Enhanced beamforming capability using multiple receive ports

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A wireless device may receive a first signal in a first frequency band using a first receive port, wherein the first receive port may be associated with a first receive beam. The wireless device may also receive a second signal in the first frequency band using a second receive port concurrently with receiving the first signal, wherein the second receive port may be associated with a second receive beam. After receiving the first and second signals, the wireless device may process the two signals. Processing the signals may include decoding the two signals, measuring the two signals, and / or decoding one of the signals and measuring the other of the signals. To support concurrent reception via multiple receive beams in a single frequency band, the wireless device may employ an idle antenna panel and corresponding receive ports.

Description

[0001] Priority claim

[0002] This patent application claims priority to non-provisional application No. 16 / 592,666, filed on October 3, 2019, entitled “BEAM CAPABILITY ENHANCEMENTS USING MULTIPLE RECEIVE PORTS,” which has been assigned to the assignee of the present application and is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] The following relates generally to wireless communications and, more particularly, to beamforming capability enhancement using multiple receive ports.

[0004] background

[0005] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content, such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcasting, etc. These systems may be able to support communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems (such as long term evolution (LTE) systems, advanced LTE (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems), and fifth generation (5G) systems, which may be referred to as new radio (NR) systems. These systems may use various technologies, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple access communication system may include one or more base stations or one or more network access nodes, each base station or network access node simultaneously supporting communication with multiple communication devices, which may be referred to as user equipment (UE) in addition.

[0006] Wireless communication systems may operate in the millimeter wave (mmW) frequency range (e.g., 28 GHz, 39 GHz, 60 GHz, etc.). Wireless communication at these frequencies may be associated with increased signal attenuation (e.g., path loss), which may be affected by various factors, such as temperature, air pressure, diffraction, etc. As a result, signal processing techniques (such as beamforming) may be used to coherently combine energy and overcome path losses at these frequencies. Due to the increased amount of path loss in mmW communication systems, transmissions from base stations and / or UEs may be beamformed. Beamforming may apply multiple antennas (e.g., antenna arrays or panels) at transmitters and receivers to form transmit beams and receive beams, respectively. For example, a transmitting device may transmit a beamformed transmission to a receiving device via a transmit beam, and a receiving device may receive a beamformed transmission via a receive beam. The use of beamforming in a communication environment poses a challenge to maintaining a robust and flexible communication link.

[0007] Overview

[0008] The described technology relates to improved methods, systems, devices and apparatuses for supporting beam capability enhancement using multiple receive ports. A wireless device may include multiple receive ports, and the configurability of the multiple receive ports may be implemented across multiple frequency bands. For example, the wireless device may have a first receive port set (e.g., a first receive port associated with horizontal polarization and a second receive port associated with vertical polarization) and a second receive port set (e.g., a third receive port associated with horizontal polarization and a fourth receive port associated with vertical polarization). The wireless device may be configurable to employ the first receive port set in a first frequency band and the second receive port set in a second frequency band, or, when configured to communicate using a single frequency band (e.g., a first frequency band), employ the first and second receive port sets for the same or different carriers in a single frequency band. In some cases, the wireless device determines that it is configured to communicate using a single frequency based on a modem at the wireless device being programmed in a mode that supports reception on a single frequency band. In some cases, the wireless device determines that it is configured to communicate using a single frequency band based on being configured by a wireless communication network to communicate using a single frequency band.

[0009] When configured to employ the first and second receive port sets in the same frequency band, the wireless device may receive transmissions via multiple receive beams (e.g., via a first receive beam associated with the first receive port set and a second receive beam associated with the second receive port set). The wireless device may receive multiple transmissions via the multiple receive beams, for example, a first transmission may be received via the first receive beam and a second transmission may be received via the second receive beam. In some cases, the first and second receive beams may be associated with different carriers in a single frequency band or may be associated with the same carrier.

[0010] A method for wireless communication at a UE is described. The method may include: receiving a first signal in a first frequency band using a first receive port, wherein the first receive port is associated with a first receive beam; receiving a second signal in the first frequency band using a second receive port concurrently with receiving the first signal using the first receive port, wherein the second receive port is associated with a second receive beam; and processing the first signal received using the first receive port and the second signal received using the second receive port.

[0011] An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE is described. The apparatus may include a processor, a memory in electronic communication with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receive a first signal within a first frequency band using a first receive port, wherein the first receive port is associated with a first receive beam; receive a second signal within the first frequency band using a second receive port concurrently with receiving the first signal using the first receive port, wherein the second receive port is associated with a second receive beam; and process the first signal received using the first receive port and the second signal received using the second receive port.

[0012] Another apparatus for wireless communication at a UE is described. The apparatus may include: means for receiving a first signal in a first frequency band using a first receive port, wherein the first receive port is associated with a first receive beam; means for receiving a second signal in the first frequency band using a second receive port concurrently with receiving the first signal using the first receive port, wherein the second receive port is associated with a second receive beam; and means for processing the first signal received using the first receive port and the second signal received using the second receive port.

[0013] A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a UE is described. The code may include instructions executable by a processor for the following operations: receiving a first signal in a first frequency band using a first receive port, wherein the first receive port is associated with a first receive beam; receiving a second signal in the first frequency band using a second receive port concurrently with receiving the first signal using the first receive port, wherein the second receive port is associated with a second receive beam; and processing the first signal received using the first receive port and the second signal received using the second receive port.

[0014] Some examples of the methods, apparatuses (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatuses, or instructions for the following actions: transmitting an indication to a base station that the UE supports reception via multiple receive beams in multiple frequency bands.

[0015] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatus, or instructions for the following actions: receiving from a base station a first configuration for a first transmission within a first frequency band and a second configuration for a second transmission within the first frequency band, wherein the first signal corresponds to the first transmission and the second signal corresponds to the second transmission.

[0016] In some examples of methods, devices, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the process may include operations, features, devices, or instructions for generating first data and second data based on decoding the first signal and the second signal.

[0017] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the first transmission may be transmitted via a first component carrier and the second transmission may be transmitted via a second component carrier.

[0018] In some examples of methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the process may include operations, features, means, or instructions for combining a first signal and a second signal into a combined signal and decoding the combined signal.

[0019] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, a first transmission may be transmitted via a first resource and a second transmission may be transmitted via a second resource that at least partially overlaps the first resource.

[0020] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatus, or instructions for the following actions: determining that the UE can be configured to receive communications via one or more component carriers within a first frequency band; and configuring the second receive port to be coupled to a first local oscillator based on the determination.

[0021] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatus, or instructions for the following actions: configuring the first receiving port and the third receiving port to receive communications within a first frequency band; and configuring the second receiving port and the fourth receiving port to receive communications within a second frequency band.

[0022] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatus, or instructions for the following actions: determining that the UE can be configured to receive communications via one or more component carriers within a first frequency band, and configuring the second receiving port and the fourth receiving port to receive communications within the first frequency band based on the determination.

[0023] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatus, or instructions for the following actions: receiving an indication from a base station to configure a first receiving port and a third receiving port to receive communications within a first frequency band, wherein the first receiving port and the third receiving port may be configured to receive communications within the first frequency band based on the indication.

[0024] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the first receive port may be configured to receive vertically polarized signals and the second receive port may be configured to receive horizontally polarized signals.

[0025] In some examples of the methods, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, a first receive port may be coupled to a first antenna panel configured to form a first receive beam, and a second receive port may be coupled to a second antenna panel configured to form a second receive beam.

[0026] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices) and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatus or instructions for the following actions: receiving a configuration for transmission within a first frequency band from a base station, the first signal and the second signal corresponding to the transmission, wherein the processing includes.

[0027] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatus, or instructions for: selecting a first receive beam based on the measurement for receiving subsequent transmissions from the base station; and receiving subsequent transmissions from the base station using a first receive port or a second receive port via the first receive beam based on the selection.

[0028] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatus, or instructions for: selecting a second receive beam based on the measurement for receiving subsequent transmissions from the base station; and receiving subsequent transmissions from the base station using the first receive port or the second receive port via the second receive beam based on the selection.

[0029] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices) and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatus or instructions for the following actions: receiving a transmission set from a base station via a receive beam set, the first signal and the second signal corresponding to the transmissions in the transmission set, and the receive beam set including a first receive beam and a second receive beam, wherein the processing includes.

[0030] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices) and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatuses or instructions for the following actions: selecting a receive beam in the receive beam set for receiving subsequent transmissions from the base station based on the measurement; and receiving subsequent transmissions from the base station via the receive beam using the first receive port or the second receive port based on the selection.

[0031] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices) and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatus or instructions for the following actions: selecting two receive beams in the receive beam set for receiving subsequent transmissions from the base station based on the measurement; receiving a subsequent first transmission from the base station using a first receive port via one of the two receive beams based on the selection; and receiving a subsequent second transmission from the base station using a second receive port via the other of the two receive beams based on the selection.

[0032] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatus, or instructions for performing a search for a set of receive beams using a second receive port concurrently with receiving a set of signals using a first receive port to receive transmissions within a first frequency band, wherein the set of signals includes a first signal, and wherein the second signal may be received using the second receive port during the search.

[0033] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices) and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatus or instructions for the following actions: receiving a configuration for transmission within a first frequency band from a base station, wherein the first signal and the second signal correspond to the transmission, and wherein the processing includes: decoding the first signal received via a first receive beam using a first receive port; and measuring channel state information of a second signal received via a second receive beam using a second receive port.

[0034] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatus, or instructions for the following actions: outputting a first data stream based on decoding the first signal; selecting a second receive beam based on the measurement for receiving subsequent transmissions from the base station; and receiving subsequent transmissions from the base station using the first receive port or the second receive port via the second receive beam based on the selection.

[0035] In some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the first signal corresponds to a horizontally polarized version of a transmission from a base station, and the second signal corresponds to a vertically polarized version of the transmission, wherein the processing may include operations, features, apparatus, or instructions for measuring first channel state information of the first signal and second channel state information of the second signal.

[0036] Some examples of the methods, apparatus (devices), and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may further include operations, features, apparatus, or instructions for: selecting a second receive port for receiving the transmission from the base station based on the measurement; and receiving subsequent transmissions from the base station using the second receive port via a second receive beam based on the selection. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] Figure 1 An example of a wireless communication system supporting beam-capability enhancement using multiple receive ports in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0039] Figure 2 Aspects of a wireless communication subsystem supporting beam-capability enhancement using multiple receive ports in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0040] Figure 3 Various aspects of a wireless device supporting beam-capability enhancement using multiple receive ports in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0041] Figure 4 Various aspects of a process for beam-capability enhancement using multiple receive ports in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0042] Figure 5 Various aspects of a process for beam-capability enhancement using multiple receive ports in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0043] Figure 6 A block diagram of a device supporting beam-capability enhancement using multiple receive ports in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0044] Figure 7 A block diagram of a communication manager supporting beam-capability enhancement using multiple receive ports in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0045] Figure 8 A diagram of a system including a device supporting beam-capability enhancement using multiple receive ports in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0046] Figures 9 to 12A flow chart illustrating a method of supporting beam-capability enhancement using multiple receive ports in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0047] Detailed Description

[0048] The wireless device may include multiple receive port sets, each receive port including components for receiving and demodulating (e.g., down-converting) wirelessly transmitted radio frequency (RF) signals. In some cases, each receive port set may be associated with communication within one of a set of frequency bands used for communication. For example, a first receive port set (e.g., associated with a first antenna panel) may be coupled to a first local oscillator tuned for a first frequency band, and a second receive port set (e.g., associated with a second antenna panel) may be coupled to a second local oscillator tuned for a second frequency band. That is, each of the first or second local oscillators includes a component for generating a signal that can be used to remove a carrier frequency (e.g., down-convert) from a signal detected by the antenna panel. The local oscillator(s) may include one or more oscillators for performing direct conversion or multi-stage conversion (e.g., superheterodyne) to a baseband signal. In some cases, a first antenna panel associated with a first set of receive ports may be configurable to receive via a single receive beam, while a second antenna panel associated with a second set of receive ports may be configurable to receive via a single receive beam (which may be the same or a different receive beam as the receive beam used by the first antenna panel).

[0049] In some cases, a wireless device having multiple receive port sets may be capable of or configured to use a subset of these receive port sets when communicating in a wireless communication system. For example, a wireless device having multiple receive port sets (e.g., a first and a second receive port set) may be configured to operate in a first mode that enables the wireless device to use one receive port set at a time when communicating in a wireless communication system (e.g., coupled to an antenna panel that supports one or more polarizations). Additionally or alternatively, a wireless device having multiple receive port sets may be configured to operate in a second mode that enables the wireless device to concurrently use multiple receive port sets (e.g., a first receive port set coupled to a first antenna panel may be configured to receive on a first frequency band, and a second receive port set coupled to a second antenna panel may be configured to receive on a second frequency band). In some cases, the device may have a first receive port set capable of communicating in a first frequency band and a second receive port set capable of concurrently communicating in a second frequency band. However, for various reasons, such as frequency band deployment within a communication system, channel conditions, or system load, a wireless device may be configured to communicate on a single frequency band.

[0050] In some examples, when transmissions are transmitted within a single frequency band, the wireless device may be able to receive communications using only one set of receive ports at a time, leaving one set of receive ports unused (or idle), e.g., when the wireless device is configured in the second mode, another set of receive ports may not be configured for a frequency band for communication with the wireless device. Thus, when the wireless device is configured for communication on a single frequency band, the wireless device may receive communications using a single active antenna panel, e.g., because the receive chains associated with the unused antenna panel may be configured for a different frequency band. Additionally, the wireless device may be limited to receiving signals via a single receive beam using an active antenna panel, e.g., because the antenna panel may be able to receive signals from one direction at a time.

[0051] As discussed herein, a wireless device including two or more receive port sets may be configurable to receive transmissions within a single frequency band using multiple receive port sets. For example, when one or more transmissions are transmitted within a single frequency band, the wireless device may utilize a receive port or receive port set to support concurrent reception and / or processing of one or more transmissions via multiple receive beams (e.g., the receive port or receive port set would otherwise be idle if not configured for concurrent use in the same frequency band). For example, a wireless device configured to receive communications within a first frequency band may use a first receive port set configured for the first frequency band to receive signals detected by a first antenna panel, while a second receive port set configurable for a second frequency band (e.g., coupled to a second antenna panel) may otherwise be unused if communications in the second frequency band are not currently configured for the wireless device. In some cases, the wireless device may configure or reconfigure the second receive port set for the first frequency band so that the wireless device may use the second receive port set to receive signals detected by the second antenna panel within the first frequency band concurrently with using the first receive port set to receive signals detected by the first antenna panel. The first and second antenna panels may employ the same or different receive beams, and the first and second sets of receive ports may be used to obtain different versions of the received signal for further processing (eg, combining or separately decoding).

[0052] In some cases, to support the availability of a receive port or set of receive ports that would otherwise be idle, a wireless device may include one or more receive port sets that may be configured for more than one frequency band. For example, a wireless device may be configured with a first receive port or set of receive ports that can receive on a first frequency band. The wireless device may also be configured with a second receive port or set of receive ports that can receive on either the first frequency band or the second frequency band. In some cases, the first receive port or set of receive ports may be capable of receiving on either the first frequency band or the second frequency band.

