Mechanism for indicating beam direction

Abstract

A base station may transmit beam indication information to one or more user equipment (UE) devices. For each of a plurality of time units (e.g., symbols) in a time interval (e.g., spanning one or more time slots), the beam indication information indicates the corresponding beam that the base station will use for transmission or reception. The UE device may know the beam in which it is currently residing, for example, by performing power measurements during a beam scanning process. Therefore, the beam indication information enables the UE to perform transmission and / or reception (e.g., configure transmission and / or reception) during the appropriate time unit. The beam indication information may be dynamically transmitted as part of downlink control information. The transmission may be omnidirectional, wide beam, or narrow beam. Various schemes for encoding the beam indication information are contemplated.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly to a mechanism for signaling beam indication information to a User Equipment (UE) device.

[0002] Related technical description

[0003] When a base station transmits to a user equipment (UE) device using high frequencies (e.g., in the millimeter wave band or higher), beamforming may be necessary to overcome the problems of high path loss and poor penetration of solid materials. Different UEs may be served by different beams in a time division multiplexing (TDM) manner. Therefore, if a UE attempts to receive (or transmit) when the base station's transmit beam (or receive beam) is not pointed at the UE, the attempted communication may fail. Therefore, there is a need for improved handling of high frequency communications. Summary of the invention

[0004] In some embodiments, a base station may transmit beam indication information to one or more user equipment (UE) devices. For each of a plurality of time units (e.g., symbols) in a time interval (e.g., a time interval spanning one or more time slots), the beam indication information indicates the corresponding beam that the base station will use for transmission or reception. The UE device may know the beam in which it resides, for example, by performing power measurements during a beam scanning process. (The base station may scan narrow transmission beams in a directional domain so that each UE can identify the beam in which it resides.) Therefore, the beam indication information enables the UE to perform transmission and / or reception (e.g., configure transmission and / or reception) during the appropriate time unit. The beam indication information may be dynamically transmitted as downlink control information, for example, in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). The transmission may be omnidirectional, wide beam, or narrow beam. Various schemes for encoding the beam indication information are contemplated.

[0005] In some embodiments, a method for operating a base station (BS) may include one or more of the following operations. The method may include transmitting downlink control information (DCI) including beam indication information. The beam indication information may indicate: one or more time units in a sequence of time units in a time interval; and for each of the one or more time units, a corresponding index of a beam used for base station transmission or base station reception during the time unit. The corresponding beam index may be selected from an available set of beam indices.

[0006] The DCI may be a group common message or a UE specific message. The DCI may include beam indication information for one or more carriers hosted by the base station. The DCI may also include (or not include) a dynamic timeslot format indication.

[0007] In some embodiments, one or more time units indicated by the beam indication information may be constrained to be within time units whose beam indication is not semi-statically configured.

[0008] In some embodiments, the beam indication information may apply only to a selected subset of a configuration transmission set. The configuration transmission set may include (or consist of) one or more configuration downlink transmissions and / or one or more configuration uplink receptions. The selected subset may be indicated to one or more UEs via configuration signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) or may be predefined.

[0009] In some embodiments, one of the beam indices in the available set may indicate an unknown state. In these embodiments, the beam indication information may be set so that it indicates an unknown state for a specific time unit. This setting may direct a user equipment (UE) device to perform configuration transmission or reception during a specific time unit.

[0010] In some embodiments, one of the beam indices in the available set indicates an unknown state. In these embodiments, the beam indication information may be set so that it indicates an unknown state for a specific time unit. This setting may instruct a user equipment (UE) device not to perform any configuration transmission or reception during a specific time unit.

[0011] In some implementations, the beam index in the available set may include (or be) a synchronization signal block (SSB) index.

[0012] In some embodiments, the beam configuration information may indicate the beam used for the time unit by indicating a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state or a spatial relationship of the time unit.

[0013] In some implementations, DCI may be transmitted omnidirectionally in a wide beam manner or in a narrow beam manner.

[0014] In some embodiments, the DCI may be transmitted using the same beam as the UE-specific transmission in one of the time units, in which case the beam indication information may include symbol indication information only for the beam.

[0015] In some embodiments, the DCI may be transmitted using a beam corresponding to one of the beam indices in the available set. In these embodiments, the beam index may be included in the DCI; or the DCI may be scrambled with the beam index; or a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the DCI may be scrambled with the beam index.

[0016] In some embodiments, DCI may be transmitted using a beam that (a) includes multiple UE-specific communication beams and (b) is not omnidirectional. In these embodiments, the beam indication information may be limited to information related to multiple UE-specific communication beams.

[0017] In some embodiments, a first beam of the one or more beams may be used for base station transmission, wherein a second beam of the one or more beams may be used for base station reception.

[0018] In some embodiments, one or more time units may be limited to time units corresponding to a semi-static configuration transmission. A semi-static configuration transmission is a semi-static configuration downlink transmission or a semi-static configuration uplink reception.

[0019] In some embodiments, the beam indication information may indicate a beam pattern from a predetermined list of beam patterns, wherein each beam pattern in the beam patterns specifies a beam index for each time unit in the time interval.

[0020] In some embodiments, the beam indication information may indicate a virtual beam pattern from a predetermined list of virtual beam patterns, wherein each of the virtual beam patterns specifies a beam index for each time unit in the time interval. The beam indication information may also include a mapping of the virtual beam index to a corresponding actual beam index.

[0021] In some embodiments, a method for operating a user equipment (UE) device may include one or more of the following operations. The method may include receiving downlink control information (DCI) including beam indication information. The beam indication information may indicate: one or more time units in a sequence of time units in a time interval; and for each time unit in the one or more time units, a corresponding index of a beam used by a base station to perform downlink transmission or uplink reception during the time unit. The corresponding beam index may be selected from an available set of beam indices.

[0022] The downlink control information may be a group common message of a UE specific message. The DCI may include beam indication information for one or more carriers.

[0023] In some embodiments, the DCI may also include, for each of the one or more time units, an indication of the uplink or downlink direction of the data flow during the time interval.

[0024] In some embodiments, one or more time units indicated by the beam indication information are constrained to be among the time units whose beam indication is not semi-statically configured.

[0025] In some embodiments, the beam indication information may apply only to a selected subset of a configuration transmission set. The configuration transmission set may include (or consist of) one or more configuration uplink transmissions and / or one or more configuration downlink receptions. The selected subset may be determined by received configuration signaling (e.g., RRC signaling from a base station) or may be predefined (e.g., by an agreement expressed in a wireless communication standard).

[0026] In some embodiments, a beam index in the available set of beam indices indicates an unknown state. In these embodiments, the method may also include, in response to determining that the beam indication information is set so that it indicates an unknown state for a specific time unit, performing configuration transmission or reception during the specific time unit.

[0027] In some embodiments, a beam index in the available set of beam indices indicates an unknown state. In these embodiments, the method may also include, in response to determining that the beam indication information is set so that it indicates an unknown state for a specific time unit, prohibiting configuration transmission or reception during the specific time unit.

[0028] In some embodiments, the available focused beam indexes may include SSB indexes.

[0029] In some embodiments, the beam configuration information may indicate the beam used for the time unit by indicating a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state or a spatial relationship of the time unit.

[0030] In some embodiments, the beam indication information may be limited to information related to the beam used to transmit the DCI.

[0031] In some embodiments, the method may further include determining whether the first beam used to transmit the DCI is the same as the second beam that the UE resides in. In different embodiments, the determination may include: recovering a beam index included in the DCI and comparing the beam index with the beam index of the second beam; or attempting to descramble the DCI using the beam index of the second beam; or attempting to descramble the CRC of the DCI using the beam index of the second beam.

[0032] In some embodiments, the beam indication information may be limited to information related to two or more UE-specific beams included in the beam used to transmit the DCI.

[0033] In some embodiments, a first beam of one or more beams may be used for transmission by a UE device, wherein a second beam of the one or more beams may be used for reception by the UE device.

[0034] In some embodiments, one or more time units may be limited to time units corresponding to semi-static configuration transmissions.A semi-static configuration transmission is a semi-static configuration uplink transmission from a UE and / or a semi-static configuration downlink reception by a UE.

[0035] In some embodiments, the beam indication information may indicate a beam pattern from a predetermined list of beam patterns, wherein each beam pattern in the beam patterns specifies a beam index for each time unit in the time interval.

[0036] In some embodiments, the beam indication information indicates a virtual beam pattern from a predetermined list of virtual beam patterns, wherein each of the virtual beam patterns specifies a beam index for each time unit in the time interval.

[0037] In some embodiments, the method may further include performing scheduled transmission or scheduled reception of data in one of the one or more time units without referring to the beam index indicated by the beam indication information. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] A better understanding of the present subject matter may be obtained when the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments is considered in conjunction with the following drawings.

