Apparatus and method for communicating blanking periods for multi-panel UE

Abstract

There may be a gap between the time when a beam pair link (BPL) affected by a beam failure (BF) event is deactivated and the time when a replacement BPL is activated and becomes fully functional at the UE. The gap may be referred to as a blanking period. The base station may be unaware of the blanking period and may continue to transmit to the UE on the affected BPL during the blanking period. This may result in a transmission failure. Disclosed herein are apparatus and methods for determining a blanking period associated with a beam failure (BF) event and communicating a blanking indication to a base station, the blanking indication including the blanking period.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Non-Provisional Application No. 16 / 804,851, filed on February 28, 2020, entitled “APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR AMULTI-PANEL UE TO CONVEY A BLACKOUT PERIOD,” and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 812,667, filed on March 1, 2019, entitled “APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR A MULTI-PANEL UE TO CONVEY A BLACKOUT PERIOD,” the entire contents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

[0003] background

[0004] field

[0005] The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly to communicating blanking periods for a multi-panel UE. Background Art

[0006] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcast. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

[0007] These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate at a city, country, region, and even global level. An example telecommunication standard is 5G New Radio (NR). 5G NR is part of the continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability (e.g., with the Internet of Things (IoT)) and other requirements. Some aspects of 5GNR may be based on the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. There is a need for further improvements to 5G NR technology. These improvements may also be applicable to other multiple access technologies and telecommunication standards that employ these technologies.

[0008] New display technologies provide flexible and foldable UEs, but also create new issues of beam management for those UEs with multi-antenna arrays or multi-antenna panels. In case of a UE-initiated beam failure (BF) event (such as UE display folding), the beam configuration of the UE may be changed and the availability of the currently serving beam pair link (BPL) may be affected. When an existing antenna panel or BPL is deactivated, a new replacement panel or BPL may be activated. There is no mechanism to inform the gNB of the possible blanking period between deactivation of the existing panel and activation of the replacement panel.

[0009] Overview

[0010] A brief summary of one or more aspects is given below to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an exhaustive overview of all conceived aspects, and is neither intended to identify the key or critical elements of all aspects nor to define the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description that will be presented later.

[0011] There may be a gap between the time when the beam pair link (BPL) affected by the beam failure (BF) event is deactivated and the time when the replacement BPL is activated. This gap may be called a blanking period. The base station may be unaware of the blanking period and may continue to transmit to the UE on the affected BPL during the blanking period. This may result in a transmission failure.

[0012] In some aspects, some BF events initiated by the UE may be predictable. Thus, blanking periods associated with some of the UE-initiated BF events may also be predictable. Examples of UE-initiated BF events may include, but are not limited to, folding of a foldable UE display, and UE turning off antenna panels to save battery power. When such a UE is folded, the beam configuration of the UE may be changed because some antenna panels may become unavailable or deactivated.

[0013] Currently, there is no mechanism for the UE to communicate a blanking period to the gNB to minimize or avoid transmissions by the gNB on the affected BPL during the blanking period. Apparatus and methods are disclosed herein for determining a blanking period associated with a beam failure (BF) event and communicating a blanking indication to a base station, the blanking indication including the blanking period.

[0014] To achieve the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects include the features fully described below and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. However, these features are merely indicative of several of the various ways in which the principles of the various aspects may be employed, and this description is intended to cover all such aspects and their equivalents. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and an access network.

[0017] Figure 2A , 2B , 2C, and 2D are diagrams illustrating examples of a DL frame structure, a DL channel within a DL frame structure, a UL frame structure, and a UL channel within a UL frame structure, respectively.

[0018] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a base station and a user equipment (UE) in an access network according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating a base station and a UE in communication according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 5 Example BF events in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0021] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating an example blanking indication process according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example message flow between an NR 5G base station and a multi-panel UE according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0023] Figure 8 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0024] Fig. 9 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating the flow of data between different devices / components in an exemplary apparatus according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0025] Fig.10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a device employing a processing system according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0026] Fig.11 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0027] Fig.12 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating the flow of data between different devices / components in an exemplary apparatus according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0028] Fig.13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a device employing a processing system according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0029] Detailed Description

[0030] The detailed description set forth below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. This detailed description includes specific details to provide a thorough understanding of the various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid diluting such concepts.

[0031] Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented with reference to various devices and methods. These devices and methods will be described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as "elements"). These elements can be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0032] As an example, an element, or any part of an element, or any combination of elements may be implemented as a "processing system" including one or more processors. Examples of processors include: microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), application processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, systems on chip (SoCs), baseband processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gating logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform various functionalities described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in a processing system may execute software. Software should be broadly interpreted as meaning instructions, instruction sets, codes, code segments, program codes, programs, subroutines, software components, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether it is described in software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or other terms.

[0033] Accordingly, in one or more example embodiments, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, these functions may be stored or encoded on a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Computer-readable media include computer storage media. Storage media may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. As an example and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, a combination of computer-readable media of the above types, or any other medium that may be used to store computer-executable code in the form of instructions or data structures that can be accessed by a computer.

[0034] Figure 1 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and access network 100. The wireless communication system (also referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) includes a base station 102, a UE 104, and an evolved packet core (EPC) 160. The base station 102 may include a macro cell (a high-power cellular base station) and / or a small cell (a low-power cellular base station). A macro cell includes a base station. A small cell includes a femto cell, a pico cell, and a micro cell.

[0035] The base stations 102 (collectively referred to as the Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)) interface with the EPC 160 via a backhaul link 132 (e.g., an S1 interface). The base stations 102 may perform one or more of the following functions, among other functions: delivery of user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of alert messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC 160) over a backhaul link 134 (e.g., an X2 interface). The backhaul link 134 may be wired or wireless.