[0053] In some examples, a set of receive ports may be associated with an antenna panel. For example, a wireless device may include a first antenna panel associated with a first and a second receive port, and a second antenna panel associated with a third and a fourth receive port. In some cases, each antenna panel may support multiple polarizations (e.g., horizontal and vertical polarizations). The wireless device may be configured (e.g., by a network or during pre-deployed device programming or packaging) to receive communications within a single frequency band. That is, in some cases, the wireless device may be configured to receive communications within a first frequency band using a first set of receive ports or within a second frequency band using a second set of receive ports, but not both. In some examples, the wireless device may be configured to receive communications within a first frequency band using a first set of receive ports, and the second set of receive ports may be placed in an idle or inactive state based on the configuration.

[0054] In some cases, the wireless device may determine that the second set of receive ports and / or the second antenna panel are not being used (e.g., in an idle state), for example, based on determining that the wireless device includes two antenna panels and is configured to receive on only the first frequency band. After determining that the second set of receive ports is in an idle state, the wireless device may reconfigure the second set of receive ports for use in the first frequency band, for example, by configuring a radio frequency (RF) chain that processes signals received using the second set of receive ports to perform down-conversion using a local oscillator associated with the first frequency band (e.g., the same local oscillator as the first set of receive ports or a different local oscillator tuned to the same frequency).

[0055] After reconfiguring the second set of receive ports, the wireless device may use the additional receive ports to support concurrent reception and / or processing of transmissions received via a first receive beam using the first set of receive ports and via a second receive beam using the second set of receive ports when transmissions are transmitted within the single frequency band. Throughput may be increased by supporting concurrent reception and / or processing of transmissions received via multiple receive beams within a single frequency band—e.g., by receiving multiple transmissions via multiple receive beams, by enabling a search for a preferred receive beam to be performed without interrupting reception, etc. Additionally, the search for a preferred receive beam may be accelerated, e.g., by simultaneously searching half of the receive beam candidates using one receive port or set of receive ports and searching the other half of the receive beam candidates using another receive port or set of receive ports.

[0056] For example, the wireless device may use one or more receive ports in the first receive port set and one or more receive ports in the second receive port set to support simultaneous searches for preferred receive beams within a frequency band, for example, by concurrently forming different receive beams at an antenna panel associated with the first receive port set and an antenna panel associated with the second receive port set. In another example, the wireless device may use one or more receive ports in the first receive port set and one or more receive ports in the second receive port set to support simultaneous reception of one or more transmissions transmitted within a single frequency band. For example, the wireless device may receive a first component carrier within a frequency band via a first receive beam and a second component carrier within the frequency band via a second receive beam. By receiving the first component carrier via the first receive beam and receiving the second component carrier via the second receive beam, rather than receiving the second component carrier via the first receive beam, the wireless device may avoid interference affecting the second component carrier and the first receive beam. In another example, the wireless device may receive a first transmission via a first receive beam and a redundant transmission via a second receive beam, wherein both the first transmission and the redundant transmission may be transmitted concurrently on the same component carrier.

[0057] In another example, the wireless device may support reception of the transmission via the first receive beam using one of the first receive port set and one of the second receive port set concurrently with searching for the preferred receive beam. In yet other examples, when the transmission is transmitted within a single frequency band, the wireless device may select a receive beam for receiving the transmission and / or subsequent transmissions using one of the first receive port set or the second receive port set by supporting simultaneous reception of the transmission via the first receive beam and the second receive beam.

[0058] Various aspects of the present disclosure are initially described in the context of wireless communication systems and wireless communication subsystems. Specific examples of wireless devices and processes for beam capability enhancement using multiple receive ports are subsequently described. Various aspects of the present disclosure are further illustrated and described by and with reference to apparatus diagrams, system diagrams, and flow charts related to beam capability enhancement using multiple receive ports.

[0059] Figure 1An example of a wireless communication system supporting beam capability enhancement using multiple receive ports according to various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. The wireless communication system 100 may include one or more base stations 105, one or more UEs 115, and a core network 130. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may be a long term evolution (LTE) network, an advanced LTE (LTE-A) network, an LTE-A Pro network, or a new radio (NR) network. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may support enhanced broadband communications, ultra-reliable (e.g., mission-critical) communications, low latency communications, communications with low-cost and low-complexity devices, or any combination thereof.

[0060] The base stations 105 may be dispersed throughout a geographic area to form the wireless communication system 100, and may be different forms of devices or devices with different capabilities. The base stations 105 and the UEs 115 may communicate wirelessly via one or more communication links 125. Each base station 105 may provide a coverage area 110 over which the UEs 115 and the base stations 105 may establish one or more communication links 125. The coverage area 110 may be an example of a geographic area over which the base stations 105 and the UEs 115 may support communication of signals according to one or more radio access technologies.

[0061] The UEs 115 may be dispersed throughout the coverage area 110 of the wireless communication system 100, and each UE 115 may be stationary or mobile, or stationary and mobile at different times. The UEs 115 may be different forms of devices or devices with different capabilities. Figure 1 105. The UE 115 described herein may be capable of communicating with various types of devices, such as other UEs 115, base stations 105, or network equipment (e.g., core network nodes, relay devices, integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes, or other network equipment), such as Figure 1 as shown in .

[0062] Each base station 105 may communicate with the core network 130 or with each other or both. For example, the base station 105 may interface with the core network 130 via one or more backhaul links 120 (e.g., via S1, N2, N3, or other interfaces). The base stations 105 may communicate with each other directly (e.g., directly between the base stations 105) or indirectly (e.g., via the core network 130), or directly and indirectly on the backhaul link 120 (e.g., via X2, Xn, or other interfaces). In some examples, the backhaul link 120 may be or include one or more wireless links.

[0063] One or more of the base stations 105 described herein may include or may be referred to by a person of ordinary skill in the art as a base transceiver station, a radio base station, an access point, a radio transceiver, a B node, an evolved B node (eNB), a next generation B node or a gigabit B node (any of which may be referred to as a gNB), a home B node, a home evolved B node, or other suitable terminology.

[0064] UE 115 may include or may be referred to as a mobile device, a wireless device, a remote device, a handheld device, or a subscriber device, or some other suitable term, where a "device" may also be referred to as a unit, a station, a terminal, or a client, etc. UE 115 may also include or may be referred to as a personal electronic device, such as a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or a personal computer. In some examples, UE 115 may include or be referred to as a wireless local loop (WLL) station, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, an Internet of Everything (IoE) device, or a machine type communication (MTC) device, etc., which may be implemented in various objects such as electrical appliances or vehicles, meters, etc.

[0065] The UE 115 described herein may be able to communicate with various types of devices, such as other UEs 115, which may sometimes act as relays, as well as base stations 105 and network equipment including macro eNBs or gNBs, small cell eNBs or gNBs, relay base stations, etc. Figure 1 as shown in .

[0066] The UE 115 and the base station 105 may communicate wirelessly with each other via one or more communication links 125 on one or more carriers. The term "carrier" may refer to a set of radio frequency spectrum resources having a defined physical layer structure for supporting the communication link 125. For example, a carrier for the communication link 125 may include a portion of a radio frequency spectrum band (e.g., a bandwidth portion (BWP)) that operates according to one or more physical layer channels for a given radio access technology (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR). Each physical layer channel may carry acquisition signaling (e.g., synchronization signals, system information), control signaling for coordinating carrier operations, user data, or other signaling. The wireless communication system 100 may support communication with the UE 115 using carrier aggregation or multi-carrier operation. The UE 115 may be configured to have multiple downlink component carriers and one or more uplink component carriers according to a carrier aggregation configuration. Carrier aggregation may be used in conjunction with both frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) component carriers.

[0067] In some examples (e.g., in a carrier aggregation configuration), a carrier may also have acquisition signaling or control signaling that coordinates the operation of other carriers. A carrier may be associated with a frequency channel (e.g., an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number (EARFCN)) and may be located according to a channel grid for discovery by UE 115. A carrier may operate in a standalone mode in which initial acquisition and connection may be made by UE 115 via the carrier, or a carrier may operate in a non-standalone mode in which a connection is anchored using a different carrier (e.g., a different carrier of the same or different radio access technology).

[0068] The communication link 125 shown in the wireless communication system 100 may include an uplink transmission from the UE 115 to the base station 105, or a downlink transmission from the base station 105 to the UE 115. A carrier may carry downlink or uplink communications (e.g., in an FDD mode), or may be configured to carry both downlink and uplink communications (e.g., in a TDD mode).

[0069] A carrier may be associated with a particular bandwidth of a radio frequency spectrum, and in some examples, the carrier bandwidth may be referred to as a "system bandwidth" of the carrier or wireless communication system 100. For example, the carrier bandwidth may be one of several determined bandwidths (e.g., 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, or 80 megahertz (MHz)) of a carrier of a particular radio access technology. Devices (e.g., base stations 105, UEs 115, or both) of the wireless communication system 100 may have a hardware configuration that supports communications on a particular carrier bandwidth, or may be configurable to support communications on one of a set of carrier bandwidths. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may include a base station 105 or UE 115 that supports simultaneous communications via carriers associated with multiple carrier bandwidths. In some examples, each served UE 115 may be configured to operate on a portion (e.g., subband, BWP) or all of a carrier bandwidth.

[0070] The signal waveform transmitted on the carrier may include multiple subcarriers (e.g., using multi-carrier modulation (MCM) techniques, such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM)). In a system using MCM technology, a resource element may include a code element period (e.g., the duration of a modulation code element) and a subcarrier, where the code element period and the subcarrier spacing are inversely related. The number of bits carried by each resource element may depend on the modulation scheme (e.g., the order of the modulation scheme, the coding rate of the modulation scheme, or both). Thus, the more resource elements received by UE 115 and the higher the order of the modulation scheme, the higher the data rate of UE 115 can be. Wireless communication resources may refer to a combination of radio frequency spectrum resources, time resources, and spatial resources (e.g., spatial layers or beams), and the use of multiple spatial layers may further improve the data rate or data integrity of communication with UE 115.

[0071] One or more parameter designs for a carrier may be supported, where the parameter designs may include subcarrier spacing (Δf) and cyclic prefixes. A carrier may be divided into one or more BWPs with the same or different parameter designs. In some examples, a UE 115 may be configured with multiple BWPs. In some examples, a single BWP for a carrier may be active at a given time, and communications for a UE 115 may be limited to the one or more active BWPs.

[0072] The time interval of the base station 105 or the UE 115 can be expressed as a multiple of a basic time unit, and the basic time unit can be, for example, a sampling period T s =1 / (Δf max ·N f ) seconds, where Δf max It can represent the maximum supported subcarrier spacing, and N f The maximum supported discrete Fourier transform (DFT) size may be indicated. Time intervals of communication resources may be organized according to radio frames, each having a specified duration (e.g., 10 milliseconds (ms)). Each radio frame may be identified by a system frame number (SFN) (e.g., ranging from 0 to 1023).

[0073] Each frame may include a plurality of consecutively numbered subframes or time slots, and each subframe or time slot may have the same duration. In some examples, a frame may be divided into subframes (e.g., in the time domain), and each subframe may be further divided into a number of time slots. Alternatively, each frame may include a variable number of time slots, and the number of time slots may depend on the subcarrier spacing. Each time slot may include a number of code element periods (e.g., depending on the length of the cyclic prefix added before each code element period). In some wireless communication systems, a time slot may be further divided into a plurality of mini time slots containing one or more code elements. Excluding the cyclic prefix, each code element period may contain one or more (e.g., N f The duration of a symbol period may depend on the subcarrier spacing or the operating band.

[0074] A subframe, slot, mini-slot, or symbol may be the smallest scheduling unit (e.g., in the time domain) of the wireless communication system 100 and may be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI). In some examples, the TTI duration (e.g., the number of symbol periods in a TTI) may be variable. Additionally or alternatively, the smallest scheduling unit of the wireless communication system 100 may be dynamically selected (e.g., in bursts of shortened TTIs (sTTIs)).

[0075] Physical channels may be multiplexed on a carrier according to various techniques. Physical control channels and physical data channels may be multiplexed on a downlink carrier, for example, using one or more of a time division multiplexing (TDM) technique, a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) technique, or a hybrid TDM-FDM technique. A control region (e.g., a control resource set (CORESET)) for a physical control channel may be defined by a number of symbol periods and may extend across a system bandwidth or a subset of a system bandwidth of a carrier. One or more control regions (e.g., CORESETs) may be configured for a set of UEs 115. For example, one or more of the UEs 115 may monitor or search a control region for control information according to one or more search space sets, and each search space set may include one or more control channel candidates in one or more aggregation levels arranged in a cascaded manner. An aggregation level for a control channel candidate may refer to the number of control channel resources (e.g., control channel elements (CCEs)) associated with coded information for a control information format having a given payload size. The search space sets may include a common search space set configured for transmitting control information to multiple UEs 115 and a UE-specific search space set for transmitting control information to a specific UE 115 .

[0076] In some examples, base stations 105 may be mobile and thus provide communication coverage for mobile geographic coverage areas 110. In some examples, different geographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies may overlap, and the different geographic coverage areas 110 may be supported by the same base station 105. In other examples, overlapping geographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies may be supported by different base stations 105. The wireless communication system 100 may include, for example, a heterogeneous network in which different types of base stations 105 provide coverage for various geographic coverage areas 110 using the same or different radio access technologies.

[0077] The wireless communication system 100 may be configured to support ultra-reliable communication or low latency communication or various combinations thereof. For example, the wireless communication system 100 may be configured to support ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) or mission-critical communication. UE 115 may be designed to support ultra-reliable, low latency or critical functions (e.g., mission-critical functions). Ultra-reliable communication may include private communication or group communication, and may be supported by one or more mission-critical services (such as mission-critical push-to-talk (MCPTT), mission-critical video (MCVideo), or mission-critical data (MCData). Support for mission-critical functions may include prioritization of services, and mission-critical services may be used for public safety or general commercial applications. The terms ultra-reliable, low latency, critical mission, and ultra-reliable low latency may be used interchangeably herein.

[0078] In some examples, UE 115 may also be able to communicate directly with other UE 115 over a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 135 (e.g., using a peer-to-peer (P2P) or D2D protocol). One or more UEs 115 utilizing D2D communication may be within a geographic coverage area 110 of a base station 105. Other UEs 115 in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 105, or may not be able to receive transmissions from the base station 105 for other reasons. In some examples, a group of UEs 115 communicating via D2D communication may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, wherein each UE 115 transmits to each other UE 115 in the group. In some examples, the base station 105 facilitates the scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication is performed between UEs 115 without involving the base station 105.

[0079] The core network 130 may provide user authentication, access authorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and other access, routing, or mobility functions. The core network 130 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC), and the EPC or 5GC may include at least one control plane entity (e.g., a mobility management entity (MME), an access and mobility management function (AMF)) for managing access and mobility, and at least one user plane entity (e.g., a serving gateway (S-GW), a packet data network (PDN) gateway (P-GW), or a user plane function (UPF)) for routing packets or interconnecting to an external network. The control plane entity may manage non-access stratum (NAS) functions, such as mobility, authentication, and bearer management of UE 115 served by a base station 105 associated with the core network 130. User IP packets may be delivered via a user plane entity, which may provide IP address allocation and other functions. The user plane entity may be connected to a network operator IP service 150. Operator IP services 150 may include access to the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), or packet-switched streaming services.

[0080] Some network devices (such as base stations 105) may include subcomponents, such as access network entities 140, which may be examples of access node controllers (ANCs). Each access network entity 140 may communicate with each UE 115 through one or more other access network transport entities 145, which may be referred to as radio heads, smart radio heads, or transmission / reception points (TRPs). Each access network transport entity 145 may include one or more antenna panels. In some configurations, the various functions of each access network entity 140 or base station 105 may be distributed across various network devices (e.g., radio heads and ANCs) or merged into a single network device (e.g., base station 105).

