Sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction

Abstract

This disclosure provides systems, methods, and devices for wireless communication that support sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction operations. In a first aspect, an apparatus includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor. The at least one processor is configured to: obtain measurement information associated with at least one downlink serving cell; and transmitting beam blocking prediction information to a second network node, where the beam blocking prediction information is based on the measurement information, and where the beam blocking prediction information indicates at least one predicted beam blocking associated with the at least one downlink serving cell. Other aspects and features are also claimed and described.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to beam blocking mitigation techniques. Some features enable and provide improved communications, including using a sidelink channel to provide predicted blocking information and mitigation information for other channels in the network. Background Art

[0002] Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These wireless networks may be multiple-access networks capable of supporting multiple users by sharing the available network resources. Such networks may be multiple-access networks capable of supporting communication for multiple users by sharing the available network resources.

[0003] A wireless communication network may include several components. These components may include wireless communication devices, such as a base station (or Node B) that may support communications for several user equipments (UEs). A UE may communicate with a base station via a downlink and an uplink. The downlink (or forward link) refers to a communication link from the base station to the UE, and the uplink (or reverse link) refers to a communication link from the UE to the base station.

[0004] The base station may send data and control information to the UE on the downlink, or may receive data and control information from the UE on the uplink. On the downlink, the transmission from the base station may encounter interference caused by transmission from a neighboring base station or other wireless radio frequency (RF) transmitters. On the uplink, the transmission from the UE may encounter interference from other UEs communicating with the neighboring base station or from uplink transmissions of other wireless RF transmitters. This interference may degrade the performance on both the downlink and the uplink.

[0005] As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to grow, the potential for interference and congested networks grows as more UEs access long-range wireless communication networks and more short-range wireless systems are deployed in communities. Research and development continues to advance wireless technologies to not only meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, but also to improve and enhance the user experience with mobile communications. Summary of the invention

[0006] The following summarizes some aspects of the disclosure to provide a basic understanding of the technology discussed. This summary is not an exhaustive overview of all expected features of the disclosure, and is neither intended to identify key elements or important elements of all aspects of the disclosure, nor to delineate the scope of any or all aspects of the disclosure. The sole purpose of this summary is to present some concepts of one or more aspects of the disclosure in a summarized form as a prelude to a more detailed description presented later.

[0007] In one aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor. The at least one processor is configured to: obtain measurement information associated with at least one downlink serving cell; and send beam blocking prediction information to a second network node, wherein the beam blocking prediction information is based on the measurement information, and wherein the beam blocking prediction information indicates at least one predicted beam blocking associated with the at least one downlink serving cell.

[0008] In an additional aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor. The at least one processor is configured to: receive beam blocking prediction information from a second network node via a sidelink channel, wherein the beam blocking prediction information indicates at least one predicted beam blocking for the second network node and is associated with at least one downlink serving cell; and send the beam blocking prediction information to a third network node via an uplink channel.

[0009] In an additional aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus includes at least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor. The at least one processor is configured to: receive beam blocking prediction information from a second network node via an uplink channel, wherein the beam blocking prediction information indicates a predicted beam blocking situation for a third network node; and send beam blocking response information to the second network node via a downlink channel, wherein the beam blocking prediction information includes an indication of a beam blocking recovery operation for the third network node.

[0010] The features and technical advantages of examples according to the present disclosure have been outlined quite extensively above so that the following specific embodiments may be better understood. Additional features and advantages will be described below. The disclosed concepts and specific examples may be easily used as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for achieving the same purpose of the present disclosure. Such equivalent constructions do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. The characteristics of the concepts disclosed herein, both in terms of their organization and method of operation, and the associated advantages will be better understood by considering the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Each of the figures in the accompanying drawings is provided for the purpose of illustration and description and not as a definition of limitations to the claims.

[0011] Although various aspects and specific implementations are described in this application by illustrating some examples, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that additional specific implementations and use cases may occur in many other arrangements and scenarios. The innovation described herein can be implemented across many different platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, and packaging arrangements. For example, aspects and / or uses can be generated via integrated chip specific implementations and other devices based on non-module components (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communication equipment, computing equipment, industrial equipment, retail / purchase equipment, medical equipment, devices that enable artificial intelligence (AI), etc.). Although some examples may or may not specifically relate to use cases or applications, the innovation described may have various types of applicability. The scope of specific implementation can range from chip-level or module components to non-module, non-chip-level specific implementations, and further to aggregated, distributed or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) devices or systems in conjunction with one or more aspects of the described innovation. In some practical environments, the equipment in conjunction with the various aspects and features described may also necessarily include additional components and features for implementing and practicing the various aspects claimed and described. For example, the transmission and reception of wireless signals necessarily include multiple components for analog and digital purposes (e.g., hardware components including antennas, radio frequency (RF) chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, processors, interleavers, adders / summers, etc.). The innovations described herein are intended to be practiced in a variety of devices, chip-level components, systems, distributed arrangements, end-user devices, etc., having different sizes, shapes, and configurations. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present disclosure may be achieved by reference to the following drawings. In the drawings, similar components or features may have the same reference label. In addition, various components of the same type may be distinguished by adding a dash and a second label to distinguish between similar components after the reference label. If only the first reference label is used in the specification, the description applies to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label, regardless of the second reference label.

[0013] Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating details of an example wireless communication system in accordance with one or more aspects.

[0014] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a base station and a user equipment (UE) according to one or more aspects.

[0015] Figure 3 is a timing diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system experiencing beam blocking in accordance with one or more aspects.

[0016] Figure 4is a block diagram illustrating an example wireless communication system supporting sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction in accordance with one or more aspects.

[0017] Figure 5 is a timing diagram illustrating a wireless communication system supporting sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction according to one or more aspects.

[0018] Figure 6 is a timing diagram illustrating a wireless communication system supporting sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction according to one or more aspects.

[0019] Figure 7 is a flow chart illustrating an example process for supporting sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction according to one or more aspects.

[0020] Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating another example process for supporting sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction according to one or more aspects.

[0021] Fig. 9 is a flow chart illustrating another example process for supporting sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction according to one or more aspects.

[0022] Fig.10 is a block diagram of an example UE supporting sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction according to one or more aspects.

[0023] Fig.11 is a block diagram of an example base station supporting sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction according to one or more aspects.

[0024] The same reference numbers and designations in different drawings indicate the same elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] The specific embodiments described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings are intended as descriptions of various configurations and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Instead, the specific embodiments include specific details for providing a thorough understanding of the subject matter of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these specific details are not required in every case, and in some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form for clarity of presentation.

[0026] The present disclosure as a whole relates to providing or participating in authorized shared access between two or more wireless devices in one or more wireless communication systems (also referred to as wireless communication networks). In various specific implementations, the various techniques and devices can be used in wireless communication networks, such as code division multiple access (CDMA) networks, time division multiple access (TDMA) networks, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) networks, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, fifth generation (5G) or new radio (NR) networks (sometimes referred to as "5G NR" networks, systems or devices) and other communication networks. As described herein, the terms "network" and "system" can be used interchangeably.

[0027] A CDMA network may implement, for example, a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) and Low Chip Rate (LCR). CDMA2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95, and IS-856 standards.

[0028] For example, a TDMA network can implement a radio technology such as a global system for mobile communications (GSM). The third generation partnership project (3GPP) defines the standard for the GSM EDGE (Enhanced Data Rate GSM Evolution) radio access network (RAN) (also known as GERAN). GERAN is the radio component of the network of GSM / EDGE together with connecting base stations (e.g., Ater interface and Abis interface) and base station controllers (A interface, etc.). The radio access network represents the component of the GSM network through which telephone calls and packet data are routed from the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and the Internet to subscriber phones (also known as user terminals or user equipment (UE)) and from subscriber phones to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and the Internet. The network of a mobile phone operator may include one or more GERANs, which may be coupled with UTRAN in the case of a UMTS / GSM network. Additionally, the operator network may also include one or more LTE networks, or one or more other networks. Various network types may use different radio access technologies (RATs) and RANs.

[0029] OFDMA network can implement radio technology such as Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20, flash-OFDM, etc. UTRA, E-UTRA and GSM are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). Specifically, Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a UMTS version using E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, GSM, UMTS and LTE are described in documents provided by an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP), and cdma2000 is described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2). These various radio technologies and standards are known or under development. For example, 3GPP is a collaboration between telecommunications association groups to define a globally applicable third generation (3G) mobile phone specification. 3GPP LTE is a 3GPP plan to improve the UMTS mobile phone standard. 3GPP can define the specifications of next generation mobile networks, mobile systems and mobile devices. The present disclosure may describe certain aspects with reference to LTE, 4G or 5GNR technology; however, the description is not intended to be limited to a particular technology or application, and one or more aspects described with reference to one technology may be understood to be applicable to another technology. Additionally, one or more aspects of the present disclosure may relate to shared access to wireless spectrum between networks using different radio access technologies or radio air interfaces.

