Beam management solution for maximum permissible exposure

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method for a User Equipment (UE) to perform a method for triggering a beam configuration change based on a UL beam condition. The UE may detect an unsafe UL beam condition based at least in part on the UL beam exceeding an MPE level. In response to the detection, remedial measures may be performed to mitigate the unsafe UL beam condition. These remedial measures may prioritize UL beam quality over DL beam quality and may include: reducing the transmit power of the UL beam based on the MPR; triggering an intra-panel antenna switch for a candidate UL beam satisfying one or more conditions of intra-panel beam switching; triggering an inter-panel antenna switch for a candidate UL beam satisfying one or more conditions of inter-panel beam switching; and / or signaling a beam failure to the network serving the UE.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to wireless devices, and more specifically to apparatus, systems, and methods for causing a wireless device to trigger a change in beam configuration based on UL beam conditions, such as based on the UL beam reaching or exceeding the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) level. Background Technology

[0002] The use of wireless communication systems is growing rapidly. In recent years, wireless devices such as smartphones and tablets have become increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting phone calls, many mobile devices now offer access to the internet, email, text messaging, and navigation using the Global Positioning System (GPS), and can operate complex applications that utilize these capabilities.

[0003] Long Term Evolution (LTE) has become the technology of choice for most wireless network operators worldwide, providing their user base with mobile broadband data and high-speed internet access. LTE defines multiple downlink (DL) physical channels, classified as transport or control channels, to carry blocks of information received from Medium Access Control (MAC) and higher layers. LTE also defines the number of physical layer channels for the uplink (UL).

[0004] For example, LTE defines the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) as the DL transport channel. The PDSCH is the primary data bearer channel allocated to users on a dynamic and opportunistic basis. The PDSCH carries data in transport blocks (TBs) corresponding to MAC Protocol Data Units (PDUs), which are passed from the MAC layer to the physical (PHY) layer once every transmission time interval (TTI). The PDSCH is also used to transmit broadcast information such as System Information Blocks (SIBs) and paging messages.

[0005] For example, LTE defines the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) as the DL Control Channel, which carries the UE's resource allocation contained in the Downlink Control Information (DCI) message. Multiple PDCCHs can be transmitted in the same subframe using Control Channel Elements (CCEs), each consisting of nine groups of four resource elements called Resource Element Groups (REGs). The PDCCH uses Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) modulation, where four QPSK symbols are mapped to each REG. Furthermore, depending on channel conditions, 1, 2, 4, or 8 CCEs can be used to ensure sufficient robustness.

[0006] Additionally, LTE defines the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) as a UL channel shared by all devices (User Equipment, UE) in a radio cell to transmit user data to the network. Scheduling of all UEs is under the control of the LTE base station (Enhanced Node B or eNB). The eNB uses uplink scheduling clearance (DCI format 0) to inform the UE of resource block (RB) allocations and the modulation and coding schemes to be used. The PUSCH typically supports QPSK and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM). In addition to user data, the PUSCH carries any control information required for decoding, such as transport format indicators and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) parameters. Control data is multiplexed with information data before the Digital Fourier Transform (DFT) expansion.

[0007] The next telecommunications standard proposed to surpass the current International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced (IMT-Advanced) standard is called 5G mobile network or 5G radio system, or simply 5G (for 5G New Radio, it is also called 5G-NR, or simply NR). Compared to the current LTE standard, 5G-NR offers higher capacity for higher density mobile broadband users, while supporting ultra-reliable and massive machine-type communication between devices, as well as lower latency and lower battery consumption. Furthermore, the 5G-NR standard allows for less restrictive UE scheduling compared to the current LTE standard. Therefore, efforts are underway to leverage the potentially higher throughput at higher frequencies in the ongoing development of 5G-NR. Summary of the Invention

[0008] The implementation involves enabling the UE to trigger changes in beam configuration based on UL beam conditions in order to, for example, limit and / or avoid the maximum possible exposure of devices, systems, and methods.

[0009] In some implementations, a wireless device (e.g., a User Equipment (UE)) may be configured to detect insecure uplink (UL) beaming conditions of a UL beam. This detection may be based at least in part on the UL beam exceeding the Maximum Possible Exposure (MPE) level. In response to this detection, one or more remedial measures to mitigate the insecure UL beaming condition may be performed. These remedial measures may prioritize UL beam quality over DL beam quality. In some implementations, the remedial measures may include any one, a combination of, and / or all of the following: reducing the transmit power of the UL beam based on Maximum Power Reduction (MPR); triggering an intra-panel handover to a first candidate UL beam satisfying one or more conditions for intra-panel beaming; triggering an inter-panel handover to a second candidate UL beam satisfying one or more conditions for inter-panel beaming; and / or signaling a beam failure to the network serving the UE based on the insecure UL beaming condition.

[0010] The technologies described herein can be implemented in and / or used with a variety of different types of devices, including but not limited to any one of cellular phones, tablets, wearable computing devices, portable media players and various other computing devices.

[0011] The present invention is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the subjects described in this document. Therefore, it should be understood that the above features are merely illustrative and should not be construed as narrowing the scope or substance of the subjects described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subjects described herein will become apparent from the following detailed description, drawings, and claims. Attached Figure Description

[0012] A better understanding of the subject matter can be obtained by considering the following detailed description of the various embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0013] Figure 1A An exemplary wireless communication system according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0014] Figure 1B Examples of base stations (BS) and access points communicating with user equipment (UE) devices according to some implementation schemes are shown.

[0015] Figure 2 An exemplary simplified block diagram of a WLAN access point (AP) according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0016] Figure 3 An exemplary block diagram of a UE according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0017] Figure 4 An exemplary block diagram of a BS according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0018] Figure 5 An example block diagram of a cellular communication circuit according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0019] Figure 6A An example of the connection between the EPC network, LTE base station (eNB), and 5G NR base station (gNB) is shown.

[0020] Figure 6B An example of the protocol stack used for eNB and gNB is shown.

[0021] Figure 7A Examples of 5G network architectures according to some implementation schemes are shown, which combine 3GPP (e.g., cellular) and non-3GPP (e.g., non-cellular) access to 5G CN.

[0022] Figure 7B Examples of 5G network architectures according to some implementation schemes are shown, which combine dual 3GPP (e.g., LTE and 5G NR) access to 5G CN as well as non-3GPP access.

[0023] Figure 8 An example of a baseband processor architecture for a UE according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0024] Figure 9 A block diagram illustrating an example of a method for causing a UE to trigger a change in beam configuration based on UL beam conditions, according to some implementation schemes.

[0025] Figure 10 A block diagram illustrating an example of a process for causing a UE to trigger a change in beam configuration based on UL beam conditions, according to some implementation schemes.

[0026] Figures 11 to 14 A block diagram illustrating another example of a method for causing a UE to trigger a change in UL beam configuration based on UL beam conditions, according to some implementation schemes, is shown.

[0027] While the features described herein may be subject to various modifications and alternatives, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the accompanying drawings and described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that the drawings and their detailed description are not intended to limit this document to the specific forms disclosed, but rather are intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the substance and scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims. Detailed Implementation

[0028] the term

[0029] The following is a glossary of terms used in this disclosure:

[0030] Memory media—any of various types of nontransitory memory devices or storage devices. The term "memory media" is intended to include mounting media, such as CD-ROMs, floppy disks, or magnetic tape devices; computer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; non-volatile memory such as flash memory, magnetic media, such as hard disk drives or optical storage devices; registers or other similar types of memory elements, etc. Memory media may also include other types of nontransitory memory or combinations thereof. Furthermore, memory media may reside in a first computer system executing a program, or may reside in a different second computer system connected to the first computer system via a network such as the Internet. In the latter case, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer for execution. The term "memory media" may include two or more memory media that may reside in different locations on different computer systems, for example, connected via a network. Memory media may store program instructions (e.g., representing a computer program) that can be executed by one or more processors.

[0031] Carrier media—memory media as described above, and physical transmission media such as buses, networks, and / or other physical transmission media that transmit signals such as electrical signals, electromagnetic signals, or digital signals.

[0032] Programmable hardware elements—including a variety of hardware devices comprising multiple programmable functional blocks connected via programmable interconnects. Examples include FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), FPOAs (Field-Programmable Object Arrays), and CPLDs (Complex PLDs). Programmable functional blocks can vary from fine-grained (combinational logic units or lookup tables) to coarse-grained (arithmetic logic units or processor cores). Programmable hardware elements may also be referred to as "configurable logic units."

[0033] Computer system—any of all types of computing or processing systems, including personal computer systems (PCs), mainframe computer systems, workstations, network devices, internet devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), television systems, grid computing systems, or other devices or combinations thereof. In general, the term "computer system" can be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combination of devices) having at least one processor that executes instructions from a memory medium.

[0034] User equipment (UE) (or “UE device”) — any type of computer system device that is mobile or portable and performs wireless communication. Examples of UE devices include mobile phones or smartphones (e.g., iPhone). ™ Based on Android ™Telephones), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS) ™ PlayStation Portable ™ Gameboy Advance ™ iPhone ™ ), laptops, wearable devices (e.g., smartwatches, smart glasses), personal digital assistants, portable internet devices, music players, data storage devices, or other handheld devices, etc. Generally speaking, the term "UE" or "UE device" can be broadly defined as any electronic device, computing device, and / or telecommunications device (or combination of devices) that is portable to the user and capable of wireless communication.

[0035] Base station—The term “base station” has the full range of its common meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station that is installed in a fixed location and is used for communication as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system.

[0036] Processing element—refers to various elements or combinations of elements capable of performing the functions of a device such as user equipment or cellular network equipment. Processing elements may include, for example: processors and associated memory, portions or circuitry of individual processor cores, entire processor cores, processor arrays, circuitry such as ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits), programmable hardware elements such as Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), and any combination thereof.