[0081] The wireless communication system 100 may operate using one or more frequency bands, typically in the range of 300 megahertz (MHz) to 300 gigahertz (GHz). In general, the 300 MHz to 3 GHz region is referred to as the ultra-high frequency (UHF) region or decimeter band because the wavelengths range from about 1 decimeter to 1 meter long. UHF waves may be blocked or redirected by buildings and environmental features, but these waves may penetrate various structures sufficiently for macro cells to provide service to UEs 115 located indoors. Transmissions using UHF waves may be associated with smaller antennas and shorter ranges (e.g., less than 100 kilometers) than transmissions using smaller frequencies and longer waves in the high frequency (HF) or very high frequency (VHF) portions of the spectrum below 300 MHz.

[0082] The wireless communication system 100 may also operate in a super high frequency (SHF) zone using a frequency band from 3 GHz to 30 GHz (also known as a centimeter band) or in an extremely high frequency (EHF) zone of a spectrum (e.g., from 30 GHz to 300 GHz) (also known as a millimeter band). In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may support millimeter wave (mmW) communications between UE 115 and base station 105, and the EHF antenna of the corresponding device may be smaller and more closely spaced than the UHF antenna. In some examples, this may facilitate the use of antenna arrays within the device. However, the propagation of EHF transmissions may be subject to even greater atmospheric attenuation and a shorter range than SHF or UHF transmissions. The technology disclosed herein may be adopted across transmissions using one or more different frequency zones, and the use of frequency bands specified across these frequency zones may vary by country or regulatory agency.

[0083] The wireless communication system 100 may utilize both licensed and unlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands. For example, the wireless communication system 100 may employ licensed assisted access (LAA), LTE unlicensed (LTE-U) radio access technology, or NR technology in an unlicensed band (such as the 5 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band). When operating in an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band, devices (such as base stations 105 and UEs 115) may employ carrier sensing for conflict detection and avoidance. In some examples, operations in an unlicensed band may be based on a carrier aggregation configuration (e.g., LAA) in coordination with component carriers operating in a licensed band. Operations in an unlicensed spectrum may include downlink transmissions, uplink transmissions, P2P transmissions, or D2D transmissions, among others.

[0084] The base station 105 or UE 115 may be equipped with multiple antennas, which can be used to employ technologies such as transmit diversity, receive diversity, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications, or beamforming. The antennas of the base station 105 or UE 115 may be located in one or more antenna arrays or antenna panels that can support MIMO operations or transmit or receive beamforming. For example, one or more base station antennas or antenna arrays may be co-located at an antenna assembly (such as an antenna tower). In some examples, the antennas or antenna arrays associated with the base station 105 may be located at different geographical locations. The base station 105 may have an antenna array having antenna ports of several rows and columns that the base station 105 can use to support beamforming for communications with the UE 115. Similarly, the UE 115 may have one or more antenna arrays that can support various MIMO or beamforming operations. Additionally or alternatively, the antenna panel may support radio frequency beamforming for signals transmitted using the antenna ports.

[0085] The base station 105 or UE 115 can use MIMO communication to utilize multipath signal propagation and improve spectrum efficiency by transmitting or receiving multiple signals via different spatial layers. Such technology may be referred to as spatial multiplexing. For example, the transmitting device may transmit multiple signals via different antennas or different antenna combinations. Similarly, the receiving device may receive multiple signals via different antennas or different antenna combinations. Each of the multiple signals may be referred to as a separate spatial stream and may carry bits associated with the same data stream (e.g., the same codeword) or different data streams (e.g., different codewords). Different spatial layers may be associated with different antenna ports for channel measurement and reporting. MIMO technology includes single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO), in which multiple spatial layers are transmitted to the same receiving device; and multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), in which multiple spatial layers are transmitted to multiple devices.

[0086] Beamforming (which may also be referred to as spatial filtering, directional transmission, or directional reception) is a signal processing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or a receiving device (e.g., a base station 105, a UE 115) to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam, a receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device. Beamforming may be achieved by combining signals communicated via antenna elements of an antenna array so that some signals propagating at a particular orientation relative to the antenna array experience constructive interference, while other signals experience destructive interference. Adjustments to signals communicated via antenna elements may include the transmitting device or the receiving device applying an amplitude offset, a phase offset, or both to signals carried via antenna elements associated with the device. Adjustments associated with each antenna element may be defined by a set of beamforming weights associated with a particular orientation (e.g., relative to the antenna array of the transmitting device or the receiving device, or relative to some other orientation).

[0087] The base station 105 or the UE 115 may use beam sweeping techniques as part of a beamforming operation. For example, the base station 105 may use multiple antennas or antenna arrays (e.g., antenna panels) to perform beamforming operations for directional communication with the UE 115. Some signals (e.g., synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) may be transmitted multiple times by the base station 105 in different directions. For example, the base station 105 may transmit signals according to different sets of beamforming weights associated with different transmission directions. Transmissions in different beam directions may be used (e.g., by a transmitting device (such as, the base station 105) or a receiving device (such as, the UE 115)) to identify a beam direction used by the base station 105 for later transmission or reception.

[0088] Some signals, such as data signals associated with a particular recipient device, may be transmitted by base station 105 in a single beam direction, e.g., a direction associated with a recipient device, such as UE 115. In some examples, a beam direction associated with transmissions along a single beam direction may be determined based on signals transmitted in one or more beam directions. For example, UE 115 may receive one or more signals transmitted by base station 105 in different directions and may report to base station 105 an indication of the signal received by UE 115 with the highest signal quality or other acceptable signal quality.

[0089] In some examples, transmission by a device (e.g., by a base station 105 or a UE 115) may be performed using multiple beam directions, and the device may use a combination of digital precoding or radio frequency beamforming to generate a combined beam for transmission (e.g., from the base station 105 to the UE 105). The UE 115 may report feedback indicating precoding weights for one or more beam directions, and the feedback may correspond to a configured number of beams across the system bandwidth or one or more subbands. The base station 105 may transmit a reference signal that may be precoded or uncoded (e.g., a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)). The UE 115 may provide feedback for beam selection, which may be a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) or codebook-based feedback (e.g., a multi-panel type codebook, a linear combination type codebook, a port selection type codebook). Although these techniques are described with reference to signals transmitted by base station 105 in one or more directions, UE 115 may use similar techniques to transmit signals multiple times in different directions (e.g., to identify a beam direction for subsequent transmission or reception by UE 115) or to transmit signals in a single direction (e.g., to transmit data to a receiving device).

[0090] A receiving device (e.g., UE 115) may try multiple reception configurations (e.g., directional listening) when receiving various signals (such as synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) from a base station 105. For example, the receiving device may try multiple reception directions by receiving via different antenna subarrays, processing received signals according to different antenna subarrays, receiving according to different receive beamforming weight sets (e.g., different directional listening weight sets) applied to signals received at multiple antenna elements of an antenna array, or processing received signals according to different receive beamforming weight sets applied to signals received at multiple antenna elements of an antenna array, any of which may be referred to as "listening" according to different reception configurations or reception directions. In some examples, the receiving device may use a single reception configuration to receive along a single beam direction (e.g., when receiving a data signal). The single reception configuration may be aligned on a beam direction determined based on listening according to different reception configuration directions (e.g., a beam direction determined to have the highest signal strength, the highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), or other acceptable signal quality based on listening according to multiple beam directions).

[0091] UE 115 may be configured with various configurations of antenna panels and receive ports. For example, UE 115 may be configured with two receive ports. The receive ports may be associated with the configuration of the antenna and / or antenna panel located at UE 115. In some cases, a first receive port is coupled to a first antenna or antenna set associated with horizontal polarization transmission in the antenna panel, and a second receive port is coupled to a second antenna or antenna set associated with vertical polarization transmission in the antenna panel. Horizontally polarized transmission may be associated with electromagnetic radiation that travels in a first direction while oscillating in a first plane (e.g., parallel to the ground). Vertically polarized transmission may be associated with electromagnetic radiation that travels in a first direction while oscillating in a second plane (e.g., perpendicular to the ground and / or the first plane). In some cases, horizontal and vertical polarized transmissions may be referred to as orthogonal. Orthogonal transmissions may be combined without affecting (e.g., substantially not interfering with) each other; thereby, a transmitted signal including orthogonal polarizations may be deconstructed by a receiver into two different signals, which may be processed and / or decoded separately. In some cases, the first and second receive ports may be configured to receive transmissions arriving via the first receive beam. That is, the two receive ports may be capable of receiving a single dual-polarized receive beam per symbol. In some cases, each antenna set is itself referred to as an antenna panel.

[0092] Alternatively, UE 115 may be configured with four receive ports. In some cases, UE 115 is configured with a first set of receive ports, the first set of receive ports including a first receive port coupled to a first set of antennas in an antenna panel associated with vertical polarization transmissions and a second receive port coupled to a second set of antennas in the antenna panel associated with horizontal polarization transmissions. UE 115 may also be configured with a second set of receive ports, the second set of receive ports including a third receive port coupled to a first set of antennas in a second antenna panel associated with horizontal polarization transmissions and a fourth receive port coupled to a second set of antennas in the second antenna panel associated with vertical polarization transmissions. In some cases, the first and second antenna panels may be configured to receive transmissions arriving from different directions (e.g., via different receive beams). In some cases, each antenna set is itself referred to as an antenna panel. In some cases, the first set of receive ports may be configured for operation within a first frequency band, and the second set of receive ports may be configured for operation within a second frequency band.

[0093] In some examples, a UE 115 including four receive ports may be configured (e.g., by a network or pre-deployment) to operate in a first mode that supports concurrently receiving a first transmission via a carrier in a first frequency band using one or more receive ports in a first set of receive ports and receiving a second transmission via a carrier in a second frequency band using one or more receive ports in a second set of receive ports. In other examples, a UE 115 may be configured (e.g., by a network or pre-deployment) to operate in a second mode that supports reception in only one of the first or second frequency bands. In some cases, when the UE 115 operates in the second mode, the unused receive port set may be deactivated, placed in an idle state, and / or unavailable for communication by the UE 115.

[0094] Thus, even if configured with multiple receive port sets, when one or more transmissions are transmitted in a single frequency band, UE 115 may not support concurrent reception of one or more transmissions via multiple receive beams using multiple receive ports. For example, UE 115 may not be able to use two receive beams to receive data transmissions in a single frequency band. In some cases, receiving one or more transmissions may include passing a signal detected at an antenna associated with the receive port to an RF chain and / or circuitry for processing the signal. Processing the one or more transmissions may include down-converting, amplifying, demodulating, decoding, and / or measuring the detected signal.

[0095] When one or more transmissions are transmitted within a single frequency band, a UE 115 including more than two receive ports and configured to receive transmissions within a single frequency band may utilize receive ports that would otherwise be idle to support concurrent reception and / or processing of one or more transmissions transmitted on multiple receive beams. In some cases, to support reconfiguration of idle receive ports, the UE 115 may be configured with a first antenna panel capable of receiving on one or both of the first or second frequency bands and associated with a first set of receive ports (e.g., a first receive port and a second receive port). The UE 115 may also be configured with a second antenna panel capable of receiving on one or both of the first or second frequency bands and associated with a second set of receive ports (e.g., a third receive port and a fourth receive port).

[0096] Figure 2 Aspects of a wireless communication subsystem supporting beam-capability enhancement using multiple receive ports in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0097] The wireless communication subsystem 200 may include a base station 205, which may be a base station 205 as described above. Figure 1 An example of a base station described. In some cases, the base station 205 may be configured to communicate with the UE 215 using a directional antenna that transmits wireless signals in certain directions, such transmissions may be referred to as "beamformed transmissions". The transmission direction configured for transmission from the base station 205 to the UE 215 may be represented by the first transmit beam 240 or the second transmit beam 245. In some cases, the base station 205 transmits to the UE 215 concurrently or sequentially using multiple transmit beams (e.g., the first transmit beam 240 and the second transmit beam 245) with different transmission directions. Additionally or alternatively, the base station 205 may transmit dual-polarized transmissions. That is, the base station 205 may concurrently transmit a horizontally polarized version of the transmission and a vertically polarized version of the transmission (e.g., via the same beam).

[0098] The wireless communication subsystem 200 may include a UE 215, which may be the same as that described above with reference to Figure 1An example of a UE described herein. In some cases, a UE 215 may be configured with a first antenna panel 220 and a second antenna panel 225. The first antenna panel 220 may include a first antenna set configured to receive horizontally polarized transmissions and a second antenna set configured to receive vertically polarized antennas. In some cases, the first antenna set and the second antenna set may themselves be referred to as antenna panels. The first antenna set in the first antenna panel 220 may be associated with a first receive port configured at the UE 215, and the second antenna set in the first antenna panel 220 may be associated with a second receive port configured at the UE 215. In some cases, the first antenna panel 220 may be configured to receive transmissions arriving from a first direction, for example, by assigning certain weights to the antenna sets included in the first antenna panel. The receive direction configured at the first antenna panel 220 may be represented by a first receive beam 230. In some cases, the UE 215 may not be able to receive one or more transmissions from multiple directions using the first antenna panel 220 (for example, the first antenna panel 220 may support a single dual-polarized beam). In some cases, the first antenna panel 220 may be used to receive transmissions in a frequency band (eg, a first frequency band), for example, based on the first and second receive ports being configured for the first frequency band.

[0099] The second antenna panel 225 may be configured similarly to the first antenna panel 220. That is, the second antenna panel 225 may include a first set of antennas configured to receive horizontally polarized transmissions and a second set of antennas configured to receive vertically polarized transmissions. In addition, the second antenna panel 225 may be associated with a third receive port and a fourth receive port, and may be similarly configured to receive transmissions arriving from a certain direction, as represented by a second receive beam 235. The direction of the receive beam 235 may be the same or different from the direction of the first receive beam 230. The second antenna panel 225 may be used to receive transmissions in a frequency band (e.g., a second frequency band) different from the first antenna panel 220, for example, based on the third and fourth receive ports being configured for the second frequency band. In some cases, configuring the receive port for operation within the frequency band includes down-converting or up-converting using a local oscillator that generates a carrier frequency for transmitting and receiving communications on the frequency band. In some cases, the frequency bands are separated by an amount in frequency to prevent the same local oscillator from being used for two frequency bands concurrently. Thus, different frequency bands may be associated with different local oscillators, or the local oscillator may be retuned for different frequency bands.

[0100] In some cases, the receive ports associated with both the first antenna panel 220 and the second antenna panel 225 may be configurable to receive transmissions in multiple frequency bands, for example, by applying the outputs of different local oscillators to signals detected at the first antenna panel 220 and the second antenna panel 225. Figure 3 The hardware configuration of UE 215 is discussed in more detail.

[0101] Base station 205 and UE 215 can communicate with each other within coverage area 210, as described above with reference to Figure 1 as described.

[0102] As discussed above and herein, when one or more transmissions are transmitted within a single frequency band, a wireless device (e.g., UE) may not be able to receive the one or more transmissions (e.g., a single transmission or simultaneous transmissions) via multiple receive beams.

[0103] A wireless device configured with multiple antenna panels may be configured to utilize a set of unused receive ports (e.g., unused when the wireless device is configured to operate in a single frequency band) to enable reception of one or more transmissions via multiple receive beams when the one or more transmissions are transmitted within the single frequency band. By enabling reception of one or more transmissions via multiple receive beams when the one or more transmissions are transmitted within the single frequency band, a wireless device configured (e.g., by a network) to operate within a single frequency band may be able to perform dual beam reception, concurrent reception and beam searching, or dual beam searching operations.