[0030] 5G networks are expected to have diverse deployments, diverse spectrum, and diverse services and devices that can be implemented using a unified air interface based on OFDM. To achieve these goals, in addition to developing new radio technologies for 5G NR networks, further enhancements to LTE and LTE-A are also being considered. 5G NR will be able to scale to provide coverage (1) to massive Internet of Things (IoT), with ultra-high density (e.g., about 1M nodes / km 2 ), ultra-low complexity (e.g., about 10s of bits / second), ultra-low energy (e.g., about 10+ years of battery life), and deep coverage with the ability to reach challenging locations; (2) including mission-critical control with strong security to protect sensitive personal, financial, or classified information, ultra-high reliability (e.g., about 99.9999% reliability), ultra-low latency (e.g., about 1 millisecond (ms)), and users with a wide range of mobility or lack of mobility; and (3) providing services with enhanced mobile broadband (including extremely high capacity (e.g., about 10Tbps / km 2 ), coverage of extremely high data rates (e.g., multi-Gbps rates, 100+Mbps user experience rates), and deep awareness with advanced discovery and optimization).

[0031] Devices, networks, and systems may be configured to communicate via one or more portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc. based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency ranges designated FR1 (410 MHz-7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz). Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are typically referred to as mid-band frequencies. Although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is typically (interchangeably) referred to as the "below 6 GHz" band in various documents and articles. Similar naming issues sometimes arise for FR2, which is typically (interchangeably) referred to as the "millimeter wave" (mmWave) band in documents and articles, although it is different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz-300 GHz) identified as the "mmWave" band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

[0032] In view of the above aspects, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if used in this article, the term "below 6 GHz" and the like can broadly represent frequencies that can be less than 6 GHz, can be within FR1, or can include mid-band frequencies. In addition, unless otherwise explicitly stated, it should be understood that if used in this article, the term "mmWave" and the like can broadly represent frequencies that can include mid-band frequencies, can be within FR2, or can be within the EHF band.

[0033] 5G NR devices, networks, and systems can be implemented using optimized OFDM-based waveform features. These features may include scalable parameter sets and transmit time intervals (TTIs); a common flexible framework that efficiently multiplexes services and features using dynamic, low-latency time division duplex (TDD) designs or frequency division duplex (FDD) designs; and advanced wireless technologies such as massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), robust mmWave transmission, advanced channel decoding, and device-centric mobility. The scalability of parameter sets in 5G NR and the scaling of subcarrier spacing can effectively address the operation of various services across different spectrums and different deployments. For example, in various outdoor and macro coverage deployments of less than 3GHz FDD or TDD implementations, the subcarrier spacing may appear at 15kHz, such as over bandwidths of 1MHz, 5MHz, 10MHz, 20MHz, etc. For various other outdoor and small cell coverage deployments with TDD greater than 3GHz, the subcarrier spacing may appear at 30kHz over 80MHz / 100MHz bandwidth. For various other indoor broadband implementations, using TDD on the unlicensed portion of the 5GHz band, the subcarrier spacing may occur at 60kHz over a 160MHz bandwidth. Finally, for various deployments transmitting over mmWave components at 28GHz TDD, the subcarrier spacing may occur at 120kHz over a 500MHz bandwidth.

[0034] 5G NR's scalable parameter sets facilitate scalable TTIs for diverse latency and quality of service (QoS) requirements. For example, shorter TTIs can be used for low latency and high reliability, while longer TTIs can be used for higher spectral efficiency. Efficient multiplexing of long and short TTIs allows transmission to start on symbol boundaries. 5G NR also anticipates a self-contained integrated subframe design where uplink or downlink scheduling information, data, and acknowledgments are in the same subframe. The self-contained integrated subframe supports communications in unlicensed or contention-based shared spectrum, and adaptive uplink or downlink can be flexibly configured on a per-cell basis to dynamically switch between uplink and downlink to meet current traffic demands.

[0035] For clarity, certain aspects of the devices and techniques may be described below with reference to example 5G NR implementations or in a 5G-centric manner, and 5G terminology may be used as illustrative examples in portions of the description below; however, the description is not intended to be limited to 5G applications.

[0036] Furthermore, it should be understood that in operation, a wireless communication network adapted according to the concepts herein can operate using any combination of licensed spectrum or unlicensed spectrum depending on load and availability. Therefore, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the systems, devices, and methods described herein can be applied to other communication systems and applications beyond the specific examples provided.

[0037] Although various aspects and specific implementations are described in this application by illustrating some examples, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that additional specific implementations and use cases may occur in many other arrangements and scenarios. The innovations described herein can be implemented across many different platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, and packaging arrangements. For example, specific implementations or uses can be implemented via integrated chip specific implementations or other devices based on non-module components (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communication equipment, computing equipment, industrial equipment, retail equipment or purchasing equipment, medical equipment, AI-enabled devices, etc.). Although some examples may or may not specifically relate to use cases or applications, the innovations described may have various types of applicability. The scope of specific implementations can range from chip-level or modular components to non-modular, non-chip-level specific implementations, and further to aggregated, distributed, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) devices or systems incorporating one or more of the described aspects. In some practical environments, the devices in combination with the various aspects and features described may also necessarily include additional components and features for implementing and practicing the various aspects claimed and described. It is intended that the innovations described herein may be practiced in a wide variety of implementations of different sizes, shapes, and configurations, including both large and small devices, chip-level components, multi-component systems (e.g., radio frequency (RF) chains, communication interfaces, processors), distributed arrangements, end-user devices, and the like.

[0038] Figure 1 1 is a block diagram illustrating details of an example wireless communication system according to one or more aspects. The wireless communication system may include a wireless network 100. The wireless network 100 may, for example, include a 5G wireless network. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, Figure 1 Components appearing in are likely to have related corresponding components in other network arrangements (including, for example, cellular-style network arrangements and non-cellular-style network arrangements (e.g., device-to-device or peer-to-peer or ad hoc network arrangements, etc.)).

[0039] Figure 1The illustrated wireless network 100 includes several base stations 105 and other network entities. The base station may be a station that communicates with a UE, and may also be referred to as an evolved Node B (eNB), a next generation eNB (gNB), an access point, etc. Each base station 105 may provide communication coverage for a specific geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" may refer to a specific geographic coverage area of ​​a base station or a base station subsystem serving the coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In the specific implementation of the wireless network 100 herein, the base station 105 may be associated with the same operator or different operators (e.g., the wireless network 100 may include multiple operator wireless networks). Additionally, in the specific implementation of the wireless network 100 herein, the base station 105 may provide wireless communication using one or more frequencies (e.g., one or more frequency bands in a licensed spectrum, an unlicensed spectrum, or a combination thereof) in the same frequency as an adjacent cell. In some examples, a separate base station 105 or UE 115 may be operated by more than one network operating entity. In some other examples, each base station 105 and UE 115 may be operated by a single network operating entity.

[0040] A base station may provide communication coverage for a macro cell or a small cell (such as a pico cell or a femto cell) or other type of cell. A macro cell generally covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with a service subscription with a network provider. A small cell (such as a pico cell) will generally cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with a service subscription with a network provider. A small cell (such as a femto cell) will generally also cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and, in addition to unrestricted access, may also provide restricted access by UEs associated with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a closed subscriber group (CSG), UEs of users in a home, etc.). A base station for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro base station. A base station for a small cell may be referred to as a small cell base station, a pico base station, a femto base station, or a home base station. In Figure 1 In the example shown, base stations 105d and 105e are conventional macro base stations, while base stations 105a-105c are macro base stations implemented using one of 3-dimensional (3D), full-dimensional (FD), or massive MIMO. Base stations 105a-105c use their higher-dimensional MIMO capabilities to employ 3D beamforming in both elevation beamforming and azimuth beamforming to increase coverage and capacity. Base station 105f is a small cell base station, which can be a home node or a portable access point. The base station can support one or more (e.g., two, three, four, etc.) cells.

[0041] The wireless network 100 may support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, the base stations may have similar frame timing, and transmissions from different base stations may be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the base stations may have different frame timing, and transmissions from different base stations may not be aligned in time. In some scenarios, the network may be enabled or configured to handle dynamic switching between synchronous operation or asynchronous operation.

