Protection period optimization for multi-antenna user equipment

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for selecting an antenna configuration for transmissions in a wireless communication network. An example technique may include determining that a pre-scheduled guard period is not scheduled between a scheduled uplink transmission and a scheduled sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission; and based on the determination, transmitting the scheduled SRS transmission using the first antenna configuration after transmitting the scheduled uplink transmission using the first antenna configuration.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of Chinese invention patent application 201980030532.0 (PCT / US2019 / 031492) entitled “Optimization of protection period for multi-antenna user equipment” filed on May 9, 2019. Technical Field

[0002] Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications and, more particularly, to techniques for selectively scheduling protection periods for user equipment having multiple antennas. Background Art

[0003] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, etc.). Examples of such multiple-access systems include Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems, Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) systems, and Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) systems, to name just a few.

[0004] In some examples, a wireless multiple access communication system may include several base stations (BSs), each of which is capable of simultaneously supporting communication of multiple communication devices (also referred to as user equipment (UE)). In an LTE or LTE-A network, a set of one or more base stations may define an evolved B node (eNB). In other examples (e.g., in a next generation, new radio (NR), or 5G network), a wireless multiple access communication system may include several distributed units (DUs) (e.g., edge units (EUs), edge nodes (ENs), radio heads (RHs), smart radio heads (SRHs), transmission reception points (TRPs), etc.) in communication with several central units (CUs) (e.g., central nodes (CNs), access node controllers (ANCs), etc.), wherein a set of one or more distributed units in communication with a central unit may define an access node (e.g., which may be referred to as a base station, a 5G NB, a next generation B node (gNB or g B node), a TRP, etc.). A base station or distributed unit may communicate with a set of UEs on downlink channels (eg, for transmissions from or to the base station) and uplink channels (eg, for transmissions from the UE to the base station or distributed unit).

[0005] These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide common protocols that enable different wireless devices to communicate at city, country, region, and even global levels. New Radio (NR) (e.g., 5G) is an example of an emerging telecommunication standard. NR is an enhancement set of the LTE mobile standard promulgated by 3GPP. It is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improving spectrum efficiency, reducing costs, improving services, utilizing new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using OFDMA with cyclic prefix (CP) on downlink (DL) and uplink (UL). To this end, NR supports beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation.

[0006] However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to grow, there is a need for further improvements in NR and LTE technologies. However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to grow, there is a need for further improvements in NR and LTE technologies. Summary of the invention

[0007] The systems, methods, and devices of the present disclosure each have several aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of the present disclosure as expressed in the appended claims, some features will now be discussed briefly. After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading the section entitled "Detailed Description," it will be understood how the features of the present disclosure provide advantages including improved communication between access points and stations in a wireless network.

[0008] Certain aspects provide a method of selecting an antenna configuration for transmission in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: determining an unscheduled pre-guard period between a scheduled uplink transmission and a scheduled sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission; and based on the determination, transmitting the scheduled SRS transmission using a first antenna configuration after transmitting the scheduled uplink transmission using the first antenna configuration.

[0009] Other aspects provide a method of selecting an antenna configuration for transmission in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: determining that no post-guard period is required between a scheduled sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission and a scheduled downlink transmission; transmitting the scheduled SRS transmission using a first antenna configuration; changing from the first antenna configuration to a second antenna configuration; and receiving the scheduled downlink transmission using the second antenna configuration without observing an intervening guard period.

[0010] Still other aspects provide a method for scheduling networking resources in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: transmitting a network resource allocation to a user equipment (UE), wherein the network resource allocation comprises an SRS resource set, wherein a first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is separated from a second SRS resource in the SRS resource set by an intermediate protection period, and wherein the second SRS resource in the SRS resource set is followed by a post protection period.

[0011] A further aspect provides a method for scheduling network resources in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: determining, by a base station, that no post-protection period is required between a scheduled sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission and a scheduled downlink transmission; receiving the scheduled SRS transmission from a user equipment (UE); and transmitting the scheduled downlink transmission from the base station after receiving the scheduled SRS transmission without observing an intervening protection period.

[0012] To achieve the foregoing and related ends, one or more aspects include features fully described below and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the accompanying drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of one or more aspects. However, these features are only indicative of several of the various ways in which the principles of the various aspects can be employed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] In order to understand in detail the manner in which the above-stated features of the present disclosure are used, a more particular description of the content briefly summarized above may be made with reference to various aspects, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It should be noted, however, that the accompanying drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of the present disclosure and are not to be considered limiting of its scope, as the description may admit to other equally effective aspects.

[0014] Figure 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example telecommunications system in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0015] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example logical architecture of a distributed radio access network (RAN) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0016] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an example physical architecture of a distributed RAN in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 4 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating designs of example base stations (BSs) and user equipment (UEs) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example for implementing a communication protocol stack in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 6 An example of a frame format for a New Radio (NR) system is illustrated in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0020] Fig. 7A A portion of a network resource block is depicted, including an additional protection period.

[0021] Figure 7B A portion of a network resource block is depicted, including an additional protection period and an omitted protection period.

[0022] Figure 7C A portion of a network resource block is depicted, including an additional protection period and an omitted protection period.

[0023] Fig. 8A A method of selecting an antenna configuration for transmitting in a wireless communication network is described.

[0024] Figure 8B

[0011] Another method of selecting an antenna configuration for transmitting in a wireless communication network is described.

[0025] Fig.9A Methods of scheduling networking resources in a wireless communication network are described.

[0026] Fig. 9B Another method of scheduling network resources in a wireless communication network is described.

[0027] Fig.10 Communications devices that may include various components configured to perform operations of the techniques disclosed herein are illustrated in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0028] To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one aspect may be beneficially utilized in other aspects without specific recitation. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, methods, processing systems, and computer-readable media for selectively scheduling a protection period for user equipment having multiple antennas.

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

[0031] The technology described herein can be used for various wireless communication technologies, such as LTE, CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA and other networks. The terms "network" and "system" are often used interchangeably. A CDMA network can implement radio technologies such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes other variants of Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and CDMA. cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA network can implement radio technologies such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA network can implement radio technologies such as NR (e.g., 5G RA), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDMA, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are parts of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS).

[0032] New Radio (NR) is an emerging wireless communication technology being developed in collaboration with the 5G Technology Forum (5GTF). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Advanced LTE (LTE-A) are versions of UMTS that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, and GSM are described in documents from an organization called "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP). cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization called "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2). The techniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks and radio technologies mentioned above as well as other wireless networks and radio technologies. For clarity, although various aspects may be described herein using terms commonly associated with 3G and / or 4G wireless technologies, various aspects of the present disclosure may be applied in communication systems based on other generations, such as 5G and later generations, including NR technologies.

[0033] New Radio (NR) access (e.g., 5G technology) can support various wireless communication services, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) targeting wide bandwidth (e.g., 80 MHz or higher), millimeter wave (mmW) targeting high carrier frequency (e.g., 25 GHz or higher), massive machine type communication MTC (mMTC) targeting non-backward compatible MTC technology, and / or mission critical services targeting ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC). These services may include latency and reliability requirements. These services may also have different transmission time intervals (TTIs) to meet corresponding quality of service (QoS) requirements. In addition, these services can coexist in the same subframe.

[0034] Example Wireless Communication System

[0035] Figure 1 An example wireless communication network 100 is illustrated in which aspects of the present disclosure may be performed. For example, the wireless communication network 100 may be a new radio (NR) or 5G network. In some examples, the network 100 may be configured to implement the following aspects of the present disclosure: Figures 8A-8B and Figures 9A-9B The method described.