[0037] A channel is a medium used to transmit information from a transmitter to a receiver. It should be noted that because the characteristics of the term "channel" can vary depending on different wireless protocols, the term "channel" as used herein can be considered to be used in a standard manner consistent with the type of device to which the term is referenced. In some standards, the channel width can be variable (e.g., depending on device capabilities, frequency band conditions, etc.). For example, LTE can support scalable channel bandwidths from 1.4 MHz to 20 MHz. In contrast, WLAN channels can be 22 MHz wide, while Bluetooth channels can be 1 MHz wide. Other protocols and standards may include different definitions of channels. Furthermore, some standards may define and use multiple types of channels, such as different channels for uplink or downlink and / or different channels for different purposes such as data, control information, etc.

[0038] Frequency band—The term “frequency band” has the full range of its general meaning and includes at least a segment of spectrum (e.g., radio frequency spectrum) in which a channel is used or reserved for the same purpose.

[0039] Automatic—refers to actions or operations performed by a computer system (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or device (e.g., circuits, programmable hardware elements, ASICs, etc.) without requiring direct user input to specify or perform the actions or operations. Therefore, the term "automatic" contrasts with actions performed or specified manually by the user, where the user provides input to directly perform the action. An automatic process can be initiated by user-provided input, but the subsequent actions performed "automatically" are not specified by the user; that is, they are not performed "manually," where the user specifies each action to be performed. For example, a user filling out a form by selecting each field and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typing information, selecting a checkbox, radio selection, etc.) is considered manually filling out the form, even though the computer system must update the form in response to the user's actions. The form can be automatically filled out by a computer system (e.g., software executed on the computer system) which analyzes the fields of the form and fills it out without any user input specifying answers for the fields. As indicated above, the user can invoke the automatic filling of the form but does not participate in the actual filling of the form (e.g., the user does not manually specify answers for the fields, but they are completed automatically). This manual provides various examples of operations that are automatically performed in response to actions taken by the user.

[0040] Approximately—means a value close to the correct or precise value. For example, approximately can refer to a value within 1% to 10% of the precise (or expected) value. However, it should be noted that the actual threshold (or tolerance) can vary depending on the application. For example, in some implementations, “approximately” may mean within 0.1% of some specified or expected value, while in various other implementations, the threshold may be, for example, 2%, 3%, 5%, etc., depending on the expectations or requirements of the specific application.

[0041] Concurrency refers to the parallel execution or implementation of tasks, processes, or programs in a manner that overlaps at least partially. For example, concurrency can be achieved using “strong” or strict parallelism, where tasks are executed in parallel (at least partially) on corresponding computing elements; or using “weak parallelism,” where tasks are executed in an interleaved manner (e.g., by time multiplexing of execution threads).

[0042] Various components can be described as being "configured" to perform one or more tasks. In such contexts, "configured" is a broad expression generally meaning "having" a "structure" that performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component can be configured to perform a task even when it is not currently performing one (e.g., a set of electrical conductors can be configured to electrically connect one module to another, even when the two modules are not connected). In some contexts, "configured" can also be a broad expression generally meaning a structure that "has" a "circuit" that performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component can be configured to perform a task even when it is not currently switched on. Typically, the circuit forming the structure corresponding to "configured" can include hardware circuitry.

[0043] For ease of description, various components may be described as performing one or more tasks. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including the phrase “configured to”. Statements describing a component as configured to perform one or more tasks are explicitly intended not to invoke the interpretation of 35 USC § 112(f) for that component.

[0044] Figure 1A and Figure 1B -Communication System

[0045] Figure 1A A simplified exemplary wireless communication system according to some implementation schemes is shown. It should be noted that the system of Figure 1 is merely an example of a possible system, and the features of this disclosure can be implemented in any of a variety of systems as needed.

[0046] As shown in the figure, the exemplary wireless communication system includes a base station 102A, which communicates with one or more user equipments 106A, 106B to 106N via a transmission medium. Each user equipment may be referred to herein as a "user equipment" (UE). Therefore, user equipment 106 is referred to as a UE or UE device.

[0047] Base station (BS) 102A may be a transceiver base station (BTS) or a cell site (“cellular base station”), and may include hardware that enables wireless communication with UE 106A to UE 106N.

[0048] The communication area (or coverage area) of a base station can be referred to as a "cell". Base station 102A and UE 106 can be configured to communicate via a transmission medium using any of a variety of Radio Access Technologies (RATs), also known as wireless communication technologies or telecommunications standards, such as GSM, UMTS (associated with air interfaces such as WCDMA or TD-SCDMA), LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), 5G New Radio (5G NR), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc. Note that if base station 102A is implemented in an LTE environment, its alternative location can be referred to as an "eNodeB" or "eNB". Note that if base station 102A is implemented in a 5G NR environment, its alternative location can be referred to as a "gNodeB" or "gNB".

[0049] As shown in the figure, base station 102A can also be configured to communicate with network 100 (e.g., in various possibilities, the core network of a cellular service provider, telecommunications networks such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and / or the Internet). Therefore, base station 102A can facilitate communication between user equipments and / or between user equipments and network 100. Specifically, cellular base station 102A can provide UE 106 with various communication capabilities such as voice, SMS, and / or data services.

[0050] Base station 102A and other similar base stations (such as base stations 102B...102N) operating according to the same or different cellular communication standards can therefore be provided as a network of cells that can provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping services to UE 106A-N and similar devices over a geographical area via one or more cellular communication standards.

[0051] Therefore, although base station 102A can act as the "serving cell" for UEs 106A-N as shown in Figure 1, each UE 106 may also be able to receive signals (and possibly within its communication range) from one or more other cells (which may be provided by base stations 102B-N and / or any other base station), which may be referred to as "neighboring cells". Such cells may also facilitate communication between user equipments and / or between user equipments and network 100. Such cells may include "macro" cells, "micro" cells, "pecimen" cells and / or any other cells of various other granularities providing service area size. For example, base stations 102A to 102B shown in Figure 1 may be macro cells, while base station 102N may be a pico cell. Other configurations are also possible.

[0052] In some implementations, base station 102A may be a next-generation base station, such as a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station or a “gNB”. In some implementations, the gNB may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to a new radio communication core (NRC) network. Furthermore, a gNB cell may include one or more transition and receive points (TRPs). Additionally, a UE capable of operating according to 5G NR may connect to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

[0053] It should be noted that UE 106 can communicate using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, in addition to at least one cellular communication protocol (e.g., GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD, etc.), UE 106 can be configured to communicate using wireless networking (e.g., Wi-Fi) and / or peer-to-peer wireless communication protocols (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi peer-to-peer, etc.). If desired, UE 106 can also or alternatively be configured to communicate using one or more Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS, such as GPS or GLONASS), one or more mobile television broadcasting standards (e.g., ATSC-M / H or DVB-H), and / or any other wireless communication protocol. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible.

[0054] Figure 1B User equipment 106 (e.g., one of devices 106A to 106N) communicating with base station 102 and access point 112 according to some embodiments is shown. UE 106 can be a device with cellular and non-cellular communication capabilities (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.), such as a mobile phone, handheld device, computer or tablet, or virtually any type of wireless device.

[0055] UE 106 may include a processor configured to execute program instructions stored in memory. UE 106 may execute any of the method embodiments of the present invention by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively or additionally, UE 106 may include programmable hardware elements, such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) configured to execute any of the method embodiments of the present invention or any portion thereof.

[0056] UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols or technologies. In some embodiments, UE 106 may be configured to communicate using, for example, CDMA2000 (1xRTT / 1xEV-DO / HRPD / eHRPD), LTE / Advanced LTE, or 5G NR and / or GSM, LTE, Advanced LTE, or 5G NR using a single shared radio component. The shared radio may be coupled to a single antenna or to multiple antennas (e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communication. Typically, the radio component may include any combination of baseband processor, analog radio frequency (RF) signal processing circuitry (e.g., including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.) or digital processing circuitry (e.g., for digital modulation and other digital processing). Similarly, the radio component may use the aforementioned hardware to implement one or more receive chains and transmit chains. For example, UE 106 may share one or more portions of the receive chain and / or transmit chain among various wireless communication technologies such as those discussed above.

[0057] In some implementations, UE 106 may include separate transmit and / or receive chains (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol configured to communicate therewith. As another possibility, UE 106 may include one or more radio components shared among multiple wireless communication protocols, as well as one or more radio components uniquely used by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, UE 106 may include shared radio components for communication using either LTE or 5G NR (or LTE or 1xRTT, or LTE or GSM), and separate radio components for communication using each of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Other configurations are also possible.

[0058] Figure 2 —Access Point Diagram

[0059] Figure 2 An exemplary block diagram of access point (AP) 112 is shown. Note that... Figure 2 The block diagram of the AP is only one example of a possible system. As shown, AP 112 may include a processor 204 capable of executing program instructions for AP 112. Processor 204 may also be (directly or indirectly) coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 240 or other circuitry or device, which may be configured to receive addresses from processor 204 and translate those addresses into locations in memory (e.g., memory 260 and read-only memory (ROM) 250).

[0060] AP 112 may include at least one network port 270. Network port 270 may be configured to couple to a wired network and provide access to the Internet to multiple devices such as UE 106. For example, network port 270 (or additional network ports) may be configured to couple to a local network, such as a home network or a corporate network. For example, port 270 may be an Ethernet port. The local network may provide connectivity to additional networks such as the Internet.