[0042] UE 115 is dispersed throughout the wireless network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. It should be understood that although mobile devices are generally referred to as UEs in the standards and specifications promulgated by 3GPP, such devices may be additionally or otherwise referred to as mobile stations (MS), subscriber stations, mobile units, subscriber units, wireless units, remote units, mobile devices, wireless devices, wireless communication devices, remote devices, mobile subscriber stations, access terminals (AT), mobile terminals, wireless terminals, remote terminals, mobile phones, terminals, user agents, mobile clients, clients, gaming devices, augmented reality devices, vehicle components, vehicle devices or vehicle modules, or some other suitable terminology by those skilled in the art. In this document, a "mobile" device or UE does not necessarily have the ability to move and may be stationary. Some non-limiting examples of mobile devices, such as specific implementations that may include one or more UEs in UE 115, include mobile phones, cellular phones (handsets), smart phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, laptops, personal computers (PCs), notebooks, netbooks, smartbooks, tablet computers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs). The mobile device may additionally be an IoT or "Internet of Everything" (IoE) device, such as a car or other transportation vehicle, a satellite radio, a global positioning system (GPS) device, a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) device, a logistics controller, a drone, a multi-rotor helicopter, a quad-rotor helicopter, a smart energy or security device, a solar panel or solar array, city lighting, tap water or other infrastructure; industrial automation and enterprise equipment; consumer and wearable devices, such as glasses, wearable cameras, smart watches, health or fitness trackers, mammal implantable devices, gesture tracking devices, medical devices, digital audio players (e.g., MP3 players), cameras, game consoles, etc.; and digital home or smart home devices, such as home audio, video and multimedia devices, appliances, sensors, vending machines, smart lighting, home security systems, smart meters, etc. In one aspect, a UE may be a device including a universal integrated circuit card (UICC). In another aspect, a UE may be a device that does not include a UICC. In some aspects, a UE that does not include a UICC may also be referred to as an IoE device. Figure 1The illustrated specific implementation UE 115a-115d is an example of a mobile smart phone type device accessing the wireless network 100. The UE may also be a machine specifically configured for connected communications, including machine type communications (MTC), enhanced MTC (eMTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), etc. Figure 1 The illustrated UEs 115e - 115k are examples of various machines that access the wireless network 100 and are configured for communication.

[0043] A mobile device, such as UE 115, may be able to communicate with any type of base station, whether macro, pico, femto, relay, etc. Figure 1 In the figure, the communication link (represented as a lightning ball) indicates the wireless transmission between the UE and the serving base station (which is a base station designated to serve the UE on the downlink or uplink) or the expected transmission between the base stations and the backhaul transmission between the base stations. The UE can operate as a base station or other network node in some scenarios. The backhaul communication between the base stations of the wireless network 100 can be carried out using wired or wireless communication links.

[0044] In operation, at the wireless network 100, base stations 105a-105c use 3D beamforming and collaborative spatial techniques (such as coordinated multi-point (CoMP) or multi-connectivity) to serve UEs 115a and 115b. Macro base station 105d performs backhaul communications with base stations 105a-105c and small cells (base station 105f). Macro base station 105d also transmits multicast services that are subscribed to and received by UEs 115c and 115d. Such multicast services may include mobile TV or streaming video, or may include other services for providing community information, such as weather emergencies or alerts, such as Amber alerts or gray alerts.

[0045] The wireless network 100 of the specific implementation supports mission-critical communications with ultra-reliable and redundant links for mission-critical devices such as UE 115e as drones. The redundant communication links with UE 115e include links from macro base stations 105d and 105e and small cell base station 105f. Other machine-type devices such as UE 115f (thermometer), UE 115g (smart meter) and UE 115h (wearable device) can communicate directly with base stations such as small cell base station 105f and macro base station 105e through the wireless network 100, or in a multi-hop configuration by communicating with another user device that relays its information to the network, such as UE 115f communicating temperature measurement information to smart meter UE 115g, which then reports the temperature measurement information to the network through small cell base station 105f. The wireless network 100 may also provide additional network efficiency through dynamic, low-latency TDD communications or low-latency FDD communications, such as in a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) mesh network between UEs 115i - 115k communicating with a macro base station 105e .

[0046] Figure 2 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a base station 105 and a UE 115 according to one or more aspects. The base station 105 and the UE 115 may be Figure 1 For a restricted association scenario (as described above), base station 105 may be any base station in the base station and one of the UEs. Figure 1 The small cell base station 105f in the example of FIG. 105 and the UE 115 may be a UE 115c or 115d operating in the service area of ​​the base station 105f, which will be included in the list of accessible UEs of the small cell base station 105f in order to access the small cell base station 105f. The base station 105 may also be some other type of base station. Figure 2 As shown in FIG. 1 , the base station 105 may be equipped with antennas 234a through 234t and the UE 115 may be equipped with antennas 252a through 252r for facilitating wireless communication.

[0047] At the base station 105, the transmit processor 220 may receive data from the data source 212 and control information from the controller 240 (such as a processor). The control information may be for a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), a physical hybrid ARQ (automatic repeat request) indicator channel (PHICH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH), an MTC physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH), etc. The data may be for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc. Additionally, the transmit processor 220 may process the data and control information (e.g., encode and symbol map them) respectively to obtain data symbols and control symbols. The transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols, such as for a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a cell-specific reference signal. The transmit (TX) MIMO processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., pre-coding) on ​​data symbols, control symbols, or reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide an output symbol stream to modulators (MOD) 232a to 232t. For example, the spatial processing performed on the data symbol, the control symbol, or the reference symbol may include pre-coding. Each modulator 232 may process a corresponding output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Additionally or alternatively, each modulator 232 may process the output sample stream (e.g., analog-convert, amplify, filter, and up-convert) to obtain a downlink signal. The downlink signals from modulators 232a to 232t may be transmitted via antennas 234a to 234t, respectively.

[0048] At the UE 115, antennas 252a to 252r may receive the downlink signal from the base station 105 and may provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a to 254r, respectively. Each demodulator 254 may condition the corresponding received signal (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize it) to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 254 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from the demodulators 254a to 254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols as needed, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process the detected symbols (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode them), provide decoded data for the UE 115 to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information to a controller 280 (such as a processor).

[0049] On the uplink, at the UE 115, the transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from a data source 262 (e.g., for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)) and control information from a controller 280 (e.g., for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)). Additionally, the transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals. These symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be pre-decoded by the TX MIMO processor 266, if necessary, further processed by the modulators 254a through 254r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), and transmitted to the base station 105. At the base station 105, the uplink signals from the UE 115 may be received by the antenna 234, processed by the demodulator 232, detected by the MIMO detector 236, if necessary, and further processed by the receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information transmitted by the UE 115. Receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and the decoded control information to controller 240 .

[0050] The controllers 240 and 280 may direct the operation at the base station 105 and the UE 115, respectively. The controller 240 or other processors and modules at the base station 105 or the controller 280 or other processors and modules at the UE 115 may perform or direct the execution of various processes for the techniques described herein, such as performing or directing Figures 1 to 10 , or other processes for the techniques described herein. Memories 242 and 282 may store data and program codes for base station 105 and UE 115, respectively. Scheduler 244 may schedule UEs for data transmission on a downlink or uplink.

[0051] In some cases, the UE 115 and the base station 105 may operate in a shared radio frequency spectrum band, which may include licensed or unlicensed (e.g., contention-based) spectrum. In the unlicensed frequency portion of the shared radio frequency spectrum band, the UE 115 or the base station 105 may traditionally perform a medium sensing procedure to compete for access to the spectrum. For example, the UE 115 or the base station 105 may perform a listen-before-talk or listen-before-send (LBT) procedure (such as a clear channel assessment (CCA)) before communicating to determine whether the shared channel is available. In some specific implementations, the CCA may include an energy detection procedure to determine whether there are any other active transmissions. For example, the device may infer that a change in the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the power meter indicates that the channel is occupied. Specifically, a signal power concentrated in a certain bandwidth and exceeding a predetermined noise floor may indicate another wireless transmitter. CCA may also include detection of a specific sequence indicating the use of the channel. For example, another device may send a specific preamble before sending a data sequence. In some cases, the LBT procedure may include the wireless node adjusting its own backoff window based on the amount of energy detected on the channel or acknowledgement / negative acknowledgement (ACK / NACK) feedback for its own transmitted packets as a manifestation of a collision.

