Group selection for uplink transmission

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communication by a wireless device. The method generally includes selecting several of the multiple transmit-receive points (TRPs) to form a TRP group based on information indicating the relative position between a user equipment (UE) and each of the multiple TRPs, so that the relative position between the UE and the several TRPs satisfies a criterion. The several TRPs in the TRP group are selected so that the level of communication delay between each of the several TRPs and the UE is within a defined delay range. The method further includes communicating on the uplink using a single timing advance between the UE and the TRP group.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. Application No. 17 / 125,687, filed on December 17, 2020, which in turn claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 951,777, filed on December 20, 2019. The contents of the foregoing applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. Technical Field

[0003] Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to techniques for uplink transmissions. Background Art

[0004] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, etc.). Examples of such multiple-access systems include Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, 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, to name just a few.

[0005] In some examples, a wireless multiple access communication system may include several base stations (BS), each of which is capable of supporting communication of multiple communication devices (also referred to as user equipment (UE)) simultaneously. In an LTE or LTE-A network, a set of one or more base stations may define an evolved B node (eNB). In other examples (e.g., in a next generation, new radio (NR), or 5G network), a wireless multiple access communication system may include several distributed units (DUs) (e.g., edge units (EUs), edge nodes (ENs), radio heads (RHs), smart radio heads (SRHs), transmission reception points (TRPs), etc.) in communication with several central units (CUs) (e.g., central nodes (CNs), access node controllers (ANCs), etc.), wherein a set of one or more DUs in communication with a CU may define an access node (e.g., which may be referred to as a BS, a next generation B node (gNB or g B node), a TRP, etc.). A BS or DU may communicate with a set of UEs on a downlink channel (e.g., for transmission from a BS or DU to a UE) and an uplink channel (e.g., for transmission from a UE to a BS or DU).

[0006] These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate at a city, country, region, and even global level. New radio (e.g., 5G NR) is an example of an emerging telecommunication standard. NR is an enhancement set of the LTE mobile standard promulgated by 3GPP. NR is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improving spectrum efficiency, reducing costs, improving services, utilizing new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using OFDMA with cyclic prefix (CP) on downlink (DL) and uplink (UL). To this end, NR supports beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation.

[0007] However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to grow, there is a need for further improvements to NR and LTE technologies. Preferably, these improvements should be applicable to other multiple access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies. Summary of the invention

[0008] The systems, methods, and devices of the present disclosure each have several aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of the present disclosure as expressed in the appended claims, some features will now be briefly discussed. After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading the section entitled "Detailed Description," it will be understood how the features of the present disclosure provide advantages including improved communication between devices in a wireless network.

[0009] Certain aspects provide a method for wireless communication by a wireless device. The method generally includes: selecting a plurality of transmit receive points (TRPs) of a user equipment (UE) to form a TRP group based on information indicating the relative position between the TRPs and each of the plurality of TRPs, so that the relative position between the UE and the plurality of TRPs satisfies a criterion. The plurality of TRPs in the TRP group are selected so that the level of communication delay between each of the plurality of TRPs and the UE is within a defined delay range. The method further includes communicating on an uplink using a single timing advance between the UE and the TRP group.

[0010] Certain aspects provide a wireless device comprising a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. The processor and the memory are configured to select several of the multiple transmit-receive points (TRPs) to form a TRP group based on information indicating the relative position between a user equipment (UE) and each of the multiple TRPs, so that the relative position between the UE and the several TRPs satisfies a criterion. The several TRPs in the TRP group are selected so that the level of communication delay between each of the several TRPs and the UE is within a defined delay range. The processor and the memory are further configured to communicate on an uplink using a single timing advance between the UE and the TRP group.

[0011] Certain aspects provide a wireless device. The wireless device includes a device for selecting several of a plurality of transmit-receive points (TRPs) to form a TRP group based on information indicating the relative position between a user equipment (UE) and each of the plurality of TRPs so that the relative position between the UE and the plurality of TRPs satisfies a criterion. The plurality of TRPs in the TRP group are selected so that the level of communication delay between each of the plurality of TRPs and the UE is within a defined delay range. The wireless device further includes a device for communicating on an uplink using a single timing advance between the UE and the TRP group.

[0012] Certain aspects provide a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a wireless device, cause the wireless device to perform a method of wireless communication. The method generally includes: selecting a plurality of transmit-receive points (TRPs) of a user equipment (UE) to form a TRP group based on information indicating the relative position between the TRPs and each of the plurality of TRPs, so that the relative position between the UE and the plurality of TRPs satisfies a criterion. The plurality of TRPs in the TRP group are selected so that the level of communication delay between each of the plurality of TRPs and the UE is within a defined delay range. The method further includes communicating on an uplink using a single timing advance between the UE and the TRP group.

[0013] Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatuses, devices, processors, and computer-readable media for performing the methods described herein.

[0014] To achieve the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects include the features fully described below and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the accompanying drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. However, these features are only indicative of several of the various ways in which the principles of the various aspects can be employed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] In order to understand in detail the manner in which the above-stated features of the present disclosure are used, a more particular description of the content briefly summarized above may be made with reference to various aspects, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It should be noted, however, that the accompanying drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of the present disclosure and are not to be considered limiting of its scope, as the description may admit to other equally effective aspects.

[0016] Figure 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example telecommunications system in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating designs of example base stations (BSs) and user equipment (UEs) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 3 An example of a frame format for a New Radio (NR) system is illustrated in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 4 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations by a wireless device for wireless communications in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 5 Illustrated are communications devices that may include various components configured to perform operations for the techniques disclosed herein in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 6 A signal flow diagram illustrating a UE communicating with multiple TRPs on the uplink using a single timing advance (TA) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0022] To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one aspect may be beneficially utilized in other aspects without specific recitation. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] Various aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer-readable media for selecting a subset of TRPs from a set of TRPs or selecting several TRPs from multiple TRPs to form a TRP group for receiving uplink transmissions from a UE. Although certain aspects are described with reference to grouping TRPs for uplink transmissions, it should be understood that various aspects may be similarly applied to grouping other suitable wireless devices (such as BSs, DUs, etc.). For example, in some aspects, a TRP may refer to a BS, DU, etc. In some aspects, a TRP may refer to an antenna array having one or more antenna elements (such as associated with a BS or DU) that can be used for a network located at a specific geographic location in a specific area. In such aspects, where it is described as a TRP determining something or performing some type of processing, this may refer to the associated BS or DU performing such an action.

