TCI changes enhanced

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to TCI change enhancement. A user equipment (UE) is configured to change a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state. The UE receives a network flag indicating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state change configuration of the network from a base station; determines a time span for continuing to use a current TCI state before switching to a new TCI state based on the network flag; and switches to the new TCI state after the time span.

Description

[0001] Priority claim / incorporation by reference

[0002] This patent application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 63 / 031,244, filed on May 28, 2020, entitled “TCI Change Enhancement,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Background Art

[0003] The transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state contains parameters for configuring the quasi-colocation (QCL) relationship between one or more downlink (DL) reference signals (DLRS) and the corresponding antenna ports. The TCI state change can be implemented by the network and indicated to the user equipment (UE) in the network. The UE should complete the switch from the previous TCI state to the new TCI state within the specified delay time. Summary of the invention

[0004] Some exemplary embodiments relate to a processor of a user equipment (UE) that communicates with a base station of a network and is configured to perform operations. The operations include: receiving a network flag indicating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state change configuration of the network from the base station; determining a time span for continuing to use a current TCI state before switching to a new TCI state based on the network flag; and switching to the new TCI state after the time span.

[0005] Other exemplary embodiments are directed to a user equipment (UE) having: a transceiver configured to communicate with a base station of a network; and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform operations. The operations include: receiving a network flag indicating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state change configuration of the network from the base station; determining a time span for continuing to use a current TCI state before switching to a new TCI state based on the network flag; and switching to the new TCI state after the time span.

[0006] Other exemplary embodiments also relate to a processor of a user equipment (UE) that communicates with a base station of a network and is configured to perform operations. The operations include: receiving a TCI state change indicator in any one of a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) or a radio resource control (RRC) activation command from the base station; using a current TCI state within a first time span when the TCI state change indicator is based on the MAC CE; and using the current TCI state within a second time span different from the first time span when the TCI state change indicator is based on the RRC. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] Figure 1Network arrangements according to various exemplary embodiments are shown.

[0008] Figure 2 An exemplary UE according to various exemplary embodiments is shown.

[0009] Figure 3 An exemplary network base station is shown according to various exemplary embodiments.

[0010] Figure 4a A first timing diagram of TCI state changes according to various exemplary embodiments is shown.

[0011] Figure 4b A second timing diagram of TCI state changes is shown according to various exemplary embodiments.

[0012] Figure 5 Methods of determining UE behavior based on network configuration for TCI state changes indicated by a network flag according to various exemplary embodiments are shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0013] The exemplary embodiments may be further understood with reference to the following description and associated drawings, in which similar elements have the same figure numbers. The exemplary embodiments describe the configuration of a user equipment (UE) in a 5G New Radio (NR) network related to the allowed delay time for switching TCI states. The delay time may be specified in different ways in various network versions, and mismatches between versions may occur, for example, between a new version UE and a network using an older version. When such a mismatch occurs between network UE behavior expectations and actual UE behavior, network and UE resources may be wasted. According to some exemplary embodiments, a network flag is used to indicate the network version or network TCI usage to the UE so that the UE behavior can be consistent with network expectations.

[0014] Network / Equipment

[0015] Figure 1 An exemplary network arrangement 100 according to various exemplary embodiments is shown. The exemplary network arrangement 100 includes a user equipment (UE) 110. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a UE may be any type of electronic component configured to communicate via a network, such as a mobile phone, a tablet, a smart phone, a phablet, an embedded device, a wearable device, a Cat-M device, a Cat-M1 device, an MTC device, an eMTC device, other types of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, etc. It should also be understood that an actual network arrangement may include any number of UEs used by any number of users. Therefore, for purposes of illustration, only an example with a single UE 110 is provided.

[0016] UE 110 can communicate directly with one or more networks. In the example of network configuration 100, the networks with which UE 110 can wirelessly communicate are 5G NR radio access network (5G NR-RAN) 120, LTE radio access network (LTE-RAN) 122, and wireless local area network (WLAN) 124. Therefore, UE 110 may include a 5G NR chipset that communicates with 5G NR-RAN 120, an LTE chipset that communicates with LTE-RAN122, and an ISM chipset that communicates with WLAN 124. However, UE 110 may also communicate with other types of networks (e.g., legacy cellular networks), and UE 110 may also communicate with the network via a wired connection. With respect to an exemplary embodiment, UE 110 may establish a connection with 5G NR RAN 122.