[0104] For example, UE 215 may be configured with a first antenna panel 220 and a second antenna panel 225, the first antenna panel 220 may be associated with the first and second receive ports, and the second antenna panel 225 may be associated with the third and fourth receive ports. In some cases, UE 215 may be configured to operate in a first mode, wherein UE 215 is capable of receiving via a single receive beam within a single frequency band using a single active antenna panel. For example, when operating in the first mode, UE 215 may be configured to receive via only one of the first antenna panel 220 or the second antenna panel 225. In other examples, when operating in the first mode, UE 215 may be configured to use only one of the first antenna panel 220 or the second antenna panel 225 at a time, for example, UE 215 may be able to switch between the first antenna panel 220 or the second antenna panel 225. In other cases, UE 215 may be configured in a second mode, wherein UE 215 is capable of receiving via multiple receive beams on multiple frequency bands using two antenna panels. For example, when operating in the second mode, UE 215 may be configured to receive through first antenna panel 220 via receive beam 230 within a first frequency band and through second antenna panel 225 via receive beam 235 within a second frequency band.

[0105] In some cases, the base station 205 sends a configuration message to dynamically configure the UE 215 to use one of the first antenna panel 220 or the second antenna panel 225. In other cases, the modem included in the UE 215 is statically configured (e.g., pre-programmed before deployment) to support reception through one of the first antenna panel 220 or the second antenna panel 225. For example, the modem included in the UE 215 may be programmed to support reception through the first antenna panel 220. In other cases, the modem included in the UE 215 may be programmed to support reception through the first antenna panel 220 in a first frequency band and reception through the second antenna panel 225 in a second frequency band. In some cases, the UE 215 may also be configured (e.g., dynamically by the network (e.g., the base station 205) or statically during pre-deployment) to receive communications within a single frequency band.

[0106] In some cases, the UE 215 may determine that it includes at least two antenna panels (e.g., a first antenna panel 220 and a second antenna panel 225). The UE 215 may also determine that it is configured to use a single antenna panel at a time and / or receive communications within a single frequency band. After making this determination, the UE 215 may determine that the antenna panel is not being used and / or that the associated receive ports are in an idle state. For example, the UE 215 may determine that communications will be received within a first frequency band, and the first antenna panel 220 is configured for the first frequency band, while the second antenna panel 225 is configured for the second frequency band. The UE 215 may then determine that the second set of receive ports coupled to the second antenna panel 225 is in an idle state (e.g., not currently being used for communications).

[0107] In some cases, when one or more transmissions are transmitted within the first frequency band, the UE 215 may utilize an idle set of receive ports to receive the one or more transmissions using multiple receive ports. For example, the UE 215 may reconfigure the second antenna panel 225 for the first frequency band and may activate the second set of receive ports so that signals detected at the second antenna panel 225 may be processed by the UE 215, i.e., so that signals detected at the second antenna panel 225 may be received and processed by the UE 215 using the second set of receive ports. By utilizing otherwise unused antenna panels and corresponding sets of receive ports, UE 215 may be able to support (1) receiving a transmission through multiple receive beams; (2) simultaneously receiving multiple transmissions through multiple receive beams, for example, one transmission may be received using one receive port corresponding to one receive beam, while another transmission may be received using another receive port corresponding to another receive beam; (3) receiving a transmission through one receive beam while performing a search for another receive beam; (4) performing a simultaneous search for receive beams, for example, half of the available receive beams may be searched using one receive port corresponding to the first antenna panel 220, while the other half of the available receive beams may be searched using another receive port corresponding to the second antenna panel 225; (5) selecting one of the antenna panels to receive a transmission and / or subsequent transmissions; and (6) other dual receive / search operations.

[0108] In some cases, the UE 215 transmits an indication to the base station 205 regarding its ability to receive via multiple receive beams, for example, by transmitting an indication that the UE 215 supports two or more antenna panels or supports more than one antenna panel in multiple frequency bands. Based on determining that the UE 215 supports reception via multiple receive beams (e.g., in the same or different frequency bands), the base station 205 can communicate with the UE 215 using various beam configurations, including multiple transmit beams across one or more frequency bands.

[0109] For example, the base station 205 may transmit data to the UE 215 via multiple transmit beams (e.g., a first transmit beam 240 and a second transmit beam 245) having different directions. In some cases, when transmitting on multiple transmit beams, the base station 205 may select two transmit beams for transmission to the UE 215 based on the channel state information reported by the UE 215 for the transmit beams. In some cases, the UE 215 may report channel state information about the transmit beams for each antenna panel configured at the UE 215. In some examples, the base station 205 may select two transmit beams separated by an angle-of-arrival threshold (e.g., one of the transmissions reaches the UE 215 after being reflected from an object), and the UE 215 may receive the first and second transmissions via corresponding receive beams. For example, one set of transmit and receive beams may be directed toward each other, while another set of transmit and receive beams may be directed toward the reflecting object.

[0110] In some examples, the base station 205 can speed up the transmit beam selection process by transmitting on multiple transmit beams at once. For example, the base station 205 can transmit on two of the multiple available transmit beams concurrently until the base station 205 has transmitted on all available transmit beams. In some examples, the UE 215 can receive a first transmission using a first antenna panel 220 via a first transmit beam (e.g., via a first receive beam) and simultaneously receive a second transmission using a second antenna panel 225 via a second transmit beam (e.g., via a second receive beam). The UE 215 can then report channel state information about the two received transmit beams. Performing dual beam receive operations after the UE 215 configures an unused receive port is referred to herein as Figures 3 to 5 Discuss in more detail.

[0111] Figure 3 Various aspects of a wireless device supporting beam-capability enhancement using multiple receive ports in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0112] UE 315 may be configured to receive via multiple receive beams within a single frequency band. UE 315 may be configured as described in Figure 1 and 2An example of a UE described herein. The UE 315 may include a first antenna panel 305, a second antenna panel 310, a first receive port 320, a second receive port 325, a third receive port 330, and a fourth receive port 335. The UE 315 may also include a first RF chain 340, a second RF chain 345, a third RF chain 350, a fourth RF chain 355, a first local oscillator 360, and a second local oscillator 365. The UE 315 may also include a first switch 370, a second switch 375, a third switch 380, and a port configuration component 385. The UE 315 may also include a processing component 390.

[0113] The first antenna panel 305 may be configured to receive wireless transmissions. In some cases, the first antenna panel 305 may be configured to receive dual-polarized transmissions, for example, the first antenna panel may be configured to receive vertically polarized and horizontally polarized versions of the transmission. In some cases, the first antenna panel 305 may be configured to receive transmissions from a specific direction (e.g., receiving a beam). The first antenna panel 305 may include multiple antennas (e.g., four antennas for receiving vertically polarized transmissions and four antennas for receiving horizontally polarized transmissions). In some cases, the first antenna panel 305 is configured to receive in a specific direction by assigning certain weights to signals received on different antennas. Thus, the UE 315 may be able to receive signals from a single direction using the first receiving port 320 and the second receiving port 325.

[0114] The second antenna panel 310 may be configured similarly to the first antenna panel 305. The second antenna panel 310 may be configured to receive transmissions from the same or different directions as the first antenna panel 305. In some cases, the first antenna panel 305 and the second antenna panel 310 may be capable of receiving on both the first frequency band and the second frequency band.

[0115] The first receive port 320 may be configured to receive signals detected at the first antenna panel 305 with a particular antenna configuration via the first RF chain 340. For example, the first receive port 320 may be configured to receive signals associated with a horizontally polarized version of a transmission detected at an antenna in the first antenna panel 305. In some cases, the first receive port 320 may include the first RF chain 340. The first receive port 320 may also include an input pin used to pass the signal detected at the first antenna panel 305 to the first RF chain 340. In some cases, the first receive port 320 may include or be connected to a set of antennas included in the first antenna panel 305.

[0116] The second receive port 325 may be configured to receive signals detected at the first antenna panel 305 with a particular antenna configuration via the second RF chain 345. For example, the second receive port 325 may be configured to receive signals associated with a vertically polarized version of the transmission detected at an antenna in the first antenna panel 305. In some cases, the second receive port 325 may include the second RF chain 345. The second receive port 325 may also include an input pin used to pass the signal detected at the first antenna panel 305 to the second RF chain 345. In some cases, the second receive port 325 may include or be connected to a set of antennas included in the first antenna panel 305.

[0117] The third receive port 330 may be configured to receive signals detected at the second antenna panel 310 with a particular antenna configuration via the third RF chain 350. For example, the third receive port 330 may be configured to receive signals associated with a horizontally polarized version of the transmission detected at an antenna in the second antenna panel 310. In some cases, the third receive port 330 may include the third RF chain 350. The third receive port 330 may also include an input pin used to pass the signal detected at the second antenna panel 310 to the third RF chain 350. In some cases, the third receive port 330 may include or be connected to a set of antennas included in the second antenna panel 310.

[0118] The fourth receive port 335 may be configured to receive signals detected at the second antenna panel 310 with a particular antenna configuration via the fourth RF chain 355. For example, the fourth receive port 335 may be configured to receive signals associated with a vertically polarized version of the transmission detected at the antenna in the second antenna panel 310. In some cases, the fourth receive port 335 may include a fourth RF chain 355. The fourth receive port 335 may also include an input pin used to pass the signal detected at the second antenna panel 310 to the fourth RF chain 355. In some cases, the fourth receive port 335 may include or be connected to a set of antennas included in the second antenna panel 310.

[0119] The first RF chain 340 may be configured to process signals received using the first receiving port 320. The first RF chain 340 may include an amplifier, an attenuator, and / or a filter to extract an information signal from a signal received using the first receiving port 320. The first RF chain 340 may also include a mixer for down-converting a carrier signal used to transmit information (e.g., to an intermediate frequency or baseband frequency). The mixer within the first RF chain 340 may apply a carrier and / or intermediate frequency to a signal received using the first receiving port 320 so that the frequency components of the received signal are shifted. For example, a carrier frequency may be applied to the received signal, thereby shifting the received signal to an intermediate frequency range. Then, the intermediate frequency may be applied to the shifted signal to remove the remaining carrier frequency component and separate the information signal (e.g., as a baseband signal). Alternatively, the received signal may be directly converted to a baseband frequency. The first RF chain 340 may also include components for measuring components of the processed signal (such as a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and phase). The second RF chain 345 may be similarly configured to process signals received using the second receiving port 325.

[0120] In some cases, the second RF chain 345 may be omitted from the UE 315. In such cases, the first RF chain 340 may be shared between the first receive port 320 and the second receive port 325. In addition, the first receive port 320 and the second receive port 325 may be passed through complementary switches so that a signal from only one of the first receive port 320 or the second receive port 325 is provided to the first RF chain 340. The port configuration component 385 may be configured to provide a control signal to a switch coupled to the first receive port 320 and the second receive port 325 to select one of the receive ports, thereby providing a signal received using the selected receive port to the first RF chain 340.

[0121] The third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355 may be configured similarly to the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345. The third RF chain 350 may receive and process signals received using the third receive port 330. The fourth RF chain 355 may receive and process signals received using the fourth receive port 335. In some cases, the third RF chain 350 may be omitted from the UE 315, and the fourth RF chain 355 may be shared between the third receive port 330 and the fourth receive port 335, as described above with reference to the first RF chain 340.

[0122] The first local oscillator 360 may be configured to generate and provide a signal to the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345, the signal having a frequency that can be used to remove a carrier frequency component of a signal received using the first receive port 320 and / or the second receive port 325. In some cases, the frequency of the signal generated by the first local oscillator 360 is equivalent to the center frequency of the frequency band associated with the signal received via the first antenna panel 305, for example, if the first antenna panel is configured to receive in the 28 GHz band, the first local oscillator 360 may generate a signal with a frequency of 28.5 GHz. In other cases, the frequency of the signal generated by the first local oscillator 360 is associated with a frequency that shifts the frequency of the signal received using the receive port to an intermediate frequency. The first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345 can use the signal generated by the first local oscillator 360 to create multiple signals with varying frequencies.

[0123] The second local oscillator 365 may similarly be configured to generate and provide a signal to the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355, the signal having a frequency that can be used to remove a carrier frequency component of a signal received using the third receive port 330 or the fourth receive port 335. In some cases, the frequency of the signal generated by the second local oscillator 365 is equivalent to the center frequency of the frequency band associated with the signal received via the second antenna panel 310 (e.g., 39.5 GHz for the 39 GHz band).

[0124] The first switch 370 may be configured to couple a signal generated by the first local oscillator 360 to the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345 or to prevent a signal generated by the first local oscillator 360 from reaching the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345. In some cases, if the UE 315 is configured such that the first receive port 320 and the second receive port 325 are in an inactive state (e.g., if the UE 315 is configured to use only the second antenna panel 310, or if the UE 315 is configured to operate within a single frequency band), the first switch 370 may remain open, thereby preventing a signal from flowing between the first local oscillator 360, the first RF chain 340, and the second RF chain 345.

[0125] The second switch 375 may be configured to couple the signal generated by the second local oscillator 365 to the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355 or to prevent the signal generated by the second local oscillator 365 from reaching the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355. In some cases, if the UE 315 is configured such that the third receive port 330 and the fourth receive port 335 are in an inactive state (e.g., if the UE 315 is configured to use only the first antenna panel 305, or if the UE 315 is configured to operate in a single frequency band), the second switch 375 may remain open, thereby preventing the flow of signals between the second local oscillator 365, the third RF chain 350, and the fourth RF chain 355.

[0126] The third switch 380 may be configured to couple the output of the first local oscillator 360 to the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355, and to couple the output of the second local oscillator 365 to the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345. The third switch 380 may operate in conjunction with the first switch 370 and the second switch 375. For example, when the output of the first local oscillator 360 is provided to the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355, the first switch 370 and the third switch 380 may be activated (e.g., closed), while the second switch 375 may be deactivated (e.g., opened). And when the output of the second local oscillator 365 is provided to the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345, the second switch 375 and the third switch 380 may be activated (e.g., closed), while the first switch 370 may be deactivated (e.g., opened).

[0127] Other switch configurations may be used to enable signals received using the third receive port 330 and the fourth receive port 335 to be processed using a local oscillator configured for the first frequency band, or vice versa. In one example, the first switch 370, the second switch 375, and the third switch 380 may be eliminated, and by including a switchable connection between the output of the second antenna panel 310 and the first RF chain 340, signals received using the third receive port 330 may be processed using the first local oscillator 360. Similarly, by including a switchable connection between the output of the second antenna panel 310 and the output of the second RF chain 345, signals received using the fourth receive port 335 may be processed using the first local oscillator 360.

[0128] The port configuration component 385 may be configured to control (e.g., activate and deactivate) the first switch 370, the second switch 375, and the third switch 380. In some cases, the port configuration component 385 operates the first switch 370, the second switch 375, and the third switch 380 based on determining that the UE 315 is configured to use only one of the first antenna panel 305 or the second antenna panel 310. In some cases, the port configuration component 385 operates the first switch 370, the second switch 375, and the third switch 380 based on determining that the UE 315 is configured to operate in a single frequency band.

[0129] After the signals received using the first receive port 320, the second receive port 325, the third receive port 330, and / or the fourth receive port 335 are processed by the first RF chain 340, the second RF chain 345, the third RF chain 350, and / or the fourth RF chain 355, the processing component 390 may be configured to further process the received signals. The processing component 390 may include components for sampling, demodulating, and decoding information signals output by the first RF chain 340, the second RF chain 345, the third RF chain 350, and / or the fourth RF chain 355. The processing component 390 may also include components for generating channel state information of the received signal, for example, based on measurements taken of the signal by the corresponding RF chain or by the processing component 390. In some cases, all or part of the components included in the processing component 390 may be included in the first RF chain 340, the second RF chain 345, the third RF chain 350, and / or the fourth RF chain 355, and vice versa.