[0039] Figure 1 to Figure 2 An example of a wireless communication system according to some embodiments is shown.

[0040] Figure 3 An example of a base station in communication with a user equipment device is shown according to some embodiments.

[0041] Figure 4 An exemplary block diagram of a user equipment device is shown according to some embodiments.

[0042] Figure 5 An exemplary block diagram of a base station according to some embodiments is shown.

[0043] Figure 6 An exemplary user equipment 600 is shown according to some embodiments.

[0044] Figure 7 An example of a base station 700 according to some embodiments is shown. The base station 700 may be used to communicate with Figure 6 The user equipment 600 communicates with the user equipment 600.

[0045] Figure 8 A method for transmitting beam indication information from a base station according to some embodiments is shown.

[0046] Fig. 9A method for receiving beam indication information at a user equipment (UE) device according to some embodiments is shown.

[0047] Fig.10 An example of an available set of beams that may be used by a base station to transmit and / or receive with a user equipment (UE) device is shown according to some embodiments.

[0048] Fig.11 and Fig.12 A specific example of time multiplexing of beams over a sequence of time units (time segments) in a time interval is shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0049] Fig.13 A method for operating a base station to dynamically indicate beams to be used by the base station during specific time units in a time interval is shown according to some embodiments.

[0050] Fig.14 A method for operating a user equipment (UE) device to receive a dynamic indication of a beam to be used by a base station during specific time units in a time interval is shown in accordance with some embodiments.

[0051] Although the features described herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereof are not intended to limit this document to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, their purpose is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives that fall within the spirit and scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0052] Acronyms

[0053] The following acronyms are used in this disclosure:

[0054] 3GPP: Third Generation Partnership Project

[0055] 3GPP2: Third Generation Partnership Project 2

[0056] 5G NR: Fifth Generation New Radio

[0057] BW: Bandwidth

[0058] BWP: Bandwidth Part

[0059] CRC: Cyclic Redundancy Check

[0060] CSI: Channel State Information

[0061] CSI-RS: CSI Reference Signal

[0062] DCI: Downlink Control Information

[0063] DL: Downlink

[0064] eNB (or eNodeB): Evolved Node B, i.e., the base station of 3GPP LTE

[0065] gNB (or gNodeB): Next-generation Node B, i.e., the base station of 5G NR

[0066] GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications

[0067] HARQ: Hybrid ARQ

[0068] LTE: Long Term Evolution

[0069] LTE-A: LTE Advanced

[0070] MAC: Media Access Control

[0071] MAC-CE: MAC Control Element

[0072] NR: New Radio

[0073] NR-DC: NR Dual Connectivity

[0074] NW: Network

[0075] PDCCH: Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0076] RAT: Radio Access Technology

[0077] RNTI: Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0078] RRC: Radio Resource Control

[0079] RRM: Radio Resource Management

[0080] RS: Reference signal

[0081] SR: Scheduling Request

[0082] SSB: Synchronization Signal Block

[0083] TCI: Transmission Configuration Indicator

[0084] UE: User Equipment

[0085] UL: Uplink

[0086] UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

[0087] the term

[0088] The following is a glossary of terms used in this disclosure:

[0089] Memory medium—any of the various types of memory devices or storage devices. The term "memory medium" is intended to include installation media, such as CD-ROM, floppy disk, or tape devices; computer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; non-volatile memory such as flash memory, magnetic media, for example, hard disk drives or optical storage devices; registers, or other similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium may also include other types of memory, or a combination thereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a first computer system executing a program, or may be located in a different second computer system connected to the first computer system via a network such as the Internet. In the latter case, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer for execution. The term "memory medium" may include two or more memory media that may reside in different locations in different computer systems connected, for example, via a network. The memory medium may store program instructions (e.g., in the form of a computer program) that may be executed by one or more processors.

[0090] Carrier Media—storage media as described above, and physical transmission media such as a bus, network, and / or other physical transmission media that transport signals such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals.

[0091] Programmable hardware elements - include various hardware devices that include multiple programmable function blocks connected via programmable interconnects. Examples include FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays), PLDs (programmable logic devices), FPOAs (field programmable object arrays), and CPLDs (complex PLDs). Programmable function blocks can vary from fine-grained (combinational logic units or lookup tables) to coarse-grained (arithmetic logic units or processor cores). Programmable hardware elements may also be referred to as "configurable logic units."

[0092] Computer System—Any of various types of computing or processing systems, including a personal computer system (PC), mainframe computer system, workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance, personal digital assistant (PDA), personal communication device, smart phone, television system, grid computing system, or other device or combination of devices. In general, the term "computer system" can be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combination of devices) having at least one processor that executes instructions from a memory medium.

[0093] User Equipment (UE) (or "UE device") - any of various types of computer system devices that are mobile or portable and that perform wireless communications. Examples of UE devices include mobile phones or smart phones (e.g., iPhone™ , based on Android ™ phones), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS ™ , PlayStation Portable ™ 、Gameboy Advance ™ , iPhone ™ ), wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart glasses), laptops, PDAs, portable network devices, music players, data storage devices, or other handheld devices, etc. In general, the term "UE" or "UE device" can be broadly defined to include any electronic, computing, and / or telecommunication device (or combination of devices) that is easily transportable by a user and capable of wireless communication.

[0094] Base Station—The term “base station” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station that is installed at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system.

[0095] Processing Element—refers to any of various elements or combinations of elements. Processing elements include, for example, circuits such as ASICs (application specific integrated circuits), portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processor cores, individual processors, programmable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and / or larger portions of systems including multiple processors.

[0096] Automatic—refers to an action or operation being performed by a computer system (e.g., software executed by a computer system) or a device (e.g., a circuit, a programmable hardware element, an ASIC, etc.) without the action or operation being directly specified or performed by a user input. Thus, the term "automatic" is contrasted with a user manually performing or specifying an action, where the user provides input to directly perform the action. An automatic process may be initiated by input provided by a user, but subsequent actions performed "automatically" are not specified by the user, i.e., are not performed "manually," where the user specifies each action to be performed. For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting each field and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typing in information, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is manually filling out the form, even though the computer system must update the form in response to the user action. The form may be automatically filled out by a computer system, where the computer system (e.g., software executed on the computer system) analyzes the fields of the form and fills out the form without any user input specifying the answers to the fields. As indicated above, a user may invoke automatic filling out of a form, but not participate in the actual filling out of the form (e.g., the user does not manually specify the answers to the fields but rather they are automatically completed). This specification provides various examples of operations that are automatically performed in response to actions taken by a user.

[0097] Figures 1 to 3 -Communication system

[0098] Figure 1 and Figure 2 An exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system is shown. Note that Figure 1 and Figure 2 The systems are merely examples of some possible systems, and various embodiments may be implemented in any of a variety of ways as desired.

[0099] Figure 1 The wireless communication system of includes a base station 102A that communicates with one or more user equipment (UE) devices 106A, 106B, etc. to 106N via a transmission medium. Each of the user equipment devices may be referred to herein as a "user equipment" (UE). Figure 2 In the wireless communication system, in addition to the base station 102A, the base station 102B also communicates with the UE devices 106A, 106B, etc. to 106N through the transmission medium (for example, simultaneously or concurrently).

[0100] Base stations 102A and 102B may be base transceiver stations (BTSs) or cell sites, and may include hardware to enable wireless communications with user devices 106A through 106N. Each base station 102 may also be equipped to communicate with a core network 100 (e.g., base station 102A may be coupled to core network 100A, while base station 102B may be coupled to core network 100B), which may be a core network of a cellular service provider. Each core network 100 may also be coupled to one or more external networks (such as external network 108), which may include the Internet, a public switched telephone network (PSTN), or any other network. Thus, base station 102A may facilitate communications between user devices and / or between user devices and network 100A; in the example of FIG. 1 , base station 102A may be configured to communicate with user devices 106A through 106N; and in the example of FIG. 1 , base station 102 may be configured to communicate with user devices 106A through 106N. Figure 2 In a system, base station 102B may facilitate communications between user devices and / or between user devices and network 100B.

[0101] The base stations 102A and 102B and the user equipment may be configured to communicate via a transmission medium using any of a variety of radio access technologies (RATs), also referred to as wireless communication technologies or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (WCDMA), LTE, Advanced LTE (LTE-A), 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), Wi-Fi, WiMAX, etc.

[0102] For example, base station 102A and core network 100A may operate according to a first cellular communication standard (e.g., LTE), while base station 102B and core network 100B may operate according to a second (e.g., different) cellular communication standard (e.g., GSM, UMTS, and / or one or more CDMA2000 cellular communication standards). The two networks may be controlled by the same network operator (e.g., cellular service provider or "operator") or different network operators. In addition, the two networks may operate independently of each other (e.g., if they operate according to different cellular communication standards), or may operate in a somewhat coupled or tightly coupled manner.