[0036] Base stations 102 may communicate wirelessly with UE 104. Each base station 102 may provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell 102' may have a coverage area 110' that overlaps with the coverage area 110 of one or more macro base stations 102. A network including both small cells and macro cells may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home evolved B node (eNB) (HeNB), which may provide services to a restricted group referred to as a closed subscriber group (CSG). A communication link 120 between a base station 102 and a UE 104 may include an uplink (UL) (also referred to as a reverse link) transmission from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or a downlink (DL) (also referred to as a forward link) transmission from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming and / or transmit diversity. These communication links may be through one or more carriers. The base station 102 / UE 104 may use spectrum of up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100 MHz) bandwidth for each carrier allocated in the carrier aggregation for up to a total of Yx MHz (x component carriers) for transmission in each direction. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to DL compared to UL). The component carriers may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. The primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell) and the secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

[0037] Some UEs 104 may communicate with each other using a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 192. The D2D communication link 192 may use DL / UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication link 192 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). D2D communication may be through a variety of wireless D2D communication systems, such as, for example, FlashLinQ, WiMedia, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi based on IEEE 802.11 standards, LTE, or NR.

[0038] The wireless communication system may further include a Wi-Fi access point (AP) 150 communicating with a Wi-Fi station (STA) 152 in the 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum via a communication link 154. When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the STA 152 / AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communication to determine whether the channel is available.

[0039] The small cell 102' may operate in a licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed spectrum, the small cell 102' may employ NR and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum as used by the Wi-Fi AP 150. The small cell 102' employing NR in the unlicensed spectrum may boost the coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network.

[0040] The gNB 180 may operate in millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies and / or near mmW frequencies to communicate with the UE 104. When the gNB 180 operates in mmW or near mmW frequencies, the gNB 180 may be referred to as a mmW base station. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 mm and 10 mm. The radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near mmW may extend down to 3 GHz frequencies with a wavelength of 100 mm. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz and is also referred to as centimeter waves. Communications using the mmW / near mmW radio frequency bands have extremely high path loss and short range. The mmW base station 180 may utilize beamforming 184 with the UE 104 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range.

[0041] The EPC 160 may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a serving gateway 166, a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) gateway 168, a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC) 170, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway 172. The MME 162 may be in communication with a home subscriber server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the EPC 160. In general, the MME 162 provides bearer and connection management. All user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are delivered through the serving gateway 166, which itself is connected to the PDN gateway 172. The PDN gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation and other functions. The PDN gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 are connected to IP services 176. The IP services 176 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), a PS streaming service, and / or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may provide functionality for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmissions, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS bearer services within a public land mobile network (PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS traffic to base stations 102 belonging to a multicast broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) area that broadcasts a specific service, and may be responsible for session management (start / stop) and for collecting eMBMS-related charging information.

[0042] A base station may also be referred to as a gNB, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), or some other suitable term. Base station 102 provides an access point to EPC 160 for UE 104. Examples of UE 104 include a cellular phone, a smart phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a satellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (e.g., an MP3 player), a camera, a game console, a tablet device, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, an electric meter, a gas station, an oven, or any other similar functional device. Some of UE 104 may be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., a parking meter, a gas station, an oven, a vehicle, etc.). UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communication device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology.

[0043] Refer again Figure 1 In certain aspects, the UE 104 / base station 180 may include a blanking determination module (198) configured to determine a blanking period and communicate the blanking period to a base station.

[0044] Figure 2A is a diagram 200 illustrating an example of a DL frame structure. Figure 2B is a diagram 230 illustrating an example of channels within a DL frame structure. Figure 2C is a diagram 250 illustrating an example of a UL frame structure. Figure 2D 280 is an example of illustrating channels within a UL frame structure. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels. A frame (10 ms) may be divided into 10 equally sized subframes. Each subframe may include two consecutive time slots. A resource grid may be used to represent the two time slots, each time slot including one or more time-concurrent resource blocks (RBs) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs)). The resource grid is divided into a plurality of resource elements (REs). For a normal cyclic prefix, an RB may include 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and 7 consecutive symbols in the time domain (OFDM symbols for DL; SC-FDMA symbols for UL), for a total of 84 REs. For an extended cyclic prefix, an RB may include 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and 6 consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0045] like Figure 2A As explained in the , some REs carry DL reference (pilot) signals (DL-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The DL-RS may include a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) (sometimes also referred to as a common RS), a UE-specific reference signal (UE-RS), and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). Figure 2A The CRS for antenna ports 0, 1, 2, and 3 (indicated as R0, R1, R2, and R3, respectively), the UE-RS for antenna port 5 (indicated as R5), and the CSI-RS for antenna port 15 (indicated as R) are illustrated.