[0024] The UE is typically configured to apply a timing advance (TA) to the timing of uplink transmissions from the UE to the TRP, such as to account for a round trip delay between the UE and the TRP and / or to achieve uplink synchronization between the UE and the TRP. The round trip delay can be calculated as the time between when the UE sends a signal to the TRP and when the UE receives a response from the TRP regarding the sent signal, and vice versa. Uplink synchronization may refer to the TRP and the UE using consistent timing, by which time resources (e.g., frames, subframes, time slots, etc.) are aligned for communication on the uplink. For example, the TA may be used to control uplink signal timing. Based on the TA, the UE may delay (e.g., send late) or advance (e.g., send early) the uplink transmission by a certain amount compared to the scheduled time for the uplink transmission (e.g., as scheduled in an uplink grant received by the UE from the TRP, such as in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)). For example, the TA may be set such that uplink transmissions are received from the UE at the TRP at the scheduled time for the uplink transmissions by taking into account the delay between the TRP and the UE so that the timing of communications between the TRP and the UE on the uplink is synchronized.

[0025] In some aspects, the TA is determined by the TRP and communicated to the UE. For example, the TRP may determine the TA after receiving a physical random access channel (PRACH) from the UE as part of a random access procedure. Further, the TRP may transmit an indication of the TA to the UE as part of a message (e.g., MSG2) of the random access procedure. In some aspects, the TA may be a delayed or advanced value. In some aspects, the TRP sends the actual value of the TA to the UE. In some aspects, the TRP sends an index value to the UE, and the UE is configured with a mapping that maps the index value to the actual value of the TA (e.g., a backoff parameter value in ms).

[0026] In some aspects, the UE is configured for multi-TRP uplink transmissions, where the UE sends uplink transmissions to multiple TRPs. However, based on the geographic location / position of the UE relative to each TRP, the round-trip delay between the UE and each of the multiple TRPs may have large differences. For example, the UE may be farther away from one TRP than another TRP, or there may be different obstacles between the UE and one TRP that do not exist between the UE and the other TRPs.

[0027] Accordingly, in some cases, for such multi-TRP uplink transmissions, applying a single TA used by the UE for uplink transmissions to each of the multiple TRPs may degrade reception of the uplink transmissions at some of the multiple TRPs because some of the multiple TRPs may not receive uplink transmissions at times synchronized or expected with the UE. For example, each TRP may be receiving uplink transmissions from multiple UEs, and if the TRP receives an uplink transmission from the UE that is not aligned with the scheduled time for the transmission (such as based on the UE's use of a suboptimal TA), the uplink transmission from the UE may be received along with interference-causing transmissions from other UEs. Specifically, if the multiple transmissions received at the TRP are not all aligned in time, the TRP may not be able to properly separate the multiple transmissions from the multiple UEs.

[0028] In addition, in some cases, for such multi-TRP uplink transmissions, applying different TAs used by the UE for uplink transmissions to different TRPs results in the UE having to transmit multiple uplink signals / transmissions for multiple TRPs, which uses more UE resources compared to using a single TA received by multiple TRPs to transmit a single uplink signal / transmission.

[0029] Accordingly, certain aspects herein provide for grouping TRPs based on the relative position between the TRPs and the UE so that the UE can utilize a single uplink transmission to the TRP group using a single TA. For example, several TRPs among a plurality of TRPs are selected to form a TRP group so that the level of communication delay between each of the several TRPs and the UE is within a defined delay range. Advantageously, this helps to facilitate the receipt of uplink transmissions at approximately the same time at the TRP group based on their relative positions within a range, thereby maintaining uplink synchronization, which is in contrast to other TRPs receiving and processing uplink transmissions at different times based on their different relative positions outside the range.

[0030] The following description provides an example of grouping devices for uplink transmission, without limiting the scope, applicability or examples set forth in the claims. Changes may be made to the functions and arrangements of the elements discussed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Various examples may appropriately omit, replace, or add various procedures or components. For example, the described method may be performed in an order different from the order described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Moreover, the features described with reference to some examples may be combined in some other examples. For example, any number of aspects set forth herein may be used to implement a device or practice method. In addition, the scope of the present disclosure is intended to cover such devices or methods practiced using other structures, functionalities, or structures and functionalities as supplements to the various aspects of the present disclosure set forth herein or in addition. It should be understood that any aspect of the present disclosure disclosed herein may be implemented by one or more elements of the claims. The wording "exemplary" is used herein to mean "used as an example, instance, or explanation". Any aspect described as "exemplary" herein is not necessarily to be interpreted as being superior to or superior to other aspects.

[0031] The technology described herein can be used for various wireless networks and radio technologies. Although various aspects may be described herein using terms commonly associated with 3G, 4G and / or 5G wireless technologies, various aspects of the present disclosure may be applied in communication systems based on other generations (including later generations of technologies).

[0032] In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a specific radio access technology (RAT) and may operate on one or more frequencies. RAT may also be referred to as radio technology, air interface, etc. Frequency may also be referred to as carrier, subcarrier, frequency channel, frequency modulation, subband, etc. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a given geographic area to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs. In some cases, 5G NR RAT networks may be deployed.

[0033] 5G NR can support various wireless communication services, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) targeting wide bandwidth (e.g., 80 MHz or more), millimeter wave (mmW) targeting high carrier frequency (e.g., 25 GHz or more), massive machine type communication MTC (mMTC) targeting non-backward compatible MTC technology, and / or mission critical services targeting ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC). These services may include latency and reliability requirements. These services may also have different transmission time intervals (TTIs) to meet corresponding quality of service (QoS) requirements. In addition, these services can coexist in the same subframe. NR can support beamforming and can dynamically configure beam directions. MIMO transmission with precoding can also be supported. MIMO configuration in DL can support up to 8 transmit antennas (with multi-layer DL transmission of up to 8 streams) and up to 2 streams per UE. Multi-layer transmission of up to 2 streams per UE can be supported. Aggregation of multiple cells can be supported using up to 8 serving cells.

