Fast outer ring link adaptation

Abstract

According to one or more embodiments, a network node (16) configured to communicate with a wireless device (22) is provided. The network node (16) includes a processing circuit (68) configured to: receive a channel state information (CSI) report indicating a bias of the CSI report; determine the bias of the CSI report based at least on the indication; and set initial outer loop link adaptation (OLLA) based at least on the determined bias of the CSI report.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to wireless communications, and in particular, to Outer Loop Link Adaptation (OLLA) and wireless device-specific OLLA modifications. Background Art

[0002] New Radio (NR) (also known as fifth generation (5G))

[0003] The next generation of mobile wireless communication systems (e.g., 5G or New Radio NR) promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) can support a variety of use cases and deployment scenarios. The latter include deployments at both low frequencies (hundreds of MHz) (similar to 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE, also known as fourth generation (4G)) and very high frequencies (millimetre waves in tens of GHz).

[0004] Similar to LTE, NR can use OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) in the downlink, i.e., from a network node (e.g., gNB, eNB, or base station) to a wireless device (e.g., user equipment or UE). The basic NR physical resources on the antenna ports can thus be viewed as Figure 1 Figure 1 shows a time-frequency grid showing resource blocks (RBs) in a 14-symbol slot. A resource block corresponds to 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. Resource blocks are numbered in the frequency domain, starting with 0 at one end of the system bandwidth. Each resource element corresponds to an OFDM subcarrier within an OFDM symbol interval.

[0005] Different subcarrier spacing values ​​are supported in NR. The supported subcarrier spacing values ​​(also called different parameter sets) are given by Δf=(15×2 α )kHz, where α∈(0,1,2,3,4). Δf=15kHz is the basic (or reference) subcarrier spacing also used in LTE.

[0006] In the time domain, downlink and uplink transmissions in NR can be organized into 1ms subframes of equal size, similar to LTE. The subframes are further divided into multiple time slots of equal duration. Subcarrier spacing Δf = (15×2 α )kHz time slot length is 1 / 2 α When Δf=15 kHz, each subframe has only one slot, and the slot includes 14 OFDM symbols.

[0007] Downlink transmissions are dynamically scheduled, i.e., in each time slot, the network node sends downlink control information (DCI) about which wireless device the data is to be sent to and on which resource blocks in the current downlink time slot the data is to be sent. This control information is usually sent in the first one or two OFDM symbols in each time slot in NR. Control information is carried on the physical control channel (PDCCH), and data is carried on the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). The wireless device first detects and decodes the PDCCH, and if the PDCCH is successfully decoded, the wireless device decodes the corresponding PDSCH based on the decoded control information in the PDCCH. Figure 2 An example is shown in , where PDCCH is transmitted in the first two symbols in a slot and PDSCH is transmitted in the remaining symbols.

[0008] In addition to the PDCCH and PDSCH, there are other channels and reference signals that are transmitted in the downlink. One of the reference signals is the Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS).

[0009] A Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resource includes one or more downlink time-frequency resource elements (REs) with radio resource control (RRC) configurable properties and is to be used by a wireless device to perform measurements. According to one or more wireless communication standards, such as 3GPP Release 15, three types of CSI-RS resources are defined:

[0010] Non-Zero Power CSI-RS (NZP-CSI-RS): These resources are sent by network nodes and carry a predetermined reference signal that can be used by wireless devices to estimate the channel. NZP CSI-RS can also be used for interference measurement, typically intra-cell interference, such as that caused by co-scheduled MU-MIMO wireless devices.

[0011] • Zero-Power CSI-RS (ZP-CSI-RS): These resources are used for rate matching, i.e., the wireless device may assume that the REs occupied by ZP-CSI-RS are not used for Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) transmission.

[0012] CSI Interference Measurement (CSI-IM): These resources are used for interference measurement, typically inter-cell interference.

[0013] To illustrate the use of the three types of resources mentioned above, consider the case of obtaining a channel quality indicator (CQI). In order for a wireless device to estimate the CQI, the wireless device may need to estimate the channel strength and interference plus noise. One way to facilitate this estimation is to configure the wireless device with the following items:

[0014] NZP CSI-RS, used to estimate the channel;

[0015] CSI-IM, for estimating interference, where the serving network node does not transmit any signal in these CSI-IM resources, so the wireless device can measure inter-cell interference plus noise in these resources; and

[0016] • One or more ZP-CSI-RS resources, used for the same REs that constitute the CSI-IM, in order to inform the wireless device that no PDSCH transmission is occurring in these REs.

[0017] Downlink Adaptive Background

[0018] To help provide optimal downlink (DL) throughput to a wireless device, a network node may need to adapt its transmission parameters to the wireless device's channel conditions. For example, a wireless device experiencing good channel conditions (i.e., a wireless device with a high signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR)) may communicate using a more spectrally efficient modulation and coding scheme (MCS), and vice versa. If a more aggressive MCS is selected than the channel can support, the transmission is likely to be unsuccessfully decoded at the wireless device, and the wireless device may then report a negative acknowledgement (NACK) using a hybrid automatic request control (HARQ) mechanism.

[0019] In order for the network node to adapt transmission parameters, it should have a good understanding of the wireless device's channel conditions. One way the network node can obtain the wireless device's channel conditions is through CSI measurement reporting. The wireless device measures CSI based on the NZP CSI-RS and CSI-IM reference signals and reports the CSI to the network node. The CSI can then be used to estimate the SINR at the wireless device.

[0020] One of the issues with CSI measurement is that it can be biased by wireless device-specific implementations. That is, two different wireless devices experiencing the same SINR may report different CSI due to different biases in the implementation that are unknown at the network node. Another issue with CSI measurement is that it is measured on reference signals, which may not necessarily experience the same SINR as the resources used for actual data transmission in the PDSCH.

[0021] One solution to help address the above issues is to use outer loop link adaptation (OLLA), which is a control loop that continuously corrects the SINR estimate based on hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement / negative acknowledgement (ACK / NACK) feedback. For example, the outer loop can be implemented as follows:

[0022] SINR est=SINR reported +OLLA,

[0023]

[0024] in

[0025] SINR est is the estimated SINR (in dB) including the correction term, and it can be used for link adaptation;

[0026] SINR reported is the SINR (in dB) derived from the CSI report without any correction. The reported SINR may include deviations from the true value due to imperfect wireless device implementations;

[0027] OLLA is the outer loop correction term update upon receiving HARQ feedback (ACK / NACK);

[0028] Step up It is a parameter that specifies the amount of OLLA increase (dB) when an ACK is received.

[0029] BLER target is the configured target block error rate (BLER); a common value for this parameter is 0.1 (i.e., a 10% block error rate for PDSCH transmissions);

[0030] However, there is no suitable method for specifying an initial value for OLLA, which affects the convergence speed depending on the deviation of the estimated SINR. For example, when the initial deviation is set too large or too small compared to the actual deviation, OLLA convergence may be slow, which negatively affects communication throughput. The actual initial deviation may be due to various reasons, such as imperfect implementation at the wireless device. Summary of the Invention

[0031] Certain embodiments advantageously provide methods, systems, wireless devices, and network nodes for Outer Loop Link Adaptation (OLLA) and wireless device-specific OLLA modifications.