[0046] Figure 2B Examples of various channels within a DL subframe of a frame are illustrated. The Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH) is within symbol 0 of slot 0 and carries an indication of whether the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) occupies 1, 2, or 3 symbols ( Figure 2BThe PDCCH occupies 3 symbols. The PDCCH carries downlink control information (DCI) in one or more control channel elements (CCEs), each CCE includes nine RE groups (REGs), and each REG includes four consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol. The UE can be configured with a UE-specific enhanced PDCCH (ePDCCH) that also carries DCI. The ePDCCH can have 2, 4, or 8 RB pairs ( Figure 2B 2 RB pairs are shown, with each subset including 1 RB pair). A physical hybrid automatic repeat request (ARQ) (HARQ) indicator channel (PHICH) is also within symbol 0 of slot 0 and carries a HARQ indicator (HI) that indicates HARQ acknowledgement (ACK) / negative ACK (NACK) feedback based on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). A primary synchronization channel (PSCH) may be within symbol 6 of slot 0 within subframes 0 and 5 of a frame. The PSCH carries a primary synchronization signal (PSS) used by the UE 104 to determine subframe / symbol timing and a physical layer identity. A secondary synchronization channel (SSCH) may be within symbol 5 of slot 0 within subframes 0 and 5 of a frame. The SSCH carries a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) used by the UE to determine a physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE may determine a physical cell identifier (PCI). Based on the PCI, the UE may determine the location of the aforementioned DL-RS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying the master information block (MIB) can be logically grouped with the PSCH and SSCH to form a synchronization signal (SS) block. The MIB provides the number of RBs in the DL system bandwidth, the PHICH configuration, and the system frame number (SFN). The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted over the PBCH (such as the system information block (SIB)), and paging messages.

[0047] like Figure 2C As explained in , some REs carry demodulation reference signals (DM-RS) for channel estimation at the base station. The UE may additionally transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS) in the last symbol of the subframe. The SRS may have a comb-tooth structure, and the UE may transmit the SRS on one of the comb teeth. The SRS may be used by the base station for channel quality estimation to enable frequency-dependent scheduling on the UL.

[0048] Figure 2DExamples of various channels within the UL subframe of a frame are illustrated. The physical random access channel (PRACH) may be within one or more subframes within a frame based on the PRACH configuration. The PRACH may include 6 consecutive RB pairs within a subframe. The PRACH allows the UE to perform initial system access and achieve UL synchronization. The physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) may be located at the edge of the UL system bandwidth. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, channel quality indicators (CQI), precoding matrix indicators (PMI), rank indicators (RI), and HARQ ACK / NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data and may additionally be used to carry buffer status reports (BSRs), power headroom reports (PHRs), and / or UCI.

[0049] Figure 3 3 is a block diagram of a base station 310 in communication with a UE 350 in an access network. In the DL, IP packets from the EPC 160 may be provided to a controller / processor 375. The controller / processor 375 implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality. Layer 3 includes a radio resource control (RRC) layer, and layer 2 includes a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a media access control (MAC) layer. The controller / processor 375 provides RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., MIB, SIB), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration of UE measurement reports; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, security (ciphering, cipher decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with delivery of upper layer packet data units (PDUs), error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0050] The transmit (TX) processor 316 and the receive (RX) processor 370 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The TX processor 316 handles the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an OFDM subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then combined together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially precoded to produce multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator 374 may be used to determine coding and modulation schemes and for spatial processing. The channel estimates may be derived from a reference signal and / or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 350. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a different antenna 320 via a separate transmitter 318TX. Each transmitter 318TX may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0051] At the UE 350, each receiver 354RX receives a signal through its corresponding antenna 352. Each receiver 354RX recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to a receive (RX) processor 356. The TX processor 368 and the RX processor 356 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The RX processor 356 can perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial stream destined for the UE 350. If there are multiple spatial streams destined for the UE 350, they can be combined into a single OFDM symbol stream by the RX processor 356. The RX processor 356 then transforms the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier and the reference signal are recovered and demodulated by determining the signal constellation point most likely transmitted by the base station 310. These soft decisions can be based on the channel estimates calculated by the channel estimator 358. These soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally transmitted on the physical channel by the base station 310. These data and control signals are then provided to the controller / processor 359 which implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality.

[0052] The controller / processor 359 may be associated with a memory 360 that stores program codes and data. The memory 360 may be referred to as a computer readable medium. In the UL, the controller / processor 359 provides demultiplexing between transport channels and logical channels, packet reassembly, cipher interpretation, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the EPC 160. The controller / processor 359 is also responsible for error detection using ACK and / or NACK protocols to support HARQ operations.

[0053] Similar to the functionality described in conjunction with DL transmissions performed by the base station 310, the controller / processor 359 provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with delivery of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0054] Channel estimates derived by a channel estimator 358 from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 310 may be used by a TX processor 368 to select the appropriate coding and modulation schemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the TX processor 368 may be provided to different antennas 352 via separate transmitters 354TX. Each transmitter 354TX may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0055] UL transmissions are processed at the base station 310 in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with the receiver functionality at the UE 350. Each receiver 318RX receives a signal through its respective antenna 320. Each receiver 318RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to a RX processor 370.

[0056] The controller / processor 375 may be associated with a memory 376 that stores program codes and data. The memory 376 may be referred to as a computer readable medium. In the UL, the controller / processor 375 provides demultiplexing between transport channels and logical channels, packet reassembly, cipher decoding, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 350. The IP packets from the controller / processor 375 may be provided to the EPC 160. The controller / processor 375 is also responsible for error detection using ACK and / or NACK protocols to support HARQ operations.

[0057] Figure 4 4 is a diagram illustrating a base station 402 and a UE 404 in communication. Figure 4 , the base station 402 may transmit a beamformed signal to the UE 404 in one or more directions 402a, 402b, 402c, 402d, 402e, 402f, 402g, 402h. The UE 404 may receive the beamformed signal from the base station 402 in one or more receive directions 404a, 404b, 404c, 404d. The UE 404 may also transmit a beamformed signal to the base station 402 in one or more directions 404a-404d. The base station 402 may receive the beamformed signal from the UE 404 in one or more receive directions 402a-402h. The base station 402 / UE 404 may perform beam training to determine the best receive direction and transmit direction for each of the base station 402 / UE 404. The transmit direction and receive direction of the base station 402 may be the same or may be different. The transmit direction and receive direction of the UE 404 may be the same or may be different. UE 404 may be a multi-panel UE configured to determine a blanking period and transmit a blanking indication to a base station.