[0036] like Figure 1As illustrated in , the wireless network 100 may include several base stations (BS) 110 and other network entities. A BS may be a station that communicates with a user equipment (UE). Each BS 110 may provide communication coverage for a specific geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" may refer to the coverage area of ​​a B node (NB) and / or a B node subsystem serving the coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In the NR system, the term "cell" and the next generation B node (gNB), new radio base station (NR BS), 5G NB, access point (AP), or transmission reception point (TRP) may be interchangeable. In some examples, the cell may not necessarily be stationary, and the geographical area of ​​the cell may move according to the location of the mobile BS. In some examples, the base station may be interconnected to each other and / or to one or more other base stations or network nodes (not shown) in the wireless communication network 100 through various types of backhaul interfaces (such as direct physical connections, wireless connections, virtual networks, or analogs using any suitable transmission networks).

[0037] In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a specific radio access technology (RAT) and may operate on one or more frequencies. RAT may also be referred to as radio technology, air interface, etc. Frequency may also be referred to as carrier, subcarrier, frequency channel, frequency modulation, subband, etc. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a given geographic area to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs. In some cases, NR or 5G RAT networks may be deployed.

[0038] A base station (BS) may provide communication coverage for macro cells, pico cells, femto cells, and / or other types of cells. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a residence) and may allow restricted access by UEs associated with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a closed subscriber group (CSG), UEs of users in a residence, etc.). A BS for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. A BS for a pico cell may be referred to as a pico BS. A BS for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS. In Figure 1In the example shown in FIG. 1 , BSs 110a, 110b, and 110c may be macro BSs for macro cells 102a, 102b, and 102c, respectively. BS 110x may be a pico BS for pico cell 102x. BSs 110y and 110z may be femto BSs for femto cells 102y and 102z, respectively. A BS may support one or more (e.g., three) cells.

[0039] The wireless communication network 100 may also include a relay station. A relay station is a station that receives transmissions of data and / or other information from an upstream station (e.g., a BS or a UE) and sends transmissions of the data and / or other information to a downstream station (e.g., a UE or a BS). A relay station may also be a UE that relays transmissions for other UEs. Figure 1 In the example shown in , a relay station 110r may communicate with a BS 110a and a UE 120r to facilitate communication between the BS 110a and the UE 120r. A relay station may also be referred to as a relay BS, a relay, or the like.

[0040] The wireless network 100 may be a heterogeneous network including different types of BSs, such as macro BSs, pico BSs, femto BSs, relays, etc. These different types of BSs may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different impacts on interference in the wireless network 100. For example, a macro BS may have a high transmit power level (e.g., 20 watts), while a pico BS, a femto BS, and a relay may have a lower transmit power level (e.g., 1 watt).

[0041] The wireless communication network 100 may support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, each BS may have similar frame timing, and transmissions from different BSs may be roughly aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, each BS may have different frame timing, and transmissions from different BSs may not be aligned in time. The techniques described herein may be used for both synchronous and asynchronous operation.

[0042] A network controller 130 may couple to a set of BSs and provide coordination and control for these BSs. Network controller 130 may communicate with BSs 110 via a backhaul. BSs 110 may also communicate with each other (eg, directly or indirectly) via a wireless or wired backhaul.

[0043] UE 120 (e.g., 120x, 120y, etc.) may be dispersed throughout the wireless network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. UE may also be referred to as a mobile station, terminal, access terminal, subscriber unit, station, customer premises equipment (CPE), cellular phone, smart phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless modem, wireless communication device, handheld device, laptop computer, cordless phone, wireless local loop (WLL) station, tablet computer, camera, gaming device, netbook, smartbook, ultrabook, appliance, medical device or medical equipment, biometric sensor / device, wearable device (such as smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wristband, smart jewelry (e.g., smart ring, smart bracelet, etc.)), entertainment device (e.g., music device, video device, satellite radio, etc.), transportation component or sensor, smart meter / sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, global positioning system device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate via wireless or wired medium. Some UEs may be considered as machine type communication (MTC) devices or evolved MTC (eMTC) devices. MTC and eMTC UEs include, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, etc., which can communicate with a BS, another device (e.g., a remote device), or some other entity. A wireless node can provide connectivity for or to a network (e.g., a wide area network such as the Internet or a cellular network), for example, via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which may be narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) devices.

[0044] Some wireless networks (e.g., LTE) utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and single carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also often referred to as frequency modulation, frequency bins, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain for OFDM and in the time domain for SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers can be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) can depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the spacing of subcarriers can be 15kHz, and the minimum resource allocation (called a "resource block" (RB)) can be 12 subcarriers (or 180kHz). Therefore, for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 megahertz (MHz), the nominal fast Fourier transform (FFT) size can be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048, respectively. The system bandwidth may also be partitioned into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz (ie, 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz, respectively.

[0045] Although aspects of the examples described herein may be associated with LTE technology, aspects of the present disclosure may be applicable to other wireless communication systems, such as NR. NR may utilize OFDM with CP on the uplink and downlink and include support for half-duplex operation using TDD. Beamforming may be supported and the beam direction may be dynamically configured. MIMO transmission with precoding may also be supported. MIMO configurations in the DL may support up to 8 transmit antennas (with multi-layer DL transmissions of up to 8 streams) and up to 2 streams per UE. Multi-layer transmissions of up to 2 streams per UE may be supported. Aggregation of multiple cells may be supported using up to 8 serving cells.

[0046] In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled, wherein a scheduling entity (e.g., a base station) allocates resources for communication between some or all devices and equipment within its service area or cell. The scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more subordinate entities. That is, for scheduled communications, the subordinate entity utilizes the resources allocated by the scheduling entity. The base station is not the only entity that can be used as a scheduling entity. In some examples, a UE may be used as a scheduling entity, and resources for one or more subordinate entities (e.g., one or more other UEs) may be scheduled, and other UEs may use the resources scheduled by the UE for wireless communications. In some examples, a UE may act as a scheduling entity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network and / or in a mesh network. In a mesh network example, UEs may communicate directly with each other in addition to communicating with a scheduling entity.

[0047] exist Figure 1 In FIG. 1 , a solid line with double arrows indicates desired transmissions between a UE and a serving BS, which is a BS designated to serve the UE on a downlink and / or uplink. A thin dashed line with double arrows indicates interfering transmissions between a UE and a BS.

[0048] Figure 2 An example logical architecture of a distributed radio access network (RAN) 200 is illustrated, which may be Figure 1 200. The 5G access node 206 may include an access node controller (ANC) 202. The ANC 202 may be a central unit (CU) of the distributed RAN 200. The backhaul interface to the next generation core network (NG-CN) 204 may be terminated at the ANC 202. The backhaul interface to the adjacent next generation access node (NG-AN) 210 may be terminated at the ANC 202. The ANC 202 may include one or more transmit reception points (TRPs) 208 (e.g., cellular cells, BSs, gNBs, etc.).

[0049] The TRP 208 may be a distributed unit (DU). The TRP 208 may be connected to a single ANC (e.g., ANC 202) or more than one ANC (not illustrated). For example, for RAN sharing, Radio as a Service (RaaS), and service-specific AND deployments, the TRP 208 may be connected to more than one ANC. The TRPs 208 may each include one or more antenna ports. The TRPs 208 may be configured to serve traffic to the UE individually (e.g., dynamically selected) or jointly (e.g., jointly transmitted).

[0050] The logical architecture of the distributed RAN 200 may support fronthaul solutions across different deployment types. For example, the logical architecture may be based on transport network capabilities (eg, bandwidth, latency, and / or jitter).

[0051] The logical architecture of the distributed RAN 200 may share features and / or components with LTE. For example, the next generation access node (NG-AN) 210 may support dual connectivity with NR and may share a common fronthaul for LTE and NR.

