an SRS path loss reference RS among those SRS-PathlossReferenceRS configured in SRS-Config as described in Option I. This enables the gNB to more dynamically reconfigure the path loss reference RS, etc. for the SRS-ResourceSet with relatively less signaling overhead. In some cases, when the spatial characteristics of the SRS-ResourceSet are reconfigured by the relevant MAC CE, the gNB may also reconfigure the path loss reference RS of the SRS-ResourceSet, otherwise the transmission power of the SRS-ResourceSet may be incompatible with the new spatial direction. The MAC CE for activating the SRS path loss reference RS may be generated by the gNB and then sent to the UE. After receiving the MAC CE, the UE may adjust the transmission power of its SRS-ResourceSet according to the updated spatial characteristics.

[0064] Figure 2 An example MAC CE for activating an SRS path loss reference RS according to some embodiments is shown. In some embodiments, the MAC CE may be identified by a MAC subheader with a new logical channel ID (LCID).

[0065] like Figure 2As shown, the MAC CE may have three octets. The MAC CE may include several fields, including a Serving Cell ID field, a UL BWP ID field, a SUL field, an SRS Resource Set ID field, and an SRS Path Loss Reference RS ID field. In some embodiments, the Serving Cell ID field may indicate the identity of the serving cell containing the SRS resource set to be reconfigured, and the length of the field may be 5 bits. The UL BWP ID field may indicate the UL (uplink) BWP (fractional bandwidth) containing the SRS resource set to be reconfigured as a code point of the Fractional Bandwidth Indicator field in the DCI (Downlink Control Information) (see, for example, TS 38.212, "NR; Multiplexing and Channel Coding (Release 15, V15.7.0, September 2019)"), and the length of the field may be 2 bits. The SUL field may indicate whether the MAC CE applies to a NUL (normal UL) carrier or a SUL (supplementary UL) carrier configuration, and the length of the field may be 1 bit. In an example, the SUL field may be set to 1 to indicate that it applies to the SUL carrier configuration, and may be set to 0 to indicate that it applies to the NUL carrier configuration. The SRS Resource Set ID field may indicate the SRS resource set ID to be reconfigured identified by the parameter SRS-ResourceSetId, and the length of the field may be 4 bits. The SRS Path Loss Reference RS ID field may indicate the SRS Path Loss Reference RS ID identified by the parameter SRS-PathlossReferenceRSId in Option I for the SRS resource to be reconfigured, and the length of the field may be 6 bits.

[0066] Figure 3 An example method 300 for configuring a path loss reference RS according to some embodiments is shown. The method 300 may be performed by a gNB or a portion thereof.

[0067] like Figure 3As shown, method 300 may begin at box 302: generating a first message including an indication of a path loss reference reference signal (RS) for a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set. In some embodiments, the indication of the path loss reference RS may be included in a radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE). In one example, the RRC IE may be an SRS-Config for defining an SRS configuration within an uplink partial bandwidth (BWP). In these embodiments, a list of SRS path loss reference RSs may be configured in the SRS-Config, and each SRS path loss reference RS may have a unique index within the SRS-Config. In other embodiments, the path loss reference RS may be a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) path loss reference RS.

[0068] Method 300 may continue at block 304 by encoding the first message for transmission to a user equipment (UE).

[0069] Next, the method 300 may include, at block 306, encoding a second message for transmission to the UE, the second message including a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for activating a path loss reference RS. In some embodiments, the MAC CE may be identified by a MAC subheader with a new logical channel ID (LCID). As described above, the MAC CE may include a serving cell ID field, a UL BWP ID field, a SUL field, an SRS resource set ID field, and an SRS path loss reference RS ID field.

[0070] Figure 4 An example method 400 for updating transmission power for an SRS resource set according to some embodiments is shown. The method 400 may be performed by a UE or a portion thereof.

[0071] like Figure 4 As shown, method 400 may begin at block 402: decoding a first message from a next generation NodeB (gNB), the first message including an indication of a path loss reference signal (RS) for a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set. At block 404, the method may further include: decoding a second message from the gNB, the second message including a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for activating the path loss reference RS. Next, at block 406, the method may further include: updating a transmission power for the SRS resource set based on the MAC CE.

[0072] Figure 5An example of an infrastructure device 500 according to various embodiments is shown. The infrastructure device 500 (or "system 500") can be implemented as a base station, a radio head, a RAN node (e.g., the RAN node 111 and / or AP 106 shown and described previously), an application server 130, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. In other examples, the system 500 can be implemented in or by a UE.

[0073] System 500 includes application circuit 505, baseband circuit 510, one or more radio front end modules (RFEM) 515, memory circuit 520, power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 525, power supply circuit 530, network controller circuit 535, network interface connector 540, satellite positioning circuit 545 and user interface 550. In some embodiments, device 500 may include additional elements, such as memory / storage, display, camera, sensor or input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device. For example, for CRAN, vBBU or other similar implementations, the circuits may be separately included in more than one device.

[0074] The application circuit 505 includes the following circuits, such as but not limited to one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and low dropout regulator (LDO), interrupt controller, serial interface (e.g., SPI, I2C or general programmable serial interface module), real-time clock (RTC), timer-counter (including interval timer and watchdog timer), general input / output (I / O or IO), memory card controller (e.g., secure digital (SD) multimedia card (MMC) etc.), universal serial bus (USB) interface, mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) interface and joint test access group (JTAG) test access port one or more. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 505 can be coupled with memory / storage elements or can include them, and can be configured to: execute instructions stored in the memory / storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 500. In some implementations, the memory / storage element may be an on-chip memory circuit that may include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory, and / or any other type of memory device technology (such as those discussed herein).

[0075] The processor of the application circuit 505 may include, for example, one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) processors, one or more complex instruction set computing (CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 505 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller operating in accordance with various embodiments herein. As an example, the processor of the application circuit 505 may include one or more Intel or Processor: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor; Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) or Processors; ARM-based processors licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A series processors and processors provided by Cavium(TM), Inc. MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPSWarrior P-class processor; etc. In some embodiments, system 500 may not utilize application circuit 505, but may instead include a dedicated processor / controller to process IP data received, for example, from an EPC or 5GC.

[0076] In some implementations, the application circuit 505 may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, etc. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. As an example, the programmable processing device may be one or more field programmable devices (FPDs), such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs), such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs, such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such implementations, the circuits of the application circuit 505 may include logic blocks or logic structures and other interconnected resources, which may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such an embodiment, the circuitry of the application circuit 505 may include a memory cell (e.g., an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a Flash memory, a static memory (e.g., a static random access memory (SRAM), an antifuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic structures, data, etc. in a lookup table (LUT) or the like.

[0077] The baseband circuit 510 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Figure 7 The various hardware electronic components of baseband circuit 510 are discussed.

[0078] The user interface circuit 550 may include one or more interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with the system 500 or a peripheral component interface designed to enable a peripheral component to interact with the system 500. The user interface may include, but is not limited to, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touch pad, a touch screen, a speaker or other audio transmitting device, a microphone, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, etc. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0079] The radio front end module (RFEM) 515 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separate from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (e.g., see below). Figure 7 The antenna array 711 is a wireless antenna array, and the RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative implementation, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 515, which contains the mmWave antenna and the sub-mmWave antenna.