[0061] AP 112 may include at least one antenna 234, which may be configured to function as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with UE 106 via wireless communication circuitry 230. Antenna 234 communicates with wireless communication circuitry 230 via communication link 232. Communication link 232 may include one or more receive links, one or more transmit links, or both. Wireless communication circuitry 230 may be configured to communicate via Wi-Fi or WLAN (e.g., 802.11). For example, in the case of a small cell where the AP coexists with a base station, or in other situations where it may be desirable for AP 112 to communicate via various different wireless communication technologies, wireless communication circuitry 230 may also or alternatively be configured to communicate via various other wireless communication technologies, including, but not limited to, 5G NR, LTE, LTE-A Advanced, GSM, WCDMA, CDMA2000, etc.

[0062] In some implementations, as further described below, AP 112 may be configured to perform methods that cause the UE to trigger changes in beam configuration based on UL beaming conditions in order to, for example, avoid and / or limit the maximum possible exposure, as further described herein.

[0063] Figure 3 —UE block diagram

[0064] Figure 3 An exemplary simplified block diagram of a communication device 106 according to some embodiments is shown. It should be noted that... Figure 3The block diagram of the communication device is merely one example of possible communication devices. According to the implementation, among other devices, the communication device 106 may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet computer, and / or a combination of devices. As shown, the communication device 106 may include a set of components 300 configured to perform core functions. For example, this set of components may be implemented as a system-on-a-chip (SOC), which may include portions for various purposes. Alternatively, the set of components 300 may be implemented as individual components or groups of components for various purposes. This set of components 300 may be (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) coupled to various other circuitry of the communication device 106.

[0065] For example, communication device 106 may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash memory 310), input / output interfaces such as connector I / F 320 (e.g., for connection to a computer system; docking station; charging station; input devices such as microphone, camera, keyboard; output devices such as speaker; etc.), a display 360 that may be integrated with or external to communication device 106, and cellular communication circuitry 330 such as for 5G NR, LTE, GSM, etc., and short- to medium-range wireless communication circuitry 329 (e.g., Bluetooth). ™ (and WLAN circuitry). In some embodiments, the communication device 106 may include wired communication circuitry (not shown), such as, for example, a network interface card for Ethernet.

[0066] Cellular communication circuitry 330 may be coupled (e.g., communicatively grounded; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antennas 335 and 336 shown. Short-to-medium-range wireless communication circuitry 329 may also be coupled (e.g., communicatively grounded; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antennas 337 and 338 shown. Alternatively, short-to-medium-range wireless communication circuitry 329 may be coupled (e.g., communicatively grounded; directly or indirectly) to antennas 337 and 338, or as an alternative, to antennas 335 and 336. Short-to-medium-range wireless communication circuitry 329 and / or cellular communication circuitry 330 may include multiple receive chains and / or multiple transmit chains for receiving and / or transmitting multiple spatial streams, such as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) configuration.

[0067] In some embodiments, as further described below, the cellular communication circuit 330 may include dedicated receive chains for multiple RATs (including and / or coupled to (e.g., communication ground; directly or indirectly) dedicated processors and / or radio components) (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G-NR). Furthermore, in some embodiments, the cellular communication circuit 330 may include a single transmit chain that can be switched between radio components dedicated to a particular RAT. For example, a first radio component may be dedicated to a first RAT, such as LTE, and may communicate with a dedicated receive chain and a transmit chain shared with additional radio components, such as a second radio component that may be dedicated to a second RAT (e.g., 5G NR) and may communicate with a dedicated receive chain and a shared transmit chain.

[0068] The communication device 106 may also include one or more user interface elements and / or be configured to be used with one or more user interface elements. User interface elements may include any of a variety of components such as a display 360 (which may be a touch screen display), a keyboard (which may be a separate keyboard or may be implemented as part of the touch screen display), a mouse, a microphone and / or a speaker, one or more cameras, one or more buttons, and / or any of a variety of other components capable of providing information to the user and / or receiving or interpreting user input.

[0069] The communication device 106 may also include one or more smart cards 345 with SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) functionality, such as one or more UICC cards (one or more Universal Integrated Circuit Cards) 345.

[0070] As shown in the figure, the SOC 300 may include a processor 302 and a display circuit 304. The processor executes program instructions for the communication device 106, and the display circuit performs graphics processing and provides display signals to the display 360. One or more processors 302 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 340 (which may be configured to receive addresses from one or more processors 302 and translate those addresses into locations in memory (e.g., memory 306, read-only memory (ROM) 350, NAND flash memory 310)) and / or coupled to other circuitry or devices (such as the display circuit 304, short-to-medium range wireless communication circuitry 329, cellular communication circuitry 330, connector I / F 320, and / or display 360). The MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or setup. In some embodiments, the MMU 340 may be included as part of the processor 302.

[0071] As described above, communication device 106 can be configured to communicate using wireless and / or wired communication circuitry. Communication device 106 can be configured to perform methods that cause the UE to trigger changes in beam configuration based on UL beam conditions to, for example, avoid and / or limit the maximum possible exposure, as further described herein.

[0072] As described herein, communication device 106 may include hardware and software components for implementing the features described above to transmit a scheduling profile for power saving to a network. For example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium), processor 302 of communication device 106 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein. Alternatively (or in addition), processor 302 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) or an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or in addition), in conjunction with one or more of other components 300, 304, 306, 310, 320, 329, 330, 340, 345, 350, 360, processor 302 of communication device 106 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein.

[0073] Furthermore, as described in this invention, processor 302 may include one or more processing elements. Therefore, processor 302 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processor 302. Additionally, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of one or more processors 302.

[0074] Further, as described herein, the cellular communication circuit 330 and the short-to-medium-range wireless communication circuit 329 may each include one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in the cellular communication circuit 330, and similarly, one or more processing elements may be included in the short-to-medium-range wireless communication circuit 329. Therefore, the cellular communication circuit 330 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of the cellular communication circuit 330. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of the cellular communication circuit 330. Similarly, the short-to-medium-range wireless communication circuit 329 may include one or more ICs configured to perform the functions of the short-to-medium-range wireless communication circuit 329. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of the short-to-medium-range wireless communication circuit 329.

[0075] Figure 4 —Block diagram of a base station

[0076] Figure 4 An exemplary block diagram of a base station 102 according to some embodiments is shown. It should be noted that... Figure 4 The base station shown is merely one example of a possible base station. As illustrated, base station 102 may include a processor 404 capable of executing program instructions for base station 102. Processor 404 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 440 or other circuitry or device, which may be configured to receive addresses from processor 404 and translate those addresses into locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read-only memory (ROM) 450).

[0077] Base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. Network port 470 may be configured to be coupled to a telephone network and provide access rights as described above in Figure 1 and... Figure 2 The telephone network described herein includes multiple devices such as UE device 106.

[0078] Network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also be configured, or alternatively configured, to be coupled to a cellular network, such as the core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility-related services and / or other services to multiple devices, such as UE device 106. In some cases, network port 470 may be coupled to a telephone network via the core network, and / or the core network may provide a telephone network (e.g., in other UE devices served by the cellular service provider).

[0079] In some implementations, base station 102 may be a next-generation base station, such as a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or “gNB”. In such implementations, base station 102 may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to an NR core (NRC) network. Furthermore, base station 102 may be considered a 5G NR cell and may include one or more transition and receive points (TRPs). Additionally, UEs capable of operating according to 5G NR may connect to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

[0080] Base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434 and possibly multiple antennas. The at least one antenna 434 may be configured to function as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with UE device 106 via radio component 430. Antenna 434 communicates with radio component 430 via communication link 432. Communication link 432 may be a receive link, a transmit link, or both. Radio component 430 may be configured to communicate via various wireless communication standards, including but not limited to 5G NR, LTE, LTE-A, GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi, etc.

[0081] Base station 102 can be configured to perform wireless communication using multiple wireless communication standards. In some cases, base station 102 may include multiple radios that enable base station 102 to communicate according to multiple wireless communication technologies. For example, as one possibility, base station 102 may include an LTE radio component for performing communication according to LTE and a 5G NR radio component for performing communication according to 5G NR. In this case, base station 102 may be able to operate as both an LTE base station and a 5G NR base station. As another possibility, base station 102 may include a multimode radio component capable of performing communication according to any of multiple wireless communication technologies (e.g., 5G NR and Wi-Fi, LTE and Wi-Fi, LTE and UMTS, LTE and CDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.).

[0082] As further described herein, base station 102 may include hardware and software components for implementing or supporting embodiments of the features described herein. Processor 404 of base station 102 may be configured to implement or support some or all of the methods described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, processor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as a FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit), or a combination thereof. Alternatively (or in addition), in conjunction with one or more of other components 430, 432, 434, 440, 450, 460, and 470, processor 404 of base station 102 may be configured to implement or support some or all of the features described herein.

[0083] Furthermore, as described herein, processor 404 may comprise one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in processor 404. Therefore, processor 404 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processor 404. Additionally, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of one or more processors 404.

[0084] Additionally, as described herein, the radio component 430 may comprise one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in the radio component 430. Therefore, the radio component 430 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of the radio component 430. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of the radio component 430.

[0085] Figure 5Block diagram of cellular communication circuit

[0086] Figure 5 An exemplary simplified block diagram of a cellular communication circuit according to some embodiments is shown. It should be noted that... Figure 5 The block diagram of the cellular communication circuit is merely one example of a possible cellular communication circuit. According to the implementation, the cellular communication circuit 330 may be included in a communication device such as the communication device 106 described above. As mentioned above, among other devices, the communication device 106 may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet computer, and / or a combination of these devices.