[0130] In some examples, the UE 315 is configured (e.g., during pre-deployment programming or by the network) to use only one of the first antenna panel 305 and the second antenna panel 310. For example, a modem in the UE 315 may be programmed in a first mode to support communication through one antenna panel within a single frequency band, even when the UE 315 includes multiple antenna panels. For example, the network may configure the UE 315 to communicate via one or more carriers within a single frequency band. In some cases, the modem may be programmed to support communication through one antenna panel (e.g., the first antenna panel 305) configured for the first frequency band. In another example, the modem included in the UE 315 may be programmed in a second mode to support communication through multiple antenna panels within multiple frequency bands, but the network may configure the UE 315 to communicate within a single frequency band. In some examples, the network may configure the UE 315 to activate one of the first or second modes at the embedded modem (e.g., via configuration of frequency bands and component carriers).

[0131] When UE 315 is configured to operate in a single frequency band, one of the first antenna panel 305 and the second antenna panel 310 may not be used, and the corresponding receiving port may be placed in an idle state, depending on the configuration. For example, if UE 315 is configured to operate in the 28 GHz frequency band, then according to the configuration, the first antenna panel 305, the first receiving port 320, and the second receiving port 325 may be in an activated state, while the second antenna panel 310, the third receiving port 330, and the fourth receiving port 335 may not be used / in an idle or deactivated state. In some cases, the RF chain corresponding to the idle antenna panel may also be placed in an idle or deactivated state, for example, to save power.

[0132] The UE 315 may determine that one of the first antenna panel 305 and the second antenna panel 310 would otherwise be in an idle state (e.g., based on the configuration of frequency bands and component carriers), and may reconfigure the receive ports coupled to the idle antenna panel (or "idle receive ports") to communicate in the same frequency band as the receive ports coupled to the activated antenna panel (or "active receive ports"). For example, if the second antenna panel 310 would otherwise be in an idle state, the UE 315 may reconfigure the third receive port 330 and the fourth receive port 335 to operate in the same frequency band as the first receive port 320 and the second receive port 325. To reconfigure the idle receive ports to be used in the same frequency band as the active antenna panel, the UE 315 may provide a signal generated by a local oscillator associated with the active antenna panel to the RF chain corresponding to the idle antenna panel. For example, if the second antenna panel 310 is in an idle state, the UE 315 can provide a signal generated by the first local oscillator 360 to the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355, for example, by activating the first switch 370 and the third switch 380 and deactivating the second switch 375. By reconfiguring an idle receive port coupled to the idle antenna panel to be used for the same frequency band as an active receive port, the UE 315 can concurrently process signals detected within the same frequency band received via the first antenna panel 305 and the second antenna panel 310.

[0133] In some cases, after configuring an otherwise idle receive port to be used for the same frequency band as an active receive port, the UE 315 may configure the first antenna panel 305 to receive transmissions incoming from a first direction (i.e., via a first receive beam) and configure the second antenna panel 310 to receive transmissions incoming from the same or a different direction (i.e., via a second receive beam).

[0134] In some examples, the base station transmits a single transmission to the UE 315 after the UE 315 configures a receive port coupled to the first antenna panel 305 and / or the second antenna panel 310 to receive transmissions within a single frequency band. Figure 5 The transmission of a single transmission is discussed in more detail. In some cases, the single transmission may be transmitted via a single component carrier. In some cases, the single transmission may be transmitted using a single transmit beam. In some cases, the single transmission may be a dual polarized transmission. In some cases, the single transmission may be a non-polarized transmission. In other cases, the single transmission may be a polarized transmission. In some cases, the base station transmits using any combination of the above techniques.

[0135] Based on reconfiguring the receive ports coupled to the first antenna panel 305 and / or the second antenna panel 310 to be used for the same frequency band, the UE 315 may process a first signal corresponding to a transmission detected at the first antenna panel 305 via a first receive beam and a second signal corresponding to a transmission detected at the second antenna panel 310 via a second receive beam. In some cases, the first signal may be received using the first receive port 320 and / or the second receive port 325, while the second signal may be received using the third receive port 330 and / or the fourth receive port 335. When the transmission is a non-polarized transmission, the first signal corresponding to the transmission may be received using the first receive port 320 or the second receive port 325, while the second signal may be received using the first receive port 320 or the second receive port 325. When the transmission is a dual-polarized transmission, the first signal corresponding to the horizontally polarized version of the transmission may be received using the first receive port 320, while the second signal corresponding to the vertically polarized version of the transmission may be received using the second receive port 325. Similarly, a third signal corresponding to a horizontally polarized version of the transmission may be received using third receive port 330 , while a fourth signal corresponding to a vertically polarized version of the transmission may be received using fourth receive port 335 .

[0136] In some cases, the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345 may process signals received using the first receive port 320 and the second receive port 325. Processing the signals may include down-converting, filtering, attenuating, amplifying, demodulating, decoding, and / or measuring the signals. Processing the signals may also include taking measurements (e.g., SNR and phase measurements) on the signals. The first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345 may pass the processed signals to the processing component 390. In some cases, the processing component 390 demodulates, decodes, and / or measures the processed signals, for example, instead of performing one or all of these operations in the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345. In some cases, after selecting one of the first antenna panel 305 or the second antenna panel 310, the processing component 390 combines the processed signals or selects certain signals for additional processing. Similarly, the third RF chain 350 and / or the fourth RF chain 355 can process signals received using the third receive port 330 and the fourth receive port 335 and can pass the processed signals to the processing component 390 where the signals can be similarly processed.

[0137] In some cases, the processing component 390 may decode the processed signals received from the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345 to obtain a first data stream. The processing component 390 may also determine channel state information of the processed signals received from the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355 to determine beam information of the receive beam used by the second antenna panel 310. By measuring information of the receive beam used by the second antenna panel 310 while receiving data via the first antenna panel 305, throughput may be increased, for example, because the UE 315 may perform a receive beam improvement procedure while receiving data, rather than suspending data reception to perform receive beam search. In some cases, the UE 315 may select a receive beam used by the second antenna panel 310 for receiving subsequent transmissions, for example, by configuring the first antenna panel 305 to receive on the selected receive beam, or by receiving the subsequent transmission through the second antenna panel 310 that has been configured to receive on the selected receive beam.

[0138] In some cases, the processing component 390 may combine the processed signals received from the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345 and the processed signals received from the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355. By combining the processed signals, the likelihood of successfully receiving a transmission from the base station may be increased. When the single transmission received from the base station is a dual-polarized transmission, the first receive port 320 and the second receive port 325 may receive a first signal corresponding to the horizontal and vertical dual-polarized versions of the transmission via the first antenna panel 305. And the third receive port 330 and the fourth receive port 335 may receive a second signal corresponding to the horizontal and vertical dual-polarized versions of the transmission via the second antenna panel 310. In some cases, the signal received via the first antenna panel 305 may be combined with the signal received via the second antenna panel 310. For example, the processing component 390 may combine the signal corresponding to the horizontal polarized version of the transmission received using the first receive port 320 and the signal corresponding to the vertical polarized version of the transmission received using the fourth receive port 335. Similarly, the processing component 390 can combine signals received using the second receive port 320 corresponding to a vertically polarized version of the transmission and signals received using the third receive port 330 corresponding to a horizontally polarized version of the transmission.

[0139] In some cases, the processing component 390 may determine channel state information of the processed signals received from the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345 and the processed signals received from the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355. In such cases, the processing component 390 may determine a preferred receive beam based on the processed signals and use the preferred receive beam to receive subsequent transmissions from the base station. The preferred receive beam may be associated with an SNR level that exceeds a threshold or is greater than a threshold amount of an SNR level associated with the receive beam used to receive the transmission. In some cases, the UE 315 may configure both the first antenna panel 305 and the second antenna panel 310 to receive subsequent transmissions using the selected receive beam. By measuring information of the first receive beam used by the first antenna panel 305 and the second receive beam used by the second antenna panel, the receive beam search procedure may be accelerated, for example, because two beams may be searched at a time instead of one beam.

[0140] In some cases, the processing component 390 can select whether to decode the processed signals received from the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345 via the first antenna panel 305 or to decode the processed signals received from the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355 via the second antenna panel to obtain the data stream. For example, after determining that the SNR associated with the processed signals received from the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355 is greater than a threshold and the SNR associated with the processed signals received from the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345 is less than a threshold (e.g., such a situation may occur if the user's hand is blocking the first antenna panel 305), the processing component 390 can select the processed signals received from the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355. Additionally or alternatively, the processing component 390 may select the processed signals received from the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355 after determining that the SNR of the signals received from the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345 is lower by a predetermined amount than the SNR associated with the signals received from the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355. In some cases, the UE 315 may receive subsequent communications using the second antenna panel 310 based on selecting the processed signals received from the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355.

[0141] In some examples, the base station transmits the concurrent transmissions to the UE 315 after the UE 315 configures a receive port coupled to the first antenna panel 305 and / or the second antenna panel 310 to receive transmissions within a single frequency band. Figure 6 The transmission of concurrent transmissions is discussed in more detail. In some cases, concurrent transmissions may be transmitted via multiple transmit beams and / or from multiple transmit reception points. In some cases, concurrent transmissions may be transmitted using multiple component carriers. In some cases, concurrent transmissions may be non-polarized transmissions. In other cases, concurrent transmissions may be polarized transmissions. In some cases, concurrent transmissions may carry different data. In other cases, concurrent transmissions may carry the same data. In some cases, the base station transmits using any combination of the above techniques, for example, the base station may transmit a first polarized transmission from a first transmission point via a first component carrier and transmit a second polarized transmission from a second transmission point via a second component carrier.

[0142] In some cases, when multiple transmissions are transmitted over multiple component carriers, the UE 315 may configure the first antenna panel 305 to receive the transmissions over the first component carrier via a first receive beam and configure the second antenna panel 310 to receive the second transmissions over the second component carrier via a second receive beam. By using the first antenna panel 305 and the second antenna panel 310 to receive different transmissions over different component carriers via different receive beams, instead of receiving the different transmissions over the same receive beam, the UE 315 may increase the likelihood of successfully receiving both transmissions, for example, because the signal transmitted over the second component carrier may be received with better signal quality via the second receive beam than if the signal was transmitted over the second component carrier via the first receive beam, or vice versa. For similar reasons, when multiple transmissions are transmitted over multiple transmit beams and / or from multiple transmission points, the UE 315 may configure the first antenna panel 305 to receive the transmissions from the first transmit beam and / or transmission point via a first receive beam and configure the second antenna panel 310 to receive the second transmission from the second transmit beam and / or transmission point via a second receive beam.

[0143] Based on reconfiguring the receive ports coupled to the first antenna panel 305 and / or the second antenna panel 310, the UE 315 may process a first signal corresponding to a first transmission detected at the first antenna panel 305 via a first receive beam and a second signal corresponding to a second transmission detected at the second antenna panel 310 via a second receive beam. In some cases, the first signal may be received using the first receive port 320 and / or the second receive port 325, and the second signal may be received using the third receive port 330 and / or the fourth receive port 335. In some cases, the first and second transmissions may be non-polarized transmissions. In such cases, the first signal corresponding to the first transmission may be received using the first receive port 320 or the second receive port 325, and the second signal corresponding to the second transmission may be received using the first receive port 320 or the second receive port 325. In other cases, the first and second transmissions may be polarized transmissions. In such cases, the first signal corresponding to the horizontally polarized version of the first transmission may be received using the first receive port 320, and the second signal corresponding to the vertically polarized version of the first transmission may be received using the second receive port 325. Similarly, a third signal corresponding to a horizontally polarized version of the second transmission may be received using third receive port 330 , while a fourth signal corresponding to a vertically polarized version of the second transmission may be received using fourth receive port 335 .

[0144] In some cases, the first transmission may be transmitted via a first transmit beam, while the second transmit beam may be transmitted via a second component carrier. In such cases, a first signal corresponding to the first transmit beam and the first component carrier may be received using the first receive port 320 or the second receive port 325, while a second signal corresponding to the second transmit beam and the second component carrier may be received using the third receive port 330 or the fourth receive port 335. In some cases, the first transmission may be transmitted from a first transmission point, while the second transmission may be transmitted from a second transmission point. In such cases, a first signal corresponding to the first transmission and the first transmission point may be received using the first receive port 320 or the second receive port 325, while a second signal corresponding to the second transmission and the second transmission point may be received using the third receive port 330 or the fourth receive port 335.

[0145] In some cases, the first transmission may be transmitted via the first component carrier, and the second transmission may be transmitted via the second component carrier. In such cases, the first signal corresponding to the first transmission and the first component carrier may be received using the first receive port 320 or the second receive port 325, and the second signal corresponding to the second transmission and the second component carrier may be received using the third receive port 330 or the fourth receive port 335.

[0146] In some cases, the first RF chain 340 and / or the second RF chain 345 may process signals received using the first receive port 320 and / or the second receive port 325, and may pass the processed signals to the processing component 390. Processing the signal may include down-converting, filtering, attenuating, amplifying, demodulating, and / or decoding the signal. Processing the signal may also include taking measurements (e.g., SNR and phase measurements) on the signal. The first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345 may pass the processed signal to the processing component 390. In some cases, the processing component 390 demodulates, decodes, and / or takes measurements on the processed signal. In some cases, the processing component 390 combines these signals or performs antenna selection. The third RF chain 350 and / or the fourth RF chain 355 may process signals received using the third receive port 330 and the fourth receive port 335, and may pass the processed signal to the processing component 390, where these signals may be processed similarly.

[0147] In some cases, for example, when different data is transmitted in multiple transmissions, the processing component 390 can decode the processed signals received from the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345 to obtain a first data stream and decode the processed signals received from the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355 to obtain a second data stream. By decoding the first and second processed signals to obtain multiple data streams, the throughput of the communication link can be increased.

[0148] In some cases, for example, when the same data is transmitted in multiple transmissions, the processing component 390 can combine the processed signals received from the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345 to obtain a first data stream and combine the processed signals received from the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355 to obtain a single data stream. By combining the processed signals, the probability of successfully receiving the transmission from the base station can be increased. When the multiple transmissions received from the base station are dual-polarized transmissions carrying the same data, the first receive port 320 and the second receive port 325 can receive a first signal corresponding to a horizontal and vertical dual-polarized version of the first transmission via the first antenna panel 305. And the third receive port 330 and the fourth receive port 335 can receive a second signal corresponding to a horizontal and vertical dual-polarized version of the second transmission via the second antenna panel 310. In some cases, the first signal received via the first antenna panel 305 can be combined with the first signal received via the second antenna panel 310. For example, the processing component 390 can combine signals corresponding to the horizontally polarized version of the transmission received using the first receive port 320 and signals corresponding to the vertically polarized version of the transmission received using the fourth receive port 335. Similarly, the processing component 390 can combine signals corresponding to the vertically polarized version of the transmission received using the second receive port 320 and signals corresponding to the horizontally polarized version of the transmission received using the third receive port 330.

[0149] In some cases, for example, when the same data is transmitted in multiple transmissions, the processing component 390 can select whether to decode the processed signals received from the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345 via the first antenna panel 305 or to decode the processed signals received from the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355 via the second antenna panel to obtain the data stream. In some cases, the processing component 390 selects which processed signal(s) to decode based on channel measurements taken of the processed signals.