[0052] The logical architecture of the distributed RAN 200 may enable collaboration between and among TRPs 208, for example, within and / or across TRPs via the ANC 202. An inter-TRP interface may not be used.

[0053] Logical functions may be dynamically distributed in the logical architecture of the distributed RAN 200. Figure 5Described in more detail, the radio resource control (RRC) layer, the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, the radio link control (RLC) layer, the medium access control (MAC) layer, and the physical (PHY) layer can be adaptively placed at the DU (e.g., TRP 208) or the CU (e.g., ANC 202).

[0054] Figure 3 An example physical architecture of a distributed radio access network (RAN) 300 is illustrated in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. A centralized core network unit (C-CU) 302 may host core network functions. The C-CU 302 may be centrally deployed. C-CU 302 functionality may be offloaded (e.g., to advanced wireless services (AWS)) in an effort to handle peak capacity.

[0055] A centralized RAN unit (C-RU) 304 may host one or more ANC functions. Optionally, the C-RU 304 may host core network functions locally. The C-RU 304 may have a distributed deployment. The C-RU 304 may be close to the edge of the network.

[0056] The DU 306 may host one or more TRPs (edge ​​node (EN), edge unit (EU), radio head (RH), smart radio head (SRH), etc.) The DU may be located at the edge of the network with radio frequency (RF) functionality.

[0057] Figure 4 Explained (such as Figure 1 10 and UE 120, which may be used to implement aspects of the present disclosure. For example, antenna 452, processors 466, 458, 464, and / or controller / processor 480 of UE 120 and / or antenna 434, processors 420, 430, 438, and / or controller / processor 440 of BS 110 may be used to perform the operations described herein (such as those related to Figures 8A-8B and Figures 9A-9B Various techniques and methods described).

[0058] At BS 110, a transmit processor 420 may receive data from a data source 412 and control information from a controller / processor 440. The control information may be for a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), a physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH), etc. The data may be for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc. The processor 420 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and the control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The processor 420 may also generate reference symbols (e.g., for a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a cell-specific reference signal (CRS)). A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 430 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​data symbols, control symbols, and / or reference symbols, where applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to modulators (MODs) 432a to 432t. Each modulator 432 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. The downlink signals from modulators 432a through 432t may be transmitted via antennas 434a through 434t, respectively.

[0059] At the UE 120, antennas 452a to 452r may receive downlink signals from the base station 110 and may provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) in transceivers 454a to 454r, respectively. Each demodulator 454 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 456 may obtain received symbols from all demodulators 454a to 454r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols where applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 458 may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for the UE 120 to a data sink 460, and provide decoded control information to a controller / processor 480.

[0060] On the uplink, at the UE 120, the transmit processor 464 may receive and process data from a data source 462 (e.g., data for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)) and control information from a controller / processor 480 (e.g., control information for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)). The transmit processor 464 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., for a sounding reference signal (SRS)). The symbols from the transmit processor 464 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 466, if applicable, further processed by a demodulator in the transceiver 454a to 454r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), and transmitted to the base station 110. At the BS 110, the uplink signal from the UE 120 may be received by the antenna 434, processed by the modulator 432, detected by the MIMO detector 436, if applicable, and further processed by the receive processor 438 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE 120. Receive processor 438 may provide decoded data to data sink 439 and decoded control information to controller / processor 440 .

[0061] Controllers / processors 440 and 480 may direct the operation at base station 110 and UE 120, respectively. Processor 440 and / or other processors and modules at BS 110 may perform or direct the execution of processes for the techniques described herein. Memories 442 and 482 may store data and program codes for BS 110 and UE 120, respectively. Scheduler 444 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and / or uplink.

[0062] Figure 5 A diagram 500 showing an example for implementing a communication protocol stack according to various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. The illustrated communication protocol stack may be implemented by a device operating in a wireless communication system, such as a 5G system (e.g., a system supporting uplink-based mobility). Diagram 500 illustrates a communication protocol stack including a radio resource control (RRC) layer 510, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer 515, a radio link control (RLC) layer 520, a media access control (MAC) layer 525, and a physical (PHY) layer 530. In various examples, these layers of the protocol stack may be implemented as separate software modules, portions of a processor or ASIC, portions of non-co-located devices connected by a communication link, or various combinations thereof. Co-located and non-co-located implementations may be used, for example, in a protocol stack for a network access device (e.g., AN, CU, and / or DU) or a UE.

[0063] The first option 505-a illustrates a split implementation of the protocol stack, where the implementation of the protocol stack is performed on a centralized network access device (e.g., Figure 2ANC 202 in the system) and distributed network access equipment (e.g., Figure 2 In the first option 505-a, the RRC layer 510 and the PDCP layer 515 may be implemented by a central unit, while the RLC layer 520, the MAC layer 525, and the PHY layer 530 may be implemented by the DU. In various examples, the CU and the DU may be co-located or non-co-located. The first option 505-a may be useful in a macro cell, a micro cell, or a pico cell deployment.

[0064] The second option 505-b shows a unified implementation of the protocol stack, where the protocol stack is implemented in a single network access device. In the second option, the RRC layer 510, the PDCP layer 515, the RLC layer 520, the MAC layer 525, and the PHY layer 530 can each be implemented by an AN. The second option 505-b can be useful in, for example, a femtocell deployment.

[0065] Regardless of whether the network access device implements part or all of the protocol stack, the UE can implement the entire protocol stack (e.g., RRC layer 510, PDCP layer 515, RLC layer 520, MAC layer 525, and PHY layer 530) as shown in 505-c.

[0066] In LTE, the basic transmission time interval (TTI) or packet duration is a 1ms subframe. In NR, a subframe is still 1ms, but the basic TTI is called a time slot. A subframe contains a variable number of time slots (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16... time slots), depending on the subcarrier spacing. NR RBs are 12 consecutive frequency subcarriers. NR can support a base subcarrier spacing of 15KHz, and other subcarrier spacings can be defined relative to the base subcarrier spacing, such as 30kHz, 60kHz, 120kHz, 240kHz, etc. The symbol and time slot lengths scale with the subcarrier spacing. The CP length also depends on the subcarrier spacing.

[0067] Figure 6 6 is a diagram showing an example of a frame format 600 for NR. The transmission timeline of each of the downlink and uplink may be divided into units of radio frames. Each radio frame may have a predetermined duration (e.g., 10 ms) and may be divided into 10 subframes with indices 0 to 9, each subframe being 1 ms. Each subframe may include a variable number of slots, depending on the subcarrier spacing. Each slot may include a variable number of symbol periods (e.g., 7 or 14 symbols), depending on the subcarrier spacing. An index may be assigned to the symbol period in each slot. A mini slot, which may be referred to as a subslot structure, refers to a transmission time interval having a duration less than a slot (e.g., 2, 3, or 4 symbols).

[0068] Each symbol in a slot may indicate a link direction (e.g., DL, UL, or flexible) for data transmission, and the link direction for each subframe may be switched dynamically. The link direction may be based on the slot format. Each slot may include DL / UL data and DL / UL control information.

[0069] In NR, a synchronization signal (SS) block is transmitted. The SS block includes PSS, SSS, and two-symbol PBCH. The SS block can be in a fixed time slot position (such as Figure 6 The PSS and SSS can be used by the UE for cell search and acquisition. The PSS can provide half-frame timing, and the SS can provide CP length and frame timing. The PSS and SSS can provide cell identity. The PBCH carries some basic system information, such as downlink system bandwidth, timing information within a radio frame, SS burst set periodicity, system frame number, etc. SS blocks can be organized into SS bursts to support beam sweeping. Further system information (such as remaining minimum system information (RMSI), system information block (SIB), other system information (OSI)) can be transmitted on the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) in certain subframes.