[0103] It should also be noted that although Figure 2 The illustrated network configuration may use two different networks to support two different cellular communication technologies, but other network configurations that implement multiple cellular communication technologies are also possible. As an example, base stations 102A and 102B may operate according to different cellular communication standards, but are coupled to the same core network. As another example, a multi-mode base station capable of simultaneously supporting different cellular communication technologies (e.g., LTE and CDMA 1xRTT, GSM and UMTS, or any other combination of cellular communication technologies) may be coupled to a core network that also supports different cellular communication technologies. Any other various network deployment scenarios are also possible.

[0104] As another possibility, base station 102A and base station 102B may also operate according to the same wireless communication technology (or a set of overlapping wireless communication technologies). For example, base station 102A and core network 100A may be operated by one cellular service provider independently of base station 102B and core network 100B, which may be operated by different (e.g., competing) cellular service providers. Thus, in this case, despite using similar and possibly compatible cellular communication technologies, UE devices 106A-106N may communicate independently with base stations 102A-102B, possibly by utilizing separate subscriber identities to communicate with different operator networks.

[0105] UE 106 can communicate using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, UE 106 can be configured to communicate using any one or both of 3GPP cellular communication standards (such as LTE) and / or 3GPP2 cellular communication standards (such as cellular communication standards in the CDMA2000 series of cellular communication standards). As another example, UE 106 can be configured to communicate using different 3GPP cellular communication standards (such as two or more of GSM, UMTS, LTE, or LTE-A). Therefore, as described above, UE 106 can be configured to communicate with base station 102A (and / or other base stations) according to a first cellular communication standard (e.g., LTE) and can also be configured to communicate with base station 102B (and / or other base stations) according to a second cellular communication standard (e.g., one or more CDMA2000 cellular communication standards UMTS, GSM, etc.).

[0106] Base stations 102A and 102B and other base stations operating according to the same or different cellular communication standards may thus be provided as one or more cell networks that can provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to UEs 106A-106N and similar devices over a wide geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards.

[0107] The UE 106 may also or alternatively be configured to communicate using WLAN, Bluetooth, one or more global navigation satellite systems (GNSS, such as GPS or GLONASS), one and / or more mobile television broadcast standards (e.g., ATSC-M / H or DVB-H), etc. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible.

[0108] Figure 3 A user equipment 106 (e.g., one of devices 106A through 106N) is shown communicating with a base station 102 (e.g., one of base stations 102A or 102B). UE 106 may be a device with wireless network connectivity, such as a mobile phone, a handheld device, a computer or tablet, a wearable device, or substantially any type of wireless device.

[0109] The UE may include a processor configured to execute program instructions stored in a memory. The UE may perform any of the method implementations described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively or in addition, the UE may include a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array) configured to perform any of the method implementations described herein, or any part of any of the method implementations described herein.

[0110] UE 106 may be configured to communicate using any of a number of wireless communication protocols. For example, UE 106 may be configured to communicate using two or more of GSM, UMTS (W-DCMA, TD-SCDMA, etc.), CDMA2000 (1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD, etc.), LTE, LTE-A, WLAN, or GNSS. Other combinations of wireless communication standards are also possible.

[0111] UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols. Within UE 106, one or more portions of the receive and / or transmit chains may be shared between multiple wireless communication standards; for example, UE 106 may be configured to communicate using a single shared radio using one (or both) of GSM or LTE. The shared radio may include a single antenna, or may include multiple antennas for performing wireless communication (e.g., for MIMO or beamforming). MIMO is an acronym for Multiple Input Multiple Output.

[0112] Figure 4 - Exemplary block diagram of UE

[0113] Figure 4 An exemplary block diagram of a UE 106 is shown. As shown, the UE 106 may include a system on chip (SOC) 300, which may include parts for various purposes. For example, as shown, the SOC 300 may include a processor 302 that may execute program instructions for the UE 106 and a display circuit 304 that may perform graphics processing and provide display signals to a display 345. The processor 302 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 340 and / or other circuits or devices (such as display circuit 304, radio component 330, connector I / F 320, and / or display 345), which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 302 and convert those addresses to locations in a memory (e.g., memory 306, read-only memory (ROM) 350, NAND flash memory 310). The MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or setup. In some embodiments, the MMU 340 may be included as part of the processor 302.

[0114] As shown, SOC 300 may be coupled to various other circuits of UE 106. For example, UE 106 may include various types of memory (e.g., including flash memory 310), a connector interface 320 (e.g., for coupling to a computer system, a docking station, a charging station, etc.), a display 345, and a radio 330.

[0115] The radio component 330 may include one or more RF chains. Each RF chain may include a transmission chain, a reception chain, or both. For example, the radio component 330 may include two RF chains to support dual connections with two base stations (or two cells). The radio component may be configured to support wireless communications according to one or more wireless communication standards (e.g., one or more of GSM, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, WCDMA, CDMA2000, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, etc.).

[0116] The radio component 330 is coupled to an antenna subsystem 335 including one or more antennas. For example, the antenna subsystem 335 may include multiple antennas to support applications such as dual connectivity or MIMO or beamforming. The antenna subsystem 335 transmits and receives radio signals to / from one or more base stations or devices through a radio propagation medium (usually the atmosphere).

[0117] In some embodiments, the processor 302 may include a baseband processor to generate uplink baseband signals and / or process downlink baseband signals. The processor 302 may be configured to perform data processing according to one or more wireless communication standards (e.g., one or more of GSM, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, WCDMA, CDMA2000, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, etc.).

[0118] The UE 106 may also include one or more user interface elements. The user interface elements may include various elements such as a display 345 (which may be a touch screen display), a keyboard (which may be a separate keyboard or may be implemented as part of the touch screen display), a mouse, a microphone and / or a speaker, one or more cameras, one or more sensors, one or more buttons, sliders and / or dials, and / or any of a variety of other elements capable of providing information to a user and / or receiving or interpreting user input.

[0119] As shown, the UE 106 may also include one or more user identity modules (SIMs) 360. Each of the one or more SIMs may be implemented as an embedded SIM (eSIM), in which case the SIM may be implemented in device hardware and / or software. For example, in some embodiments, the UE 106 may include an embedded UICC (eUICC), for example, a device that is built into the UE 106 and is not removable. The eUICC may be programmable so that one or more eSIMs may be implemented on the eUICC. In other embodiments, the eSIM may be installed in the UE 106 software, for example, as program instructions stored on a storage medium (such as memory 306 or Flash 310) executed on a processor (such as processor 302) in the UE 106. As an example, the SIM 360 may be an application executed on a universal integrated circuit card (UICC). Alternatively or in addition, one or more of the SIM 360 may be implemented as a removable SIM card.

[0120] The processor 302 of the UE device 106 may be configured to implement some or all of the methods described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). In other embodiments, the processor 302 may be configured as or include: a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array); or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit); or a combination thereof.

[0121] Figure 5 - Base station example

[0122] Figure 5 1 shows a block diagram of a base station 102. Note that Figure 5 The base station of is only one example of a possible base station. As shown, the base station 102 may include a processor 404 that may execute program instructions for the base station 102. The processor 404 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 440 or other circuit or device, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 404 and convert these addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read-only memory (ROM) 450).

[0123] The base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. The network port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network and provide (to multiple devices such as the UE device 106) services such as those described above in Figure 1 and Figure 2 Access to the telephone network as described in.

[0124] The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also or alternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, such as a core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility-related services and / or other services to multiple devices, such as the UE device 106. In some cases, the network port 470 may be coupled to a telephone network via the core network, and / or the core network may provide a telephone network (e.g., in other UE devices served by the cellular service provider).

[0125] The base station 102 may include a radio component 430 having one or more RF chains. Each RF chain may include a transmit chain, a receive chain, or both. (For example, the base station 102 may include at least one RF chain per sector or cell). The radio 430 is coupled to an antenna subsystem 434 that includes one or more antennas. For example, multiple antennas may be required to support applications such as MIMO or beamforming. The antenna subsystem 434 transmits and receives radio signals to / from the UE through a radio propagation medium (typically the atmosphere).

[0126] In some embodiments, processor 404 may include a baseband processor to generate downlink baseband signals and / or process uplink baseband signals. Baseband processor 430 may be configured to operate according to one or more wireless telecommunication standards, including but not limited to GSM, LTE, WCDMA, CDMA2000, etc.

[0127] The processor 404 of the base station 102 may be configured to implement part or all of the methods described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). In some embodiments, the processor 404 may include: a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array); or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit); or a combination thereof.