[0150] In some cases, for example, when a transmission is transmitted via multiple transmit beams, the processing component 390 can determine channel state information for processed signals received from the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345 via the first transmit beam and channel state information for processed signals received from the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355 via the second transmit beam. The processing component 390 can also generate beam feedback information for the first and second transmit beams concurrently, and in some cases, the beam feedback information can be reported at increased intervals. By transmitting beam feedback information for multiple transmit beams, beam refinement performed by the base station on one or more transmit beams can be accelerated.

[0151] In some cases, for example, when transmissions are transmitted through the same or multiple transmit beams, the processing component 390 can determine channel state information of processed signals received from the first RF chain 340 and the second RF chain 345 and channel state information of processed signals received from the third RF chain 350 and the fourth RF chain 355. In such cases, the processing component 390 can determine a preferred receive beam between a first receive beam configured for the first antenna panel 305 and a second receive beam configured for the second antenna panel 310 based on the processed signals. In some cases, the UE 315 can use the preferred receive beam to receive subsequent transmissions from the base station. In some cases, the UE 315 can configure both the first antenna panel 305 and the second antenna panel 310 to receive subsequent transmissions using the selected receive beam.

[0152] Figure 4 Various aspects of a process for beam-capability enhancement using multiple receive ports in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0153] Process flow 400 may be performed by base station 405 and UE 415, which may be described above with reference to Figures 1 to 3 Examples of base stations or UEs described.

[0154] In some examples, process flow 400 illustrates that base station 405 transmits a single transmission and UE 415 receives the single transmission using first antenna panel 417 and second antenna panel 419. In some cases, UE 415 is configured to receive through one of first antenna panel 417 and second antenna panel 419 (but not both). For example, one antenna panel and corresponding receive port at UE 415 may be in an active state, while another antenna panel and corresponding receive port at UE 415 may be in a deactivated or idle state. In another example, the modem of UE 415 may be configured to support reception through first antenna panel 417 in a first frequency band and reception through second antenna panel 419 in a second frequency band, but base station 405 may configure UE 415 to receive through one or more component carriers within a single frequency band, that is, one of the antenna panels may be irrelevant to the reception configuration of UE 415.

[0155] In some cases, the first antenna panel 417 may be associated with a first set of receive ports, and the second antenna panel 419 may be associated with a second set of receive ports. In some examples, the UE 415 may be able to receive through one receive beam at a time within a single frequency band, for example, due to constraints associated with the receive ports corresponding to the first antenna panel 417 and the second antenna panel 419. In some cases, the first antenna panel 417 and the second antenna panel 419 may be configured to receive dual-polarized transmissions. In some examples, for example, when the modem at the UE 415 is configured to support reception on multiple frequency bands, the first antenna panel 417 may be configured to receive on a first frequency band, and the second antenna panel 419 may be configured to receive on a second frequency band.

[0156] At arrow 420, the base station 405 and the UE 415 may exchange radio resource control (RRC) and / or control signaling. In some cases, the RRC and / or control signaling transmitted from the base station 405 may be received by the UE 415 using an antenna panel (e.g., the first antenna panel 417) that is activated at the UE 415. In some cases, the UE 415 may indicate to the base station 405 that the UE 415 is configured with multiple antenna panels and / or multiple receive ports (e.g., at least three (3) receive ports) corresponding to the multiple antenna panels. In some cases, the UE 415 may indicate to the base station 405 (e.g., in an RRC message) that the modem at the UE 415 is configured in a first mode that enables the UE 415 to receive through one of the first antenna panel 417 and the second antenna panel 419 at a time. In other cases, UE 415 may indicate to base station 405 that the modem at UE 415 is configured in a second mode that enables UE 415 to concurrently receive in a first frequency band via first antenna panel 417 and in a second frequency band via second antenna panel 419.

[0157] In some cases, the base station 405 may indicate to the UE 415 that communications to the UE 415 are to be scheduled on a single frequency band. In some cases, the base station 405 may indicate to the UE 415 that the beam sweeping procedure is to be modified based on receiving an indication that the UE 415 is configured with multiple antenna panels and / or receive ports, for example, the base station 405 may indicate that concurrent transmissions are to be transmitted via multiple transmit beams (e.g., for a beam perfection process). In some cases, the base station 405 may indicate to the UE 415 that multiple transmissions are to be transmitted concurrently via multiple transmit beams (e.g., spatially distinct transmit beams) based on receiving an indication that the UE 415 is configured with multiple antenna panels and / or receive ports. In some cases, base station 405 may indicate to UE 415 that multiple transmissions will be transmitted to the UE via multiple component carriers based on receiving an indication that UE 415 is configured with multiple antenna panels and / or receive ports, wherein a first transmission via a first component carrier may be transmitted using a first transmit beam and a second transmission via a second component carrier may be transmitted using a second transmit beam.

[0158] In block 425, UE 415 may determine a receive configuration based on the received RRC and control signaling. In some examples, UE 415 may determine that communications will be scheduled for UE 415 on a single frequency band. For example, if the base station indicates that UE 415 is configured with one or more component carriers within a single frequency band, UE 415 may determine that communications will be scheduled on a single frequency band. In another example, if the modem at UE 415 is configured (e.g., preconfigured at the time of deployment or initial network access) to communicate using only one of the first antenna panel 417 and the second antenna panel 419, UE 415 may determine that communications will be scheduled on a single frequency band. Thus, UE 415 may determine that one of the antenna panels will not be used, and the unused antenna panel and the corresponding receiving port may be placed in an idle state. In some cases, placing the unused antenna panel and receiving port in an idle state includes deactivating all or part of the components configured to process signals received by the second antenna panel 419 and / or deactivating active elements included in the second antenna panel 419.

[0159] At block 430, the UE 415 may determine that the second antenna panel 419 is not being used, for example, based on placing the second antenna panel 419 in an idle state. The UE 415 may also determine that a second set of receive ports corresponding to the second antenna panel 419 is in an idle state. In some cases, the UE 415 may determine that the second antenna panel 419 is in an inactive state based on determining that communications will be scheduled for the UE 415 on a first frequency band associated with the first antenna panel 417. In some cases, the UE 415 may determine that the second antenna panel 419 and the corresponding receive ports are in an inactive state based on determining that a modem included in the UE 415 is configured to support reception through only one of the first antenna panel 417 and the second antenna panel 419 and that communications will be scheduled for the UE 415 on the first frequency band. In some cases, the UE 415 may determine that the second antenna panel 419 and the corresponding receive ports are in an inactive state based on determining that the modem included in the UE 415 is currently configured to support reception through the first antenna panel 417 but not the second antenna panel 419.

[0160] In block 435, the UE 415 may configure the set of receive ports coupled to the second antenna panel 419 to receive communications on the first frequency band (i.e., the first frequency band for which the set of receive ports coupled to the first antenna panel 417 is configured). In some cases, reconfiguring the set of receive ports corresponding to the second antenna panel 419 for the first frequency band may include disconnecting a second local oscillator configured for the second frequency band from RF chains associated with the second antenna panel 419 and connecting a first local oscillator configured for the first frequency band to these RF chains. In some cases, reconfiguring the set of receive ports coupled to the second antenna panel 419 may include retuning the second local oscillator for the first frequency band. In some cases, the UE 415 may also transition the second antenna panel 419 and the corresponding receive ports from an idle state to an activated state.

[0161] At block 440, the UE 415 may configure receive beams for the first antenna panel 417 and the second antenna panel 419. In some cases, the UE 415 may configure the first antenna panel 417 to receive transmissions incoming from a first direction, for example, by adjusting the weights assigned to each antenna in the first antenna panel 417. The UE 415 may also configure the second antenna panel 419 to receive transmissions incoming from the same or a different direction, for example, by adjusting the weights assigned to each antenna in the first antenna panel 417. In some cases, the UE 415 may configure the first antenna panel 417 to form a first receive beam for receiving a first component carrier, and configure the second antenna panel 419 to form a second receive beam for receiving a second component carrier. In some cases, the UE 415 may configure the first antenna panel 417 to form a first receive beam corresponding to the first transmit beam, and configure the second antenna panel 419 to form a second receive beam corresponding to the second transmit beam.

[0162] At arrow 445, base station 405 may transmit a transmission within a single frequency band (e.g., a beamformed transmission). And UE 415 may receive the transmission via first antenna panel 417 and second antenna panel 419. For example, UE 415 may detect a first signal corresponding to the transmission at first antenna panel 417 via a first receive beam and detect a second signal corresponding to the transmission at second antenna panel 419 via a second receive beam.

[0163] At block 450, signals detected at the first antenna panel 417 and the second antenna panel 419 may be processed. Processing the signals detected at the first antenna panel 417 may include processing the detected signals using the RF chains of the corresponding receive ports. For example, the first receive port (e.g., the first receive port 320) and / or the second receive port (e.g., the second receive port 325) may be used to receive the first signal. Processing the signals detected at the second antenna panel 419 may include processing the detected signals using the RF chains of the corresponding receive ports. For example, the third receive port (e.g., the third receive port 330) and / or the fourth receive port (e.g., the fourth receive port 335) may be used to receive the second signal.

[0164] In some cases, processing the signals detected at the first antenna panel 417 and the second antenna panel 419 includes measuring the characteristics of the signals, demodulating the signals, and / or decoding the signals. In some examples, the processing component located within the UE 415 measures the SNR and phase information of the detected signals. In some cases, processing the signals detected at the first antenna panel 417 and the second antenna panel 419 includes down-converting the signals using a first local oscillator configured for a first frequency band. In some cases, the UE 415 demodulates and / or decodes the signals detected by the first antenna panel 417 while measuring the signal characteristics of the signals detected by the second antenna panel 419, and vice versa. In some cases, the UE 415 measures the signal characteristics of the two signals detected by the first antenna panel 417 and the second antenna panel 419, for example, when the UE 415 performs a dual receive beam search. In some cases, the UE 415 combines the two signals detected by the first antenna panel 417 and the second antenna panel 419, for example, when the UE 415 uses diversity reception.

[0165] In box 455, if UE 415 determines that the signal detected at the second antenna panel 419 has better channel quality than the signal detected at the first antenna panel 417, UE 415 may select the second antenna panel 419 to receive transmissions and / or subsequent transmissions, for example, when UE 415 performs antenna selection.

[0166] At block 460 (in addition to or in lieu of block 455), if the UE 415 determines that the signal received via the second antenna panel 419 has a better channel quality than the signal received via the first antenna panel 417, the UE 415 may select a second receive beam associated with the second antenna panel 419 to receive a subsequent transmission, e.g., when the UE 415 performs receive beam selection. In some cases, the UE 415 may reconfigure the first antenna panel 417 to receive via the second receive beam for the subsequent transmission. In other cases, the UE 415 may receive the subsequent transmission via the second antenna panel 419, e.g., because the second antenna panel 419 has been configured to receive via the second receive beam.

[0167] Figure 5 Various aspects of a process for beam-capability enhancement using multiple receive ports in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0168] Process flow 500 may be performed by base station 505 and UE 515, which may be the same as those described above with reference to Figures 1 to 3 Examples of base stations or UEs described.

[0169] In some examples, process flow 500 illustrates that base station 505 transmits multiple transmissions and UE 515 receives the multiple transmissions using first antenna panel 517 and second antenna panel 519. In some cases, first antenna panel 517 and second antenna panel 519 are as described with reference to Figure 4 For example, the UE 515 may be configured to simultaneously receive through one (but not both) of the first antenna panel 517 and the second antenna panel 519 and / or may be configured to receive communications within a single frequency band.

[0170] At arrow 520, base station 505 and UE 515 may receive RRC and / or control signaling, similar to reference Figure 4 At block 525, the UE 515 may determine the receive configuration, similar to that described with reference to FIG. Figure 4 At block 530, the UE 515 may determine that the second antenna panel 519 and / or the corresponding receiving port is not in use, similar to the reference Figure 4 At block 535, the UE 515 may reconfigure the receive port corresponding to the second antenna panel 519 to be used for the first frequency band, similar to the reference Figure 4 At block 540, UE 515 may configure first antenna panel 517 to form a first receive beam and second antenna panel 519 to form a second receive beam, similar to that described with reference to FIG. Figure 4 As discussed in block 440 of .

[0171] At arrow 545, base station 505 may transmit, and the UE may receive, multiple transmissions (e.g., multiple beamformed transmissions) from base station 505. In some cases, the multiple transmissions may include a first transmission over a first component carrier and a second transmission over a second component carrier. In some cases, the multiple transmissions may include a first transmission from a first transmission point and a second transmission from a second transmission point, where the first and second transmission points may be physically separated or non-quasi-co-located with respect to each other (e.g., the first and second transmission points may be different radio heads or base stations). In some cases, the multiple transmissions may include a first transmission transmitted via a first transmit beam and a second transmission transmitted via a second transmit beam. The multiple transmissions may carry the same or different data.

[0172] At block 550, signals detected at the first antenna panel 417 and the second antenna panel 419 may be processed. Processing the signals detected at the first antenna panel 417 may include processing the detected signals using the RF chains of the corresponding receive ports. For example, the first receive port (e.g., the first receive port 320) and / or the second receive port (e.g., the second receive port 325) may be used to receive the first signal. Processing the signals detected at the second antenna panel 419 may include processing the detected signals using the RF chains of the corresponding receive ports. For example, the third receive port (e.g., the third receive port 330) and / or the fourth receive port (e.g., the fourth receive port 335) may be used to receive the second signal.

[0173] In some cases, processing the signals detected at the first antenna panel 517 and the second antenna panel 519 includes measuring the characteristics of the signals, demodulating the signals, and / or decoding the signals. In some examples, the processing component located within the UE 515 measures the SNR and phase information of the detected signals. In some cases, processing the signals detected at the first antenna panel 517 and the second antenna panel 519 includes down-converting the signals using a first local oscillator configured for a first frequency band. In some cases, the UE 515 demodulates and decodes the signals detected by the first antenna panel 517 while measuring the signal characteristics of the signals detected by the second antenna panel 519, or vice versa, for example, when the UE 515 performs concurrent data reception and receive beam search. In some cases, the UE 515 demodulates and decodes the two signals detected by the first antenna panel 517 and the second antenna panel 519, for example, when the UE 515 receives carrier aggregation transmissions or spatially different simultaneous transmissions. In some cases, the UE 515 measures signal characteristics of two signals detected by the first antenna panel 517 and the second antenna panel 519, for example, when the UE 515 performs dual receive beam searching or when the base station 505 performs accelerated transmit beam sweeping. In some cases, the UE 515 reports beam feedback information (e.g., channel quality information) for a first transmit beam for a first transmission, and beam feedback information for a second transmit beam for a simultaneous second transmission received at the UE 515. In some cases, the UE 515 combines the two signals detected by the first antenna panel 517 and the second antenna panel 519, for example, when the UE 515 receives a transmission transmitted using transmit diversity (when multiple transmissions contain the same data).

[0174] In box 555, if the UE 515 determines that the signal detected at the second antenna panel 519 has better channel quality than the signal detected at the first antenna panel 517, the UE 415 may select the second antenna panel 519 to receive transmissions and / or subsequent transmissions, for example, when the UE 515 performs antenna selection.

[0175] At block 560, if the UE 515 determines that the signal received through the second antenna panel 519 has a better channel quality than the signal received through the first antenna panel 517, the UE 515 may select a second receive beam associated with the second antenna panel 519 to receive a subsequent transmission, for example, when the UE 515 performs receive beam selection. In some cases, the UE 515 may reconfigure the first antenna panel 517 to receive via the second receive beam for the subsequent transmission. In other cases, the UE 515 may receive the subsequent transmission through the second antenna panel 519, for example, because the second antenna panel 519 has been configured to receive via the second receive beam.