[0080] The memory circuit 520 may include one or more of the following: volatile memory, including dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and / or synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM); and non-volatile memory (NVM), including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as "Flash memory"), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc., and may include and The memory circuit 520 may be implemented as one or more of a solder-in package integrated circuit, a socketed memory module, and a plug-in memory card.

[0081] The PMIC 525 may include a voltage regulator, a surge protector, a power alarm detection circuit, and one or more backup power sources (e.g., a battery or capacitor). The power alarm detection circuit may detect one or more of a brownout (undervoltage) and a surge (overvoltage) condition. The power source circuit 530 may provide power drawn from a network cable to provide both power and data connections to the infrastructure device 500 using a single cable.

[0082] The network controller circuitry 535 may provide connectivity to a network using a standard network interface protocol (e.g., Ethernet, Ethernet over GRE tunnels, Ethernet over Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol). Network connectivity may be provided to / from the infrastructure device 500 via the network interface connector 540 using a physical connection, which may be electrical (commonly referred to as a "copper interconnect"), optical, or wireless. The network controller circuitry 535 may include one or more dedicated processors and / or FPGAs to communicate using one or more of the above-described protocols. In some implementations, the network controller circuitry 535 may include multiple controllers to provide connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0083] The positioning circuit 545 includes circuits for receiving and decoding signals sent / broadcasted by a positioning network of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the European Union's Galileo system, China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System, regional navigation systems or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., Indian Constellation Navigation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France's Doppler Orbit Imaging and Satellite Integrated Radio Positioning (DORIS), etc.), etc. The positioning circuit 545 includes various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices for facilitating OTA communications, such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc.) to communicate with components of a positioning network such as a navigation satellite constellation node. In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 545 may include a micro-technology (Micro-PNT) IC for positioning, navigation, and timing that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 545 may also be part of the baseband circuit 510 and / or the RFEM 515, or interact with the baseband circuit 510 and / or the RFEM 515 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 545 may also provide location data and / or time data to the application circuit 505, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN node 111, etc.).

[0084] Figure 5 The components shown can communicate with each other using interface circuits, which can include any number of bus and / or interconnect (IX) technologies, such as Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), Extended ISA (EISA), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended (PCIx), PCI Express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX can be a proprietary bus used, for example, in a SoC-based system. Other bus / IX systems can be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, a point-to-point interface, and a power bus, etc.

[0085] Figure 6 An example of a platform 600 (or "device 600") according to various embodiments is shown. In an embodiment, the computer platform 600 may be suitable for use as a UE 101, an application server 130, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. The platform 600 may include any combination of components shown in the example. The components of the platform 600 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), a portion thereof, a discrete electronic device or other module, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof suitable for use in the computer platform 600, or as a component within a housing incorporated into a larger system. Figure 6The block diagram is intended to illustrate a high-level view of the components of computer platform 600. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0086] The application circuit 605 includes the following circuits, such as but not limited to one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of LDO, interrupt controller, serial interface (e.g., SPI, I2C or general programmable serial interface module), RTC, timer-counter (including interval timer and watchdog timer), general I / O, memory card controller (e.g., SDMMC, etc.), USB interface, MIPI interface and JTAG test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 605 can be coupled with or can include memory / storage elements, and can be configured to: execute instructions stored in the memory / storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 600. In some implementations, the memory / storage element can be an on-chip memory circuit, which can include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory and / or any other type of memory device technology (e.g., those discussed herein).

[0087] The processor of the application circuit 505 may include, for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSPs, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, multi-threaded processors, ultra-low voltage processors, embedded processors, some other known processing elements, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 505 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller operating according to various embodiments herein.

[0088] As an example, the processor of the application circuit 605 may include a processor based on Architecture Core TM Processors such as Quark TM 、Atom TM , i3, i5, i7 or another MCU class processor, or available from Santa Clara Another such processor is available from Intel Corporation. The processor of application circuit 605 may also be one or more of the following: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) processor or accelerated processing unit (APU); Inc.’s A5-A9 processors; Snapdragon by Technologies, Inc. TM Processor; Texas Instruments, Open Multimedia Application Platform (OMAP) TM processors; MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors; ARM-based designs licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M series processors; etc. In some implementations, the application circuit 605 can be part of a system on a chip (SoC) in which the application circuit 605 and other components are formed as a single integrated circuit or a single package, such as Edison Corporation TM or Galileo TM SoC board.

[0089] Additionally or alternatively, the application circuit 605 may include the following circuits, such as but not limited to one or more field programmable devices (FPDs), such as FPGAs, etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs), such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs, such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 605 may include logic blocks or logic structures and other interconnected resources, which may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 605 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuse, etc.) for storing logic blocks, logic structures, data, etc. in a lookup table (LUT), etc.

[0090] Baseband circuit 610 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Figure 7 The various hardware electronic components of baseband circuit 610 are discussed.

[0091] The RFEM 615 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separate from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (e.g., see below). Figure 7 The antenna array 711) can be connected to multiple antennas, and the RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative implementation, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 615, which contains the mmWave antennas and the sub-mmWave antennas.

[0092] The memory circuit 620 may include any number and type of memory devices for providing a quantitative system memory. As an example, the memory circuit 620 may include one or more of the following: volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and / or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM); and non-volatile memory (NVM), including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuit 620 may be developed according to the design based on low power double data rate (LPDDR) of the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC), such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, etc. The memory circuit 620 may be implemented as one or more of the following: solder-in package integrated circuit, single die package (SDP), dual die package (DDP) or quad die package (Q17P), socket memory module, dual in-line memory module (DIMM) (including microDIMM or MiniDIMM), and / or soldered to the motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA). In a low-power implementation, the memory circuit 620 may be an on-die memory or register associated with the application circuit 605. To provide permanent storage of information (e.g., data, applications, operating systems, etc.), the memory circuit 620 may include one or more mass storage devices, which may include, among others, a solid-state disk drive (SSDD), a hard disk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, a resistive memory, a phase change memory, a holographic memory, or a chemical memory. For example, the computer platform 600 may include a memory device from and Three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memory.

[0093] Removable memory circuitry 623 may include devices, circuits, housings / casings, ports or receptacles, etc., for coupling portable data storage devices to platform 600. These portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage purposes, and may include, for example, Flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSD cards, xD graphics cards, etc.), as well as USB Flash drives, optical disks, external HDDs, etc.

[0094] Platform 600 may also include an interface circuit (not shown) for connecting external devices to platform 600. External devices connected to platform 600 via the interface circuit include sensor circuit 621 and electromechanical component (EMC) 622, and a removable memory device coupled to removable memory circuit 623.

[0095] Sensor circuitry 621 includes devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and to send information about the detected events (sensor data) to other devices, modules, subsystems, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an inertial measurement unit (IMU), including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) or a nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS), including a 3-axis accelerometer, a 3-axis gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a level sensor; a flow sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; a barometric pressure sensor; a gravity meter; an altimeter; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.), a depth sensor, an ambient light sensor, an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; etc.