[0128] In some embodiments, the wireless user equipment (UE) device 600 may be configured as Figure 6 UE device 600 may include: a radio subsystem 605 for performing wireless communications; and a processing element 610, which is operatively coupled to the radio subsystem. (UE device 600 may also include any subset of the UE features described above, for example, in combination with Figures 1 to 4 ).

[0129] The radio subsystem 605 may include one or more RF chains, for example, as described above. Each RF chain may be configured to receive signals from a radio propagation channel and / or transmit these signals to a radio propagation channel. Therefore, each RF chain may include a transmission chain and / or a reception chain. The radio subsystem 605 may be coupled to one or more antennas (or one or more antenna arrays) to facilitate signal transmission and reception. Each RF chain (or some RF chains) may be tuned to a desired frequency, thereby allowing the RF chain to receive or transmit at different frequencies at different times.

[0130] Processing element 610 may be coupled to the radio subsystem and may be configured as described in various ways above. (For example, the processing element may be implemented by processor 302.) The processing element may be configured to control the state of each RF chain in the radio subsystem.

[0131] In some embodiments, the processing element may include one or more baseband processors to (a) generate baseband signals to be transmitted by the radio subsystem and / or (b) process baseband signals provided by the radio subsystem.

[0132] In a dual-connectivity mode of operation, the processing element may instruct the first RF chain to communicate with the first base station using a first radio access technology, and instruct the second RF chain to communicate with the second base station using a second radio access technology. For example, the first RF chain may communicate with an LTE eNB, and the second RF chain may communicate with a gNB of a 5G New Radio (NR). A link with an LTE eNB may be referred to as an LTE branch. A link with a gNB may be referred to as an NR branch. In some embodiments, the processing element may include a first subcircuit that implements baseband processing relative to the LTE branch and a second subcircuit that implements baseband processing relative to the NR branch.

[0133] Processing element 610 may be further configured as variously described in the following sections.

[0134] In some embodiments, a wireless base station 700 of a wireless network (not shown) may be configured as follows: Figure 7 The wireless base station may include: a radio subsystem 705 for performing wireless communication via a radio propagation channel; and a processing element 710, which is operatively coupled to the radio subsystem. (The wireless base station may also include any subset of the above-mentioned base station features, for example, the above-mentioned combination Figure 5 characteristics described above).

[0135] The radio subsystem 710 may include one or more RF chains. Each RF chain may be tuned to a desired frequency, thereby allowing the RF chain to receive or transmit at different frequencies at different times. The radio subsystem 710 may be coupled to an antenna subsystem that includes one or more antennas, such as an antenna array or multiple antenna arrays. The radio subsystem may employ the antenna subsystem to transmit radio signals to and receive radio signals from a radio wave propagation medium.

[0136] Processing element 710 may be implemented as described in various ways above. For example, in one embodiment, processing element 710 may be implemented by processor 404. In some embodiments, the processing element may include one or more baseband processors to: (a) generate baseband signals to be transmitted by the radio subsystem, and / or (b) process baseband signals provided by the radio subsystem.

[0137] Processing element 710 may be configured to perform any of the base station method implementations described herein.

[0138] Mechanism for indicating beam direction

[0139] In some embodiments, a base station (such as a gNB of 3GPP 5GNR) may employ multiple transmit (Tx) beams and / or multiple receive (Rx) beams, especially when operating at high frequencies (e.g., in the FR2 frequency range of 5GNR). (For example, in Releases 15 and 16 of 5GNR, up to 64 Tx / Rx beams may be employed. For frequencies above 52.6 GHz, the number of beams may be further increased.) The directions of the beams may be arranged to cover the cell coverage area. The beam directions may vary in one or two angular dimensions, for example, over a range of azimuth angles, or over a 2D range of azimuth and elevation angles. Each of the beams may have a corresponding index value.

[0140] The beams may need to be narrow, for example, to provide sufficient gain for communication with the UE. (Antenna gain is inversely related to beamwidth.) In the case of analog beamforming, UEs in different beams can be served in a time domain multiplexing (TDM) manner. When beamforming is performed in the analog domain, it may be difficult to transmit two or more beams simultaneously.

[0141] If the UE attempts to receive (or transmit) when the base station is using a transmission beam (or reception beam) that does not cover the UE, the reception (or transmission) may not be successful. Therefore, it is desirable that the UE attempt to receive (or transmit) with the base station at those times when the base station is using an appropriate transmission beam (or reception beam), i.e., a beam that covers the UE.

[0142] Operation of base stations and UE devices in a traditional manner (e.g., according to existing 3GPP 5GNR specifications) may result in inefficient or inflexible system behavior or waste of UE power. For example, if the gNB does not use an appropriate beam during the UE's monitoring instance, the UE may perform unnecessary monitoring (e.g., PDCCH monitoring).

[0143] If the UE is configured for periodic reception / transmission (e.g. PDCCH reception, periodic CSI-RS reception, configuration grant PUSCH transmission, scheduling request, periodic CSI reporting, etc.), then the gNB will need to ensure that the appropriate beam is being used at the configured time, assuming the transmission direction DL or UL is aligned with the configuration. This constraint can significantly limit the flexibility of the base station scheduling activities.

[0144] In some embodiments, the base station may transmit a downlink control information (DCI) message (or multiple messages) that dynamically indicates the Tx / Rx beam to be used in subsequent symbols in one or more time slots. The DCI message may be performed in a physical downlink shared channel. The DCI message may be a group common message or a UE specific message. In addition to the indication of the Tx / Rx beam, the DCI message may include other information. The DCI message may include an indication of the Tx / Rx beam for multiple carriers. (The base station may host multiple cells, each with a corresponding component carrier.)

[0145] The indication of the Tx / Rx beam may be indicated separately or jointly with the slot format indicator. The UE device may use the dynamic slot format indicator (SFI) carried in the downlink control information to derive which symbols of a slot are uplink, which are downlink, and which are flexible.

[0146] In some embodiments, the base station may semi-statically configure the beam (or beam indicator, or beam direction) for one or more symbols in one or more time slots, for example, by transmitting radio resource control (RRC) signaling to one or more UEs. Therefore, only the remaining symbols (i.e., symbols whose beam information is not semi-statically configured) may require dynamic indication of beam information.

[0147] For example, the first symbol in a timeslot may be semi-statically configured with a beam index equal to "unknown beam", in which case the UE may be required to monitor the PDCCH, for example, to determine whether the base station has scheduled data transmission or reception to / from the UE. As another example, the second symbol in a timeslot may be semi-statically configured with a beam index equal to beam number 4. Therefore, UEs covered by beam number 4 may transmit (or receive) in the second symbol. UEs belonging to beams other than beam number 4 may be prohibited from transmitting (or receiving) in the second symbol, as doing so would be a waste of effort.

[0148] In some embodiments, the base station may configure (or design constraints on the base station and the UE may define) which transmissions / receptions in the transmission / reception set are affected by the beam indication information that is dynamically signaled. For example, the periodic CSI-RS may not be affected by the beam indication information so as not to affect the CSI measurement process at the UE. (CSI is an acronym for channel state information. RS is an acronym for reference signal.)

[0149] In some embodiments, for each symbol, the beam indication information may indicate a beam index or an "unknown" (or "flexible") state. A mapping of beam indices to actual beams may need to be defined for a UE (eg, for a UE communicating with a base station).

[0150] In some embodiments, the beam index of the reference dynamic beam indication information may be the same as the synchronization signal block (SSB) index defined in the 3GPP 5G NR standard.

[0151] In some embodiments, the mapping of beam index to TCI state (for DL) or spatial relationship (for UL) may be UE-specifically configured, for example, through RRC signaling. In this case, the base station may ensure that the configuration is aligned between the UE groups. The UE may recover the beam index from the dynamic beam indication information and use the configuration map to look up the corresponding TCI state for downlink reception (or the corresponding spatial relationship indicator for uplink transmission). Alternatively, the dynamic beam indication information may include an indicator of the TCI state (or an indicator of the spatial relationship) instead of the beam index, and the UE may use the indicator and the configuration map to look up the corresponding beam index.

[0152] An uplink transmission from a UE or a downlink reception of a UE may be semi-statically configured by higher layer (e.g., RRC) signaling from a base station. Such transmission and reception may be referred to as "configured transmission" and "configured reception," respectively. In contrast, when dynamically indicated by transmission of downlink control information (DCI) from a base station, the transmission or reception is referred to as "scheduled."

[0153] We contemplate at least two different types of "unknown" states. For the first type of "unknown" state, the UE may perform configured transmission / reception at its corresponding configured symbol times, and the base station may ensure that its receive / transmit beams for those symbol times are aligned with (or pointed at) the UE. Symbols for which the base station performs omni-directional transmission / reception may be processed using this type of "unknown" state. For the second type of "unknown" state, the UE may not perform any configured transmission / reception, assuming that the gNB may use any beam direction.