[0176] Figure 6 Block diagram 600 of a device 605 supporting beam capability enhancement using multiple receive ports in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. The device 605 may be an example of aspects of a UE 115 as described herein. The device 605 may include a receiver 610, a communication manager 615, and a transmitter 620. The device 605 may also include a processor. Each of these components may be in communication with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

[0177] Receiver 610 may receive information such as packets, user data, or control information associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, and information related to beam capability enhancement using multiple receive ports, etc.). Information may be delivered to other components of device 605. Receiver 610 may utilize a single antenna or a set of antennas. In some cases, receiver 610 may deliver detection signals 613 detected at the first antenna panel and the second antenna panel to communication manager 615.

[0178] The communication manager 615 may receive a first signal in a first frequency band using a first receive port, wherein the first receive port is associated with a first receive beam. The communication manager 615 may also receive a second signal in a first frequency band using a second receive port concurrently with receiving the first signal using the first receive port, wherein the second receive port is associated with a second receive beam. The communication manager 615 may also process the first signal received using the first receive port and the second signal received using the second receive port. In some cases, the communication manager 615 may pass control signaling 617 (e.g., capability indication, channel state information, beam feedback, etc.) to the transmitter 620.

[0179] The communication manager 615 or its subcomponents may be implemented in hardware, in code (e.g., software or firmware) executed by a processor, or any combination thereof. If implemented in code executed by a processor, the functions of the communication manager 615 or its subcomponents may be performed by a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device designed to perform the functions described in the present disclosure, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof.

[0180] The communication manager 615 or its subcomponents may be physically located at various locations, including being distributed such that portions of functionality are implemented by one or more physical components at different physical locations. In some examples, according to various aspects of the present disclosure, the communication manager 615 or its subcomponents may be separate and distinct components. In some examples, according to various aspects of the present disclosure, the communication manager 615 or its subcomponents may be combined with one or more other hardware components (including, but not limited to, input / output (I / O) components, a transceiver, a network server, another computing device, one or more other components described in the present disclosure, or a combination thereof).

[0181] The transmitter 620 may transmit signals generated by other components of the device 605. In some examples, the transmitter 620 may be co-located in a transceiver module with the receiver 610. The transmitter 620 may utilize a single antenna or a collection of antennas.

[0182] Figure 7 A block diagram 700 of a communication manager 705 supporting beamforming capability enhancement using multiple receive ports according to various aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The communication manager 705 may be as described with reference to Figure 6 Examples of various aspects of the described communication manager 615. The communication manager 705 may include a first receive port manager 710, a second receive port manager 715, a signal manager 720, a receive manager 725, a decoder 730, a port configuration component 735, a receive beam manager 740, and an antenna selection manager 745. Each of these modules may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., via one or more buses).

[0183] The first receive port manager 710 may receive a first signal within a first frequency band using a first receive port, wherein the first receive port is associated with a first receive beam.

[0184] The second receive port manager 715 may receive a second signal in the first frequency band using a second receive port concurrently with receiving the first signal using the first receive port, wherein the second receive port is associated with a second receive beam. In some cases, the first receive port is configured to receive vertically polarized signals and the second receive port is configured to receive horizontally polarized signals. In some cases, the first receive port is coupled to a first antenna panel configured to form a first receive beam and the second receive port is coupled to a second antenna panel configured to form a second receive beam.

[0185] In some examples, the reception manager 725 may receive one or more transmissions 707 transmitted from another wireless device. In some examples, the reception manager 725 may receive a configuration for a transmission within a first frequency band from a base station, and the first signal and the second signal correspond to the transmission. In some examples, the reception manager 725 may receive a first configuration for a first transmission within a first frequency band and a second configuration for a second transmission within a first frequency band from a base station, wherein the first signal corresponds to the first transmission and the second signal corresponds to the second transmission. In some examples, the reception manager 725 may determine that the UE is configured to receive communications through one or more component carriers within the first frequency band. In some cases, the first transmission is transmitted through a first component carrier and the second transmission is transmitted through a second component carrier. In some cases, the first transmission is transmitted through a first resource and the second transmission is transmitted through a second resource that at least partially overlaps with the first resource. In some examples, the reception manager 725 may receive a transmission set from a base station through a receive beam set, the first signal and the second signal correspond to the transmission in the transmission set, and the receive beam set includes a first receive beam and a second receive beam. In some examples, receive manager 725 may relay detected signal 727 to signal manager 720 using the first and second receive ports.

[0186] In some examples, the reception manager 725 may transmit (e.g., using a transmitter) to the base station a capability indication 729 indicating that the UE supports reception via multiple receive beams. The capability indication 729 may convey that the UE supports reception via multiple receive beams in multiple frequency bands, or in a single frequency band, or in both.

[0187] The port configuration component 735 may configure the second receive port to couple with the first local oscillator based on determining that the UE is configured to receive communications through one or more component carriers within the first frequency band. In some examples, the port configuration component 735 may configure the first receive port and the third receive port to receive communications within the first frequency band. In some examples, the port configuration component 735 may configure the second receive port and the fourth receive port to receive communications within the second frequency band. In some examples, the port configuration component 735 may configure the second receive port and the fourth receive port to receive communications within the first frequency band based on determining that the UE is configured to receive communications through one or more component carriers within the first frequency band.

[0188] In some examples, the port configuration component 735 may receive an indication from the base station to configure the first receive port and the third receive port to receive communications within the first frequency band, wherein the first receive port and the third receive port are configured to receive communications within the first frequency band based on the indication. In some cases, the port configuration component 735 may transmit first control signaling 737 and second control signaling 739 indicating configuration of the first and second receive ports to the first receive port manager 710 and the second receive port manager 715. In some cases, the first control signaling 737 may indicate which frequency band the first receive port is configured for, and the second control signaling 739 may indicate which frequency band the second receive port is configured for.

[0189] The signal manager 720 may process (e.g., down-convert, filter, attenuate, etc.) a first signal received using a first receive port and a second signal received using a second receive port. The signal manager 720 may pass the processed signal 723 to the decoder 730, the receive beam manager 740, and / or the antenna selection manager 745. In some examples, the decoder 730 may decode the first signal received using the first receive port via the first receive beam. In some examples, the decoder 730 may generate first data based on decoding the first signal. In some examples, the decoder 730 may generate first data and second data based on decoding the first signal and the second signal. In some examples, the signal manager 720 may combine the first signal and the second signal into a combined signal. In some examples, the decoder 730 may decode the combined signal.

[0190] In some examples, receive beam manager 740 may perform a search for a set of receive beams using a second receive port concurrently with receiving a set of signals using a first receive port to receive transmissions within a first frequency band, wherein the set of signals includes a first signal, and wherein the second signal is received using the second receive port during the search. In some examples, receive beam manager 740 may measure first channel state information for a first set of signals, the first set of signals corresponding to the set of transmissions and received via a first subset of the set of receive beams using the first receive port, wherein the first set of signals includes the first signal, and wherein the first subset of the set of receive beams includes the first receive beam.

[0191] In some examples, the receive beam manager 740 may measure channel state information of a second signal received via a second receive beam using a second receive port. In some cases, the receive beam manager 740 may measure first channel state information of the first signal and second channel state information of the second signal. In some examples, the receive beam manager 740 may measure second channel state information of a second signal set, the second signal set corresponding to the transmission set and received via a second subset of the receive beam set using a second receive port, wherein the second signal set includes the second signal, and wherein the second subset of the receive beam set includes a second receive beam.

[0192] In some examples, receive beam manager 740 may select a receive beam in the receive beam set for receiving subsequent transmissions from the base station based on the measurement. In some examples, receive manager 725 may receive subsequent transmissions from the base station via the receive beam using the first receive port or the second receive port based on the selection.

[0193] In some examples, the receive beam manager 740 may select two receive beams in the receive beam set for receiving subsequent transmissions from the base station based on the measurement. In some examples, the first receive port manager 710 may receive a subsequent first transmission from the base station using a first receive port via one of the two receive beams based on the selection. In some examples, the second receive port manager 715 may receive a subsequent second transmission from the base station using a second receive port via the other of the two receive beams based on the selection.

[0194] In some examples, receive beam manager 740 may select a first receive beam based on the measurement for receiving subsequent transmissions from the base station. In some examples, receive manager 725 may receive subsequent transmissions from the base station via the first receive beam using the first receive port or the second receive port based on the selection.

[0195] In some examples, receive beam manager 740 may select a second receive beam based on the measurement for receiving subsequent transmissions from the base station. In some examples, second receive port manager 715 may receive subsequent transmissions from the base station using a second receive port via the second receive beam based on the selection. In some examples, receive manager 725 may receive subsequent transmissions from the base station using a first receive port or a second receive port via the second receive beam based on the selection.

[0196] In some cases, antenna selection manager 745 may measure first channel state information for the first signal and second channel state information for the second signal. In some examples, antenna selection manager 745 may select a second receive port for receiving transmissions from the base station based on the measurements.

[0197] Figure 8 A diagram of a system 800 including a device 805 supporting beamforming enhancement using multiple receive ports in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. The device 805 may be as described herein. Figure 6 805, or an example of a UE 115, or includes components of the above devices. The device 805 may include components for two-way voice and data communications, including components for transmitting and receiving communications, including a communication manager 810, an I / O controller 815, a transceiver 820, an antenna 825, a memory 830, and a processor 840. These components may be in electronic communication via one or more buses (e.g., a bus 845).

[0198] The communication manager 810 may be as shown in FIG. Figure 6 and 7 Examples of communications manager 615 or communications manager 705 are described.

[0199] I / O controller 815 can manage input and output signals of device 805. I / O controller 815 can also manage peripheral devices that are not integrated into device 805. In some cases, I / O controller 815 can represent a physical connection or port to an external peripheral device. In some cases, I / O controller 815 can utilize an operating system, such as Or another known operating system. In other cases, I / O controller 815 may represent or interact with a modem, keyboard, mouse, touch screen, or similar device. In some cases, I / O controller 815 may be implemented as part of a processor. In some cases, a user may interact with device 805 via I / O controller 815 or via hardware components controlled by I / O controller 815.

[0200] The transceiver 820 may communicate bidirectionally via one or more antennas, wired or wireless links, as described above. For example, the transceiver 820 may represent a wireless transceiver and may communicate bidirectionally with another wireless transceiver. The transceiver 820 may also include a modem to modulate packets and provide the modulated packets to an antenna for transmission, and demodulate packets received from an antenna.

[0201] In some cases, a wireless device may include a single antenna 825. However, in some cases, the device may have more than one antenna 825, which may be capable of transmitting or receiving multiple wireless transmissions concurrently.

[0202] The memory 830 may include random access memory (RAM) and read-only memory (ROM). The memory 830 may store computer-readable, computer-executable code 835 including instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to perform the various functions described herein. In some cases, the memory 830 may include, among other things, a basic input / output system (BIOS), which may control basic hardware or software operations, such as interaction with peripheral components or devices.

[0203] The processor 840 may include an intelligent hardware device (e.g., a general purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, a microcontroller, an ASIC, an FPGA, a programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic component, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof). In some cases, the processor 840 may be configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller. In other cases, the memory controller may be integrated into the processor 840. The processor 840 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., memory 830) to cause the device 805 to perform various functions (e.g., various functions or tasks that support beam capability enhancement using multiple receive ports).

[0204] The code 835 may include instructions for implementing various aspects of the present disclosure, including instructions for supporting wireless communications. The code 835 may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium, such as a system memory or other type of memory. In some cases, the code 835 may not be directly executed by the processor 840, but may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled and executed) to perform the functions described herein.

[0205] Fig. 9 A flow chart illustrating a method 900 for supporting beam capability enhancement using multiple receive ports according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The operations of the method 900 may be implemented by a UE 115 or components thereof as described herein. For example, the operations of the method 900 may be implemented by a UE 115 or components thereof as described herein. Figures 6 to 8In some examples, the UE may execute an instruction set to control the functional elements of the UE to perform the following functions. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may use dedicated hardware to perform various aspects of the following functions.

[0206] At 905, the UE may receive a first signal within a first frequency band using a first receive port, wherein the first receive port is associated with a first receive beam. In some cases, receiving the first signal using the first receive port may include: monitoring specific time and frequency resources, and detecting a signal at a first antenna panel coupled to the first receive port during the monitored time and frequency resources. In some examples, the first antenna panel may be configured to form a first receive beam. After detecting the first signal, the first antenna panel may send the detected first signal to the first receive port. The operations of 905 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 905 may be performed as described with reference to Figures 6 to 8 The described first receive port manager is executed.

[0207] At 910, the UE may receive a second signal within a first frequency band using a second receive port concurrently with receiving a first signal using a first receive port, wherein the second receive port is associated with a second receive beam. In some cases, receiving the second signal using the second receive port may include: monitoring specific time and frequency resources, and detecting a signal at a second antenna panel coupled to the first receive port during the monitored time and frequency resources. In some examples, the second antenna panel may be configured to form a second receive beam. After detecting the first signal, the first antenna panel may send the detected first signal to the first receive port. In some cases, after determining that the UE is configured to perform communications within a single frequency band (for example, after determining that the modem at the UE is configured to communicate in a single frequency band or the network has configured the UE to communicate in a single frequency band), the UE configures the second receive port to receive communications on the first frequency band. The operations of 910 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, various aspects of the operations of 910 may be described by reference to Figures 6 to 8 The described second receive port manager is executed.

[0208] At 915, the UE may process a first signal received using a first receive port and a second signal received using a second receive port. Processing the first and second signals may include decoding the first and second signals, measuring characteristics of the first and second signals, or any combination thereof. For example, in some cases, processing the first and second signals includes decoding the first signal to obtain first data and decoding the second signal to obtain second data. In some examples, processing the first and second signals includes decoding the first signal to obtain first data, and measuring characteristics of the second signal (e.g., measuring channel state information). In some examples, processing the first and second signals includes measuring characteristics of the first signal and the second signal. In some cases, the measured signal characteristics may be used to identify a preferred receive beam or preferred antenna for receiving a current or subsequent transmission. The operations of 915 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, various aspects of the operations of 915 may be described by reference to Figures 6 to 8 The described signal manager, decoder, receive beam manager, and / or antenna selection manager may be performed.

[0209] Fig.10 1 is a flow chart illustrating a method 1000 for supporting beam capability enhancement using multiple receive ports according to aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of the method 1000 may be implemented by a UE 115 or components thereof as described herein. For example, the operations of the method 1000 may be implemented by a UE 115 or components thereof as described herein. Figures 6 to 8 In some examples, the UE may execute an instruction set to control the functional elements of the UE to perform the following functions. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may use dedicated hardware to perform various aspects of the following functions.

[0210] At 1005, the UE may receive a first signal in a first frequency band using a first receive port, wherein the first receive port is associated with a first receive beam. Receiving the first signal may include: monitoring a particular time and frequency resource, and detecting a signal at a first antenna panel coupled to the first receive port during the monitored time and frequency resource. The operations of 1005 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1005 may be performed as described with reference to Figures 6 to 8 The described first receive port manager is executed.

[0211] At 1010, the UE may receive a second signal in a first frequency band using a second receive port concurrently with receiving the first signal using the first receive port, wherein the second receive port is associated with a second receive beam. Receiving the second signal may include: monitoring a particular time and frequency resource, and detecting a signal at a second antenna panel coupled to the first receive port during the monitored time and frequency resource. The operations of 1010 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1010 may be performed as described with reference to Figures 6 to 8 The described second receive port manager is executed.