[0032] In one or more embodiments, the initial value of OLLA is modified to be specific to the wireless device and based on the new CSI report to compensate for imperfect implementations at the wireless device. In particular, in one or more embodiments, the wireless device is configured to report additional CSI measurements with the goal of estimating CSI reporting bias rather than actual CSI. The additional CSI measurements are configured such that if there is no bias, the reported CSI is known a priori at the network node, and the network node can therefore use the difference between the reported CSI and the a priori known value to derive the bias.

[0033] In one or more embodiments, additional CSI measurements are configured so that the wireless device measures the channel component and the interference component from the same source, so that if there is no bias, the reported CSI may correspond to 0 dB. The reported CSI can then be easily used to derive the bias used to set the initial value of OLLA.

[0034] In another embodiment, additional CSI measurements are configured so that the wireless device measures a channel component and an interference component from the same source, but the channel component is "incorrectly" configured to be X dB greater than the actual value, so that if there were no bias, the reported CSI would correspond to X dB. The reported CSI can then be easily used to derive a bias that is used to set the initial value of OLLA. In one or more embodiments, being "incorrectly" configured can correspond to setting an offset value when an offset value is normally required to enable the bias to be derived.

[0035] In one or more embodiments, additional CSI measurements are configured so the wireless device measures the channel component and the interference component on the same resource elements to save signaling overhead, ie, reduce the amount of resources used compared to other approaches.

[0036] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a network node configured to communicate with a wireless device is provided. The network node includes processing circuitry configured to: receive a channel state information (CSI) report indicating a bias of the CSI report; determine the bias of the CSI report based at least on the indication; and set initial outer loop link adaptation (OLLA) based at least on the determined bias of the CSI report.

[0037] According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the indicated deviation of the CSI report is indicated by a channel quality indicator (CQI) value included in the CSI report. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the CQI value is based on a mapping of at least one channel quality measurement to one of a plurality of CQI values. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the channel quality measurement is based on at least: a measurement of a channel component and a measurement of an interference component performed on a same signal source; and a deviation value in the channel quality measurement, the deviation value in the channel quality measurement corresponding to the deviation in the CSI report.

[0038] According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the indication is configured to indicate a predefined dB value for a CSI report without a deviation. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the predefined dB value is one of a zero dB value and a non-zero dB value. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the non-zero dB value is an offset setting value for the channel component. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the CQI value is an average CQI value based on a reference signal scan on a plurality of resources. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the processing circuit is further configured to: send a request for the CSI report, the CSI report having the indication of the deviation of the CSI report.

[0039] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a wireless device configured to communicate with a network node is provided. The wireless device includes processing circuitry configured to: perform at least one channel quality measurement; and transmit a channel state information (CSI) report indicating a bias in the CSI report, wherein the bias in the CSI report is based at least on the at least one channel quality measurement and configured to enable setup of an initial outer loop link adaptation (OLLA).

[0040] According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the indicated deviation of the CSI report is indicated by a channel quality indicator (CQI) value included in the CSI report. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the processing circuit is further configured to: map at least one channel quality measurement to one of a plurality of CQI values, the CQI value indicated in the CSI report being based on the mapping. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the processing circuit is further configured to: receive a reference signal scanned on a plurality of resources; perform a plurality of channel quality measurements for the plurality of resources based on the reference signal scanning; determine a plurality of CQI values ​​based on the plurality of channel quality measurements; and the CQI value is based on an average CQI value of the plurality of CQI values.

[0041] According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the channel quality measurement is based on at least: a measurement of a channel component and a measurement of an interference component performed on the same signal source; and a deviation value in the channel quality measurement, the deviation value in the channel quality measurement corresponding to the deviation in the CSI report. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the indication is configured to indicate a predefined dB value for a CSI report without a deviation. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the predefined dB value is one of a zero dB value and a non-zero dB value. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the non-zero dB value is an offset setting value for the channel component. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the processing circuit is further configured to: receive a request for the CSI report, the CSI report having the indication of the deviation of the CSI report.

[0042] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method implemented by a network node configured to communicate with a wireless device is provided. A channel state information (CSI) report is received, indicating a bias in the CSI report. Based at least on the indication, the bias in the CSI report is determined. Initial outer loop link adaptation (OLLA) is set based at least on the determined bias in the CSI report.

[0043] According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the indicated deviation of the CSI report is indicated by a channel quality indicator (CQI) value included in the CSI report. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the CQI value is based on a mapping of at least one channel quality measurement to one of a plurality of CQI values. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the channel quality measurement is based on at least: a measurement of a channel component and a measurement of an interference component performed on a same signal source; and a deviation value in the channel quality measurement, the deviation value in the channel quality measurement corresponding to the deviation in the CSI report.

[0044] According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the indication is configured to indicate a predefined dB value for a CSI report without a bias. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the predefined dB value is one of a zero dB value and a non-zero dB value. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the non-zero dB value is an offset setting value for the channel component. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the CQI value is an average CQI value based on a reference signal scan across multiple resources. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, a request for the CSI report is sent, the CSI report having the indication of the bias of the CSI report.

[0045] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method implemented by a wireless device configured to communicate with a network node is provided. The method includes performing at least one channel quality measurement and transmitting a channel state information (CSI) report indicating a deviation of the CSI report, wherein the deviation of the CSI report is based on at least the at least one channel quality measurement and is configured to enable setup of initial outer loop link adaptation (OLLA).

[0046] According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the indicated deviation of the CSI report is indicated by a channel quality indicator (CQI) value included in the CSI report. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, at least one channel quality measurement is mapped to one of a plurality of CQI values, and the CQI value indicated in the CSI report is based on the mapping. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, a reference signal scanned on a plurality of resources is received. Based on the reference signal scanning, a plurality of channel quality measurements are performed for the plurality of resources. Based on the plurality of channel quality measurements, a plurality of CQI values ​​are determined. The CQI value is based on an average CQI value of the plurality of CQI values.

[0047] According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the channel quality measurement is based on at least: a measurement of a channel component and a measurement of an interference component performed on the same signal source; and a deviation value in the channel quality measurement, the deviation value in the channel quality measurement corresponding to the deviation in the CSI report. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the indication is configured to indicate a predefined dB value for a CSI report without a deviation. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the predefined dB value is one of a zero dB value and a non-zero dB value.

[0048] According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, the non-zero dB value is an offset setting value for the channel component. According to one or more embodiments of this aspect, a request for the CSI report is received, the CSI report having the indication of the bias of the CSI report.

[0049] By exploiting the bias in the CSI reports, OLLA can converge much faster than existing methods, and thus can achieve higher throughput through the teachings provided herein. This is especially true for wireless devices with imperfect implementations, where the teachings provided herein use smaller payloads that may require fewer transmissions. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0050] The present embodiments and their attendant advantages and features will be more readily understood and more fully appreciated by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are:

[0051] Figure 1It is a diagram of the NR physical resource grid;

[0052] Figure 2 is a diagram of the NR time domain structure with 15kHz subcarrier spacing;

[0053] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary network architecture of a communication system connected to a host computer via an intermediate network according to the principles of the present disclosure;

[0054] Figure 4 is a block diagram of a host computer communicating with a wireless device via a network node over at least a partially wireless connection according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0055] Figure 5 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for executing a client application at a wireless device implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a network node, and a wireless device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0056] Figure 6 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for receiving user data at a wireless device implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a network node, and a wireless device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0057] Figure 7 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a network node, and a wireless device for receiving user data from a wireless device at a host computer according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0058] Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for receiving user data at a host computer implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a network node, and a wireless device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0059] Figure 9 is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a network node according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0060] Figure 10 is a flow chart of an exemplary process in a wireless device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0061] Before describing the exemplary embodiments in detail, it is noted that the embodiments reside primarily in combinations of apparatus components and processing steps related to Outer Loop Link Adaptation (OLLA) and wireless device-specific OLLA modifications.