[0052] The deployment of a communication system (such as a 5G New Radio (NR) system) can be arranged with various components or constituent parts in a variety of ways. In a 5G NR system or network, a network node, a network entity, a mobility element of a network, a radio access network (RAN) node, a core network node, a network element or a network equipment (such as a base station (BS), or one or more units (or one or more components) that perform base station functionality can be implemented in an aggregated architecture or a decomposed architecture. For example, a BS (such as a Node B (NB), an evolved NB (eNB), an NR BS, a 5G NB, an access point (AP), a transmit receive point (TRP) or a cell, etc.) can be implemented as an aggregated base station (also referred to as an independent BS or a monolithic BS) or a decomposed base station.

[0053] A converged base station may be configured to utilize a radio protocol stack physically or logically integrated within a single RAN node. A decomposed base station may be configured to utilize a protocol stack physically or logically distributed between two or more units, such as one or more central or centralized units (CUs), one or more distributed units (DUs), or one or more radio units (RUs). In some aspects, a CU may be implemented within a RAN node, and one or more DUs may be co-located with the CU, or alternatively, may be geographically or virtually distributed in one or more other RAN nodes. A DU may be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs. Each of a CU, a DU, and a RU may also be implemented as a virtual unit, i.e., a virtual central unit (VCU), a virtual distributed unit (VDU), or a virtual radio unit (VRU).

[0054] Base station type operations or network designs may take into account the aggregated nature of base station functionality. For example, a disaggregated base station may be used in an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open radio access network (O-RAN (network configurations such as those initiated by the O-RAN Alliance)), or a virtualized radio access network (vRAN, also known as a cloud radio access network (C-RAN)). Decomposition may include distributing functionality across two or more units at various physical locations, as well as virtually distributing functionality of at least one unit, which may enable flexibility in network design. Various units of a disaggregated base station or disaggregated RAN architecture may be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit.

[0055] The beam management procedures typically include initial access using setup beams (e.g., SSB), and procedures to establish operation in connected mode (e.g., RACH). Once in connected mode, there are procedures to continuously measure and update the beams to ensure good quality. However, sometimes blocking can occur, which can result in more temporary outages such as beam failure and recovery, or longer or more severe outages such as radio link failure.

[0056] It has been proposed to use beam prediction in the time domain and / or the spatial domain to better select or refine beams to reduce overhead and latency. Beam prediction can enable improved beam selection, finer or narrower beams (smaller radiation spread or leakage and higher directional power), and / or more accurate positioning estimates used in beam selection. More accurate positioning estimates can be helpful when the device is operating in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions.

[0057] In various aspects described herein, beam blocking prediction operations and signaling schemes are provided to enable prediction of future beam blocking that is about to occur on a specific channel and to enable delivery of beam blocking prediction information via another channel. For example, a blocking prediction for communications such as uplink and / or downlink communications or other communications over a Uu interface (e.g., a logical radio or air interface between a UE and a base station) may be routed to a network via a side link channel, and / or an indication from the network to resolve the blocking may be routed to an affected UE via a side link channel. For illustration, a beam blocking situation on a specific channel or for a specific serving cell for an uplink and / or downlink may be predicted or estimated to occur at some time in the future. The UE may then send information about the predicted beam blocking to another UE via a side link channel, such as in a beam blocking prediction message. The other UE may not suffer from blocking (at least for the same time as the primary UE) or may have advanced or additional capabilities (e.g., higher coverage, battery power, transmit power, and / or computing) to overcome blocking or be unaffected by blocking. The Uu communications referenced herein include communications that occur or are facilitated over a Uu interface. Uu communications may include uplink and / or downlink communications between a UE and a network device. PC5 communications as referred to herein include communications occurring or facilitated through a PC5 interface (e.g., a logical radio or air interface between UEs). PC5 communications may include device-to-device communications through one or more sidelink channels.

[0058] Alternatively, in other aspects, the second UE or relay UE may determine the beam blocking prediction based on the measurement information received from the first UE. For example, the first UE may have limitations in processing and power and / or may provide measurement information to the second UE via one or more side link channels. The second UE may then receive the measurement information and determine the predicted beam blocking for the first UE. Similar to the above aspects, the second UE may communicate with the network to notify the network of the predicted blocking, and deliver or relay an indication from the network to resolve the predicted beam blocking to the first UE via the side link.

[0059] As a result, beam blocking situations can be resolved more frequently, resulting in reduced beam failures and radio link failures. As a result, the overall operation of the network is improved from faster throughput to reduced latency, increased quality due to fewer dropped calls, etc.

[0060] Since beam blocking conditions may only be determined shortly before the predicted blocking is about to occur, requiring devices to report beam blocking on a channel in the event of impending blocking may be problematic in many scenarios. For example, the UE may not have the ability to overcome the predicted or actual blocking. For illustration, the UE may be limited in coverage and / or power to handle the blocking. Therefore, sending a beam blocking on a channel or serving cell will still result in beam and radio link failures in many cases. This problem may affect lower capability or less advanced UEs more disproportionately. For example, reduced capability UEs (e.g., RedCap UEs), IoT UEs, battery-powered UEs, previous generation UEs, etc. may have power, coverage, interference or other limitations compared to current generation, larger or non-battery-powered UEs.

[0061] In some aspects, the beam blocking prediction technique utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML). For example, the UE may utilize one or more AI or ML processes such as beam measurement information in an AI or ML-assisted predictive beam management operation. Such AI / ML-assisted predictive beam management operations may include or correspond to AI / ML-based time domain beam blocking prediction or AI / ML-based frequency domain beam blocking prediction.

[0062] In certain aspects, beam blocking prediction may utilize RSRP fingerprints. RSRP fingerprints (RSRP fingerprint information may include or correspond to a time series of L1-RSRPs associated with spatial scanning beams. These RSRP fingerprints may be used to train AI or ML models to predict beam blocking related quantities, including blocking events, conditions, severity, and directions. Additionally, the network may enable further training of these AI or ML models. For example, data may be tagged with actual beam failure conditions and the ID of the failed beam.

[0063] Figure 3 is a timing diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system experiencing beam blocking according to one or more aspects. Figure 3 In an example of FIG. 3 , a diagram 300 of a network using a beam blocking prediction procedure is depicted. The network may include a base station 105 and a UE 115.

[0064] The base station 105 and the UE 115 may perform an initial access operation to connect the UE 115 to the base station 105 and the network. As part of the access operation or after access establishment, the base station 105 may configure the UE 115 for operation in the network. For example, at 310, the base station 105 sends an RRC configuration message including beam monitoring configuration information. The beam monitoring configuration information may include beam blocking prediction configuration information that enables the UE 115 to start beam blocking prediction measurements.

[0065] At 315, the UE 115 performs one or more operations according to the RRC configuration and initial access operation. For example, the UE 115 may send or receive communications with the base station 105, report channel conditions, and the like.

[0066] As part of the one or more operations, at 320, UE 115 performs one or more measurements on one or more channels between UE 115 and base station 105. For example, UE 115 may determine layer 1 measurement information, such as reference signal received power (RSRP), for the one or more channels based on one or more reference signals from base station 105.

[0067] The UE 115 determines a beam blocking prediction based on the measurements at 325. For example, the UE 115 may predict or estimate future / upcoming beam blocking conditions based on measurement information generated from the measurements.

[0068] While performing these operations, the UE 115 may experience fluctuations in signal quality or reductions in signal quality, which indicate that channel conditions are deteriorating and potential blocking is occurring or will occur. Blocking may be caused by changes at the UE (e.g., movement or rotation) or changes in the channel (e.g., blocking caused by another object or interference from another device). This reduction in signal quality may result in beam failure or even radio link failure. Since the determination or permission to use a new beam may be determined by the network and signaled via an RRC message, the network may not be able to dynamically adjust the parameters of these operations, such as for resources configured by the RRC configuration message or during resources configured by the RRC configuration message.

[0069] Thus, the UE 115 may need to request additional or different resources to report the predicted beam blocking. For example, at 330, the UE 115 requests resources to report the predicted beam blocking. At 335, the base station 105 may send an authorization or trigger message for transmitting information about the predicted beam blocking in response to the request message.

[0070] At 340, UE 115 reports the predicted beam blocking based on the grant or trigger message. For example, UE 115 uses the transmit resources indicated in the grant or trigger message to report the predicted beam blocking. At 345, base station 105 determines an action to resolve the predicted beam blocking. For example, base station 105 may change a transmit parameter of UE 115.