[0070] In some cases, two or more subordinate entities (e.g., UEs) may communicate with each other using sidelink signals. Real-world applications of such sidelink communications may include public safety, proximity services, UE-to-network relay, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, Internet of Everything (IoE) communications, IoT communications, mission-critical mesh networks, and / or various other suitable applications. In general, a sidelink signal may refer to a signal that is communicated from one subordinate entity (e.g., UE1) to another subordinate entity (e.g., UE2) without relaying the communication through a scheduling entity (e.g., UE or BS), even if the scheduling entity may be used for scheduling and / or control purposes. In some examples, the sidelink signal may be communicated using a licensed spectrum (unlike wireless local area networks, which typically use an unlicensed spectrum).

[0071] The UE may operate in various radio resource configurations, including a configuration associated with transmitting a pilot using a dedicated resource set (e.g., a radio resource control (RRC) dedicated state, etc.), or a configuration associated with transmitting a pilot using a shared resource set (e.g., an RRC shared state, etc.). When operating in the RRC dedicated state, the UE may select a dedicated resource set for transmitting a pilot signal to the network. When operating in the RRC shared state, the UE may select a shared resource set for transmitting a pilot signal to the network. In either case, the pilot signal transmitted by the UE may be received by one or more network access devices (such as an AN, or a DU, or parts thereof). Each receiving network access device may be configured to receive and measure a pilot signal transmitted on a shared resource set, and also receive and measure a pilot signal transmitted on a dedicated resource set allocated to the UE, wherein the network access device is a member of a monitoring network access device set for the UE. One or more receiving network access devices or a CU to which (s) receiving network access devices transmit pilot signal measurements may use these measurements to identify a serving cell of the UE or initiate a change in a serving cell for one or more UEs.

[0072] Example systems and methods for selectively scheduling protection periods for user equipment with multiple antennas

[0073] Modern user equipment (UE) may include multiple antennas. One or more of the multiple antennas may be used to transmit in a wireless network (e.g., N TX = number of transmitting antennas) data (such as Figure 1 As described above), and similarly, one or more of the plurality of antennas may be used to receive in the wireless network (eg, N RX = Number of receiving antennas) data. In some cases, different antenna sets are used for consecutive transmission or reception, which may generally be referred to as "antenna switching".

[0074] In a wireless communication network (such as a NR network), a UE may support sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission with antenna switching. TX <N RX In the case of , antenna switching can be used to perform SRS transmission. In other words, the UE can use a first transmit antenna or antenna set to transmit a first SRS resource set, and use a second antenna or antenna set to transmit a second SRS resource set.

[0075] Different capabilities of a UE may be predefined, such as for use in a standard that defines the capabilities of a wireless communication network (such as NR). For example, a UE may be configured to transmit on one of two antennas and receive on both of the two antennas (referred to as "1T2R"), or a UE may be configured to transmit on two of four antennas and receive on all four of the antennas ("2T4R"), or a UE may be configured to transmit on one of four antennas and receive on all four of the antennas ("1T4R"), and so on. Different numbers of antennas may have different combinations of transmit and receive capabilities. In some cases, these capabilities may be set for the UE by the network in the downlink control information (DCI) (e.g., using the "SRS-SetUse" resource indicator field).

[0076] A UE with multiple antennas may be configured with an SRS resource set that includes one or more SRS resources for transmissions from its multiple antennas. In some cases, a first resource in the SRS resource set may be configured for a first antenna configuration, and a second resource in the SRS resource set may be configured for a second antenna configuration. Thus, the SRS resource set may support antenna switching in the UE.

[0077] A UE with multiple antennas may also be configured with multiple SRS resource sets. For example, a UE with two antennas may be configured with one SRS resource set (e.g., in a 1T2R configuration), while a UE with four antennas may be configured with more than one SRS resource set (e.g., in a 1T4R configuration).

[0078] The SRS resources in a set are typically transmitted by the UE in the same time slot, but separated by a guard period. During the guard period, the UE does not transmit any other signals, which allows transition and stabilization time (e.g., between transmission and reception or between changing antenna configurations). For example, the guard period may include Y or at least Y intervening OFDM symbols that separate the SRS resource transmissions. As an example, for a 120kHz subcarrier spacing (e.g., for a super 6Ghz millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency range), Y may be set to 2; and for 15, 30, or 60Khz (e.g., in a sub-6Ghz frequency range or a super 6Ghz millimeter wave frequency range with a subcarrier spacing of 60Khz), Y may be set to 1. Other configurations are also possible.

[0079] Protection period placement and scheduling

[0080] It may be desirable to place a guard period between any transmissions from a UE in the presence of an antenna switching event. Conventional guard periods may be scheduled between each individual SRS resource in an SRS resource set (e.g., in a UE with a multi-antenna configuration), but these conventional guard periods may not account for antenna switching events before the first resource in the resource set is transmitted and after the last resource in the resource set is transmitted. Thus, additional or supplementary guard periods may be scheduled before the first SRS resource in the resource set and after the last SRS resource in the resource set. For example, when there is an uplink transmission (e.g., PUSCH) from the same UE before the first SRS resource transmission and the first SRS resource transmission uses an antenna configuration different from the uplink transmission (i.e., antenna switching), a guard period may be set before the first SRS resource in the resource set. As another example, when switching from an uplink (UL) transmission mode to a downlink (DL) reception mode, a guard period may be set after the last SRS resource in the resource set. In some configurations, the lengths of the additional guard periods may all be the same number (Y) of OFDM symbols.

[0081] There are several options for implementing the additional protection period. One or more of these options can be implemented within existing telecommunication standards or within new telecommunication standards. The first option is through scheduling constraints. In other words, the base station (BS) (such as the one described above with respect to Figure 1 and Figure 4 As described, the UE may not be scheduled or configured to have any other UL transmissions (such as PUCCH and PUSCH transmissions) within Y symbols before the first SRS resource transmission in an SRS resource set or after the last SRS resource transmission in an SRS resource set.

[0082] A second option for providing an additional guard period is by means of the configuration of the SRS resource set itself. For example, the SRS resource set configuration for antenna switching may include zero-power ("dummy") SRS resources before the first non-zero-power SRS resource in the SRS resource set and after the last non-zero-power SRS resource in the SRS resource set. These zero-power SRS resources mimic a guard period because the UE will not actually transmit any data during this period (due to zero power).

[0083] Overhead reduction method when implementing additional protection period for antenna switching

[0084] Although adding an additional guard period can be implemented in a baseline or standard scenario, there may be special or specific scenarios where the additional guard period can be avoided to reduce network overhead. In such scenarios, instead of the additional guard period, additional data symbols may be transmitted. In this way, the overall system can flexibly implement additional guard periods for antenna switching when necessary, but can abandon such additional guard periods when not necessary to improve network utilization.

[0085] Fig. 7A A portion of a network resource block 710 spanning two time slots (N and N+1) is depicted, including an additional guard period. Fig. 7A At the bottom is the symbol index, which indicates the symbol for a particular slot (N or N+1 in this case). Note that while each slot has 14 symbols (in index points 0-13) in this example, in other embodiments there may be a different number of symbols in a slot.

[0086] exist Fig. 7A In the embodiment of the present invention, there is a conventional protection period at symbol index 11 between SRS resources SRS1 and SRS2 (which are part of the SRS resource set). This conventional protection period may provide time for a UE (such as those described with reference to the above figures) to switch from one antenna configuration to another. Additional protection periods are placed or scheduled at symbol indices 9 and 13. Specifically, the protection period at symbol index 9 may be referred to as a forward protection period or a pre-protection period, which precedes the first SRS resource (here SRS1) in the SRS resource set. The pre-protection period may correspond to a situation where the base station wants to give the UE an opportunity to try different antenna combinations between PUSCH transmissions and SRS1 transmissions. Alternatively, for example, in a 2T4R configuration scenario, PUSCH may be scheduled with one transmit antenna, while SRS1 is configured with 2 transmit antennas. As discussed above, because in the latter case where the number of antennas is different, there is an "antenna switching" event that requires a protection period.