[0017] 5G NR-RAN 120 and LTE-RAN 122 may be parts of cellular networks that may be deployed by cellular providers (e.g., Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.). These networks 120, 122 may include, for example, cells or base stations (NodeB, eNodeB, HeNB, eNBS, gNB, gNodeB, macrocell base stations, microcell base stations, small cell base stations, femtocell base stations, etc.) configured to send and receive traffic from UEs equipped with appropriate cellular chipsets. WLAN 124 may include any type of wireless local area network (WiFi, hotspot, IEEE 802.11x network, etc.).

[0018] UE 110 may be connected to 5G NR-RAN via at least one of next generation nodeB (gNB) 120A and / or gNB 120B. gNB 120A, 120B may be configured with necessary hardware (e.g., antenna array), software and / or firmware to perform massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) functionality. Massive MIMO may refer to a base station configured to generate multiple beams for multiple UEs. Reference to two gNBs 120A, 120B is for illustrative purposes only. The exemplary embodiments may apply to any suitable number of gNBs.

[0019] In addition to the networks 120, 122, and 124, the network arrangement 100 includes a cellular core network 130, the Internet 140, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) 150, and a network service backbone 160. The cellular core network 130 can be viewed as an interconnected collection of components that manage the operation and traffic of the cellular network. The cellular core network 130 also manages the traffic flowing between the cellular network and the Internet 140. The IMS 150 can be generally described as an architecture for delivering multimedia services to the UE 110 using the IP protocol. The IMS 150 can communicate with the cellular core network 130 and the Internet 140 to provide multimedia services to the UE 110. The network service backbone 160 communicates directly or indirectly with the Internet 140 and the cellular core network 130. The network service backbone 160 can be generally described as a set of components (e.g., servers, network storage arrangements, etc.) that implement a set of services that can be used to extend the functionality of the UE 110 to communicate with various networks.

[0020] Figure 2 An exemplary UE 110 is shown according to various exemplary embodiments. Figure 1 100 is used to describe the UE 110. The UE 110 may represent any electronic device and may include a processor 205, a memory arrangement 210, a display device 215, an input / output (I / O) device 220, a transceiver 225, and other components 230. The other components 230 may include, for example, an audio input device, an audio output device, a battery providing a limited power source, a data acquisition device, a port for electrically connecting the UE 110 to other electronic devices, a sensor for detecting the status of the UE 110, and the like.

[0021] The processor 205 may be configured to execute multiple engines of the UE 110. For example, the engine may include a TCI state change delay engine 235. The TCI state change delay engine 235 may perform operations including determining a time span for continuing to use an old TCI state after receiving a TCI state change indicator from the network. The UE 110 may make such a determination based on various parameters involved in the TCI state change, including, for example, whether the TCI state change is implemented via a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) or a radio resource control (RRC) activation command. Specific implementations of various scenarios will be described in further detail below.

[0022] The above-described engine as an application (e.g., program) executed by the processor 205 is merely exemplary. The functions associated with the engine may also be represented as an independently integrated component of the UE 110, or may be a modular component coupled to the UE 110, such as an integrated circuit with or without firmware. For example, an integrated circuit may include an input circuit for receiving a signal and a processing circuit for processing the signal and other information. The engine may also be embodied as an application or multiple separate applications. In addition, in some UEs, the functionality described for the processor 205 is shared between two or more processors such as a baseband processor and an application processor. The exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of the UE. The memory 210 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to the operations performed by the UE 110.

[0023] The display device 215 may be a hardware component configured to display data to a user, and the I / O device 220 may be a hardware component that enables user input. The display device 215 and the I / O device 220 may be separate components or may be integrated together (such as a touch screen). The transceiver 225 may be a hardware component configured to establish a connection with the 5G NR RAN 120, the LTE RAN 122, etc. Thus, the transceiver 225 may operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g., a continuous frequency group).

[0024] Figure 3 An exemplary network base station, in this case gNB 120A, is shown according to various exemplary embodiments. As described above with respect to UE 110, gNB 120A may represent a serving cell for UE 110. gNB 120A may represent any access node of a 5G NR network through which UE 110 may establish a connection and manage network operations. Figure 3 The gNB 120A shown may also represent gNB120B.

[0025] The gNB 120A may include a processor 305, a memory arrangement 310, an input / output (I / O) device 320, a transceiver 325, and other components 330. The other components 330 may include, for example, an audio input device, an audio output device, a battery, a data acquisition device, a port for electrically connecting the gNB 120A to other electronic devices, and the like.