[0071] At 350, the base station 105 may send an indication or instruction to the UE 115 to resolve the predicted beam blocking, and at 355, a beam failure or radio link failure may occur because the UE 115 is unable to receive and / or implement the instruction before the predicted blocking occurs between the UE 115 and the base station 105.

[0072] For example, after determining the predicted beam blocking at 325, blocking may occur between the UE 115 and the base station 105. For example, blocking may occur on the channel between the UE 115 and the base station 105 from 330 to 350. During this time, the blocking may reduce transmission functionality and / or completely prohibit transmission. One or more operations from 330 to 350 may not occur. Therefore, even if the UE 115 is able to predict the beam blocking event in advance of the event, the UE may not be able to implement a solution for the predicted beam blocking event.

[0073] Therefore, in Figure 3 In an example of , the network cannot resolve the predicted beam blocking situation, but instead utilizes beam failure or radio link recovery procedures. One problem with utilizing such a configuration is that beam blocking reporting is performed on the channel and / or serving cell on which the blocking is predicted to occur. Additionally, beam blocking prediction may utilize additional processing power and battery power that certain types of devices may not have.

[0074] In various aspects described herein, a network may utilize sidelink-assisted beam blocking prediction schemes that enable devices with reduced capabilities or devices with low resources to participate in beam blocking prediction operations. Additionally, the sidelink assistance (e.g., sidelink relay) aspects described herein enable devices to report predicted beam blocking via different channels or cells that are less likely to experience blocking (e.g., by using different, relay devices). Therefore, the predicted blocking can be detected closer to the occurrence in time and still be repairable / solvable. Such closer predictions in time can achieve less processing and power consumption due to less intensive / less forward-looking calculations, and the closer predictions in time increase the accuracy when the predicted beam blocking is detected and the accuracy of the parameters of the predicted blocking. Therefore, the various aspects described herein can reduce latency and increase throughput by improving beam blocking predictions and reducing beam and / or link failures, which leads to a more efficient network.

[0075] Figure 4An example of a wireless communication system 400 supporting sidelink-assisted beam blocking prediction according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In some examples, the wireless communication system 400 can implement aspects of the wireless communication system 100. For example, the wireless communication system 400 may include a network such as one or more network entities and one or more UEs such as UE 115 (also referred to as a first UE) and a second UE 403. Figure 4 As illustrated in the example of , the network entity includes an entity corresponding to a base station such as base station 105. Alternatively, the network entity may include or correspond to a different network device (e.g., not a base station). Sidelink-assisted beam blocking prediction operations may reduce beam or radio link failures, and thus reduce latency and increase throughput. Therefore, network and device performance may be improved.

[0076] The base station 105, the UE 115, and the second UE 403 may be configured to communicate via one or more portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc. based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency ranges designated FR1 (410 MHz–7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz–52.6 GHz). The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are typically referred to as mid-band frequencies. Although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is typically (interchangeably) referred to as the “below 6 GHz” band in various documents and articles. Similar naming issues sometimes arise with respect to FR2, although unlike the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz–300 GHz) identified as the “millimeter wave” (mmWave) band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), FR2 is typically (interchangeably) referred to as the “mmWave” band in various documents and articles.

[0077] In view of the above aspects, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if used in this article, the term "below 6 GHz" and the like can broadly represent frequencies that can be less than 6 GHz, can be within FR1, or can include mid-band frequencies. In addition, unless otherwise explicitly stated, it should be understood that if used in this article, the term "mmWave" and the like can broadly represent frequencies that can include mid-band frequencies, can be within FR2, or can be within the EHF band.

[0078] It should be noted that for some data channels, the SCS may be equal to 15kHz, 30kHz, 60kHz, or 120kHz. The base station 105 and the UE 115 may be configured to communicate via one or more component carriers (CCs), such as a representative first CC 481, a second CC 482, a third CC 483, and a fourth CC 484. Although four CCs are shown, this is for illustration only, and more or less than four CCs may be used. One or more CCs may be used to convey control channel transmissions, data channel transmissions, and / or sidelink channel transmissions.

[0079] Such transmissions may include a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), or a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). Such transmissions may be scheduled by aperiodic grants and / or periodic grants.

[0080] Each periodic grant may have a corresponding configuration, such as configuration parameters / settings. The periodic grant configuration may include a configured grant (CG) configuration and settings. Additionally or alternatively, one or more periodic grants (e.g., their CGs) may have or be assigned to a CC ID, such as an expected CC ID.

[0081] Each CC may have a corresponding configuration, such as a configuration parameter / setting. The configuration may include bandwidth, bandwidth portion, HARQ process, TCI state, RS, control channel resources, data channel resources, or a combination thereof. Additionally or alternatively, one or more CCs may have or be assigned to a cell ID, a bandwidth portion (BWP) ID, or both. The cell ID may include a unique cell ID for the CC, a virtual cell ID, or a specific cell ID of a specific CC in multiple CCs. Additionally or alternatively, one or more CCs may have or be assigned to a HARQ ID. Each CC may also have corresponding management functions, such as beam management, BWP switching functions, or both. In some implementations, two or more CCs are quasi-co-located so that the CCs have the same beam and / or the same symbol.

[0082] In some implementations, the control information may be communicated via the base station 105, the UE 115, and the second UE 403. For example, the control information may be communicated using a MAC-CE transmission, an RRC transmission, a DCI (downlink control information) transmission, an UCI (uplink control information) transmission, an SCI (sidelink control information) transmission, another transmission, or a combination thereof.

[0083] The UE 115 may include various components (e.g., structures, hardware components) for performing one or more functions described herein. For example, these components may include a processor 402, a memory 404, a transmitter 410, a receiver 412, an encoder 413, a decoder 414, a beam blocking predictor 415, a beam blocking manager 416, and antennas 252a to 252r. The processor 402 may be configured to execute instructions stored at the memory 404 to perform the operations described herein. In some specific implementations, the processor 402 includes or corresponds to the controller / processor 280, and the memory 404 includes or corresponds to the memory 282. The memory 404 may also be configured to store beam information data 406, measurement data 408, beam blocking information 442, setting data 444, or a combination thereof as further described herein.

[0084] The beam information data 406 includes or corresponds to data associated with or corresponding to beam information for sending and receiving communications. For example, the beam information data 406 may include beam shape information, TCI status information, or a combination thereof. The beam shape information may include a beam pointing direction or angle, a beam width, a beam weight or coefficient, reference signal information, or a combination thereof. The beam information data 406 includes data of current / active beams, configured / allowed beams, and optionally one or more default beams (such as one or more default beams to be used for beam blocking). Additionally or alternatively, the beam information data 406 may include data from the network (e.g., base station 105) indicating a new beam to be used or its parameters. The beam information data 406 may be configured by RRC and / or modified by MAC-CE and / or DCI.

[0085] The measurement data 408 includes or corresponds to data associated with or corresponding to channel measurements and quality determinations, such as or similar to measurements used for CSI reporting. For example, the measurement data 408 may be generated based on measurements of reference signals and correspond to physical layer, layer 1, measurements such as physical layer power and / or quality measurements and / or metrics. Exemplary physical layer power and / or quality measurements and / or metrics include RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, etc., as illustrative, non-limiting examples. In some implementations, the measurement data 408 also includes information derived from physical layer measurements, such as changes in one or more of these measurements over time or space. For example, the measurement data 408 may include temporal and / or spatial L1-RSRP changes associated with multiple downlink reference signals.

[0086] The beam blocking information 442 includes or corresponds to data indicating or corresponding to a predicted beam blocking situation. For example, the beam blocking information 442 may include predicted beam blocking data indicating information about predicted beam blocking (beam blocking situation information), which may include one or more of start time information, duration information, severity information, or blocking direction information. Additionally or alternatively, the beam blocking information 442 includes identifier information of an affected device (e.g., the first UE 115), serving cell identifier information (e.g., about where network blocking occurs or affects).

[0087] The setting data 444 includes or corresponds to data associated with sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction operations. The setting data 444 may include one or more types of sidelink auxiliary beam blocking prediction operation modes and / or thresholds or conditions for switching between sidelink auxiliary beam blocking prediction modes and / or their configurations. For example, the setting data 444 may have data indicating different thresholds and / or conditions for different sidelink auxiliary beam blocking prediction modes (such as prediction mode, measurement-only mode, relay mode, etc. or a combination thereof). As another example, the setting data 444 may include thresholds and / or conditions for determining predicted blocking, determining when to transmit measurement data, determining when to transmit predicted blocking, etc. In some specific implementations, the setting data 444 may include one or more path loss conditions for determining when to transmit a predicted beam blocking message.