[0087] Fig. 7A The guard period at symbol index 13 may be referred to as a backward guard period or a post-guard period, which follows the last SRS resource (here, SRS2) in the SRS resource set.

[0088] For example, the pre-guard period at symbol index 9 may allow time to switch the antenna configuration from PUSCH transmission at symbol indices 7 and 8 to SRS resource (SRS1) transmission at symbol index 10. As another example, the post-guard period at symbol index 13 may allow time to switch to another antenna configuration from SRS resource (SRS2) transmission at symbol index 12 to downlink (DL) reception at symbol indices 0 and 1 of slot N+1.

[0089] Figure 7B A portion of a network resource block 720 spanning two time slots (N and N+1) is depicted, including an additional guard period. Fig. 7A Unlike the example in Figure 7B A special case where the pre-guard period is omitted is depicted. Specifically, in this case, the PUSCH is scheduled at symbol indexes 7-9 ( Fig. 7A One more index in ), because ( Fig. 7A The previous guard period (at symbol index 9) in the middle is eliminated. In such a case, the UE can determine that the UE should use the same antenna configuration for both the PUSCH transmission (at symbol indexes 7-9) and the first SRS resource (SRS1) transmission (at symbol index 10) because no guard period is scheduled between the PUSCH transmission and the SRS1 transmission. Therefore, for example, in the case where the UE is configured for 1T2R and 1T4R, the same antenna should be used, or in the case where the UE is configured for 2T4R, the same antenna pair should be used. In some cases, the UE can infer this because without the guard period, the UE will not have enough time to switch antenna configurations.

[0090] like Figure 7B As depicted in FIG. 1 , the UE may benefit from the lack of a pre-guard period (i.e., a pre-guard period between a PUSCH transmission and an SRS1 transmission, such as Fig. 7A In contrast, in cases such as Fig. 7A In the scenario depicted in , the UE cannot infer that the same transmit antenna can be used for PUSCH transmission and SRS1 transmission in the presence of the preceding protection period (at symbol index 9). Note that although PUSCH precedes SRS1 transmission in this example, any other kind of transmission may precede SRS1 transmission, such as PUCCH transmission.

[0091] Furthermore, as explained above, there are two options for placing a valid guard period before a transmission. The example explained above follows the first option of scheduling the guard period. The second option of configuring the SRS resource set to have no zero-power SRS resources preceding the SRS1 transmission is also applicable. In other words, the presence or absence of a guard period can be achieved in many ways.

[0092] Figure 7C A portion of a network resource block 730 spanning two time slots (N and N+1) is depicted, including an additional guard period. Fig. 7A or Figure 7B Unlike the example in Figure 7C The special case where the post-guard period is omitted is depicted. Here, too, PUSCH is scheduled at symbol indexes 7-9 ( Fig. 7A One more index in ), because ( Fig. 7A The protection period after ) at symbol index 13 is eliminated.

[0093] The post-protection period may be omitted or removed in a variety of special situations. For example, if the UE has enough time between uplink transmission and downlink reception (e.g., due to a large propagation delay between the base station and the UE), the post-protection period may be removed. As another example, if the UE is not required to receive any downlink signal in the first downlink symbol (e.g., if the UE is not configured for PDCCH monitoring or there is no PDSCH), the post-protection period may be removed. As yet another example, the UE may indicate to the base station through uplink signaling (such as RRC or MAC-CE) that the post-protection period is not required.

[0094] As described above, there are at least two options for implementing the removal of the post-guard period. First, the UE may be informed, for example, through downlink control information (DCI), that the post-guard period should not be used; thus, the removal of the post-guard period may be based on scheduling instructions. Second, the SRS resource set may be configured to have no post-zero power SRS resources; thus, the removal of the post-guard period may also be based on configuration.

[0095] Fig. 8A A method 800 of selecting an antenna configuration for transmitting in a wireless communication network is depicted.

[0096] The method begins at step 802 by determining an unscheduled pre-guard period between a scheduled uplink transmission and a scheduled sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission. Figure 7B As depicted in , there is no pre-guard period before the first SRS resource (SRS1) at symbol index 10.

[0097] The method then proceeds to step 804, where, based on the determination, the scheduled SRS transmission is transmitted using the first antenna configuration after the scheduled uplink transmission is transmitted using the first antenna configuration (e.g., in the next OFDM symbol) (i.e., the same antenna configuration is used for the scheduled uplink transmission and the scheduled SRS transmission). Figure 7B As depicted in , the SRS 1 transmission at symbol index 10 is transmitted after the PUSCH uplink transmission ends at symbol index 9.

[0098] Although not in Fig. 8A , but method 800 may further include: changing the antenna configuration during an intermediate protection period after transmitting the scheduled SRS transmission. Figure 7B As depicted in , the antenna configuration may be changed during the guard period at symbol index 11.

[0099] Also not in Fig. 8A, method 800 may also include: receiving a network resource allocation from a network. In some examples, the network resource allocation includes an SRS resource set, and in some examples, a first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is separated from a second SRS resource in the SRS resource set by an intermediate protection period. For example, Figure 7B As depicted in FIG. 1 , a first SRS resource (SRS1) at symbol index 10 is separated from a second SRS resource (SRS2) at symbol index 12 by a guard period at symbol index 11. In some examples, the second SRS resource in the SRS resource set is followed (e.g., in the next OFDM symbol) by a post-guard period. For example, Figure 7B As depicted in , the second SRS resource (SRS2) at symbol index 12 is followed by a post-guard period at symbol index 13. In some examples of method 800, the post-guard period includes a zero-power SRS resource, as discussed above.

[0100] In some examples, method 800 is performed by a UE within a NR wireless communication network.

[0101] Figure 8B Another method 850 of selecting an antenna configuration for transmitting in a wireless communication network is depicted. The method 850 begins at step 852 by determining that a post-guard period is not required between a scheduled sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission and a scheduled downlink transmission.

[0102] Method 850 then proceeds to step 854, where the scheduled SRS transmission is transmitted using the first antenna configuration. Figure 7C As depicted in , the SRS resource (SRS2) at symbol index 13 may be transmitted using a first antenna configuration for transmission.

[0103] Method 850 then proceeds to step 856, where the first antenna configuration is changed to a second antenna configuration. For example, where a device (such as user equipment) has multiple antennas that can be used for transmission and reception, a different antenna may be selected.

[0104] Method 850 then proceeds to step 858, where the scheduled downlink transmission is received using the second antenna configuration without observing an intervening guard period. Figure 7C As depicted in FIG, downlink data at symbols 0 and 1 of time slot N+1 may be received after the SRS resource (SRS2) at symbol index 13 in time slot N is transmitted (e.g., in the next OFDM symbol). It is worth noting that although Figure 7CThe SRS2 transmission and downlink (DL) reception are located in adjacent symbol periods, but from the UE's perspective, there may still be a time interval (e.g., a gap) between the transmission and the reception due to the round-trip time between the UE and the base station (which is twice the propagation delay).

[0105] In some examples of method 850, determining that a post-guard period is not needed includes determining that a propagation delay between a base station and a user equipment (UE) is sufficient to allow a change between the first antenna configuration and the second antenna configuration without the post-guard period.

[0106] In other examples of the method 850, determining that a post-guard period is not required includes receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a base station indicating that a post-guard period is not required.

[0107] In yet other examples of method 850, determining that a post-guard period is not required includes determining that a first symbol of a scheduled downlink transmission does not have to be received.