[0034] Figure 1 An example wireless communication network 100 is illustrated in which aspects of the present disclosure may be performed. For example, the wireless communication network 100 may be a 5G NR network. Figure 1 As shown, the wireless communication network 100 may be in communication with a core network 132. The core network 132 may be in communication with one or more base stations (BSs) 110 and / or user equipments (UEs) 120 in the wireless communication network 100 via one or more interfaces.

[0035] like Figure 1 As illustrated in , the wireless communication network 100 may include several BSs 110a-z (each also individually referred to herein as BS 110 or collectively referred to as BS 110) and other network entities. BS 110 may provide communication coverage for a specific geographic area (sometimes referred to as a "cell"), which may be stationary or mobile depending on the location of the mobile BS 110. In some examples, BS 110 may be interconnected to each other and / or to one or more other BSs 110 or network nodes (not shown) in the wireless communication network 100 using any suitable transport network via various types of backhaul interfaces (e.g., direct physical connections, wireless connections, virtual networks, etc.). Figure 1In the example shown in , BS110a, 110b, and 110c may be macro BSs for macro cells 102a, 102b, and 102c, respectively. BS110x may be a pico BS for pico cell 102x. BS110y and 110z may be femto BSs for femto cells 102y and 102z, respectively. A BS may support one or more cells. A network controller 130 may be coupled to a group of BSs and provide coordination and control of the BSs. The network controller 130 may communicate with the BS 110 via a backhaul.

[0036] BS 110 communicates with UEs 120a-y (each also individually referred to herein as UE 120, or collectively referred to as UE 120) in the wireless communication network 100. UEs 120 (e.g., 120x, 120y, etc.) may be dispersed throughout the wireless communication network 100, and each UE 120 may be stationary or mobile. The wireless communication network 100 may also include a relay station (e.g., relay station 110r) that receives transmissions of data and / or other information from an upstream station (e.g., BS 110a or UE 120r) and sends transmissions of data and / or other information to a downstream station (e.g., UE 120 or BS 110), or that relays transmissions between UEs 120 to facilitate communication between the devices.

[0037] According to certain aspects, UE 120 can be configured for uplink transmission to a group of BSs 110. According to various aspects described herein, such as Figure 1 As shown in , UE 120a has a group manager that can be configured to select a TRP for uplink transmission. In another example, according to various aspects described herein, as Figure 1 As shown in , BS110a has a group manager that can be configured to select a TRP for uplink transmission.

[0038] Figure 2 Explained (such as Figure 1 ) and example components of BS 110a and UE 120a, which may be used to implement aspects of the present disclosure.

[0039] At BS 110a, a transmit processor 220 may receive data from a data source 212 and control information from a controller / processor 240. The control information may be for a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), a physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH), etc. The data may be for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc. The processor 220 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and the control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The processor 220 may also generate reference symbols, e.g., for a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​data symbols, control symbols, and / or reference symbols, where applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to modulators (MODs) 232a to 232t. Each modulator 232 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. The downlink signals from modulators 232a through 232t may be transmitted via antennas 234a through 234t, respectively.

[0040] At UE 120a, antennas 252a to 252r may receive downlink signals from BS 110a and may provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a to 254r in the transceiver, respectively. Each demodulator 254 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from all demodulators 254a to 254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols where applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for UE 120a to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information to a controller / processor 280.

[0041] On the uplink, at the UE 120a, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from a data source 262 (e.g., for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)) and control information from a controller / processor 280 (e.g., for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)). The transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., a sounding reference signal (SRS)). The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266, if applicable, further processed by demodulators 254a to 254r in the transceiver (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), and transmitted to the BS 110a. At the BS 110a, the uplink signal from the UE 120a may be received by the antenna 234, processed by the modulator 232, detected by the MIMO detector 236, if applicable, and further processed by the receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE 120a. Receive processor 238 may provide decoded data to data sink 239 and decoded control information to controller / processor 240 .

[0042] The antenna 252, processors 266, 258, 264 and / or controller / processor 280 of the UE 120a, and / or the antenna 234, processors 220, 230, 238 and / or controller / processor 240 of the BS 110a may be used to perform the various techniques and methods described herein. According to various aspects described herein, such as Figure 2 As shown in , the processor 240 at BS 110a has a group manager that can be configured to select a TRP for uplink transmission. According to various aspects described herein, as Figure 2 As shown in , the processor 280 at the UE 120a has a group manager that can be configured to select a TRP for uplink transmission. Memories 242 and 282 can store data and program codes for BS 110a and UE 120a, respectively. Scheduler 244 can schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and / or uplink.

[0043] NR may utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) on the uplink and / or downlink and / or may utilize single carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. NR may support half-duplex operation using time division duplex (TDD). OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into multiple orthogonal subcarriers, which are also referred to as frequency modulation, frequency slots, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. Modulation symbols may be sent in the frequency domain under OFDM and in the time domain under SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers may depend on the system bandwidth. NR resource blocks (RBs) may be 12 consecutive frequency subcarriers. NR may support a base subcarrier spacing (SCS) of 15KHz, and other SCSs (e.g., 30kHz, 60kHz, 120kHz, 240kHz, etc.) may be defined relative to the base SCS. The system bandwidth may also be divided into subbands. For example, one subband may cover multiple RBs.

[0044] In NR, one subframe is 1ms, but the basic TTI is called a slot. Figure 3 300 is a diagram showing an example of a frame format for NR. The transmission timeline of each of the downlink and uplink may be divided into units of radio frames. Each radio frame may have a predetermined duration (e.g., 10 ms) and may be divided into 10 subframes with indices 0 to 9, each subframe being 1 ms. Each subframe may include a variable number of slots (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, ... slots), depending on the SCS. Each slot may include a variable number of symbol periods (e.g., 7 or 14 symbols), depending on the subcarrier spacing. An index may be assigned to the symbol period in each slot. A mini slot (which may be referred to as a subslot structure) refers to a transmission time interval having a duration (e.g., 2, 3, or 4 symbols) less than a slot. Each symbol in a slot may indicate a link direction (e.g., DL, UL, or flexible) for data transmission, and the link direction for each subframe may be dynamically switched. The link direction may be based on the slot format. Each time slot may include DL / UL data and DL / UL control information.

