Space diversity reporting for efficient reliable and low latency communications

Abstract

Various aspects of the present disclosure relate to a multi-antenna user equipment (UE) calculating a covariance matrix corresponding to the covariance of signals received from each of its antennas. The UE further calculates eigenvectors of the covariance matrix and transmits feedback including information corresponding to the eigenvectors. Based on the information, a base station may determine to change the number of beams used to transmit information to the UE to efficiently improve the reliability of transmissions to the UE. Other aspects, embodiments, and features are also claimed and described.

Description

[0001] Priority claim

[0002] This patent application claims priority to U.S. non-provisional application No. 16 / 778,991, filed on January 31, 2020, entitled “SPATIAL DIVERSITY REPORTING FOR EFFECTIVE RELIABLE AND LOW-LATENCY COMMUNICATIONS,” which has been assigned to its assignee and is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] The techniques discussed below relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to spatial diversity reporting for efficient ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC). Embodiments may provide and enable techniques for changing the number of spatial beams.

[0004] introduction

[0005] In millimeter wave (mmW) cellular communication systems, beamforming is widely used to overcome high path loss. In the case of beamforming, both the base station and the user equipment (UE) find and maintain a suitable beam to maintain the communication link. Beam management is a procedure that these nodes generally use to improve the beam being used due to changing channel conditions (e.g., due to movement of the UE or other objects in the link path).

[0006] With the recent introduction of Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), various applications with very stringent targets for reliability and latency have become feasible. However, applications with extremely low latency targets mean that conventional beam management procedures may not be sufficient.

[0007] A brief overview of some examples

[0008] A brief summary of one or more aspects of the present disclosure is given below to provide a basic understanding of these aspects. This summary is not an exhaustive overview of all conceived features of the present disclosure, and is neither intended to identify the key or decisive elements of all aspects of the present disclosure nor to attempt to define the scope of any or all aspects of the present disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects of the present disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description that will be given later.

[0009] Various aspects of the present disclosure relate to a multi-antenna user equipment (UE) calculating a covariance matrix corresponding to the covariance of signals received from each of its antennas. The UE further calculates eigenvectors of the covariance matrix and transmits feedback including information corresponding to the eigenvectors. Based on the information, a base station may determine to change the number of beams used to transmit information to the UE to efficiently improve the reliability of transmission to the UE.

[0010] In one example, a wireless communication method is disclosed. The method includes receiving a packet using multiple antennas. The method further includes calculating at least one covariance matrix corresponding to the covariance of a signal corresponding to the received packet from each of the multiple antennas. The method further includes calculating one or more eigenvectors of each covariance matrix in the at least one covariance matrix. The method further includes transmitting a response to the received packet, the response including information corresponding to the calculated one or more eigenvectors.

[0011] In another example, a method of wireless communication operable at a first transmission point (TRP) is disclosed. The method includes transmitting a packet to a multi-antenna receiver device using a first number of beams. The method further includes receiving a response to the packet, the response including information corresponding to one or more eigenvectors of at least one covariance matrix corresponding to the covariance of a signal from each of a plurality of receive antennas at the multi-antenna receiver device for receiving the packet. The method further includes determining, based on the response, whether to change the number of beams to a second number of beams different from the first number of beams.

[0012] In another example, a first transmission point (TRP) for wireless communication is disclosed. The TRP includes a processor; a transceiver communicatively coupled to the processor, the transceiver including multiple antennas; and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor. The processor and the memory are configured to transmit a packet to a multi-antenna receiver device via the transceiver using a first number of beams. The processor and the memory are further configured to receive a response to the packet via the transceiver, the response including information corresponding to one or more eigenvectors of at least one covariance matrix, the at least one covariance matrix corresponding to the covariance of a signal from each of multiple receive antennas at the multi-antenna receiver device for receiving the packet. The processor and the memory are further configured to determine whether to change the number of beams to a second number of beams different from the first number of beams based on the response.

[0013] These and other aspects of the present invention will be more fully understood after reading the following detailed description. After reading the following description of specific exemplary embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, other aspects, features and embodiments will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Although the various features may be discussed below with respect to certain embodiments and accompanying drawings, all embodiments may include one or more of the advantageous features discussed herein. In other words, although one or more embodiments may be discussed as having certain advantageous features, one or more such features may also be used according to the various embodiments discussed herein. In a similar manner, although the exemplary embodiments may be discussed below as device, system or method embodiments, it should be appreciated that such exemplary embodiments may be implemented in various devices, systems, and methods. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Figure 1 is a schematic illustration of a wireless communication system in accordance with some aspects.

[0016] Figure 2 is a conceptual illustration of an example of a radio access network in accordance with some aspects.

[0017] Figure 3 is a schematic illustration of the organization of wireless resources in an air interface utilizing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) according to some embodiments.

[0018] Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication system supporting multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications.

[0019] Figure 5 are illustrations of two examples of beam management procedures known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

[0020] Figure 6 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a base station according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 7 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a user equipment (UE) according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a beamforming architecture in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0023] Fig. 9 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process for a UE to utilize computation of eigenvectors of a covariance matrix as part of a beam management procedure in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0024] Fig.10is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process for a base station to utilize eigenvectors of a covariance matrix as part of a beam management procedure in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0025] Detailed Description

[0026] The detailed description set forth below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. This detailed description includes specific details to provide a thorough understanding of the various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid diluting such concepts.

[0027] Although various aspects and embodiments are described in this application by explanation of some examples, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that additional implementations and use cases can be generated in many different arrangements and scenarios. The innovation described herein can be implemented across many different platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, and packaging arrangements. For example, each embodiment and / or use can be generated via an integrated chip embodiment and other devices based on non-module components (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communication equipment, computing equipment, industrial equipment, retail / shopping equipment, medical equipment, AI-enabled devices, etc.). Although some examples may or may not be specifically for each use case or application, the wide applicability of the described innovation may occur. The scope of each implementation can range from chip-level or module components to non-module, non-chip-level implementations, and further to aggregated, distributed or OEM devices or systems incorporating one or more aspects of the described innovation. In some practical environments, the equipment incorporating the various aspects and features described may also necessarily include additional components and features for implementing and practicing the claimed and described embodiments. For example, the transmission and reception of wireless signals necessarily include several components for analog and digital purposes (e.g., hardware components, including antennas, RF chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, processor(s), interleavers, adders / summers, etc.). The innovations described herein are intended to be practiced in a wide variety of devices, chip-level components, systems, distributed arrangements, end-user devices, etc., of various sizes, shapes, and configurations.

[0028] Various aspects of the present disclosure relate to a multi-antenna user equipment (UE) calculating a covariance matrix corresponding to the covariance of signals received from each of its antennas. The UE further calculates eigenvectors of the covariance matrix and transmits feedback including information corresponding to the eigenvectors. Based on the information, a base station may determine to change the number of beams used to transmit information to the UE to efficiently improve the reliability of transmissions to the UE. Other aspects, embodiments, and features are also claimed and described.

[0029] The various concepts presented throughout this disclosure may be implemented across a wide variety of telecommunication systems, network architectures, and communication standards. Figure 1 , various aspects of the present disclosure are explained with reference to a wireless communication system 100 as an illustrative example and not as a limitation. The wireless communication system 100 includes three interacting domains: a core network 102, a radio access network (RAN) 104, and a user equipment (UE) 106. By means of the wireless communication system 100, the UE 106 may be enabled to perform data communications with an external data network 110, such as, but not limited to, the Internet.

[0030] The RAN 104 may implement any suitable one or more wireless communication technologies to provide radio access to the UE 106. As an example, the RAN 104 may operate in accordance with the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) New Radio (NR) specifications, commonly referred to as 5G. As another example, the RAN 104 may operate under a mix of 5G NR and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (eUTRAN) standards, commonly referred to as LTE. 3GPP refers to this hybrid RAN as the Next Generation RAN, or NG-RAN. Of course, many other examples may be utilized within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0031] As illustrated, the RAN 104 includes a plurality of base stations 108. In a broad sense, a base station is a network element in a radio access network that is responsible for radio transmission and reception to or from a UE in one or more cells. In different technologies, standards, or contexts, a base station may be referred to differently by those skilled in the art as a base transceiver station (BTS), a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), an access point (AP), a Node B (NB), an evolved Node B (eNB), a g Node B (gNB), or some other suitable terminology.

[0032] The radio access network 104 is further illustrated as supporting wireless communications for multiple mobile devices. A mobile device may be referred to as a user equipment (UE) in the 3GPP standard, but may also be referred to as a mobile station (MS), 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 (AT), a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a terminal, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology by those skilled in the art. A UE may be a device (e.g., a mobile device) that provides a user with access to network services.

[0033] Within this document, a "mobile" device does not necessarily need to have mobile capabilities, and may be stationary. The term mobile device or mobile equipment refers broadly to a wide variety of devices and technologies. A UE may include several hardware structural components sized, shaped, and arranged to facilitate communication; such components may include antennas, antenna arrays, RF chains, amplifiers, one or more processors, and the like electrically coupled to each other. For example, some non-limiting examples of mobile devices include mobile devices, cellular (cell) phones, smart phones, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, laptops, personal computers (PCs), notebooks, netbooks, smartbooks, tablet devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and a wide variety of embedded systems, for example, corresponding to the "Internet of Things" (IoT). Additionally, the mobile device may be a car or other transportation vehicle, a remote sensor or actuator, a robot or robotic device, a satellite radio, a global positioning system (GPS) device, an object tracking device, a drone, a multicopter, a quadcopter, a remote control device, a consumer and / or wearable device (such as glasses), a wearable camera, a virtual reality device, a smart watch, a health or fitness tracker, a digital audio player (e.g., an MP3 player), a camera, a game console, etc. Additionally, the mobile device may be a digital home or smart home device, such as home audio, video and / or multimedia equipment, an appliance, a vending machine, a smart lighting device, a home security system, a smart meter, etc. The mobile device may further be a smart energy device, a security device, a solar panel or solar array, a municipal infrastructure device (e.g., a smart grid) that controls electricity, lighting, water, etc.; industrial automation and enterprise equipment; logistics controllers; agricultural equipment; military defense equipment, vehicles, aircraft, ships, and weapons, etc. Still further, the mobile device may provide networked medical or telemedicine support, such as health care at a distance. Telehealth devices may include telehealth monitoring devices and telehealth supervisory devices, whose communications may be given priority or prioritized access over other types of information, for example in the form of prioritized access for critical service data transmission and / or associated QoS for critical service data transmission.