[0108] Although not in Figure 8B , but method 850 may also include: receiving a network resource allocation from a network. In some examples, the network resource allocation includes an SRS resource set, wherein a first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is separated from a second SRS resource in the SRS resource set by an intermediate protection period. For example, Figure 7C As depicted in FIG. 1 , the first SRS resource (SRS1) at symbol index 11 is separated from the second SRS resource (SRS2) at symbol index 13 by an intermediate protection period at symbol index 12. Furthermore, in some examples, the first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is preceded by a pre-protection period. For example, Figure 7C , a first SRS resource (SRS1) at symbol index 11 is preceded by a preceding guard period at symbol index 10. In some examples, the preceding guard period includes a zero-power SRS resource.

[0109] In some examples, method 850 is performed by a UE within a NR wireless communication network.

[0110] Fig.9A A method 900 for scheduling networking resources in a wireless communication network is depicted. The method 900 begins at step 902 by transmitting a network resource allocation to a user equipment (UE). For example, the network allocation may include resource blocks or other forms of scheduling data, such as Figures 7A-7C As depicted in .

[0111] In some examples of method 900, the network resource allocation includes an SRS resource set. In some examples, the SRS resource set may include multiple SRS reference signals configured for different antenna configurations of the UE. For example, Figures 7A-7CIt is depicted that each resource set includes SRS1 and SRS2, which may be individually configured for different antenna configurations.

[0112] In some examples of method 900, a first SRS resource in an SRS resource set is separated from a second SRS resource in the SRS resource set by an intermediate protection period (such as described above with respect to Figures 7A-7C described).

[0113] In some examples of method 900, the second SRS resource in the SRS resource set is followed by a post-protection period (such as described above with respect to Figure 7B In some examples, the post-guard period includes zero-power SRS resources.

[0114] Although not in Fig.9A , but method 900 may further include: receiving the scheduled SRS transmission from the UE after receiving the scheduled uplink from the UE. Figure 7B As depicted in , an SRS1 transmission at symbol index 10 may be received after receiving a PUSCH uplink transmission ending at symbol index 9.

[0115] In some examples, method 900 is performed by a base station in a NR wireless communication network.

[0116] Fig. 9B

[0066] Another method 950 of scheduling network resources in a wireless communication network is depicted.

[0117] The method 950 begins at step 952 by determining that a post-guard period is not required between a scheduled sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission and a scheduled downlink transmission.

[0118] Method 950 then proceeds to step 954, where the scheduled SRS transmission is received, for example, from a user equipment (UE).

[0119] Method 950 then proceeds to step 956, where after receiving the scheduled SRS transmission, the scheduled downlink transmission is transmitted, for example, from the base station, without observing an intervening guard period. Figure 7C As depicted in , the downlink transmissions at symbols 0 and 1 of slot N+1 are transmitted after receiving the SRS resource (SRS2) at symbol index 13 of slot N.

[0120] In some examples of method 950, determining that a post-guard period is not needed includes determining that a propagation delay between the base station and the UE is sufficient to allow the UE to change between a first antenna configuration for transmission and a second antenna configuration for reception without the post-guard period.

[0121] Although not in Fig. 9BAs shown in FIG. 9 , method 950 may further include: transmitting, from the base station to the UE, downlink control information (DCI) indicating that a post-guard period is not required.

[0122] In some examples of method 950, determining that a post-guard period is not required includes determining that a first symbol of a scheduled downlink transmission does not need to be transmitted to the UE. Figure 7C , it can be determined that the first codeword of the downlink transmission at codeword index 0 in time slot N+1 does not need to be transmitted.

[0123] Although not in Fig. 9B , but method 950 may also include: transmitting a network resource allocation to the UE. In some examples, the network resource allocation includes an SRS resource set, wherein a first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is separated from a second SRS resource in the SRS resource set by an intermediate protection period, and wherein the first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is preceded by a front protection period. For example, Figure 7C , the resource set including SRS1 and SRS2 is separated by an intermediate guard period at symbol index 12, and SRS1 at symbol index 11 is preceded by a pre-guard period at symbol index 10. In some examples, the pre-guard period includes zero-power SRS resources.

[0124] In some examples, method 950 is performed by a base station in a NR wireless communication network.

[0125] Fig.10 The description may include operations configured to perform the techniques disclosed herein (such as, Figures 8A-8B and Figures 9A-9B 1000 includes a communication device 1000 that includes various components (e.g., corresponding to means plus function components) of the operations explained in the above description. The communication device 1000 includes a processing system 1002 coupled to a transceiver 1008. The transceiver 1008 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communication device 1000, such as the various signals described herein, via an antenna 1010. The processing system 1002 can be configured to perform processing functions for the communication device 1000, including processing signals received and / or to be transmitted by the communication device 1000.

[0126] The processing system 1002 includes a processor 1004 coupled to a computer readable medium / memory 1012 via a bus 1006. In some aspects, the computer readable medium / memory 1012 is configured to store instructions that, when executed by the processor 1004, cause the processor 1004 to perform Figures 8A-8B and Figures 9A-9B The operations explained in , or other operations for performing the various techniques discussed in this article.

[0127] In some aspects, the processing system 1002 further includes a Figures 8A-8B and Figures 9A-9B In addition, the processing system 1002 includes a component for performing Figures 8A-8B and Figures 9A-9B In addition, the processing system 1002 includes a transmission component 1016 for performing the operations illustrated in FIG. Figures 8A-8B and Figures 9A-9B 1004. The determining component 1014, the transmitting component 1016, and the receiving component 1018 may be coupled to the processor 1004 via the bus 1006. In some aspects, the determining component 1014, the transmitting component 1016, and the receiving component 1018 may be hardware circuits. In some aspects, the determining component 1014, the transmitting component 1016, and the receiving component 1018 may be software components that are executed and run on the processor 1004.

[0128] Example Embodiments

[0129] The following are example embodiments. Even if a reference to a single claim is indicated in the following examples or the following claims, the references to all claims (including references to multiple claims) are included in the scope of the present disclosure.

[0130] Embodiment 1: A method for selecting an antenna configuration for transmission in a wireless communication network, comprising: determining an unscheduled pre-protection period between a scheduled uplink transmission and a scheduled sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission; and based on the determination, using the first antenna configuration to transmit the scheduled SRS transmission after transmitting the scheduled uplink transmission using the first antenna configuration.

[0131] Embodiment 2: The method as described in Embodiment 1 further includes: changing the antenna configuration during an intermediate protection period after transmitting the scheduled SRS transmission.

[0132] Embodiment 3: The method as described in any one of Embodiments 1-2 further includes: receiving network resource allocation from a network, wherein the network resource allocation includes an SRS resource set, wherein a first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is separated from a second SRS resource in the SRS resource set by an intermediate protection period, and wherein the second SRS resource in the SRS resource set is followed by a post protection period.

[0133] Embodiment 4: The method as described in Embodiment 3, wherein the post-protection period includes zero-power SRS resources.

[0134] Embodiment 5: A method as described in any one of Embodiments 1-4, wherein the wireless communication network is a NR network.

[0135] Embodiment 6: A method for selecting an antenna configuration for transmission in a wireless communication network, comprising: determining that no post-guard period is required between a scheduled sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission and a scheduled downlink transmission; using a first antenna configuration to transmit the scheduled SRS transmission; changing from the first antenna configuration to a second antenna configuration; and using the second antenna configuration to receive the scheduled downlink transmission without observing an intervening guard period.

[0136] Embodiment 7: The method of embodiment 6, wherein determining that a post-guard period is not required comprises determining that a propagation delay between the base station and the user equipment is sufficient to allow a change between the first antenna configuration and the second antenna configuration without the post-guard period.