[0058] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example UE display 500. The UE display 500 has two display arrangements 501 and 511. Arrangement 501 shows a display with a 4x2 antenna array / panel 503 in a flat, unfolded arrangement. Display arrangement 511 shows a UE display with three antenna arrays (513, 515 and 517, respectively) in a folded arrangement. Antenna array 513 - a 4x1 antenna panel - remains usable after the display is folded. The combined antenna array 515 - a 4x2 antenna panel - remains substantially usable, but the array configuration may have changed (due to the UE display folding event), which may result in changes in antenna size and beamforming gain. In Figure 5 The antenna array 517 not fully shown in FIG. 5 —a 4×1 antenna panel—may be hidden within the folded display, and at least some of the antenna elements may be turned off and rendered unusable as a result of the display being folded.

[0059] Figure 5 It is explained that a BF event such as UE display folding may cause a certain antenna array of the UE to be reconfigured and a certain antenna panel to be turned off and a certain other panel to be activated. The UE display folding may also cause some beam pair links on the affected antenna panel to be reconfigured or / and their size and beamforming gain to be changed. Accordingly, a BF event such as UE display folding may cause a change in the received signal quality.

[0060] Figure 6 6 is a diagram illustrating an example blanking indication process 600. The blanking indication process 600 has a horizontal axis indicating time and a vertical axis indicating the signal quality of a beam pair link (BPL) on an antenna panel. At time 601 (approximately time 100ms), the BPL begins to shut down (e.g., due to a BF event (such as UE display folding)). At time 603, the UE can detect the ongoing shutdown and predict that the panel will be out of service at time 605 (approximately 200ms). The UE can also know that the new panel will begin warming up at time 607 (approximately 250ms). Accordingly, there is at least a blanking period from 200ms to approximately 250ms. The UE can report the blanking period to the base station at time 603. The base station can suppress any transmission on the current panel or the new panel during the scheduled blanking period, which will reduce potential transmission failures.

[0061] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example message flow 700 between a base station and a multi-panel UE in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Message flow 700 illustrates an example message exchange for reporting a blanking period associated with a beam failure caused by an internal event. Examples of internal events may include a display folding at the UE and the UE turning off a panel to save power. Base station 704 may be an NR 5G gNB, and UE 702 may be a 5G-capable UE with multiple antenna panels. Dashed lines indicate that associated steps may be optional.

[0062] In block 705, the UE 702 may detect and predict BF caused by an event initiated by the UE itself, such as UE display folding. The UE may have multiple sensors, including a gyroscope sensor configured to detect the start of display folding. Once the UE is reasonably confident of a display folding event, the UE may predict and determine when the panel will be out of service. For example, the UE may determine which panel(s) of a plurality of panels will become unavailable and which panel(s) will remain functional once the folding event is complete based on the detected angle and movement of the display folding. The UE may then determine a blanking period based on the predicted time when the affected panel will be out of service and the time when the replacement panel will be in service.

[0063] At block 706, upon detecting a BF event and predicting the impact of the event, the UE sends a blanking indication to the base station. The blanking indication informs the base station at least of the duration of the blanking period and the affected BPL and associated antenna panel(s). The blanking indication sent to the base station may include various information that will be discussed in detail later.

[0064] At block 707, upon receiving the blanking indication from the UE, the base station may know which UE panel(s) have become unavailable for communication (due to the detected BF event) and how long it may take for a new panel to take over. In some example aspects, the blanking indication may not directly indicate the duration of the blanking period. The base station may determine the blanking period and then refrain from using any of the affected BPLs associated with the affected panel when communicating with the UE during the blanking period.

[0065] At block 708, the base station may send a confirmation message to the UE upon stopping monitoring the affected BPL for the blanking period to confirm the action taken on the base station side. The confirmation message may include other information, such as a replacement BPL.

[0066] In block 709, upon receiving the confirmation message from the base station, the UE may deactivate the affected panel(s) on the UE side and also stop monitoring the affected BPL to at least save the battery power for beam measurement and beam monitoring. The UE may also take some other actions, such as activating an alternative BPL for communicating with the base station.

[0067] As indicated above, Figure 7 This is provided as an example only. Other examples with different message flow sequences are possible and may differ from the examples described above. Figure 7 Examples described, but still within the spirit of the present disclosure.

[0068] Figure 8 8 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method 800 according to various aspects of the present disclosure. The method 800 implements a process for a UE having multiple panels to report a blanking period to a base station. The method 800 may be performed by a UE (such as Figure 7 UE 702 or Figure 1 Optional steps are indicated by dashed lines.

[0069] At 802, method 800 includes determining, by the UE, a blanking period. In one example aspect, the UE may first detect the start of a BF event initiated by the UE, such as folding of the UE display. The UE may be configured with various sensors, including one or more gyroscope sensors. For example, the gyroscope sensor may be configured to detect an angular velocity, i.e., a change in rotation angle per second of movement of the UE display, and the UE may determine that the display is folding based on the measured angular velocity.

[0070] In one example aspect, determining the blanking period may include identifying the configuration of the UE's receiving and transmitting components (such as antenna panels). In one example aspect, when the UE is reasonably confident of a BF event, the UE may predict the time when the affected antenna panel or the affected BPL will be completely out of service. The UE also knows or can predict the time when a replacement BPL or antenna panel will be put into service, in part because the UE is the one activating the new component. In addition, in one example aspect, the UE may also predict how long the BF event may take to complete, and thereby predict how long the affected BPL will remain available. Accordingly, the UE may determine the blanking period based on the predicted time when the affected panel will be out of service and the predicted time when the replacement component will be put into service.

