Group-based beam reporting using phase continuity

Abstract

The UE may determine that two or more resources on two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity. The UE may determine joint channel information associated with the two or more beams using separate measurements corresponding to the two or more beams, respectively, based on the two or more resources on the two or more beams having phase continuity. The UE may then send a group-based beam report including the joint channel information to the base station. The base station may provide the UE with an indication that the two or more resources on the two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity. The base station may receive a group-based beam report from the UE based on the indication, and the base station may configure communication with the UE on the joint channel based on the group-based beam report.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. application serial number 17 / 125,865, filed on December 17, 2020, entitled “GROUP-BASED BEAM REPORTING USING PHASE CONTINUITY,” and U.S. provisional application serial number 62 / 951,954, filed on December 20, 2019, entitled “GROUP-BASED BEAM REPORTING USING PHASE CONTINUITY,” the entire contents of which are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure generally relates to communication systems, and more particularly, to at least one user equipment (UE) configured to report information associated with beamforming communications to a base station. Background Art

[0004] Wireless communication systems have been widely deployed to provide a variety of telecommunication services, such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple access technologies that can support communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

[0005] Such multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a city-wide, national-wide, regional-wide, and even global scale. One exemplary telecommunication standard is 5G New Radio (NR). 5G NR is part of the continuous mobile broadband evolution released by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability (e.g., with the Internet of Things (IoT)), and other requirements. 5G NR includes services associated with enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type communications (mMTC), and ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC). Some aspects of 5G NR may be based on the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. There is a need to further improve 5G NR technology. In addition, these improvements may also be applicable to other multiple access technologies and telecommunication standards that employ these technologies. Summary of the Invention

[0006] To provide a basic understanding of one or more aspects of the present invention, a brief summary of these aspects is provided below. This summary is not an exhaustive overview of all contemplated aspects, nor is it intended to identify key or important elements of all aspects, or to describe the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the detailed description that follows.

[0007] To improve link performance and increase throughput, wireless communications between a base station and a user equipment (UE) can use multiple beams for simultaneous transmission and reception. The use of multiple beams can provide macrodiversity and higher rates using multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) technology. Beam grouping and group-based beam reporting can support simultaneous reception at the UE, for example, using the same spatial filter or different spatial filters at the receiver (e.g., the UE).

[0008] Restrictions on beams and time / frequency resources may impact the UE's ability to perform simultaneous beam management measurements on multiple beams, for example, to determine joint quasi-co-location (QCL) properties for simultaneous transmission / reception. Various aspects presented herein enable the UE to determine joint beam characteristics using individual measurements for each beam.

[0009] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a first method, a first computer-readable medium, and a first apparatus for wireless communication are provided. For example, the first apparatus may be implemented by a UE. The first apparatus may be configured to determine that two or more resources on two or more beams from a base station have phase continuity. The first apparatus may be further configured to determine joint channel information associated with the two or more beams using separate measurements corresponding to the two or more beams, based on the two or more resources on the two or more beams having the phase continuity. The first apparatus may then send a group-based beam report to the base station including the joint channel information associated with the two or more beams.

[0010] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a second method, a second computer-readable medium, and a second apparatus for wireless communication are provided. For example, the second apparatus may be implemented by a base station. The second apparatus may be configured to send an indication to a UE that two or more resources on two or more beams from the second apparatus have phase continuity. The second apparatus may be further configured to receive a group-based beam report from the UE based on the indication, the group-based beam report including joint channel information associated with the two or more beams.

[0011] To accomplish the foregoing and related ends, one or more aspects include the features described in detail below and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the accompanying drawings illustrate features of one or more aspects. However, these features are merely illustrative of the various ways in which the principles of these various aspects may be employed, and this description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and an access network.

[0013] Figure 2A 、 2B , 2C and 2D are diagrams showing examples of a first 5G / NR frame, a DL channel in a 5G / NR subframe, a second 5G / NR frame, and a UL channel in a 5G / NR subframe, respectively.

[0014] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a base station and a user equipment (UE) in an access network.

[0015] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary communication system including a base station and UEs using beamforming communications.

[0016] Figure 5 is a call flow diagram illustrating an exemplary communication flow between a base station and a UE.

[0017] Figure 6 The present invention is a flow chart of a wireless communication method for a UE.

[0018] Figure 7 The invention is a flow chart of a wireless communication method for a base station.

[0019] Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an exemplary apparatus.

[0020] Figure 9 is a diagram illustrating another example of a hardware implementation for another example apparatus. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] The detailed description below, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, is intended only to illustrate various configurations and is not intended to represent that the concepts described herein can only be implemented in these configurations. The detailed description includes specific details to provide a thorough understanding of the various concepts. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that these concepts can be implemented without these specific details. In some instances, to avoid obscuring these concepts, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form.

[0022] To improve link performance and increase throughput, wireless communications between a base station and a UE can use multiple beams for simultaneous transmission and reception. The use of multiple beams can provide macrodiversity and higher rates using MIMO technology. Beam grouping and group-based beam reporting can support simultaneous reception at the UE, for example, using the same spatial filter or different spatial filters at the receiver.

[0023] Restrictions on beams and time / frequency resources may impact the ability of a UE to perform simultaneous beam management measurements on multiple beams, for example, to determine joint quasi-co-location (QCL) properties for simultaneous transmission / reception. Various aspects presented herein enable a UE to determine joint channel and / or joint beam information (e.g., properties and / or characteristics) using separate measurements corresponding to the beams, respectively. In some aspects, a UE may determine that resources (e.g., reference signal resources) on two or more beams from a base station have phase continuity. The base station may provide an implicit indication or an explicit indication to the UE that two or more resources on two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity. The UE may determine joint channel and / or joint beam information for the two or more beams based on the two or more resources on the two or more beams having phase continuity using corresponding separate measurements for each of the two or more beams. The UE may then send a group-based beam report to the base station including joint channel and / or joint beam information (e.g., properties and / or characteristics) for the two or more beams.

[0024] Some aspects of telecommunications systems will now be presented with reference to various apparatuses and methods. These apparatuses and methods will be described in the following detailed description and depicted in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, algorithms, and the like (collectively, "elements"). Such elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether these elements are implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0025] For example, an element or any part of an element or any combination of elements can be implemented as a "processing system" including one or more processors. Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), application processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, systems on chip (SoCs), baseband processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gate logic, separate hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functions described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in a processing system can execute software. Software should be broadly interpreted to mean instructions, instruction sets, codes, code segments, program codes, programs, subroutines, software components, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, threads of execution, processes, functions, etc., regardless of whether they are referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or other terms.

[0026] Therefore, in one or more exemplary embodiments, the functions described herein can be implemented with hardware, software, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, these functions can be stored or encoded into one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include computer storage media. The storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access. By way of example and not limitation, such computer-readable media can include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, a combination of computer-readable media of the aforementioned types, or any other medium that can be used to store computer executable code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer.

[0027] Figure 1 100 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and access network. The wireless communication system (also referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) includes a base station 102, a UE 104, an evolved packet core (EPC) 160, and another core network 190 (e.g., a 5G core (5GC)). The base station 102 may include a macro cell (a high-power cellular base station) and / or a small cell (a low-power cellular base station). A macro cell includes a base station. Small cells include femto cells, pico cells, and micro cells.

[0028] Base stations 102 configured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to as the Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)) may interface with the EPC 160 via a first backhaul link 132 (e.g., an S1 interface). Base stations 102 configured for 5G NR (collectively referred to as the Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN)) may interface with the core network 190 via a second backhaul link 184. Among other functions, the base stations 102 may perform one or more of the following: transmission of user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and device tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and transmission of alert messages. The base stations 102 can communicate with each other directly or indirectly (eg, via the EPC 160 or the core network 190 ) via a third backhaul link 134 (eg, an X2 interface). The third backhaul link 134 can be wired or wireless.

[0029] Base stations 102 can communicate wirelessly with UEs 104. Each of base stations 102 can provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell 102′ can have a coverage area 110′ that overlaps with the coverage area 110 of one or more macro base stations 102. A network that includes small cells and macro cells may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include Home Node Bs (eNBs) (HeNBs), which can provide services to a restricted group known as a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG). The communication link 120 between base station 102 and UE 104 may include uplink (UL) (also known as reverse link) transmissions from UE 104 to base station 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also known as forward link) transmissions from base station 102 to UE 104. The communication link 120 may utilize multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. These communication links may be over one or more carriers. The base station 102 / UE 104 may use up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, etc. MHz) of bandwidth for each carrier allocated in the carrier aggregation for a total of up to Yx MHz (x component carriers) for transmission in each direction. The carriers may be adjacent to each other or non-adjacent to each other. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL ​​compared to UL). The component carriers may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. The primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell) and the secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

[0030] Some UEs 104 may communicate with each other using a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use the DL / UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). D2D communication may be performed using various wireless D2D communication systems, such as FlashLinQ, WiMedia, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, LTE, or NR.

[0031] The wireless communication system may also include a Wi-Fi access point (AP) 150 that communicates with a Wi-Fi station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 in the 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum. When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the STA 152 / AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) to determine whether the channel is available before communicating.

[0032] Small cell 102' can operate in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in unlicensed spectrum, small cell 102' can adopt NR and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum used by Wi-Fi AP 150. Small cell 102' adopting NR in unlicensed spectrum can improve access network coverage and / or increase access network capacity.

[0033] Base station 102 (whether a small cell 102′ or a large cell (e.g., a macro base station)) may include and / or be referred to as an eNB, gNodeB (gNB), or another type of base station. Some base stations 180, such as gNBs, may operate in the traditional sub-6 GHz spectrum at millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies and / or near-mmW frequencies to communicate with UE 104. When a gNB (e.g., base station 180) operates at mmW or near-mmW frequencies, the gNB may be referred to as a mmW base station. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the radio frequency (RF) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz, with wavelengths between 1 mm and 10 mm. Radio waveforms in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near-mmW frequencies extend down to frequencies of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 mm. Super high frequency (SHF) frequency bands extend between 3 GHz and 30 GHz and are also referred to as centimeter waves. Communications using mmW / near-mmW radio frequency bands (e.g., 3 GHz-300 GHz) have significantly higher path loss and shorter ranges. A mmW base station (e.g., base station 180) can utilize beamforming 182 with UE 104 to compensate for this extremely high path loss and short distance. Base station 180 and UE 104 can each include multiple antennas (e.g., antenna elements, antenna panels, and / or antenna arrays) to facilitate beamforming.

[0034] Base station 180 may transmit beamformed signals in one or more transmit directions 182′ to UE 104. UE 104 may receive beamformed signals from base station 180 in one or more receive directions 182″. UE 104 may also transmit beamformed signals in one or more transmit directions to base station 180. Base station 180 may receive beamformed signals in one or more receive directions from UE 104. Base station 180 / UE 104 may perform beam training to determine optimal receive and transmit directions for each of base station 180 / UE 104. The transmit and receive directions of base station 180 may or may not be the same. The transmit and receive directions of UE 104 may or may not be the same.

[0035] EPC 160 may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a Serving Gateway 166, a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Gateway 168, a Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC) 170, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway 172. MME 162 may communicate with a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 174. MME 162 is a control node that handles signaling between UE 104 and EPC 160. Generally, MME 162 provides bearer and connection management. All user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are transmitted through Serving Gateway 166, which itself is connected to PDN Gateway 172. PDN Gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation and other functions. PDN Gateway 172 and BM-SC 170 are connected to IP Services 176. IP Services 176 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), streaming services, and / or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 can provide functionality for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170 can serve as the entry point for content providers' MBMS transmissions, authorize and initiate MBMS bearer services in the Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), and schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS Gateway 168 can distribute MBMS services to base stations 102 within a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area that broadcasts specific services, and can be responsible for session management (start / stop) and collecting eMBMS-related billing information.

[0036] The core network 190 may include an access and mobility management function (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, a session management function (SMF) 194, and a user plane function (UPF) 195. The AMF 192 may communicate with a unified data management (UDM) 196. The AMF 192 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the core network 190. Typically, the AMF 192 provides QoS flow and session management. All user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are transported through the UPF 195. The UPF 195 provides UE IP address allocation and other functions. The UPF 195 is connected to the IP services 197. The IP services 197 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), streaming services, and / or other IP services.