[0062] Therefore, components are represented by conventional symbols in the drawings where appropriate, and only those specific details relevant to understanding the embodiments are shown so as not to obscure the present disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein. Throughout the specification, like numerals refer to like elements.

[0063] As used herein, relational terms such as "first" and "second," "top" and "bottom" may be used solely to distinguish one entity or element from another entity or element and do not necessarily require or imply any physical or logical relationship or order between such entities or elements. The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and are not intended to limit the concepts described herein. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that when used herein, the terms "include" and / or "comprising" specify the presence of stated characteristics, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other characteristics, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or combinations thereof.

[0064] In the embodiments described herein, connection terms such as "in communication with..." may be used to indicate electrical communication or data communication, which may be achieved, for example, by physical contact, induction, electromagnetic radiation, radio signaling, infrared signaling, or optical signaling. Those skilled in the art will recognize that multiple components may interoperate and that modifications and variations are possible to achieve electrical communication and data communication.

[0065] In some embodiments described herein, the terms "coupled," "connected," etc. may be used herein to indicate a connection (although not necessarily direct) and may include wired and / or wireless connections. In some embodiments, the term "signal source" is used. As used herein, a "signal source" refers to a radio resource.

[0066] The term "network node" as used herein may be any type of network node included in a radio network, and may also include any of the following: base station (BS), radio base station, base transceiver station (BTS), base station controller (BSC), radio network controller (RNC), gNodeB (gNB), evolved NodeB (eNB or eNodeB), NodeB, multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node (e.g., MSR BS), multi-cell / multicast coordination entity (MCE), integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, relay node, donor node controlling relay, radio access point (AP), transmission point, transmission node, remote radio unit (RRU) remote radio head (RRH), core network node (e.g., mobility management entity (MME), self-organizing network (SON) node, coordination node, positioning node, MDT node, etc.), external node (e.g., third-party node, node outside the current network), node in distributed antenna system (DAS), spectrum access system (SAS) node, element management system (EMS), etc. Network nodes may also include test equipment. As used herein, the term "radio node" may also be used to denote a wireless device (WD), such as a wireless device (WD) or a radio network node.

[0067] In some embodiments, the non-limiting terms wireless device (WD) or user equipment (UE) may be used interchangeably. The WD herein may be any type of wireless device capable of communicating with a network node or another WD via radio signals, such as a wireless device (WD). The WD may also be a radio communication device, a target device, a device-to-device (D2D) WD, a machine-type WD or a WD capable of machine-to-machine communication (M2M), a low-cost and / or low-complexity WD, a sensor equipped with a WD, a tablet computer, a mobile terminal, a smart phone, a laptop embedded device (LEE), a laptop mounted device (LME), a USB adapter, a customer premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, or a narrowband IoT (NB-IOT) device, etc.

[0068] In addition, in some embodiments, the general term "radio network node" is used. It can be any type of radio network node, which can include any of the following: base station, radio base station, base transceiver station, base station controller, network controller, RNC, evolved Node B (eNB), Node B, gNB, multi-cell / multicast coordination entity (MCE), IAB node, relay node, access point, radio access point, remote radio unit (RRU), remote radio head (RRH).

[0069] An indication may generally indicate the information it represents and / or indicates explicitly and / or implicitly. An implicit indication may, for example, be based on the location and / or resources used for transmission. An explicit indication may, for example, be based on parameterization with one or more parameters and / or one or more indices and / or one or more bit patterns representing the information. For example, an indication may indicate a deviation, such as a CSI report deviation.

[0070] A cell may generally be a communication cell provided by a node, for example, of a cellular or mobile communication network. A serving cell may be a cell on which or via which a network node (a node providing or associated with the cell, such as a base station, gNB, or eNodeB) transmits and / or can transmit data (which may be data other than broadcast data) (particularly control and / or user or payload data) to a user equipment, and / or via which or on which a user equipment transmits and / or can transmit data to the node; a serving cell may be a cell for which or on which a user equipment is configured and / or synchronized with and / or has performed an access procedure (such as a random access procedure), and / or with respect to which the user equipment is in an RRC_connected or RRC_idle state, for example, when the node and / or user equipment and / or the network conform to the LTE standard. One or more carriers (such as uplink and / or downlink carriers and / or carriers used for both uplink and downlink) may be associated with a cell.

[0071] Configuring a terminal, wireless device, or node may involve instructing and / or causing the wireless device or node to change its configuration and / or operate according to a configuration and / or parameter (e.g., at least one setting and / or register entry and / or operating mode). The terminal, wireless device, or node may be adapted to configure itself, for example, based on information or data in a memory of the terminal or wireless device. Configuring a node, terminal, or wireless device by another device, node, or network may involve and / or include sending information and / or data and / or instructions, such as allocation data (which may also be and / or include configuration data) and / or scheduling data and / or scheduling grants, to the wireless device or node by another device, node, or network. Configuring the terminal may include sending allocation / configuration data to the terminal indicating which modulation and / or coding to use. The terminal may be configured with and / or configured to schedule data and / or use scheduled and / or allocated uplink resources, such as for transmission, and / or use scheduled and / or allocated downlink resources, such as for reception, and / or to provide a bias. Uplink resources and / or downlink resources may be scheduled and / or provided with allocation or configuration data.

[0072] Note that although terminology from one particular wireless system (e.g., 3GPP LTE and / or New Radio (NR)) may be used in this disclosure, this should not be considered to limit the scope of this disclosure to only that system. Other wireless systems (including but not limited to Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)) may also benefit from utilizing the concepts encompassed within this disclosure.

[0073] Transmitting in a downlink may involve transmission from a network or a network node to a terminal. Transmitting in an uplink may involve transmission from a terminal to a network or a network node. Transmitting in a sidelink may involve (direct) transmission from one terminal to another terminal. Uplink, downlink and sidelink (e.g. sidelink transmission and reception) may be considered to be communication directions. In some variations, uplink and downlink may also be used to describe wireless communications between network nodes, such as for example wireless backhaul and / or relay communication and / or (wireless) network communication, in particular communication terminated therein, between base stations or similar network nodes. It may be considered that backhaul and / or relay communication and / or network communication are implemented as a form of sidelink or uplink communication or communications similar thereto.

[0074] It is also noted that the functions described herein as being performed by a wireless device or network node may be distributed across multiple wireless devices and / or network nodes. In other words, it is contemplated that the functions of the network nodes and wireless devices described herein are not limited to being performed by a single physical device and may in fact be distributed across several physical devices.

[0075] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. It will also be understood that the terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art, and will not be interpreted as idealized or overly formal unless expressly defined as such herein.