[0096] The EMC 622 includes devices, modules or subsystems whose purpose is to enable the platform 600 to change its state, position and / or orientation, or to move or control a mechanism or (sub) system. In addition, the EMC 622 can be configured to generate messages / signaling and send them to other components of the platform 600 to indicate the current state of the EMC 622. Examples of EMC 622 include one or more power switches, relays (including electromechanical relays (EMR) and / or solid-state relays (SSR)), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), sound generators, visual alarm devices, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks and / or other similar electromechanical components. In an embodiment, the platform 600 is configured to operate one or more EMCs 622 based on one or more captured events and / or instructions or control signals received from a service provider and / or various clients.

[0097] In some implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 600 to the positioning circuit 645. The positioning circuit 645 includes circuits for receiving and decoding signals sent / broadcasted by a positioning network of a GNSS. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include the United States' GPS, Russia's GLONASS, the European Union's Galileo system, China's Beidou navigation satellite system, regional navigation systems or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., NAVIC), Japan's QZSS, France's DORIS, etc. The positioning circuit 645 includes various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices for facilitating OTA communications, such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements) to communicate with components of the positioning network (e.g., navigation satellite constellation nodes). In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 645 may include a Micro-PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 645 may also be part of the baseband circuit 510 and / or the RFEM 615, or interact with them to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 645 may also provide position data and / or time data to the application circuit 605 , which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (eg, radio base stations) for route planning navigation applications, etc.

[0098] In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect the platform 600 with a near field communication (NFC) circuit 640. The NFC circuit 640 is configured to provide contactless short-range communication based on the radio frequency identification (RFID) standard, wherein magnetic field sensing is used to enable communication between the NFC circuit 640 and an NFC-enabled device (e.g., an "NFC touch point") external to the platform 600. The NFC circuit 640 includes an NFC controller coupled to an antenna element and a processor coupled to the NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip / IC that provides NFC functionality to the NFC circuit 640 by executing NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to emit a short-range RF signal. The RF signal may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to send stored data to the NFC circuit 640, or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuit 640 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) near the platform 600.

[0099] The driver circuit 646 may include software and hardware elements that operate to control specific devices embedded in, attached to, or communicatively coupled to the platform 600. The driver circuit 646 may include various drivers that allow other components of the platform 600 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present within or connected to the platform 600. For example, the driver circuit 646 may include a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface of the platform 600, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor circuit 621 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 621, an EMC driver for obtaining an actuator position 622 of the EMC and / or controlling and allowing access to the EMC 622, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device, an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0100] A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 625 (also referred to as “power management circuit 625”) can manage the power provided to various components of platform 600. In particular, PMIC 625 can control power source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion with respect to baseband circuit 610. PMIC 625 can often be included when platform 600 is capable of being powered by battery 630 (e.g., when the device is included in UE 101).

[0101] In some embodiments, the PMIC 625 may control, or be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the platform 600. For example, if the platform 600 is in the RRC_Connected state (where it is still connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic soon), it may enter a state called discontinuous reception mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the platform 600 may be powered down for short time intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the platform 600 may transition to the RRC_Idle state (where it is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, switching, etc.). The platform 600 enters a very low power consumption state and it performs paging, where it wakes up again periodically to listen to the network and then powers down again. In this state, the platform 600 may not receive data; in order to receive data, it must transition back to the RRC_Connected state. Additional power saving modes may make the device unavailable to the network for a period longer than the paging interval (ranging from a few seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is completely unreachable to the network and may be completely powered down. Any data sent during this time will incur significant latency, and it is assumed that this latency is acceptable.

[0102] The battery 630 can power the platform 600, although in some examples, the platform 600 can be installed and deployed in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to the power grid. The battery 630 can be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery (e.g., a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery), etc. In some implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 630 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0103] In some implementations, the battery 630 may be a "smart battery" that includes, or is coupled to, a battery management system (BMS) or a battery monitoring integrated circuit. The BMS may be included in the platform 600 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 630. The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 630 to provide fault predictions, such as the state of health (SoH) and state of function (SoF) of the battery 630. The BMS may communicate information about the battery 630 to the application circuit 605 or other components of the platform 600. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuit 605 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 630 or the current from the battery 630. The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform 600 may perform, such as transmission frequencies, network operations, listening frequencies, and the like.

[0104] A power block or other power source coupled to the grid can be coupled to the BMS to charge the battery 630. In some examples, the power block can be replaced with a wireless power receiver, such as through a loop antenna in the computer platform 600, to obtain power wirelessly. In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit can be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuit selected can depend on the size of the battery 630 and, therefore, the current required. Charging can be performed using the Airfuel standard promulgated by the Airfuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard promulgated by the Wireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence charging standard promulgated by the Alliance for Wireless Power, etc.

[0105] The user interface circuit 650 includes various input / output (I / O) devices present in or connected to the platform 600, and includes one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with the platform 600 and / or a peripheral component interface designed to enable a peripheral component to interact with the platform 600. The user interface circuit 650 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for accepting input, including, in particular, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for displaying information or conveying information (e.g., sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). The output device circuit may include any number and / or combination of audio and / or visual displays, including in particular one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary status indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs, such as display devices or touch screens (e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCDs), LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), wherein the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. is generated or produced from the operation of the platform 600. The output device circuit may also include a speaker or other audio emitting device, a printer, etc. In some embodiments, the sensor circuit 621 may be used as an input device circuit (e.g., an image capture device, a motion capture device, etc.), and one or more EMCs may be used as output device circuits (e.g., actuators that provide tactile feedback, etc.). In another example, an NFC circuit (which includes an NFC controller coupled to an antenna element and a processing device) may be included to read an electronic tag and / or connect to another NFC-enabled device. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0106] Although not shown, the components of platform 600 can communicate with each other using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, which can include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCIe, a time-triggered protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX can be a proprietary bus / IX used, for example, in a SoC-based system. Other bus / IX systems can be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, a point-to-point interface, and a power bus, etc.

[0107] Figure 7 7 shows example components of a baseband circuit 710 and a radio front end module (RFEM) 715 according to various embodiments. The baseband circuit 710 corresponds to Figure 5 The baseband circuit 510 and Figure 6Baseband circuit 610. RFEM 715 corresponds to Figure 5 RFEM 515 and Figure 6 RFEM 615. As shown, RFEM 715 may include at least a radio frequency (RF) circuit 706, a front end module (FEM) circuit 708, and an antenna array 711 coupled together as shown.

[0108] The baseband circuit 710 includes circuits and / or control logic configured to execute various radio / network protocols and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuit 706. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuit of the baseband circuit 710 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuit of the baseband circuit 710 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. The embodiments of the modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functions in other embodiments. The baseband circuit 710 is configured to: process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuit 706 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 706. The baseband circuit 710 is configured to: communicate with the application circuit 505 / 605 (see Figure 5 and Figure 6 ) interface for generating and processing baseband signals and controlling the operation of RF circuit 706. Baseband circuit 710 can handle various radio control functions.