[0037] A base station may include and / or be referred to as a gNB, a Node B, an eNB, an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), a transmission reception point (TRP), or some other appropriate terminology. Base station 102 provides an access point to EPC 160 or core network 190 for UE 104. Examples of UE 104 include a cellular phone, a smartphone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a satellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (e.g., an MP3 player), a camera, a game console, a tablet device, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, an electric meter, a gas pump, a large or small kitchen appliance, a medical device, an implant, a sensor / actuator, a display, or any other similarly functional device. Some of UE 104 may be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., a parking meter, a gas pump, a toaster, a vehicle, a heart monitor, etc.). UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communication device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other appropriate terminology.

[0038] See again Figure 1In some aspects, the base station 102 / 180 may include a phase continuity component 199 configured to send an indication that implicitly or explicitly indicates to the UE 104 that two or more resources on two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180 have phase continuity. For example, each of the two or more resources may be a resource of a reference signal (e.g., including a synchronization signal) transmitted via a corresponding beam of the two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180. Thus, the UE 104 may receive an implicit or explicit indication that the two or more resources on the two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180 have phase continuity.

[0039] The UE 104 may include a joint channel estimation component 198 configured to determine that two or more resources on two or more beams, respectively, from the base station 102 / 180 have phase continuity. The joint channel estimation component 198 may be further configured to determine, based on the two or more resources on the two or more beams having phase continuity, joint channels and / or joint beam information (e.g., joint channel / beam characteristics and / or properties) for the two or more beams using separate measurements corresponding to the two or more beams, respectively. The UE 104 (and in particular the joint channel estimation component 198) may use the indication from the base station 102 / 180 to determine the phase continuity of the resources on the two or more beams and / or determine the joint channel / beam information.

[0040] The UE 104 may be further configured to, for example, send a group-based beam report to the base station 102 / 180 based on respective individual measurements corresponding to each of the two or more beams, the group-based beam report including joint channel / beam information for the two or more beams. Accordingly, the base station 102 / 180 may receive the group-based beam report including the joint channel / beam information for the two or more beams, and the base station 102 / 180 may configure (multi-beam) communication with the UE 104 based on the joint channel / beam information for the two or more beams included in the group-based beam report.

[0041] Although the present disclosure focuses on 5G NR, the concepts and aspects described herein may be applicable to other similar areas, such as LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), or other wireless / radio access technologies.

[0042] Figure 2A FIG200 is a diagram showing an example of a first subframe in a 5G / NR frame structure. Figure 2B FIG230 is a diagram showing an example of DL channels in a 5G / NR subframe. Figure 2CFigure 250 shows an example of a second subframe in a 5G / NR frame structure. Figure 2D FIG280 is a diagram illustrating an example of an UL channel in a 5G / NR subframe. The 5G / NR frame structure may be frequency division duplex (FDD) or time division duplex (TDD), where in the case of FDD, for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated to either DL or UL, and in the case of TDD, for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated to both DL and UL. Figure 2A 、 2C In the example provided, it is assumed that the 5G / NR frame structure is TDD, where subframe 4 is configured with slot format 28 (primarily DL), where D is DL, U is UL, and X is used flexibly between DL / UL, and subframe 3 is configured with slot format 34 (mostly UL). Although subframes 3 and 4 are shown with slot formats 34 and 28 respectively, any particular subframe can be configured with any of the various available slot formats 0-61. Slot formats 0 and 1 are full DL and UL respectively. Other slot formats 2-61 include a mix of DL, UL and flexible symbols. The slot format is configured for the UE via the received slot format indicator (SFI) (dynamically configured via DL control information (DCI) or semi-statically / statically configured via radio resource control (RRC) signaling). It should be noted that the following description also applies to the 5G / NR frame structure for TDD.

[0043] Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels. A frame (10ms) may be divided into 10 subframes of equal size (1ms). Each subframe may include one or more time slots. A subframe may also include microslots, which may include 7, 4, or 2 symbols. Depending on the time slot configuration, each time slot may include 7 or 14 symbols. For time slot configuration 0, each time slot may include 14 symbols, while for time slot configuration 1, each time slot may include 7 symbols. The symbols on the DL may be cyclic prefix (CP) OFDM (CP-OFDM) symbols. The symbols on the UL may be CP-OFDM symbols (for high throughput scenarios) or discrete Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols (also known as single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbols) (for power-limited scenarios; limited to single stream transmission). The number of time slots within a subframe is based on the time slot configuration and the digital scheme. For slot configuration 0, different digital schemes μ0 to 5 allow 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 slots per subframe, respectively. For slot configuration 1, different digital schemes 0 to 2 allow 2, 4, and 8 slots per subframe, respectively. Therefore, for slot configuration 0 and digital scheme μ, there are 14 symbols / slot and 2 μtimeslots / subframes. The subcarrier spacing and symbol length / duration depend on the digital scheme. The subcarrier spacing can be equal to 2 μ *15kHz, where μ is a digital scheme 0 to 5. Thus, the subcarrier spacing for digital scheme μ=0 is 15kHz, and the subcarrier spacing for digital scheme μ=5 is 480kHz. The symbol length / duration is inversely proportional to the subcarrier spacing. Figures 2A-2D An example is provided for slot configuration 0 with 14 symbols per slot and a digital scheme μ = 0 with 1 slot per subframe. The subcarrier spacing is 15 kHz and the symbol duration is approximately 66.7 μs.

[0044] A resource grid can be used to represent the frame structure. Each time slot includes a resource block (RB) (also called a physical RB (PRB)) extending over 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into multiple resource elements (REs). The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0045] like Figure 2A As shown in , some of the REs carry at least one reference signal (RS) and / or pilot signal for the UE. The at least one RS may include at least one demodulation RS (DM-RS) (e.g., for a particular configuration, indicated as RX, where 100x is the port number, but other DM-RS configurations are also possible) and / or at least one channel state information (CSI) RS (CSI-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The at least one RS may additionally or alternatively include one or more beam measurement RSs (BRSs), beam refinement RSs (BRRSs), and / or phase tracking RSs (PT-RSs).

[0046] Figure 2BExamples of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame are shown. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI in one or more control channel elements (CCEs), each CCE including nine RE groups (REGs), each REG including four consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol. The primary synchronization signal (PSS) can be within symbol 2 of a specific subframe of the frame. The UE 104 uses the PSS to determine the subframe / symbol timing and the physical layer identification. The secondary synchronization signal (SSS) can be located within symbol 4 of a specific subframe of the frame. The UE uses the SSS to determine the physical layer cell identification group number and the radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identification and the physical layer cell identification group number, the UE can determine the physical cell identifier (ID) (PCI). Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the position of the aforementioned DM-RS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying the master information block (MIB) can be logically combined with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH block (also known as a "synchronization signal block" and / or "SSB"). The MIB provides the number of RBs in the system bandwidth and the system frame number (SFN).The Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not sent over the PBCH (eg, System Information Block (SIB)), and paging messages.

[0047] like Figure 2C As shown in , some of the REs carry DM-RS (indicated as R for a specific configuration, but other DM-RS configurations are also possible) for channel estimation at the base station. The UE can send DM-RS for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and DM-RS for the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The PUSCH DM-RS can be sent in the first one or two symbols of the PUSCH. Depending on whether a short PUCCH or a long PUCCH is sent and depending on the specific PUCCH format used, the PUCCH DM-RS can be sent in different configurations. The UE can send a sounding reference signal (SRS). The SRS can be sent in the last symbol of the subframe. The SRS can have a comb structure, and the UE can send the SRS on one of these comb structures. The base station can use the SRS for channel quality estimation to achieve frequency-dependent scheduling on the UL.

[0048] Figure 2DExamples of various UL channels in a subframe of a frame are shown. The PUCCH may be located as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI) such as scheduling requests, channel quality indicator (CQI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), rank indicator (RI), layer indicator (LI), and / or hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) ACK / NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data and may also be used to carry buffer status reports (BSRs), power headroom reports (PHRs), and / or UCI. In some configurations, some ACK / NACK feedback may be carried on the PUSCH in addition to or instead of the PUCCH.

[0049] Figure 3 3 is a block diagram illustrating communication between a base station 310 and a UE 350 in an access network. In the DL, IP packets from the EPC 160 are provided to the controller / processor 375. The controller / processor 375 implements Layer 3 (L3) and / or Layer 2 (L2) functions. The L3 layer may include the Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, and the L2 layer may include the Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer, the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, the Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. The controller / processor 375 provides: RRC layer functions associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., MIB, SIB), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), mobility between radio access technologies (RATs), and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions associated with header compression / decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functions associated with transmission of upper layer packet data units (PDUs), error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; MAC layer functions associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel priority.

[0050] The transmit (TX) processor 316 and the receive (RX) processor 370 implement Layer 1 (L1) functions associated with various signal processing functions. The L1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection for the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The TX processor 316 handles mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-order quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols can then be split into parallel streams. Each stream can then be mapped to an OFDM subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., a pilot) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then combined using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to generate a physical channel for carrying the time-domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially precoded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator 374 may be used to determine the coding and modulation schemes and to implement spatial processing. The channel estimates may be derived from a reference signal and / or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 350. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a different antenna 320 via a separate transmitter 318TX. Each transmitter 318TX may modulate an RF carrier with each spatial stream for transmission.

[0051] At the UE 350, each receiver 354RX receives a signal via its respective antenna 352. Each receiver 354RX recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to the RX processor 356. The TX processor 368 and the RX processor 356 implement L1 functions associated with various signal processing functions. The RX processor 356 can perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 350. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 350, the RX processor 356 can combine them into a single OFDM symbol stream. The RX processor 356 then uses a fast Fourier transform (FFT) to convert the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain. The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, as well as the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation point transmitted by the base station 310. These soft decisions can be based on the channel estimates calculated by the channel estimator 358. These soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally sent on the physical channel by base station 310. These data and control signals are then provided to controller / processor 359, which implements L3 and / or L2 functionality.

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

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

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

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

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

[0057] In some aspects, at least one of the TX Processor 368, the RX Processor 356, and the controller / processor 359 may be configured to perform operations related to Figure 1 198 related aspects.

[0058] In some other aspects, at least one of the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller / processor 375 may be configured to perform operations related to Figure 1 199 related aspects.

[0059] As generally described herein, some communications in the exemplary access network may occur in a mmW / near mmW access network and thus may be beamformed. As an illustration, Figure 1 The UE 104 and base station 102 / 180 are shown communicating using beams with beamforming 182, e.g., such that the base station 102 / 180 can send signaling in one or more transmit directions 182' and the UE 104 can correspondingly receive such signaling in one or more receive directions 182".

[0060] The base station and the UE may perform beam management to select and adjust beams for communications between the base station and the UE. In downlink beam management, the base station may provide the UE with an opportunity to measure beamformed channels by sending corresponding RSs using one or more of the TX beams, where these beamformed channels have different combinations of the base station's TX beams and the UE's RX beams. The UE may report one or more measurements corresponding to one or more TX beams (e.g., combined with one or more RX beams to form one or more beam pair links) to the base station. In response to such a report, the base station may provide a beam management configuration to the UE. For example, the beam management configuration may include at least one of the following: resource configuration associated with CSI-RS and / or SSB, beam reporting settings, and / or other information associated with configuring beamformed communications between the base station and the UE.

[0061] According to various aspects, a base station may perform periodic beam scanning with a UE by transmitting a corresponding RS using a separate TX beam of the base station (the TX beam may be received by an RX beam of the UE). The UE may measure information about a beamformed channel state using different RX beams of the UE and, based on this, may report measurement information to the base station. For example, the UE may report measurement information associated with at least one TX beam (e.g., which may be paired with at least one RX beam), such as reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), CSI, and / or other measurement information that may indicate beam quality.

[0062] In some aspects, the measurement information reported by the UE may be included in a CSI report (e.g., periodic, aperiodic, and / or semi-persistent CSI report). The UE may use CSI-RS and / or SSB to perform measurements on different beams to provide CSI reports. For example, SSB may be used for initial access and may not involve additional overhead for beam management (e.g., including CSI reporting). SSB may have limited bandwidth, while CSI-RS may be configured with different frequency ranges. However, the transmission of CSI-RS for beam management may use additional overhead, but may enable flexibility in allocating resources to the RS.

[0063] Beam management can be performed on a per-beam basis, where the UE measures and reports on individual beams. In addition to or as an alternative to measuring and reporting on individual beams, the UE can be configured to perform group-based beam reporting, for example, where beam management can be performed and reported on a group of beams rather than on individual beams. For example, group-based beam management can be performed to support beam tracking and / or beam refinement within a group or groups of beams.

[0064] Group-based beam reporting can reduce some of the overhead (e.g., in terms of signaling, feedback, etc.) for beam management associated with TX / RX (e.g., simultaneous TX / RX or non-simultaneous TX / RX). For example, group-based beam reporting can reduce the signaling associated with reporting measurement information relative to the signaling associated with non-group-based beam reporting (e.g., CSI and / or other measurement reports for individual beams).