[0026] Processor 305 may be configured to execute multiple engines of gNB 120A. For example, the engines may include network flag engine 335. Network flag engine 335 may perform operations including generating a network flag indicating a network TCI configuration parameter and transmitting it to UE 110. The network flag may indicate a network version supported by the network, or may directly indicate TCI usage. Specific implementations of various scenarios are described in further detail below.

[0027] The engines described above are each represented as an application (e.g., a program) executed by the processor 305 and are merely exemplary. The functionality associated with the engines may also be represented as independently integrated components of the gNB 120A, or may be modular components coupled to the gNB 120A, such as integrated circuits with or without firmware. For example, an integrated circuit may include input circuits for receiving signals and processing circuits for processing signals and other information. In addition, in some gNBs, the functionality described for the processor 305 is split between multiple processors (e.g., a baseband processor, an application processor, etc.). The exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of the gNB.

[0028] The memory 310 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by the UE 110, 112. The I / O device 320 may be a hardware component or port that enables a user to interact with the gNB 120A. The transceiver 325 may be a hardware component configured to exchange data with the UE 110, 112 and any other UE in the system 100, for example, when the gNB 120A is used as a PCell or SCell for either or both of the UEs 110, 112. The transceiver 325 may operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g., a set of continuous frequencies). Thus, the transceiver 325 may include one or more components (e.g., radio components) to enable data exchange with various networks and UEs.

[0029] TCI status change

[0030] The transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state contains parameters for configuring the quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship between one or more downlink (DL) reference signals (DLRS) and corresponding antenna ports, such as demodulation reference signal (DMRS) ports of physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), DMRS ports of physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), or channel state indicator reference signal (CSI-RS) ports of CSI-RS resource sets. The user equipment (UE) can be configured with a list of up to M TCI state configurations within the higher layer parameters for decoding the PDSCH based on a detected PDCCH with downlink control information (DCI) for the UE and a given serving cell, where M depends on the capabilities of the UE. The TCI state can be transmitted from the network to the UE in a medium access layer (MAC) control element (CE), a DCI message, or a radio resource control (RRC) activation command.

[0031] A UE configured with one or more TCI state configurations on a serving cell shall complete the switch of the active TCI state within the delay defined in, for example, 3GPP TS38.133 Section 8.10. The UE considers the TCI state to be "known" if a set of conditions are met within the time period from the last transmission of RS resources for a Layer 1 Received Signal Reference Power (L1-RSRP) measurement report for the target TCI state to the completion of the active TCI state switch. Otherwise, the TCI state may be considered "unknown".

[0032] For MAC-CE based TCI state switching, the delay is defined in 3GPP TS 38.133 Section 8.10.3 in the following manner.

[0033] If the target TCI state is known, upon receipt of a PDSCH carrying a MAC-CE activation command in slot n, the UE shall be able to receive a PDCCH with the target TCI state of the serving cell on which the TCI state switch occurs no later than in slot n+T HARQ +(3ms+TO k *(T first-SSB +T SSB-proc )) / NR slot length (Formula 1). The UE shall be able to receive PDCCH with old TCI state until slot n+T HARQ +(3ms+TO k *(T first-SSB )) / NR time slot length (Formula 2). HARQ Represents the timing between DL data transmission and corresponding acknowledgment, as specified in 3GPP TS 38.213. first-SSBRepresents the timing between the MAC CE command being decoded by the UE and the first SSB transmission thereafter, where the SSB should be QCL-TypeA or QCL-TypeC for the target TCI state. SSB-proc =2ms. If the target TCI state is not in the active TCI state list of PDSCH, then TO k =1, and if the target TCI state is in the active TCI state list of PDSCH, then TO k =0.

[0034] If the target TCI state is unknown, upon receipt of a PDSCH carrying a MAC-CE activation command in slot n, the UE shall be able to receive a PDCCH with the target TCI state of the serving cell on which the TCI state switch occurs no later than in slot n+T HARQ +(3ms+T L1-RSRP +TO uk *(T first-SSB +T SSB-proc )) / NR slot length (Formula 3). The UE shall be able to receive PDCCH with old TCI state until slot n+T HARQ +(3ms+T L1-RSRP +TO uk *(T first-SSB )) / NR time slot length (Formula 4). L1-RSRP represents the time of L1-RSRP measurement for Rx beam refinement and is defined as T for SSB L1-RSPR Measurement Period SSB , as specified in clause 9.5.4.1, or for CSI-RS is defined as T L1-RSRP_Measurement_Period_CSI-RS , as specified in clause 9.5.4.2, subject to various other considerations as defined in 3GPP TS 38.133 section 8.10.3. When TCI state switching involves QCL-Type D, for CSI-RS based L1-RSRP measurements, TO UK =1, for SSB-based L1-RSRP measurement, TO UK = 0. When TCI state switching involves other QCL types, TO uk =1.