[0034] Wireless communication between RAN 104 and UE 106 may be described as utilizing an air interface. Transmissions over the air interface from a base station (e.g., base station 108) to one or more UEs (e.g., UE 106) may be referred to as downlink (DL) transmissions. According to certain aspects of the present disclosure, the term downlink may refer to a point-to-multipoint transmission originating at a scheduling entity (further described below; e.g., base station 108). Another way to describe this scheme may be to use the term broadcast channel multiplexing. Transmissions from a UE (e.g., UE 106) to a base station (e.g., base station 108) may be referred to as uplink (UL) transmissions. According to further aspects of the present disclosure, the term uplink may refer to a point-to-point transmission originating at a scheduled entity (further described below; e.g., UE 106).

[0035] In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled, wherein a scheduling entity (e.g., a base station 108) allocates resources for communication among some or all devices and equipment within its service area or cell. Within the present disclosure, as discussed further below, a scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more scheduled entities. That is, for scheduled communications, a UE 106 (which may be a scheduled entity) may utilize resources allocated by the scheduling entity 108.

[0036] Base station 108 is not the only entity that may function as a scheduling entity. That is, in some examples, a UE may function as a scheduling entity, scheduling resources for one or more scheduled entities (eg, one or more other UEs).

[0037] like Figure 1 , the scheduling entity 108 may broadcast downlink traffic 112 to one or more scheduled entities 106. Broadly speaking, the scheduling entity 108 is a node or device responsible for scheduling traffic in the wireless communication network, including downlink traffic 112 and, in some examples, uplink traffic 116 from one or more scheduled entities 106 to the scheduling entity 108. On the other hand, the scheduled entity 106 is a node or device that receives downlink control information 114 (including but not limited to scheduling information (e.g., grants), synchronization or timing information), or other control information from another entity in the wireless communication network, such as the scheduling entity 108.

[0038] In general, the base stations 108 may include a backhaul interface 120 for communicating with a backhaul portion of the wireless communication system. The backhaul interface 120 may provide a link between the base stations 108 and the core network 102. Additionally, in some examples, a backhaul network may provide interconnections between the respective base stations 108. Various types of backhaul interfaces 120 may be employed, such as a direct physical connection using any suitable transport network, a virtual network, and the like.

[0039] The core network 102 may be part of the wireless communication system 100 and may be independent of the radio access technology used in the RAN 104. In some examples, the core network 102 may be configured according to a 5G standard (e.g., 5GC). In other examples, the core network 102 may be configured according to a 4G Evolved Packet Core (EPC), or any other suitable standard or configuration.

[0040] Now refer to Figure 2 , a schematic illustration of RAN 200 is provided by way of example and not limitation. In some examples, RAN 200 may be similar to that described above and in Figure 1 The geographic area covered by the RAN 200 may be divided into cellular areas (cells) that may be uniquely identified by a UE based on an identity broadcast from an access point or base station. Figure 2 Macro cells 202, 204, and 206, and small cells 208 are illustrated, each of which may include one or more sectors (not shown). A sector is a sub-area of ​​a cell. All sectors within one cell are served by the same base station. A radio link within a sector may be identified by a single logical identification belonging to the sector. In a cell divided into sectors, multiple sectors within a cell may be formed by antenna groups, where each antenna is responsible for communication with UEs in a portion of the cell.

[0041] exist Figure 2 , two base stations 210 and 212 are shown in the cellular cells 202 and 204; and a third base station 214 is shown as controlling a remote radio head (RRH) 216 in the cellular cell 206. That is, the base station may have an integrated antenna, or may be connected to the antenna or RRH by a feeder cable. In the illustrated example, the cellular cells 202, 204, and 126 may be referred to as macro cells because the base stations 210, 212, and 214 support cells with large sizes. In addition, the base station 218 is shown in a small cell 208 (e.g., a micro cell, a micro cell, a femto cell, a home base station, a home node B, a home evolved node B, etc.), which may overlap with one or more macro cells. In this example, the cellular cell 208 may be referred to as a small cell because the base station 218 supports a cell with a relatively small size. The cell size setting may be done according to the system design and component constraints.

[0042] It is to be understood that the radio access network 200 may include any number of wireless base stations and cellular cells. In addition, relay nodes may be deployed to extend the size or coverage area of ​​a given cellular cell. Base stations 210, 212, 214, 218 provide wireless access points to the core network for any number of mobile devices. In some examples, base stations 210, 212, 214, and / or 218 may be similar to those described above and in Figure 1 The same as the base station / scheduling entity 108 illustrated in FIG.

[0043] Figure 2 Further included is a quadcopter or drone 220 that can be configured to act as a base station. That is, in some examples, the cell may not necessarily be stationary, and the geographic area of ​​the cell may move depending on the location of a mobile base station (such as a quadcopter 220).

[0044] Within the RAN 200, cells may include UEs that may be in communication with one or more sectors of each cell. In addition, each base station 210, 212, 214, 218, and 220 may be configured to provide a core network 102 (see FIG. 1 ) for all UEs in the corresponding cell. Figure 1 ) access point. For example, UEs 222 and 224 may be in communication with base station 210; UEs 226 and 228 may be in communication with base station 212; UEs 230 and 232 may be in communication with base station 214 via RRH 216; UE 234 may be in communication with base station 218; and UE 236 may be in communication with mobile base station 220. In some examples, UEs 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, 232, 234, 236, 238, 240, and / or 242 may be in communication with the mobile base station 220 described above and in Figure 1 The UE / scheduled entity 106 is the same as illustrated in FIG.

[0045] In some examples, a mobile network node (eg, quadcopter 220) can be configured to function as a UE. For example, quadcopter 220 can operate within cell 202 by communicating with base station 210.

[0046] In a further aspect of RAN 200, sidelink signals may be used between UEs without having to rely on scheduling or control information from a base station. For example, two or more UEs (e.g., UE 226 and 228) may communicate with each other using peer-to-peer (P2P) or sidelink signals 227 without relaying the communication through a base station (e.g., base station 212). In a further example, UE 238 is illustrated as communicating with UEs 240 and 242. Here, UE 238 may be used as a scheduling entity or a primary sidelink device, and UEs 240 and 242 may be used as scheduled entities or non-primary (e.g., secondary) sidelink devices. In yet another example, a UE may be used as a scheduling entity in a device-to-device (D2D), peer-to-peer (P2P), or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network, and / or a mesh network. In a mesh network example, UEs 240 and 242 may optionally communicate directly with each other in addition to communicating with scheduling entity 238. Thus, in a wireless communication system having scheduled access to time-frequency resources and having a cellular configuration, a P2P configuration, or a mesh configuration, a scheduling entity and one or more scheduled entities may communicate using the scheduled resources.

[0047] In the radio access network 200, the ability of a UE to communicate independently of its location while moving is called mobility. The various physical channels between the UE and the radio access network are generally managed by an access and mobility management function (AMF, not illustrated, Figure 1 The AMF is established, maintained and released under the control of the core network 102 in the core network, which may include a security context management function (SCMF) that manages the security context of both the control plane and the user plane functionalities and a security anchor function (SEAF) that performs authentication.

[0048] The air interface in the radio access network 200 may utilize one or more duplex algorithms. Duplex refers to a point-to-point communication link in which both endpoints can communicate with each other in two directions. Full-duplex means that both endpoints can communicate with each other at the same time. Half-duplex means that only one endpoint can send information to the other endpoint at a time. In a wireless link, a full-duplex channel generally relies on the physical isolation of the transmitter and the receiver, and suitable interference cancellation techniques. Full-duplex simulation is usually implemented for a wireless link by utilizing frequency division duplex (FDD) or time division duplex (TDD). In FDD, transmissions in different directions operate at different carrier frequencies. In TDD, transmissions in different directions on a given channel are separated from each other using time division multiplexing. That is, at some times, the channel is dedicated to transmissions in one direction, and at other times, the channel is dedicated to transmissions in another direction, where the direction can change very quickly, for example, several times per time slot.

[0049] The air interface in the radio access network 200 may utilize one or more multiplexing and multiple access algorithms to enable simultaneous communication of various devices. For example, the 5G NR specification utilizes orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) to provide multiple access for UL transmissions from UE 222 and 224 to base station 210, and multiplexing for DL ​​transmissions from base station 210 to one or more UEs 222 and 224. In addition, for UL transmissions, the 5G NR specification provides support for discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) with CP (also known as single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA)). However, within the scope of the present disclosure, multiplexing and multiple access are not limited to the above schemes, and may be provided using time division multiple access (TDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), sparse code multiple access (SCMA), resource extension multiple access (RSMA), or other appropriate multiple access schemes. In addition, multiplexing of DL transmissions from base station 210 to UEs 222 and 224 may be provided using time division multiplexing (TDM), code division multiplexing (CDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), sparse code multiplexing (SCM), or other suitable multiplexing schemes.

[0050] Will refer to Figure 3 Various aspects of the present disclosure are described using an OFDM waveform schematically illustrated in FIG. It should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various aspects of the present disclosure can be applied to DFT-s-OFDMA waveforms in substantially the same manner as described below. That is, while some examples of the present disclosure may focus on OFDM links for clarity, it should be understood that the same principles can also be applied to DFT-s-OFDMA waveforms.

[0051] In some examples, a frame may refer to a 10 ms duration for wireless transmission, where each frame includes, for example, 10 subframes of 1 ms each. On a given carrier, there may be one set of frames in the UL and another set of frames in the DL. Now referring to Figure 3, illustrating an expanded view of an exemplary DL subframe 302 showing an OFDM resource grid 304. The OFDM air interface can be defined according to a two-dimensional grid of resource elements, which is defined by defining a set of closely spaced frequency tones or subcarriers to separate resources in frequency, and by defining a sequence of symbols with a given duration to separate in time. By setting the spacing between each tone based on the symbol rate, inter-symbol interference can be eliminated. The OFDM channel provides high data rates by allocating data streams across multiple subcarriers in a parallel manner. However, as will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, the PHY transmission structure for any particular application may differ from the examples described herein depending on any number of factors. Here, time is in the horizontal direction in units of OFDM symbols; and frequency is in the vertical direction in units of subcarriers or tones.