[0065] In some aspects, a group-based beam report may include measurement information associated with a representative beam through which the UE receives some signaling for the UE's measurements. That is, the UE's measurements of one or more RSs received by the UE through the representative beam may be used to indicate the quality of the representative beam. The representative beam may be one beam in the beam group, or may represent an average of measurements for the beams in the group. For example, the representative beam may be the beam through which the RS with the largest (e.g., highest, best, etc.) measurement value is received (e.g., relative to other measurement values ​​of other RSs received through other beams).

[0066] In addition to the measurement information associated with the representative beam, the group-based beam report may include some measurement information associated with one or more other beams, such as one or more beams associated with one or more of the next consecutive measurement values ​​(e.g., the second highest measurement value, the second best measurement value, etc.). Illustratively, the group-based beam report may include measurement information associated with the representative beam (the representative beam may be the beam via which the RS with the "best" measurement value is received), and measurement information associated with one or more other beams in the beam group. The one or more other beams in the beam group may be beams via which the corresponding RS with the second best measurement value is received. However, in the group-based beam report, the measurement information associated with one or more other beams in the beam group may be indicated relative to the measurement information associated with the representative beam.

[0067] For example, a group-based beam report may include a measurement value of RSRP measured for an RS received via a representative beam, e.g., a group-based beam report may include information indicating the highest decibel-milliwatt (dBm) measured for an RS received on the representative beam. Additionally, a group-based beam report may include measurement information associated with one or more other beams having the next highest dBm value. However, the measurement information associated with one or more other beams may be indicated as a corresponding differential value (e.g., relative to the highest dBm value of the representative beam) measured for another RS ​​received via another beam in the beam group. Potentially, the differential value may be represented as a certain number of intervals or a fixed amount lower than the measurement value associated with the representative beam, e.g., a group-based beam report may indicate a measurement value associated with another beam of the beam group as x number of 2dBm intervals lower than the highest dBm value associated with the representative beam.

[0068] In some aspects, group-based beam reporting may be based on a reporting quantity set, CRI-RSRP, and / or SSB-index-RSRP. In some other aspects, group-based beam reporting may be based on L1 metrics, such as L1-SINR and / or L1-RSRP metrics. For example, the UE may report the maximum L1-RSRP from the measured RS (e.g., 7 bits) and / or the differential L1-RSRP relative to the maximum measured RSRP (e.g., 4 bits) (e.g., because the differential value may be indicated using fewer bits than the true or actual measurement value). In addition, where a beam-based report may include measurement information for a single beam, the group-based beam report has less information about the single beam than the beam-based report. In some aspects, the group-based beam report may not include the CSI quantity per CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI) / SSB resource block indicator (SSBRI), for example, which may be present in some beam-based reports.

[0069] The base station may configure the UE to perform L1-SINR-based beam reporting for non-group-based and / or group-based beam reporting. When the base station configures the UE to report SSBRI and / or CRI and the corresponding L1-SINR, the reporting format may include a range and / or step size (e.g., interval) associated with the differential SINR. For example, the differential SINR for a group of M beams may be determined based on the difference between the measured SINR corresponding to the CRI / SSBRI of the M beams and the measured SINR corresponding to the CRI / SSBRI of the beam with the maximum SINR among the reported SINRs.

[0070] To improve link performance and increase throughput, wireless communications between a base station and a UE may use multi-beam simultaneous TX / RX. The use of multiple beams may provide macrodiversity and higher rates using MIMO technology (e.g., relative to TX / RX using a single beam pair). Beam grouping and group-based beam reporting may support simultaneous reception at the UE, for example, using the same spatial filter or different spatial filters (which may be simultaneous) at a receiver (e.g., of the UE). Additionally or alternatively, the UE may use non-simultaneous multi-beam TX / RX. For example, the UE may employ time division multiplexing (TDM) for non-simultaneous TX / RX using multiple beams.

[0071] When the UE is configured to enable group-based beam reporting, the UE may report multiple different CRI / SSBRIs on each reporting setting, for example, two different CRI / SSBRIs per reporting setting. The UE may receive CSI-RS and / or SSB resources (e.g., for CRI and / or SSBRI, respectively) simultaneously using a single beam or multiple (simultaneous) beams. The UE's measurements of RS and grouping of beams may be used for simultaneous TX / RX (e.g., using joint QCL on a data channel). In some aspects, it may be assumed that the UE has the ability to simultaneously receive CSI-RS and / or SSB resources using a single beam or multiple (simultaneous) beams. Although some SSB resources may be time-division multiplexed, a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state quasi-co-located with the SSB resources may be received simultaneously.

[0072] The base station may have a limit on the maximum number of CSI resource sets that can be configured for joint measurements. Therefore, the amount of resources that the network can configure for the UE to perform simultaneous beam management measurements may be limited. Restrictions on beams and time / frequency resources may affect the UE's ability to perform simultaneous beam management measurements on multiple beams, for example, to determine joint QCL properties for simultaneous TX / RX. Therefore, group-based beam reporting may not include information about all possible joint QCL combinations.

[0073] Figure 4 FIG4 is a diagram illustrating an example communication system 400 including a base station 402 and a UE 404, wherein the base station 402 and the UE 404 are configured to communicate on at least one channel H 410 (e.g., the at least one channel H 410 may be an original channel). The base station 402 and the UE 404 may be configured to use directional beams for mmW / near-mmW communication on the at least one channel H 410, wherein the base station 402 has M beams 412 and the UE 404 has N beams 414. For example, in the case of mmW / near-mmW communication, the base station 402 may configure a MIMO scheme with the UE 404. To configure the MIMO scheme, one or more beam pair links may be configured for communication between the base station 402 and the UE 404. A beam pair may include one TX beam 412 for the base station 402 and one RX beam 414 for the UE 404.

[0074] In some aspects, the conditions of channel H 410 (e.g., the environment affecting channel H 410, such as blockages, reflectors, etc.) and / or the characteristics / capabilities of base station 402 and / or UE 404 (e.g., the respective number of antenna elements, the number of antenna ports that UE 404 can use to measure channel H 410, etc.) can affect beam training / channel measurement on channel H 410. Therefore, channel H 410 can be represented as effective channel H eff . Effective channel H eff It may depend on the receiver (e.g., the analog combiner of UE 404) RF =[w1,w2,…,w N ] and the transmitter (eg, the analog precoder of the base station 402) F RF =[f1,f2,…,f M ], where W RF and F RF Each of them may be composed of beam weights w1, w2, ..., w N and f1,f2,…,f M The corresponding matrix of .

[0075] In some aspects, the base station 402 and / or the UE 404 (eg, at various lower layers, such as various PHY layers and / or baseband-related layers) may observe the effective channel H according to Equation 1. eff (in is conjugated).

[0076]

[0077] In some aspects, the base station 402 and the UE 404 may be configured with two or more beam pairs, e.g., for spatial diversity on at least one channel H 410. For example, the effective (joint) channel H based on the joint QCL properties of simultaneous reception / transmission of two beam pairs may be given by Equation 2: eff :

[0078] H eff =[w k ,w l ] * H[f i ,f j ]

[0079] (Formula 2)

[0080] The configuration of the multiple beam pairs may depend on beam training / channel measurement, for example, considering the conditions of at least one channel H 410 on which the base station 402 and the UE 404 communicate. 2 N 2) complexity can be combined with the estimation of the effective (joint) channel H of two beam pairs. eff Proportional, for example, as shown in Equation 2. The beam training / channel measurement may correspond to a joint QCL property for simultaneous reception / transmission of each of a possible set of two (or more) beam pairs between the base station 402 and the UE 404 .

[0081] However, this beam training / channel measurement O(M 2 N 2 ) complexity calculations may generate a significant amount of overhead (e.g., in terms of over-the-air signaling, processing consumption, etc.). This overhead may significantly impact communications on at least one channel H 410, for example, by increasing the latency experienced by UE 404 and / or reducing the data rate transmitted by base station 402 to UE 404. In addition, the configuration of multiple (e.g., two or more) beam pairs between base station 402 and UE 404 may be limited by potential signaling configurations (e.g., the number of available RSs (e.g., CSI-RSs) that can be configured for group-based beam reporting).

[0082] The effective channel H can be expressed based on the pairwise estimation of the individual components eff (e.g., represented by UE 404), as shown in Equation 3:

[0083]

[0084]

[0085] Each element of the matrix shown in Equation 3 may correspond to a beam pair. For example, The effective channel H having the lth RX beam (eg, the lth RX beam of beam 414 of UE 404) and the jth TX beam (eg, the jth TX beam of beam 412 of base station 402) may be represented as: eff Therefore, Equation 3 can be used to calculate the effective channel H using the two beams i and j selected from the beam 412 of the base station 402 (which are paired with the two beams k and l selected from the beam 414 of the UE 404). eff In particular, and They correspond to the conjugate transpose of the kth and lth Rx beams of UE 404, respectively.

[0086] As described herein, the computational complexity of beam training / channel measurement can be reduced from O(M) to O(M) by signaling configuration (e.g., configuration of CSI-RS for group-based beam reporting). 2 N 2) to O(MN), for example, assuming that at least one channel H 410 is quasi-static. This complexity reduction (for example, from O(M 2 N 2 ) to O(MN)) can reduce the overhead commensurate with beam training / channel measurement.

[0087] UE 404 determines the effective channel H eff This may be useful because the MIMO rate, diversity gain, etc. can be based on the effective channel H eff For example, at least one of rank, per-stream CQI, precoding and / or other similar communication parameters may be based on H eff Furthermore, a beam pair (e.g., (w k ,f i ) and / or (w l ,f j )) may not provide such satisfactory performance when jointly configured for simultaneous transmission / reception.

[0088] However, separate training / measurement of beams for a joint channel (e.g., according to Equation 3) may result in errors in the calculation of the joint channel due to phase discontinuities between resources on the beams (e.g., phase discontinuities between CSI-RS resources on TX beam 412 of base station 402). Phase discontinuities may be caused by delays in beam switching, alternation of beam weights between symbols, and / or other phase noise.

[0089] Therefore, if the resources on the TX beams of two (or more) beam pairs have phase continuity, beam training / channel measurement with a computational complexity of O(MN) can be achieved when the beams used for the joint channel are trained / measured separately. Therefore, information indicating that at least two resources on at least two beams (e.g., at least two of the TX beams 412 of the base station 402) have phase continuity can be provided to the UE 404.

[0090] The signaling of the phase continuity indication from the base station 402 may enable the UE 404 to determine the phase continuity of the UE 404 based on the effective channel H. eff The mutual channel information of multiple beam pairs is calculated based on the estimation of effThus, when the resources (e.g., CSI-RS resources) on the TX beams of two or more beam pairs have phase continuity, the overhead (e.g., processing load, over-the-air signaling, etc.) on the UE 404 and / or the base station 402 can be reduced, for example, associated with group-based beam reporting for simultaneous transmission / reception and / or configuring multiple beam pairs to improve throughput.

[0091] Specifically, base station 402 may indicate to UE 404 whether the resources of the RSs on multiple beams have phase continuity. For example, base station 402 may signal to UE 404 that two (or more) CSI-RS resources on two (or more) TX beams of beam 412 have phase continuity. Therefore, with sufficient accuracy for group-based beam reporting for simultaneous transmission / reception, UE 404 can perform pairwise estimation of the components of the joint channel.

[0092] Figure 5 5 is a call flow diagram illustrating an example communication flow 500 between a base station 502 and a UE 504, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. As shown in the example communication flow 500, the base station 502 may send a beam management configuration 501 to the UE 504. For example, the beam management configuration 501 may be (or may include) a CSI reporting configuration. The beam management configuration 501 may enable the UE 504 to perform group-based beam reporting to the base station 502. For example, the beam management configuration 501 may include information for configuring the UE 504 to report up to two CRIs / SSBRIs per reporting setting.

[0093] The base station 502 may transmit the beam management configuration 501 to the UE 504 via RRC signaling (e.g., in an information element (IE) and / or field of an RRC message). For example, the beam management configuration 501 may include an RRC message having an IE for CSI report configuration (e.g., CSI-ReportConfig IE), and the CSI report configuration IE may include information (e.g., a field) for instructing the UE 504 to enable group-based beam reporting for CSI reporting based on the CSI report configuration IE.