[0045] In some systems, a user equipment (UE) may be able to transmit uplink signals using multiple antennas, beams, antenna panels (e.g., antenna arrays). The uplink transmissions may be to a serving base station (BS). These uplink transmissions may allow for increased throughput (e.g., by using multiple antennas, beams, and / or panels to transmit data to the BS simultaneously or concurrently) and / or increased reliability (e.g., by sending the same information from multiple antennas, beams, and / or panels). Such transmissions may be referred to as multi-panel uplink transmissions.

[0046] In certain systems, such as in new radio (e.g., 5G NR systems), multi-panel uplink transmissions may be configured for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and / or sounding reference signal (SRS) transmissions for UEs. In some examples, the UE is configured with one or more SRS resource sets, which configure SRS resources for SRS transmissions. Each SRS resource set may be associated with a UE antenna panel for codebook-based (e.g., beamformed) and non-codebook-based (e.g., non-beamformed) PUSCH transmissions. In some examples, an SRS resource indicator (SRI) field in a downlink control information (DCI) may be used to indicate (e.g., by a BS) and select (e.g., by a UE) an SRS resource from a configured SRS resource set. For example, a BS and a UE may be configured with a table or mapping of an SRI field (e.g., an SRI value) to which SRS resource from which SRS resource set will be used for multi-panel uplink transmissions. In some examples, the SRI in the DCI may indicate multiple SRS resources from one SRS resource set. In some examples, the UE may select one SRS resource from among multiple SRS resources indicated by the BS for uplink transmission.

[0047] Example Group Selection for Uplink Transmission

[0048] In certain aspects, a UE or a network element (e.g., CN, TRP, etc.) is configured to select a number of TRPs among a plurality of TRPs to include in a TRP group. Further, the UE is then configured to transmit an uplink transmission to the TRP group using a timing advance. Accordingly, a single uplink transmission transmitted by the UE using a single timing advance is received by each of the several TRPs in the TRP group to which the single uplink transmission is directed.

[0049] In some aspects, the number of TRPs are selected so that the level of communication delay between each of the number of TRPs and the UE is within a defined delay range (e.g., a defined TA range, a defined propagation delay, etc.).

[0050] In some aspects, the plurality of TRPs are selected based on the relative position between each of the plurality of TRPs and the UE satisfying a criterion. In some aspects, if the criterion is satisfied, the level of communication delay is within a defined range. For example, the corresponding relative position between the UE and each of the plurality of TRPs is determined. In some aspects, the relative position is a relative distance.

[0051] In some aspects, the criterion is the maximum change among the relative positions of the several TRPs. In some aspects, the maximum change means that the maximum relative position of the several TRPs minus the minimum relative position of the several TRPs satisfies the threshold. In some aspects, the threshold is statically configured at the UE or the network. In some aspects, the network dynamically determines the threshold. In some aspects, the network configures the UE with the threshold, such as using downlink control information (DCI) or media access control-control element (MAC-CE). In some aspects, the network signals the threshold to the UE by indicating a threshold among a configured and / or predefined threshold set.

[0052] In some aspects, the number of TRPs is selected from the plurality of TRPs so as to maximize the number of the plurality of TRPs in the TRP group while still satisfying the criterion.

[0053] In some aspects, the relative position is based on location information of the UE and each of the multiple TRPs. In some aspects, the location information is the angle of arrival of the signal at the UE. In some aspects, the UE can determine its location information based on a positioning system (such as GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, etc.). Similarly, in some aspects, the TRP can determine its location information based on a positioning system, or the location can be configured (such as based on the TRP being stationed).

[0054] In some aspects, the network can communicate location information of multiple TRPs to the UE via the serving TRP, and the UE can use this location information and its own location information to determine the relative position. The UE can then use this information to make a selection of a TRP group, or such as transmitting such information to the network via the serving TRP for the network to make a selection.

[0055] In some aspects, the UE can communicate its location information to the network via a serving TRP, and the network can use the UE's location information and the location information of multiple TRPs to determine the relative position. The network can then use this information to make a selection of a TRP group, or such as transmitting such information to the UE via a serving TRP for the UE to make a selection.

[0056] In some aspects, the UE is configured to receive a downlink position reference signal (PRS) from a TRP (e.g., a serving TRP) to enable positioning by the UE, such as for the UE to determine its relative position with respect to the TRP. For example, the PRS can be used by the UE to estimate the path delay or reference signal time difference measurement (RSTD) from the TRP. Thereby, the UE can determine its relative position with respect to multiple TRPs. For example, the relative position can be the RSTD. In some aspects, the UE reports the RSTD of multiple TRPs to the network, such as by transmitting information indicating the RSTD of multiple TRPs to the serving TRP.

[0057] In some aspects, the number of TRPs is selected based on that the relative position between each of the number of TRPs and the UE satisfies a criterion and based on a measurement of the signal quality of each of the multiple TRPs. For example, the UE or the network may determine the signal quality (e.g., CQI, RSSI, RSRP, RSRQ, etc.) associated with each of the multiple TRPs, such as by measuring at the UE a signal (e.g., a reference signal) transmitted by each of the multiple TRPs, or measuring at each of the multiple TRPs a signal transmitted by the UE. In some aspects, the UE communicates the measurement of the signal quality to the network (such as to the serving TRP). In some aspects, the network communicates the measurement of the signal quality to the UE. In some aspects, the UE or the network selects only TRPs with signal quality that meets a threshold to include in the TRP group.

[0058] In some aspects, the UE or network first selects a TRP with the highest signal quality among the plurality of TRPs to include in the TRP group. In some such aspects, the UE or network then selects the remaining TRPs among the plurality of TRPs to include in the TRP group based on the relative position between each of the plurality of TRPs and the UE satisfying a criterion. For example, where the criterion is a maximum change, the maximum change also refers to the relative position of the first selected TRP.