[0071] At 804, method 800 includes communicating a blanking indication to an associated gNB. The UE may send the blanking indication to the base station to request the gNB to stop monitoring the affected antenna panel(s) / BPL. In one example aspect, the UE may transmit the blanking indication on a carrier frequency different from the current carrier frequency at the affected BPL or another BPL different from the affected BPL.

[0072] In one example aspect, the UE may transmit a blanking indication in a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). In another example aspect, the blanking indication may be part of a regular scheduling request included in uplink control information (UCI) sent to the gNB.

[0073] In one example aspect, communicating the blanking indication may include multiple steps. For example, the UE may first transmit a scheduling request (SR) to request an uplink transmission. The UE may then receive a downlink signaling message (such as a PDCCH) in response to the SR. The PDCCH may include resource allocations for transmission of the blanking indication. Upon receiving the downlink signaling message, the UE may then transmit the blanking indication based on the received downlink signaling message. In an alternative example aspect, in the event that the UE happens to have uplink transmission resources, the UE may directly transmit the blanking indication without first transmitting the SR.

[0074] In one example aspect, the blanking indication may include a timestamp indicating the start of the blanking period, a timestamp indicating the end of the blanking period, an indication of the BPL, an identifier of an antenna panel associated with the BPL with a deactivation timestamp, an identifier of a second antenna panel associated with the BPL with an activation timestamp. The indication of the BPL may include an ID of the associated antenna panel, or may be a unique BPL ID. In one aspect, the BPL may be indicated explicitly. In another aspect, the BPL may be indicated implicitly via other resources.

[0075] In one example aspect, the blanking indication may include an indicator as to whether the entire UE is affected by the BF event. The indicator is set if the current serving antenna panel is the last antenna panel serving the UE.

[0076] The blanking indication may include the blanking period implicitly or explicitly. In one example aspect, if the activation timestamp is after the deactivation timestamp, the blanking period is implicitly indicated by the difference between the two timestamps.

[0077] At 806, method 800 includes receiving an acknowledgment from the base station in response to the blanking indication. The UE may receive an acknowledgment message from the gNB in ​​response to the blanking indication sent at block 804. In one example aspect, the acknowledgment message may include an identifier of an alternate BPL that the gNB recommends the UE use, which may be the same as or different from the alternate BPL recommended by the UE. The acknowledgment message may also include certain other information, such as UE resource allocations for uplink or downlink communications, and / or an indication of actions that the gNB has taken in response to receiving the blanking indication. In some example aspect, the gNB may not send the acknowledgment alone, and may combine it with some other signaling message.

[0078] At 808, method 800 includes deactivating the affected antenna panel(s) and stopping monitoring the affected BPLs. The UE may deactivate the affected antenna panel from the active panel list even if only some BPLs in the panel are in active service. The UE may also maintain an available BPL list to track all BPLs currently serving communications with the gNB. The UE may also deactivate the affected BPLs.

[0079] Additionally, at 808, the UE may also stop monitoring the affected BPL. The UE may stop monitoring the link quality of the affected BPL, including measurements of reference signal received power (RSRP), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) of the affected BPL. Stopping monitoring the affected BPL may also mean that the UE does not expect any traffic scheduled on the affected BPL for the blanking period. Stopping monitoring the affected BPL may also include not sending any feedback to the gNB on the affected BPL.

[0080] Method 800 is used for illustrative purposes and shows a possible process for UE to report blanking period to base station. In fact, one or more steps shown in the illustrative flow chart of method 800 can be combined with other steps, performed in any suitable order, performed in parallel (e.g., simultaneously or substantially simultaneously), or removed.

[0081] Fig. 9900 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating the data flow between different devices / components in an exemplary device 902. The device can be a UE. The device includes: a receiving component 904 that receives an acknowledgement message from an associated gNB 950; a blanking component 906 that can be configured to determine a blanking period and a blanking indication; a BPL component 908 that can be configured to detect a BF event and determine and predict various times and effects on the BPL; and a transmission component 910 that is configured to transmit at least a blanking indication to the gNB 950 to stop monitoring one or more affected BPLs.

[0082] The apparatus may include executing Figure 7 and 8 The additional components of each box of the algorithm in the preceding flowchart. Thus, Figure 7 and 8 Each block in the aforementioned flow chart may be performed by a component and the device may include one or more of these components. These components may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to perform the process / algorithm, implemented by a processor configured to perform the process / algorithm, stored in a computer-readable medium for implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

[0083] Fig.10 1 is a diagram 1000 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of a device 902' employing a processing system 1014. The processing system 1014 may be implemented with a bus architecture generally represented by a bus 1024. Depending on the specific application of the processing system 1014 and the overall design constraints, the bus 1024 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges. The bus 1024 links various circuits together, including one or more processors and / or hardware components (represented by the processor 1004, components 904, 906, 908, and 908, and computer-readable medium / memory 1006). The bus 1024 may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art and therefore will not be described further.