[0035] During MAC-CE based TCI state switching, UE outages are allowed due to a single timing adjustment (as defined in clause 8.2) on the serving cell or any activated serving cell.

[0036] For RRC-based TCI state switching, the delay is defined in 3GPP TS 38.133 Section 8.10.5 in the following manner.

[0037] If the target TCI state is known, upon receiving a PDSCH carrying an RRC activation command at timeslot n, the UE shall be able to receive a PDCCH with the target TCI state of the serving cell on which the TCI state switch occurs no later than at timeslot n+T RRC_processing +TO k *(T first-SSB +T SSB-proc ) / NR time slot length (Formula 5). RRC_PROCESSING represents the RRC processing delay, and T SSB-proc andTO k As defined above. Before the end of the switching period, the UE is not required to receive PDCCH / PDSCH or transmit PUCCH / PUSCH. first-SSB Indicates the time span from the RRC process performed by the UE to the first SSB transmission after the RRC process. The SSB should be QCL-TypeA or QCL-TypeC for the target TCI state.

[0038] If the target TCI state is unknown, upon receiving a PDSCH carrying an RRC activation command at timeslot n, the UE shall be able to receive a PDCCH with the target TCI state of the serving cell on which the TCI state switch occurs no later than at timeslot n+(T RRC_processing +T L1-RSRP +TO uk *(T first-SSB +T SSB-proc )) / NR time slot length (Formula 6). Before the end of the switching period, the UE is not required to receive PDCCH / PDSCH or transmit PUCCH / PUSCH. first-SSB Indicates the time span from L1-RSRP measurement to the first SSB transmission after L1-RSRP measurement when TCI state switching involves QCL-TypeD. For other QCL types, T first-SSB Indicates the time span from the RRC process performed by the UE to the first SSB transmission after the RRC process. The SSB should be QCL-TypeA or QCL-TypeC for the target TCI state.

[0039] During RRC based TCI state switching, UE outages are allowed due to a single timing adjustment (as defined in clause 8.2) on the serving cell or any activated serving cell.

[0040] It is specified in 3GPP TS38.214 Section 5.1.5 that when a HARQ-ACK corresponding to a PDSCH carrying an activation command is transmitted in slot n, it should be transmitted from slot n+3N slot The first timeslot start thereafter applies the indicated mapping between TCI states and code points of the DCI field "Transmission Configuration Indication".

[0041] As mentioned above, in the RAN4 specification 3GPP TS38.133 Section 8.10.3, Formula 1 specifies the allowed delay for receiving a PDCCH with a target TCI state, and Formula 2 specifies the UE behavior for receiving a PDCCH. However, future versions may be improved by removing TO from Formula 2. k *(T first-SSB ) terminology to change the specification to comply with RAN1 requirements. Therefore, a future release may specify that the UE should be able to receive PDCCH with the old TCI state until time slot n+T HARQ +(3ms) / NR slot length (Formula 2a).

[0042] Figure 4a A first timing diagram 400 of TCI state changes according to the first option is shown. The first option integrates the UE behavior from the above formula 2a. HARQ In the time slot 405 spanning from +(3ms / NR timeslot length) to the end of the TCI switching delay (which is a specified value in the RAN4 requirement), the UE does not need to receive any DL data and the network will not schedule the UE during this time slot 405.

[0043] Figure 4b A second timing diagram 450 of TCI state change according to the second option is shown. The second option integrates the UE behavior from the above formula 2. In the second option, the UE should be able to receive PDCCH with the old TCI state (i.e., the TCI state before switching) until time slot n+T HARQ +(3ms+TO k *(T first-SSB )) / NR slot length. In the time gap 455 spanning from the start of the first SSB block to the end of the TCI switching delay, the UE does not need to receive any DL data and the network will not schedule the UE during this time gap 455.