[0109] The aforementioned circuits and / or control logic of the baseband circuit 710 may include one or more single-core or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor 704A, a 4G / LTE baseband processor 704B, a 5G / NR baseband processor 704C, or some other baseband processors 704D for other existing generations, generations under development, or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., the sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 704A-D may be included in a module stored in the memory 704G and executed via the central processing unit (CPU) 704E. In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 704A-D may be provided as a hardware accelerator (e.g., FPGA, ASIC, etc.) loaded with appropriate bitstreams or logic blocks, which are stored in corresponding memory units. In various embodiments, the memory 704G may store program code of a real-time OS (RTOS), which, when executed by the CPU 704E (or other baseband processor), enables the CPU 704E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources of the baseband circuit 710, schedule tasks, etc. Examples of RTOS may include: Provided embedded operating system (OSE) TM 、Mentor NucleusRTOS provided TM , Versatile real-time executor (VRTX) provided by Mentor Graphics, Provided by ThreadX TM , FreeRTOS, REX OS, Open Kernel (OK) provided OKL4 or any other suitable RTOS provided, such as those discussed herein. In addition, the baseband circuit 710 includes one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 704F. The audio DSP 704F includes elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.

[0110] In some embodiments, each processor 704A-704E includes a respective memory interface for sending / receiving data to / from memory 704G. Baseband circuit 710 may also include one or more interfaces coupled to other circuits / devices in a communicative manner, such as an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a memory external to baseband circuit 710; an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a memory external to baseband circuit 710; Figure 5-7 Application circuit interface for sending / receiving data to / from application circuit 505 / 605; Figure 7RF circuit interface for sending / receiving data to / from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., near field communication (NFC) components, / Low power consumption Components, components, etc.) to send / receive data; and a power management interface for sending / receiving a power signal or a control signal to / from the PMIC 625.

[0111] In an alternative embodiment (which can be combined with the above-described embodiments), the baseband circuit 710 includes one or more digital baseband systems, which are coupled to each other via an interconnect subsystem and are coupled to a CPU subsystem, an audio subsystem, and an interface subsystem. The digital baseband subsystem can also be coupled to a digital baseband interface and a mixed signal baseband subsystem via another interconnect subsystem. Each interconnect subsystem can include a bus system, a point-to-point connection, a network on a chip (NOC) structure, and / or some other suitable bus or interconnect technology, such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem can include a DSP circuit, a buffer memory, a program memory, a voice processing accelerator circuit, a data converter circuit (e.g., an analog-to-digital and a digital-to-analog converter circuit), an analog circuit including one or more of an amplifier and a filter, and / or other similar components. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the baseband circuit 710 can include a protocol processing circuit having one or more instances of a control circuit (not shown) to provide control functions for a digital baseband circuit and / or a radio frequency circuit (e.g., a radio front end module 715).

[0112] although Figure 7Not shown, but in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 710 includes various processing devices (e.g., a "multi-protocol baseband processor" or "protocol processing circuit") for operating one or more wireless communication protocols and various processing devices for implementing PHY layer functions. In these embodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuit operates or implements various protocol layers / entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, when the baseband circuit 710 and / or the RF circuit 706 are part of a mmWave communication circuit or some other suitable cellular communication circuit, the protocol processing circuit can operate LTE protocol entities and / or 5G / NR protocol entities. In this first example, the protocol processing circuit will operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In a second example, when the baseband circuit 710 and / or the RF circuit 706 are part of a Wi-Fi communication system, the protocol processing circuit can operate one or more IEEE-based protocols. In this second example, the protocol processing circuit will operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuitry may include: one or more memory structures (e.g., 704G) for storing program code and data for operating protocol functions; and one or more processing cores for executing program code and performing various operations using data. The baseband circuitry 710 may also support radio communications for more than one wireless protocol.

[0113] The various hardware elements of the baseband circuit 710 discussed herein may be implemented as, for example, a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged IC soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuit 710 may be suitably combined in a single chip or chipset, or arranged on the same circuit board. In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 710 and the RF circuit 706 may be implemented together, for example, on a system on a chip (SoC) or a system-level package (SiP). In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 710 may be implemented as a separate SoC, which is communicatively coupled to the RF circuit 706 (or multiple instances of the RF circuit 706). In yet another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 710 and the application circuit 505 / 605 may be implemented together as SoCs (e.g., "multi-chip packages") mounted to the same circuit board.

[0114] In some embodiments, baseband circuit 710 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuit 710 may support communications with E-UTRAN or other WMAN, WLAN, WPAN. Embodiments in which baseband circuit 710 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuits.

[0115] The RF circuit 706 may enable communication with a wireless network through a non-solid medium using modulated electromagnetic radiation. In various embodiments, the RF circuit 706 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with the wireless network. The RF circuit 706 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuits for down-converting RF signals received from the FEM circuit 708 and providing baseband signals to the baseband circuit 710. The RF circuit 706 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuits for up-converting baseband signals provided by the baseband circuit 710 and providing RF output signals to the FEM circuit 708 for transmission.

[0116] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuit 706 may include a mixer circuit 706a, an amplifier circuit 706b, and a filter circuit 706c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 706 may include a filter circuit 706c and the mixer circuit 706a. The RF circuit 706 may also include a synthesizer circuit 706d for synthesizing the frequencies used by the mixer circuit 706a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 706a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 708 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 706d. The amplifier circuit 706b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 706c may be a low pass filter (LPF) or a band pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to the baseband circuit 710 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal, but this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 706a of the receive signal path may include a passive mixer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0117] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 706a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert an input baseband signal based on a synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 706d to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuit 708. The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuit 710 and may be filtered by filter circuit 706c.

[0118] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 706a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 706a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 706a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 706a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image suppression (e.g., Hartley image suppression). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 706a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 706a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 706a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 706a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0119] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited thereto. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the RF circuit 706 may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit, and the baseband circuit 710 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuit 706.

[0120] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0121] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 706d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard, as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 706d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0122] The synthesizer circuit 706d may be configured to synthesize, based on the frequency input and the divider control input, an output frequency used by the mixer circuit 706a of the RF circuit 706. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 706d may be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0123] In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), but this is not a requirement. The divider control input may be provided by the baseband circuit 710 or the application circuit 505 / 605 according to the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by the application circuit 505 / 605.

[0124] The synthesizer circuit 706d of the RF circuit 706 may include a frequency divider, a delay locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the frequency divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded tunable delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay element may be configured to decompose the VCO cycle into Nd equal phase groups, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0125] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 706d can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as an output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with the quadrature generator and divider circuits to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases relative to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency can be an LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 706 can include an IQ / polar converter.

[0126] FEM circuitry 708 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antenna array 711, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to RF circuitry 706 for further processing. FEM circuitry 708 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by RF circuitry 706 for transmission by one or more antenna elements of antenna array 711. In various embodiments, amplification by the transmit signal path or the receive signal path may be performed only in RF circuitry 706, only in FEM circuitry 708, or in both RF circuitry 706 and FEM circuitry 708.

[0127] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 708 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit 708 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 708 may include an LNA for amplifying a received RF signal and providing the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., provided to the RF circuit 706). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 708 may include: a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying an input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 706); and one or more filters for generating an RF signal for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 711.