[0087] Cellular communication circuit 330 may (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) be coupled to one or more antennas, such as ( Figure 3 Antennas 335a-335b and 336 are shown in the diagram. In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuit 330 may include dedicated receive chains for multiple RATs (including and / or coupled to (e.g., communication ground; directly or indirectly) dedicated processors and / or radio components) (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G-NR). For example, as shown... Figure 5 As shown, the cellular communication circuit 330 may include a modem 510 and a modem 520. The modem 510 may be configured for communication according to a first RAT, such as LTE or LTE-A, and the modem 520 may be configured for communication according to a second RAT, such as 5G NR.

[0088] As shown, modem 510 may include one or more processors 512 and memory 516 communicating with processors 512. Modem 510 may communicate with radio frequency (RF) front end 530. RF front end 530 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, RF front end 530 may include receiver circuitry (RX) 532 and transmitter circuitry (TX) 534. In some embodiments, receiver circuitry 532 may communicate with downlink (DL) front end 550, which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna 335a.

[0089] Similarly, modem 520 may include one or more processors 522 and memory 526 communicating with processor 522. Modem 520 may communicate with RF front end 540. RF front end 540 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, RF front end 540 may include receiving circuitry 542 and transmitting circuitry 544. In some embodiments, receiving circuitry 542 may communicate with DL front end 560, which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna 335b.

[0090] In some implementations, switch 570 may couple transmitting circuitry 534 to uplink (UL) front-end 572. Additionally, switch 570 may couple transmitting circuitry 544 to UL front-end 572. UL front-end 572 may include circuitry for transmitting radio signals via antenna 336. Therefore, when cellular communication circuitry 330 receives an instruction to transmit according to a first RAT (e.g., supported by modem 510), switch 570 may be switched to a first state allowing modem 510 to transmit signals according to the first RAT (e.g., via a transmission chain including transmitting circuitry 534 and UL front-end 572). Similarly, when cellular communication circuitry 330 receives an instruction to transmit according to a second RAT (e.g., supported by modem 520), switch 570 may be switched to a second state allowing modem 520 to transmit signals according to the second RAT (e.g., via a transmission chain including transmitting circuitry 544 and UL front-end 572).

[0091] In some implementations, the cellular communication circuit 330 may be configured to perform methods that cause the UE to trigger changes in beam configuration based on UL beam conditions to, for example, avoid and / or limit the maximum possible exposure, as further described herein.

[0092] As described herein, modem 510 may include hardware and software components for implementing the features described above or for UL data used in time-division multiplexing NSA NR operation, as well as various other technologies described herein. For example, processor 512 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium). Alternatively (or otherwise), processor 512 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as a FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) or as an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or otherwise), processor 512 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein by combining with one or more of other components 530, 532, 534, 550, 570, 572, 335, and 336.

[0093] Furthermore, as described herein, processor 512 may include one or more processing elements. Therefore, processor 512 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processor 512. Additionally, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor 512.

[0094] As described herein, modem 520 may include hardware and software components designed to implement the aforementioned features for transmitting power-saving scheduling profiles to the network, as well as various other technologies described herein. For example, processor 522 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium). Alternatively (or otherwise), processor 522 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as a FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) or as an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or additionally), processor 522 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein by combining one or more of other components 540, 542, 544, 550, 570, 572, 335, and 336.

[0095] Furthermore, as described herein, processor 522 may include one or more processing elements. Therefore, processor 522 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processor 522. Additionally, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor 522.

[0096] 5G NR architecture with LTE

[0097] In some specific implementations, fifth-generation (5G) wireless communication will initially be deployed concurrently with current wireless communication standards, such as LTE. For example, dual connectivity between LTE and the new 5G radio (5G NR or NR) has been designated as part of the initial deployment of NR. Therefore, as... Figures 6A to 6B As shown, the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network 600 can continue to communicate with the current LTE base station (e.g., eNB 602). Furthermore, eNB 602 can communicate with the 5G NR base station (e.g., gNB 604) and can transfer data between the core network 600 and gNB 604. Therefore, the EPC network 600 can be used (or reused), and gNB 604 can serve as additional capacity for user equipment, for example, to provide increased downlink throughput for the UE. In other words, LTE can be used for control plane signaling, and NR can be used for user plane signaling. Therefore, LTE can be used to establish connections to the network, and NR can be used for data services.

[0098] Figure 6B The proposed protocol stack for eNB 602 and gNB 604 is illustrated. As shown, eNB 602 may include a Media Access Control (MAC) layer 632 that interfacing with Radio Link Control (RLC) layers 622a-622b. RLC layer 622a may also interfacing with Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer 612a, and RLC layer 622b may interfacing with PDCP layer 612b. Similar to the dual connectivity specified in Advanced LTE Release 12, PDCP layer 612a may interfacing with EPC network 600 via Primary Cell Group (MCG) bearer, while PDCP layer 612b may interfacing with EPC network 600 via decoupling bearer.

[0099] Additionally, as shown in the figure, gNB 604 may include a MAC layer 634 that interfacing with RLC layers 624a-624b. RLC layer 624a may interfacing with the PDCP layer 612b of eNB 602 via the X2 interface for information exchange and / or coordination (e.g., UE scheduling) between eNB 602 and gNB 604. Furthermore, RLC layer 624b may interfacing with PDCP layer 614. Similar to the dual connectivity specified in Advanced LTE Release 12, PDCP layer 614 may interfacing with EPC network 600 via a secondary cell group (SCG) bearer. Therefore, eNB 602 can be considered as the primary node (MeNB), and gNB 604 can be considered as the secondary node (SgNB). In some cases, it may be required that the UE maintain connectivity with both the MeNB and the SgNB. In such cases, the MeNB can be used to maintain the Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with the EPC, while the SgNB can be used for capacity (e.g., additional downlink and / or uplink throughput).

[0100] 5G Core Network Architecture—Interoperability with Wi-Fi

[0101] In some implementations, access to the 5G core network (CN) can be made via (or through) cellular connections / interfaces (e.g., via 3GPP communication architectures / protocols) and non-cellular connections / interfaces (e.g., non-3GPP access architectures / protocols such as Wi-Fi connections). Figure 7AAn example of a 5G network architecture according to some implementation schemes is shown, which combines 3GPP (e.g., cellular) and non-3GPP (e.g., non-cellular) access to the 5G CN. As shown, a user equipment device (e.g., UE 106) can access the 5G CN via both a radio access network (RAN, e.g., gNB or base station 604) and an access point such as AP 112. AP 112 may include a connection to the Internet 700 and a connection to a non-3GPP Interoperability Function (N3IWF) 702 network entity. N3IWF may include a connection to the core access and mobility management function (AMF) 704 of the 5G CN. AMF 704 may include an instance of 5G mobility management (5G MM) functions associated with UE 106. Additionally, the RAN (e.g., gNB 604) may also have a connection to AMF 704. Therefore, the 5G CN can support unified authentication on both connections and allow UE 106 to register access simultaneously via gNB 604 and AP 112. As shown, AMF 704 may include one or more functional entities associated with the 5G CN (e.g., Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) 720, Short Message Service Function (SMSF) 722, Application Function (AF) 724, Unified Data Management (UDM) 726, Policy Control Function (PCF) 728, and / or Authentication Server Function (AUSF) 730). It should be noted that these functional entities can also be supported by the 5G CN's Session Management Functions (SMF) 706a and SMF 706b. AMF 706 can connect to (or communicate with) SMF 706a. Furthermore, gNB 604 can communicate with (or connect to) User Plane Function (UPF) 708a, which can also communicate with SMF 706a. Similarly, N3IWF 702 can communicate with UPF 708b, which can also communicate with SMF 706b. Both UPFs can communicate with data networks (e.g., DN 710a and 710b) and / or the Internet 700 and IMS core network 710.

[0102] Figure 7BAn example of a 5G network architecture according to some implementation schemes is shown, which combines dual 3GPP (e.g., LTE and 5G NR) access to the 5G CN as well as non-3GPP access. As shown, a user equipment device (e.g., UE 106) can access the 5G CN via both a radio access network (RAN, such as gNB or base station 604 or eNB or base station 602) and an access point such as AP 112. AP 112 may include a connection to the Internet 700 and a connection to the N3IWF 702 network entity. The N3IWF may include a connection to the AMF 704 of the 5G CN. AMF 704 may include an instance of 5G MM functionality associated with UE 106. Additionally, the RAN (e.g., gNB 604) may also have a connection to AMF 704. Therefore, the 5G CN can support unified authentication on both connections and allow UE 106 to register access simultaneously via gNB 604 and AP 112. Additionally, the 5G CN can support dual registration of the UE on both a legacy network (e.g., LTE via base station 602) and a 5G network (e.g., via base station 604). As shown, base station 602 can have connections to both the Mobility Management Entity (MME) 742 and the Service Gateway (SGW) 744. MME 742 can have connections to both SGW 744 and AMF 704. Furthermore, SGW 744 can have connections to both SMF 706a and UPF 708a. As shown, AMF 704 can include one or more functional entities associated with the 5G CN (e.g., NSSF 720, SMSF 722, AF 724, UDM 726, PCF 728, and / or AUSF 730). Note that UDM 726 can also include Home Subscriber Server (HSS) functionality, and PCF can also include Policy and Charging Rules (PCRF) functionality. It should also be noted that these functional entities can also be supported by the 5G CN's SMF 706a and SMF 706b. The AMF 706 can connect to (or communicate with) the SMF 706a. Furthermore, the gNB 604 can communicate with (or connect to) the UPF 708a, which in turn can communicate with the SMF 706a. Similarly, the N3IWF 702 can communicate with the UPF 708b, which in turn can communicate with the SMF 706b. Both UPFs can communicate with data networks (e.g., DN 710a and 710b) and / or the Internet 700 and the IMS core network 710.