[0094] According to various aspects, the beam management configuration 501 may configure corresponding RSs on one or more resources of one or more beams from the base station 502. For example, the beam management configuration 501 may include configuring the UE 504 to receive at least one CSI-RS carried on at least one resource on each TX beam in the TX beam set of the base station 502. Therefore, each of the CSI-RSs (on the corresponding CSI-RS resource) may be associated with a corresponding TX beam in the TX beam set of the base station 502.

[0095] Additionally or alternatively, the beam management configuration 501 may configure the UE 504 to report at least one (e.g., one or two) CRI / SSBRIs and / or some information associated therewith, such as measurement information (e.g., SINR and / or RSRP) and / or other CSI information (e.g., CQI, PMI, RI, and / or LI) derived from the CSI-RS / SSBs received from the beams corresponding to the at least one CRI / SSBRI. The base station 502 may use the at least one CRI / SSBRI and / or associated information (e.g., measurement value, CSI, etc.) to configure communication with the UE 504 to perform simultaneous TX / RX with joint QCL on the data channel. Additionally or alternatively, the base station 502 may use the at least one CRI / SSBRI and / or associated information to configure the UE 504 to perform multi-beam non-simultaneous TX / RX.

[0096] In addition, the base station 502 may send an indication 503 associated with phase continuity of resources on multiple beams (e.g., two or more beams) of the base station 502 to the UE 504. Specifically, the base station 502 may send the indication 503 to the UE 504 to indicate to the UE 504 whether two or more resources on the two or more beams are continuous in terms of phase. For example, the indication 503 may indicate to the UE 504 whether two or more CSI-RS resources on two or more TX beams of the base station 502 have phase continuity. The base station 502 may send the indication 503 to the UE 504 via at least one of RRC signaling, DCI, and / or a MAC control element (CE).

[0097] In some aspects, the base station 502 may explicitly send an indication 503 to the UE 504. That is, the base station 502 may send some information (e.g., one or more values, etc.) that is explicitly defined or configured to convey whether two or more resources on two or more beams of the base station 502 have phase continuity. For example, the base station 502 may include the indication 503 in the beam management configuration 501 and / or another message, which may or may not be dedicated to carrying the indication 503.

[0098] According to some examples of what can be considered an explicit indication 503, when two or more CSI resources are associated with the same CSI reporting configuration ID and / or are associated with the same CSI reporting configuration for enabling group-based beam reporting, the base station 502 can indicate that the two or more CSI-RS resources on the two or more beams of the base station 502 have phase continuity. For example, the base station 502 can indicate that the UE 504 can assume that a first set of CSI-RS resources (e.g., CSI-RS resources 1, 4, 6, and 10) have phase continuity. In some aspects, the UE 504 can then determine that the CSI-RS resources excluded from the first set (e.g., CSI-RS resources other than 1, 4, 6, and 10) do not have phase continuity. In some other aspects, the base station 502 can indicate to the UE 504 that the second set of CSI-RS resources (e.g., CSI-RS resources other than CSI-RS resources 1, 4, 6, and 10) has phase continuity, but is discontinuous in phase relative to the first set of CSI-RS resources (e.g., CSI-RS resources 1, 4, 6, and 10). Thus, the base station 502 can indicate phase continuity for each of multiple groups of CSI-RS resources, where the CSI-RS resources have phase continuity within the corresponding group, but not necessarily have phase continuity across different groups. In practice, the base station 502 can indicate to the UE 504 which CSI-RS resources (e.g., CSI-RS resources that are assumed to have phase continuity) can be combined to derive joint channel properties based on separate measurements respectively associated with the CSI-RS resources having phase continuity.

[0099] In some other aspects, the base station 502 may implicitly send the indication 503 to the UE 504, where the indication 503 may be based on at least one rule and / or defined relationship. For example, the base station 502 may send some information that is not specifically used to indicate the phase continuity of the multiple resources on the multiple beams to the UE 504, and the UE 504 may be configured to derive the indication 503 from such information.

[0100] Some illustrative configurations of the implicit indication 503 may include an indication of a multiplexing mode for communication and / or an indication of a use case associated with CSI (and / or beam) reporting (e.g., group-based beam reporting or non-group-based beam reporting). According to one example, if the base station 502 indicates that the CSI reporting is associated with a spatial division multiplexing (SDM) communication mode and / or associated with enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) communication, the UE 504 may determine that all CSI-RS resources associated with the same CSI reporting configuration with group-based beam reporting enabled (e.g., on two or more beams of the base station 502) have phase continuity. According to some other examples, the multiplexing mode may include frequency division multiplexing (FDM), SDM, and / or TDM.

[0101] According to some further examples, use cases associated with CSI and / or beam reporting (e.g., group-based beam reporting) may include ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) (e.g., in addition to or as a replacement for eMBB), and such URLLC-related use cases (and / or eMBB-related use cases) may implicitly indicate whether resources on two or more beams of the base station 502 have phase continuity. According to another example, a CSI reporting configuration (e.g., beam management configuration 501) for enabling group-based beam reporting (e.g., a CSI reporting configuration with group-based beam reporting enabled for SDM mode communication and / or eMBB communication) may implicitly indicate whether resources on two or more beams of the base station 502 have phase continuity.

[0102] At operation 505, the UE 504 may determine whether two or more RS resources respectively on two or more beams of the base station 502 have phase continuity. Operation 505 of the UE 504 may be based on an explicit or implicit indication 503 received from the base station 502. For example, phase continuity between the multiple RS resources on the multiple beams from the base station 502 may be configured (e.g., enabled, implemented, etc.) and / or maintained (e.g., enforced, applied, etc.) by the base station 502. Therefore, the UE 504 may perform operation 505 to determine whether the UE 504 can derive the multiple RS resources on the multiple beams from the base station 502 based on the information received from the base station 502 (e.g., the (explicit or implicit) indication 503).

[0103] Operation 505 of the UE 504 may be further based on the beam management configuration 501, which may configure RS resources on two or more beams from the base station 502. For example, the beam management configuration 501 may configure two or more CSI-RS resources to carry corresponding CSI-RSs on two or more TX beams of the base station 502. Therefore, at operation 505, the UE 504 may determine whether the two or more CSI-RS resources on the two or more TX beams, respectively, have phase continuity (e.g., based on an explicit or implicit indication 503).

[0104] Illustratively, the base station 502 may configure (e.g., enable, enforce, apply, etc.) phase continuity for all RS resources (e.g., all CSI-RS resources) associated with the same CSI reporting configuration (e.g., of the beam management configuration 501), wherein the configuration indicates that group-based beam reporting is enabled when the CSI reporting configuration is associated with at least one specific multiplexing mode (e.g., SDM) and at least one specific use case (e.g., eMBB). Therefore, the UE 504 may determine that all RS resources associated with the same CSI reporting configuration in which group-based beam reporting is enabled have phase continuity between corresponding beams of the base station 502 based on a rule defining the implicit indication 503 as a CSI reporting configuration for at least one specific multiplexing mode and at least one specific use case. For example, at operation 505, the UE 504 may configure the UE 504 for CSI reporting for SDM communication and eMBB use cases based on the beam management configuration 501, and determine that all CSI-RS resources configured by the beam management configuration 501 (for enabling group-based beam reporting) have phase continuity between corresponding beams of the base station 502. In other words, the beam management configuration 501 configuring the UE 504 for CSI reporting for SDM communication and eMBB use cases may serve as (at least part of) an implicit indication 503, wherein the implicit indication 503 indicates that the CSI-RS resources configured by the beam management configuration 501 have phase continuity between respective TX beams of the base station 502.

[0105] The base station 502 may transmit a corresponding set of RSs 507 (e.g., one or more RSs) to the UE 504 on each of the two or more TX beams of the base station 502. Accordingly, the UE 504 may receive a corresponding set of RSs 507 on each of the two or more TX beams from the base station 502 using a set of RX beams of the UE 504. In some aspects, the UE 504 may receive a corresponding set of RSs 507 on each of the two or more TX beams from the base station 502 based on the beam management configuration 501. For example, the beam management configuration 501 may configure a set of CSI-RS resources, and the UE 504 may receive each corresponding set of CSI-RSs carried on the CSI-RS resources on each of the two or more TX beams from the base station 502 based on the beam management configuration 501 configuring the CSI-RS resources.

[0106] In some other aspects, each of the RSs 507 may be (or may include) an SSB. The UE 504 may receive a corresponding SSB carried on a corresponding resource on each of two or more beams from the base station 502, wherein each SSB identifies a corresponding beam in the two or more beams on which the SSB is transmitted. For example, according to operation 505, the UE 504 may receive a corresponding SSB on each of the two or more resources, wherein it is determined that the resources have phase continuity on the two or more beams configured with the two or more resources.

[0107] According to operation 505, UE 504 may determine that the resources carrying RS 507 on two or more beams from base station 502 have phase continuity. Therefore, at operation 509, UE 504 may determine joint channel information based on separate measurements of two or more resources (having phase continuity) carried on RS 507 on two or more beams from base station 502. Each of these separate measurements may correspond to a respective one of the two or more beams on which a respective one of RS 507 is received. Since the resources on which RS 507 is received have phase continuity on two or more beams from base station 502, joint channel information may be determined (e.g., estimated) using separate measurements corresponding to the two or more beams, respectively.

[0108] In some aspects, the joint channel information may include information indicating an estimate of the effective joint channel, for example, denoting the effective joint channel as H effTherefore, at operation 509, the UE 504 may determine the joint channel information based on the paired estimates of the respective components (e.g., two or more beam pair links between the UE 504 and the base station 502) according to the above equation 3, which includes the information for estimating the effective joint channel H. eff information.

[0109] In some other aspects, the joint channel information may include mutual information associated with the joint channel (e.g., an effective joint channel), and the UE 504 may determine (e.g., calculate, compute, etc.) the mutual information based on respective estimates of each individual component comprising the joint channel (e.g., two or more beam-pair links of the effective joint channel). For example, the mutual information associated with the joint channel may include respective measurement values ​​measured for each RS 507 on resources on two or more beams (with phase continuity) from the base station 502. The respective measurement values ​​may be based on at least one of SNR, SINR, RSRP, and / or RSRQ measured for each RS 507 on the resources of the two or more beams with phase continuity.

[0110] Thus, the UE 504 may generate a group-based beam report 511 including joint channel information, which the UE 504 may determine based on separate measurements corresponding to each of the two or more beams from the base station 502. For example, the group-based beam report 511 may include joint channel information based on one or more of rank, CQI (e.g., per-stream CQI), PMI, LI, SNR, SINR, RSRP, and / or RSRQ, where the above parameters are determined separately for each of the two or more beams from the base station 502 on which resources with phase continuity (e.g., CSI-RS resources) are transmitted. In some aspects, the UE 504 may generate the group-based beam report 511 based on the beam management configuration 501 and / or the (explicit or implicit) indication 503.

[0111] UE 504 may then send a group-based beam report 511 to base station 502. Accordingly, base station 502 may receive group-based beam report 511 from UE 504. At operation 513, base station 502 may then configure two or more beams for TX / RX with UE 504 based on group-based beam report 511 (e.g., based on the joint channel information). For example, base station 502 may select two or more beams for TX / RX with UE 504 based on group-based beam report 511 (e.g., based on the joint channel information). In some aspects of operation 513, base station 502 may configure simultaneous TX / RX of UE 504 using the two or more selected beams based on group-based beam report 511. In some other aspects of operation 513, base station 502 may configure non-simultaneous TX / RX of UE 504 using the two or more selected beams based on the group-based beam report 511.

[0112] Thus, at operation 515, the base station 502 and the UE 504 may communicate using the two or more beams selected for TX / RX of the UE 504. For example, the base station 502 may transmit information to the UE 504 for configuring the two or more beams (e.g., two or more beam-pair links) selected for TX / RX of the UE 504. In some aspects of operation 515, for example, based on the base station 502 configuring the two or more beams according to the joint channel information included in the group-based beam report 511, the UE 504 may communicate with the base station 502 using the two or more beams selected for simultaneous TX / RX, as shown at operation 513. In some other aspects of operation 515, for example, based on the base station 502 configuring the two or more beams according to the joint channel information included in the group-based beam report 511, the UE 504 may communicate with the base station 502 using the two or more beams selected for non-simultaneous TX / RX, as shown at operation 513.

[0113] Figure 6 6 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method 600. The method 600 may be performed by a UE or a component of a UE (e.g., UE 104, 350, 404, 504; a processing system, which may include memory 360 and may be the entire UE 350 or a component of the UE 350 (e.g., TX processor 368, RX processor 356, and / or controller / processor 359) and / or an apparatus (e.g., apparatus 802). According to various aspects, one or more of the illustrated blocks of the method 600 may be swapped, omitted, and / or performed simultaneously.