[0137] Embodiment 8: The method as described in any one of Embodiments 6-7, wherein determining that a post-protection period is not required comprises: receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a base station indicating that a post-protection period is not required.

[0138] Embodiment 9: A method as described in any one of Embodiments 6-8, wherein determining that a post-protection period is not required comprises: determining that it is not necessary to receive the first codeword of the scheduled downlink transmission.

[0139] Embodiment 10: The method as described in any one of Embodiments 6-9 further includes: receiving network resource allocation from a network, wherein the network resource allocation includes an SRS resource set, wherein a first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is separated from a second SRS resource in the SRS resource set by an intermediate protection period, and wherein the first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is preceded by a pre-protection period.

[0140] Embodiment 11: The method as described in Embodiment 10, wherein the pre-protection period includes zero-power SRS resources.

[0141] Embodiment 12: A method as described in any one of Embodiments 6-11, wherein the wireless communication network is a NR network.

[0142] Embodiment 13: A method for scheduling networking resources in a wireless communication network, comprising: transmitting a network resource allocation to a user equipment (UE), wherein the network resource allocation comprises an SRS resource set, wherein a first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is separated from a second SRS resource in the SRS resource set by an intermediate protection period, and wherein the second SRS resource in the SRS resource set is followed by a post protection period.

[0143] Embodiment 14: The method as described in Embodiment 13 further includes: receiving a scheduled SRS transmission from the UE after receiving a scheduled uplink from the UE.

[0144] Embodiment 15: The method as described in any one of Embodiments 13-14, wherein the post-guard period includes zero-power SRS resources.

[0145] Embodiment 16: A method as described in any one of Embodiments 13-15, wherein the wireless communication network is a NR network.

[0146] Embodiment 17: A method for scheduling network resources in a wireless communication network, comprising: determining, by a base station, that no post-protection period is required between a scheduled sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission and a scheduled downlink transmission; receiving the scheduled SRS transmission from a user equipment (UE); and transmitting the scheduled downlink transmission from the base station after receiving the scheduled SRS transmission without observing an intervening protection period.

[0147] Embodiment 18: A method as described in Embodiment 17, wherein determining that a post-protection period is not required comprises determining that a propagation delay between the base station and the UE is sufficient to allow the UE to change between a first antenna configuration for transmission and a second antenna configuration for reception in the absence of a post-protection period.

[0148] Embodiment 19: The method as described in any one of Embodiments 17-18 further comprises: transmitting downlink control information (DCI) indicating that a post-protection period is not required from the base station to the UE.

[0149] Embodiment 20: A method as described in any one of Embodiments 17-19, wherein determining that a post-protection period is not required includes: determining that a first codeword of the scheduled downlink transmission does not need to be transmitted to the UE.

[0150] Embodiment 21: The method as described in any one of Embodiments 17-20 further includes: transmitting a network resource allocation to the UE, wherein the network resource allocation includes an SRS resource set, wherein a first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is separated from a second SRS resource in the SRS resource set by an intermediate protection period, and wherein the first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is preceded by a pre-protection period.

[0151] Embodiment 22: The method as described in Embodiment 21, wherein the pre-protection period includes zero-power SRS resources.

[0152] Embodiment 23: A method as described in any one of Embodiments 17-22, wherein the wireless communication network is a NR network.

[0153] Further embodiments relate to: an apparatus configured to perform the methods described herein; and a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a device, cause the device to perform the methods described herein.

[0154] The methods disclosed herein include one or more steps or actions for implementing these methods. These method steps and / or actions can be interchangeable with each other without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is specified, the order and / or use of specific steps and / or actions can be changed without departing from the scope of the claims.

[0155] As used herein, a phrase referring to "at least one of" a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to cover: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and abc, as well as any combination with multiple identical elements (e.g., aa, aaa, aab, aac, abb, acc, bb, bbb, bbc, cc, and ccc, or any other ordering of a, b, and c).

[0156] As used herein, the term "determining" encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, "determining" may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database, or another data structure), ascertaining, and the like. Also, "determining" may include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory), and the like. "Determining" may also include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like.

[0157] The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be easily understood by those skilled in the art, and the universal principles defined herein can be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but should be granted the full scope consistent with the language of the claims, wherein the singular reference to the element is not intended to mean "there is only one" (unless specifically stated) but "one or more". Unless otherwise specifically stated, the term "some / some refers to one or more". The elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure are all structural and functional equivalents currently or hereafter known to those of ordinary skill in the art and are expressly incorporated herein by reference, and are intended to be covered by the claims. In addition, regardless of whether such disclosures are explicitly recorded in the claims, the contents disclosed herein are not intended to be donated to the public. Any element of the claim should not be interpreted under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112 (f), unless the element is explicitly stated using the phrase "device for..." or in the case of a method claim, the element is stated using the phrase "step for...".

[0158] The various operations of the methods described above may be performed by any suitable device capable of performing the corresponding functions. These devices may include various hardware and / or software components and / or modules, including but not limited to circuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or processors. Generally, where there are operations illustrated in the accompanying drawings, these operations may have corresponding paired device-plus-function components with similar numbers.

[0159] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the present disclosure may be implemented or executed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0160] If implemented in hardware, an example hardware configuration may include a processing system in a wireless node. The processing system may be implemented using a bus architecture. Depending on the specific application and overall design constraints of the processing system, the bus may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges. The bus may link together various circuits including a processor, a machine-readable medium, and a bus interface. The bus interface may be used to connect a network adapter, etc., to the processing system via the bus. The network adapter may be used to implement the signal processing functions of the PHY layer. In the user terminal 120 (see Figure 1 ), a user interface (e.g., a keypad, display, mouse, joystick, etc.) may also be connected to the bus. The bus may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art and will not be described further. The processor may be implemented with one or more general and / or special purpose processors. Examples include microprocessors, microcontrollers, DSP processors, and other circuit systems capable of executing software. Those skilled in the art will recognize how to best implement the functionality described with respect to the processing system, depending on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0161] If implemented in software, each function may be stored on or transmitted by a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Software should be broadly interpreted to mean instructions, data, or any combination thereof, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or other. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, which include any media that facilitate the transfer of computer programs from one place to another. The processor may be responsible for managing the bus and general processing, including executing software modules stored on a machine-readable storage medium. A computer-readable storage medium may be coupled to a processor so that the processor can read and write information from / to the storage medium. In an alternative, a storage medium may be integrated into a processor. As an example, a machine-readable medium may include a transmission line, a carrier modulated by data, and / or a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that is separated from a wireless node, all of which may be accessed by a processor through a bus interface. Alternatively or in addition, a machine-readable medium or any part thereof may be integrated into a processor, such as a cache and / or a general register file, which may be the case. As an example, examples of machine-readable storage media may include RAM (random access memory), flash memory, ROM (read only memory), PROM (programmable read only memory), EPROM (erasable programmable read only memory), EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read only memory), registers, magnetic disks, optical disks, hard drives, or any other suitable storage media, or any combination thereof. Machine-readable media may be implemented in a computer program product.

[0162] A software module may include a single instruction, or many instructions, and may be distributed over several different code segments, between different programs, and across multiple storage media. A computer-readable medium may include several software modules. These software modules include instructions that cause a processing system to perform various functions when executed by a device (such as a processor). These software modules may include a transmission module and a receiving module. Each software module may reside in a single storage device or may be distributed across multiple storage devices. As an example, when a triggering event occurs, a software module may be loaded into a RAM from a hard drive. During the execution of the software module, the processor may load some instructions into a cache to increase access speed. One or more cache lines may then be loaded into a general register file for execution by the processor. When describing the functionality of a software module as described below, it will be understood that such functionality is implemented by the processor when the processor executes instructions from the software module.