[0154] In some embodiments, one type of unknown state may be used (e.g., defined or configured). In other embodiments, two types of unknown states may be used.

[0155] Different kinds of configuration transmission / reception may also be handled differently for the "unknown" state. For example, assume that the UE is configured to perform periodic PDCCH monitoring and periodic CSI measurements. If the beam indication information indicates an "unknown" beam state for one or more symbols used by PDCCH monitoring and CSI measurements, the UE may still monitor the PDCCH but not perform CSI measurements.

[0156] In some embodiments, scheduled transmissions / receptions to / from the UE may follow the same beam handling as indicated by the beam indication information for the configured transmissions / receptions. (These embodiments anticipate the possibility that the base station may make scheduling decisions that conflict with the DCI-based beam indication messages. Therefore, the UE may need to selectively ignore some of the scheduled transmissions or receptions.) In other embodiments, the UE may perform scheduled transmissions / receptions without checking the beam indication information, assuming that the base station (e.g., gNB) does not make any conflicting scheduling decisions.

[0157] In some embodiments, the DCI-based beam indication message can be a group common message, that is, a message for a group of UEs. In these embodiments, multiple cases can be considered. In the first case, the DCI carrying the beam indication message can be transmitted in an omnidirectional manner. In the second case, the DCI carrying the beam indication message can be transmitted using a narrow beam of the same (or similar) type as the transmission of UE-specific control / data. In the third case, the DCI carrying the beam indication message can be transmitted using a beam that is wider than the narrow type used for the transmission of UE-specific control / data but is not omnidirectional. This third case is between the first and second cases; each DCI will be able to reach the UE in more than one narrow beam. In the following paragraphs, each of the above cases will be described more fully.

[0158] Case 1: Omnidirectional transmission of group common beam indication information

[0159] If the DCI is group-common and transmitted omnidirectionally, it can reach all UEs within the cell.Thus, the DCI may carry beam indication information for all directions used in the cell, e.g., for a set of directions spanning 360 degrees or approximately 120 degrees in a sectorized cell.

[0160] There may be different alternatives for how to indicate beam information for symbols in one or more time slots. In a first alternative, beam information for each symbol in one or more time slots may be indicated. For example, if there are 30 beams, 5 bits are required to indicate the beam information for each symbol (30 beams + 1 "unknown" state). Assuming there are 14 symbols in a time slot, 14*5 = 70 bits are required for each time slot. If beam information for multiple time slots is indicated, more bits may be required. The corresponding overhead may be considerable. (Note that the values ​​of parameters such as the number of time slots, the number of symbols per time slot, and the number of beams may each take a variety of different values. The values ​​given in this example are not intended to be limiting.)

[0161] In a second alternative, to reduce overhead, the beam information can be used G The granularity of the symbols is indicated by X G is a positive integer. For example, in X G = 2, each beam indication state applies to two consecutive symbols. The value of X provides a trade-off between DCI overhead and scheduling flexibility.

[0162] Note that some symbols in a slot (or multiple slots) may have a semi-statically configured transmission / reception, while other symbols of the slot do not have a semi-statically configured transmission / reception. (Also, a symbol may have more than one semi-statically configured transmission / reception, if desired.)

[0163] In a third alternative, beam information may be provided only for selected beams and / or symbols in one or more slots. For example, beam information may be indicated only for symbols (or a subset of those symbols) that have semi-statically configured transmission / reception, as beam information may be most useful for controlling the behavior of semi-statically configured transmission / reception. (Thus, for each symbol, the UE may be informed whether it is allowed to perform semi-statically configured transmission or semi-statically configured reception during that symbol. For example, the gNB may configure two UEs residing in different beams to transmit on the same symbol. Depending on which beam is indicated for the symbol, one of the two UEs will transmit.) Providing beam information for other symbols may not be useful, as the UE may rely on dynamic DCI signaling to schedule transmission and / or reception of those other symbols. Furthermore, the number of symbols in a slot that have semi-statically configured transmission / reception may not be large compared to the number of symbols in a slot (or multiple slots).

[0164] Regarding the third alternative, several options for beam indication are envisioned, as described below. However, these options are not an exhaustive list. (Other approaches may be used. In some embodiments, multiple options may also be supported, and the base station may configure or dynamically indicate which option to use.) We provide examples of signaling for each option. For these examples, we assume a total of 7 beams (beam indices 0 to 6) plus one "unknown" beam state, and that each indication covers 14 symbols in a time slot (symbol indices start at 0). All examples correspond to the case where symbol #2 uses beam #4 and symbol #3 uses beam #6. The examples assume that the beam indication is for a single time slot. For multiple time slots, the same kind of indication may be repeated for each time slot. Alternatively, the bitmap may be extended to cover multiple time slots.

[0165] In a first option, the beam indication may include one or more pairs of the form (symbol index, beam index), where the symbol index spans one or more time slots. For example, the indication may have two pairs: (2, 4) and (3, 6).

[0166] In a second option, the beam indication may include: a bitmap for identifying symbols for which beam information is transmitted; and beam information for each of the identified symbols. For example, the beam indication may have a bitmap 00110000000000 for symbol indication, followed by beam index values ​​4 and 6 for beam information. The bitmap has 14 entries corresponding to 14 symbols in one slot, respectively.

[0167] In a third option, the beam indication may include one or more pairs of (beam index, bitmap) for one or more time slots. The bitmap indicates a set of symbols associated with the corresponding beam. Each position in the bitmap corresponds to a corresponding symbol position in one or more time slots. For example, the beam indication may have two such pairs:

[0168] (4, 00100000000000) and (6, 00010000000000).

[0169] In a fourth option, the beam indication may include: a beam bitmap for identifying the beam to be indicated; and, for each indicated beam, a corresponding symbol bitmap indicating a set of symbols assigned to the beam. The positions in the beam bitmap correspond to the corresponding beams. One (or more) of the positions may be used to indicate an "unknown" beam state. The positions in the symbol bitmap correspond to corresponding symbols in one or more time slots. For example, the beam indication may have a bitmap of 00001010 to indicate beams 4 and 6, followed by bitmaps 00100000000000 and 00010000000000 for symbol indication.

[0170] It may be necessary to define or configure the maximum number of symbols and / or the maximum number of beams to be included in the beam indication information so that the base station and the UE have a common understanding of the maximum message length. For example, the base station may transmit a configuration signal indicating the maximum number of symbols and / or the maximum number of beams to the UE.

[0171] Now return to the discussion of alternatives for beam indication in case 1 (omnidirectional transmission). In a fourth alternative, a list of beam patterns for one or more time slots may be predefined or configured (e.g., broadcast or UE-specifically configured), and the DCI-based dynamic beam indication may indicate an index of the beam pattern in the list. Each of the beam patterns specifies a beam index value for each symbol in a time slot (or multiple time slots). The beam index values ​​may correspond to corresponding beams. One (or more) of the beam index values ​​may represent an "unknown" beam state. For example, a table such as the one given below may be predefined or configured (or partially predefined and partially configured). U represents an unknown beam state.

[0172] Beam Direction Chart

[0173]

[0174] As shown in the table, beam pattern index 0 corresponds to a pattern in which the first 7 symbols are assigned a beam with beam index 0 and the last 7 symbols are assigned a beam with beam index 1. One or more beam pattern indices (each covering a different time period) may be indicated in the DCI message. Although the above table provides specific examples of beam patterns, it should be understood that a variety of other beam patterns may be used as needed or desired, for example, depending on the application scenario or operating conditions. In addition, although the table assumes that the beam pattern includes 14 elements corresponding to 14 symbols in a single time slot, it should be understood that the number of time slots and the number of symbols per time slot may take various different values, respectively, as needed or desired.

[0175] The above table-based mechanism can significantly reduce the overhead of providing beam indication information via DCI. However, it can be challenging to predefine or configure such a table without substantially constraining the freedom of base station scheduling activities. This mechanism may be more feasible if the number of beams is small, and / or the beam patterns are restricted (or primarily restricted) to symbols with configured transmission / reception. This range restriction can greatly reduce the number of patterns required.

[0176] In a fifth alternative, a list of virtual beam patterns for one or more time slots may be predefined or configured (e.g., broadcast or UE-specific), where each virtual beam pattern includes a virtual beam index but does not include an actual beam index (or beam direction). Each of the virtual beam patterns specifies a virtual beam index for each symbol in a time slot (or multiple time slots). The dynamic DCI-based beam indication information may include: an index (or multiple indices) of the virtual beam pattern in the list; and a mapping of the virtual index in the virtual beam pattern to the corresponding actual beam index or unknown beam state.