[0128] The antenna array 711 includes one or more antenna elements, each of which is configured to: convert an electrical signal into a radio wave to propagate in the air, and convert a received radio wave into an electrical signal. For example, a digital baseband signal provided by the baseband circuit 710 is converted into an analog RF signal (e.g., a modulated waveform), which is amplified and sent via the antenna elements of the antenna array 711 including one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formed in a variety of arrangements known and / or discussed herein. The antenna array 711 may include microstrip antennas or printed antennas that are fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. The antenna array 711 may be formed as metal foils of various shapes (e.g., patch antennas) and may be coupled to the RF circuit 706 and / or the FEM circuit 708 using metal transmission lines, etc.

[0129] The processor of the application circuit 505 / 605 and the processor of the baseband circuit 710 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 710 can be used alone or in combination to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, and the processor of the application circuit 505 / 605 can utilize data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further perform layer 4 functions (e.g., TCP layer and UDP layer). As referred to herein, layer 3 may include an RRC layer, which is further described in detail below. As referred to herein, layer 2 may include a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, which are further described in detail below. As referred to herein, layer 1 may include a PHY layer of a UE / RAN node, which is further described in detail below.

[0130] Figure 8 Various protocol functions that can be implemented in a wireless communication device according to various embodiments are shown. In particular, Figure 8 The following is an arrangement 800 showing the interconnections between various protocol layers / entities. Figure 8Descriptions are provided for various protocol layers / entities operating in conjunction with the 5G / NR system standard and the LTE system standard, but Figure 8 Some or all aspects of the invention may also be applicable to other wireless communication network systems.

[0131] The protocol layers of arrangement 800 may include one or more of PHY 810, MAC 820, RLC 830, PDCP 840, SDAP 847, RRC 855, and NAS 857, as well as other higher layer functions not shown. The protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., Figure 8 Items 859, 856, 850, 849, 845, 835, 825 and 815), which can provide communication between two or more protocol layers.

[0132] PHY 810 can send and receive physical layer signals 805, which can be received from or sent to one or more other communication devices. Physical layer signals 805 may include one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. PHY 810 may also perform link adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and switching purposes) and other measurements used by higher layers (e.g., RRC 855). PHY 810 may also perform error detection of transmission channels, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of transmission channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. In an embodiment, an instance of PHY 810 may process a request from an instance of MAC 820 via one or more PHY-SAP 815, and provide an indication to it via one or more PHY-SAP 815. According to some embodiments, the request and indication transmitted via PHY-SAP 815 may include one or more transmission channels.

[0133] An instance of MAC 820 may process requests from an instance of RLC 830 via one or more MAC-SAPs 825 and provide instructions thereto via one or more MAC-SAPs 825. These requests and instructions delivered via MAC-SAPs 825 may include one or more logical channels. MAC 820 may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be transmitted to PHY 810 via transport channels, demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs transmitted from PHY 810 via transport channels to one or more logical channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs to TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, and logical channel prioritization.

[0134] An instance of RLC 830 may process requests from an instance of PDCP 840 via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAPs) 835 and provide indications thereto via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAPs) 835. These requests and indications communicated via RLC-SAPs 835 may include one or more RLC channels. RLC 830 may operate in a variety of operating modes, including: transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged mode (AM). RLC 830 may perform transmission of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) (for AM data transmission), and concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs (for UM and AM data transmission). RLC 830 can also perform re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs (for AM data transmission), reordering of RLC data PDUs (for UM and AM data transmission), detection of duplicate data (for UM and AM data transmission), discarding of RLC SDUs (for UM and AM data transmission), detection of protocol errors (for AM data transmission), and performance of RLC re-establishment.

[0135] An instance of PDCP 840 may process requests from an instance of RRC 855 and / or an instance of SDAP 847 via one or more Packet Data Convergence Protocol Service Access Points (PDCP-SAP) 845 and provide instructions thereto via one or more Packet Data Convergence Protocol Service Access Points (PDCP-SAP) 845. These requests and instructions communicated via PDCP-SAP 845 may include one or more radio bearers. PDCP 840 may perform header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP sequence numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs when reestablishing lower layers, eliminate duplication of lower layer SDUs for radio bearers mapped to RLC AM when reestablishing lower layers, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification on control plane data, control timer-based data discard, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

[0136] An instance of SDAP 847 may process requests from one or more higher layer protocol entities via one or more SDAP-SAPs 849 and provide indications thereto via one or more SDAP-SAPs 849. These requests and indications delivered via SDAP-SAPs 849 may include one or more QoS flows. SDAP 847 may map QoS flows to DRBs and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL and UL packets. A single SDAP entity 847 may be configured for a single PDU session. In the UL direction, NG-RAN 110 may control the mapping of QoS flows to DRBs in two different ways, namely, reflective mapping or explicit mapping. For reflective mapping, SDAP 847 of UE 101 may monitor the QFI of the DL packets of each DRB, and may apply the same mapping to packets flowing in the UL direction. For DRBs, SDAP 847 of UE 101 may map UL packets belonging to QoS flows corresponding to QoS flow IDs and PDU sessions observed in DL packets of that DRB. To enable reflective mapping, the NG-RAN may mark DL packets on the Uu interface using the QoS flow ID. Explicit mapping may involve RRC 855 configuring SDAP 847 with explicit QoS flow to DRB mapping rules, which SDAP 847 may store and follow. In an embodiment, SDAP 847 may be used only in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations.

[0137] The RRC 855 may configure aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of PHY 810, MAC 820, RLC 830, PDCP 840, and SDAP 847, via one or more Management Service Access Points (M-SAPs). In an embodiment, an instance of the RRC 855 may process requests from one or more NAS entities 857 via one or more RRC-SAPs 856 and provide instructions thereto via one or more RRC-SAPs 856. The main services and functions of the RRC 855 may include broadcasting system information (e.g., included in a MIB or SIB related to NAS), broadcasting system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishing, maintaining, and releasing an RRC connection between the UE 101 and the RAN 110 (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishing, configuring, maintaining, and releasing point-to-point radio bearers, security functions (including key management), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. The MIB and SIB may include one or more IEs, each of which may include a separate data field or data structure.

[0138] NAS 857 may form the highest layer of the control plane between UE 101 and AMF. NAS 857 may support the mobility and session management procedures of UE 101 to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 101 and P-GW in the LTE system.

[0139] According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities of arrangement 800 may be implemented in UE 101, RAN node 111, AMF in NR implementation or MME in LTE implementation, UPF in NR implementation or S-GW and P-GW in LTE implementation, or the like to be used for control plane or user plane communication protocol stacks between the above devices. In such embodiments, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE 101, gNB 111, AMF, etc. may communicate with corresponding peer protocol entities that may be implemented in or on another device, using services of corresponding lower layer protocol entities to perform such communication. In some embodiments, the gNB-CU of gNB 111 may host the RRC 855, SDAP 847, and PDCP 840 of the gNB that control the operation of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of gNB 111 may each host the RLC 830, MAC 820, and PHY 810 of gNB 111.

[0140] In a first example, the control plane protocol stack may include, in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer, NAS 857, RRC 855, PDCP 840, RLC 830, MAC 820, and PHY 810. In this example, an upper layer 860 may be built on top of NAS 857 and include an IP layer 861, SCTP 862, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 863.