[0163] Any connection is also properly referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technology (such as infrared (IR), radio, and microwave), then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technology (such as infrared, radio, and microwave) is included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Disks, where disks often reproduce data magnetically, and discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Thus, in some aspects, computer-readable media may include non-transitory computer-readable media (e.g., tangible media). Additionally, for other aspects, computer-readable media may include transient computer-readable media (e.g., signals). Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0164] Thus, some aspects may include a computer program product for performing the operations presented herein. For example, such a computer program product may include a computer-readable medium having stored (and / or encoded) thereon instructions that can be executed by one or more processors to perform the operations described herein. For example, for performing the operations described herein and in Figures 8A-8B and Figures 9A-9B Instructions for the operations explained in .

[0165] In addition, it should be appreciated that modules and / or other appropriate means for performing the methods and techniques described herein may be downloaded and / or otherwise obtained by a user terminal and / or base station where applicable. For example, such a device can be coupled to a server to facilitate the transfer of means for performing the methods described herein. Alternatively, the various methods described herein can be provided via a storage device (e.g., RAM, ROM, a physical storage medium such as a compact disc (CD) or a floppy disk, etc.) so that once the storage device is coupled to or provided to a user terminal and / or base station, the device can obtain the various methods. In addition, any other suitable technology suitable for providing the methods and techniques described herein to a device may be utilized.

[0166] It will be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise configuration and components illustrated above. Various changes, substitutions and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the methods and apparatus described above without departing from the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for selecting an antenna configuration for communication by a user equipment in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: transmitting a scheduled sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission using a first antenna configuration; Based on determining that a post-guard period between transmitting the scheduled SRS transmission and receiving the scheduled downlink transmission is not required between the scheduled SRS transmission and the scheduled downlink transmission, the scheduled downlink transmission is received using a second antenna configuration different from the first antenna configuration without using the post-guard period.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the post-guard period is not needed is based on determining that a propagation delay between a base station and the user equipment is sufficient to allow a change between the first antenna configuration and the second antenna configuration without the post-guard period.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: Downlink control information (DCI) is received from a base station indicating that the post-guard period is not required, wherein determining that the post-guard period is not required is based on receiving the DCI.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the post-guard period is not required is based on determining that it is not necessary to receive a first symbol of the scheduled downlink transmission.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: Receive a network resource allocation from the network, where: The network resource allocation includes an SRS resource set, A first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is separated in time from a second SRS resource in the SRS resource set by an intermediate protection period, and The first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is preceded by a pre-protection period in time. The method of claim 5 , wherein the pre-guard period includes a zero-power SRS resource.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication network is a 5G New Radio network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the scheduled SRS transmission is transmitted in at least the last symbol in time of a first time slot, wherein the scheduled downlink transmission is received in at least the first symbol in time of a second time slot, and wherein the second time slot is subsequent to and adjacent to the first time slot in time.

9. A user equipment comprising: Memory; as well as One or more processors, the one or more processors coupled to the memory, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively configured to cause the user equipment to perform the following operations: transmitting a scheduled sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission using a first antenna configuration; as well as Based on determining that a post-guard period between transmitting the scheduled SRS transmission and receiving the scheduled downlink transmission is not required between the scheduled SRS transmission and the scheduled downlink transmission, the scheduled downlink transmission is received using a second antenna configuration different from the first antenna configuration without using the post-guard period.

10. The user equipment of claim 9, wherein determining that the post-guard period is not needed is based on determining that a propagation delay between a base station and the user equipment is sufficient to allow a change between the first antenna configuration and the second antenna configuration without the post-guard period.

11. The user equipment of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are further configured individually or collectively to cause the user equipment to: receive downlink control information (DCI) from a base station indicating that the post-protection period is not required, wherein determining that the post-protection period is not required is based on receiving the DCI.

12. The user equipment of claim 9, wherein determining that the post-guard period is not required is based on determining that it is not necessary to receive a first symbol of the scheduled downlink transmission.

13. The user equipment of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are further configured, individually or collectively, to cause the user equipment to: receive a network resource allocation from a network, wherein: The network resource allocation includes an SRS resource set, A first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is separated in time from a second SRS resource in the SRS resource set by an intermediate protection period, and The first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is preceded by a pre-protection period in time. The user equipment of claim 13 , wherein the pre-guard period comprises a zero-power SRS resource.

15. The user equipment of claim 9, wherein the scheduled SRS transmission is transmitted in at least a last symbol in time of a first time slot, wherein the scheduled downlink transmission is received in at least a first symbol in time of a second time slot, and wherein the second time slot is subsequent to and adjacent to the first time slot in time.

16. A user equipment comprising: means for transmitting a scheduled sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission using a first antenna configuration; as well as Means for receiving the scheduled downlink transmission using a second antenna configuration different from the first antenna configuration without using the post-guard period based on determining that a post-guard period between transmitting the scheduled SRS transmission and receiving the scheduled downlink transmission is not required between the scheduled SRS transmission and the scheduled downlink transmission.

17. The user equipment of claim 16, wherein determining that the post-guard period is not needed is based on determining that a propagation delay between a base station and the user equipment is sufficient to allow a change between the first antenna configuration and the second antenna configuration without the post-guard period.

18. The user equipment of claim 16, further comprising: Means for receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a base station indicating that the post-guard period is not required, wherein determining that the post-guard period is not required is based on receiving the DCI.

19. The user equipment of claim 16, wherein determining that the post-guard period is not required is based on determining that it is not necessary to receive a first symbol of the scheduled downlink transmission.

20. The user equipment of claim 16, further comprising: Means for receiving a network resource allocation from a network, wherein: The network resource allocation includes an SRS resource set, A first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is separated in time from a second SRS resource in the SRS resource set by an intermediate protection period, and The first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is preceded by a pre-protection period in time.

21. The user equipment of claim 20, wherein the pre-guard period comprises a zero-power SRS resource.

22. The user equipment of claim 16, wherein the scheduled SRS transmission is transmitted in at least a last symbol in time of a first time slot, wherein the scheduled downlink transmission is received in at least a first symbol in time of a second time slot, and wherein the second time slot is subsequent to and adjacent to the first time slot in time.

23. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a user equipment, cause the user equipment to perform a method of selecting an antenna configuration for communicating in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: transmitting a scheduled sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission using a first antenna configuration; Based on determining that a post-guard period between transmitting the scheduled SRS transmission and receiving the scheduled downlink transmission is not required between the scheduled SRS transmission and the scheduled downlink transmission, the scheduled downlink transmission is received using a second antenna configuration different from the first antenna configuration without using the post-guard period.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein determining that the post-protection period is not required is based on determining that a propagation delay between a base station and the user equipment is sufficient to allow a change between the first antenna configuration and the second antenna configuration without the post-protection period.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 23, the method further comprising: Downlink control information (DCI) is received from a base station indicating that the post-guard period is not required, wherein determining that the post-guard period is not required is based on receiving the DCI.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein determining that the post-guard period is not required is based on determining that it is not necessary to receive the first symbol of the scheduled downlink transmission.

27. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 23, the method further comprising: Receive a network resource allocation from the network, where: The network resource allocation includes an SRS resource set, A first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is separated in time from a second SRS resource in the SRS resource set by an intermediate protection period, and The first SRS resource in the SRS resource set is preceded by a pre-protection period in time.

28. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 27, wherein the pre-guard period comprises a zero-power SRS resource.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the wireless communication network is a 5G New Radio network.

30. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in claim 23, wherein the scheduled SRS transmission is transmitted in at least the last codeword in time of a first time slot, wherein the scheduled downlink transmission is received in at least the first codeword in time of a second time slot, and wherein the second time slot is after and adjacent to the first time slot in time.

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