[0177] For example, a table such as shown below may be predefined or configured (or partially predefined and partially configured). Note that the virtual beam index in the virtual beam pattern does not directly correspond to the actual beam. The meaning of each virtual beam index is included as part of the dynamic beam indication information. For example, the dynamic beam indication information may indicate virtual beam pattern index 0, and indicate that virtual index 0 corresponds to actual beam 3, and virtual index 1 corresponds to actual beam 2. In this case, the first 7 symbols will correspond to actual beam 3, and the last 7 symbols will correspond to actual beam 2.

[0178] Virtual Beam Direction Chart

[0179]

[0180] This table-based mechanism can significantly reduce the number of patterns without introducing too much constraints on the scheduling of the base station, especially when there are a large number of beams in the system. For example, regardless of the number of beams in the system, the first entry in the above table can be used to indicate a pattern that uses two beams in one time slot, where one of the two beams uses the first 7 symbols and the other beam uses the last 7 symbols. Which two beams to use can be dynamically indicated in the DCI. In addition, the virtual beam patterns can be restricted (or primarily restricted) to symbols with configured transmission / reception to further reduce the number of entries.

[0181] Case 2: Narrow beam transmission of group common beam indication information

[0182] As described above, in the second case of group common beam indication signaling, a narrow beam of the same (or similar) type as the UE-specific control / data may be used to transmit DCI carrying group common beam indication information. In this second case, all solutions described above in conjunction with the first case are still applicable, and any one or more of these solutions may be adopted as needed in the second case. Compared with the first case, the overhead of this second case can be reduced by only indicating the symbols (or other time units) associated with the narrow beam used to transmit the current DCI. UEs covered by other beams may not receive dynamic DCI transmissions, and therefore, it may be useless to transmit their beam indication information. (In other words, the UE may only need to know a subset of the symbol duration associated with the beam it resides on, without knowing exactly which (which) beams are being used for symbols not associated with its beam.) In one embodiment, the beam indication information may include symbol indication information only for the narrow beam used to transmit the dynamic DCI, and the remaining symbols of the time slot (or other time interval) may be processed with an "unknown" state. When defining a mapping of beam indices to TCI states or spatial relationships, only the mapping for beams carrying DCI may be defined, and the remaining beams may be processed via an "unknown" state.

[0183] There are many different ways to implement the above-mentioned customization of beam indication information for each beam to reduce DCI overhead.

[0184] In a first alternative, the beam indication information may include a set of slot / symbol indices associated with the beams carrying the DCI transmission.

[0185] In a second alternative, the beam indication information may include a bitmap indicating the time slots / symbols associated with the beam carrying the DCI.

[0186] For both the first alternative and the second alternative, the UE may need to identify the beam in which the DCI is being received. A DCI message transmitted in a particular beam may be received by UEs in adjacent overlapping beams in addition to the UEs in the particular beam. Therefore, the base station may provide a mechanism by which the UE can determine which beam the beam indication information is for. As described below, there are different options for identifying the beam. (These options are not an exhaustive list.)

[0187] According to a first option, the base station may explicitly add a beam index in the DCI, ie, the beam index of the beam carrying the DCI.

[0188] According to a second option, the base station may implicitly indicate the beam index by scrambling the transmitted DCI with the beam index.

[0189] According to a third option, the base station may implicitly indicate the beam index by scrambling a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the DCI message with the beam index in addition to scrambling the CRC with a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI).

[0190] With the second and third options, UEs in adjacent overlapping beams will not be able to successfully decode the DCI message because they will perform descrambling using their own beam index, which is different from the beam index of the beam carrying the DCI.

[0191] Case 3: Wide beam transmission of group common beam indication information

[0192] As described above, in the third case of group common beam indication signaling, a beam that is wider than the beam used for UE-specific control / data but is not omnidirectional can be used to transmit the DCI carrying the beam indication message. (For this third case, all solutions discussed above in conjunction with the first case still apply.) Compared to the first case, the overhead for this third case can be reduced by indicating only the beams covered by the wide beam used for DCI transmission. For example, the beam indication message may include only beam indication information for narrow beams covered by the wide beam used for DCI transmission. The remaining beams can be processed via the "unknown" state. When defining a mapping of beam indices to TCI states or spatial relationships, only the mapping for the corresponding beams can be defined, and the remaining beams can be processed via the "unknown" state.

[0193] UE-specific messages

[0194] In some embodiments, if the indication is via a UE-specific message, all solutions for group common messaging still apply. However, because this is a UE-specific message, the DCI overhead can generally be reduced by not including the exact beam index for beams that are not of interest to that particular UE. These beams can be handled via the "unknown" state.

[0195] Figure 8 - Method for operating a base station

[0196] In one set of embodiments, a method 800 for operating a base station (BS) may include: Figure 8 (Method 800 may also include any subset of the above features, elements, or operations.) The method may be performed by a processing circuit of a base station (eg, by processing element 710 of base station 700).

[0197] At 810, the processing circuit may transmit downlink control information (DCI) including beam indication information. The beam indication information may indicate: (a) one or more time units in a sequence of time units in a time interval; and (b) for each of the one or more time units, a corresponding index of a beam (or beam direction) used for base station transmission or base station reception during the time unit. The corresponding beam index may be selected from an available set of beam indices. The beam index (or a subset of these beam indices) in the available set may correspond to a beam used by the base station to perform communication (e.g., UE-specific communication) with a user equipment (UE) device. The direction of the beam may be spread to cover an area of ​​space. The beam may (or may not) have a uniform width.

[0198] Where one or more time units constitute a plurality of time units, these units are not necessarily contiguous.

[0199] In some embodiments, the base station may be a gNB according to the 3GPP 5G NR standard.

[0200] In some embodiments, the downlink control information may be a group common message for a group of user equipment (UE) devices.

[0201] In some embodiments, the downlink control information may be targeted to a specific user equipment (UE) device, in which case the beam indication information may only relate to the beam on which the UE device resides, for example, as described variously above.

[0202] In some implementations, the DCI may include beam indication information for each of a plurality of carriers hosted by the base station.

[0203] In some embodiments, the DCI may also include, for each of the one or more time units, an indication of the uplink or downlink direction of the data flow during the time interval.

[0204] In some embodiments, one or more time units indicated by the beam indication information may be constrained to be within time units whose beam indication is not semi-statically configured.

[0205] In some embodiments, the beam indication information is applied only to a selected subset of a configuration transmission set. The configuration transmission set may include (or consist of) one or more configuration downlink transmissions and / or one or more configuration uplink receptions. The selected subset may be indicated to one or more UEs via configuration signaling (e.g., RRC signaling transmitted by a base station). Alternatively, the selected subset may be predefined.

[0206] In some embodiments, one of the beam indices in the available set indicates an unknown state, in which case the beam indication information may be set such that it indicates an unknown state for a specific time unit. This setting of the beam indication information may direct a user equipment (UE) device to perform a configuration transmission or reception during a specific time unit. (In this case, the UE may not know which beam the base station is using during a specific time unit, and it does not need to make any assumptions about the beam being used. The UE may simply perform the configuration transmission / reception as defined by the configuration.)

[0207] In some embodiments, one of the beam indices in the available set indicates an unknown state, in which case the beam indication information may be set so that it indicates an unknown state for a specific time unit. This setting of the beam indication information may instruct a user equipment (UE) device not to perform any configuration transmission or reception during a specific time unit.

[0208] In some embodiments, the beam index of the available set may include a synchronization signal block (SSB) index, for example, an SSB index as defined in the 3GPP 5GNR standard.

[0209] In some embodiments, the beam configuration information may indicate the beam used for the time unit by indicating a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state or a spatial relationship of the time unit. In these embodiments, method 800 may also include transmitting configuration information to a user equipment (UE) device, wherein the configuration information configures a mapping of a beam index to a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state or a spatial relationship of the UE device.

[0210] In some embodiments, the time interval may span one or more time slots.

[0211] In some embodiments, DCI may be transmitted omnidirectionally.

[0212] In some embodiments, DCI may be transmitted using the same beam as a UE-specific transmission in one of one or more time units, in which case the beam indication information may include symbol indication information only for the beam used to transmit the DCI.

[0213] In some embodiments, a subset of the beam indices in the available set corresponds to respective beams used for UE-specific communications with a user equipment (UE) device. In these embodiments, one of the beams may be used to transmit DCI, in which case the beam indication information may include symbol indication information only for the one beam used to transmit DCI.

[0214] In some embodiments, the base station transmits the DCI using a beam corresponding to one of the beam indices in the available set. In this case, the beam index may be included in the DCI. Alternatively, the DCI may be scrambled with the beam index. As another alternative, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the DCI may be scrambled with the beam index.