[0052] Resource grid 304 can be used to schematically represent the time-frequency resources for a given antenna port. That is, in a MIMO implementation with multiple antenna ports available, there may be corresponding multiple resource grids 304 available for communication. Resource grid 304 is divided into multiple resource elements (REs) 306. RE (which is 1 subcarrier × 1 symbol) is the smallest discrete part of the time-frequency grid and contains a single complex value representing data from a physical channel or signal. Depending on the modulation utilized in a particular implementation, each RE may represent one or more information bits. In some examples, a block of REs may be referred to as a physical resource block (PRB) or more simply a resource block (RB) 308, which contains any suitable number of consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. In one example, an RB may include 12 subcarriers, which number is independent of the parameter design used. In some examples, depending on the parameter design, an RB may include any suitable number of consecutive OFDM symbols in the time domain. Within the present disclosure, it is assumed that a single RB (such as RB308) corresponds entirely to a single communication direction (transmission or reception for a given device).

[0053] A UE typically utilizes only a subset of the resource grid 304. An RB may be the smallest resource unit that may be allocated to a UE. Thus, the more RBs are scheduled for a UE and the higher the modulation scheme chosen for the air interface, the higher the data rate for the UE.

[0054] In this illustration, RB 308 is shown as occupying less than the entire bandwidth of subframe 302, with some subcarriers illustrated above and below RB 308. In a given implementation, subframe 302 may have a bandwidth corresponding to any number of one or more RBs 308. Furthermore, in this illustration, RB 308 is shown as occupying less than the entire duration of subframe 302, but this is merely one possible example.

[0055] Each subframe 302 (e.g., a 1 ms subframe) may include one or more adjacent time slots. Figure 3 In the example shown in , a subframe 302 includes four time slots 310. In some examples, a time slot may be defined according to a specified number of OFDM symbols with a given cyclic prefix (CP) length. For example, a time slot may include 7 or 14 OFDM symbols with a nominal CP. Additional examples may include mini-slots with shorter durations (e.g., 1, 2, 4, or 7 OFDM symbols). In some cases, these mini-slots may occupy resources scheduled for ongoing time slot transmissions for the same or different UEs for transmission.

[0056] The expanded view of one slot 310 illustrates the slot 310 including a control region 312 and a data region 314. In general, the control region 312 may carry a control channel (e.g., PDCCH), while the data region 314 may carry a data channel (e.g., PDSCH or PUSCH). Of course, a slot may contain all DL, all UL, or at least one DL portion and at least one UL portion. Figure 3 The simple structure illustrated in is merely exemplary in nature and different slot structures may be utilized and may include one or more of each of the control region and the data region.

[0057] Although not in Figure 3 306, but each RE 308 within an RB 306 may be scheduled to carry one or more physical channels, including a control channel, a shared channel, a data channel, etc. Other REs 308 within an RB 306 may also carry pilot or reference signals. These pilot or reference signals may be used by a receiving device to perform channel estimation on the corresponding channel, which may enable coherent demodulation / detection of the control and / or data channels within the RB 308.

[0058] In a DL transmission, a transmitting device (e.g., a base station 108) may allocate one or more REs 306 (e.g., within a control region 312) to carry DL control information 114 to one or more UEs 106, the DL control information 114 including one or more DL control channels that generally carry information originating from higher layers, such as a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), etc. In addition, each DL RE may be allocated to carry DL physical signals, which generally do not carry information originating from higher layers. These DL physical signals may include a primary synchronization signal (PSS); a secondary synchronization signal (SSS); a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS); a phase tracking reference signal (PT-RS); a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), etc.

[0059] The synchronization signals PSS and SSS (collectively referred to as SS), and in some examples, the PBCH, may be transmitted in an SS block that includes 4 consecutive OFDM symbols numbered in increasing order from 0 to 3 via a time index. In the frequency domain, the SS block may be spread over 240 contiguous subcarriers, where the subcarriers are numbered in increasing order from 0 to 239 via a frequency index. Of course, the present disclosure is not limited to this particular SS block configuration. Other non-limiting examples within the scope of the present disclosure may utilize more or less than two synchronization signals; may include one or more supplemental channels in addition to the PBCH; may omit the PBCH; and / or may use non-consecutive symbols for the SS block.

[0060] The PDCCH may carry downlink control information (DCI) for one or more UEs in a cell. This may include, but is not limited to, power control commands, scheduling information, grants, and / or RE assignments for DL ​​and UL transmissions.

[0061] In UL transmission, a transmitting device (e.g., UE 106) may utilize one or more REs 306 to carry UL control information 118 (UCI). The UCI may originate from a higher layer via one or more UL control channels (such as a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physical random access channel (PRACH), etc.) to the base station 108. In addition, each UL RE may carry UL physical signals (which generally do not carry information originating from higher layers), such as a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS), a phase tracking reference signal (PT-RS), a sounding reference signal (SRS), etc. In some examples, the control information 118 may include a scheduling request (SR), i.e., a request for the base station 108 to schedule an uplink transmission. Here, in response to the SR transmitted on the control channel 118, the base station 108 may transmit downlink control information 114, which may schedule resources for uplink packet transmission.

[0062] The UL control information may also include hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback such as an acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative acknowledgement (NACK), channel state information (CSI), or any other suitable UL control information. HARQ is a well-known technology to those of ordinary skill in the art, wherein the integrity of the packet transmission may be verified at the receiving side for accuracy, for example, using any suitable integrity check mechanism such as a checksum or a cyclic redundancy check (CRC). If the integrity of the transmission is confirmed, an ACK may be transmitted, and if it is not confirmed, a NACK may be transmitted. In response to the NACK, the transmitting device may send a HARQ retransmission, which may enable catch-up combining, incremental redundancy, and the like.

[0063] In addition to control information, one or more REs 306 (e.g., within the data region 314) may also be allocated for user data or traffic data. Such traffic may be carried on one or more traffic channels, such as a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) for DL ​​transmissions or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) for UL transmissions.

[0064] In order for a UE to gain initial access to a cell, the RAN may provide system information (SI) that characterizes the cell. The system information may be provided using minimum system information (MSI) and other system information (OSI). The MSI may be broadcast periodically on the cell to provide the minimum information required for initial cell access and to obtain any OSI that may be broadcast periodically or sent on demand. In some examples, the MSI may be provided on two different downlink channels. For example, the PBCH may carry a master information block (MIB) and the PDSCH may carry a system information block type 1 (SIB1). In the art, SIB1 may be referred to as remaining minimum system information (RMSI).

[0065] The OSI may include any SI that is not broadcast in the MSI. In some examples, the PDSCH may carry multiple SIBs, not limited to SIB1 discussed above. Here, the OSI may be provided in these SIBs (eg, SIB2 and above).

[0066] Described above and in Figure 1 and 3 The channels or carriers illustrated in are not necessarily all channels or carriers that may be utilized between the base station 108 and the UE 106, and one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that other channels or carriers may be utilized in addition to those illustrated, such as other traffic, control, and feedback channels.

[0067] These physical channels are generally multiplexed and mapped to transport channels for handling by the medium access control (MAC) layer. The transport channels carry information blocks, which are called transport blocks (TBs). The transport block size (TBS), which may correspond to the number of information bits, may be a controlled parameter based on the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and the number of RBs in a given transmission.

[0068] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the base station and / or UE may be configured for beamforming and / or multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques. Beamforming generally refers to directional signal transmission or reception. For beamformed transmissions, the amplitude and phase of each antenna in an antenna array may be precoded or controlled to create a desired (e.g., directional) pattern of constructive and destructive interference in the wavefront.

[0069] Figure 4An example of a wireless communication system 400 that supports beamforming and / or MIMO is illustrated. In this system, a transmitter 402 includes multiple transmit antennas 404 (e.g., N transmit antennas), and a receiver 406 includes multiple receive antennas 408 (e.g., M receive antennas). Thus, there are N×M signal paths 410 from the transmit antennas 404 to the receive antennas 408. Each of the transmitter 402 and the receiver 406 may be implemented, for example, in a base station 108, a UE 106, or any other suitable wireless communication device.

[0070] The use of such multi-antenna techniques enables wireless communication systems to exploit the spatial domain to support spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and transmit diversity. Spatial multiplexing can be used to transmit different data streams (also referred to as layers) simultaneously on the same time-frequency resources. These data streams can be transmitted to a single UE to increase the data rate or to multiple UEs to increase the total system capacity, the latter being referred to as multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO). This is achieved by spatially precoding each data stream (i.e., multiplying the data streams by different weights and phase shifts) and then transmitting each spatially precoded stream through multiple transmit antennas on the downlink. The spatially precoded data streams arrive at the UE(s) with different spatial signatures, and these different spatial signatures enable each UE to recover one or more data streams intended for the UE. On the uplink, each UE transmits a spatially precoded data stream, which enables the base station to identify the source of each spatially precoded data stream.

[0071] The number of data streams or layers corresponds to the rank of the transmission. In general, the rank of the MIMO system 400 is limited to the lower of the number of transmit or receive antennas 404 or 408. In addition, the channel conditions at the UE and other considerations (such as the available resources at the base station) may also affect the transmission rank. For example, the rank (and therefore, the number of data streams) assigned to a specific UE on the downlink can be determined based on a rank indicator (RI) transmitted from the UE to the base station. The RI can be determined based on the antenna configuration (e.g., the number of transmit and receive antennas) and the measured signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) on each receive antenna. The RI can indicate, for example, the number of layers that can be supported under the current channel conditions. The base station can use the RI together with resource information (e.g., available resources and the amount of data to be scheduled for the UE) to assign a transmission rank to the UE.

[0072] In a time division duplex (TDD) system, UL and DL are reciprocal, each using different time slots of the same frequency bandwidth. Therefore, in a TDD system, the base station may assign a rank for DL ​​MIMO transmission based on UL SINR measurements (e.g., based on a sounding reference signal (SRS) or other pilot signal transmitted from the UE). Based on the assigned rank, the base station may then transmit a CSI-RS using a separate C-RS sequence for each layer to provide multi-layer channel estimation. Based on the CSI-RS, the UE may measure the channel quality across layers and resource blocks and feed back CQI and RI values ​​to the base station for use in updating the rank and assigning REs for future downlink transmissions.