[0044] The time gap 405 of the first option is larger than the time gap 455 of the second option. Based on the above two different specific implementation options, a problem arises. If a new version UE enters a network using the first option, the network will expect the UE behavior according to the first option and will not first-SSBHowever, new version UEs may work according to the second option and try to schedule UEs during T first-SSB During this period, data or control channels are received. Due to this backward compatibility issue, resources will be wasted on both the UE side and the network side. Therefore, these two specific implementation options should be aligned.

[0045] Network flag indicating TCI configuration

[0046] According to some exemplary embodiments, a network flag may be used to indicate the (new or old) network version information to the UE. Based on the network version information, the UE may know which TCI option the network is implementing and work according to that option. In other exemplary embodiments, a network flag may be used to directly indicate the (new or old) TCI usage. The network flag may be used to trigger a TCI change to the UE on time slot n. In other words, the flag may be transmitted in the same manner as the TCI state change indicator. After receiving the information, the UE decides which UE behavior to use during the TCI switch.

[0047] If the flag indicates that the network is a new version, the UE will keep using the old TCI for a predefined time span based on the parameters of the TCI switching. In the exemplary embodiments described herein, the TCI switching can be implemented via a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) or a radio resource control (RRC) activation command. The time span for using the old TCI depends on whether the TCI change is implemented by MAC CE or RRC, whether the TCI is known or unknown to the UE, and the TO k or TO uk The following exemplary embodiments describe the UE behavior when the network flag indicates that the network is a new version network (implementation option 1) or the network is using a new version of TCI usage (implementation option 1).

[0048] For MAC CE based TCI change, if the TCI is known to the UE and TO k =1, the UE will keep using the old TCI until (time slot n+T HARQ +(3ms / NR slot length)) after the start of the first available SSB.

[0049] For MAC CE based TCI change, if the TCI is known to the UE and TO k = 0, the UE will continue to use the old TCI until time slot n+T HARQ +(3ms / NR time slot length).

[0050] For MAC CE based TCI change, if the TCI is unknown to the UE and TO uk=1, the UE will keep using the old TCI until (time slot n+T HARQ +((3ms+T L1-RSRP ) / NR slot length)) after the start of the first available SSB.

[0051] For MAC CE based TCI change, if the TCI is unknown to the UE and TO uk = 0, the UE will continue to use the old TCI until time slot n+T HARQ +((3ms+T L1-RSRP ) / NR time slot length).

[0052] For RRC-based TCI change, if the TCI is known to the UE and the TO k =1, the UE will keep using the old TCI until (time slot n+T RRC_processing )’s timing point before the start of the first available SSB.

[0053] For RRC-based TCI change, if the TCI is known to the UE and the TO k = 0, the UE will keep using the old TCI until (time slot n + T RRC_processing ).

[0054] For RRC-based TCI change, if the TCI is unknown to the UE and TO uk =1, the UE will keep using the old TCI until the time slot n+((T RRC_processing +T L1-RSRP ) / NR slot length) after the start of the first available SSB.

[0055] For RRC-based TCI change, if the TCI is unknown to the UE and TO uk = 0, the UE will keep using the old TCI until the time slot ((T RRC_processing +T L1-RSRP ) / NR time slot length).

[0056] If the network flag indicates that the network is an old version network, the UE shall keep using the old TCI for the MAC CE-based TCI change until time slot n+T HARQ +(3ms / NR slot length), and for RRC-based TCI changes, up to slot n+T HARQ .

[0057] Figure 5 A method 500 of determining user equipment (UE) behavior based on network configuration for TCI state changes indicated by a network flag is shown.

[0058] In 505, the network implements the TCI state change of the UE and includes a network flag in the TCI state change indicator. In one embodiment, the network flag indicates whether the network is a new version network or an old version network. The new version network can implement the first option described above, and the old version network can implement the second option described above. In another embodiment, the network flag directly indicates that the TCI is used as either the first option or the second option. The TCI state change indicator sent from the network to the UE can be based on MAC CE or based on RRC.

[0059] In 510, the UE determines the TCI usage of the network based on the network flag, ie, whether the network is using the first option or the second option.

[0060] In 515, the UE continues to use the old TCI state (i.e., the TCI state the UE was in when the UE received the TCI state change indicator) for a given time span. The time span depends on whether the TCI state change indicator is based on MAC CE or RRC, whether the TCI state is known or unknown, and the TO k or TO uk The UE operates according to the network expectations. In 520, the UE switches to the new TCI state after the time span.