[0215] In some embodiments, DCI may be transmitted using a beam that (a) includes multiple UE-specific communication beams and (b) is not omnidirectional. In these embodiments, the beam indication information may be limited to information related to the multiple UE-specific communication beams (e.g., symbol indication information).

[0216] In some embodiments, a subset of the beam indices in the available set may correspond to respective beams used for UE-specific communications with a user equipment (UE) device. In these embodiments, a wide beam that (a) includes or covers multiple UE-specific communication beams and (b) is not omnidirectional may be used to transmit DCI. The beam indication information may be limited to information related to multiple UE-specific communication beams within the wide beam.

[0217] In some embodiments, a first beam of the one or more beams may be used for base station transmission and a second beam of the one or more beams may be used for base station reception.

[0218] In some embodiments, the one or more time units indicated by the beam indication information may be limited to time units corresponding to semi-static configuration transmissions (where each of the semi-static configuration transmissions is a semi-static configuration downlink transmission or a semi-static configuration uplink reception), for example, as described above in various ways. These transmissions may be configured by higher layer signaling such as radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

[0219] In some embodiments, the beam indication information may indicate a beam pattern from a predetermined list of beam patterns, wherein each beam pattern in the beam pattern specifies a beam index (from an available set) for each time unit in a time unit of a time interval. The base station may determine (or partially determine) the list by transmitting a configuration message to the UE device.

[0220] In some embodiments, the beam indication information may indicate a virtual beam pattern from a predetermined list of virtual beam patterns, wherein each virtual beam pattern in the virtual beam patterns specifies a beam index for each time unit in the time unit of the time interval. The beam indication information may also include a mapping of one or more virtual beam indices to one or more corresponding actual beam indices.

[0221] In some embodiments, a base station may include: a radio subsystem; a processing circuit coupled to the radio subsystem; and a memory storing program instructions. The program instructions, when executed by the processing circuit, may cause the base station to perform any of the above method embodiments.

[0222] In some embodiments, a method for operating a base station (BS) may include: transmitting downlink control information (DCI) including beam indication information, wherein the beam indication information indicates: one or more time units in a sequence of time units in a time interval; and for each of the one or more time units, a corresponding index of a beam used for base station transmission or base station reception during the time unit, wherein the corresponding beam index is selected from an available set of beam indices.

[0223] In some implementations, the downlink control information is a group common message for a group of user equipment (UE) devices.

[0224] In some embodiments, the downlink control information is targeted to a specific user equipment (UE) device, wherein the beam indication information is only related to the beam where the UE device resides.

[0225] In some embodiments, the DCI includes beam indication information for each of a plurality of carriers hosted by the base station.

[0226] In some embodiments, for each of the one or more time units, the DCI also includes an indication of the uplink or downlink direction of the data flow during the time interval.

[0227] In some embodiments, the one or more time units are constrained to be among time units whose beam indication is not a semi-static configuration.

[0228] In some embodiments, the beam indication information is applied only to a selected subset of a configured transmission set, where the configured transmission set includes one or more configured downlink transmissions and / or one or more configured uplink receptions, where the selected subset is indicated to one or more UEs via configuration signaling, or is predefined.

[0229] In some embodiments, a beam index in the available set of beam indices indicates an unknown state, wherein the beam indication information is set so that it indicates an unknown state for a specific time unit, wherein the setting instructs a user equipment (UE) device to perform a configuration transmission or reception during the specific time unit.

[0230] In some embodiments, a beam index in the available set of beam indices indicates an unknown state, wherein the beam indication information is set such that it indicates an unknown state for a specific time unit, wherein the setting instructs a user equipment (UE) device not to perform any configuration transmission or reception during the specific time unit.

[0231] In some embodiments, the available concentrated beam indexes may include SSB indexes.

[0232] In some embodiments, the beam configuration information indicates the beam used for the time unit by indicating a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state or a spatial relationship of the time unit.

[0233] In some embodiments, the time interval spans one or more time slots.

[0234] In some embodiments, the DCI is transmitted omnidirectionally.

[0235] In some embodiments, the DCI is transmitted using the same beam as the UE-specific transmission in one of the time units, wherein the beam indication information includes symbol indication information only for the beam.

[0236] In some embodiments, DCI is transmitted using a beam corresponding to one of the beam indices in the available set, wherein: the beam index is included in the DCI; or the DCI is scrambled with the beam index; or a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the DCI is scrambled with the beam index.

[0237] In some embodiments, DCI is transmitted using a beam that (a) includes multiple UE-specific communication beams and (b) is not omnidirectional, wherein the beam indication information is limited to information related to the multiple UE-specific communication beams.

[0238] In some embodiments, a first beam of the one or more beams is used for base station transmission, and a second beam of the one or more beams is used for base station reception.

[0239] In some implementations, the one or more time units are limited to time units corresponding to semi-static configuration transmissions, where each of the semi-static configuration transmissions is a semi-static configuration downlink transmission or a semi-static configuration uplink reception.

[0240] In some embodiments, the beam indication information indicates a beam pattern from a predetermined list of beam patterns, wherein each of the beam patterns specifies a beam index for each time unit in the time interval.

[0241] In some embodiments, the beam indication information indicates: a virtual beam pattern from a predetermined list of virtual beam patterns, wherein each virtual beam pattern in the virtual beam pattern specifies a beam index for each time unit in a time unit of a time interval; and a mapping of one or more virtual beam indices to one or more corresponding actual beam indices.

[0242] Fig. 9 - Method for operating a user equipment (UE) device

[0243] In one set of embodiments, a method 900 for operating a user equipment (UE) device may include: Fig. 9 (The method 900 may also include any subset of the above features, elements, or operations.) The method may be executed by a processing circuit of a UE device (eg, by the processing element 610 of the user equipment 600).

[0244] At 910, the processing circuit may receive downlink control information (DCI) including beam indication information. The beam indication information may indicate: (a) one or more time units in a sequence of time units in a time interval; and (b) for each of the one or more time units, a corresponding index of a beam (or beam direction) used by a base station to perform downlink transmission or uplink reception during the time unit, wherein the corresponding beam index is selected from an available set of beam indices. For example, the sequence of time units may span one time slot (or multiple time slots).

[0245] In some embodiments, the base station may be configured to communicate with the gNB in ​​accordance with the 3GPP 5G NR standard.

[0246] In some embodiments, the downlink control information may be a group common message for a group of UE devices.

[0247] In some embodiments, the downlink control information may be directed only to the UE device, in which case the beam indication information may be related only to the beam on which the UE device resides, e.g., as described variously above. For example, one or more time units may be limited to those time units related to the beam on which the UE device resides.

[0248] In some implementations, the DCI may include beam indication information for each of the multiple carriers.

[0249] In some embodiments, the DCI may also include, for each of the one or more time units, an indication of the uplink or downlink direction of the data flow during the time interval.

[0250] In some embodiments, the one or more time units may be constrained to be among time units whose beam indication is not a semi-static configuration.

[0251] In some embodiments, the beam indication information may apply only to a selected subset of a configuration transmission set. The configuration transmission set may include (or consist of) one or more configuration uplink transmissions and / or one or more configuration downlink receptions. The selected subset may be determined by received configuration signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). Alternatively, the selected subset may be predefined.

[0252] In some embodiments, a beam index in the available set of beam indices may indicate an unknown state. In these embodiments, the method may also include, in response to determining that the beam indication information is set so that it indicates an unknown state for a specific time unit, performing configuration transmission or reception during the specific time unit.

[0253] In some embodiments, a beam index in the available set of beam indices indicates an unknown state. In some embodiments, the method may also include, in response to determining that the beam indication information is set so that it indicates an unknown state for a specific time unit, prohibiting configuration transmission or reception during the specific time unit.

[0254] In some implementations, the beam index in the available set may include a synchronization signal block (SSB) index.

[0255] In some embodiments, the beam configuration information may indicate the beam used for the time unit by indicating a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state or a spatial relationship of the time unit. In these embodiments, method 900 may also include receiving configuration information from a base station that configures a mapping between a beam index and a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state or a spatial relationship of a UE device.

[0256] In some embodiments, the time interval may span one or more time slots.

[0257] In some embodiments, the time unit may be a symbol duration.

[0258] In some embodiments, the beam indication information may be limited to information related to the beam used to transmit the DCI.

[0259] In some embodiments, the method may further include determining whether the first beam used to transmit the DCI is the same as the second beam on which the UE resides. The act of determining may include recovering a beam index included in the DCI and comparing the beam index with a beam index of the second beam. Alternatively, the determining may include attempting to descramble the DCI using the beam index of the second beam. As yet another alternative, the determining may include attempting to descramble a CRC of the DCI using the beam index of the second beam.

[0260] In some embodiments, the beam indication information may be limited to information (eg, symbol indication information) related to two or more UE-specific communication beams contained within the beam used to transmit the DCI. The symbol indication information for a given beam indicates one or more symbols of the given beam to be used.