[0114] The method 600 may enable a UE to determine joint channel information and / or joint beam information (e.g., characteristics, attributes, etc.) for multiple beams using individual measurements for the multiple beams. The method 600 may improve beam management for TX / RX using multiple beams while reducing overhead (e.g., signaling, processing, etc.) that may otherwise be comparable to determining joint beam information for the multiple beams using individual measurements for the multiple beams.

[0115] At 602, a UE may receive an indication from a base station regarding whether resources on two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity. In some aspects, the indication may be explicit, for example, a CSI reporting configuration for enabling group-based beam reporting may include information explicitly indicating that the CSI-RS resources configured by the CSI reporting configuration have phase continuity on the two or more beams from the base station. In some other aspects, the indication may be implicit, for example, the UE may derive the indication of whether the resources on the two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity based on some information or a combination of different information received from the base station. For example, when the CSI-RS resources are associated with a CSI reporting configuration associated with the same CSI reporting configuration ID and / or with the same CSI reporting configuration for enabling group-based beam reporting, the indication may implicitly indicate that the CSI-RS resources on the two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity. Illustratively, the UE may receive an implicit indication notifying the UE that CSI-RS resources 1, 4, 6, and 10 on a first set of two or more beams from the base station may be assumed to have phase continuity. Potentially, this implicit indication may indicate to the UE that a second set of CSI-RS resources on two or more beams from the base station (e.g., different from the first set of two or more beams) have phase continuity, but do not have phase continuity with CSI resources 1, 4, 6, and 10 on the first set of two or more beams from the base station. In practice, the UE may receive an indication of which RS resources can be combined to derive joint channel properties based on separate measurements corresponding to beams from different multi-beam sets from the base station.

[0116] exist Figure 5 In the context of , the UE 504 may receive an indication 503 from the base station 502 regarding whether RS ​​resources on two or more beams from the base station 502 have phase continuity. In some aspects, the beam management configuration 501 may have information that explicitly or implicitly includes the indication 503.

[0117] At 604, the UE may determine whether the resources on the two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity. In some aspects, the UE may determine that the resources on the two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity based on an indication received from the base station. For example, the indication may be implicit, such that the UE may determine that the resources on the two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity based on applying at least one rule and / or relationship to information received from the base station or a combination of different information. Such rules and / or relationships may be pre-configured in the UE and / or may be configured in the UE by the base station.

[0118] Illustratively, the base station may enforce phase continuity for resources on beams associated with the same CSI reporting configuration, wherein group-based beam reporting is enabled in the configuration when the CSI reporting configuration is associated with at least one specific multiplexing mode (e.g., at least one of TDM, FDM, and / or SDM) and / or at least one specific use case (e.g., eMBB and / or URLLC). For example, at least one rule and / or relationship may define that when the CSI reporting configuration is associated with the SDM multiplexing mode and / or associated with the eMBB use case, all CSI-RS resources configured by the same CSI reporting configuration for enabling group-based beam reporting have phase continuity across two or more beams from the base station. Therefore, when the UE receives a CSI reporting configuration for enabling group-based beam reporting and the CSI reporting configuration is for SDM and eMBB, the UE can determine that all CSI-RS resources configured by the CSI reporting configuration have phase continuity on two or more beams from the base station based on applying at least one rule and / or relationship to the information indicating that the CSI reporting configuration is for SDM and eMBB (which implicitly indicates that the relevant CSI-RS resources on two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity).

[0119] exist Figure 5 In the context of FIG5 , at operation 505, the UE 504 may determine whether RS ​​resources on two or more beams from the base station 502 have phase continuity. The UE 504 may determine whether RS ​​resources on two or more beams from the base station 502 have phase continuity based on an (explicit or implicit) indication 503 included in the beam management configuration 501.

[0120] If, at 604, the UE determines that the resources on the two or more beams from the base station do not have phase continuity (e.g., the resources on the two or more beams from the base station are phase-discontinuous), then:

[0121] At 606, the UE may avoid determining joint channel and / or joint beam information based on separate measurements corresponding to two or more beams. For example, the UE may receive RSs carried on resources on two or more beams from a base station, and the UE may, in response to receiving the RSs, separately measure values ​​corresponding to the two or more beams. However, the UE may avoid using separate measurement values ​​corresponding to the two or more beams to determine joint channel and / or joint beam information (e.g., mutual information).

[0122] exist Figure 5 In the context of , at operation 505, if the UE 504 determines that the RS resources on two or more beams from the base station 502 are phase-discontinuous (e.g., based on indication 503), the UE 504 can avoid determining joint channel information in response to receiving RS 507 on resources on two or more beams from the base station 502, as shown at operation 509.

[0123] If, at 604, the UE determines that the resources on the two or more beams from the base station do have phase continuity (e.g., the resources on the two or more beams from the base station are phase discontinuous), then:

[0124] At 608, the UE may determine joint channel information associated with the two or more beams using separate measurements corresponding to the two or more beams, respectively. For example, the UE may receive RS (e.g., CSI-RS and / or SSB) on resources on two or more beams with phase continuity from a base station. In some aspects, the UE may separately measure at least one measurement value for each RS received via each of the two or more beams from the base station. For example, in response to receiving a corresponding RS via each of the two or more beams from the base station, the UE may separately measure at least one RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, and / or SNR value corresponding to each of the two or more beams. In another example, the UE may perform pairwise estimation for each component associated with two or more beams that form a beam pair link with the base station, respectively, as shown in Equation 3 above. The UE may determine the joint channel information based on at least one measurement value of the separate measurements received via each of the two or more beams from the base station and / or based on the pairwise estimation of the separate components associated with the two or more beams, respectively. For example, the UE may determine (e.g., calculate, compute, etc.) the mutual information based on separate measurements corresponding to two or more beams from the base station, and / or may determine (e.g., estimate, calculate, etc.) the effective (joint) channel H based on pairwise estimates of the components associated with the two or more beams. eff .

[0125] exist Figure 5 In the context of , at operation 509, UE 504 may determine joint channel information based on individual measurements of RS 507 (where RS 507 carried on two or more resources on two or more beams from base station 502 has phase continuity). Each of these individual measurements may correspond to a respective one of the two or more beams on which a respective one of RS 507 was received. In some aspects of operation 509, UE 504 may determine joint channel information based on pairwise estimates of individual components (e.g., two or more beam pair links between UE 504 and base station 502) according to Equation 3 above, which includes estimating the effective joint channel H eff In some other aspects of operation 509, the joint channel information may include mutual information associated with the joint channel (e.g., an effective joint channel), and the UE 504 may determine (e.g., calculate, compute, etc.) the mutual information based on corresponding measurement values ​​measured for each RS 507 on resources on two or more beams from the base station 502 (which have phase continuity).

[0126] At 610, the UE may send a group-based beam report including joint channel information to the base station. In some aspects, the group-based beam report may be based on a reporting configuration received from the base station, such as a CSI reporting configuration in which group-based beam reporting is enabled. In some aspects, the group-based beam report may indicate two or more measurement values ​​corresponding to two or more beams from the base station, respectively. For example, the UE may include a first measurement value corresponding to a representative beam in the group-based beam report, which is a "highest" or "best" measurement value relative to other measurement values ​​corresponding to other beams. In addition, the UE may include one or more other measurement values ​​(e.g., the second highest or second best measurement value) corresponding to one or more other beams, respectively, in the group-based beam report; however, the one or more other measurement values ​​may be represented differently relative to the first measurement value.

[0127] exist Figure 5In the context of , the UE 504 may send a group-based beam report 511 to the base station 502 including joint channel information, where the UE 504 may determine the joint channel information based on separate measurements corresponding to each of two or more beams from the base station 502. For example, the group-based beam report 511 may include joint channel information based on one or more of rank, CQI (e.g., per-stream CQI), PMI, LI, SNR, SINR, RSRP, and / or RSRQ, where the above parameters are determined separately for each of the two or more beams from the base station 502 on which resources with phase continuity (e.g., CSI-RS resources) are transmitted.

[0128] At 612, the UE may communicate with the base station on a joint channel configured by the base station. For example, the UE may receive information configuring the joint channel from the base station in response to the group-based beam report. The UE may be configured to perform TX / RX using two or more beams selected by the base station based on the group-based beam report (which may or may not be simultaneous). For example, the UE may receive signaling from the base station using multiple (simultaneous) spatial filters, which may be configured for the UE based on the group-based beam report. The UE may receive data and / or control information from the base station on the joint channel using the two or more beams selected by the base station.

[0129] exist Figure 5 In the context of FIG5 , the UE 504 may communicate with the base station 502 using two or more beams selected for TX / RX of the UE 504 based on the group-based beam report 511, as shown in operation 515. For example, the UE 504 may receive information for configuring two or more beams (e.g., two or more beam-pair links) from the base station 502, wherein the two or more beams are selected for TX / RX of the UE 504 based on the joint channel information included in the group-based beam report 511, as shown in operation 513.

[0130] Figure 7 7 is a flow chart of a method 700 for wireless communication. The method 700 may be performed by a base station or a component of a base station (e.g., base stations 102 / 180, 310, 402, 502; a processing system, which may include memory 376 and may be the entire base station 310 or a component of the base station 310 (e.g., TX processor 316, RX processor 370, and / or controller / processor 375) and / or an apparatus (e.g., apparatus 902). According to various aspects, one or more of the illustrated blocks of the method 700 may be swapped, omitted, and / or performed concurrently.

[0131] The method 700 can help a base station more accurately determine joint channel and / or joint beam information (e.g., attributes and / or characteristics) for communicating with a UE using multiple beams based on separate measurements corresponding to each of the multiple beams. The method 700 can improve beam management for TX / RX using multiple beams while reducing overhead (e.g., signaling, processing, etc.) that might otherwise be commensurate with determining joint beam characteristics of the multiple beams using separate measurements for the multiple beams.

[0132] At 702, the base station may send an indication to the UE that two or more resources on two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity. For example, the indication may help the UE determine that each RS carried on two or more RS resources on the two or more beams from the base station has phase continuity. According to different aspects, the indication may be implicit, explicit, or a combination thereof. For example, the indication may be included in the CSI reporting configuration, which may enable the UE to perform group-based beam reporting.

[0133] Some aspects of such indication may include an implicit indication based on at least one rule and / or relationship, wherein the at least one rule and / or relationship may be pre-configured (e.g., in the base station and / or UE) or may be configured by the base station for the UE. The base station may apply and / or enforce phase continuity on two or more resources on two or more beams from the base station based on at least one rule and / or relationship for at least one multiplexing mode and / or at least one use case associated with the UE's CSI reporting. Based on the at least one rule and / or relationship, for example, when the UE is configured to perform CSI reporting associated with an SDM multiplexing mode and / or an eMBB use case, the base station may apply and / or enforce phase continuity on two or more resources on two or more beams from the base station. In other examples, the multiplexing mode may include at least one of FDM, SDM, and / or TDM, and the use case may include eMBB and / or URLLC.

[0134] Some other aspects of such indication may include an indication that, when the CSI-RS resources configured by the base station for the UE are associated with the same CSI reporting configuration ID and / or are associated with the same CSI reporting configuration in which group-based beam reporting is enabled, the resources have phase continuity across two or more beams from the base station. For example, the base station may explicitly signal other aspects of such indication to the UE.

[0135] Some further aspects of such indication may indicate corresponding RS resource groups on different sets of two or more beams from the base station, and each corresponding RS resource group on the corresponding set of two or more beams from the base station has phase continuity within the RS resource group, but not necessarily phase continuity across the RS resource groups. In other words, the base station may indicate that multiple groups of CSI-RS resources have phase continuity within the corresponding groups. Thus, the base station may indicate to the UE which CSI-RS resources can be grouped together to derive joint channel properties based on separate measurements corresponding to two or more beams, respectively, where one or more groups of CSI-RS resources on these beams are configured to have phase continuity.

[0136] For example, the base station applies and / or enforces phase continuity for a first set of CSI-RS resources 1, 4, 6, and 10 on a first set of two or more beams from the base station, and the base station may send an indication of this information to the UE. Additionally, the base station may apply and / or enforce phase continuity for a second set of CSI-RS resources (e.g., in addition to CSI-RS resources 1, 4, 6, and 10) on a second set of two or more beams from the base station, and the base station may send an indication to the UE that the second set of CSI-RS resources on the second set of two or more beams from the base station has phase continuity. However, the base station may not apply and / or enforce phase continuity between the first set of CSI-RS resources and the second set of CSI-RS resources on the first set of beams and the second set of beams, respectively, from the base station. Thus, the UE may not assume phase continuity for the first set of CSI-RS resources and the second set of CSI-RS resources on the first set of beams and the second set of beams, respectively, from the base station.