[0076] Some embodiments provide Outer Loop Link Adaptation (OLLA) and wireless device-specific OLLA modifications.

[0077] Referring again to the drawings, wherein like elements are designated by like reference numerals, Figure 3FIG2 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system 10 according to one embodiment. The communication system 10 is, for example, a 3GPP-type cellular network that can support standards such as LTE and / or NR (5G), and includes an access network 12, such as a radio access network, and a core network 14. The access network 12 includes a plurality of network nodes 16a, 16b, 16c (collectively referred to as network nodes 16), such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs, or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 18a, 18b, 18c (collectively referred to as coverage area 18). Each network node 16a, 16b, 16c can be connected to the core network 14 via a wired or wireless connection 20. A first wireless device (WD) 22a located in the coverage area 18a is configured to wirelessly connect to or be paged by the corresponding network node 16a. A second WD 22b in the coverage area 18b can wirelessly connect to the corresponding network node 16b. Although multiple WDs 22a, 22b (collectively referred to as wireless devices 22) are shown in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to situations where only a single WD is in the coverage area or a single WD is connected to a corresponding network node 16. Note that although only two WDs 22 and three network nodes 16 are shown for convenience, the communication system may include many more WDs 22 and network nodes 16.

[0078] Furthermore, it is contemplated that the WD 22 may communicate simultaneously with multiple network nodes 16 and multiple types of network nodes 16 and / or be configured to communicate separately with multiple network nodes 16 and multiple types of network nodes 16. For example, the WD 22 may have dual connectivity with a network node 16 that supports LTE and the same or different network node 16 that supports NR. As an example, the WD 22 may communicate with an eNB for LTE / E-UTRAN and a gNB for NR / NG-RAN.

[0079] The communication system 10 itself can be connected to a host computer 24, which can be embodied in the hardware and / or software of a stand-alone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, or as processing resources in a server farm. The host computer 24 can be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or can be operated by or on behalf of the service provider. The connections 26, 28 between the communication system 10 and the host computer 24 can extend directly from the core network 14 to the host computer 24, or can extend via an optional intermediate network 30. The intermediate network 30 can be one of a public, private, or managed network, or a combination of more than one of these. The intermediate network 30, if any, can be a backbone network or the Internet. In some embodiments, the intermediate network 30 can include two or more subnetworks (not shown).

[0080] Overall, Figure 3 The communication system enables connectivity between one of the connected WDs 22a, 22b and the host computer 24. This connectivity can be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection. The host computer 24 and the connected WDs 22a, 22b are configured to use the access network 12, the core network 14, any intermediate networks 30, and possibly other infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries to transmit data and / or signaling via the OTT connection. The OTT connection can be transparent because at least some of the participating communication devices through which the OTT connection passes are unaware of the routes of uplink and downlink communications. For example, the network node 16 may not be informed or need not be informed of the past routes of incoming downlink communications with data originating from the host computer 24 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to the connected WD 22a. Similarly, the network node 16 does not need to know the future routes of outgoing uplink communications from the WD 22a to the host computer 24.

[0081] The network node 16 is configured to include a deviation unit 32 configured to perform one or more network node 16 functions as described herein, e.g., for OLLA and wireless device-specific OLLA modifications. The wireless device 22 is configured to include a measurement unit 34 configured to perform one or more wireless device 22 functions as described herein, e.g., for OLLA and wireless device-specific OLLA modifications.

[0082] According to one embodiment, reference will now be made to Figure 2 An example implementation of the WD 22, network node 16, and host computer 24 discussed in the preceding paragraphs is described. In the communication system 10, the host computer 24 includes hardware (HW) 38, which includes a communication interface 40 configured to establish and maintain a wired or wireless connection to the interface with the different communication devices of the communication system 10. The host computer 24 also includes processing circuitry 42, which may have storage and / or processing capabilities. The processing circuitry 42 may include a processor 44 and a memory 46. In particular, in addition to or in place of a processor (e.g., a central processing unit) and a memory, the processing circuitry 42 may include an integrated circuit for processing and / or control, such as one or more processors and / or processor cores and / or an FPGA (field programmable gate array) and / or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) suitable for executing instructions. The processor 44 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and / or read from) a memory 46, which may include any type of volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as cache and / or buffer memory and / or RAM (random access memory) and / or ROM (read-only memory) and / or optical memory and / or EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory).

[0083] Processing circuitry 42 may be configured to control any of the methods and / or processes described herein and / or cause these methods and / or processes to be performed, for example, by host computer 24. Processor 44 corresponds to one or more processors 44 for performing the functions of host computer 24 described herein. Host computer 24 includes memory 46 configured to store data, programming software code, and / or other information described herein. In some embodiments, software 48 and / or host application 50 may include instructions that, when executed by processor 44 and / or processing circuitry 42, cause processor 44 and / or processing circuitry 42 to perform the processes described herein for host computer 24. The instructions may be software associated with host computer 24.

[0084] The software 48 can be executed by the processing circuitry 42. The software 48 includes a host application 50. The host application 50 is operable to provide services to a remote user, such as a WD 22 connected via an OTT connection 52 that terminates at the WD 22 and the host computer 24. In providing services to the remote user, the host application 50 can provide user data sent using the OTT connection 52. "User data" can be data and information described herein as implementing the described functionality. In one embodiment, the host computer 24 can be configured to provide control and functionality to a service provider and can be operated by or on behalf of the service provider. The processing circuitry 42 of the host computer 24 can enable the host computer 24 to observe, monitor, control, send to, and / or receive from the network node 16 and / or wireless device 22. The processing circuitry 42 of the host computer 24 may include an information unit 54 configured to enable the service provider to perform one or more of the following: determine, process, store, send, receive, relay, forward, signal, configure, calculate, etc., with respect to information related to OLLA and wireless device-specific OLLA modifications.

[0085] The communication system 10 also includes a network node 16 provided within the communication system 10, and the network node 16 includes hardware 58 that enables it to communicate with the host computer 24 and the WD 22. The hardware 58 may include a communication interface 60 for establishing and maintaining wired or wireless connections to interface with the various communication devices of the communication system 10, and a radio interface 62 for establishing and maintaining at least a wireless connection 64 with the WD 22 located in the coverage area 18 served by the network node 16. The radio interface 62 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more RF transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and / or one or more RF transceivers. The communication interface 60 may be configured to facilitate a connection 66 with the host computer 24. The connection 66 may be direct, or the connection 66 may pass through the core network 14 of the communication system 10 and / or through one or more intermediate networks 30 external to the communication system 10.

[0086] In the illustrated embodiment, the hardware 58 of the network node 16 also includes processing circuitry 68. The processing circuitry 68 may include a processor 70 and a memory 72. In particular, in addition to or in lieu of a processor (e.g., a central processing unit) and a memory, the processing circuitry 68 may include an integrated circuit for processing and / or control, such as one or more processors and / or processor cores and / or an FPGA (field programmable gate array) and / or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 70 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and / or read from) the memory 72, which may include any type of volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as a cache and / or buffer memory and / or RAM (random access memory) and / or ROM (read-only memory) and / or optical memory and / or EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory).