[0073] In the simplest case, Figure 4 As shown in FIG, a rank 2 spatial multiplexing transmission on a 2###2 MIMO antenna configuration will transmit one data stream from each transmit antenna 404. Each data stream arrives at each receive antenna 410 along a different signal path 408. The receiver 406 can then reconstruct the data streams using the signals received from each receive antenna 408.

[0074] As part of a host of features being implemented in 3GPP's 5G NR, millimeter wave (mmW) signaling offers great promise. The term mmW generally refers to high frequency bands above 20 GHz, which can provide very large bandwidths. Because mmW signals can suffer from high path losses, cellular systems that utilize mmW beams can correspondingly suffer from reduced reliability. To reduce the impact of such path losses, mmW-based cellular systems can utilize beamforming.

[0075] To utilize beamforming, both the base station and the UE may find and maintain a suitable beam to enable a communication link. This procedure may be referred to as beam management, and in some examples may utilize a beam sweeping procedure. As part of beam management, the beams used by the base station and the UE may sometimes be refined from time to time due to changing channel conditions, movement of the UE or other objects, etc.

[0076] Figure 5 Two exemplary beam management procedures known to those of ordinary skill in the art are illustrated. These illustrated beam management procedures utilize beam sweeping. The link between a base station and a UE involves a base station beam and a UE beam. The base station beam and the UE beam form a so-called beam pair link (BPL).

[0077] Reference Figure 5Example 1 explained above, the first exemplary beam management procedure can be used to improve the base station beam of the BPL. For example, the base station 502 can use the new beams 524-a and 524-b around the old beam 522 to transmit. The UE 504 can keep its beam 542 constant and measure one or more characteristics of each beam transmitted from the base station 502, such as reference signal received power (RSRP), channel quality, etc. Based on the measurement, the UE 504 can identify the base station beam with the best performance (e.g., the old beam 522 or one of the new beams 524-a or 524-b) and report the best performance beam back to the base station 502.

[0078] Now refer to Figure 5 In Example 2 of the lower illustration of FIG. 1 , a second exemplary beam management procedure may be used to improve the UE beams of the BPL. For example, the base station 552 may transmit using the established beam 572 in the BPL, while the UE 554 may try new beams 594-a and 594-b pointing in a direction close to the old beam 592. The UE 554 may then measure one or more characteristics of each beam, and based on the measurements, the UE 554 may identify the beam with the best performance and report the performance to the base station 552.

[0079] 5G NR generally refers to a family of technologies and new radio access technologies that are being defined and standardized by 3GPP. Within this family of technologies, there has been considerable work involving so-called ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC). Sometimes URLLC may be equivalently referred to as mission-critical communications. Here, reliability refers to the probability of successfully transmitting a given number of bytes within 1ms under a given channel quality. Ultra-reliable refers to high target reliability, for example, greater than 99.999% packet success. Latency refers to the time it takes to successfully deliver an application layer packet or message. Low latency refers to a low target latency, for example, 1ms or even 0.5ms. In comparison, the target latency for non-URLLC communications may be 4ms

[0080] In order to achieve a given latency target, in general, not only must the successful delivery of a packet be carried out, but the device transmitting the packet must at least receive an acknowledgment of the successful delivery. In an NR communication system, this means that the latency target depends on the transmission cycle. For downlink traffic, this includes the transmission and reception of downlink packets, the processing of the packet by the UE, and the transmission of an ACK / NACK by the UE indicating the success or failure of the packet. In the event that a packet is not correctly received and decoded, the transmission cycle may further include time for the base station to send a packet retransmission (e.g., a HARQ retransmission) and the UE to process and acknowledge the retransmission. Depending on several factors such as the duration of an OFDM symbol used for a communication link, a low latency target of 0.5ms can only provide enough time for a single transmission. If the latency requirement is 1ms, there may be enough time for the initial transmission and one retransmission.

[0081] Several proposals have been made to achieve the goal of having successful packet reception after a first or second transmission (first retransmission). One of these proposals includes repeating (or duplicating) packet transmissions in space (i.e., using multiple beams simultaneously) or using multiple transmission points (mTRPs). That is, a UE may receive a given packet in multiple instances on multiple beams transmitted from a single base station or transmission point (TRP) or multiple base stations or TRPs.

[0082] Taking into account the above and Figure 5 In the context of URLLC, it can be appreciated that meeting latency requirements can be a rather challenging task, especially in the case of a single-panel TRP (which implies that a single beam can be transmitted in a given time slot). Repetition or duplication of the transmitted signal in the spatial domain can provide a solution, but beam allocation is a considerable resource, especially at higher frequencies such as mmW signals. Therefore, the use of repetition or duplication in the spatial domain can benefit from optimization.

[0083] In a given communication scenario, it may already be the case that spatial diversity is provided by current or ongoing transmissions (e.g., if MIMO is being utilized). In this case, multi-beam transmissions from the same TRP (if the TRP has more than one panel) or from an mTRP may not be needed to achieve a given latency target. If multi-beam transmissions are used unnecessarily, this may result in inefficient use of resources, generation of excessive interference, increased power consumption, and / or reduced capacity (e.g., due to inefficient use of resources or increased interference).

[0084] For example, consider a UE carrying traffic requiring ultra-reliability and low latency, where the UE is communicating with two TRPs and each TRP is transmitting one beam. When the radio link is good and there are no errors at the receiving UE, using multiple beams is a waste of resources and may increase power consumption at the UE. That is, the UE may utilize separate receiver chains, each of which consumes additional energy to receive each beam. In addition, using additional beams may create other cell interference.

[0085] One algorithm for addressing this problem may be to turn off multi-beam transmission and utilize single beam transmission after N consecutive error-free receptions at a given UE. However, this algorithm may suffer from reduced packet reception reliability in situations of unexpected changes in channel conditions, such as blocking, fast UE movement, etc. In this situation, the single link to the UE may be disconnected. Furthermore, the algorithm may not provide for detection of the need to start multi-beam transmission before erroneous reception occurs and a NACK is received at the base station.

[0086] Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosure provide systems, devices (apparatus), and methods for reducing or avoiding the problem of performing unnecessary multi-beam transmissions while also providing a way to detect the need for multi-beam transmissions to improve reliability. By utilizing the aspects described herein, high communication reliability can be achieved while reducing the problems associated with increased interference and increased UE power consumption.

[0087] For example, one aspect of the present disclosure relates to a UE reporting whether it receives more than one beam. The UE may detect the number of received beams based on a calculation of the number of eigenvectors of a covariance matrix of a receiver vector. Accordingly, the UE may report the number of eigenvectors of the covariance matrix. In another example, the UE may report whether the number of detected eigenvectors is greater than one. In yet another example, the UE may report whether more than one beam is correctly received. In either case, the UE report enables a transmitting party (e.g., a base station) to determine whether a receiving UE is receiving more than one beam.

[0088] For example, assume that a given transmitting device (e.g., a base station) transmits a single beam to a receiving device (e.g., a UE). In addition, assume that the receiving UE correctly decodes the received transport block (e.g., a MAC protocol data unit or PDU). In this case, the UE can calculate the covariance matrix of the signal received from its receiver antenna. That is, the signal received at the UE forms a vector having a size equal to the number of receiver antennas. By calculating the covariance matrix, the receiving UE can correspondingly calculate the eigenvectors of the covariance matrix of the received signal. If there is more than one eigenvector in the received signal, this may imply that single-beam transmission provides spatial diversity together with correct transport block reception. (In some examples, detecting two separate eigenvectors at the receiving UE may only imply receiver spatial diversity when the direction of the eigenvector indicates an angular spread greater than the beam width.) Accordingly, the use of multi-beam transmission may be unnecessary, and the transmitting base station may continue single-beam transmission.

[0089] Various aspects of the present disclosure allow the UE to estimate the number of eigenvectors in the covariance matrix of the received vector. Thereby, the UE can detect whether more than one beam is received, or more than one direction. If it is detected that the number of beams is greater than one, the UE can report it to the network. Accordingly, if high reliability is achieved with a reduced number of beams, the network can deactivate expensive multi-beam transmission to save energy consumption at the UE. On the other hand, if high reliability is required, although packet failure may not necessarily occur, if the UE reports a low number of beams (e.g., one beam), the network can activate multi-beam transmission to improve the reliability of the link.

[0090] Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a base station 600 employing a processing system 614. For example, the base station 600 may be Figure 1 , 2 , 4 and / or 5, or any one or more of the base stations described.

[0091] The base station 600 may be implemented with a processing system 614 including one or more processors 604. Examples of the processor 604 include a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a state machine, a gated logic, a discrete hardware circuit, and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functionalities described throughout this disclosure. In various examples, the base station 600 may be configured to perform any one or more of the functions described herein. That is, the processor 600 as utilized in the base station 604 may be used to implement the functions described below and in Fig.10 Any one or more of the processes and procedures explained in.

[0092] In this example, the processing system 614 can be implemented with a bus architecture generally represented by bus 602. Depending on the specific application and overall design constraints of the processing system 614, the bus 602 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges. The bus 602 communicatively couples various circuits including one or more processors (generally represented by processor 604), memory 605, and computer-readable media (generally represented by computer-readable media 606). The bus 602 may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art and therefore will not be further described. The bus interface 608 provides an interface between the bus 602 and the transceiver 610. The transceiver 610 provides a communication interface or device for communicating with various other equipment on a transmission medium. In addition, the transceiver 610 may include any suitable number of antennas and any suitable number of antenna panels for providing wireless communication using one or more beams in a beamformed link. Depending on the nature of the equipment, a user interface 612 (eg, keypad, display, speaker, microphone, joystick) may also be provided. Of course, such a user interface 612 is optional and may be omitted in some examples (such as a base station).

[0093] In various aspects of the present disclosure, the processor 604, or one or more components of the processor 604, may be referred to as a beam manager. In certain aspects of the present disclosure, the processor or beam manager 604 may include a beamforming circuit system 640, which is configured for various functions, including, for example, enabling and / or disabling spatial beams and controlling the directions of these beams. For example, the beamforming circuit system 640 may be configured to implement the following with respect to Fig.10 The processor or beam manager 604 may further include a beam management circuit system 642 configured for various functions, including, for example, determining whether to change the number of beams based on various factors, such factors including, but not limited to, information corresponding to the eigenvector provided in the response from the receiving UE. For example, the beam management circuit system 642 may be configured to implement the following with respect to Fig.10 One or more functions described, including, for example, block 1008 .