[0137] exist Figure 5 In the context of , the base station 502 may send an indication 503 to the UE 504 of whether RS ​​resources on two or more beams from the base station 502 have phase continuity. In some aspects, the beam management configuration 501 may have information that explicitly or implicitly includes the indication 503.

[0138] At 704, the base station may receive, from the UE, a group-based beam report including joint channel information based on separate measurements corresponding to two or more beams on which resources with phase continuity are configured. For example, the group-based beam report may include joint channel information based on separate measurement values ​​measured by the UE using RSs (e.g., CSI-RSs and / or SSBs) on resources with phase continuity on two or more beams from the base station. The group-based beam report may be based on a CSI reporting configuration sent by the base station to the UE, e.g., a CSI reporting configuration that enables the UE to perform group-based beam reporting and / or indicates (explicitly or implicitly) that resources on two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity.

[0139] In some aspects, the joint channel information may include mutual information determined by a UE based on RSs on resources on two or more beams with phase continuity from a base station. For example, the joint channel information (e.g., mutual information) may be based on at least one corresponding RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, and / or SNR measurement value measured by the UE for each of the two or more beams on which the RS resources with phase continuity are configured.

[0140] In some other aspects, the joint channel information may include an indication of the effective (joint) channel H eff For example, the joint channel information may include the information related to the effective joint channel H eff The associated information is based on the UE's pair-wise estimation of individual components associated with two or more beams respectively forming beam-pair links with the base station, for example, as shown in Equation 3 above.

[0141] In some additional aspects, a group-based beam report may include information indicating two or more measurement values ​​corresponding to two or more beams from a base station, respectively. For example, a group-based beam report may include a first measurement value corresponding to a representative beam, which may be the beam corresponding to the "highest" or "best" measurement value measured by the UE (relative to measurement values ​​corresponding to other beams). In addition, a group-based beam report may include one or more other measurement values ​​measured by the UE (these measurement values ​​respectively corresponding to one or more other beams), such as a second-highest or second-best measurement value measured by the UE; however, the one or more other measurement values ​​may be represented differently relative to the first measurement value in the group-based beam report.

[0142] exist Figure 5In the context of

[0065] , a base station 502 may receive a group-based beam report 511 from a UE 504 including joint channel information, which the UE 504 may determine based on individual measurements corresponding to each of two or more beams from the base station 502. In some aspects, the group-based beam report 511 may include joint channel information (e.g., mutual information) based on one or more of rank, CQI (e.g., per-stream CQI), PMI, LI, SNR, SINR, RSRP, and / or RSRQ, where the aforementioned parameters are determined separately for each of the two or more beams from the base station 502 on which resources with phase continuity (e.g., CSI-RS resources) are transmitted. In some other aspects, the group-based beam report may include joint channel information indicating an effective joint channel H determined by the UE 504 based on pairwise estimates of individual components (e.g., two or more beam-pair links between the UE 504 and the base station 502). eff , for example, according to Equation 3 above. In some additional aspects, the group-based beam report 511 may include two or more measurement values ​​(e.g., measured by the UE 504 based on the RS 507 received via the two or more beams from the base station 502) corresponding respectively to two or more beams from the base station 502 (e.g., two or more beams configured with RS resources having phase continuity).

[0143] At 706, the base station may configure communications with the UE on a joint channel comprising two or more beams based on the group-based beam reports. In some aspects, the base station may configure simultaneous TX / RX for the UE based on the group-based beam reports. For example, the base station may configure multiple simultaneous spatial filters for the UE based on the group-based beam reports. In some other aspects, the base station may configure non-simultaneous TX / RX (e.g., TDM communications) for the UE based on the group-based beam reports. For example, the base station may configure multiple non-simultaneous spatial filters for the UE based on the group-based beam reports.

[0144] In some aspects, the base station may select two or more beams on a joint channel for multi-beam communication with the UE based on a group-based beam report (e.g., based on joint channel information). For example, the base station may select two or more beams on a joint channel for multi-beam communication with the UE based on a group-based beam report (e.g., based on joint channel information). effThe base station may select two or more beams on the joint channel based on estimated joint channel information of the UE, wherein the estimation is based on pairwise estimation of individual components by the UE (e.g., two or more beam-pair links between the UE and the base station). Additionally or alternatively, the base station may select the two or more beams on the joint channel based on mutual information determined (e.g., calculated, computed, etc.) by the UE based on individual measurements corresponding to the two or more beams.

[0145] exist Figure 5 In the context of FIG5 , at operation 513, the base station 502 may configure two or more beams for TX / RX with the UE 504 based on the group-based beam report 511 (e.g., based on the joint channel information). For example, the base station 502 may select two or more beams for TX / RX of the UE 504 based on the group-based beam report 511 (e.g., based on the joint channel information). In some aspects of operation 513, the base station 502 may configure simultaneous TX / RX of the UE 504 using the two or more selected beams based on the group-based beam report 511. In some other aspects of operation 513, the base station 502 may configure non-simultaneous TX / RX of the UE 504 using the two or more selected beams based on the group-based beam report 511. The base station 502 may send information to the UE 504 for configuring the two or more beams (e.g., two or more beam-pair links) selected for TX / RX of the UE 504.

[0146] At 708, the base station may communicate with the UE on the joint channel configured by the base station. For example, the base station may send information for configuring the joint channel to the UE in response to the group-based beam report, such as information indicating two or more beams selected by the base station for the joint channel based on the joint channel information included in the group-based beam report. In some aspects, the base station may send data and / or control information to the UE on the joint channel using the two or more beams selected by the base station.

[0147] exist Figure 5 In the context of FIG5 , at operation 515, the base station 502 and the UE 504 may communicate on a joint channel using two or more beams selected for TX / RX of the UE 504. For example, the base station 502 may transmit data and / or control information to the UE 504 using the two or more selected beams, e.g., simultaneously (e.g., in an SDM multiplexing mode) or non-simultaneously (e.g., in a TDM multiplexing mode).

[0148] Figure 8FIG800 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an apparatus 802. The apparatus 802 is a UE and includes a cellular baseband processor 804 (also known as a modem) coupled to a cellular RF transceiver 822 and one or more subscriber identity module (SIM) cards 820, an application processor 806 coupled to a secure digital (SD) card 808 and a screen 810, a Bluetooth module 812, a wireless local area network (WLAN) module 814, a global positioning system (GPS) module 816, and a power supply 818. The cellular baseband processor 804 communicates with the UE 104 and / or the BS 102 / 180 via the cellular RF transceiver 822. The cellular baseband processor 804 may include computer-readable media / memory. The computer-readable media / memory may be non-transitory. The cellular baseband processor 804 is responsible for general processing, including executing software stored on the computer-readable media / memory. When executed by the cellular baseband processor 804, the software enables the cellular baseband processor 804 to perform the various functions described above. The computer-readable medium / memory may also be used to store data that the cellular baseband processor 804 manipulates when executing software. The cellular baseband processor 804 also includes a receive component 830, a communication manager 832, and a transmit component 834. The communication manager 832 includes one or more of the components shown. The components within the communication manager 832 may be stored in the computer-readable medium / memory and / or configured as hardware internal to the cellular baseband processor 804. The cellular baseband processor 804 may be a component of the UE 350 and may include a memory 360 and / or at least one of a TX processor 368, an RX processor 356, and a controller / processor 359. In one configuration, the apparatus 802 may be a modem chip and include only the baseband processor 804, and in another configuration, the apparatus 802 may be the entire UE (e.g., see Figure 3 350) and includes the aforementioned additional modules of device 802.

[0149] The receiving component 830 can be configured to receive an indication from the base station 102 / 180 that two or more resources on two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity, e.g., as in conjunction with Figure 6 The indication may be explicit, implicit, or a combination thereof. In some aspects, the indication may be included in a CSI reporting configuration for enabling the apparatus 802 to perform group-based beam reporting. For example, the CSI reporting configuration may configure two or more resources on two or more beams to have phase continuity.

[0150] The CSI reporting configuration may be associated with at least one of a multiplexing mode and / or a use case. For example, the multiplexing mode and / or the at least one use case may include at least one of a TDM mode, an FDM mode, and / or an SDM mode, and / or at least one of an eMBB use case and / or a URLLC use case.

[0151] According to various aspects, the communication manager 832 may include a phase determination component 840 configured to determine that two or more resources on two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180 have phase continuity, e.g., as combined with Figure 6 604. The phase determining component 840 can receive input (e.g., an indication from the receiving component 930) and can determine based on the indication that two or more resources on two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity.

[0152] For example, the phase determination component 840 can determine that two or more resources on two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity based on at least one rule and / or relationship, wherein the at least one rule and / or relationship defines that at least one of the multiplexing patterns and / or use cases associated with the CSI reporting configuration implicitly indicates that the resources configured by the CSI reporting configuration have phase continuity on the two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180, for example, at least one of the multiplexing patterns and / or use cases associated with the CSI reporting configuration may include an SDM mode and an eMBB use case.

[0153] In some aspects, the receiving component 830 may receive at least one of a CSI-RS and / or an SSB on a corresponding resource on a corresponding beam in the two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180. The communication manager 832 may also include an individualizing component 842 that receives a CSI-RS and / or an SSB on two or more resources on two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180 as input from the receiving component 830. The individualizing component 842 may be configured to determine each of two or more separate measurements corresponding to a corresponding beam in the two or more beams based on at least one of the CSI-RS and / or the SSB carried on a corresponding resource on a corresponding beam in the two or more resources. For example, each of the two or more separate measurements may include: at least one value for RSRP, RSRQ, SINR and / or SNR measurement based on at least one of the CSI-RS and / or SSBs received on corresponding resources on corresponding beams in two or more beams.

[0154] In some further aspects, the individualization component 842 can determine individual measurements corresponding to two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180 by performing pairwise estimation of individual components associated with the two or more beams (e.g., as shown in Equation 3 above). The pairwise estimates of the individual components can be further associated with two or more beams of the device 802, for example, two or more RX beams of the device 802 are paired with two or more TX beams of the base station 102 / 180 to form two or more beam-pair links.

[0155] The communication manager 832 may also include a joint channel information component 844 that may receive as input information from the phase determination component 840 indicating a determination that two or more resources on two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180 have phase continuity or do not have phase continuity (e.g., phase discontinuity). The joint channel information component 844 may be configured to, in response to determining that two or more resources on two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180 do not have phase continuity (e.g., based on input received from the phase determination component 840), avoid using separate measurements corresponding to the two or more beams, respectively, to determine joint channel information associated with the two or more beams, e.g., as combined. Figure 6 As described in 606.

[0156] The joint channel information component 844 can be further configured to receive as input the individual measurements corresponding to the two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180 from the individualization component 842. In some aspects, the joint channel information component 844 can be configured to determine joint channel information associated with the two or more beams using the individual measurements corresponding to the two or more beams, e.g., in combination, based on the two or more resources on the two or more beams having phase continuity (e.g., based on the input received from the phase determination component 840). Figure 6 As described in 608.

[0157] According to one example, the joint channel information component 844 can be configured to determine joint channel information associated with two or more beams by determining (e.g., estimating, calculating, computing, etc.) an effective (joint) channel (e.g., as shown in Equation 3 above), wherein the determination can be based on input received from the individualization component 842 for indicating paired estimates of individual components associated with the two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180.

[0158] According to another example, the joint channel information component 844 can be configured to determine joint channel information associated with two or more beams by determining (e.g., estimating, calculating, computing, etc.) mutual information, where the mutual information can be based on input received from the individualization component 842 indicating separate measurements corresponding to the two or more beams.

[0159] The joint channel information component 844 can be configured to provide joint channel information associated with two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180 as input to the transmission component 834. The transmission component 834 can be configured to send a group-based beam report to the base station 102 / 180 including the joint channel information associated with the two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180, e.g., as combined Figure 6 As described in 610.

[0160] The receiving component 830 may be further configured to receive, from the base station 102 / 180, information for configuring communication with the base station 102 / 180 on a joint channel based on the group-based beam report, wherein the joint channel includes two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180 that are paired with the two or more beams from the apparatus 802, respectively. In some aspects, the information for configuring communication with the base station 102 / 180 on the joint channel may also include information for configuring TX / RX using the two or more beams from the apparatus 802 that are paired with the two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180, respectively. For example, the information for configuring TX / RX may configure at least one of simultaneous TX / RX or non-simultaneous TX / RX for time division multiplexing.