[0084] The processing system 1014 may be coupled to the transceiver 1010. The transceiver 1010 is coupled to one or more antennas 1020. The transceiver 1010 provides a means for communicating with various other devices via a transmission medium. The transceiver 1010 receives signals from the one or more antennas 1020, extracts information from the received signals, and provides the extracted information to the processing system 1014 (specifically, the receiving component 904). In addition, the transceiver 1010 receives information from the processing system 1014 (specifically, the transmitting component 919), and generates signals to be applied to the one or more antennas 1020 based on the received information. The processing system 1014 includes a processor 1004 coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 1006. The processor 1004 is responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium / memory 1006. The software, when executed by the processor 1004, causes the processing system 1014 to perform the various functions described above for any particular device. The computer-readable medium / memory 1006 may also be used to store data manipulated by the processor 1004 when executing software. The processing system 1014 further includes at least one of the components 904, 906, 908, and 908. These components may be software components running in the processor 1004, software components resident / stored in the computer-readable medium / memory 1006, one or more hardware components coupled to the processor 1004, or some combination thereof. The processing system 1014 may be a component of the UE 350 and may include the memory 360 and / or at least one of the following: the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller / processor 359.

[0085] In one configuration, the device 902 / 902' for wireless communication includes means for determining a blanking period, and means for communicating a blanking indication to an associated generalized Node B (gNB), means for receiving an acknowledgment from the gNB, and means for deactivating the affected panel and stopping monitoring the affected BPL. The aforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementioned components of the device 1002 and / or the processing system 1014 of the device 902' configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. As described above, the processing system 1014 may include a TX processor 368, an RX processor 356, and a controller / processor 359. As such, in one configuration, the aforementioned means may be a TX processor 368, an RX processor 356, and a controller / processor 359 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

[0086] Fig.11 1 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method 1100 according to various aspects of the present disclosure. The method 1100 implements a process for a base station to cooperatively indicate a blanking period with a UE having multiple panels. The method 1100 may be performed by a base station (such as Figure 7 gNB 704, or Figure 1 Optional steps are indicated by dashed lines.

[0087] At 1102, method 1100 can include receiving a blanking indication from a UE. The UE can send the blanking indication to a base station so that the base station can stop monitoring the affected antenna panel(s).

[0088] In one example aspect, the base station may receive the blanking indication on a carrier frequency different from the current carrier frequency at the affected BPL or another BPL. In one example aspect, the base station may receive the blanking indication in a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). In another example aspect, the blanking indication may be part of a regular scheduling request included in uplink control information (UCI) sent to the base station.

[0089] In one example aspect, the base station may receive the blanking indication in multiple steps. For example, the base station may first receive a scheduling request (SR) to request an uplink transmission. The UE may then transmit a downlink signaling message (such as a PDCCH) in response to the SR. The PDCCH may include resource allocations for the transmission of the blanking indication. The base station may then receive the blanking indication on the resources allocated in the transmitted downlink signaling message. In an alternative example aspect, in the case where the UE happens to have uplink transmission resources, the base station may directly receive the blanking indication without first receiving the SR.

[0090] In one example aspect, the blanking indication may include a timestamp indicating the start of the blanking period, a timestamp indicating the end of the blanking period, an indication of the BPL, an identifier of an antenna panel associated with the BPL with a deactivation timestamp, and an identifier of a second antenna panel associated with the BPL with an activation timestamp. The indication of the BPL may include an ID of the associated antenna panel, and / or a unique BPL ID. In one aspect, the BPL may be indicated explicitly. In another example aspect, the BPL may be indicated implicitly via other resources.

[0091] In one example aspect, the blanking indication may include an indicator as to whether the entire UE is affected by the BF event. The indicator is set if the current serving antenna panel is the last antenna panel serving the UE. If the indicator is set, the base station may stop monitoring all BPLs associated with the UE for the blanking period.

[0092] At 1104, method 1100 includes determining a blanking period. The base station may determine the blanking period based on the received blanking indication. The blanking period may be indicated explicitly or implicitly. If the blanking period is implicitly indicated, the base station may determine the blanking period based on other information. For example, if the activation timestamp is greater than the deactivation timestamp, the blanking period is implicitly indicated by the difference between the two timestamps.

[0093] At 1106, method 1100 includes stopping monitoring the affected BPL. As a result, the base station may stop monitoring the BLP associated with the panel. Stopping monitoring the affected BPL may also mean that the base station refrains from scheduling any transmission on the affected BPL for the received blanking period. Stopping monitoring the affected BPL may also include not expecting any feedback from the UE on the affected BPL for the blanking period.

[0094] At 1108, method 1100 includes communicating an acknowledgment to the UE. In one example aspect, the acknowledgment message may include an identifier of an alternative BPL that the base station recommends the UE to use, which may be the same as or different from the alternative BPL recommended by the UE. The acknowledgment message may also include certain other information, such as UE resource allocations for uplink or downlink communications with the base station, and / or an indication of actions that the base station has taken in response to receiving the blanking indication. In some example aspects, the base station may not send any individual acknowledgments, and / or may combine the acknowledgment message with certain other signaling messages.

[0095] Method 1100 is for illustrative purposes and shows one possible process for gNB-assisted UE reporting blanking periods. In practice, one or more steps shown in the illustrative flow chart of method 1100 may be combined with other steps, performed in any suitable order, performed in parallel (e.g., simultaneously or substantially simultaneously), or removed.

[0096] Fig.12 12 is a conceptual data flow diagram 1200 illustrating the data flow between different devices / components in an exemplary device 1202. The device can be a gNB. The device includes: a receiving component 1204 that receives a blanking indication from an associated UE 1250; a blanking component 906 that can be configured to determine a blanking period and a blanking indication; a BPL component 1208 that can be configured to detect a BF event, determine and predict an impact on BPL; and a transmission component 1210 that is configured to transmit at least an acknowledgement message to the UE 1250.