[0094] The processor 604 is responsible for managing the bus 602 and general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium 606. The software, when executed by the processor 604, causes the processing system 614 to perform the various functions described below for any particular device. The computer-readable medium 606 and memory 605 may also be used to store data manipulated by the processor 604 when executing the software.

[0095] One or more processors 604 in the processing system can execute software. Software should be broadly interpreted to mean instructions, instruction sets, codes, code segments, program codes, programs, subroutines, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether described in software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or other terms. The software may reside on a computer-readable medium 606. The computer-readable medium 606 may be a non-transitory computer-readable medium. As examples, non-transitory computer readable media include magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, magnetic tapes), optical disks (e.g., compact disks (CDs) or digital versatile disks (DVDs)), smart cards, flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick, or key-type drives), random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), registers, removable disks, and any other suitable medium for storing software and / or instructions that can be accessed and read by a computer. Computer readable medium 606 may reside in processing system 614, external to processing system 614, or distributed across multiple entities including processing system 614. Computer readable medium 606 may be implemented in a computer program product. As an example, a computer program product may include a computer readable medium in packaging materials. Those skilled in the art will recognize how to best implement the described functionality presented throughout this disclosure depending on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0096] In one or more examples, the computer-readable storage medium 606 may include beamforming software 660 configured for various functions, including, for example, enabling and / or disabling spatial beams and controlling the directions of these beams. For example, the beamforming software 660 may be configured to implement the following regarding Fig. 9 The computer readable storage medium 606 may further include a beam management software 662 configured for various functions, including, for example, determining whether to change the number of beams based on various factors, such factors including, but not limited to, information corresponding to eigenvectors provided in a response from a receiving UE. For example, the beam management software 662 may be configured to implement the following regarding Fig. 9 One or more functions described, including, for example, block 908 .

[0097] In one configuration, the base station or TRP 600 includes means for transmitting a packet to a multi-antenna receiver device using a first number of beams. Means for receiving a response to the packet, the response including information corresponding to one or more eigenvectors of at least one covariance matrix corresponding to the covariance of a signal from each of a plurality of receive antennas at the multi-antenna receiver device used to receive the packet. Means for determining whether to change the number of beams to a second number of beams different from the first number of beams based on the response. Means for transmitting to a second TRP instructions for starting transmission of one or more beams to the multi-antenna receiver device, or terminating transmission of one or more beams to the multi-antenna receiver device. In one aspect, the foregoing means may be Figure 6 The processor(s) 604 and / or memory 605 shown in the figure are configured to perform the functions described by the aforementioned device. In another aspect, the aforementioned device may be Figure 8 The beam manager 834 shown in FIG. 8 is configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. On the other hand, the aforementioned means may be a circuit or any equipment configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

[0098] Of course, in the above examples, the circuit system included in the processor 604 and / or the beam manager 834 is provided only as an example, and other means for performing the described functions may be included in various aspects of the present disclosure, including but not limited to instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium 606, or in Figure 1 , 2 , 4, 6 and / or 8 and using, for example, the present invention with respect to Fig.10 Any other suitable apparatus or device for implementing the described processes and / or algorithms.

[0099] Figure 7 704 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of an exemplary UE 700 employing a processing system 714. According to various aspects of the present disclosure, an element, or any portion of an element, or any combination of elements may be implemented with a processing system 714 including one or more processors 704. For example, UE 700 may be as in Figure 1 , 2 , 4 and / or 5 in any one or more of the UEs explained.

[0100] The processing system 714 may be used with Figure 6 The processing system 614 illustrated in FIG. 1 is substantially the same as that in FIG. 1 , including a bus interface 708, a bus 702, a memory 705, a processor 704, and a computer readable medium 706. In addition, the scheduled entity 700 may include the same as that in FIG. Figure 6The user interface 712 and transceiver 710 are substantially similar to those described in . In some examples, the transceiver 710 may include multiple antennas. In addition, the transceiver 710 may include multiple receiver chains for respectively receiving separate downlink beams. The processor 704 as utilized in the scheduled entity 700 may be used to implement the following description and in Fig. 9 Any one or more of the processes described in .

[0101] In various aspects of the present disclosure, the processor 704 may be referred to as a beam manager. In certain aspects of the present disclosure, the processor or beam manager 704 may include a covariance matrix calculation circuit system 740, which is configured for various functions, including, for example, calculating one or more covariance matrices corresponding to the covariance of the signal corresponding to the received packet from each of the multiple receive antennas. For example, the covariance matrix calculation circuit system 740 may be configured to implement the following with respect to Fig. 9 The processor or beam manager 704 may further include an eigenvector calculation circuit system 742 configured for various functions, including, for example, calculating one or more eigenvectors of the covariance matrix. For example, the eigenvector calculation circuit system 742 may be configured to implement the following with respect to Fig. 9 The processor or beam manager 704 may further include an integrity check circuit system 744 configured for various functions, including, for example, calculating a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of a received packet. For example, the integrity check circuit system 744 may be configured to implement the following with respect to Fig. 9 One or more functions described, including, for example, block 906 .

[0102] In one configuration, the UE 700 includes means for receiving packets using multiple antennas. Means for calculating at least one covariance matrix corresponding to the covariance of the signal corresponding to the received packet from each of the multiple antennas; means for calculating one or more eigenvectors for each of the at least one covariance matrix; means for transmitting a response to the received packet, the response including information corresponding to the calculated one or more eigenvectors; means for transmitting a request to start reporting information corresponding to the calculated one or more eigenvectors; and / or means for receiving a request to start reporting information corresponding to the calculated one or more eigenvectors. In one aspect, the foregoing means may be Figure 7 The processor(s) 704 and / or beam manager 834 shown in are configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. On the other hand, the aforementioned means may be a circuit or any equipment configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

[0103] Of course, in the above examples, the circuit system included in the processor 704 and / or the beam manager 834 is provided only as an example, and other means for performing the described functions may be included in various aspects of the present disclosure, including but not limited to instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium 706, or in Figure 1 , 2 , 4, 5, 7 and / or 8 and using, for example, the present invention with respect to Fig. 9 Any other suitable apparatus or device for implementing the described processes and / or algorithms.

[0104] Figure 8 An example of an architecture 800 that supports determining a sub-dominant cluster in an mmW channel in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In some examples, the architecture 800 may implement Figure 1 In some aspects, diagram 800 may be an example of a transceiver, such as transceiver 610 of a first wireless device or base station 600 and / or transceiver 710 of a second wireless device or UE 700, as described herein.

[0105] Broadly, Figure 8 800 is a diagram illustrating example hardware components of a wireless device according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. The illustrated components may include those components that can be used to perform beamforming for the transmission of wireless signals. There are numerous architectures for antenna element selection and phase shifting, only one example of which is illustrated here. Architecture 800 includes a modem (modulator / demodulator) 802, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 804, a first mixer 806, a second mixer 808, and a splitter 810. Architecture 800 also includes a plurality of first amplifiers 812, a plurality of phase shifters 814, a plurality of second amplifiers 816, and an antenna array 818 including a plurality of antenna elements 820. Transmission lines or other waveguides, wires, traces, etc. are shown to connect various components to illustrate how the signals to be transmitted can travel between the components. Boxes 822, 824, 826, and 828 indicate areas in architecture 800 where different types of signals travel or are processed. Specifically, box 822 indicates an area where digital baseband signals travel or are processed, box 824 indicates an area where analog baseband signals travel or are processed, box 826 indicates an area where analog intermediate frequency (IF) signals travel or are processed, and box 828 indicates an area where analog radio frequency (RF) signals travel or are processed. The architecture also includes local oscillator A 830, local oscillator B 832, and a beam manager 834.

[0106] Each of the antenna elements 820 may include one or more sub-elements (not shown) for radiating or receiving RF signals. For example, a single antenna element 820 may include a first sub-element that is cross-polarized with a second sub-element, and the second sub-element may be used to independently transmit a cross-polarized signal. The antenna elements 820 may include patch antennas or other types of antennas arranged in a linear, two-dimensional, or other pattern. The spacing between the antenna elements 820 may allow signals with desired wavelengths that are separately transmitted by the antenna elements 820 to interact or interfere (e.g., to form a desired beam). For example, given an expected range of wavelengths or frequencies, the spacing may provide a quarter wavelength, half a wavelength, or other fraction of a wavelength of the spacing between adjacent antenna elements 820 to allow interaction or interference of signals transmitted by separate antenna elements 820 within the expected range.

[0107] The modem 802 processes and generates a digital baseband signal, and may also control the operation of the DAC 804, the first and second mixers 806, 808, the splitter 810, the first amplifier 812, the phase shifter 814, and / or the second amplifier 816 to transmit the signal via one or more or all of the antenna elements 820. The modem 802 may process the signal and control the operation according to a communication standard (such as the wireless standard discussed herein). The DAC 804 may convert the digital baseband signal received from the modem 802 (and to be transmitted) into an analog baseband signal. The first mixer 806 uses the local oscillator A 830 to up-convert the analog baseband signal into an analog IF signal within the IF. For example, the first mixer 806 may mix the signal with the oscillating signal generated by the local oscillator A 830 to "move" the baseband analog signal to the IF. In some cases, some processing or filtering (not shown) may be performed at the IF. The second mixer 808 uses local oscillator B 832 to up-convert the analog IF signal to an analog RF signal. Similar to the first mixer, the second mixer 808 can mix the signal with the oscillating signal generated by local oscillator B 832 to "move" the IF analog signal to RF, or the frequency at which its signal will be transmitted or received. The modem 802 and / or the beam manager 834 can adjust the frequency of local oscillator A 830 and / or local oscillator B 832 so that the desired IF and / or RF frequencies are generated and used to facilitate the processing and transmission of signals within the desired bandwidth.