[0088] In certain implementations, these path loss conditions may be determined and / or adjusted based on the message or channel bandwidth. For illustration, for large payload size messages, the path loss condition may be small (and vice versa). One benefit of this is that such congestion prediction messages will be used to maintain link quality, and delivering these messages with lower latency and high reliability will maintain link and quality.

[0089] Additionally or alternatively, the setting data 444 may include UE capability information, such as transmit power information, battery power information, prediction capability information, relay capability information, etc. The UE capability information may be sent to another UE and / or a network device to enable configuration of a sidelink auxiliary beam blocking prediction operation or selection of a specific sidelink auxiliary beam blocking prediction operation mode.

[0090] The transmitter 410 is configured to send data to one or more other devices, and the receiver 412 is configured to receive data from one or more other devices. For example, the transmitter 410 may send data via a network (such as a wired network, a wireless network, or a combination thereof), and the receiver 412 may receive data via the network. For example, the UE 115 may be configured to send and / or receive data via: a direct device-to-device connection, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a modem-to-modem connection, the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, a cable transmission system, a cellular communication network, any combination of the above, or any other communication network now known or later developed that allows two or more electronic devices to communicate therein. In some specific implementations, the transmitter 410 and the receiver 412 may be replaced by a transceiver. Additionally or alternatively, the transmitter 410, the receiver 412, or both may include or correspond to reference Figure 2 One or more components of UE 115 are described.

[0091] The encoder 413 and the decoder 414 may be configured to encode and decode data for transmission. The beam blocking predictor 415 may be configured to perform beam blocking prediction to determine a beam blocking prediction situation. For example, the beam blocking predictor 415 may be configured to determine an upcoming or future beam blocking situation for uplink downlink communications based on measurement information (such as measurement data 408). For illustration, the beam blocking predictor 415 may determine an RSRP fingerprint based on a physical layer measurement and compare the determined RSRP fingerprint with a stored RSRP fingerprint that has been generated, managed, or filtered by an AI or ML method. As another example, the beam blocking predictor 415 may determine that a change in a particular physical layer measurement / metric has a change that exceeds a threshold, or that a particular physical layer measurement / metric is degrading at a rate that exceeds a threshold.

[0092] Additionally or alternatively, the beam blocking predictor 415 may be configured to determine the duration, severity, and / or location of the predicted beam blocking condition. For example, the beam blocking predictor 415 may utilize measurement information and / or AI / ML methods to predict when the blocking will begin, how long it will last, the severity of the blocking (e.g., partial, full, resolvable, unresolvable, etc.), and which channels and / or devices the blocking will affect. The "location" of the blocking may be indicated by direction, beam, channel, serving cell, device ID, or a combination thereof.

[0093] The beam blocking manager 416 may be configured to perform sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction operations, such as sidelink signaling operations for beam blocking prediction messages. For example, the beam blocking manager 416 is configured to determine when to measure, what to measure, when to report, what to report, to whom to report, and the like. Additionally, the beam blocking manager 416 may be configured to determine when to send a beam blocking prediction message. For illustration, the beam blocking predictor 415 may compare the uplink path loss determination with a threshold to determine whether to send a predicted beam blocking condition determined by the beam blocking predictor 415. As another example, the beam blocking manager 416 may be configured to perform or coordinate measurement operations (such as physical layer measurement operations) on a downlink reference signal to generate measurement data 408. In some implementations, the beam blocking manager 416 may be configured to determine a potential solution for the predicted beam blocking condition, which may be indicated to the network (such as indicated to the base station 105) via another UE via a sidelink channel sent to the other UE.

[0094] The second UE 403 may include one or more elements similar to UE 115. In some specific implementations, UE 115 and the second UE 403 are different types of UEs. For example, either UE may be of higher quality or have different operating constraints. For illustration, one of these UEs may have a larger form factor or may be a current generation device, and therefore has more advanced capabilities and / or reduced battery constraints or higher processing constraints. In some specific implementations, one UE may be battery-powered, while another UE may be charging (e.g., plugged into a socket, a car recharged by an alternator, etc.). One device may be an IoT device, while another device may be a device with reduced capabilities (RedCap). In other specific implementations, the two UEs have similar capabilities. UE 115 and the second UE 403 may be configured to communicate via one or more side link channels.

[0095] The base station 105 includes a processor 430, a memory 432, a transmitter 434, a receiver 436, an encoder 437, a decoder 438, a beam blocking solver 439, a beam blocking manager 440, and antennas 234a to 234t. The processor 430 may be configured to execute instructions stored at the memory 432 to perform the operations described herein. In some implementations, the processor 430 includes or corresponds to the controller / processor 240, and the memory 432 includes or corresponds to the memory 242. The memory 432 may be configured to store beam information data 406, solution data 409, beam blocking data 442, setting data 444, or a combination thereof similar to the UE 115 and as further described herein.

[0096] The solution data 409 may include or correspond to data associated with resolving the predicted beam blocking situation. For example, the solution data 409 may indicate or identify one or more operations for resolving the beam blocking situation. For illustration, as illustrative non-limiting examples, the solution data 409 may indicate a beam change (e.g., an adjusted or default TCI state), a periodicity change (e.g., a reduced periodicity to avoid blocking or an increased periodicity to refine or update blocking), or a reference signal change (e.g., to use a different or default BFD-RS).

[0097] Additionally, the solution data 409 may include information for generating or determining a solution based on the beam blocking prediction information. For example, the solution data 409 may include one or more conditions or thresholds for determining an operation to reduce or avoid a predicted beam blocking condition.

[0098] The transmitter 434 is configured to send data to one or more other devices, and the receiver 436 is configured to receive data from one or more other devices. For example, the transmitter 434 can send data via a network (such as a wired network, a wireless network, or a combination thereof), and the receiver 436 can receive data via the network. For example, the UE and / or the base station 105 can be configured to send and / or receive data via a direct device-to-device connection, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a modem-to-modem connection, the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, a cable transmission system, a cellular communication network, any combination of the above, or any other communication network now known or later developed that allows two or more electronic devices to communicate. In some specific implementations, the transmitter 434 and the receiver 436 can be replaced by a transceiver. Additionally or alternatively, the transmitter 434, the receiver 436, or both may include or correspond to reference Figure 2 One or more components of UE 115 are described.

[0099] The encoder 437 and the decoder 438 may include the same functionality as described with reference to the encoder 413 and the decoder 414, respectively. The beam blocking solver 439 may include similar functionality as described with reference to the beam blocking predictor 415. For example, the beam blocking solver 439 may be configured to analyze the predicted beam blocking situation to determine a fix or solution for resolving the beam blocking situation without a beam or radio link failure. The beam blocking manager 440 may include similar functionality as described with reference to the beam blocking 416.

[0100] During operation of the wireless communication system 400, the network (e.g., the base station 105) may determine that the UE 115 has sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction capability. For example, the UE 115 may send a message 448 including a sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction indicator 490 (e.g., a sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction capability indicator). The indicator 490 may indicate the sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction capability for one or more communication modes (such as downlink, uplink, etc.). In some embodiments, the network entity (e.g., the base station 105) transmits control information to indicate to the UE 115 that a sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction operation and / or a specific type of sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction operation is to be used. For example, in some embodiments, a configuration transmission 450 is sent to the UE 115. The configuration transmission 450 may include or indicate settings for using a sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction operation or adjusting or implementing a specific type of sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction operation. For example, the configuration transmission 450 may include beam message data 406 (e.g., Figure 4 ), beam blocking information 442, setup data 444, or any combination thereof.

[0101] During operation, the devices of the wireless communication system 400 perform sidelink auxiliary beam blocking prediction operations. For example, the network and the UE 115 may communicate via uplink and / or downlink (such as via Figure 4 408). The UE 115 may perform one or more measurement operations on uplink and / or downlink communications to generate measurement information, such as measurement data 408. For example, the UE 115 may perform physical layer measurements on a downlink reference signal of a received downlink communication to determine a power and / or quality parameter such as RSRP. The UE 115 (such as its beam blocking predictor 415) may analyze the measurement information to determine whether there will be an impending beam blocking between the UE 115 and the base station 115. In some specific implementations, the UE 115 may process the measurement information to generate additional information, such as a measurement / metric change or an RSRP fingerprint, and compare the change or RSRP fingerprint with a stored condition or fingerprint to predict whether there will be a beam blocking. After determining that there will be a beam blocking, the UE 115 indirectly sends an indication of the predicted beam blocking to the network via a sidelink auxiliary operation (such as a sidelink relay operation).