[0087] Thus, the network node 16 also has software 74, which is stored internally, for example, in the memory 72, or in an external memory (e.g., a database, a storage array, a network storage device, etc.) accessible to the network node 16 via an external connection. The software 74 may be executed by the processing circuitry 68. The processing circuitry 68 may be configured to control any of the methods and / or processes described herein and / or cause such methods and / or processes to be performed, for example, by the network node 16. The processor 70 corresponds to one or more processors 70 configured to perform the network node 16 functions described herein. The memory 72 is configured to store data, programming software code, and / or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software 74 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 70 and / or the processing circuitry 68, cause the processor 70 and / or the processing circuitry 68 to perform the processes described herein for the network node 16. For example, the processing circuitry 68 of the network node 16 may include a deviation unit 32 configured to perform one or more network node 16 functions as described herein, for example, with respect to OLLA and wireless device-specific OLLA modifications.

[0088] The communication system 10 also includes the already mentioned WD 22. The WD 22 may have hardware 80 that may include a radio interface 82 configured to establish and maintain a wireless connection 64 with a network node 16 serving the coverage area 18 in which the WD 22 is currently located. The radio interface 82 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more RF transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and / or one or more RF transceivers.

[0089] The hardware 80 of the WD 22 also includes processing circuitry 84. The processing circuitry 84 may include a processor 86 and a memory 88. In particular, in addition to or in place of a processor (e.g., a central processing unit) and memory, the processing circuitry 84 may include an integrated circuit for processing and / or control, such as one or more processors and / or processor cores and / or an FPGA (field programmable gate array) and / or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 86 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and / or read from) the memory 88, which may include any type of volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as a cache and / or buffer memory and / or RAM (random access memory) and / or ROM (read-only memory) and / or optical memory and / or EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory).

[0090] Therefore, WD 22 may also include software 90, which is stored in, for example, memory 88 at WD 22, or in an external memory (e.g., a database, storage array, network storage device, etc.) accessible by WD 22. The software 90 may be executed by the processing circuit 84. The software 90 may include a client application 92. The client application 92 is operable to provide services to human or non-human users via WD 22 with the support of the host computer 24. In the host computer 24, the executing host application 50 may communicate with the executing client application 92 via the OTT connection 52 that terminates at WD 22 and the host computer 24. When providing services to the user, the client application 92 may receive request data from the host application 50 and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 52 may transmit both the request data and the user data. The client application 92 may interact with the user to generate user data provided by the user.

[0091] The processing circuitry 84 may be configured to control any of the methods and / or processes described herein and / or cause these methods and / or processes to be performed, for example, by the WD 22. The processor 86 corresponds to one or more processors 86 for performing the WD 22 functions described herein. The WD 22 includes a memory 88 configured to store data, programming software code, and / or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software 90 and / or client application 92 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 86 and / or processing circuitry 84, cause the processor 86 and / or processing circuitry 84 to perform the processes described herein for the WD 22. For example, the processing circuitry 84 of the wireless device 22 may include a measurement unit 34 configured to perform one or more wireless device 22 functions as described herein, for example, with respect to OLLA and wireless device-specific OLLA modifications.

[0092] In some embodiments, the inner workings of network node 16, WD 22, and host computer 24 may be as follows: Figure 4 shown, and independently, the surrounding network topology can be Figure 3 The surrounding network topology.

[0093] exist Figure 4In FIG, the OTT connection 52 has been abstractly drawn to illustrate communication between the host computer 24 and the wireless device 22 via the network node 16, without explicitly referencing any intermediate devices and the exact routing of the messages through these devices. The network infrastructure can determine the routing, and the network infrastructure can be configured to hide the routing from the WD 22 or from the service provider operating the host computer 24, or both. When the OTT connection 52 is active, the network infrastructure can further make decisions based on which the network infrastructure dynamically changes the routing (e.g., based on load balancing considerations or network reconfiguration).

[0094] The wireless connection 64 between WD 22 and network node 16 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improves the performance of OTT services provided to WD 22 using OTT connection 52 (wherein wireless connection 64 may form the final segment). More specifically, the teachings of some of these embodiments can improve data rates, latency, and / or power consumption, thereby providing benefits such as reduced user wait time, relaxed file size limits, better responsiveness, and extended battery life.

[0095] In some embodiments, a measurement process may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rates, latency, and other factors upon which one or more embodiments improve. In response to changes in the measurement results, there may also be an optional network function for reconfiguring the OTT connection 52 between the host computer 24 and the WD 22. The measurement process and / or network function for reconfiguring the OTT connection 52 may be implemented in the software 48 of the host computer 24 or in the software 90 of the WD 22, or in both. In an embodiment, a sensor (not shown) may be deployed in or associated with the communication device through which the OTT connection 52 passes; the sensor may participate in the measurement process by providing the values ​​of the monitored quantities exemplified above or by providing the values ​​of other physical quantities from which the software 48, 90 can calculate or estimate the monitored quantities. Reconfiguration of the OTT connection 52 may include message formats, retransmission settings, preferred routing, and the like. The reconfiguration need not affect the network node 16 and may be unknown or imperceptible to the network node 16. Some of these processes and functions may be known and practiced in the art. In some embodiments, the measurements may involve proprietary WD signaling that facilitates the host computer 24's measurement of throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. In some embodiments, the measurements may be achieved because the software 48, 90 causes the OTT connection 52 to be used to send messages, particularly empty or "dummy" messages, during its monitoring of propagation time, errors, etc.

[0096] Thus, in some embodiments, host computer 24 includes processing circuitry 42 configured to provide user data, and communication interface 40 configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to WD 22. In some embodiments, cellular network also includes a network node 16 having a radio interface 62. In some embodiments, network node 16 is configured and / or processing circuitry 68 of network node 16 is configured to perform the functions and / or methods described herein to prepare / initiate / maintain / support / end a transmission to WD 22 and / or to prepare / terminate / maintain / support / end receipt of a transmission from WD 22.

[0097] In some embodiments, host computer 24 includes processing circuitry 42 and communication interface 40 configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from WD 22 to network node 16. In some embodiments, WD 22 is configured to and / or includes a radio interface 82 and / or processing circuitry 84 configured to perform the functions and / or methods described herein to prepare / initiate / maintain / support / end a transmission to network node 16 and / or to prepare / terminate / maintain / support / end receipt of a transmission from network node 16.

[0098] although Figure 3 and 4 Various "units" (e.g., deviation unit 32 and measurement unit 34) are shown as being within respective processors, but it is contemplated that these units may be implemented such that a portion of the unit is stored in corresponding memory within the processing circuitry. In other words, these units may be implemented within the processing circuitry in hardware or in a combination of hardware and software.

[0099] Figure 5 FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a communication system (eg Figure 3 and 4 The communication system may include a host computer 24, a network node 16 and a WD 22, which may be a reference Figure 41 and 2. The method further includes a host computer 24, a network node 16, and a WD 22 as described above. In a first step of the method, the host computer 24 provides user data (block S100). In an optional substep of the first step, the host computer 24 provides the user data by executing a host application (e.g., host application 50) (block S102). In a second step, the host computer 24 initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the WD 22 (block S104). In an optional third step, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 16 sends the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the host computer 24 to the WD 22 (block S106). In an optional fourth step, the WD 22 executes a client application (e.g., client application 92) associated with the host application 50 executed by the host computer 24 (block S108).