[0161] The communication manager 832 may also include a communication component 846 that may receive as input information from the receiving component 830 for configuring communications with the base station 102 / 180 on a joint channel, wherein the joint channel includes two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180 paired with two or more beams from the apparatus 802, respectively. The communication component 846 may be configured to communicate with the base station 102 / 180 on the joint channel configured by the base station 102 / 180, for example, as described in conjunction with Figure 6 612. For example, the communication component 846 can be configured to communicate with the base station 102 / 180 on a joint channel configured by the base station 102 / 180 based on the information used to configure communication with the base station 102 / 180 on the joint channel, wherein the joint channel includes two or more beams from the base station 102 / 180 paired with two or more beams from the device 802, respectively (e.g., received as input from the receiving component 830).

[0162] The device 802 may include a device for executing Figure 5 The aforementioned call flow diagram and / or Figure 6 Some or all of the blocks, operations, signaling, and other components of the algorithms in the aforementioned flowcharts. Figure 5 The aforementioned call flow diagram and / or Figure 6 Some or all of the blocks, operations, signaling, etc. in the aforementioned flow charts may be performed by a component, and the apparatus may include one or more of these components. These components may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to perform the stated process / algorithm, these components may be implemented by a processor configured to perform the stated process / algorithm, stored in a computer-readable medium for implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

[0163] In one configuration, the device 802 (specifically, the cellular baseband processor 804) includes: a unit for determining that two or more resources on two or more beams from a base station have phase continuity; a unit for determining joint channel information associated with the two or more beams based on the phase continuity of the two or more resources on the two or more beams using separate measurements corresponding to the two or more beams respectively; and a unit for sending a group-based beam report including the joint channel information associated with the two or more beams to the base station.

[0164] In some aspects, the apparatus 802 (specifically, the cellular baseband processor 804) may further include means for receiving an indication from a base station that the two or more resources on the two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity. Based on the indication, it may be determined that the two or more resources on the two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity.

[0165] In some aspects, the indication comprises a CSI reporting configuration for enabling group-based beam reporting, and the CSI reporting configuration configures the two or more resources on the two or more beams to have phase continuity.

[0166] In some aspects, the CSI reporting configuration is associated with at least one of a multiplexing pattern or a use case, and the two or more resources on the two or more beams from the base station are determined to have phase continuity based on the multiplexing pattern or at least one of the use cases.

[0167] In some aspects, the multiplexing mode or at least one of the use cases includes at least one of a TDM mode, an FDM mode, and / or an SDM mode, and / or at least one of an eMBB use case and / or a URLLC use case.

[0168] In some aspects, each of the two or more resources carries at least one of a CSI-RS and / or an SSB.

[0169] In some aspects, the device 802 (specifically, the cellular baseband processor 804) may also include: a unit for determining each measurement corresponding to the corresponding beam in the two or more beams in the separate measurement based on at least one of the CSI-RS or the SSB carried on the corresponding resource on the corresponding beam in the two or more beams.

[0170] In some aspects, the joint channel information includes information for estimating an effective joint channel based on pairwise estimates of individual components respectively associated with each of the two or more beams.

[0171] In some aspects, the joint channel information comprises mutual information based on the individual measurements corresponding respectively to the two or more beams.

[0172] In some aspects, the device 802 (specifically, the cellular baseband processor 804) may also include: a unit for receiving information for configuring communication with the base station on a joint channel from the base station based on the group-based beam report, wherein the joint channel includes two or more beams from the base station respectively paired with the two or more beams from the device 802; and a unit for communicating with the base station on the joint channel based on the information for configuring communication with the base station on the joint channel.

[0173] In some aspects, the information for configuring communication with the base station on the joint channel also includes: information for configuring TX / RX using two or more beams from device 802 that are paired with two or more beams from the base station, respectively, and the information for configuring the TX / RX configures at least one of simultaneous TX / RX or non-simultaneous TX / RX using time division multiplexing.

[0174] The aforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementioned components of the apparatus 802 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. As described above, the apparatus 802 may include the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller / processor 359. Therefore, in one configuration, the aforementioned means may be the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller / processor 359 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

[0175] Figure 9Figure 900 illustrates an example of a hardware implementation for an apparatus 902. Apparatus 902 is a base station and includes a baseband unit 904. Baseband unit 904 can communicate with UE 104 via a cellular RF transceiver. Baseband unit 904 may include computer-readable media / memory. Baseband unit 904 is responsible for general processing, which includes executing software stored on the computer-readable media / memory. When executed by baseband unit 904, the software enables baseband unit 904 to perform the various functions described above. The computer-readable media / memory may also be used to store data manipulated by baseband unit 904 when executing the software. Baseband unit 904 also includes a receiving component 930, a communication manager 932, and a transmitting component 934. Communication manager 932 includes one or more of the components shown. Components within communication manager 932 may be stored in computer-readable media / memory and / or configured as hardware within baseband unit 904. The baseband unit 904 may be a component of the base station 310 and may include the memory 376 and / or at least one of the TX processor 316 , the RX processor 370 , and the controller / processor 375 .

[0176] In some aspects, the communication manager 932 may include a phase configuration component 940 configured to apply and / or enforce phase continuity on two or more resources on two or more beams from the device 902. For example, each of the two or more resources may be configured to carry at least one of a CSI-RS and / or an SSB.

[0177] Phase configuration component 940 may provide information indicating that two or more resources on two or more beams from apparatus 902 have phase continuity as input to transmission component 934. Transmission component 934 may be configured to send an indication to UE 104 that two or more resources on two or more beams from apparatus 902 have phase continuity, e.g., as described in conjunction with Figure 7 The indication may be implicit, explicit or some combination thereof.

[0178] In some aspects, the indication may include a CSI reporting configuration for enabling group-based beam reporting by the UE 104. For example, the CSI reporting configuration may configure two or more resources on two or more beams to have phase continuity.

[0179] Potentially, the CSI reporting configuration may be associated with at least one of a multiplexing mode and / or a use case, and the indication may include at least one of the multiplexing mode and / or the use case. For example, the at least one of the multiplexing mode and / or the use case may include at least one of a TDM mode, an FDM mode, and / or an SDM mode, and / or at least one of an eMBB use case and / or a URLLC use case.

[0180] The receiving component 930 can be configured to receive, from the UE 104, a group-based beam report including joint channel information based on separate measurements corresponding to two or more beams, wherein two or more resources with phase continuity are configured on the two or more beams, e.g., as combined Figure 7 704. The receiving component 930 can be configured to receive a group-based beam report from the UE 104 based on the transmitted indication.

[0181] In some aspects, the joint channel information may include information estimating an effective (joint) channel based on pairwise estimates by the UE 104 of individual components respectively associated with two or more beams from the apparatus 902. In some other aspects, the joint channel information associated with the two or more beams from the apparatus 902 is based on individual measurements by the UE 104 respectively corresponding to the two or more beams from the apparatus 902. For example, the joint channel information may include mutual information determined by the UE 104 based on the individual measurements by the UE respectively corresponding to the two or more beams.

[0182] In some aspects, the communication manager 932 can include a joint channel configuration component 942 that receives as input from the receiving component 930 a group-based beam report comprising joint channel information based on separate measurements corresponding to two or more beams, respectively, on which two or more resources are configured with phase continuity. The joint channel configuration component 942 can be configured to configure communications with the UE 104 on a joint channel based on the group-based beam report, the joint channel comprising two or more beams from the apparatus 902 paired with the two or more beams from the UE 104, respectively, e.g., as combined Figure 7 As described in 706.

[0183] For example, joint channel configuring component 942 can configure communication with UE 104 on a joint channel based on the group-based beam report by configuring TX / RX using two or more beams from UE 104 that are respectively paired with the two or more beams from apparatus 902. TX / RX using two or more beams from UE 104 that are respectively paired with the two or more beams from apparatus 902 can include at least one of time-division multiplexed simultaneous TX / RX or non-simultaneous TX / RX.

[0184] In some aspects, transmission component 934 can receive as input from joint channel configuration component 942 information indicating a configuration for communication with UE 104 on a joint channel comprising two or more beams from apparatus 902 respectively paired with the two or more beams from UE 104. Transmission component 934 can also be configured to send to UE 104 information indicating a configuration for communication with UE 104 on the joint channel comprising two or more beams from apparatus 902 respectively paired with the two or more beams from UE 104.

[0185] In some aspects, the communication manager 932 may include a joint channel communication component 944 that receives as input from the joint channel configuration component 942 information indicating a configuration for communication with the UE 104 on a joint channel, the joint channel comprising two or more beams from the device 902 paired with two or more beams from the UE 104, respectively. The joint channel communication component 944 may be configured to communicate with the UE 104 on the joint channel, e.g., as in conjunction with Figure 7 For example, the joint channel communicating component 944 can communicate with the UE 104 on the joint channel based on the transmitting component 934 transmitting to the UE 104 information for configuring communication with the UE 104 on the joint channel.

[0186] The device 902 may include a device for executing Figure 5 The aforementioned call flow diagram and / or Figure 7 Some or all of the blocks, operations, signaling, and other components of the algorithms in the aforementioned flowcharts. Figure 5 The aforementioned call flow diagram and / or Figure 7 Some or all of the blocks, operations, signaling, etc. in the aforementioned flow charts may be performed by a component, and the apparatus may include one or more of these components. These components may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to perform the stated process / algorithm, these components may be implemented by a processor configured to perform the stated process / algorithm, stored in a computer-readable medium for implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

[0187] In one configuration, the device 902 (specifically, the baseband unit 904) includes: a unit for sending an indication to a UE that two or more resources on two or more beams from the device 902 have phase continuity; and a unit for receiving a group-based beam report from the UE based on the indication, wherein the group-based beam report includes joint channel information associated with the two or more beams.

[0188] In some aspects, the joint channel information includes information estimating an effective joint channel based on pairwise estimates by the UE of individual components respectively associated with the two or more beams.

[0189] In some aspects, the joint channel information associated with the two or more beams from apparatus 902 is based on separate measurements by the UE corresponding respectively to the two or more beams.

[0190] In some aspects, the joint channel information comprises mutual information determined by the UE based on the individual measurements of the UE corresponding respectively to the two or more beams.

[0191] In some aspects, the indication includes a CSI reporting configuration for enabling the UE to perform group-based beam reporting, and the CSI reporting configuration configures the two or more resources on the two or more beams to have phase continuity.

[0192] In some aspects, the CSI reporting configuration is associated with at least one of a multiplexing mode and / or a use case, and the indication includes the at least one of the multiplexing mode and / or the use case.

[0193] In some aspects, the multiplexing mode and / or the at least one of the use cases include at least one of a TDM mode, an FDM mode, and / or an SDM mode, and / or at least one of an eMBB use case and / or a URLLC use case.

[0194] In some aspects, each of the two or more resources carries at least one of a CSI-RS and / or an SSB.

[0195] In some aspects, the device 902 (specifically, the baseband unit 904) may also include: a unit for configuring communication with the UE on a joint channel based on the group-based beam report, wherein the joint channel includes two or more beams from the device 902 that are respectively paired with two or more beams from the UE; and a unit for communicating with the UE on the joint channel based on sending information to the UE for configuring communication with the UE on the joint channel.

[0196] In some aspects, the unit for configuring the communication with the UE on the joint channel based on the group-based beam report is configured to: configure TX / RX using two or more beams from the UE that are paired with two or more beams from device 902, respectively, and the TX / RX using two or more beams from the UE that are paired with two or more beams from device 902, respectively, includes: at least one of time-division multiplexed simultaneous TX / RX or non-simultaneous TX / RX.

[0197] The aforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementioned components of the apparatus 902 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. As described above, the apparatus 902 may include the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller / processor 375. Therefore, in one configuration, the aforementioned means may be the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller / processor 375 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

[0198] It should be understood that the specific order or block hierarchy in the processes / flowcharts disclosed herein is merely an example of an exemplary method. It should be understood that the specific order or block hierarchy in these processes / flowcharts may be rearranged based on design preferences. In addition, some blocks may be combined or omitted. The accompanying method claims provide elements of various blocks in an exemplary order, but are not intended to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy provided.