[0102] exist Figure 4In the example of , UE 115 sends a first beam blocking prediction message 452 to a second UE 403 via a sidelink channel. The first beam blocking prediction message 452 may include or correspond to an SCI, an SL-MAC-CE, or an SL-RRC message. For example, the first beam blocking prediction message 452 may include or correspond to a PSSCH transmission scheduled by a PSCCH transmission, such as an SCL-MAC-CE scheduled by an SCI. In some implementations, the first beam blocking prediction message 452 includes a beam blocking prediction indicator indicating an impending beam blocking. In other implementations, the first beam blocking prediction message 452 includes beam blocking prediction information that identifies one or more parameters or characteristics of a predicted beam blocking situation, such as a start time, duration, severity, etc. Alternatively, the first beam blocking prediction message 452 may not include an indication of the predicted beam blocking situation, but instead include measurement information, such as a reference Figure 6 In such implementations, the second UE 115 receives measurement information of and from the UE 115, and the second UE 115 performs beam blocking prediction on the measurement information of and from the UE 115. The second UE 115 then sends its generated beam blocking prediction to the network (such as the base station 105).

[0103] The second UE 115 may receive the first beam blocking prediction message 452 and send a second beam blocking prediction message 454 to the network via an uplink channel based on the first beam blocking prediction message 452. The second UE 403 may perform one or more operations on the first beam blocking prediction message 452 to generate and send the second beam blocking prediction message 454. For example, the second UE 403 may decode and generate a new message including a portion of the first beam blocking prediction message 452 (e.g., a predicted beam blocking situation indicator or information). As another example, the second UE 403 may amplify the second beam blocking prediction message 454 and forward the first beam blocking prediction message 452 as the second beam blocking prediction message 454 via an uplink channel. The second beam blocking prediction message 454 may include or correspond to PUCCH, PUSCH, or MAC-CE transmission. In some implementations, the second beam blocking prediction message 454 includes information for multiple predicted beam blocking situations, such as one or more situations for UE 115 and / or one or more situations for at least one other UE (e.g., a third UE).

[0104] The base station 105 receives the second beam blocking prediction message 454 from the second UE 403, and processes the second beam blocking prediction message 454 to obtain an indication of a predicted beam blocking situation from (or for) the first UE 115. The base station 105 analyzes the predicted beam blocking situation to determine a solution for the predicted beam blocking. For example, the base station 105 may determine that the blocking is directional in nature and can be overcome by changing the beam. The base station 105 may determine that a specific beam at the first UE 115, such as a default beam (e.g., a default TCI state) or other configured beams, can be used to avoid message failures and beam or radio link failures.

[0105] The base station 105 transmits a first beam blocking response message 456 including an indication for resolving the predicted beam blocking situation to the second UE 403 via a downlink transmission. The first beam blocking response message 456 may include or correspond to a PDCCH transmission, such as a DCI, a PDSCH transmission, or a MAC-CE transmission. As described above, the indication may include specific actions for the first UE 115 to implement to overcome or avoid the predicted beam blocking.

[0106] The second UE 115 may receive the first beam blocking response message 456 from the base station 105, and send a second beam blocking response message 458 to the base station 115 via a sidelink channel based on the first beam blocking response message 456. The second UE 403 may perform one or more operations on the first beam blocking response message 456 to generate and send the second beam blocking response message 458. For example, the second UE 403 may decode and generate a new message including a portion of the first beam blocking response message 456 (e.g., a solution indication or information). As another example, the second UE 403 may amplify the first beam blocking response message 456 and forward the first beam blocking response message 456 as a second beam blocking response message 458 via a sidelink channel. The second beam blocking response message 458 may include or correspond to an SCI, a PSCCH, a PSSCH, a SL-MAC-CE transmission, or a SL-RRC transmission. In some implementations, the first beam blocking response message 456 includes a solution indication or information for multiple reported predicted beam blocking situations, such as one or more situations for UE 115 and / or one or more situations for at least one other UE (e.g., second UE 403, third UE, etc.). In such implementations, the second UE 403 may send additional beam blocking response messages to the other UEs. For example, multiple indications may be sent via a group common DCI (GC-DCI) or a PDSCH scheduled by the GC-DCI, and the RNTI and / or fields within the GC-DCI may be associated with identifiers of different UEs. For illustration, the GC-DCI may include multiple fields associated with different UEs, and the second UE 403 may determine one or more fields associated with the multiple UEs. In a specific implementation, the second UE may send a group transmission to the sidelink group indicating information for resolving the multiple blockings.

[0107] UE 115 receives the second beam blocking response message 458 and may perform one or more operations based on the solution indicator or information therein. For example, UE 115 may send or receive transmissions using adjusted beam information (such as adjusted or default TCI). As another example, UE 115-a may perform one or more measurements using adjusted reference signal information. Additionally or alternatively, UE 115 adjusts the periodicity of one or more periodic or semi-periodic transmissions. For illustration, UE 115 may adjust the periodicity to avoid blocking or increase the periodicity of beam blocking prediction messages (including measured or predicted beam blocking) to enable the network to receive additional information about the predicted beam blocking situation.

[0108] Thus, the network (e.g., base station 105, UE 115, and second UE 403) may be able to more efficiently and reliably provide predicted beam blocking to the network. Sidelink-assisted beam blocking prediction may reduce beam failures and radio link failures, and reduce or prevent the use of recovery operations due to beam or link failures. Additionally, sidelink-assisted beam blocking prediction may enable devices with reduced capabilities (such as devices with reduced physical capabilities and / or due to channel conditions) to operate in a predicted beam blocking mode. Thus, the network will experience reduced errors and delays, as well as increased throughput.

[0109] refer to Figure 5 , Figure 5 is a timing diagram 500 illustrating a wireless communication system supporting sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction according to one or more aspects. Figure 5 The example corresponds to an example of sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction, where the blocked UE performs beam blocking prediction.

[0110] Figure 5 Examples include Figure 1 , Figure 2 and Figure 4 Devices similar to those described in , such as the first UE 115A, the second UE 115B and the network entity 505. Figure 5 The equipment may include Figure 2 and Figure 4 One or more of the components described in . Figure 5 In the embodiment, these devices can use antennas 252a to 252r, transmitter 410, receiver 412, encoder 413 and / or decoder 414, or can use antennas 234a to 234t, transmitter 434, receiver 436, encoder 437 and / or decoder 438 to communicate joint transmission and receive joint transmission. In some specific implementations, network entity 505 may include or correspond to multiple TRPs of a single base station (e.g., base station 105), multiple base stations, or any combination thereof.

[0111] At 510, the first UE 115A sends a beam blocking capability message to the base station 105. For example, the first UE 115A may send an uplink transmission including the beam blocking capability information. Figure 4 As described, the beam blocking capability information may indicate beam blocking measurement capability, beam blocking prediction capability, beam blocking indication or message relay capability, transmission power capability (e.g., power margin), coverage capability, power capability (e.g., battery capacity or level), or a combination thereof. The uplink transmission may include or correspond to an RRC message, MAC-CE, UCI, PDCCH, or PUSCH.

[0112] At 515, the base station 105 may send a confirmation message in response to the beam blocking capability message. For example, the base station 105 may send a confirmation message indicating that the beam blocking capability message is received and including an indication of a specific beam blocking prediction mode and / or beam blocking prediction configuration information. The first UE 115A may receive the confirmation message and begin performing beam blocking prediction operations.

[0113] At 520, the base station 105 optionally sends a beam blocking prediction configuration message. The beam blocking prediction configuration message includes the beam blocking prediction configuration information. The beam blocking prediction configuration message may be transmitted when the confirmation message does not include the beam blocking prediction configuration information. Additionally or alternatively, the beam blocking prediction configuration message may be transmitted to at least one UE when the UEs do not communicate with each other to configure the beam blocking prediction operation or relay configuration information received from the base station 105 to each other. For illustration, when the first UE 115A does not coordinate the configuration of the second UE 115B for the beam blocking prediction operation, the base station 105 may send configuration information to the second UE 115B to configure the second UE 115B.

[0114] For example, in some implementations, the base station 105 may send an RRC message including the beam blocking prediction configuration information only to the second UE 115B. In other implementations, the base station 105 may send an RRC message including the beam blocking prediction configuration information only to the first UE 115A. In still other implementations, the base station 105 may send an RRC message including the beam blocking prediction configuration information to both the first UE 115A and the second UE 115B.