[0103] It should be noted that, in various implementations, one or more of the network entities described above may be configured to perform methods for improving security checks in 5G NR networks, including methods that cause the UE to trigger changes in beam configuration based on UL beam conditions to, for example, avoid and / or limit the maximum possible exposure, as further described herein.

[0104] Figure 8 An example of a baseband processor architecture for a UE (e.g., UE 106) according to some implementation schemes is shown. As described above, Figure 8 The baseband processor architecture 800 described herein can be implemented on one or more radio components (e.g., radio components 329 and / or 330) or modems (e.g., modems 510 and / or 520) as described above. As shown, the non-access stratum 810 may include a 5G NAS 820 and a traditional NAS 850. The traditional NAS 850 may include a communication connection with a traditional access stratum (AS) 870. The 5G NAS 820 may include communication connections with a 5G AS 840 and a non-3GPP AS 830, as well as a Wi-Fi AS 832. The 5G NAS 820 may include functional entities associated with both access strata. Therefore, the 5G NAS 820 may include multiple 5G MM entities 826 and 828 and 5G session management (SM) entities 822 and 824. The traditional NAS 850 may include functional entities such as Short Message Service (SMS) entity 852, Evolved Packet System (EPS) Session Management (ESM) entity 854, Session Management (SM) entity 856, EPS Mobility Management (EMM) entity 858, and Mobility Management (MM) / GPRS Mobility Management (GMM) entity 860. Furthermore, the traditional AS 870 may include functional entities such as LTE AS 872, UMTS AS 874, and / or GSM / GPRS 876.

[0105] Therefore, the baseband processor architecture 800 allows for a common 5G-NAS for both 5G cellular and non-cellular (e.g., non-3GPP access) networks. It's important to note that, as shown in the figure, the 5G MM can maintain separate connection management and registration management state machines for each connection. Furthermore, a device (e.g., UE 106) can register to a single PLMN (e.g., a 5G CN) using both 5G cellular and non-cellular access. Additionally, a device can be connected in one access and idle in another, or vice versa. Finally, there may be common 5G-MM procedures (e.g., registration, deregistration, identification, authentication, etc.) for both accesses.

[0106] It should be noted that, in various implementations, one or more of the aforementioned functional entities of the 5G NAS and / or 5G AS may be configured to perform methods that cause the UE to trigger changes in beam configuration based on the UL beaming situation to, for example, avoid and / or limit the maximum possible exposure, as further described herein.

[0107] Beam management solutions for MPE

[0108] In current implementations, for safety reasons, mobile stations (such as User Equipment (UE)) may not be permitted to position (point) their radio frequency (RF) beams in certain directions to, for example, maintain below the Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) level. Additionally, for safety reasons, the maximum transmit power of a mobile station may be limited (e.g., below a threshold) to, for example, maintain below the MPE level. For example, Title 47 of the Federal Electronics Regulations defines MPE levels in the United States. Specifically, 47 CFR 1.1310 defines exposure limits for specific frequency ranges for occupational / controlled exposure and general / uncontrolled exposure. Such interference (e.g., beam jamming due to the location of the radio station and / or reduced transmit power (maintaining below the threshold)) can adversely affect the user experience.

[0109] The embodiments described herein provide systems, methods, and mechanisms that enable user equipment (UE) devices (such as UE 106) to comply with regulations while maintaining an optimal user experience. In other words, the embodiments described herein provide systems, methods, and mechanisms that enable a UE (such as UE 106) to trigger changes in beam configuration based on UL beaming conditions to, for example, avoid and / or limit the maximum possible exposure. In some embodiments, once the UE identifies the uplink (UL) beam as unsafe (e.g., for personal safety reasons), the UE can:

[0110] (1) Continue to use the UL beam, but reduce the transmission power;

[0111] (2) Switch to another UL beam within the current antenna panel;

[0112] (3) Switch to another UL beam within another antenna panel; and / or

[0113] (4) Send a signal to the network signal to notify of beam failure.

[0114] In some implementations, the UE may choose an option based on the current transmission conditions and / or local conditions associated with the UE (e.g., the UE's location and / or orientation relative to the user). In some implementations, the UE may first try reducing the transmission power before attempting other solutions.

[0115] For example, Figure 9 A block diagram illustrating an example of a method for causing a UE to trigger a beam configuration change based on UL beam conditions, according to some implementation schemes. Among other devices, Figure 9 The method shown can also be used with any of the systems, methods, or devices shown in the figures. In various embodiments, some of the method elements shown may be executed concurrently in a different order than that shown, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may also be executed as needed. As shown, the method operates as follows.

[0116] At 902, the UE (such as UE 106) can detect insecure uplink (UL) beaming conditions. In some embodiments, the security of the UL beam may be based at least in part on the direction of the UL beam relative to the user. In some embodiments, the security of the UL beam may be based at least in part on the position and / or orientation of the UE relative to the user. In some embodiments, the security of the UL beam may be based at least in part on the UE's transmit power level. In some embodiments, the security of the UL beam may be relative to the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) level of the UL beam's operating frequency range. In some embodiments, detecting an insecure UL beaming condition may include determining one or more of the following: the direction of the UL beam relative to the user is insecure with respect to the current transmit power; the position and / or orientation of the UE relative to the user is insecure with respect to the current transmit power; and / or the UE's transmit power level is insecure. In some embodiments, determining that the transmit power level is insecure for the UL beam may include comparing the transmit power level to the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) level within the operating frequency range of the UL beam.

[0117] At 904, the UE may initiate (and / or execute) one or more remedial actions based on the detection of an unsafe UL beam condition. In some implementations, these one or more remedial actions may prioritize UL beam quality over downlink (DL) beam quality. For example, the UE may reduce the transmit power of the UL beam, signal a beam failure to the network based on the detection of an unsafe UL beam condition to initiate the selection of a new UL beam (and / or a new beam pair (e.g., a UL beam and a downlink (DL) beam)), and / or switch to another UL beam within the current antenna panel and / or switch to another UL beam within another antenna panel. In some implementations, the UE may attempt to reduce the transmit power before initiating beam reselection and / or switching to another beam (within and / or between panels).

[0118] For example, in some implementations, when the UE reduces the transmit power of the UL beam, this reduction may be based on the Maximum Power Reduction (MPR), for example, by signaling to the UE and / or as specified (e.g., via a standard). In some implementations, the UE may reduce the transmit power such that the power exposure of each UL beam is reduced below the MPE level. It should be noted that the MPR may be defined as the maximum permissible reduction in UL transmit power to enable the UE to avoid nonlinear transmit characteristics and / or meet adjacent channel leakage requirements. In some implementations, the MPR may be beam-specific. In some implementations, if the MPR change is above a threshold, the UE may report power margin to the network (e.g., to the network's base station, such as gNB 604). In other words, if the transmit power reduction is greater than a predetermined amount, the UE may notify the network to, for example, initiate a beam reselection process. In some implementations, if the MPR change of at least one spatial relationship in the serving cells of a cell group is above a threshold, the UE may report power margin to the network. In some implementations, the UE may report power margin to the network when the MPR is above a threshold. In some implementations, the UE may report only the power headroom if a timer associated with reporting the power headroom (e.g., phr-ProhibitTimer and / or an MPE event-specific timer) has expired. In some implementations, MPR changes may be determined at least in part based on the current MPR and the MPR since the last power headroom report in the Media Access Control (MAC) entity for use with a new transmission. In some implementations, thresholds may be predefined and / or configured via higher-layer signaling (e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling). In some implementations, the spatial relationship information considered may have been configured in the Sounding Reference Signaling (SRS). In some implementations, the SRS may include at least one type of SRS for codebook / non-codebook / beam management / antenna switching. In some implementations, the serving cell group index may be configured and / or predefined via higher-layer signaling, such as all cells in frequency range 2.

[0119] In some implementations, when reporting power headroom, the UE may report an SRS resource index within and / or associated with the MAC control element (CE) for power headroom reporting. In some implementations, after decoding the MAC protocol data unit (PDU), the network may identify insecure beams and perform beam selection and / or beam reselection.

[0120] In some implementations, 3GPP TS 38.321 may be modified to include the following text: "When a MAC entity has UL resources for a new transmission, the phr-ProhibitTimer expires or has expired, and for any active serving cell in frequency range 2 of any MAC entity configured with an uplink, the following is true:"

[0121] - There are UL resources allocated for transmission or PUCCH transmission on the cell, and when the MAC entity has UL resources allocated for transmission or PUCCH transmission on the cell, the power compensation required for power management of at least one spatial relationship information configured for this cell in the SRS has changed by more than phr-Tx-PowerFactorChange dB since the last PHR transmission.

[0122] As another example of a remedy, in some implementations, after the UE identifies an unsafe UL beam, the UE can switch to another candidate UL beam based on one or more conditions being met. These conditions may include:

[0123] (1) The MPR of an unsafe UL beam is greater than the first threshold;

[0124] (2) The MPR reduction of the unsafe UL beam is less than the second threshold for the Layer 1 (L1) reference signal received power (RSRP);

[0125] (3) The L1-RSRP of the candidate UL beam is greater than the third threshold; and / or

[0126] (4) The MPR of the candidate UL beam is less than the fourth threshold.

[0127] In some implementations, each threshold can be predefined and / or configured via higher-layer signaling. In some implementations, such UL beam switching may result in beam pair mismatch between the UE and the network. In some implementations, to resolve the mismatch, the UE may trigger a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) procedure for beam management and / or the UE may trigger a beam report based on L1-RSRP. In either case, the UE trigger (request) may be sent via MAC CE, via PUCCH, and / or via contention-based PRACH.