[0141] In the NR implementation, AP 863 may be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP) 863 for the NG interface 113 defined between the NG-RAN node 111 and the AMF, or AP 863 may be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 863 for the Xn interface 112 defined between two or more RAN nodes 111.

[0142] The NG-AP 863 may support the functionality of the NG interface 113 and may include an elementary procedure (EP). The NG-AP EP may be a unit of interaction between the NG-RAN node 111 and the AMF. The NG-AP 863 services may include two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the UE 101) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the entire NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 111 and the AMF). These services may include the following functions, including but not limited to: a paging function for sending a paging request to the NG-RAN node 111 involved in a specific paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF to establish, modify and / or release the UE context in the AMF and the NG-RAN node 111; a mobility function for the UE 101 in ECM-CONNECTED mode, supporting mobility within the NG-RAN for intra-system HO and mobility from / to the EPS system for inter-system HO; a NAS signaling transmission function for transmitting or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 101 and the AMF; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF and the UE 101; an NG interface management function for establishing an NG interface and monitoring errors on the NG interface; a warning message transmission function for providing a means for transmitting a warning message via the NG interface or cancelling an ongoing warning message broadcast; a configuration transmission function for requesting and transmitting RAN configuration information (e.g., SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 111 via the CN 120; and / or other similar functions.

[0143] XnAP 863 may support the functionality of the Xn interface 112 and may include XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. The XnAP basic mobility procedures may include procedures for handling UE mobility within the NG RAN 111 (or E-UTRAN), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN state transfer procedures, UE context acquisition and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, dual connectivity related procedures, etc. The XnAP global procedures may include procedures not related to a specific UE 101, such as Xn interface establishment and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, cell activation procedures, etc.

[0144] In an LTE implementation, the AP 863 may be an S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 863 for the S1 interface 113 defined between the E-UTRAN node 111 and the MME, or the AP 863 may be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP) 863 for the X2 interface 112 defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes 111.

[0145] The S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 863 may support the functionality of the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, the S1-AP may include an S1-AP EP. The S1-AP EP may be a unit of interaction between the E-UTRAN node 111 and the MME within the LTE CN 120. The S1-AP 863 services may include two groups: UE associated services and non-UE associated services. These services perform the following functions, including but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transmission, RAN Information Management (RIM) and configuration transfer.

[0146] The X2AP 863 may support the functions of the X2 interface 112 and may include an X2AP basic mobility procedure and an X2AP global procedure. The X2AP basic mobility procedure may include a procedure for handling UE mobility within the E-UTRAN 120, such as a handover preparation and cancellation procedure, an SN state transfer procedure, a UE context acquisition and a UE context release procedure, a RAN paging procedure, a dual connectivity related procedure, etc. The X2AP global procedure may include a procedure not related to a specific UE 101, such as an X2 interface establishment and reset procedure, a load indication procedure, an error indication procedure, a cell activation procedure, etc.

[0147] The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP / IP layer) 862 may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP or XnAP messages in NR implementations, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in LTE implementations). The SCTP 862 may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 111 and the AMF / MME based in part on the IP protocol supported by the IP 861. The Internet Protocol layer (IP) 861 may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. In some implementations, the IP layer 861 may transmit and deliver PDUs using point-to-point transport. In this regard, the RAN node 111 may include L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME / AMF to exchange information.

[0148] In the second example, the user plane protocol stack may include SDAP 847, PDCP 840, RLC 830, MAC 820, and PHY 810 in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer. The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between UE 101, RAN node 111, and UPF in NR implementation or S-GW and P-GW in LTE implementation. In this example, the upper layer 851 may be built on top of SDAP 847 and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP / IP) 852, a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol (GTP-U) 853 for the user plane layer, and a user plane PDU layer (UP PDU) 863.

[0149] The transport network layer 854 (also referred to as the "transport layer") may be built on top of the IP transport, and the GTP-U 853 may be used on top of the UDP / IP layer 852 (including the UDP layer and the IP layer) to carry the user plane PDU (UP-PDU). The IP layer (also referred to as the "Internet layer") may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packets, for example, in any of the IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats.

[0150] GTP-U 853 may be used to carry user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. The transmitted user data may be, for example, packets in any of the IPv4, IPv6 or PPP formats. UDP / IP 852 may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication of selected data flows. The RAN node 111 and the S-GW may utilize the S1-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including the L1 layer (e.g., PHY810), the L2 layer (e.g., MAC 820, RLC 830, PDCP 840 and / or SDAP 847), the UDP / IP layer 852, and the GTP-U 853. The S-GW and the P-GW may utilize the S5 / S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including the L1 layer, the L2 layer, the UDP / IP layer 852, and the GTP-U 853. As previously discussed, the NAS protocol may support the mobility of UE 101 as well as session management procedures to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 101 and the P-GW.

[0151] In addition, although Figure 8Not shown, but an application layer may exist above the AP 863 and / or transport network layer 854. The application layer may be a layer where a user of the UE 101, the RAN node 111, or other network element interacts with a software application being executed, for example, by the application circuitry 505 or the application circuitry 605, respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for the software application to interact with the communication system (e.g., baseband circuitry 710) of the UE 101 or RAN node 111. In some implementations, the IP layer and / or the application layer may provide functionality that is the same or similar to layers 5-7 of the open systems interconnection (OSI) model (e.g., OSI layer 7—application layer, OSI layer 6—presentation layer, and OSI layer 5—session layer) or portions thereof.

[0152] Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and executing any one or more of the methods discussed herein, according to some example embodiments. Specifically, Fig. 9 A pictorial representation of hardware resources 900 is shown, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 910, one or more memory / storage devices 920, and one or more communication resources 930, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 940. For embodiments utilizing node virtualization (e.g., NFV), a hypervisor 902 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 900.

[0153] Processor 910 may include, for example, processor 912 and processor 914. Processor 910 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP (e.g., a baseband processor), an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including the processors discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

[0154] The memory / storage device 920 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 920 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0155] The communication resources 930 may include an interconnect or network interface component or other suitable device for communicating with one or more peripheral devices 904 or one or more databases 906 via the network 908. For example, the communication resources 930 may include a wired communication component (e.g., for coupling via USB), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, (or low power consumption ) components, components and other communication components.

[0156] The instructions 950 may include software, programs, applications, applet, apps, or other executable code for causing at least any processor 910 to perform any one or more of the methods discussed herein. The instructions 950 may reside in whole or in part in at least one of the processor 910 (e.g., in a cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 920, or any suitable combination thereof. In addition, any portion of the instructions 950 may be transmitted to the hardware resources 900 from any combination of the peripheral device 904 or the database 906. Therefore, the memory of the processor 910, the memory / storage device 920, the peripheral device 904, and the database 906 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0157] The following examples pertain to further embodiments.

[0158] Example 1 may include a next generation NodeB (gNB) apparatus, the apparatus comprising: a radio frequency (RF) interface; and one or more processors coupled to the RF interface and configured to: generate a first message, the first message comprising an indication of a path loss reference signal (RS) for a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set; and encode the first message for transmission to a user equipment (UE) via the RF interface.

[0159] Example 2 may include the subject matter of Example 1 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the indication of the path loss reference RS is included in a radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE).