[0059] Figure 4 4 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations 400 for wireless communications by a wireless device in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. In certain aspects, the operations 400 may be performed, for example, by a UE (e.g., such as UE 120a in wireless communication network 100). The operations 400 may be implemented as a processor (e.g., Figure 2 Further, in operation 400, the transmission and reception of signals by the UE may be performed, for example, by one or more antennas (e.g., Figure 2 In some aspects, the signal transmission and / or reception performed by the UE may be implemented by obtaining and / or outputting signals via a bus interface of one or more processors (eg, the processor 280).

[0060] In some aspects, operations 400 may be performed, for example, by a BS (e.g., such as BS 110a in wireless communication network 100). Operations 400 may be implemented as a processor (e.g., Figure 2 Further, signal transmission and reception by the BS in operation 400 may be performed by, for example, one or more antennas (e.g., Figure 2In some aspects, signal transmission and / or reception by the BS may be implemented by obtaining and / or outputting signals via a bus interface of one or more processors (eg, processor 240).

[0061] Operation 400 may begin at 405 by selecting several of a plurality of transmit / receive points (TRPs) to form a TRP group based on information indicating a relative position between a user equipment (UE) and each of a plurality of transmit / receive points (TRPs), so that the relative position between the UE and the several TRPs satisfies a criterion, wherein the several TRPs in the TRP group are selected so that a level of communication delay between each of the several TRPs and the UE is within a defined delay range.

[0062] At 410, the wireless device communicates on the uplink using a single timing advance between the UE and the TRP group.

[0063] In certain aspects of operation 400, the wireless device is a UE and communicating on an uplink includes transmitting uplink transmissions to a TRP group using a single timing advance.

[0064] In certain aspects of operation 400, the wireless device is a first TRP in a TRP group, and communicating on the uplink includes receiving an uplink transmission from a UE transmitted using a single timing advance for the TRP group.

[0065] In certain aspects of operation 400, the wireless device further receives information indicating the relative position from the UE.

[0066] In certain aspects of operation 400, the information indicating the relative position includes the position of the UE and the position of each of the plurality of TRPs. In certain such aspects, the information indicating the relative position is based on one or more of GPS position information of the UE, network position information of the UE, or angle of arrival information of the UE.

[0067] In certain aspects of operation 400, selecting a number of TRPs in the group of TRPs is further based on information indicating a signal quality between the UE and each of the plurality of TRPs. In certain such aspects, the information indicating the signal quality includes one or more of a reference signal received power (RSRP), a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or a channel quality indicator (CQI).

[0068] In certain aspects of operation 400, the information indicating the relative position includes a reference signal time difference measurement (RSTD) between the UE and each of the multiple TRPs. In certain such aspects, the wireless device is a UE, and the wireless device further receives a positioning reference signal (PRS) from the multiple TRPs and determines the RSTD based on the received PRS. In certain other such aspects, the wireless device is the first TRP in the multiple TRPs, and the wireless device further receives the RSTD from the UE. In certain other such aspects, the criterion is the defined maximum difference between the RSTDs of the several TRPs in the TRP group. In certain such other aspects, the defined maximum difference between the RSTDs is statically configured at the wireless device. In certain such other aspects, the defined maximum difference between the RSTDs is dynamically configured at the wireless device. In certain such other aspects, an indication of the defined maximum difference between the RSTDs is received at the wireless device. In certain such aspects, the indication is received via one of downlink control information (DCI) or media access control-control element (MAC-CE). In certain aspects, the criterion is a defined maximum difference between the RSTDs of the number of TRPs in a TRP group, the TRP group including a first TRP selected based on information indicating a signal quality between the UE and the first TRP.

[0069] In certain aspects of operation 400, a number of TRPs are selected to maximize the number of TRPs that satisfy a criterion.

[0070] In certain aspects of operation 400, a first TRP is selected for the group of TRPs based on the first TRP having a signal quality between the UE and the first TRP that satisfies a threshold, and remaining TRPs in the number of TRPs are selected to maximize the number of multiple TRPs that satisfy the criterion. In certain such aspects, the threshold is the highest signal quality among the multiple TRPs.

[0071] Figure 5 The description may include operations configured to perform the techniques disclosed herein (such as, Figure 4 500 includes various components (e.g., corresponding to means plus function components) of the communication device 500 and the operations explained in the description. The communication device 500 includes a processing system 502 coupled to a transceiver 508. The transceiver 508 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communication device 500 via an antenna 510, such as the various signals described herein, for example, receiving relative timing information and / or transmitting multi-panel uplink transmissions. The processing system 502 can be configured to perform processing functions for the communication device 500, including processing signals received and / or to be transmitted by the communication device 500.

[0072] The processing system 502 includes a processor 504 coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 512 via a bus 506. In some aspects, the computer-readable medium / memory 512 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) that, when executed by the processor 504, cause the processor 504 to perform Figure 4 504 includes circuitry 518 for selecting; and circuitry 520 for communicating.

[0073] Figure 6 A signal flow diagram 600 illustrating communication by a UE with multiple TRPs on the uplink using a single TA. As shown, a UE 602 sends a signal 615 on the uplink to a TRP 610 in a TRP group selected according to various aspects discussed herein.

[0074] Example aspects

[0075] In a first example aspect, a method for wireless communication by a wireless device, the method comprising: selecting several of a plurality of transmit receive points (TRPs) to form a TRP group based on information indicating a relative position between a user equipment (UE) and each of the plurality of TRPs, so that the relative position between the UE and the plurality of TRPs satisfies a criterion, wherein the plurality of TRPs in the TRP group are selected so that a level of communication delay between each of the plurality of TRPs and the UE is within a defined delay range; and communicating on an uplink using a single timing advance between the UE and the TRP group.

[0076] In a second example aspect, in combination with the first example aspect, wherein the wireless device is the UE, and wherein communicating on the uplink includes using the single timing advance to transmit an uplink transmission to the TRP group.

[0077] In a third example aspect, in combination with the first example aspect, wherein the wireless device is a first TRP in the TRP group, and wherein communicating on the uplink includes receiving from the UE an uplink transmission transmitted using the single timing advance for the TRP group.

[0078] In a fourth example aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to third aspects, further comprising receiving information indicating a relative position from the UE.

[0079] In a fifth example aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to fourth aspects, the information indicating the relative position includes the position of the UE and the position of each of the multiple TRPs.