[0128] In some implementations, if the UE triggers an SRS procedure for beam management, the UE may communicate a subset and / or all of the following:

[0129] (a) Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) Resource Index (SSBRI), Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) Resource Index (CRI) and / or SRS Resource Index (SRI) configured with Spatial Relationship Information Elements and / or SRS Resource Indicator (SRI) for Codebook / Non-Codebook.

[0130] (b) Serving cell index; and / or

[0131] (c) Bandwidth section index.

[0132] In some implementations, upon receiving such a trigger message, the network may trigger an SRS procedure for beam management to refine the network beam, thereby updating the spatial relationship information with the source.

[0133] In some implementations, if the UE triggers a beam report based on L1-RSRP, the network may respond using an uplink grant with a Private Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI). In some implementations, after receiving the network's response, the UE may report an L1-RSRP with MPR effects.

[0134] As a further example of a remedy, in some implementations, after the UE identifies an unsafe UL beam, the UE can switch to another antenna panel based on one or more conditions, such as:

[0135] (1) The MPR of an unsafe UL beam is greater than the first threshold;

[0136] (2) The L1-RSRP of the MPR reduction of the unsafe UL beam is less than the second threshold;

[0137] (3) The L1-RSRP of the candidate UL beam in the new antenna panel is greater than the third threshold; and / or

[0138] (4) The MPR of the candidate UL beam in the new antenna panel is less than the fourth threshold.

[0139] In some implementations, each threshold can be predefined and / or configured via higher-layer signaling. In some implementations, if the UE uses one antenna panel for downlink reception and another antenna panel (e.g., a new antenna panel) for uplink transmission, the UE may not receive downlink signals transmitted within a timing window surrounding the downlink signal for path loss measurement. In some implementations, the timing window can be configured via higher-layer signaling, predefined, and / or configured based on UE capabilities. In some implementations, within the timing window, the UE can switch to the new antenna panel for uplink transmission and / or measure downlink signals for path loss measurement.

[0140] In some embodiments, if the UE switches the DL beam to a new antenna panel after selecting a new antenna panel for the UL beam, the UE may perform a contention-based PRACH-based procedure. In some embodiments, after the procedure is completed, all downlink and uplink beams may be based on the SSB and / or CSI-RS identified by the PRACH. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the UE may trigger an SRS procedure and / or an L1-RSRP beam report for beam management.

[0141] As a further example of a remedial measure, in some embodiments, after the UE identifies an unsafe UL beam, the UE may signal a beam failure to the network. Note that beam failure detection is typically performed based on the DL measurement quality of the assumed PDCCH BLER. For example, if the (RSRP, SINR) measurement values of a beam are consistently below a threshold over a certain period of time, a beam failure may be declared for that beam, assuming that the DL beam and the UL beam have similar quality. However, when an unsafe UL beam is identified (e.g., when an MPE problem occurs), the UL beam quality may be different from the DL beam quality because the UL beam may require additional MPR, e.g., if the UL beam is directed towards a human body. Therefore, in some embodiments, the UL signal quality may be used as a supplement to the DL signal quality for beam failure detection and radio link failure detection. In some embodiments, different out-of-sync thresholds may be configured separately for the UL. Thus, when the UE evaluates a beam failure, power management maximum power reduction (P-MPR) (e.g., a UE control parameter to meet specific absorption rate (SAR) requirements) may be considered before comparing with the threshold, e.g.:

[0142] (1) UL_signal_quality = DL_measurement - P-MPR

[0143] (2) DL_Measurement(Beam) – P-MPR(Beam) < UL_Threshold for beam failure detection.

[0144] In some embodiments, when both UL quality and DL quality are considered for beam failure detection, there may be 4 possible states:

[0145] (1) DL_meas > DL_thres and UL_qual > UL_thres (DL and UL are good) [[ID=IP17]]

[0146] (2) DL_meas > DL_thres and UL_qual < UL_thres (DL is good, UL is lost)

[0147] (3) DL_meas < DL_thres and UL_qual > UL_thres (DL lost, UL good)

[0148] (4) DL_meas < DL_thres and UL_qual < UL_thres (DL and UL lost)

[0149] Thus, to enhance beam failure detection, the beam failure declaration may jointly consider both UL beam quality and DL beam quality. In other words, if a DL beam failure is detected, a UL beam failure is detected, or if both a UL failure and a DL beam failure are detected simultaneously, the UE may declare a beam failure. In some embodiments, the UE may perform candidate beam selection based on the UL signal quality and / or a combination of UL signal quality and DL signal quality.

[0150] In some embodiments, when the UE detects an unsafe UL beam, the UE may use the UL beam quality to determine the RACH resources for RACH resource selection, such as {DL_Measurement–P-MPR}. In some embodiments, thresholds may be configured for DL and / or UL beam quality, and the UE may transmit RACH on any UL beam that passes the threshold to reduce latency, for example.

[0151] Figure 10 A block diagram illustrating an example of a process for causing a UE to trigger a change in beam configuration based on the UL beam situation according to some embodiments is shown. Figure 10 The process shown may be used in conjunction with any system, method, or device shown in the figures and other devices. In various embodiments, some of the process elements shown may be executed concurrently in a different order than shown, or may be omitted. Additional process elements may also be executed as needed. As shown, the process may operate as follows.

[0152] At 1002, the UE (such as UE 106) can detect unsafe beaming conditions. In some embodiments, the safety of the UL beam may be based at least in part on one or more of the following: the direction of the UL beam relative to the user, the position and / or orientation of the UE relative to the user, and / or the transmit power level of the UE. In some embodiments, the safety of the UL beam may be relative to the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) level of the UL beam's operating frequency range. In other words, detecting an unsafe UL beaming condition may include: determining that the direction of the UL beam relative to the user is unsafe with the current transmit power; determining that the position and / or orientation of the UE relative to the user is unsafe with the current transmit power; and / or determining that the UE's transmit power level is unsafe. In some embodiments, determining that the transmit power level is unsafe for the UL beam may include comparing the transmit power level with the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) level within the operating frequency range of the UL beam.

[0153] At point 1004, to prioritize UL beam quality over downlink (DL) beam quality, the UE may attempt to reduce the transmit power of insecure UL beams. In some implementations, the reduction in transmit power may be based on Maximum Power Reduction (MPR). The MPR may be signaled to the UE (e.g., via higher-layer signaling such as RRC signaling) and / or specified by the standard. In some implementations, the UE may reduce the transmit power such that the power exposure of each UL beam is reduced below the MPE level. In some implementations, the MPR may be beam-specific.

[0154] At point 1006, the UE can determine whether the reduction in transmit power was successful. In other words, the UE can determine whether a successful transmission can be performed using the reduced transmit power. In some implementations, if the MPR change is higher than a threshold, the UE can report power margin to the network (e.g., to a base station of the network, such as gNB 604). In other words, if the reduction in transmit power is greater than a predetermined amount, the UE can notify the network. In some implementations, if the MPR change of at least one spatial relationship in the serving cells of the cell group is higher than a threshold, the UE can report power margin to the network. In some implementations, the UE can report power margin to the network when the MPR is higher than a threshold. In some implementations, the UE can report power margin only if a timer associated with reporting power margin (e.g., phr-ProhibitTimer and / or an MPE event-specific timer) has expired. In some implementations, the MPR change can be determined at least in part based on the current MPR and the MPR since the last transmit power margin report in the Media Access Control (MAC) entity for new transmission. In some implementations, the threshold can be predefined and / or configured via higher-level signaling, such as Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

[0155] At 1008, in response to a subsequent reduction in transmit power, the UE may use the UL beam at the reduced transmit power and report transmit power margin to the network at the next opportunity. In some implementations, the next opportunity to report transmit power margin may be based on the expiration of a timer associated with the reported power margin (e.g., phr-ProhibitTimer and / or an MPE event-specific timer).

[0156] At 1010, in response to a reduction in transmit power faults, the UE may consider whether to signal a beam fault to the network.

[0157] At 1012, in response to determining that a beam fault needs to be signaled to the network, the UE may perform (and / or initiate) a beam reselection procedure. In some implementations, when reporting power headroom, the UE may report an SRS resource index within and / or associated with the MAC control element (CE) for power headroom reporting. In some implementations, after decoding the MAC protocol data unit (PDU), the network may identify insecure beams and perform beam selection and / or beam reselection. In some implementations, UL signal quality may be used as a supplement to DL signal quality for beam fault detection and radio link fault detection. In some implementations, an asynchrony threshold may be configured separately for UL, so that when the UE assesses a beam fault, P-MPR can be considered before comparison with the threshold, for example:

[0158] (1)UL_signal_quality=DL_measurement-P-MPR

[0159] (2)DL_Measurement(Beam)–P-MPR(Beam) <UL_Threshold。

[0160] In some implementations, the UE can use UL beam quality to determine the RACH resource for RACH resource selection, such as {DL_Measurement–P-MPR}. In some implementations, thresholds can be configured for DL ​​and / or UL beam quality, and the UE can transmit RACH on any UL beam that passes the threshold in order to reduce latency, for example.

[0161] At 1014, in response to determining that no beam failure should be signaled to the network, the UE may attempt to select an alternative UL beam. In some embodiments, the alternative UL beam may be in-panel (e.g., the insecure UL beam and the alternative UL beam may be co-located in the UE's antenna panel). In some embodiments, the alternative UL beam may be inter-panel (e.g., the insecure UL beam and the alternative UL beam may be located in different antenna panels of the UE). In some embodiments, one or more conditions may be met before switching to the alternative UL beam. For example, in some embodiments, these conditions may include: the MPR of the insecure UL beam is greater than a first threshold; wherein the L1-RSRP of the reduced MPR of the insecure UL beam is less than a second threshold; the L1-RSRP of the alternative UL beam is greater than a third threshold; and / or the MPR of the alternative UL beam is less than a fourth threshold. In some embodiments, each threshold may be predefined and / or configured via higher-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). In some embodiments, such UL beam switching may result in beam pair (e.g., UL beam and DL beam) mismatch between the UE and the network. In some implementations, to resolve mismatches, the UE may trigger a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) procedure for beam management and / or the UE may trigger a beam report based on L1-RSRP. In either case, the UE trigger (request) may be transmitted via MAC CE, via PUCCH, and / or via contention-based PRACH.