[0160] Example 3 may include the subject matter of Example 2 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the RRC IE is an SRS-Config for defining an SRS configuration within an uplink partial bandwidth (BWP).

[0161] Example 4 may include the subject matter of Example 3 or the subject matter of any other example in this document, wherein a list of SRS path loss reference RSs is configured in the SRS-Config, and wherein each SRS path loss reference RS has a unique index within the SRS-Config.

[0162] Example 5 may include the subject matter of Example 4 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the SRS-Config further includes a list of SRS path loss reference RSs that can be used by the SRS resource set.

[0163] Example 6 may include the subject matter of Example 4 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the SRS-Config further includes a list of SRS path loss reference RSs that cannot be used by the SRS resource set.

[0164] Example 7 may include the subject matter of Example 1 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the path loss reference RS is a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) path loss reference RS.

[0165] Example 8 may include the subject matter of Example 1 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: encode a second message for transmission to the UE, the second message comprising a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for activating the path loss reference RS.

[0166] Example 9 may include the subject matter of Example 8 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the MAC CE is identified by a MAC subheader with a new logical channel ID (LCID).

[0167] Example 10 may include the subject matter of Example 8 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the MAC CE includes one or more of the following fields: a serving cell ID field indicating the identity of the serving cell containing the SRS resource set to be reconfigured; a UL (uplink) BWP (fractional bandwidth) ID field indicating the UL BWP containing the SRS resource set to be reconfigured as a code point of the BWP indicator field in the DCI (downlink control information); a SUL (supplementary uplink) field indicating whether the MAC CE is applied to a NUL (normal UL) carrier or a SUL carrier configuration; an SRS resource set ID field indicating the ID of the SRS resource set to be reconfigured; and an SRS path loss reference RS ID field indicating the ID of the path loss reference RS used for the SRS resource set to be reconfigured.

[0168] Example 11 may include a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by one or more processors of a next-generation NodeB (gNB), cause the gNB to: generate a first message, the first message including an indication of a path loss reference signal (RS) for a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set; and encode the first message for transmission to a user equipment (UE).

[0169] Example 12 may include the subject matter of Example 11 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the indication of the path loss reference RS is included in a radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE).

[0170] Example 13 may include the subject matter of Example 12 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the RRC IE is an SRS-Config for defining an SRS configuration within an uplink partial bandwidth (BWP).

[0171] Example 14 may include the subject matter of Example 13 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein a list of SRS path loss reference RSs is configured in the SRS-Config, and wherein each SRS path loss reference RS has a unique index within the SRS-Config.

[0172] Example 15 may include the subject matter of Example 11 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the path loss reference RS is a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) path loss reference RS.

[0173] Example 16 may include the subject matter of Example 11 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the gNB to: encode a second message for transmission to the UE, the second message comprising a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for activating the path loss reference RS.

[0174] Example 17 may include a method to be performed at a next generation NodeB (gNB), the method comprising: generating a first message, the first message comprising an indication of a path loss reference signal (RS) for a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set; and encoding the first message for transmission to a user equipment (UE).

[0175] Example 18 may include the subject matter of Example 17 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the indication of the path loss reference RS is included in a radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE).

[0176] Example 19 may include the subject matter of Example 18 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the RRC IE is an SRS-Config for defining an SRS configuration within an uplink partial bandwidth (BWP).

[0177] Example 20 may include the subject matter of Example 19 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein a list of SRS path loss reference RSs is configured in the SRS-Config, and wherein each SRS path loss reference RS has a unique index within the SRS-Config.

[0178] Example 21 may include the subject matter of Example 17 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the path loss reference RS is a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) path loss reference RS.

[0179] Example 22 may include the subject matter of Example 17 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the method further comprises: encoding a second message for transmission to the UE, the second message comprising a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for activating the path loss reference RS.

[0180] Example 23 may include a device comprising: a module for generating a first message, the first message comprising an indication of a path loss reference signal (RS) for a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set; and a module for encoding the first message for transmission to a user equipment (UE).

[0181] Example 24 may include the subject matter of Example 23 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the indication of the path loss reference RS is included in a radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE).

[0182] Example 25 may include the subject matter of Example 24 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the RRC IE is an SRS-Config for defining an SRS configuration within an uplink partial bandwidth (BWP).

[0183] Example 26 may include the subject matter of Example 25 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein a list of SRS path loss reference RSs is configured in the SRS-Config, and wherein each SRS path loss reference RS has a unique index within the SRS-Config.

[0184] Example 27 may include the subject matter of Example 23 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the path loss reference RS is a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) path loss reference RS.

[0185] Example 28 may include the subject matter of Example 23 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the apparatus further comprises: a module for encoding a second message for transmission to the UE, the second message comprising a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for activating the path loss reference RS.

[0186] Example 29 may include an apparatus of a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: a radio frequency (RF) interface; and one or more processors coupled to the RF interface and configured to: decode a first message from a next generation NodeB (gNB) via the RF interface, the first message comprising an indication of a path loss reference signal (RS) for a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set; decode a second message from the gNB via the RF interface, the second message comprising a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for activating the path loss reference RS; and update the transmission power of the SRS resource set based on the MAC CE.

[0187] Example 30 may include the subject matter of Example 29 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the indication of the path loss reference RS is included in a radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE).

[0188] Example 31 may include the subject matter of Example 30 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the RRC IE is an SRS-Config for defining an SRS configuration within an uplink partial bandwidth (BWP).

[0189] Example 32 may include the subject matter of Example 31 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein a list of SRS path loss reference RSs is configured in the SRS-Config, and wherein each SRS path loss reference RS has a unique index within the SRS-Config.

[0190] Example 33 may include the subject matter of Example 29 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the path loss reference RS is a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) path loss reference RS.

[0191] Example 34 may include the subject matter of Example 29 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the MAC CE includes one or more of the following fields: a serving cell ID field indicating the identity of the serving cell containing the SRS resource set to be reconfigured; a UL (uplink) BWP (fractional bandwidth) ID field indicating the UL BWP containing the SRS resource set to be reconfigured as a code point of the BWP indicator field in the DCI (downlink control information); a SUL (supplementary uplink) field indicating whether the MAC CE is applied to a NUL (normal UL) carrier or a SUL carrier configuration; an SRS resource set ID field indicating the ID of the SRS resource set to be reconfigured; and an SRS path loss reference RS ID field indicating the ID of the path loss reference RS used for the SRS resource set to be reconfigured.

[0192] Example 35 may include a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: decode a first message from a next generation NodeB (gNB), the first message including an indication of a path loss reference signal (RS) for a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set; decode a second message from the gNB, the second message including a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for activating the path loss reference RS; and update the transmission power of the SRS resource set based on the MAC CE.

[0193] Example 36 may include the subject matter of Example 35 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the indication of the path loss reference RS is included in a radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE).

[0194] Example 37 may include the subject matter of Example 36 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the RRC IE is an SRS-Config for defining an SRS configuration within an uplink partial bandwidth (BWP).

[0195] Example 38 may include the subject matter of Example 37 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein a list of SRS path loss reference RSs is configured in the SRS-Config, and wherein each SRS path loss reference RS has a unique index within the SRS-Config.