[0100] Figure 6 FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a communication system (eg Figure 3 The communication system may include a host computer 24, a network node 16 and a WD 22, which may be a reference Figure 3 and 4 1 . The method further includes the host computer 24, network node 16, and WD 22 described above. In a first step of the method, the host computer 24 provides user data (block S110). In an optional sub-step (not shown), the host computer 24 provides the user data by executing a host application (e.g., host application 50). In a second step, the host computer 24 initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the WD 22 (block S112). In accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the transmission may be via the network node 16. In an optional third step, the WD 22 receives the user data carried in the transmission (block S114).

[0101] Figure 7 FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a communication system (eg Figure 3 The communication system may include a host computer 24, a network node 16 and a WD 22, which may be a reference Figure 3 and 41 and 2. The method further includes the host computers 24, network nodes 16, and WDs 22 described above. In an optional first step of the method, WD 22 receives input data provided by host computer 24 (block S116). In an optional sub-step of the first step, WD 22 executes client application 92, which provides user data in response to the received input data provided by host computer 24 (block S118). Additionally or alternatively, in an optional second step, WD 22 provides user data (block S120). In an optional sub-step of the second step, WD 22 provides user data by executing a client application (e.g., client application 92) (block S122). When providing user data, the executed client application 92 may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data is provided, WD 22 may initiate transmission of the user data to host computer 24 in an optional third sub-step (block S124). In a fourth step of the method, host computer 24 receives the user data sent from WD 22 (block S126 ), in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.

[0102] Figure 8 FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a communication system (eg Figure 3 The communication system may include a host computer 24, a network node 16 and a WD 22, which may be a reference Figure 3 and 4 1 and 2. In an optional first step of the method, network node 16 receives user data from WD 22 in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure (block S128). In an optional second step, network node 16 initiates transmission of the received user data to host computer 24 (block S130). In a third step, host computer 24 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by network node 16 (block S132).

[0103] Figure 9is a flow chart of an exemplary process in a network node according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. One or more blocks and / or functions performed by the network node 16 may be performed by one or more units of the network node 16, such as the deviation unit 32 in the processing circuit 68, the processor 70, the radio interface 62, etc. In one or more embodiments, the network node 16 is configured, for example, via one or more of the processing circuit 68, the processor 70, the deviation unit 32, the communication interface 60, and the radio interface 62, to receive (Block S134) a channel state information (CSI) report indicating a deviation of the CSI report, as described herein. In one or more embodiments, the network node 16 is configured, for example, via one or more of the processing circuit 68, the processor 70, the deviation unit 32, the communication interface 60, and the radio interface 62, to determine (Block S136) a deviation of the CSI report based on at least the indication, as described herein. In one or more embodiments, the network node 16 is configured, e.g., via one or more of the processing circuitry 68, the processor 70, the deviation unit 32, the communication interface 60, and the radio interface 62, to set (block S138) an initial outer loop link adaptation (OLLA) based at least on the determined deviation of the CSI reports, as described herein.

[0104] According to one or more embodiments, the indicated bias of the CSI report is indicated by a channel quality indicator (CQI) value included in the CSI report. According to one or more embodiments, the CQI value is based on a mapping of at least one channel quality measurement to one of a plurality of CQI values. According to one or more embodiments, the channel quality measurement is based on at least: a measurement of a channel component and a measurement of an interference component performed on the same signal source; and a bias value in the channel quality measurement, the bias value in the channel quality measurement corresponding to the bias in the CSI report.

[0105] According to one or more embodiments, the indication is configured to indicate a predefined dB value for a CSI report without a bias. According to one or more embodiments, the predefined dB value is one of a zero dB value and a non-zero dB value. According to one or more embodiments, the non-zero dB value is an offset setting value for a channel component. According to one or more embodiments, the CQI value is an average CQI value based on a reference signal scan across multiple resources. According to one or more embodiments, the processing circuit is further configured to: send a request for a CSI report, the CSI report having an indication of a bias for the CSI report.

[0106] Figure 1084, the processor 86, the measurement unit 34, and the radio interface 82. In one or more embodiments, the wireless device is configured to perform (Block S140) at least one channel quality measurement, as described herein, via one or more of the processing circuit 84, the processor 86, the measurement unit 34, and the radio interface 82. In one or more embodiments, the wireless device is configured to send (Block S142) a channel state information (CSI) report, indicating a deviation of the CSI report, wherein the deviation of the CSI report is based on at least one channel quality measurement and is configured to enable setting of an initial outer loop link adaptation (OLLA).

[0107] According to one or more embodiments, the indicated deviation of the CSI report is indicated by a channel quality indicator (CQI) value included in the CSI report. According to one or more embodiments, the processing circuit is further configured to: map at least one channel quality measurement to one of a plurality of CQI values, and the CQI value indicated in the CSI report is based on the mapping. According to one or more embodiments, the processing circuit is further configured to: receive a reference signal scanned on a plurality of resources; perform a plurality of channel quality measurements for the plurality of resources based on the reference signal scanning; determine a plurality of CQI values ​​based on the plurality of channel quality measurements; and the CQI value is an average CQI value based on the plurality of CQI values.

[0108] According to one or more embodiments, the channel quality measurement is based on at least: a measurement of a channel component and a measurement of an interference component performed on the same signal source; and a deviation value in the channel quality measurement, the deviation value in the channel quality measurement corresponding to the deviation in the CSI report. According to one or more embodiments, the indication is configured to indicate a predefined dB value for a CSI report without a deviation. According to one or more embodiments, the predefined dB value is one of a zero dB value and a non-zero dB value. According to one or more embodiments, the non-zero dB value is an offset setting value for the channel component. According to one or more embodiments, the processing circuit is further configured to: receive a request for a CSI report, the CSI report having an indication of a deviation of the CSI report.

[0109] One or more embodiments described herein may be transparent to the wireless device 22 such that the wireless device 22 is unaware that it is reporting a deviation associated with the wireless device 22 .

[0110] Having generally described arrangements for OLLA and wireless device-specific OLLA modifications, details of these arrangements, functions, and processes are provided below and may be implemented by the network node 16 , wireless device 22 , and / or host computer 24 .

[0111] Some embodiments provide OLLA and wireless device-specific OLLA modifications.

[0112] According to one or more embodiments, the initial value of OLLA is modified to be specific to the wireless device and based on the new CSI report to compensate for the imperfect implementation of the wireless device. In particular, in one or more embodiments, the wireless device 22 is configured to report additional and / or different CSI measurements, for example via one or more of the processing circuit 84, the processor 86, the radio interface 82, the measurement unit 34, etc., for the purpose of estimating the CSI report bias instead of the actual CSI. The additional CSI measurement is configured so that if there is no bias, the reported CSI is a priori known at the network node 16, and the difference between the reported CSI and the a priori known value can therefore be used to derive the bias. For example, in NR, the CSI includes a channel quality indicator (CQI) derived from the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). The SINR is calculated as (in dB)

[0113]

[0114] Due to imperfections in wireless device implementations, the SINR measured at the wireless device can actually be equal to

[0115]

[0116] The bias may vary over time and depend on the wireless device. As used herein, imperfections may be, for example, in the hardware or software of the wireless device. Imperfections in software may, for example, be used to reduce computational complexity at the expense of CQI estimation accuracy. Imperfections in hardware may, for example, be used to reduce the cost of device components (e.g., antennas, power amplifiers, etc.) used to estimate CQI. One aspect of the present disclosure is to obtain this bias more quickly and use it to initialize OLLA.