[0061] In the second exemplary embodiment, the network flag is not used. However, the UE TCI usage may be determined based on whether the TCI change is indicated by a MAC CE or an RRC. The UE may receive a trigger for a TCI change on time slot n. For a TCI change based on an MAC CE, the UE may keep using the old TCI until time slot n+T HARQ +(3ms / NR time slot length). For RRC-based TCI changes, the UE may keep using the old TCI until time slot n+T HARQ .

[0062] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the exemplary embodiments described above may be implemented with any suitable software configuration or hardware configuration or combination thereof. Exemplary hardware platforms for implementing the exemplary embodiments may include, for example, Intel x86-based platforms with compatible operating systems, Windows OS, Mac platforms and MAC OS, mobile devices with operating systems such as iOS, Android, etc. In other examples, the exemplary embodiments of the above methods may be embodied as a program including lines of code stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which, when compiled, may be executed on a processor or microprocessor.

[0063] Although this patent application describes various combinations of various embodiments each having different features, those skilled in the art will understand that any feature of an embodiment may be combined with features of other embodiments in any manner not publicly denied or with features that are not functionally or logically inconsistent with the operation or function of the device of the embodiments disclosed in the present invention.

[0064] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0065] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made to the present disclosure without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the present disclosure is intended to cover modifications and variations of the present disclosure, provided that these modifications and variations are within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An apparatus of a user equipment UE for communicating with a base station of a network, the apparatus comprising a processor, the processor being configured to perform operations including: receiving, from the base station, a network flag indicating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state change configuration of the network, wherein the network flag indicates a current version on which the network is running or a TCI usage version on which the network is running; Determining, based on the network flag, a time span for continuing to use the current TCI state before switching to a new TCI state; and Switch to the new TCI state after the time span.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network flag is transmitted together with a TCI state change indicator.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the TCI state change indicator is transmitted via a medium access control MAC control element CE or a radio resource control RRC activation command.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein when a new version is indicated for the network, the time span is determined based on whether the TCI state change is implemented by MAC CE or RRC.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the time span is further determined based on whether the new TCI state is known or unknown to the UE.

6. The device according to claim 5, wherein the TO k Parameter or TO uk The time span is further determined by the value of the parameter.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein when an old version is indicated for the network, the UE determines the time span based solely on whether the TCI state change is MAC CE-implemented or RRC-implemented.

8. A user equipment UE, the UE comprising: a transceiver configured to communicate with a base station of the network; and A processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform operations including: receiving, from the base station, a network flag indicating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state change configuration of the network, wherein the network flag indicates a current version on which the network is running or a TCI usage version on which the network is running; determining, based on the network flag, a time span for continuing to use the current TCI state before switching to a new TCI state; as well as Switch to the new TCI state after the time span.

9. The UE according to claim 8, wherein the network flag is transmitted together with the TCI state change indicator via a medium access control MAC control element CE or a radio resource control RRC activation command.

10. The UE of claim 9, wherein when a new version is indicated for the network, the time span is determined based on whether the TCI state change is implemented by MAC CE or RRC.

11. The UE of claim 10, wherein the time span is further determined based on whether the new TCI state is known or unknown to the UE.

12. The UE according to claim 11, wherein based on the TO k Parameter or TO uk The time span is further determined by the value of the parameter.

13. The UE of claim 8, wherein when an old version is indicated for the network, the UE determines the time span based only on whether the TCI state change is MAC CE-implemented or RRC-implemented.

14. An apparatus of a user equipment (UE) for communicating with a base station of a network, the apparatus comprising a processor, the processor being configured to perform operations comprising: receiving, from the base station, a TCI state change indicator in any one of a medium access control MAC control element CE or a radio resource control RRC activation command, wherein a network flag is transmitted together with the TCI state change indicator, and wherein the network flag indicates a current version on which the network is running or a TCI usage version on which the network is running; When the TCI state change indicator is based on a MAC CE, using a current TCI state within a first time span; When the TCI state change indicator is RRC-based, a current TCI state is used in a second time span different from the first time span.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the first time span is based on time slot n+T HARQ +(3ms / time slot length), where time slot n is the time slot in which the MACCE is received, and T HARQ is the time at which hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ communication occurs for the time slot n.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the second time span is based on time slot n+T HARQ determined, where time slot n is the time slot at which the RRC is received, and T HARQ is the time at which hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ communication occurs for the time slot n.

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