[0196] Example 39 may include the subject matter of Example 35 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the path loss reference RS is a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) path loss reference RS.

[0197] Example 40 may include a method to be performed at a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: decoding a first message from a next generation NodeB (gNB), the first message comprising an indication of a path loss reference signal (RS) for a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set; decoding a second message from the gNB, the second message comprising a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for activating the path loss reference RS; and updating a transmission power of the SRS resource set based on the MAC CE.

[0198] Example 41 may include the subject matter of Example 40 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the indication of the path loss reference RS is included in a radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE).

[0199] Example 42 may include the subject matter of Example 41 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the RRC IE is an SRS-Config for defining an SRS configuration within an uplink partial bandwidth (BWP).

[0200] Example 43 may include the subject matter of Example 42 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein a list of SRS path loss reference RSs is configured in the SRS-Config, and wherein each SRS path loss reference RS has a unique index within the SRS-Config.

[0201] Example 44 may include the subject matter of Example 40 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the path loss reference RS is a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) path loss reference RS.

[0202] Example 45 may include an apparatus comprising: a module for decoding a first message from a next generation NodeB (gNB), the first message comprising an indication of a path loss reference signal (RS) for a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set; a module for decoding a second message from the gNB, the second message comprising a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for activating the path loss reference RS; and a module for updating the transmission power of the SRS resource set based on the MACCE.

[0203] Example 46 may include the subject matter of Example 45 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the indication of the path loss reference RS is included in a radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE).

[0204] Example 47 may include the subject matter of Example 46 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the RRC IE is an SRS-Config for defining an SRS configuration within an uplink partial bandwidth (BWP).

[0205] Example 48 may include the subject matter of Example 47 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein a list of SRS path loss reference RSs is configured in the SRS-Config, and wherein each SRS path loss reference RS has a unique index within the SRS-Config.

[0206] Example 49 may include the subject matter of Example 45 or the subject matter of any other example herein, wherein the path loss reference RS is a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) path loss reference RS.

Claims

1. A device for a next generation NodeB, i.e., a gNB, wherein the device include: Radio frequency RF interface; and One or more processors coupled to the RF interface and configured to: generating a first message, the first message comprising an indication of a path loss reference signal, RS, for a sounding reference signal, SRS, resource set; and encoding the first message for transmission to a user equipment UE via the RF interface, The indication of the path loss reference RS is included in a radio resource control RRC information element IE, The RRC IE is an SRS-Config IE used to define the SRS configuration within the uplink partial bandwidth BWP. A list of SRS path loss reference RSs is configured in the SRS-Config in the SRS-Config IE, and each SRS path loss reference RS has a unique index in the SRS-Config.

2. The device according to claim 1, in, The SRS-Config also includes a list of SRS path loss reference RSs that can be used by the SRS resource set.

3. The device according to claim 1, in, The SRS-Config also includes a list of SRS path loss reference RSs that cannot be used by the SRS resource set.

4. The device according to claim 1, in, The path loss reference RS is a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH path loss reference RS.

5. The device according to claim 1, in, The one or more processors are further configured to: A second message is encoded for transmission to the UE, the second message comprising a medium access control MAC control element CE for activating the path loss reference RS.

6. The device according to claim 5, in, The MAC CE is identified by a MAC subheader with a new logical channel ID, ie, LCID.

7. The device according to claim 5, in, The MAC CE includes one or more of the following fields: A serving cell ID field indicates the identity of the serving cell containing the SRS resource set to be reconfigured; UL Uplink BWP Fractional Bandwidth ID field, indicating the UL BWP containing the SRS resource set to be reconfigured as the code point of the BWP indicator field in the DCI downlink control information; SUL supplementary uplink field, indicating whether the MAC CE is applied to NUL, i.e., normal UL carrier or SUL carrier configuration; SRS resource set ID field, indicating the ID of the SRS resource set to be reconfigured; and The SRS Path Loss Reference RS ID field indicates the ID of the path loss reference RS used for the SRS resource set to be reconfigured.

8. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by one or more processors of a next generation NodeB (gNB), cause the gNB to: generating a first message, the first message comprising an indication of a path loss reference signal, RS, for a sounding reference signal, SRS, resource set; and encoding the first message for transmission to a user equipment UE, in, The indication of the path loss reference RS is included in the radio resource control RRC information element IE, The RRC IE is an SRS-Config IE used to define the SRS configuration within the uplink partial bandwidth BWP. A list of SRS path loss reference RSs is configured in the SRS-Config in the SRS-Config IE, and each SRS path loss reference RS has a unique index in the SRS-Config.

9. The storage medium according to claim 8, in, The path loss reference RS is a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH path loss reference RS.

10. The storage medium according to claim 8, in, When the instructions are executed, the gNB: A second message is encoded for transmission to the UE, the second message comprising a medium access control MAC control element CE for activating the path loss reference RS.

11. A device of a user equipment UE, the device include: Radio frequency RF interface; and One or more processors coupled to the RF interface and configured to: decoding a first message from a next generation NodeB (gNB) via the RF interface, the first message comprising an indication of a path loss reference signal (RS) for a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set; decoding a second message from the gNB via the RF interface, the second message comprising a medium access control MAC control element CE for activating the path loss reference RS; and Based on the MAC CE, updating the transmission power of the SRS resource set, wherein the indication of the path loss reference RS is included in a radio resource control RRC information element IE, The RRC IE is an SRS-Config IE used to define the SRS configuration within the uplink partial bandwidth BWP. A list of SRS path loss reference RSs is configured in the SRS-Config in the SRS-Config IE, and each SRS path loss reference RS has a unique index in the SRS-Config.

12. The device according to claim 11, in, The path loss reference RS is a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH path loss reference RS.

13. The device according to claim 11, in, The MAC CE includes one or more of the following fields: A serving cell ID field indicates the identity of the serving cell containing the SRS resource set to be reconfigured; UL Uplink BWP Fractional Bandwidth ID field, indicating the UL BWP containing the SRS resource set to be reconfigured as the code point of the BWP indicator field in the DCI downlink control information; SUL supplementary uplink field, indicating whether the MAC CE is applied to NUL, i.e., normal UL carrier or SUL carrier configuration; SRS resource set ID field, indicating the ID of the SRS resource set to be reconfigured; and The SRS Path Loss Reference RS ID field indicates the ID of the path loss reference RS used for the SRS resource set to be reconfigured.

14. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: decoding a first message from a next generation NodeB (gNB), the first message comprising an indication of a path loss reference signal (RS) for a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set; decoding a second message from the gNB, the second message comprising a medium access control MAC control element CE for activating the path loss reference RS; and Based on the MAC CE, updating the transmission power of the SRS resource set, in, The indication of the path loss reference RS is included in the radio resource control RRC information element IE, The RRC IE is an SRS-Config IE used to define the SRS configuration within the uplink partial bandwidth BWP. A list of SRS path loss reference RSs is configured in the SRS-Config in the SRS-Config IE, and each SRS path loss reference RS has a unique index in the SRS-Config.

15. The storage medium according to claim 14, in, The path loss reference RS is a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH path loss reference RS.

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