[0117] In one or more embodiments, additional CSI measurements are configured so that the wireless device 22, for example, via one or more of the processing circuitry 84, the processor 86, the radio interface 82, the measurement unit 34, etc., measures the channel component (NZP CSI-RS) and the interference component (CS-IM) from the same source (e.g., the same resource, the same communication beam, etc.) so that if there is no bias, the reported CSI should ideally correspond to 0 dB. The reported CSI can then be easily used to derive the bias used to set the initial value of OLLA. In particular, if received signal power = interference power >> noise power (which may be satisfied for interference-limited wireless devices), the estimated SINR at the wireless device 22 may be equal to (0 dB + bias). Therefore, the CQI reported by the wireless device 22, for example, via one or more of the processing circuitry 84, the processor 86, the radio interface 82, the measurement unit 34, etc., may reflect the bias, which the network node 16 may use, for example, via one or more of the processing circuitry 68, the processor 70, the radio interface 62, the bias unit 32, etc., to initialize OLLA. For noise limited wireless devices 22, the bias estimate may include an error component because the assumption of a desired SINR of 0 dB does not hold.

[0118] In one or more embodiments, additional CSI measurements are configured so that the wireless device 22, for example, via one or more of the processing circuitry 84, the processor 86, the radio interface 82, the measurement unit 34, etc., measures a channel component and an interference component from the same source, but the channel component is "erroneously" configured to be X dB more than the actual value, such that if there were no deviation, the reported CSI would ideally correspond to -X dB. As used herein, "erroneously" corresponds to a configuration that is not required for general operation, i.e., X dB is not required for general wireless device 22 operation, but is advantageously used as described herein. In this case, the wireless device may report to the network node a CQI corresponding to the estimated SINR as follows:

[0119]

[0120] In one or more embodiments, the "incorrectly" configured channel component is configured by the network node 16, for example, via one or more of the processing circuitry 68, the processor 70, the radio interface 62, the bias unit 32, etc. The reported CSI can then be used to derive a bias used to set the initial value of the OLLA. For example, this configuration can be performed by the network node 16, for example, via one or more of the processing circuitry 68, the processor 70, the radio interface 62, the bias unit 32, etc., by configuring a field called "powerControlOffset" of the CSI-RS resource used by the wireless device 22 for channel measurement, and / or configuring one or more other fields that can provide and / or cause an X dB offset. In some embodiments, powerControlOffset can be an RRC parameter in the NR that can be signaled using RRC signaling. Note that this embodiment can be considered a generalization of the previous embodiment, as the previous embodiment can be achieved by setting X = 0 dB. Using X greater than 0 dB helps avoid truncation errors, as the CQI is limited to between 0 and 15, i.e., X can be selected so that the desired SINR maps to a CQI in the middle of the range between 0 and 15.

[0121] In one or more other embodiments, additional CSI measurements are configured so that the wireless device 22, e.g., via one or more of the processing circuitry 84, the processor 86, the radio interface 82, the measurement unit 34, etc., measures channel components and interference components on the same resource elements that would be used to measure conventional CSI, thereby saving or reducing signaling overhead compared to one or more other embodiments described herein.

[0122] When the wireless device 22 is connected to the network node 16 (e.g., a radio resource control (RRC) connection) via one or more of the processing circuit 84, the processor 86, the radio interface 82, the measurement unit 34, etc., or OLLA is occasionally corrected with a very high periodicity, one or more of the above embodiments may be used only once. Alternatively, the above process may be performed with each regular CSI measurement used for link adaptation in an existing system. Compared to the existing system, the wireless device 22 may need to report two CSI measurements, the first CSI measurement being the regular measurement used for link adaptation in the existing system, and the second CSI measurement being the deviation measurement described herein.

[0123] In one or more other embodiments, one or more of the above-described processes / methods may be triggered by any event that may change the bias at the wireless device 22. Such events include changes in one or more of the transmission mode, rank, precoding, and / or SINR of the wireless device 22. The event at the wireless device 22 may be determined by the network node 16, e.g., via one or more of the processing circuitry 68, the processor 70, the radio interface 62, the bias unit 32, etc., such that the process remains transparent to the wireless device 22.

[0124] In one or more embodiments, the network node 16, for example, via one or more of the processing circuit 68, the processor 70, the radio interface 62, the deviation unit 32, etc., may request multiple deviation measurements as described herein and use an average of the multiple deviations to obtain a single deviation. Such averaging reduces errors in the deviation estimate.

[0125] In one or more embodiments, the network node 16, e.g., via one or more of the processing circuitry 68, the processor 70, the radio interface 62, the bias unit 32, etc., may scan X over a range of values ​​(e.g., {0, 1, 2, . . . , 30 dB}), and for each X, the network node 16, e.g., via one or more of the processing circuitry 68, the processor 70, the radio interface 62, the bias unit 32, etc., requests a CSI measurement (as described herein, e.g., in the “erroneously” configured embodiment) to obtain a bias for each given X. For the estimated SINR of a given wireless device 22, the network node, e.g., via one or more of the processing circuitry 68, the processor 70, the radio interface 62, the bias unit 32, etc., may find the X that corresponds to the SINR of the wireless device 22 (e.g., find X from the scanned range of values ​​that is closest to the SINR of the wireless device 22), and use the corresponding bias for X when performing link adaptation for the wireless device 22.

[0126] Therefore, in one or more embodiments described herein, one or more processes and / or methods are provided to estimate the deviation in the estimated SINR of the wireless device 22 through special configuration of CSI-RS reporting without wasting additional downlink CSI reference signals.

[0127] As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the concepts described herein may be embodied as methods, data processing systems, computer program products, and / or computer storage media storing executable computer programs. Thus, the concepts described herein may take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects, all of which are generally referred to herein as "circuits" or "modules." Any process, step, action, and / or function described herein may be performed by and / or associated with a corresponding module, which may be implemented in software and / or firmware and / or hardware. Additionally, the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product on a tangible computer-usable storage medium containing computer program code that may be executed by a computer. Any suitable tangible computer-readable medium may be utilized, including a hard disk, a CD-ROM, an electronic storage device, an optical storage device, or a magnetic storage device.

[0128] Some embodiments are described herein with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the methods, systems, and computer program products. It will be understood that each box in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams, and the combination of boxes in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer (to thereby produce a special-purpose computer), a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine so that these instructions, when executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device, produce a device that implements the function / operation specified in one or more boxes in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams.

[0129] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory or storage medium, which may cause a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including an instruction device that implements the functions / operations specified in one or more blocks in the flowchart and / or block diagram.

[0130] The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus so that a series of operational steps are performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process, such that the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions / operations specified in one or more blocks in the flowchart and / or block diagram.

[0131] It will be understood that the functions / actions noted in the blocks may occur in a different order than that noted in the operational diagrams. For example, two consecutive blocks may actually be executed substantially in parallel, or they may sometimes be executed in the opposite order, depending on the functions / actions involved. Although some figures include arrows on communication paths to illustrate the primary direction of communication, it will be understood that communication may occur in the opposite direction to the arrows shown.