[0199] To enable anyone skilled in the art to implement the various aspects described herein, the above description focuses on various aspects. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may also be applied to other aspects. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the aspects shown herein, but is consistent with the full scope of the present disclosure. Unless otherwise specified, reference to a component in the singular does not mean "one and only one," but rather "one or more." As used herein, the word "exemplary" means "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Unless otherwise specified, the term "some" refers to one or more. Combinations such as "at least one of A, B, or C," "one or more of A, B, or C," "at least one of A, B, and C," "one or more of A, B, and C," and "A, B, C, or any combination thereof" include any combination of A, B, and / or C, which may include multiple A's, multiple B's, or multiple C's. Specifically, combinations such as "at least one of A, B, or C," "one or more of A, B, or C," "at least one of A, B, and C," "one or more of A, B, and C," and "A, B, C, or any combination thereof" may be only A, only B, only C, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, wherein any such combination may include one or more members or some members of A, B, or C. All structural and functional equivalents of the components of various aspects described throughout this disclosure are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be covered by the claims, and such structural and functional equivalents are or will become known to those of ordinary skill in the art. In addition, no disclosure herein is intended to be dedicated to the public, regardless of whether such disclosure is expressly stated in the claims. Words such as "module," "device," "element," "equipment," and the like are not substitutes for the word "unit." Therefore, a constituent element of a claim should not be interpreted as a functional module unless the constituent element is expressly stated as a "functional module."

[0200] The following examples are merely illustrative and may be combined with other embodiments or aspects of the teachings described herein without limitation.

[0201] Example 1 is a UE configured to: determine that two or more resources on two or more beams from a base station have phase continuity; based on the two or more resources on the two or more beams having phase continuity, determine joint channel information associated with the two or more beams using separate measurements corresponding to the two or more beams respectively; and send a group-based beam report to the base station including the joint channel information associated with the two or more beams.

[0202] Example 2 is a UE according to Example 1, further configured to receive an indication from the base station that the two or more resources on the two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity, and determine based on the indication that the two or more resources on the two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity.

[0203] Example 3 is a UE according to Example 2, and the indication includes: a CSI reporting configuration for enabling group-based beam reporting, and the CSI reporting configuration configures the two or more resources on the two or more beams to have phase continuity.

[0204] Example 4 is a UE according to Example 3, and the CSI reporting configuration is associated with at least one of a multiplexing mode or a use case, and based on the multiplexing mode or at least one of the use cases, it is determined that the two or more resources on the two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity.

[0205] Example 5 is a UE according to Example 4, and the multiplexing mode or at least one of the use cases includes at least one of a TDM mode, an FDM mode, or an SDM mode, or at least one of an eMBB use case or a URLLC use case.

[0206] Example 6 is a UE according to any one of Examples 1 to 5, and each of the two or more resources carries at least one of a CSI-RS or an SSB.

[0207] Example 7 is a UE according to Example 6, further configured to: determine each measurement corresponding to the corresponding beam in the two or more beams in the separate measurement based on at least one of the CSI-RS or the SSB carried on the corresponding resource on the corresponding beam in the two or more beams.

[0208] Example 8 is a UE according to any one of Examples 1 to 7, and the joint channel information includes information for estimating an effective joint channel, the information being based on paired estimates of separate components associated with each of the two or more beams, respectively.

[0209] Example 9 is a UE according to any one of Examples 1 to 8, and the joint channel information includes: mutual information based on the individual measurements corresponding to the two or more beams respectively.

[0210] Example 10 is a UE according to any one of Examples 1 to 9, further configured to: receive information for configuring communication with the base station on a joint channel from the base station based on the group-based beam report, the joint channel including two or more beams from the base station paired with two or more beams from the UE, respectively; and communicate with the base station on the joint channel based on the information for configuring communication with the base station on the joint channel.

[0211] Example 11 is a UE according to Example 10, and the information for configuring communication with the base station on the joint channel also includes: information for configuring TX / RX using two or more beams from the UE that are respectively paired with two or more beams from the base station, and the information for configuring the TX / RX configures at least one of simultaneous TX / RX or non-simultaneous TX / RX using time division multiplexing.

[0212] Example 12 is a base station configured to send an indication to a UE that two or more resources on two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity; and receive a group-based beam report from the UE based on the indication, wherein the group-based beam report includes joint channel information associated with the two or more beams.

[0213] Example 13 is a base station according to Example 12, and the joint channel information includes information estimating an effective joint channel, the information being based on the UE's paired estimation of individual components respectively associated with the two or more beams.

[0214] Example 14 is a base station according to Example 12 or Example 13, and the joint channel information associated with the two or more beams from the base station is based on separate measurements of the UE corresponding to the two or more beams respectively.

[0215] Example 15 is a base station according to Example 14, and the joint channel information includes: mutual information determined by the UE based on the individual measurements of the UE corresponding to the two or more beams respectively.

[0216] Example 16 is a base station according to any one of Examples 12 to 15, and the indication includes a CSI reporting configuration for enabling the UE to perform group-based beam reporting, and the CSI reporting configuration configures the two or more resources on the two or more beams to have phase continuity.

[0217] Example 17 is a base station according to Example 16, and the CSI reporting configuration is associated with at least one of a multiplexing mode or a use case, and the indication includes the at least one of the multiplexing mode or the use case.

[0218] Example 18 is a base station according to Example 17, and the multiplexing mode or the at least one of the use cases includes at least one of a TDM mode, an FDM mode, or an SDM mode, or at least one of an eMBB use case or a URLLC use case.

[0219] Example 19 is a base station according to any one of Examples 12 to 18, and each of the two or more resources carries at least one of a CSI-RS or an SSB.

[0220] Example 20 is a base station according to any one of Examples 12 to 19, further configured to: configure communication with the UE on a joint channel based on the group-based beam report, the joint channel including two or more beams from the base station that are respectively paired with two or more beams from the UE; and communicate with the UE on the joint channel based on sending information to the UE for configuring communication with the UE on the joint channel.

[0221] Example 21 is a base station according to Example 20, and configuring the communication with the UE on the joint channel according to the group-based beam report includes: configuring TX / RX using two or more beams from the UE that are paired with two or more beams from the base station, respectively, and the TX / RX using two or more beams from the UE that are paired with two or more beams from the base station, respectively, includes: at least one of time-division multiplexed simultaneous TX / RX or non-simultaneous TX / RX.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: determining that two or more resources on two or more beams from a base station have phase continuity; estimating, for the two or more resources having the phase continuity on the two or more beams, an effective joint channel associated with the two or more beams based on separate measurements respectively corresponding to the two or more beams; as well as A group-based beam report including joint channel information indicative of the estimate of the effective joint channel is sent to the base station.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving an indication from the base station that the two or more resources on the two or more beams from the base station have the phase continuity, Wherein, it is determined based on the indication that the two or more resources on the two or more beams from the base station have the phase continuity.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The indication includes: a channel state information (CSI) reporting configuration for enabling group-based beam reporting, and wherein the CSI reporting configuration configures the two or more resources on the two or more beams to have the phase continuity.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The CSI reporting configuration is associated with at least one of a multiplexing mode or a use case, and wherein, based on the multiplexing mode or at least one of the use case, it is determined that the two or more resources on the two or more beams from the base station have the phase continuity.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein The multiplexing mode or at least one of the use cases includes at least one of a time division multiplexing (TDM) mode, a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) mode or a space division multiplexing (SDM) mode, or at least one of an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) use case or an ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) use case.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein Each of the two or more resources carries at least one of a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (RS) or a synchronization signal block (SSB).

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising: Each measurement corresponding to the corresponding beam in the two or more beams in the separate measurements is determined based on at least one of the CSI-RS or the SSB carried on the corresponding resource on the corresponding beam in the two or more beams.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein The joint channel information includes information estimating the effective joint channel based on pairwise estimates of individual components respectively associated with each of the two or more beams.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein The joint channel information includes mutual information based on the individual measurements respectively corresponding to the two or more beams.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the base station, information for configuring communication with the base station on a joint channel based on the group-based beam report, the joint channel comprising two or more selected beams from the base station paired with two or more beams from the UE, respectively, wherein the two or more selected beams are selected by the base station based on the group-based beam report; and Communicating with the base station on the joint channel based on the information used to configure the communication with the base station on the joint channel.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein: The information for configuring the communication with the base station on the joint channel further includes: information for configuring transmission / reception using two or more beams from the UE that are respectively paired with the two or more selected beams from the base station, and wherein the information for configuring the transmission / reception configures at least one of simultaneous transmission / reception or non-simultaneous transmission / reception using time division multiplexing.

12. A method for wireless communication of a base station, comprising: sending an indication to a user equipment (UE) that two or more resources on two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity; as well as A group-based beam report is received from the UE, the group-based beam report including joint channel information indicating an estimate of an effective joint channel associated with the two or more beams, wherein the estimate of the effective joint channel is based on separate measurements corresponding to the two or more beams, respectively.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein: The joint channel information includes information estimating the effective joint channel, the information being based on pairwise estimation by the UE of individual components respectively associated with the two or more beams.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein: The joint channel information associated with the two or more beams from the base station is based on individual measurements of the UE corresponding to the two or more beams, respectively.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein The joint channel information includes mutual information determined by the UE based on the individual measurements of the UE corresponding to the two or more beams, respectively.

16. The method according to claim 12, wherein: The indication includes a channel state information (CSI) reporting configuration that enables the UE to perform group-based beam reporting, and wherein the CSI reporting configuration configures the two or more resources on the two or more beams to have the phase continuity.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein The CSI reporting configuration is associated with at least one of a multiplexing mode or a use case, and wherein the indication includes the at least one of the multiplexing mode or the use case.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein The multiplexing mode or at least one of the use cases includes at least one of a time division multiplexing (TDM) mode, a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) mode or a space division multiplexing (SDM) mode, or at least one of an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) use case or an ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) use case.

19. The method according to claim 12, wherein: Each of the two or more resources carries at least one of a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (RS) or a synchronization signal block (SSB).

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising: selecting two or more beams from the base station based on the group-based beam report; configuring communications with the UE on a joint channel, the joint channel comprising two or more selected beams from the base station paired with two or more beams from the UE, respectively; as well as Communicating with the UE on the joint channel is performed based on sending information to the UE for configuring the communication with the UE on the joint channel.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein Configuring the communication with the UE on the joint channel based on the group-based beam reporting includes: configuring transmission / reception using two or more beams from the UE that are respectively paired with the two or more selected beams from the base station, and The transmission / reception using the two or more beams from the UE respectively paired with the two or more selected beams from the base station includes at least one of simultaneous transmission / reception or non-simultaneous transmission / reception using time division multiplexing.

22. An apparatus for wireless communication of a user equipment (UE), comprising: Memory; as well as at least one processor coupled to the memory, configured to: determining that two or more resources on two or more beams from a base station have phase continuity; estimating, for the two or more resources having the phase continuity on the two or more beams, an effective joint channel associated with the two or more beams based on separate measurements respectively corresponding to the two or more beams; as well as A group-based beam report including joint channel information indicative of the estimate of the effective joint channel is sent to the base station.

23. The device according to claim 22, wherein The at least one processor is further configured to: receiving an indication from the base station that the two or more resources on the two or more beams from the base station have the phase continuity, Wherein, it is determined based on the indication that the two or more resources on the two or more beams from the base station have the phase continuity.

24. The device according to claim 23, wherein The indication includes: a channel state information (CSI) reporting configuration for enabling group-based beam reporting, and wherein the CSI reporting configuration configures the two or more resources on the two or more beams to have the phase continuity.

25. The apparatus according to claim 22, wherein Each of the two or more resources carries at least one of a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (RS) or a synchronization signal block (SSB).

26. The device according to claim 25, wherein The at least one processor is further configured to: Each measurement corresponding to the corresponding beam in the two or more beams in the separate measurements is determined based on at least one of the CSI-RS or the SSB carried on the corresponding resource on the corresponding beam in the two or more beams.

27. An apparatus for wireless communication at a base station, comprising: Memory; as well as at least one processor coupled to the memory, configured to: sending an indication to a user equipment (UE) that two or more resources on two or more beams from the base station have phase continuity; as well as A group-based beam report is received from the UE, the group-based beam report including joint channel information indicating an estimate of an effective joint channel associated with the two or more beams, wherein the estimate of the effective joint channel is based on separate measurements corresponding to the two or more beams, respectively.

28. The apparatus according to claim 27, wherein The joint channel information includes at least one of information estimating the effective joint channel based on pairwise estimation by the UE of individual components respectively associated with the two or more beams, or mutual information based on individual measurements by the UE of the two or more beams respectively corresponding to the two or more beams from the base station.

29. The apparatus according to claim 27, wherein The indication includes a channel state information (CSI) reporting configuration that enables the UE to perform group-based beam reporting, and wherein the CSI reporting configuration configures the two or more resources on the two or more beams to have the phase continuity.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein: Each of the two or more resources carries at least one of a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (RS) or a synchronization signal block (SSB).

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