[0097] The apparatus may include executing Figure 7 and 11 The additional components of each box of the algorithm in the preceding flowchart. Thus, Figure 7 and 11Each block in the aforementioned flow chart may be performed by a component and the device may include one or more of these components. These components may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to perform the process / algorithm, implemented by a processor configured to perform the process / algorithm, stored in a computer-readable medium for implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

[0098] Fig.13 1300 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of a device 1202' employing a processing system 1314. The processing system 1314 may be implemented with a bus architecture generally represented by a bus 1324. Depending on the specific application of the processing system 1314 and the overall design constraints, the bus 1324 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges. The bus 1324 links various circuits together, including one or more processors and / or hardware components (represented by the processor 1304, components 1204, 1206, 1208, and 1210, and the computer-readable medium / memory 1306). The bus 1324 may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art and therefore will not be described further.

[0099] The processing system 1314 may be coupled to the transceiver 1310. The transceiver 1310 is coupled to one or more antennas 1320. The transceiver 1310 provides a means for communicating with various other devices over a transmission medium. The transceiver 1310 receives signals from the one or more antennas 1320, extracts information from the received signals, and provides the extracted information to the processing system 1314 (specifically, the receiving component 1204). In addition, the transceiver 1310 receives information from the processing system 1314 (specifically, the transmitting component 1210) and generates signals to be applied to the one or more antennas 1320 based on the received information. The processing system 1314 includes a processor 1304 coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 1306. The processor 1304 is responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium / memory 1306. The software, when executed by the processor 1304, causes the processing system 1314 to perform the various functions described above for any particular device. The computer-readable medium / memory 1306 may also be used to store data manipulated by the processor 1304 when executing software. The processing system 1314 further includes at least one of the components 1204, 1206, 1208, and 1210. These components may be software components running in the processor 1304, software components resident / stored in the computer-readable medium / memory 1306, one or more hardware components coupled to the processor 1304, or some combination thereof. The processing system 1314 may be a component of the base station 310 and may include the memory 376 and / or at least one of the following: the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller / processor 375.

[0100] In one configuration, the device 1202 / 1202' for wireless communication includes a device for receiving a blanking indication from a UE, a device for stopping monitoring an affected BPL, and a device for communicating a confirmation message. The aforementioned means may be one or more components in the aforementioned components of the device 1202 and / or the processing system 1314 of the device 1202' configured to perform the functions described by the aforementioned means. As described above, the processing system 1014 may include a TX processor 316, an RX processor 370, and a controller / processor 375. Thus, in one configuration, the aforementioned means may be a TX processor 316, an RX processor 370, and a controller / processor 375 configured to perform the functions described by the aforementioned means.

[0101] It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of each box in the disclosed process / flowchart is an illustration of an exemplary approach. It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of each box in these process / flowcharts can be rearranged based on design preferences. In addition, some boxes can be combined or omitted. The attached method claims present the elements of various boxes in an exemplary order and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

[0102] The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be easily understood by those skilled in the art, and the universal principles defined in this article can be applied to other aspects. Therefore, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown in this article, but should be granted the full scope consistent with the claims in language, wherein the singular reference to the elements is not intended to indicate "there is only one", but one or more, unless otherwise stated. The wording "exemplary" is used herein to mean "used as an example, instance or explanation". Any aspect described as "exemplary" herein does not have to be interpreted as being superior to or superior to other aspects. Unless otherwise stated, the term "some / certain" refers to one or more. Combinations such as "at least one of A, B or C", "one or more of A, B or C", "at least one of A, B and C", "one or more of A, B and C" and "A, B, C or any combination thereof" include any combination of A, B and / or C, and may include multiple A, multiple B or multiple C. Specifically, combinations such as "at least one of A, B, or C," "one or more of A, B, or C," "at least one of A, B, and C," "one or more of A, B, and C," and "A, B, C, or any combination thereof" may be A only, B only, C only, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, wherein any such combination may include one or more members of A, B, or C. All structural and functional equivalents of the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are currently or hereafter known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be covered by the claims. In addition, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public, regardless of whether such disclosure is expressly recorded in the claims. The terms "module," "mechanism," "element," "device," and the like may not be a substitute for the term "means." Thus, no claim element should be interpreted as a means-plus-function unless the element is explicitly stated using the phrase "means for..."

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication at a user equipment UE, comprising: determining a blanking period associated with a beam failure (BF) event affecting a beam pair link (BPL), wherein the blanking period is a gap between when the BPL affected by the BF event is deactivated and when a replacement BPL is activated; and A blanking indication is communicated to a base station, the blanking indication including the blanking period.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the blanking period comprises: Identifies the configuration of the UE receiving and transmitting components.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the blanking period comprises: identifying at least one antenna panel affected by the BF event, and The blanking period for at least one BPL associated with the at least one antenna panel is predicted.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: An acknowledgement message is received from the base station in response to the blanking indication.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: The monitoring of the BPL is stopped upon receipt of the confirmation message from the base station.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein stopping monitoring the BPL further comprises: Monitoring of the BPL for scheduled downlink transmissions is stopped during the blanking period.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein communicating the blanking indication comprises: The blanking indication is transmitted on the BPL or another BPL on a carrier frequency different from a current carrier frequency.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein communicating the blanking indication comprises: Transmitting a scheduling request SR for requesting uplink transmission; receiving a downlink signaling message in response to the SR; as well as The blanking indication is transmitted based on a received downlink signaling message.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein communicating the blanking indication comprises: A detailed blanking report is transmitted in an uplink message without first transmitting a scheduling request SR.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the blanking indication comprises one or more of: a first timestamp indicating the start of the blanking period; a second timestamp indicating an end of the blanking period; an indication of an identifier of the BPL; an identifier of a first antenna panel associated with the BPL with a deactivation timestamp; as well as An identifier of a second antenna panel associated with the replacement BPL with an activation timestamp.