[0108] In the illustrated architecture 800, the signal up-converted by the second mixer 808 is split or copied into multiple signals by the splitter 810. The splitter 810 in the architecture 800 splits the RF signal into multiple identical or nearly identical RF signals, as indicated by its presence in the box 828. In other examples, any type of signal (including baseband digital signal, baseband analog signal or IF analog signal) can be split. Each of these signals can correspond to an antenna element 820, and the signal travels through amplifiers 812, 816, phase shifters 814 and / or other elements corresponding to the corresponding antenna element 820 or is processed by these elements to be provided to the corresponding antenna element 818 of the antenna array 820 or transmitted by the corresponding antenna element 520 of the antenna array 518. In one example, the splitter 810 can be an active splitter, which is connected to a power supply and provides some gain so that the RF signal leaving the splitter 810 is at a power level equal to or greater than the signal entering the splitter 810. In another example, the splitter 810 is a passive splitter that is not connected to a power source, and the RF signal exiting the splitter 810 may be at a lower power level than the RF signal entering the splitter 810 .

[0109] After being split by the splitter 810, the resulting RF signal can enter an amplifier (such as, the first amplifier 812) or a phase shifter 814 corresponding to the antenna element 820. The first amplifier 812 and the second amplifier 816 are illustrated with dotted lines because in some implementations, one or both of them may not be necessary. In one implementation, both the first amplifier 812 and the second amplifier 814 exist. In another implementation, both the first amplifier 812 and the second amplifier 814 do not exist. In other implementations, one of the two amplifiers 812, 814 exists, but the other does not exist. As an example, if the splitter 810 is an active splitter, the first amplifier 812 may not be used. As a further example, if the phase shifter 814 is an active phase shifter that can provide gain, the second amplifier 816 may not be used. Amplifiers 812, 816 can provide positive gain or negative gain of a desired level. Positive gain (positive dB) can be used to increase the amplitude of the signal radiated by a specific antenna element 820. Negative gain (negative dB) can be used to reduce the amplitude of a signal radiated by a particular antenna element and / or suppress its radiation. Each of the amplifiers 812, 816 can be independently controlled (e.g., by the modem 802 or the beam manager 834) to provide independent control of the gain for each antenna element 820. For example, the modem 802 and / or the beam manager 834 can have at least one control line connected to each of the splitter 810, the first amplifier 812, the phase shifter 814, and / or the second amplifier 816, which can be used to configure the gain to provide a desired amount of gain for each component and, therefore, each antenna element 820.

[0110] The phase shifter 814 can provide a configurable phase shift or phase offset to the corresponding RF signal to be transmitted. The phase shifter 814 can be a passive phase shifter that is not directly connected to the power supply. The passive phase shifter may introduce some insertion loss. The second amplifier 816 can enhance the signal to compensate for the insertion loss. The phase shifter 814 can be an active phase shifter connected to the power supply so that the active phase shifter provides a certain amount of gain or prevents insertion loss. The setting of each phase shifter 814 is independent, which means that each phase shifter can be set to provide a desired phase shift amount or the same phase shift amount or some other configuration. The modem 802 and / or the beam manager 834 may have at least one control line connected to each phase shifter 814, and the at least one control line can be used to configure the phase shifter 814 to provide a desired phase shift amount or phase offset between each antenna element 820.

[0111] In the illustrated architecture 800, the RF signal received by the antenna element 820 is provided to one or more of the first amplifiers 856 to enhance the signal strength. The first amplifier 856 may be connected to the same antenna array 818, for example, for TDD operation. The first amplifier 856 may be connected to different antenna arrays 818. The enhanced RF signal is input to one or more of the phase shifters 854 to provide a configurable phase shift or phase offset for the corresponding received RF signal. The phase shifter 854 may be an active phase shifter or a passive phase shifter. The settings of each phase shifter 854 are independent, which means that each phase shifter can be set to provide a desired phase shift amount or the same phase shift amount or some other configuration. The modem 802 and / or the beam manager 834 may have at least one control line connected to each phase shifter 854, and the at least one control line may be used to configure the phase shifter 854 to provide a desired phase shift amount or phase offset amount between each antenna element 820.

[0112] The output of phase shifter 854 may be input to one or more second amplifiers 852 for signal amplification of the phase-shifted received RF signal. Second amplifier 852 may be individually configured to provide a configured gain amount. Second amplifier 852 may be individually configured to provide a gain amount to ensure that the signals input to combiner 850 have the same amplitude. Amplifiers 852 and / or 856 are illustrated with dotted lines because they may not be necessary in some implementations. In one implementation, both amplifier 852 and amplifier 856 exist. In another implementation, both amplifier 852 and amplifier 856 do not exist. In other implementations, one of amplifiers 852, 856 exists, but the other does not exist.

[0113] In the illustrated architecture 800, the signals output by the phase shifter 854 (via the amplifier 850 when the amplifier 852 is present) are combined in the combiner 450. The combiner 850 in the architecture combines the RF signals into signals, as indicated by its presence in the block 828. The combiner 850 can be a passive combiner (e.g., not connected to a power source), which may result in some insertion loss. The combiner 850 can be an active combiner (e.g., connected to a power source), which may result in some signal gain. When the combiner 850 is an active combiner, it can provide a different (e.g., configurable) amount of gain for each input signal so that the input signals have the same amplitude when combined. When the combiner 850 is an active combiner, it may not need a second amplifier 852, because the active combiner can provide signal amplification.

[0114] The output of combiner 850 is input to mixers 848 and 846. Mixers 848 and 846 typically down-convert received RF signals using inputs from local oscillators 872 and 870, respectively, to produce intermediate or baseband signals carrying coded and modulated information. The outputs of mixers 848 and 846 are input to analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) 844 for conversion to analog signals. The analog signals output from ADC 844 are input to modem 802 for baseband processing, such as decoding, deinterleaving, etc.

[0115] The architecture 800 is given by way of example only to illustrate the architecture for transmitting and / or receiving signals. It will be understood that the architecture 800 and / or each part of the architecture 800 can be repeated multiple times within the architecture to accommodate or provide any number of RF chains, antenna elements and / or antenna panels. In addition, numerous replacement architectures are possible and are contemplated. For example, although only a single antenna array 818 is shown, two, three or more antenna arrays may be included, each antenna array having one or more of its own corresponding amplifiers, phase shifters, splitters, mixers, DACs, ADCs and / or modems. For example, a single UE may include two, four or more antenna arrays for transmitting or receiving signals at different physical locations on the UE or in different directions. In addition, mixers, splitters, amplifiers, phase shifters and other components may be located in different signal type areas (e.g., different boxes in boxes 822, 824, 826, 828) in different implementation architectures. For example, in different examples, splitting the signal to be transmitted into multiple signals may occur at analog RF, analog IF, analog baseband or digital baseband frequencies. Similarly, amplification and / or phase shifting may also occur at different frequencies. For example, in some contemplated implementations, one or more of splitter 810, amplifier 812, 816, or phase shifter 814 may be located between DAC 804 and first mixer 806 or between first mixer 806 and second mixer 808. In one example, the functions of one or more components may be combined into one component. For example, phase shifter 814 may perform amplification to include or replace first amplifier 812 and / or second amplifier 816. As another example, phase shifting may be implemented by second mixer 808 to eliminate the need for separate phase shifter 814. This technique is sometimes referred to as local oscillator (LO) phase shifting. In one implementation of this configuration, multiple IF to RF mixers (e.g., for each antenna element chain) may exist in second mixer 808, and local oscillator B832 will provide different local oscillator signals (with different phase offsets) to each IF to RF mixer.

[0116] The modem 802 and / or the beam manager 834 can control one or more of the other components 804-472 to select one or more antenna elements 820 and / or to form a beam for transmitting one or more signals. For example, the antenna elements 816 can be individually selected for transmission of a signal (or signals) or deselected by controlling the amplitude of one or more corresponding amplifiers (such as the first amplifier 812 and / or the second amplifier 820). Beamforming includes generating beams using multiple signals on different antenna elements, wherein one or more or all of the multiple signals are phase-shifted relative to each other. The formed beams may carry physical or higher layer reference signals or information. When each of the multiple signals is radiated from the corresponding antenna element 820, the radiated signals interact, interfere (constructively and destructively) and amplify each other to form the resulting beam. The shape (such as the amplitude, width and / or presence of side lobes) and direction (such as the angle of the beam relative to the surface of the antenna array 816) can be dynamically controlled by modifying the phase shift or phase offset imparted by the phase shifter 814 and the amplitude imparted by the amplifiers 812, 818 of the multiple signals relative to each other.

[0117] When the architecture 800 is configured as a receiving device, the beam manager 834 may transmit a first beam measurement report to a first wireless device, the first beam measurement report indicating a first beam measurement set for a wireless channel between the first wireless device and the second wireless device. The beam manager 834 may receive a cluster effectiveness metric for at least one beam in the first beam measurement report from the first wireless device. The beam manager 834 may transmit a second beam measurement report to the first wireless device based at least in part on the cluster effectiveness metric, the second beam measurement report indicating a second beam measurement set for the wireless channel, as discussed herein. When the architecture 800 is configured as a transmitting device, the beam manager 834 may receive a first beam measurement report from a second wireless device, the first beam measurement report indicating a first beam measurement set for a wireless channel between the first wireless device and the second wireless device. The beam manager 834 may transmit a cluster effectiveness metric for at least one beam in the first beam measurement report to the second wireless device. The beam manager 834 may receive a second beam measurement report indicating a second beam measurement set for the wireless channel from the second wireless device in response to transmitting the cluster effectiveness metric. The beam manager 834 may select a beam for transmission to the second wireless device based at least in part on the first and second beam measurement reports, as discussed herein. The beam manager 834 may be partially or fully located within one or more other components of the architecture 800. For example, in at least one implementation, the beam manager 834 may be located within the modem 802.

[0118] Fig. 9900 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process 900 for spatial diversity reporting according to some aspects of the present disclosure. As described below, some or all of the illustrated features may be omitted in certain implementations within the scope of the present disclosure, and some of the illustrated features may not be required to implement all embodiments. In some examples, process 900 may be performed by Figure 7 In some examples, process 900 may be performed by any suitable equipment or device for performing the functions or algorithms described below.

[0119] In optional block 901, UE 700 may transmit a request for the network to start a spatial diversity reporting procedure based on an estimate of the eigenvectors of the covariance matrix. For example, if UE 700 is about to start an application that requires URLLC communication or if UE 700 needs to save, for example, battery power or for any other suitable reason, UE 700 may transmit a request that it can start a process to start estimating the eigenvectors of the covariance matrix.