[0080] In a sixth example aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to fifth aspects, the information indicating the relative position is based on one or more of the GPS position information of the UE, the network position information of the UE, or the arrival angle information of the UE.

[0081] In a seventh example aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to sixth aspects, the selection of the plurality of TRPs in the TRP group is further based on information indicating a signal quality between the UE and each of the plurality of TRPs.

[0082] In an eighth example aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to seventh aspects, the information indicating signal quality includes one or more of a reference signal received power (RSRP), a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or a channel quality indicator (CQI).

[0083] In a ninth example aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to eighth aspects, the information indicating the relative position includes a reference signal time difference measurement (RSTD) between the UE and each of the multiple TRPs.

[0084] In a tenth example aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to ninth aspects, wherein the wireless device is a UE, and further comprising: receiving a positioning reference signal (PRS) from the multiple TRPs and determining the RSTD based on the received PRS.

[0085] In an eleventh example aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to tenth aspects, wherein the wireless device is a first TRP among the multiple TRPs, and further includes: receiving RSTD from the UE.

[0086] In a twelfth example aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to eleventh aspects, the criterion is a defined maximum difference between the RSTDs of the number of TRPs in the TRP group.

[0087] In a thirteenth example aspect, in combination with the twelfth aspect, wherein the defined maximum difference between RSTDs is statically configured at the wireless device.

[0088] In a fourteenth example aspect, in combination with the twelfth aspect, wherein the defined maximum difference between RSTDs is dynamically configured at the wireless device.

[0089] In a fifteenth example aspect, in combination with the twelfth aspect, wherein an indication of a defined maximum difference between RSTDs is received at the wireless device.

[0090] In a sixteenth example aspect, in combination with the twelfth aspect, the indication is received via one of downlink control information (DCI) or a medium access control - control element (MAC-CE).

[0091] In a seventeenth example aspect, in combination with the twelfth aspect, wherein the criterion is a defined maximum difference between the RSTDs of the several TRPs in the TRP group, the TRP group includes a first TRP, and the first TRP is selected based on information indicating the signal quality between the UE and the first TRP.

[0092] In an eighteenth example aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to seventeenth aspects, the plurality of TRPs are selected to maximize the number of the plurality of TRPs that satisfy the criterion.

[0093] In a nineteenth example aspect, in combination with one or more of the first to eighteenth aspects, wherein the first TRP is selected for the TRP group based on the first TRP having a signal quality between the UE and the first TRP that satisfies a threshold, and wherein the remaining TRPs in the plurality of TRPs are selected to maximize the number of the plurality of TRPs that satisfy the criterion.

[0094] In a twentieth exemplary aspect, in combination with the nineteenth aspect, the threshold is the highest signal quality among the multiple TRPs.

[0095] Each method disclosed herein includes one or more steps or actions for implementing the method. These method steps and / or actions can be interchangeable with each other without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is specified, the order and / or use of specific steps and / or actions can be changed without departing from the scope of the claims.

[0096] As used herein, a phrase referring to "at least one of" a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to cover: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and abc, as well as any combination with multiple identical elements (e.g., aa, aaa, aab, aac, abb, acc, bb, bbb, bbc, cc, and ccc, or any other ordering of a, b, and c).

[0097] As used herein, the term "determining" encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, "determining" may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, searching (e.g., searching in a table, a database, or another data structure), ascertaining, and the like. Also, "determining" may include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory), and the like. Also, "determining" may include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like.

[0098] The techniques described herein can be used for various wireless communication technologies, such as LTE, CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA and other networks. The terms "network" and "system" are often used interchangeably. A CDMA network can implement radio technologies such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes other variants of Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and CDMA. cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA network can implement radio technologies such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA network can implement radio technologies such as NR (e.g., 5G RA), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDMA, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). NR is an emerging wireless communication technology being developed in collaboration with the 5G Technology Forum (5GTF). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Advanced LTE (LTE-A) are versions of UMTS that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, and GSM are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP). cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2).

[0099] In 3GPP, the term "cell" may refer to the coverage area of ​​a Node B (NB) and / or a NB subsystem serving the coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In an LTE or LTE-A network, a set of one or more base stations may define an evolved Node B (eNB). In an NR system, the term "cell" and a next-generation Node B (gNB or gNodeB), NRBS, 5G NB, access point (AP), or transmission reception point (TRP) may be interchangeable. A wireless multiple access communication system may include several distributed units (DUs) (e.g., edge units (EUs), edge nodes (ENs), radio heads (RHs), smart radio heads (SRHs), TRPs, etc.) in communication with several central units (CUs) (e.g., central nodes (CNs), access node controllers (ANCs), etc.), wherein a set of one or more DUs in communication with a CU may define an access node (e.g., which may be referred to as a BS, 5G NB, next-generation Node B (gNB or gNodeB), transmission reception point (TRP), etc.). A BS or DU may communicate with a set of UEs on downlink channels (eg, for transmissions from the BS or DU to the UEs) and uplink channels (eg, for transmissions from the UEs to the BS or DU).

[0100] UE 120 (e.g., 120x, 120y, etc.) may be dispersed throughout the wireless communication network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. UE may also be referred to as a mobile station, terminal, access terminal, subscriber unit, station, customer premises equipment (CPE), cellular phone, smart phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless modem, wireless communication device, handheld device, laptop computer, cordless phone, wireless local loop (WLL) station, tablet computer, camera, gaming device, netbook, smartbook, ultrabook, appliance, medical device or medical equipment, biometric sensor / device, wearable device (such as smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wristband, smart jewelry (e.g., smart ring, smart bracelet, etc.)), entertainment device (e.g., music device, video device, satellite radio, etc.), transportation component or sensor, smart meter / sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, global positioning system device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate via wireless or wired medium. Some UEs may be considered machine type communication (MTC) devices or evolved MTC (eMTC) devices. MTC and eMTC UEs include, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, etc., which can communicate with a BS, another device (e.g., a remote device), or some other entity. A wireless node can provide connectivity for or to a network (e.g., a wide area network (such as the Internet) or a cellular network), for example, via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which may be narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) devices.