11. The method of claim 3, wherein the blanking indication further comprises an indicator as to whether the entire UE is affected, and the indicator is set when the at least one antenna panel is the last antenna panel serving the UE.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the blanking period is implicitly indicated in a case where the activation timestamp is greater than the deactivation timestamp.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the identifier of the BPL is associated with a transmission configuration indicator TCI state, an antenna panel ID, an SRS resource ID, an RS resource and / or an assigned target RS resource, or wherein the identifier of the BPL is associated with a configuration of an RS.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the configuration of the RS indicates spatial relationship information linking the SRS resource with the RS resource or antenna panel ID.

15. A method for wireless communication at a base station, the base station being in communication with a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving a blanking indication from the UE, the blanking indication reporting a beam failure (BF) event affecting at least one beam pair link (BPL); as well as A blanking period is determined from the received blanking indication, wherein the blanking period is a gap between a time when a BPL affected by the BF event is deactivated and a time when a replacement BPL is activated, and wherein the blanking indication includes the blanking period.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the blanking indication comprises at least one or more of the following: a timestamp indicating the start of the blanking period; a timestamp indicating the end of the blanking period; an indication of an identifier of the at least one BPL; an identifier of an antenna panel associated with the at least one BPL with a deactivation timestamp; as well as An identifier of a second antenna panel associated with the replacement BPL with an activation timestamp.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the blanking period is implicitly indicated in case the activation timestamp is subsequent to the deactivation timestamp.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the blanking period comprises: identifying at least one antenna panel affected by the BF event, and The blanking period for the at least one BPL associated with the at least one antenna panel is identified based on the activation timestamp and the deactivation timestamp.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising: An acknowledgement message is transmitted to the UE to request the base station to refrain from transmitting on the at least one affected BPL during the blanking period.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising: Monitoring of the at least one BPL is stopped upon receiving the blanking indication.

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising: Uplink transmissions and downlink transmissions are scheduled based at least in part on the determined blanking periods.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving the blanking indication comprises: receiving a scheduling request SR for requesting uplink transmission; transmitting a downlink signaling message in response to the SR; as well as An uplink report for the blanking period based on the received downlink signaling message is received.

23. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving the blanking indication comprises: A detailed blanking report is received in an uplink message without first transmitting a scheduling request SR.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein: The blanking indication further includes an indicator as to whether the entire UE is affected, and wherein the indicator is set if the at least one antenna panel is the last antenna panel serving the UE.

25. The method of claim 1 6 , wherein the identifier of at least one BPL is associated with a transmission configuration indicator TCI state, an antenna panel ID, an SRS resource ID, an RS resource and / or an assigned target RS resource, or wherein the identifier of at least one BPL is associated with a configuration of an RS. 26 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the configuration of the RS indicates spatial relationship information linking the SRS resource with the RS resource or an antenna panel ID.

27. A device for wireless communication by a user equipment UE, comprising: Memory; as well as at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to cause the UE to: determining a blanking period associated with a beam failure (BF) event affecting a beam pair link (BPL), wherein the blanking period is a gap between when the BPL affected by the BF event is deactivated and when a replacement BPL is activated; and A blanking indication is communicated to a base station, the blanking indication including the blanking period.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein determining the blanking period comprises: Identifies the configuration of the UE receiving and transmitting components.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein determining the blanking period comprises: identifying at least one antenna panel affected by the BF event, and The blanking period for at least one BPL associated with the at least one antenna panel is predicted.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the UE to: An acknowledgement message is received from the base station in response to the blanking indication.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the UE to: The monitoring of the BPL is stopped upon receipt of the confirmation message from the base station.

32. The apparatus of claim 31 , wherein ceasing to monitor the BPL further comprises: Monitoring of the BPL for scheduled downlink transmissions is stopped during the blanking period.

33. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein communicating the blanking indication comprises: The blanking indication is transmitted on the BPL or another BPL on a carrier frequency different from a current carrier frequency.

34. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein communicating the blanking indication comprises: Transmitting a scheduling request SR for requesting uplink transmission; receiving a downlink signaling message in response to the SR; as well as The blanking indication is transmitted based on a received downlink signaling message.

35. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein communicating the blanking indication comprises: A detailed blanking report is transmitted in an uplink message without first transmitting a scheduling request SR.

36. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the blanking indication comprises one or more of: a first timestamp indicating the start of the blanking period; a second timestamp indicating an end of the blanking period; an indication of an identifier of the BPL; an identifier of a first antenna panel associated with the BPL with a deactivation timestamp; as well as An identifier of a second antenna panel associated with the replacement BPL with an activation timestamp.

37. A device for wireless communication by a user equipment UE, comprising: means for determining a blanking period associated with a beam failure (BF) event affecting a beam pair link (BPL), wherein the blanking period is a gap between when the BPL affected by the BF event is deactivated and when a replacement BPL is activated; and Means for communicating a blanking indication to a base station, the blanking indication comprising the blanking period.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the means for determining the blanking period comprises: Means for identifying configuration of UE receive and transmit components.

39. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the means for determining the blanking period comprises: Means for identifying at least one antenna panel affected by the BF event and predicting the blanking period for at least one BPL associated with the at least one antenna panel.

40. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the means for communicating the blanking indication comprises: means for transmitting a scheduling request SR for requesting uplink transmission; means for receiving a downlink signaling message in response to the SR; as well as Means for transmitting the blanking indication based on the received downlink signaling message.

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