[0120] In block 902, UE 700 may receive a packet (e.g., a downlink packet) using multiple antennas. The packet may arrive on any number of beams, such as one or more beams. Here, when the one or more beams are multiple beams, the beams may arrive from any suitable number of transmission points (TRPs), such as one or more TRPs. When the UE receives the packet, UE 700 may store samples of the signal received from each of the multiple antennas in memory 705. In an example where the packet is received on multiple beams, UE 700 may store samples of the signal from each antenna for each beam separately in memory. For example, if the packet is received using two beams, UE 700 may store two sample sets per antenna in memory: one sample set for each beam for each antenna.

[0121] At block 904, the UE may perform an integrity check on the received packet. Any suitable integrity check may be utilized in the given example, including but not limited to a cyclic redundancy check (CRC), a checksum, etc. The UE may utilize the integrity check to determine whether the received packet was correctly received without bit errors or with a sufficiently low amount of bit errors that error correction can provide error-free recovery of the information in the packet.

[0122] At block 906, the UE may determine whether the packet was correctly received and decoded based on the integrity check. If the integrity check fails, at block 908, the UE may transmit a NACK, which may request retransmission of the packet. Fig. 9In the illustration of , the procedure shows that even if the integrity check fails, UE 700 can still continue to step 910 and subsequent steps, and can still calculate the covariance matrix and its eigenvectors, as described below. That is, according to some examples, no matter what error caused the integrity check to fail, it can still be useful for the base station to have information about the covariance matrix. In other examples, if the integrity check fails, after box 908, the process can return to, for example, box 902 and wait for the next packet without determining the covariance matrix and its eigenvectors for the failed packet.

[0123] If the integrity check is successful, the process may continue to box 910. In box 910, the UE may calculate a covariance matrix corresponding to the covariance of the signal corresponding to the received packet from each antenna. For example, as described above, the samples of the signal corresponding to the received packet received at each antenna may be recovered from the memory 705. As an example, for a UE 700 including two antennas, two corresponding sample sets of the received signal may be in the memory, with one sample set corresponding to each antenna. In general, in the n-antenna example, the UE 700 calculates a covariance matrix corresponding to the covariance of the n sample sets. Covariance is a statistical calculation well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, and therefore the details of the calculation are not provided in the present disclosure. In general, the covariance matrix based on the samples from the n antennas (denoted by cov(S1,…S n ) is an n×n matrix, where S a represents the sample set corresponding to antenna a.

[0124] In a further example, if the packet received at block 902 is received on multiple beams, then at block 910, the UE may calculate multiple covariance matrices, one for each beam. That is, as described above, a UE that receives packets on multiple beams may store n sample sets corresponding to its n antennas. However, if the packet is received on b beams, the UE may store b·n sample sets, one for each beam for each antenna. In this way, the UE 700 may calculate b covariance matrices corresponding to b beams.

[0125] In block 912, the UE 700 may calculate the eigenvectors of the covariance matrix(ies) determined in block 910. The eigenvectors or characteristic vectors of a matrix statistically characterize the matrix. The calculation of eigenvectors is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, and therefore the details of the calculation are not provided in the present disclosure. Based on the properties of the matrix, a given matrix may have one or more eigenvectors. In the case where the UE 700 calculates multiple covariance matrices corresponding to multiple beams, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that cross-beam interference may adversely affect the accuracy of the eigenvector estimates.

[0126] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, UE 700 may interpret the number of eigenvectors of the determined covariance matrix as an indication of the number of beams received at UE 700. In other words, if the covariance matrix indicates that the number of eigenvectors is greater than one, UE 700 may interpret this as an indication that the signal is received in more than one direction. For example, the determined number of eigenvectors may be equal to the number of beams received. In another example, any number of eigenvectors greater than one may be taken as an indication of spatial diversity, i.e., where two or more beams are received at the UE. In yet another example, the detection of two separate eigenvectors at a receiving UE may only imply receiver spatial diversity when the directions of the eigenvectors indicate an angular spread greater than the beam width. That is, UE 700 may store (or calculate in another example) information indicating the beam width. Here, the UE may calculate the angle based on each eigenvector. Accordingly, UE 700 may determine the angular spread between two eigenvectors of the calculated covariance matrix and compare the angular spread to the beamwidth to make a determination as to whether more than one beam is received.

[0127] Accordingly, at block 914, the UE 700 may transmit a response to the received packet from block 902. In some examples, when the packet is successfully received and decoded according to the integrity check, the response may include an acknowledgment (ACK) of the packet. The response may include information corresponding to the calculated number of eigenvectors from block 912. For example, the response may include a report on the number of eigenvectors calculated by the UE based on the covariance matrix from block 910. In another example, the response may include a report on whether the calculated number of eigenvectors of the covariance matrix is ​​greater than one. In yet another example, based on the calculated number of eigenvectors of the covariance matrix, the response may include a report on whether the received packet from block 902 is received on more than one beam. In another example, the response may include information indicating the beam width of the received beam calculated based on the angular spread of the calculated eigenvectors.

[0128] Fig.10 1 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process 1000 for beam management based on spatial diversity reporting according to some aspects of the present disclosure. As described below, some or all of the illustrated features may be omitted in certain implementations within the scope of the present disclosure, and some of the illustrated features may not be required to implement all embodiments. In some examples, process 1000 may be performed by Figure 6 In some examples, process 1000 may be performed by any suitable equipment or device for performing the functions or algorithms described below.

[0129] In optional block 1001, the base station 600 may transmit to the UE a request to start a spatial diversity reporting procedure based on an estimate of the eigenvectors of the covariance matrix. For example, if the base station 600 requires a beam due to congestion, high load, etc. or if the base station 600 is serving a UE that is receiving packets reliably and does not appear to require multiple beams, the base station 600 may request the UE to start an estimate of the eigenvectors of the covariance matrix. In this way, multiple beams may not be transmitted to the UE if they are not required.

[0130] At block 1002, the base station 600 may transmit packets (e.g., downlink packets) using any suitable number of beams (e.g., n beams). Here, the base station 600 may act as a single transmission point (TRP). In another example, the base station may act as one of multiple TRPs in a multiple transmission point (mTRP) example.

[0131] At block 1004, the base station 600 may receive a response to the packet from block 1002. The response may include an ACK / NACK indicating whether the receiving device (e.g., UE) correctly received and decoded the packet. Here, if the response includes a NACK, the process may continue to block 1006, and the base station 600 may retransmit the packet or continue to the next packet according to an appropriate retransmission (e.g., HARQ retransmission) procedure. According to some examples, if the packet is not received correctly and the base station 600 receives a NACK, the base station 600 may accordingly determine that the transmission needs to be adjusted to achieve ultra-reliable communication. Accordingly, the process may continue to block 1008, as described below.

[0132] If the response received at block 1004 includes an AKC, the process may continue to block 1008 .

[0133] In block 1008, the base station 600 may determine whether to change the number of beams used to transmit packets to the receiving device based on the response from block 1004. For example, the base station 600 may change the number of beams from a first number of beams to a second number of beams different from the first number of beams. Alternatively, the base station 600 may maintain the first number of beams for future transmissions. The determination may be based on various factors. For example, the determination may be based at least in part on the response from block 1004, including but not limited to ACK / NACK. That is, the response from block 1004 may additionally or alternatively include information corresponding to one or more eigenvectors of a covariance matrix calculated by a multi-antenna receiving device, the covariance matrix corresponding to the covariance of a signal from each of a plurality of receiving antennas at the receiving device for receiving packets. The information may in some examples explicitly indicate the number of eigenvectors calculated by the UE based on the covariance matrix. In some examples, the information may include a report on whether the number of eigenvectors of the covariance matrix is ​​greater than one. In some examples, based on the number of eigenvectors of the covariance matrix, the information may include a report on whether the receiving device received the packet on more than one beam. In other examples, the information may include any other suitable information corresponding to one or more eigenvectors of the covariance matrix calculated as described in the present disclosure.

[0134] The determination of whether to change the number of beams used to transmit a packet to a receiving device may be based in part on an ACK / NACK response to the packet. The determination may be additionally or alternatively based in part on the number n of beams used to transmit the packet to the receiving device in block 1002. The determination may be additionally or alternatively based in part on a reliability target and / or latency target for communication with the receiving device. The determination may be additionally or alternatively based in part on whether the transmitting base station 600 is the only transmission point (TRP) or one of multiple TRPs that transmit packets to the receiving device. The determination may be additionally or alternatively based in part on the number of consecutive successful packet transmissions to a given UE. The determination may be additionally or alternatively based in part on the power consumption and / or remaining battery charge of the receiving device. The determination may be additionally or alternatively based in part on the capacity of the base station 600, network load or congestion, the number of UEs being served by the base station, the interference level in the cell, or the demand for resources for serving other UEs. The determination may be additionally or alternatively based in part on the angle of arrival of the received signal(s). These arrival angles may be based on an analysis of the eigenvectors of one or more covariance matrices performed by base station 600. Of course, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that this example list is merely illustrative in nature and that other factors may influence the determination of whether to change the number of beams within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0135] For example, according to one aspect of the present disclosure, if the base station 600 transmits a packet using a single beam in box 1002, and if the response received in box 1004 indicates that the UE received the packet from only one direction (for example, the response indicates that the covariance matrix has only one eigenvector), then in box 1008, the base station 600 may determine to activate multi-beam transmission to the receiving device. In this way, multi-beam transmission can be activated for a given UE even without necessarily having a single packet fail to be correctly received and decoded at the UE. Here, activation of multi-beam transmission can be accomplished by activating multiple beams from the same TRP (i.e., the base station 600 itself). In another example, activation of multi-beam transmission can be accomplished by activating transmission of one or more beams from one or more other TRPs other than the base station 600.

[0136] In another example, if the base station 600 transmits a packet using a single beam at block 1002, and if the response received at block 1004 indicates that the number of eigenvectors is greater than one, the base station 600 may continue to use the single beam transmission for future packets. That is, in this case, the base station may save resources with an increased confidence that the receiving device can continue to receive packets with high reliability, and these resources may be allocated to other users.

[0137] In another example, at block 1008, the base station 600 may utilize the procedure to activate multi-beam transmissions to a given UE even after the packet is correctly received at the UE. This may be useful when sending data where ultra-high reliability is required. In a further aspect of the present disclosure, the base station may utilize the procedure to deactivate multi-beam transmissions to a given UE after greater than a threshold number of successful packet transmissions to the UE, where the UE responds to these transmissions with an indication that more than one eigenvector was detected.