[0261] In some embodiments, a first beam of the one or more beams may be used for transmission by a UE device, and a second beam of the one or more beams may be used for reception by the UE device.

[0262] In some implementations, one or more time units may be limited to time units corresponding to semi-static configuration transmissions, where each of the semi-static configuration transmissions is a semi-static configuration uplink transmission or a semi-static configuration downlink reception.

[0263] In some embodiments, the beam indication information may indicate a beam pattern from a predetermined list of beam patterns, wherein each beam pattern in the beam patterns specifies a beam index for each time unit in the time interval.

[0264] In some embodiments, the beam indication information may indicate a virtual beam pattern from a predetermined list of virtual beam patterns, wherein each virtual beam pattern in the virtual beam pattern specifies a beam index for each time unit in the time interval. The beam indication information may also indicate a mapping of one or more virtual beam indices to one or more corresponding actual beam indices.

[0265] In some embodiments, the method 900 may further include performing scheduled transmission or scheduled reception of data in one of the one or more time units without referring to the beam index indicated by the beam indication information.

[0266] In some embodiments, a user equipment (UE) device may include: a radio subsystem; a processing circuit coupled to the radio subsystem; and a memory storing program instructions. When executed by the processing circuit, the program instructions may cause the UE device to perform any of the above method embodiments.

[0267] Fig.10An available set of beams that can be used by a base station (BS) to transmit and / or receive with a UE device according to some embodiments is shown. The base station may employ beams in a time multiplexed manner to communicate with different UEs or different subsets of UEs. Beams may be identified by corresponding beam index values. For example, the beams shown are indexed from 0 to N-1. The beam to be used at any given time interval may depend on the spatial distribution of the UEs. Each UE may determine the beam on which it is currently residing, for example by performing a signal power measurement during a beam scanning process in which the base station scans the beams in the available set.

[0268] Fig.11 and Fig.12 An example of different beams in an available set used for transmission (or reception) in different time units in a time interval according to some embodiments is shown. Beam #2 is used for time unit #1; beam #0 is used for time unit #2; beam #7 is used for time unit #3; etc. (The specific values ​​used in this example are meant to be illustrative, and a wide variety of different values ​​are contemplated.) The base station may transmit a dynamic DCI-based indication of the beam used in the corresponding time unit of the time interval, e.g., as described variously above.

[0269] Fig.13 - Method for operating a base station

[0270] In one set of embodiments, a method 1300 for operating a base station (BS) may include: Fig.13 (The method 1300 may also include any subset of the above features, elements, or operations.) The method may be executed by a processing circuit of a base station (eg, by the processing element 710 of the base station 700).

[0271] At 1310, the processing circuit may transmit downlink control information (DCI) including beam indication information. The beam indication information may dynamically indicate an index of a beam used for base station transmission or base station reception during a specific time unit in a time interval. The time interval may be divided into a sequence of time units, wherein the specific time unit is a time unit.

[0272] In some embodiments, for each of the one or more beams in the available set of beams, the beam indication information may indicate which one or more time units of the time interval are assigned (by the base station) to the beam.

[0273] In some embodiments, for each time unit of one or more time units of the time interval, the beam indication information may indicate which beam of an available set of beams is assigned (by the base station) for transmission or reception in that time unit.

[0274] Fig.14- Method for operating a user equipment (UE) device

[0275] In one set of embodiments, a method 1400 for operating a user equipment (UE) device may include: Fig.14 (Method 1400 may also include any subset of the above features, elements, and implementations.) The method may be performed by a processing circuit of a UE device (eg, by processing element 610 of user equipment 600).

[0276] At 1410, the processing circuit may receive downlink control information (DCI) including beam indication information. The beam indication information may dynamically indicate an index of a beam used by a base station to perform downlink transmission or uplink reception during a specific time unit in a time interval. The time interval may be divided into a sequence of time units, wherein the specific time unit is a time unit.

[0277] In some embodiments, for each of the one or more beams in the available set of beams, the beam indication information may indicate which one or more time units of the time interval are assigned (by the base station) to the beam.

[0278] In some embodiments, for each time unit of one or more time units of the time interval, the beam indication information may indicate which beam of an available set of beams is assigned (by the base station) for transmission or reception in that time unit.

[0279] The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in any of a variety of forms. For example, some embodiments may be implemented as computer-implemented methods, computer-readable storage media, or computer systems. Other embodiments may be implemented using one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. Other embodiments may be implemented using one or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs.

[0280] In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be configured such that it stores program instructions and / or data, wherein if the program instructions are executed by a computer system, the computer system is caused to perform a method, such as any one of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or any subset of any method embodiments described herein, or any combination of such subsets.

[0281] In some embodiments, the computer system may be configured to include a processor (or a group of processors) and a memory medium, wherein the memory medium stores program instructions, wherein the processor is configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory medium, wherein the executable program instructions are to implement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or any subset of any method embodiments described herein, or any combination of such subsets). The computer system may be implemented in any of various forms. For example, the computer system may be a personal computer (in any of its various implementations), a workstation, a computer on a card, a dedicated computer in a box, a server computer, a client computer, a handheld device, a user equipment (UE) device, a tablet computer, a wearable computer, etc.

[0282] By interpreting each message / signal X received in the downlink by a user equipment (UE) communicating with the base station (or transmission-reception point) as a message / signal X transmitted by the base station (or transmission-reception point), and interpreting each message / signal Y transmitted in the uplink by the UE as a message / signal Y received by the base station (or transmission-reception point), any of the methods for operating a UE described herein may become the basis for the corresponding method for operating the base station (or transmission-reception point).

[0283] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0284] Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to encompass all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication, comprising: receiving downlink control information DCI including beam indication information, wherein the beam indication information indicates: One or more time units in a sequence of 14 symbols in a time slot; for each of the one or more time units, an indication of an uplink direction or a downlink direction of a data flow during that time unit; and A first beam pattern from a predetermined list of a plurality of beam patterns, wherein each beam pattern in the predetermined list of the plurality of beam patterns specifies a corresponding beam index for each corresponding time unit of the time slot, wherein each beam pattern includes changing the beam at least once during the time slot and at least a subset of the beam patterns in the predetermined list of the plurality of beam patterns includes using at least 3 different beams during the time slot.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the downlink control information is a group common message for a group of user equipment (UE) devices.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the downlink control information is only for a receiving user equipment UE device, and wherein the beam indication information is only related to the beam where the UE device resides.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: The scheduled transmission or the scheduled reception of data is performed in one time unit of the one or more time units without referring to the beam index indicated by the beam indication information. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more time units are constrained to be among time units whose beam indication is not semi-statically configured.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the beam indication information is applied only to a selected subset of a configured transmission set, wherein the configured transmission set includes one or more configured uplink transmissions and / or one or more configured downlink receptions, wherein the selected subset is determined by received configuration signaling or is predefined.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the beam indication information indicates the beam used for the time unit by indicating a transmission configuration indication TCI state or a spatial relationship of the time unit.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Determining whether a first beam used to transmit the DCI is the same as a second beam on which a user equipment UE device resides, wherein the determining comprises: recovering a beam index included in the DCI and comparing the beam index with a beam index of the second beam; or attempting to descramble the DCI using the beam index of the second beam; or Attempting to descramble the CRC of the DCI using the beam index of the second beam. 9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the beam indication information is limited to information related to two or more user equipment (UE)-specific beams included in a beam used to transmit the DCI.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the beam indication information indicates: a virtual beam pattern from a predetermined list of virtual beam patterns, wherein each of the virtual beam patterns specifies a virtual beam index for each of the time units of the time slot; and A mapping of one or more virtual beam indices to one or more corresponding real beam indices.

11. A user equipment UE device, the UE device comprising: Radio electronic systems; a processing circuit coupled to the radio subsystem; and A memory storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the processing circuit, cause the UE device to perform the method according to claim 1.

12. A method for wireless communication, comprising: Transmitting downlink control information DCI including beam indication information, wherein the beam indication information indicates: One or more time units in a sequence of 14 symbols in a time slot; for each of the one or more time units, an indication of an uplink direction or a downlink direction of a data flow during that time unit; and A first beam pattern from a predetermined list of a plurality of beam patterns, wherein each beam pattern in the predetermined list of the plurality of beam patterns specifies a corresponding beam index for each corresponding time unit of the time slot, wherein each beam pattern includes changing the beam at least once during the time slot and at least a subset of the beam patterns in the predetermined list of the plurality of beam patterns includes using at least 3 different beams during the time slot.

13. A processor, comprising: Baseband processor; and A memory management unit (MMU), the baseband processor and the MMU are configured to execute the method according to claim 1.

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