[0101] In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled. A scheduling entity (e.g., BS) allocates resources for communication between some or all devices and equipment within its service area or cell. A scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more subordinate entities. That is, for scheduled communications, subordinate entities utilize resources allocated by the scheduling entity. A base station is not the only entity that can be used as a scheduling entity. In some examples, a UE may act as a scheduling entity, and may schedule resources for one or more subordinate entities (e.g., one or more other UEs), and other UEs may utilize resources scheduled by the UE for wireless communication. In some examples, a UE may act as a scheduling entity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network and / or in a mesh network. In a mesh network example, UEs may communicate directly with each other in addition to communicating with a scheduling entity.

[0102] The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be easily understood by those skilled in the art, and the universal principles defined herein can be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the various aspects shown herein, but should be granted the full scope consistent with the language of the claims, wherein the singular reference to the element is not intended to mean "there is and only one" (unless specifically stated) but "one or more". Unless otherwise specifically stated, the term "some / some" refers to one or more. The elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure are all structural and functional equivalents currently or hereafter known to those of ordinary skill in the art and are expressly incorporated herein by reference, and are intended to be covered by the claims. In addition, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be donated to the public, regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recorded in the claims. Any element of the claim should not be interpreted under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 112 (f), unless the element is explicitly stated using the phrase "device for..." or in the case of a method claim, the element is stated using the phrase "step for...".

[0103] The various operations of the methods described above may be performed by any suitable device capable of performing the corresponding functions. These devices may include various hardware and / or software components and / or modules, including but not limited to circuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or processors. Generally, where there are operations illustrated in the accompanying drawings, these operations may have corresponding paired device-plus-function components with similar numbers.

[0104] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the present disclosure may be implemented or executed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0105] If implemented in hardware, an example hardware configuration may include a processing system in a wireless node. The processing system may be implemented using a bus architecture. Depending on the specific application and overall design constraints of the processing system, the bus may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges. The bus may link together various circuits including a processor, a machine-readable medium, and a bus interface. The bus interface may be used to connect a network adapter, etc., to the processing system via the bus. The network adapter may be used to implement the signal processing functions of the PHY layer. In a user terminal (see Figure 1 ), a user interface (e.g., a keypad, display, mouse, joystick, etc.) may also be connected to the bus. The bus may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art and will not be described further. The processor may be implemented with one or more general and / or special purpose processors. Examples include microprocessors, microcontrollers, DSP processors, and other circuit systems capable of executing software. Those skilled in the art will recognize how to best implement the functionality described with respect to the processing system, depending on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0106] If implemented in software, each function may be stored on or transmitted by a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Software should be broadly interpreted to mean instructions, data, or any combination thereof, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or other. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, which include any media that facilitate the transfer of computer programs from one place to another. The processor may be responsible for managing the bus and general processing, including executing software modules stored on a machine-readable storage medium. A computer-readable storage medium may be coupled to a processor so that the processor can read and write information from / to the storage medium. In an alternative, a storage medium may be integrated into a processor. As an example, a machine-readable medium may include a transmission line, a carrier modulated by data, and / or a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that is separated from a wireless node, all of which may be accessed by a processor through a bus interface. Alternatively or additionally, a machine-readable medium or any part thereof may be integrated into a processor, such as a cache and / or a general register file, which may be the case. As an example, examples of machine-readable storage media may include RAM (random access memory), flash memory, ROM (read only memory), PROM (programmable read only memory), EPROM (erasable programmable read only memory), EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read only memory), registers, magnetic disks, optical disks, hard drives, or any other suitable storage media, or any combination thereof. Machine-readable media may be implemented in a computer program product.

[0107] A software module may include a single instruction, or many instructions, and may be distributed over several different code segments, distributed between different programs, and distributed across multiple storage media. A computer-readable medium may include several software modules. These software modules include instructions that cause a processing system to perform various functions when executed by an apparatus such as a processor. These software modules may include a transmission module and a receiving module. Each software module may reside in a single storage device or may be distributed across multiple storage devices. As an example, when a triggering event occurs, a software module may be loaded into a RAM from a hard drive. During the execution of a software module, a processor may load some instructions into a cache to increase access speed. One or more cache lines may then be loaded into a general register file for execution by the processor. When describing the functionality of a software module as described below, it will be understood that such functionality is implemented by the processor when the processor executes instructions from the software module.

[0108] Likewise, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technology (such as infrared (IR), radio, and microwave), then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technology (such as infrared, radio, and microwave) is included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Disks, where disks often reproduce data magnetically, and discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Thus, in some aspects, computer-readable media may include non-transitory computer-readable media (e.g., tangible media). Additionally, for other aspects, computer-readable media may include transient computer-readable media (e.g., signals). Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0109] Thus, some aspects may include a computer program product for performing the operations presented herein. For example, such a computer program product may include a computer-readable medium having stored (and / or encoded) thereon instructions that can be executed by one or more processors to perform the operations described herein. For example, a computer program product for performing the operations described herein and in Figure 4 Instructions for the operations explained in .

[0110] In addition, it should be appreciated that modules and / or other appropriate means for performing the methods and techniques described herein may be downloaded and / or otherwise obtained by a user terminal and / or base station where applicable. For example, such a device can be coupled to a server to facilitate the transfer of means for performing the methods described herein. Alternatively, the various methods described herein can be provided via a storage device (e.g., RAM, ROM, a physical storage medium such as a compact disc (CD) or a floppy disk, etc.) so that once the storage device is coupled to or provided to a user terminal and / or base station, the device can obtain the various methods. In addition, any other suitable technology suitable for providing the methods and techniques described herein to a device may be utilized.