[0162] In some implementations, when a UE triggers an SRS procedure for beam management, the UE may transmit one or more of the following to the network: SSBRI; CSI-RS CRI; SRS SRI configured with spatial relation information elements; SRS SRI for codebook / non-codebook; serving cell index; and / or bandwidth portion index. In some implementations, upon receiving such a trigger message, the network may trigger an SRS procedure for beam management for network beam refinement, thereby updating the spatial relation information with the UE.

[0163] In some implementations, if the UE triggers a beam report based on L1-RSRP, the network may respond using an uplink grant with a Private Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI). In some implementations, after receiving the network's response, the UE may report an L1-RSRP with MPR effects.

[0164] At 1016, the UE can determine whether the selection of the alternative UL beam was successful. In some implementations, when the selection is unsuccessful (e.g., the alternative UL beam does not meet one or more conditions), the process can return to 1012, and the UE can initiate a beam reselection process based on the UL beam condition. Alternatively, when the selection of the alternative UL beam is successful, the process can continue at 1018.

[0165] At 1018, the UE may, for example, transmit using the alternative UL beam based on the successful selection of the alternative UL beam. Alternatively, if the selection is unsuccessful, the procedure may return to 1010, and the UE may signal a beam failure to the network. In some implementations, when the alternative UL beam is in a different antenna panel than the insecure UL beam, the UE may switch the DL beam to the antenna panel of the alternative UL beam. In such implementations, the UE may perform a contention-based PRACH-based procedure. In some implementations, after completing the PRACH-based procedure, all DL beams and UL beams may be based on the SSB identified by the PRACH procedure. In some implementations, after completing the PRACH-based procedure, all DL beams and UL beams may be based on the Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) identified by the PRACH procedure. Alternatively, in some implementations, the UE may trigger an SRS procedure for beam management and / or L1-RSRP beam reporting.

[0166] Figures 11 to 14 A block diagram illustrating another example of a method, according to some implementation schemes, for causing a UE to trigger a change in UL beam configuration based on UL beam conditions. Among other devices, Figures 11 to 14 The methods shown can also be used in conjunction with any of the systems, methods, or devices shown in the figures. In various embodiments, some of the method elements shown may be performed concurrently in a different order than that shown, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as needed. In some embodiments, one or more of these methods may be combined. As shown, these methods can operate as follows.

[0167] Go to Figure 11 At 1102, the UE (such as UE 106) can detect unsafe beaming conditions. In some embodiments, detecting an unsafe UL beaming condition may include: determining that the direction of the UL beam relative to the user is unsafe with respect to the current transmit power; determining that the position and / or orientation of the UE relative to the user is unsafe with respect to the current transmit power; and / or determining that the transmit power level of the UE is unsafe. In some embodiments, determining that the transmit power level is unsafe for the UL beam may include comparing the transmit power level with the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) level within the operating frequency range of the UL beam.

[0168] At 1104, to prioritize UL beam quality over downlink (DL) beam quality, the UE may reduce the transmit power of insecure UL beams. In some implementations, the reduction in transmit power may be based on the MPR, which may be signaled to the UE (e.g., via higher-layer signaling such as RRC signaling) and / or specified by the standard. In some implementations, the UE may reduce the transmit power such that the power exposure of each UL beam is reduced below the MPE level. In some implementations, the MPR may be beam-specific.

[0169] In some implementations, when the UE determines that it cannot successfully transmit using reduced transmit power, the UE may report power margin to the network (e.g., to a base station of the network such as gNB 604). In some implementations, the UE may report power margin to the network when the MPR change is higher than a threshold. In other words, if the reduction in transmit power is greater than a predetermined amount, the UE may notify the network. In some implementations, the UE may report power margin to the network if the MPR change of at least one spatial relationship in the serving cells of the cell group is higher than a threshold. In some implementations, the UE may report power margin to the network when the MPR is higher than a threshold. In some implementations, the UE may report power margin only if a timer associated with reporting power margin (e.g., phr-ProhibitTimer and / or an MPE event-specific timer) has expired. In some implementations, the MPR change may be determined at least in part based on the current MPR and the MPR since the last time power margin was reported in the Media Access Control (MAC) entity for a new transmission. In some implementations, the threshold can be predefined and / or configured via higher-level signaling, such as Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. In some implementations, when reporting power headroom, the UE can report an SRS resource index within and / or associated with the MAC Control Element (CE) for power headroom reporting. In some implementations, after decoding the MAC Protocol Data Unit (PDU), the network can identify insecure beams and perform beam selection and / or beam reselection.

[0170] In some implementations, in response to a subsequent reduction in transmit power, the UE may use the UL beam at the reduced transmit power and report transmit power margin to the network at the next opportunity. In some implementations, the next opportunity to report transmit power margin may be based on the expiration of a timer associated with the reported power margin (e.g., a phr-ProhibitTimer and / or an MPE event-specific timer).

[0171] Go to Figure 12, at 1202, a UE (such as UE 106) may detect an unsafe beam situation. In some embodiments, detecting an unsafe UL beam situation may include the following: determining that the direction of the UL beam relative to the user is unsafe for the current transmit power; determining that the position and / or orientation of the UE relative to the user is unsafe for the current transmit power; and / or determining that the transmit power level of the UE is unsafe. In some embodiments, determining that the transmit power level is unsafe for the UL beam may include comparing the transmit power level with the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) level within the operating frequency range of the UL beam.

[0172] At 1204, in order to prioritize UL beam quality over downlink (DL) beam quality, the UE may signal a beam failure to the network based on the unsafe UL beam situation. In some embodiments, UL signal quality may be used as a supplement to DL signal quality for beam failure detection and radio link failure detection. In some embodiments, different out-of-sync thresholds may be configured separately for UL, and thus, when the UE evaluates a beam failure, P-MPR may be considered before comparing with the threshold, e.g., DL_Measurement(Beam) – P-MPR(Beam) < UL_Threshold, for beam failure detection. Thus, in some embodiments, a beam failure declaration may consider both UL beam quality and DL beam quality. In other words, if a DL beam failure is detected, a UL beam failure is detected, or if both a UL failure and a DL beam failure are detected simultaneously, the UE may declare a beam failure. In some embodiments, the UE may perform candidate beam selection based on UL signal quality and / or a combination of UL signal quality and DL signal quality. In some embodiments, the UE may use UL beam quality to determine RACH resources for RACH resource selection, e.g., {DL_Measurement – P-MPR}. In some embodiments, thresholds may be configured for DL and / or UL beam quality, and the UE may transmit RACH on any UL beam that passes the threshold to, for example, reduce latency.

[0173] Go to Figure 13 , at 1302, a UE (such as UE 106) may detect an unsafe beam situation. In some embodiments, detecting an unsafe UL beam situation may include the following: determining that the direction of the UL beam relative to the user is unsafe for the current transmit power; determining that the position and / or orientation of the UE relative to the user is unsafe for the current transmit power; and / or determining that the transmit power level of the UE is unsafe. In some embodiments, determining that the transmit power level is unsafe for the UL beam may include comparing the transmit power level with the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) level within the operating frequency range of the UL beam.

[0174] At 1304, to prioritize UL beam quality over downlink (DL) beam quality, the UE may trigger an in-panel UL beam handover. In some implementations, one or more conditions may be met before switching to an alternative UL beam. For example, in some implementations, these conditions may include: the MPR of the insecure UL beam is greater than a first threshold; the L1-RSRP of the reduced MPR of the insecure UL beam is less than a second threshold; the L1-RSRP of the alternative UL beam is greater than a third threshold; and / or the MPR of the alternative UL beam is less than a fourth threshold. In some implementations, each threshold may be predefined and / or configured via higher-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). In some implementations, such UL beam handover may result in beam pair mismatch between the UE and the network. In some implementations, to resolve the mismatch, the UE may trigger a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) procedure for beam management and / or the UE may trigger a beam report based on L1-RSRP. In either case, the UE trigger (request) may be sent via MAC CE, via PUCCH, and / or via contention-based PRACH.

[0175] In some implementations, if the UE triggers an SRS procedure for beam management, the UE may communicate a subset and / or all of the following:

[0176] (a) Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) Resource Index (SSBRI), Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) Resource Index (CRI) and / or SRS Resource Index (SRI) configured with Spatial Relationship Information Elements and / or SRS Resource Indicator (SRI) for Codebook / Non-Codebook.

[0177] (b) Serving cell index; and / or

[0178] (c) Bandwidth section index.

[0179] In some implementations, upon receiving such a trigger message, the network may trigger an SRS procedure for beam management to refine the network beam, thereby updating the spatial relationship information with the source.

[0180] In some implementations, if the UE triggers a beam report based on L1-RSRP, the network may respond using an uplink grant with a Private Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI). In some implementations, after receiving the network's response, the UE may report an L1-RSRP with MPR effects.

[0181] Go to Figure 14At 1402, the UE (such as UE 106) can detect unsafe beaming conditions. In some embodiments, detecting an unsafe UL beaming condition may include: determining that the direction of the UL beam relative to the user is unsafe with respect to the current transmit power; determining that the position and / or orientation of the UE relative to the user is unsafe with respect to the current transmit power; and / or determining that the transmit power level of the UE is unsafe. In some embodiments, determining that the transmit power level is unsafe for the UL beam may include comparing the transmit power level with the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) level within the operating frequency range of the UL beam.