[0138] In another example, at block 1008, the base station 600 may utilize the procedure to coordinate interference, such as by reducing transmissions from other neighbors in a particular direction. That is, when the base station 600 calculates the angle of arrival of the received signal based on the analysis of the eigenvectors, the base station 600 may determine that one or more beams may cause excessive interference at the UE and may coordinate with one or more other TRPs to reduce such interference.

[0139] Several aspects of wireless communication networks have been presented with reference to exemplary implementations. As those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, the various aspects described throughout this disclosure may be extended to other telecommunication systems, network architectures and communication standards.

[0140] As an example, various aspects may be implemented within other systems defined by 3GPP, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), Evolved Packet System (EPS), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), and / or Global System for Mobile (GSM). Various aspects may also be extended to systems defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2), such as CDMA2000 and / or Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO). Other examples may be implemented within systems employing IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Ultra Wideband (UWB), Bluetooth, and / or other suitable systems. The actual telecommunication standard, network architecture, and / or communication standard employed will depend on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the system.

[0141] Within the present disclosure, the wording "exemplary" is used to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration". Any implementation or aspect described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as superior or superior to other aspects of the present disclosure. Likewise, the term "aspect" does not require that all aspects of the present disclosure include the features, advantages, or modes of operation discussed. The term "coupled" is used herein to refer to a direct or indirect coupling between two objects. For example, if object A physically contacts object B, and object B contacts object C, objects A and C may still be considered to be coupled to each other - even if they are not in direct physical contact with each other. For example, a first object may be coupled to a second object, even if the first object never directly contacts the second object physically. The terms "circuit" and "circuitry" are used broadly and are intended to include both hardware implementations of electronic devices and conductors and software implementations of information and instructions, which, when connected and configured, enable the functions described in the present disclosure to be performed without limitation on the type of electronic circuits, which, when executed by a processor, enable the functions described in the present disclosure to be performed.

[0142] Figure 1-10 One or more of the components, steps, features, and / or functions described herein may be rearranged and / or combined into a single component, step, feature, or function, or implemented in several components, steps, or functions. Additional elements, components, steps, and / or functions may also be added without departing from the novel features disclosed herein. Figure 1 The apparatus, devices and / or components illustrated in -10 may be configured to perform one or more methods, features or steps described herein. The novel algorithms described herein may also be efficiently implemented in software and / or embedded in hardware.

[0143] It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the disclosed methods is an illustration of an exemplary process. Based on design preferences, it should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in these methods can be rearranged. The attached method claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented unless specifically stated herein.

[0144] 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 readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the universal principles defined herein may 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 intended to mean "one or more". Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term "some / some" refers to one or more. The phrase "at least one of" a list of items refers to any combination of these items, including a single member. As an example, "at least one of a, b or c" is intended to cover: a; b; c; a and b; a and c; b and c; and a, b and c. The elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure are all structurally and functionally equivalent solutions 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. No element of a claim is to be construed under 35 U.S.C. §112(f) unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase "means for" or, in the case of a method claim, the element is recited using the phrase "step for."

Claims

1. A wireless communication method, comprising: utilizing multiple antennas to receive packets; calculating at least one covariance matrix corresponding to the covariance of signals corresponding to received packets from each of the plurality of antennas; calculating one or more eigenvectors of each of the at least one covariance matrix; as well as transmitting a response to the received packet, the response including information corresponding to the calculated one or more eigenvectors, The information corresponding to the calculated one or more eigenvectors includes one or more of the following: the number of calculated one or more eigenvectors of the at least one covariance matrix; information indicating whether the number of calculated one or more eigenvectors of the at least one covariance matrix is ​​greater than one; information indicating whether a received packet is received on more than one beam based on the number of one or more calculated eigenvectors of the at least one covariance matrix; or Information indicative of a beamwidth of a received beam calculated based on an angular spread of the calculated one or more eigenvectors.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: A request is transmitted to begin reporting information corresponding to the calculated one or more eigenvectors.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: A request is received to begin reporting information corresponding to the calculated one or more eigenvectors.

4. A wireless communication method operable at a first transmission point (TRP), the method comprising: transmitting packets to a multi-antenna receiving device using a first number of beams; receiving a response to the packet, the response including information corresponding to one or more eigenvectors of at least one covariance matrix corresponding to covariance of signals from each of a plurality of receive antennas at the multi-antenna receiver device for receiving the packet; as well as determining whether to change the number of beams to a second number of beams different from the first number of beams based on the response, Wherein the information corresponding to the one or more eigenvectors comprises one or more of the following: the number of the one or more eigenvectors of the at least one covariance matrix; information indicating whether the number of the one or more eigenvectors of the at least one covariance matrix is ​​greater than one; indicating whether the packet is received by the multi-antenna receiver device on more than one beam based on the number of the one or more eigenvectors of the at least one covariance matrix; or Information indicative of a beamwidth of a received beam, the beamwidth being based on an angular spread of the one or more eigenvectors.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining whether to modify the number of beams based on the response comprises determining whether to modify the number of beams further based on one or more of: the number of the first beams; the number of transmission points, including the first TRP, transmitting to the multi-antenna receiving device; an acknowledgment or negative acknowledgment (ACK / NACK) received from the multi-antenna receiving device indicating whether the packet was correctly received and decoded; angle of arrival of one or more signals received at the multi-antenna receiver device; an indication of power consumption at the multi-antenna receiving device; A reliability target or a latency target for the multi-antenna receiving device; the number of consecutive successful packet transmissions to the multi-antenna receiving device; Network load information; the capacity of the first TRP; or The interference level at the multi-antenna receiving device.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the first number of beams is one beam; wherein the response comprises an acknowledgment (ACK) indicating that the packet has been correctly received and decoded; and Wherein determining whether to modify the number of beams based on the response includes determining to increase the number of beams to two or more beams. 7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the information corresponding to one or more eigenvectors includes information indicating that the number of eigenvectors is not greater than one.

8. The method according to claim 4, wherein the first number of beams is one beam; wherein determining whether to modify the number of beams based on the response comprises determining to maintain the number of beams as one beam; and The information corresponding to the one or more eigenvectors includes information indicating that the number of eigenvectors is greater than one.

9. The method of claim 4, further comprising: Transmit an instruction to the second TRP to perform the following operations: start transmitting one or more beams to the multi-antenna receiving device or terminate the transmission of one or more beams to the multi-antenna receiving device.

10. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: processor; a transceiver communicatively coupled to the processor, the transceiver comprising a plurality of antennas; as well as a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, The processor and the memory are configured to: receiving a packet via the transceiver; calculating at least one covariance matrix corresponding to the covariance of signals corresponding to received packets from each of the plurality of antennas; calculating one or more eigenvectors of each of the at least one covariance matrix; as well as transmitting, via the transceiver, a response to the received packet, the response including information corresponding to the calculated one or more eigenvectors, The information corresponding to the calculated one or more eigenvectors includes one or more of the following: the number of calculated one or more eigenvectors of the at least one covariance matrix; information indicating whether the number of calculated one or more eigenvectors of the at least one covariance matrix is ​​greater than one; information indicating whether a received packet is received on more than one beam based on the number of one or more calculated eigenvectors of the at least one covariance matrix; or Information indicative of a beamwidth of a received beam calculated based on an angular spread of the calculated one or more eigenvectors.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: A request is transmitted via the transceiver to begin reporting information corresponding to the calculated one or more eigenvectors.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: A request is received via the transceiver to begin reporting information corresponding to the calculated one or more eigenvectors.

13. A first transmission point (TRP) configured for wireless communication, the first TRP comprising: processor; a transceiver communicatively coupled to the processor; as well as a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, The processor and the memory are configured to: transmitting, via the transceiver, packets to a multi-antenna recipient device using a first number of beams; receiving, via the transceiver, a response to the packet, the response comprising information corresponding to one or more eigenvectors of at least one covariance matrix corresponding to covariance of signals from each of a plurality of receive antennas at the multi-antenna receiver device for receiving the packet; determining whether to change the number of beams to a second number of beams different from the first number of beams based on the response, Wherein the information corresponding to the one or more eigenvectors comprises one or more of the following: the number of the one or more eigenvectors of the at least one covariance matrix; information indicating whether the number of the one or more eigenvectors of the at least one covariance matrix is ​​greater than one; indicating whether the packet is received by the multi-antenna receiver device on more than one beam based on the number of the one or more eigenvectors of the at least one covariance matrix; or Information indicative of a beamwidth of a received beam, the beamwidth being based on an angular spread of the one or more eigenvectors.

14. The first TRP of claim 13, wherein the processor and memory configured to determine whether to modify the number of beams based on the response are further configured to determine whether to modify the number of beams based further on one or more of: the number of the first beams; the number of transmission points, including the first TRP, transmitting to the multi-antenna receiving device; an acknowledgment or negative acknowledgment (ACK / NACK) received from the multi-antenna receiving device indicating whether the packet has been correctly received and decoded; angle of arrival of one or more signals received at the multi-antenna receiver device; an indication of power consumption at the multi-antenna receiving device; A reliability target or a latency target for the multi-antenna receiving device; the number of consecutive successful packet transmissions to the multi-antenna receiving device; Network load information; the capacity of the first TRP; or The interference level at the multi-antenna receiving device.

15. The first TRP of claim 13, wherein the first number of beams is one beam; wherein the response comprises an acknowledgment (ACK) indicating that the packet was correctly received and decoded; and Wherein the processor and memory configured to determine whether to modify the number of beams based on the response are further configured to determine to increase the number of beams to two or more beams.

16. A first TRP as described in claim 15, wherein the information corresponding to one or more eigenvectors includes information indicating that the number of eigenvectors is not greater than one.

17. The first TRP of claim 13, wherein the first number of beams is one beam; wherein the processor and memory configured to determine whether to modify the number of beams based on the response are further configured to determine to maintain the number of beams as one beam; and The information corresponding to the one or more eigenvectors includes information indicating that the number of eigenvectors is greater than one.

18. The first TRP of claim 13, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: An instruction is transmitted via the transceiver to the second TRP to perform the following operations: start transmitting one or more beams to the multi-antenna receiving device or terminate the transmission of one or more beams to the multi-antenna receiving device.

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