[0132] Computer program code for carrying out operations of the concepts described herein may be written in an object oriented programming language (e.g. Or C++). However, the computer program code for performing the operations of the present disclosure may also be written in a conventional procedural programming language (e.g., the "C" programming language). The program code may be executed entirely on the user's computer, partially on the user's computer, as an independent software package, partially on the user's computer and partially on a remote computer, or entirely on the remote computer. In the case of a remote computer, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer via a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computer (e.g., using an Internet service provider to connect via the Internet).

[0133] Many different embodiments have been disclosed herein in conjunction with the above description and accompanying drawings. It will be understood that literally describing and illustrating every combination and subcombination of these embodiments would be unduly repetitive and obfuscating. Therefore, all embodiments may be combined in any manner and / or combination, and this specification, including the accompanying drawings, is to be construed as constituting a complete written description of all combinations and subcombinations of the embodiments described herein, as well as the manner and process of making and using them, and will support claims to any such combination or subcombination.

[0134] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments described herein are not limited to what has been specifically shown and described above. Furthermore, unless otherwise indicated above, it should be noted that not all drawings are to scale. Various modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings without departing from the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A network node (16) device configured to communicate with a wireless device (22), the network node (16) device comprising: Processing circuitry (68) configured to: receiving a channel state information (CSI) report including a CSI measurement indicating a bias of the CSI report; determining the bias of the CSI report based at least on a difference between the reported CSI measurement and an a priori known value; as well as Initial outer loop link adaptation (OLLA) is set based at least on the determined bias of the CSI report.

2. The network node (16) device according to claim 1, wherein: The indication of the bias of the CSI report comprises a channel quality indicator (CQI) value included in the CSI report.

3. The network node (16) device according to claim 2, wherein: The CQI value is based on a mapping of at least one channel quality measurement to a CQI value of a plurality of CQI values.

4. The network node (16) device according to claim 3, wherein: The channel quality measurement is based at least on: Measurements of the channel component and measurements of the interference component performed on the same signal source; and A deviation value in the channel quality measurement, the deviation value in the channel quality measurement corresponds to the deviation in the CSI report.

5. The network node (16) device according to claim 4, wherein: The indication is configured to indicate a predefined dB value for CSI reporting without bias.

6. The network node (16) device according to claim 5, wherein: The predefined dB value is one of a zero dB value and a non-zero dB value.

7. The network node (16) device according to claim 6, wherein: The non-zero dB value is an offset setting value for the channel component.

8. The network node (16) device according to claim 2, wherein: The CQI value is an average CQI value based on reference signal scanning on multiple resources.

9. The network node (16) device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein: The processing circuit (68) is further configured to send a request for the wireless device to send the CSI report with the indication of the bias of the CSI report.

10. A wireless device (22) configured to communicate with a network node (16) device, the wireless device (22) comprising: Processing circuitry (84) configured to: performing at least one channel quality measurement; as well as Sending a channel state information (CSI) report including a CSI measurement indicating a bias of the CSI report, such that the network node device is capable of determining the bias of the CSI report based at least on a difference between the reported CSI measurement and an a priori known value, wherein the bias of the CSI report is based at least on the at least one channel quality measurement.

11. The wireless device (22) of claim 10, wherein: The indication of the deviation is configured to enable the network node device to determine the deviation for setting an initial Outer Loop Link Adaptation (OLLA).

12. The wireless device (22) according to claim 10 or 11, wherein The indication of the bias of the CSI report comprises a channel quality indicator (CQI) value included in the CSI report.

13. The wireless device (22) of claim 10 or 11, wherein: The processing circuit (84) is further configured to map at least one channel quality measurement to one of a plurality of CQI values, the CQI value included in the CSI report being based on the mapping.

14. The wireless device (22) of claim 10 or 11, wherein: The processing circuit (84) is further configured to: receiving a reference signal scanned over a plurality of resources; performing a plurality of channel quality measurements for the plurality of resources based on the reference signal scanning; determining a plurality of CQI values ​​based on the plurality of channel quality measurements; as well as The CQI value is an average CQI value based on the multiple CQI values.

15. The wireless device (22) of claim 10 or 11, wherein: The channel quality measurement is based at least on: Measurement of channel components and interference components performed on the same signal source; as well as A deviation value in the channel quality measurement, the deviation value in the channel quality measurement corresponds to the deviation in the CSI report.

16. The wireless device (22) of claim 10 or 11, wherein: The processing circuit (84) is further configured to receive a request for the CSI report, the CSI report including the indication of the bias of the CSI report.

17. A method implemented by a network node (16) device configured to communicate with a wireless device (22), the method comprising: receiving (S134) a channel state information (CSI) report comprising a CSI measurement indicating an indication of a bias of said CSI report; determining (S136) the bias of the CSI report based at least on a difference between the reported CSI measurement and an a priori known value; as well as Initial outer loop link adaptation (OLLA) is set (S138) based at least on the determined bias of the CSI report.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein The indication of the bias of the CSI report comprises a channel quality indicator (CQI) value included in the CSI report.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein The CQI value is based on a mapping of at least one channel quality measurement to a CQI value of a plurality of CQI values.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein The channel quality measurement is based at least on: Measurements of the channel component and measurements of the interference component performed on the same signal source; and A deviation value in the channel quality measurement, the deviation value in the channel quality measurement corresponds to the deviation in the CSI report.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein The indication is configured to indicate a predefined dB value for CSI reporting without bias.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein The predefined dB value is one of a zero dB value and a non-zero dB value.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein The non-zero dB value is an offset setting value for the channel component.

24. The method according to claim 18, wherein The CQI value is an average CQI value based on reference signal scanning on multiple resources.

25. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 24, further comprising: Sending a request for the wireless device to send the CSI report with the indication of the bias of the CSI report.

26. A method implemented by a wireless device (22) configured to communicate with a network node (16) device, the method comprising: performing (S140) at least one channel quality measurement; as well as Sending (S142) a channel state information (CSI) report comprising a CSI measurement indicating a deviation of the CSI report, such that the network node device is able to determine the deviation of the CSI report based at least on a difference between the reported CSI measurement and a priori known value, wherein the deviation of the CSI report is based at least on the at least one channel quality measurement.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein The indication of the deviation is configured to enable the network node device to determine the deviation for setting an initial Outer Loop Link Adaptation (OLLA).

28. The method according to claim 26 or 27, wherein The indication of the bias of the CSI report comprises a channel quality indicator (CQI) value included in the CSI report.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising: mapping at least one channel quality measurement to one of a plurality of CQI values, the CQI value indicated in the CSI report being based on the mapping, and The channel quality measurement is based at least on: Measurements of the channel component and measurements of the interference component performed on the same signal source; and A deviation value in the channel quality measurement, the deviation value in the channel quality measurement corresponds to the deviation in the CSI report.

30. The method according to claim 29, wherein The indication is configured to indicate a predefined dB value for CSI reporting without bias.

31. The method according to claim 30, wherein The predefined dB value is one of a zero dB value and a non-zero dB value, and wherein the non-zero dB value is an offset setting value of the channel component.

32. The method according to claim 26 or 27, further comprising: A request for the CSI report is received, the CSI report having the indication of the bias of the CSI report.

Images