[0111] It will be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise configuration and components illustrated above. Various changes, substitutions and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the methods and apparatus described above without departing from the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication by a wireless device, the method comprising: selecting a plurality of transmit / receive points (TRPs) of a user equipment (UE) to form a TRP group based on information indicating a relative position between the TRPs and each of the plurality of TRPs so that the relative position between the UE and the plurality of TRPs satisfies a criterion, wherein the information indicating the relative position comprises a reference signal time difference measurement (RSTD) between the UE and each of the plurality of TRPs, wherein the criterion is a defined maximum difference between the RSTDs of the plurality of TRPs in the TRP group, and wherein the plurality of TRPs in the TRP group are selected so that a level of communication delay between each of the plurality of TRPs and the UE is within a defined delay range; and A single timing advance between the UE and the TRP group is used to communicate on the uplink.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wireless device is the UE, and wherein communicating on the uplink includes using the single timing advance to transmit uplink transmissions to the TRP group.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wireless device is the first TRP in the TRP group, and wherein communicating on the uplink includes receiving from the UE an uplink transmission transmitted using the single timing advance for the TRP group.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the number of TRPs in the TRP group is further based on information indicating a signal quality between the UE and each of the plurality of TRPs.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is the UE, and the method further comprises: A positioning reference signal (PRS) is received from the multiple TRPs and the RSTD is determined based on the received PRS.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is a first TRP of the plurality of TRPs, and the method further comprises: The RSTD is received from the UE.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the TRP group includes a first TRP, and the first TRP is selected based on information indicating a signal quality between the UE and the first TRP.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a first TRP is selected for the TRP group based on that the first TRP has a signal quality between the UE and the first TRP that satisfies a threshold, and wherein the remaining TRPs in the plurality of TRPs are selected to maximize the number of the plurality of TRPs that satisfy the criterion.

9. A wireless device comprising: Memory; as well as a processor coupled to the memory, the processor and the memory being configured to: selecting a plurality of transmit / receive points (TRPs) of a user equipment (UE) to form a TRP group based on information indicating a relative position between the TRPs and each of the plurality of TRPs so that the relative position between the UE and the plurality of TRPs satisfies a criterion, wherein the information indicating the relative position comprises a reference signal time difference measurement (RSTD) between the UE and each of the plurality of TRPs, wherein the criterion is a defined maximum difference between the RSTDs of the plurality of TRPs in the TRP group, and wherein the plurality of TRPs in the TRP group are selected so that a level of communication delay between each of the plurality of TRPs and the UE is within a defined delay range; and A single timing advance between the UE and the TRP group is used to communicate on the uplink.

10. A wireless device as described in claim 9, wherein the wireless device is the UE, and wherein communicating on the uplink includes using the single timing advance to transmit an uplink transmission to the TRP group.

11. A wireless device as described in claim 9, wherein the wireless device is the first TRP in the TRP group, and wherein communicating on the uplink includes receiving an uplink transmission transmitted using the single timing advance for the TRP group from the UE.

12. A wireless device as described in claim 9, wherein selecting the number of TRPs in the TRP group is further based on information indicating the signal quality between the UE and each of the multiple TRPs.

13. The wireless device of claim 9, wherein the wireless device is the UE, and wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: A positioning reference signal (PRS) is received from the multiple TRPs and the RSTD is determined based on the received PRS.

14. The wireless device of claim 9, wherein the wireless device is a first TRP of the plurality of TRPs, and wherein the processor and memory are further configured to: The RSTD is received from the UE.

15. A wireless device as described in claim 9, wherein the TRP group includes a first TRP, and the first TRP is selected based on information indicating a signal quality between the UE and the first TRP.

16. A wireless device as described in claim 9, wherein a first TRP is selected for the TRP group based on the first TRP having a signal quality between the UE and the first TRP that satisfies a threshold, and wherein remaining TRPs among the plurality of TRPs are selected to maximize the number of the plurality of TRPs that satisfy the criterion.

17. A wireless device comprising: Means for selecting a plurality of transmit-receive points (TRPs) of a user equipment (UE) to form a TRP group based on information indicating a relative position between the UE and each of the plurality of TRPs so that the relative position between the UE and the plurality of TRPs satisfies a criterion, wherein the information indicating the relative position comprises a reference signal time difference measurement (RSTD) between the UE and each of the plurality of TRPs, wherein the criterion is a defined maximum difference between the RSTDs of the plurality of TRPs in the TRP group, and wherein the plurality of TRPs in the TRP group are selected so that a level of communication delay between each of the plurality of TRPs and the UE is within a defined delay range; as well as Means for communicating on the uplink using a single timing advance between the UE and the TRP group.

18. A wireless device as claimed in claim 17, wherein the wireless device is the UE, and wherein the device for communicating on the uplink is configured to use the single timing advance to transmit uplink transmissions to the TRP group.

19. A wireless device as described in claim 17, wherein the wireless device is the first TRP in the TRP group, and wherein the device for communicating on the uplink is configured to receive an uplink transmission transmitted using the single timing advance for the TRP group from the UE.

20. A wireless device as described in claim 17, wherein the device for selecting the number of TRPs in the TRP group is configured to select the multiple TRPs further based on information indicating the signal quality between the UE and each of the multiple TRPs.

21. The wireless device of claim 17, wherein the wireless device is the UE, and further comprising: Means for receiving positioning reference signals (PRS) from the plurality of TRPs and determining the RSTD based on the received PRS.

22. The wireless device of claim 17, wherein the wireless device is a first TRP of the plurality of TRPs, and further comprising: means for receiving the RSTD from the UE.

23. A wireless device as described in claim 17, wherein the TRP group includes a first TRP, and the first TRP is selected based on information indicating the signal quality between the UE and the first TRP.

24. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a wireless device, cause the wireless device to perform a method of wireless communications, the method comprising: selecting a plurality of transmit / receive points (TRPs) of a user equipment (UE) to form a TRP group based on information indicating a relative position between the TRPs and each of the plurality of TRPs so that the relative position between the UE and the plurality of TRPs satisfies a criterion, wherein the information indicating the relative position comprises a reference signal time difference measurement (RSTD) between the UE and each of the plurality of TRPs, wherein the criterion is a defined maximum difference between the RSTDs of the plurality of TRPs in the TRP group, and wherein the plurality of TRPs in the TRP group are selected so that a level of communication delay between each of the plurality of TRPs and the UE is within a defined delay range; and A single timing advance between the UE and the TRP group is used to communicate on the uplink.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in claim 24, wherein the wireless device is the UE, and wherein communicating on the uplink includes using the single timing advance to transmit an uplink transmission to the TRP group.

26. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in claim 24, wherein the wireless device is the first TRP in the TRP group, and wherein communicating on the uplink includes receiving an uplink transmission from the UE for the TRP group transmitted using the single timing advance.

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