[0182] At 1404, to prioritize UL beam quality over downlink (DL) beam quality, the UE may trigger an inter-panel UL beam handover. In some implementations, one or more conditions may be met before switching to the alternative UL beam. For example, in some implementations, these conditions may include: the MPR of the insecure UL beam is greater than a first threshold; the L1-RSRP of the reduced MPR of the insecure UL beam is less than a second threshold; the L1-RSRP of the alternative UL beam is greater than a third threshold; and / or the MPR of the alternative UL beam is less than a fourth threshold. In some implementations, each threshold may be predefined and / or configured via higher-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). In some implementations, such UL beam handover may result in a beam pair mismatch (e.g., UL beam and DL beam) between the UE and the network. In some implementations, to resolve the mismatch, the UE may trigger a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) procedure for beam management and / or the UE may trigger a beam reporting based on L1-RSRP. In any case, the UE trigger (request) can be sent via MAC CE, via PUCCH, and / or via contention-based PRACH.

[0183] In some implementations, when a UE triggers an SRS procedure for beam management, the UE may transmit one or more of the following to the network: SSBRI; CSI-RS CRI; SRS SRI configured with spatial relation information elements; SRS SRI for codebook / non-codebook; serving cell index; and / or bandwidth portion index. In some implementations, upon receiving such a trigger message, the network may trigger an SRS procedure for beam management for beam refinement, thereby updating the spatial relation information with the UE.

[0184] In some implementations, if the UE triggers a beam report based on L1-RSRP, the network may respond using an uplink grant with a Private Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI). In some implementations, after receiving the network's response, the UE may report an L1-RSRP with MPR effects.

[0185] As is widely recognized, the use of personally identifiable information should comply with privacy policies and practices that are generally accepted to meet or exceed industry or governmental requirements for protecting 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 authorized use should be clearly explained to users.

[0186] Embodiments of this disclosure may be implemented in any of a variety of forms. For example, some embodiments may be implemented as computer-implemented methods, computer-readable storage media, or computer systems. Other embodiments may be implemented using one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. Other embodiments may be implemented using one or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs.

[0187] In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be configured to store program instructions and / or data, wherein if the program instructions are executed by a computer system, the computer system performs a method, such as any method embodiment of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or any subset or combination of any such subset of any method embodiments described herein.

[0188] In some implementations, the device (e.g., UE 106) may be configured to include a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium, wherein the memory medium stores program instructions, and the processor is configured to read from and execute the program instructions from the memory medium, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement any of the various method implementations described herein (or any combination of method implementations described herein, or any subset of any method implementations described herein, or any combination of such subsets). The device may be implemented in any of a variety of forms.

[0189] Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, many variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the disclosure is fully understood. This disclosure is intended to render the following claims as encompassing all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. A user equipment (UE), comprising: At least one antenna; At least one radio component, wherein the at least one radio component is configured to perform cellular communication using at least one radio access technology (RAT); One or more processors, said one or more processors being coupled to said at least one radio component, wherein said one or more processors and said at least one radio component are configured to perform voice and / or data communication; The one or more processors are configured such that the UE: The maximum possible exposure MPE level exceeds a threshold for at least one uplink UL beam within the current antenna panel, including multiple UL beams of the at least one UL beam co-located within the current antenna panel; Based on the detection that the MPE level exceeds the threshold, the transmit power of the at least one UL beam is reduced based on the maximum power reduction MPR specific to the at least one UL beam within the current antenna panel; as well as In response to the determination that a successful transmission cannot be achieved using reduced transmit power, one or more remedial measures are performed that prioritize UL beam quality over downlink DL beam quality, wherein said one or more remedial measures include at least one of the following: In-panel switching of the first candidate UL beam that satisfies one or more conditions for in-panel beam switching; Inter-panel switching of the second candidate UL beam is triggered to meet one or more conditions for inter-panel beam switching; or Based on the detection that the MPE level exceeds the threshold, a signal is sent to the network serving the UE to notify of a beam fault.

2. The UE according to claim 1, wherein The one or more processors are further configured to cause the UE to determine one or more of the following: The direction of the at least one UL beam relative to the user is unsafe for the transmission power of the at least one UL beam; The UE's position and / or orientation relative to the user is insecure regarding the transmit power of the at least one UL beam; or The transmit power level of the UE is unsafe based on the MPE level within the operating frequency range of the at least one UL beam.

3. The UE according to claim 1, The one or more processors are further configured such that the UE: When the change in MPR exceeds a first threshold or when the value of the MPR exceeds a second threshold, the power margin is reported to the network.

4. The UE according to claim 3, The power margin report is sent when the timer associated with the power margin report expires.

5. The UE according to claim 4, The time associated with the power margin mentioned in the report is specific to the detection of unsafe UL beaming conditions.

6. The UE according to claim 3, The change in MPR is based on the current MPR and the MPR since the last transmit power margin report in the Medium Access Control (MAC) entity for a new transmission.

7. The UE according to claim 1, The signaling of the beam fault to the network serving the UE includes the UE comparing a UL beam quality measurement value with a UL beam quality threshold, wherein the signaling of the beam fault occurs when the UL beam quality measurement value is less than the UL beam quality threshold.

8. The UE according to claim 7, The UL beam quality measurement is based on the DL beam quality measurement minus the power management maximum power reduction (P-MPR).

9. The UE according to claim 7, The one or more processors are further configured such that the UE: The Random Access Channel (RACH) resources are determined based on the UL beam quality measurements.

10. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: Memory; and A processing element that communicates with the memory, wherein the processing element is configured to: The maximum possible exposure MPE level exceeds a threshold for at least one uplink UL beam within the current antenna panel, including multiple UL beams of the at least one UL beam co-located within the current antenna panel; Based on the detection that the MPE level exceeds the threshold, the transmit power of the at least one UL beam is reduced based on the maximum power reduction MPR specific to the at least one UL beam within the current antenna panel; as well as In response to the determination that a successful transmission cannot be performed using reduced transmit power, one or more remedial measures are implemented that prioritize UL beam quality over downlink DL beam quality.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, The one or more remedial measures include in-panel switching of the first UL beam that triggers one or more conditions that satisfy in-panel beam switching, wherein the one or more conditions include at least one of the following: The maximum power reduction (MPR) of at least one UL beam exceeds a first threshold. The MPR reduction of the layer 1 reference signal received power L1-RSRP of at least one UL beam is less than the second threshold. The L1-RSRP of the first UL beam exceeds the third threshold; or The MPR of the first UL beam is less than the fourth threshold.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, The first threshold, the second threshold, the third threshold, and the fourth threshold are predefined by standards or configured via higher-level signaling with the network.

13. The apparatus according to claim 11, Switching to the first UL beam results in a beam pair mismatch with the network, and in order to resolve the beam pair mismatch, the processing element is further configured to trigger a probe reference signal (SRS) procedure for beam management or an L1-RSRP-based beam reporting procedure.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, The request to trigger the SRS procedure or the L1-RSRP-based beam report procedure is transmitted via at least one of the Media Access Control (MAC) element CE, the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), or the contention-based Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) procedure.

15. The apparatus according to claim 13, As part of the SRS process, the processing element is further configured to generate instructions to transmit one or more of the following: Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) Resource Index (SSBRI); Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) Resource Index (CRI); SRS Resource Index (SRI) configured with spatial relation information elements; SRS Resource Indicator (SRI) for codebook / non-codebook; Serving cell index; or Bandwidth section index.

16. The apparatus according to claim 13, As part of the L1-RSRP-based reporting process, the processing element is further configured to: Receive UL permission from the network with a dedicated radio network temporary identifier (RNTI); and Report the L1-RSRP with MPR impact to the network.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions executable by processing circuitry to cause a user equipment device (UE): The maximum possible exposure MPE level exceeds a threshold for at least one uplink UL beam within the current antenna panel, including multiple UL beams of the at least one UL beam co-located within the current antenna panel; Based on the detection that the MPE level exceeds the threshold, the transmit power of the at least one UL beam is reduced based on the maximum power reduction MPR specific to the at least one UL beam within the current antenna panel; as well as In response to the determination that a successful transmission cannot be achieved using reduced transmit power, one or more remedial measures are performed that prioritize UL beam quality over downlink DL beam quality, wherein said one or more remedial measures include one or more of the following: In-panel switching of the first candidate UL beam that satisfies one or more conditions for in-panel beam switching; Inter-panel switching of the second candidate UL beam is triggered to meet one or more conditions for inter-panel beam switching; or Based on the detection that the MPE level exceeds the threshold, a signal is sent to the network serving the UE to notify of a beam fault.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17, The one or more cases used for in-panel beam switching include at least one of the following: The maximum power reduction (MPR) of at least one UL beam exceeds a first threshold. The MPR reduction of the layer 1 reference signal received power L1-RSRP of at least one UL beam is less than the second threshold. The L1-RSRP of the first candidate UL beam exceeds the third threshold; or The MPR of the first candidate UL beam is less than the fourth threshold; and The first threshold, the second threshold, the third threshold, and the fourth threshold are predefined by standards or configured via higher-level signaling with the network.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein, When one or more remedial measures include triggering an inter-panel handover to the second candidate UL beam, the program instructions may be further executed to cause the UE to: A contention-based Physical Random Access Control Channel (PRACH) process is performed to switch the DL beam to pair with the second candidate UL beam.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 19, During the PRACH-based process, the second candidate UL beam and the DL beam are based on the synchronization signal block SSB or channel state information reference signal CSI-RS identified by the PRACH-based process.

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