[0212] At 1015, the UE may receive from a base station a first configuration for a first transmission within a first frequency band and a second configuration for a second transmission within the first frequency band, wherein the first signal corresponds to the first transmission and the second signal corresponds to the second transmission. In some cases, the configuration is received in RRC and / or control signaling. The operations of 1015 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1015 may be as described with reference to Figures 6 to 8 The described receive manager is executed.

[0213] At 1020, the UE may demodulate and / or decode the first signal and the second signal. The operations of 1020 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1020 may be performed as described with reference to Figures 6 to 8 The decoder described is implemented.

[0214] At 1025, the UE may generate first data and second data based on decoding the first signal and the second signal. The operations of 1025 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1025 may be as described with reference to Figures 6 to 8 The decoder described is implemented.

[0215] Fig.11 1 is a flow chart illustrating a method 1100 for supporting beam capability enhancement using multiple receive ports according to aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of the method 1100 may be implemented by a UE 115 or components thereof as described herein. For example, the operations of the method 1100 may be implemented by a UE 115 or components thereof as described herein. Figures 6 to 8 In some examples, the UE may execute an instruction set to control the functional elements of the UE to perform the following functions. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may use dedicated hardware to perform various aspects of the following functions.

[0216] At 1105, the UE may receive a first signal in a first frequency band using a first receive port, wherein the first receive port is associated with a first receive beam. Receiving the first signal may include: monitoring a particular time and frequency resource, and detecting a signal at a first antenna panel coupled to the first receive port during the monitored time and frequency resource. The operations of 1105 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1105 may be performed as described with reference to Figures 6 to 8 The described first receive port manager is executed.

[0217] At 1110, the UE may receive a second signal in the first frequency band using a second receive port concurrently with receiving the first signal using the first receive port, wherein the second receive port is associated with a second receive beam. Receiving the second signal may include: monitoring a particular time and frequency resource, and detecting a signal at a second antenna panel coupled to the first receive port during the monitored time and frequency resource. The operations of 1110 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1110 may be performed as described with reference to Figures 6 to 8 The described second receive port manager is executed.

[0218] At 1115, the UE may receive, from a base station, a configuration for transmission within a first frequency band, the first signal and the second signal corresponding to the transmission. In some cases, the configuration is received in RRC and / or control signaling. The operations of 1115 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1115 may be as described with reference to Figures 6 to 8 The described receive manager is executed.

[0219] At 1120, the UE may measure first channel state information of the first signal and second channel state information of the second signal. Measuring the channel state information may include: calculating a signal-to-noise ratio and / or phase information of the detected signal. The operations of 1120 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1120 may be performed as described with reference to Figures 6 to 8 The described receive beam manager is implemented.

[0220] Fig.12 A flow chart illustrating a method 1200 for supporting beam capability enhancement using multiple receive ports according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The operations of the method 1200 may be implemented by a UE 115 or components thereof as described herein. For example, the operations of the method 1200 may be implemented by a UE 115 or components thereof as described herein. Figures 6 to 8 In some examples, the UE may execute an instruction set to control the functional elements of the UE to perform the following functions. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may use dedicated hardware to perform various aspects of the following functions.

[0221] At 1205, the UE may receive a first signal in a first frequency band using a first receive port, wherein the first receive port is associated with a first receive beam. Receiving the first signal may include: monitoring a particular time and frequency resource, and detecting a signal at a first antenna panel coupled to the first receive port during the monitored time and frequency resource. The operations of 1205 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1205 may be performed as described with reference to Figures 6 to 8 The described first receive port manager is executed.

[0222] At 1210, the UE may receive a second signal in a first frequency band using a second receive port concurrently with receiving the first signal using the first receive port, wherein the second receive port is associated with a second receive beam. Receiving the second signal may include: monitoring a particular time and frequency resource, and detecting a signal at a second antenna panel coupled to the first receive port during the monitored time and frequency resource. The operations of 1210 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1210 may be performed as described with reference to Figures 6 to 8 The described second receive port manager is executed.

[0223] At 1215, the UE may receive a configuration for a transmission in the first frequency band from a base station, wherein the first signal and the second signal correspond to the transmission. In some cases, the configuration is received in RRC and / or control signaling. The operations of 1215 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1215 may be as described with reference to Figures 6 to 8 The described receive manager is executed.

[0224] At 1220, the UE may demodulate and / or decode a first signal received via a first receive beam using a first receive port. The operations of 1220 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1220 may be performed as described with reference to Figures 6 to 8 The decoder described is implemented.

[0225] At 1225, the UE may measure channel state information of a second signal received via a second receive beam using a second receive port. Measuring the channel state information may include calculating a signal-to-noise ratio and / or phase information of the detected signal. The operations of 1225 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1225 may be performed as described with reference to Figures 6 to 8 The described receive beam manager is implemented.

[0226] It should be noted that the methods described herein describe possible implementations, and that the various operations and steps may be rearranged or otherwise modified and other implementations are possible. Furthermore, aspects from two or more methods may be combined.

[0227] Although aspects of LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NR systems may be described for example purposes, and LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NR terminology may be used in much of the description, the techniques described herein may also be applicable to networks other than LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NR networks. For example, the described techniques may be applied to various other wireless communication systems, such as Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM, and other systems and radio technologies not explicitly mentioned herein.

[0228] The information and signals described herein may be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referred to throughout this description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0229] The various illustrative blocks and components described in conjunction with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, a CPU, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration).

[0230] The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may be stored on or transmitted by a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Other examples and implementations fall within the scope of the present disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, the functions described herein may be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or any combination thereof. Features that implement the functions may also be physically located in various locations, including being distributed so that parts of the functions are implemented at different physical locations.

[0231] Computer-readable medium includes both non-transient computer storage medium and communication medium, and it includes any medium that facilitates computer program to transfer from one place to another place.Non-transient storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by general or special-purpose computer.As an example and not limitation, non-transient computer-readable medium can include RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, compact disk (CD) ROM or other optical disk storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage device, or can be used to carry or store instruction or data structure form of desired program code means and can be accessed by general or special-purpose computer or general or special-purpose processor any other non-transient medium.Similarly, any connection is also properly referred to as computer-readable medium.For example, if software is transmitted from website, server or other remote source using coaxial cable, optical fiber cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL) or wireless technology such as infrared, radio and microwave, then this coaxial cable, optical fiber cable, twisted pair, DSL or wireless technology such as infrared, radio and microwave are just included in the definition of computer-readable medium. Disk and disc as used herein include CDs, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs (DVDs), floppy disks, and Blu-ray discs, where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0232] As used herein (including in the claims), "or" used in a list of items (e.g., a list of items with a phrase such as "at least one of" or "one or more of") indicates an inclusive list, so that, for example, a list of at least one of A, B, or C means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C). Similarly, as used herein, the phrase "based on" should not be interpreted as referring to a closed set of conditions. For example, an example step described as "based on condition A" may be based on both condition A and condition B without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In other words, as used herein, the phrase "based on" should be interpreted in the same manner as the phrase "based at least in part on."

[0233] In the accompanying drawings, similar components or features may have the same reference number. In addition, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference number with a dash and a second reference number that distinguishes between similar components. If only the first reference number is used in the specification, the description may apply to any of the similar components having the same first reference number regardless of the second reference number, or other subsequent reference numbers.

[0234] The descriptions set forth herein in conjunction with the accompanying drawings describe example configurations and do not represent all examples that can be implemented or fall within the scope of the claims. The term "example" as used herein means "used as an example, instance, or illustration" and does not mean "better than" or "better than other examples." This detailed description includes specific details to provide an understanding of the described techniques. However, these techniques may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring the concepts of the described examples.

[0235] The description herein is provided to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make or use the present disclosure. Various modifications to the present disclosure will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, and the universal principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not limited to the examples and designs described herein, but should be granted the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication at a UE, comprising: receiving a first signal within a first frequency band using a first receive port, wherein the first receive port is associated with a first receive beam; configuring a second receive port to receive communications on the first frequency band, the second receive port being configurable to receive communications on the first frequency band or on a second frequency band different from the first frequency band; receiving a second signal within the first frequency band using the second receive port concurrently with receiving the first signal using the first receive port, wherein the second receive port is associated with a second receive beam; as well as The first signal received using the first receive port and the second signal received using the second receive port are processed.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: An indication that the UE supports reception through multiple receive beams is transmitted to a base station.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: A first configuration for a first transmission within the first frequency band and a second configuration for a second transmission within the first frequency band are received from a base station, wherein the first signal corresponds to the first transmission and the second signal corresponds to the second transmission.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the processing comprises decoding the first signal and the second signal, the method further comprising: First data and second data are generated based at least in part on decoding the first signal and the second signal.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the first transmission is transmitted over a first component carrier and the second transmission is transmitted over a second component carrier.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second receive port is couplable to a first local oscillator for receiving communications on the first frequency band or to a second local oscillator for receiving communications on the second frequency band, the method further comprising: The second receive port is configured to couple with the first local oscillator based at least in part on the UE being configured to receive communications over one or more component carriers within the first frequency band.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein: The first receive port and the third receive port are configurable to receive communications within the first frequency band or the second frequency band; The second receive port and the fourth receive port are configurable to receive communications within the first frequency band or the second frequency band; and The method further comprises: The second receive port and the fourth receive port are configured to receive communications within the first frequency band based at least in part on the UE being configured to receive communications over one or more component carriers within the first frequency band.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: An indication is received from a base station to configure the first receive port and the third receive port to receive communications within the first frequency band, wherein the first receive port and the third receive port are configured to receive communications within the first frequency band based at least in part on the indication.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the first receive port is configured to receive vertically polarized signals and the second receive port is configured to receive horizontally polarized signals.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first receive port is coupled to a first antenna panel configured to form the first receive beam, and the second receive port is coupled to a second antenna panel configured to form the second receive beam.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, from a base station, a configuration for transmissions within the first frequency band, the first signal and the second signal corresponding to the transmissions; and The processing includes measuring first channel state information for the first signal and second channel state information for the second signal.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: selecting the first receive beam for receiving a subsequent transmission from the base station based at least in part on the measurement; as well as A subsequent transmission is received from the base station via the first receive beam through the first receive port or the second receive port based at least in part on the selection.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising: selecting the second receive beam for receiving a subsequent transmission from the base station based at least in part on the measurement; as well as A subsequent transmission is received from the base station through the first receive port or the second receive port via the second receive beam based at least in part on the selection.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a plurality of transmissions from a base station via a plurality of receive beams, the first signal and the second signal corresponding to transmissions in the plurality of transmissions, and the plurality of receive beams including the first receive beam and the second receive beam; and The processing includes: measuring first channel state information for a first plurality of signals corresponding to the plurality of transmissions and received through the first receive port via a first subset of the plurality of receive beams, wherein the first plurality of signals includes the first signal, and wherein the first subset of the plurality of receive beams includes the first receive beam; as well as measuring second channel state information of a second plurality of signals corresponding to the plurality of transmissions and received through the second receive port via a second subset of the plurality of receive beams, wherein the second plurality of signals includes the second signal, and wherein the second subset of the plurality of receive beams includes the second receive beam.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: selecting, based at least in part on the measurements, a receive beam from the plurality of receive beams for receiving a subsequent transmission from the base station; as well as A subsequent transmission is received from the base station via the receive beam through the first receive port or the second receive port based at least in part on the selection.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising: selecting two receive beams of the plurality of receive beams for receiving subsequent transmissions from the base station based at least in part on the measurements; receiving a subsequent first transmission from the base station through the first receive port via one of the two receive beams based at least in part on the selection; and A subsequent second transmission is received from the base station through the second receive port via the other of the two receive beams based at least in part on the selection.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising: Performing a search of a plurality of receive beams to receive transmissions within the first frequency band using the second receive port concurrently with receiving a plurality of signals through the first receive port, wherein the plurality of signals includes the first signal, and wherein the second signal is received through the second receive port during the search.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from a base station, a configuration for transmissions within the first frequency band, wherein the first signal and the second signal correspond to the transmissions, and wherein the processing comprises: decoding the first signal received through the first receive port via the first receive beam; and Channel state information of the second signal received through the second receiving port via the second receiving beam is measured.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising: generating first data based at least in part on decoding the first signal; selecting the second receive beam for receiving a subsequent transmission from the base station based at least in part on the measurement; as well as A subsequent transmission is received from the base station through the first receive port or the second receive port via the second receive beam based at least in part on the selection.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the first signal corresponds to a horizontally polarized version of a transmission from a base station and the second signal corresponds to a vertically polarized version of the transmission; and The processing includes measuring first channel state information of the first signal and second channel state information of the second signal.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising: selecting the second receive port for receiving the transmission from the base station based at least in part on the measurement; as well as A subsequent transmission is received from the base station through the second receive port via the second receive beam based at least in part on the selection.

22. An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE, comprising: processor; a memory coupled to the processor; as well as instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receiving a first signal within a first frequency band using a first receive port, wherein the first receive port is associated with a first receive beam; configuring a second receive port to receive communications on the first frequency band, the second receive port being configurable to receive communications on the first frequency band or on a second frequency band different from the first frequency band; receiving a second signal within the first frequency band using the second receive port concurrently with receiving the first signal using the first receive port, wherein the second receive port is associated with a second receive beam; as well as The first signal received using the first receive port and the second signal received using the second receive port are processed.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising: a first antenna panel configured to form the first receive beam, wherein the first receive port is coupled to the first antenna panel and configured for the first frequency band; as well as a second antenna panel configured to form the second receive beam, wherein the second receive port is coupled to the second antenna panel and configured for the second frequency band, and wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: An indication that the UE supports reception through multiple receive beams is transmitted to a base station.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising: A third receiving port; a fourth receiving port; a first antenna panel configured to form the first receive beam, wherein the first receive port and the third receive port are coupled to the first antenna panel and configured for the first frequency band; as well as a second antenna panel configured to form the second receive beam, wherein the second receive port and the fourth receive port are coupled to the second antenna panel and configured for the second frequency band, and wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receiving a configuration for receiving communications over one or more component carriers in the first frequency band; as well as The second receive port and the fourth receive port are configured to receive communications within the first frequency band via the second antenna panel based at least in part on receiving the configuration.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising: a first local oscillator tuned for the first frequency band, wherein the first receive port and the second receive port are coupled to the first local oscillator; a second local oscillator tuned for the second frequency band, wherein the third receive port and the fourth receive port are coupled to the second local oscillator, and wherein the instructions for configuring the second receive port and the fourth receive port to receive communications within the first frequency band are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: The first local oscillator is coupled to the third receive port and the fourth receive port.

26. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receiving, from a base station, a configuration for transmissions in the first frequency band, the first signal and the second signal corresponding to the transmissions; and First channel state information of the first signal and second channel state information of the second signal are measured.

27. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receiving, from a base station, a first configuration for a first transmission within the first frequency band and a second configuration for a second transmission within the first frequency band, wherein the first signal corresponds to the first transmission and the second signal corresponds to the second transmission; and First data and second data are generated based at least in part on decoding the first signal and the second signal.

28. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: Performing a search of a plurality of receive beams to receive transmissions within the first frequency band using the second receive port concurrently with receiving a plurality of signals using the first receive port, wherein the plurality of signals includes the first signal, and wherein the second signal is received using the second receive port during the search.

29. An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE, comprising: Apparatus for performing the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1-21.

30. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a UE, the code comprising steps executable by a processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1-21.

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