[0115] After the beam blocking prediction configuration, the first UE 115A, the second UE 115B, and the base station 105 may participate in one or more operations. For example, the base station 105 may perform one or more downlink-related operations for the first UE 115A and / or the second UE 115B. As another example, the first UE 115A and the second UE 115B may perform sidelink operations. In some implementations, the first UE 115A and the second UE 115B may send one or more additional configuration messages to adjust the beam blocking prediction operation, such as to participate in or adjust the periodicity (e.g., semi-persistent) transmission of beam blocking messages. As indicated above, in Figure 5 In the example of , the first UE 115A is configured to determine the predicted beam blocking for itself. In an alternative specific implementation, the first UE 115A may configure the second UE 115B to perform beam blocking prediction operations on its own, such as determining the beam blocking prediction for the first UE 115A based on the measurement information from the first UE 115A, as shown in reference Figure 6 Further described.

[0116] exist Figure 5 In the example of , the first UE 115A may be able to predict beam blocking and may be configured by the base station 105 to use the second UE 115B as a relay or forwarding UE to perform beam blocking prediction to avoid potential blocking issues between the first UE 115A and the base station 105 when reporting predicted beam blocking.

[0117] At 525, the first UE 115A may determine a predicted beam blocking condition. For example, the first UE 115A may perform one or more measurement operations on one or more downlink transmissions (such as reference signals thereof) during operation of the first UE 115A with the base station 105 to generate measurement information. The measurement information may include or correspond to the reference signal. Figure 4 The measurement information described, such as measurement data 408. For illustration, the measurement information may include measurements of layer one, physical layer, RSRP, and other quantities generated from downlink or uplink operations performed after beam blocking prediction configuration.

[0118] After generating the measurement information, the first UE 115A may determine a predicted beam blocking condition based on the measurement information. For example, the first UE 115A may determine a predicted beam blocking condition based on the measurement information itself (such as raw layer 1 measurements / metrics) or based on information derived from the measurement information (such as temporal and / or spatial variations of a particular amount of the measurement information and associated with a plurality of downlink reference signals). The derived information may alternatively include or correspond to RSRP fingerprint information and may be matched with stored model RSRP fingerprint data to predict impending blocking.

[0119] For illustration, the first UE 115A determines a predicted beam blocking condition based on AI or ML operations or AI or ML model data. As an illustrative example, the first UE 115A may generate an RSRP fingerprint based on the measurement information and compare the RSRP fingerprint with the stored RSRP fingerprints associated with past beam blocking for the first UE 115A, other UEs, or both. Based on the comparison indicating a match, indicating a match within a threshold level (e.g., a high correlation), or finding a number of similar markers above a threshold, the first UE 115A may predict a beam blocking condition. In some implementations, the first UE 115A also determines details of the predicted beam blocking condition based on the measurement information or AI / ML information.

[0120] At 530, the first UE 115A sends a beam blocking prediction message including an indication of a predicted beam blocking situation via a side link channel. The beam blocking prediction message may be transmitted via a first type of communication interface (e.g., a Uu interface or a PC5 interface) and may include or correspond to an SCI, SCI-MAC-CE, or SL-RRC message. For example, the first UE 115A may send a beam blocking prediction message including a beam blocking prediction indicator configured to indicate that a predicted beam blocking situation has been detected. For illustration, the indicator may include or correspond to a single bit indicating that a predicted blocking has been identified. As another example, the first UE 115A may send a beam blocking prediction message including beam blocking prediction information indicating or identifying information about a predicted beam blocking situation. For illustration, the beam blocking prediction information may include a reference Figure 4 The information described (e.g., beam blocking information 442) may include beam blocking situation information, identifier information of the first UE 115A, serving cell identifier information, or a combination thereof. The beam blocking situation information may include start time information, duration information, severity information, blocking direction information, or a combination thereof.

[0121] Additionally or alternatively, the beam blocking prediction message includes beam blocking measurement information. The beam blocking measurement information may include reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement information or a parameter derived from the RSRP measurement information, and an example reference to the operation of the beam blocking prediction message including the beam blocking measurement information is provided. Figure 6 Further description.

[0122] In some implementations, the beam blocking prediction message is a non-periodic communication. For example, the beam blocking prediction message may be scheduled or triggered by a previous sidelink transmission (for a UE-scheduled sidelink, such as SCI or PSCCH) or a downlink transmission (for a network-scheduled sidelink, such as DCI or PDCCH). In other implementations, the beam blocking prediction message is periodic, such as persistent, semi-persistent, and the like. In such implementations, a scheduling (e.g., triggering) message on a channel prior to the beam blocking prediction message may not be used, however, a previous configuration or authorization message (e.g., an activation message or a higher layer message) may be used to allocate multiple transmission resources to the first UE 115A for the transmission of multiple beam blocking prediction messages.

[0123] At 535, the second UE 115B receives the beam blocking prediction message from the first UE 115A and sends a second beam blocking prediction message to the base station 105 via an uplink channel. For example, the second UE 115B receives the beam blocking prediction message and sends (forwards or relays) the beam blocking prediction message to the base station 105 via a PUCCH or a PUSCH. As another example, the second UE 115B receives the beam blocking prediction message and (at least partially) decodes the beam blocking prediction message. The second UE 115B may generate a second beam blocking prediction message based on the decoded beam blocking prediction message (such as a portion thereof). The second UE 115B then sends a second beam blocking prediction message different from the beam blocking prediction message to the base station 105 via a PUCCH or a PUSCH. The second beam blocking prediction message may include or correspond to an amplified beam blocking prediction message, a modified beam blocking prediction message, or a combination thereof. For example, the second beam blocking prediction message may include beam blocking predictions from multiple other UEs, such as the first UE 115A and a third UE (not shown). When relaying / forwarding the message, the second UE 115B may decode and forward (DF) or amplify and forward (AF). In DF relaying, the UE decodes, remodulates, and retransmits the received signal, while in AF relaying, the UE only amplifies and retransmits the signal without decoding. Therefore, in some specific implementations, such as for AF relaying, the second UE 115B may send the same or nearly the same message as it received. The second UE 115B may send the second beam blocking prediction message via a second type of communication interface (e.g., Uu interface) that is different from the first type of communication interface (e.g., PC5 interface) used to receive the first beam blocking prediction message.

[0124] In some implementations, the second beam blocking prediction message is a non-periodic communication. For example, the second beam blocking prediction message may be scheduled or triggered by a previous downlink transmission from the network (such as an uplink grant DCI). In other implementations, the second beam blocking prediction message is periodic, such as persistent, semi-persistent, and the like. In such implementations, a scheduling (e.g., triggering) message prior to the second beam blocking prediction message may not be used, however, a previous configuration or authorization message (e.g., activation message) may be used to allocate multiple transmission resources to the second UE 115B for sending multiple beam blocking prediction messages to the network (e.g., base station 105).

[0125] At 540, the base station 105 receives the beam blocking prediction for the first UE 115A from the second UE 115B, and the base station 105 determines a solution to the predicted beam blocking situation for the first UE 115A. The solution may include using another beam (such as switching TCI state), using a different reference signal (such as using a new BFD-RS identifier), adjusting the periodicity of periodic transmission (such as increasing the periodicity of beam blocking prediction messages), delaying transmission, canceling transmission resources, participating in sidelink delivery of transmission, transmitting to another serving cell, transmitting on another frequency, or a combination thereof.

[0126] For example, with respect to beam adjustment, the base station 105 may determine to use another beam based on a beam blocking prediction indicator or information. For illustration, the base station 105 may receive an indication of predicted blocking without additional information, and may determine to use a default beam (default TCI state) based on a general or non-specific blocking indication. As another example, the base station 105 may receive detailed information about blocking, and may determine one or more alternative beams for use with or with the first UE 115A that have a lower chance of being affected by blocking and / or a higher chance of overcoming blocking. In a specific implementation, the base station 105 determines a new beam based on AI or ML and before a beam failure or a radio link failure.

[0127] With respect to different reference signals, base station 105 may determine that a particular blockage may be resolved by adjusting the reference signal. Adjusting the reference signal may enable different measurements to be obtained and / or a different transmission configuration to be used.

[0128] With respect to different periodicities, the base station 105 may increase the periodicity of the beam blocking prediction message to obtain additional information about blocking or predictable future potential blocking. Alternatively, the base station 105 may reduce the periodicity of the beam blocking prediction message to offset a specific upcoming scheduled beam blocking prediction message so that it no longer coincides with the predicted blocking. Additionally, the base station 105 may adjust (such as reduce) the periodicity of other periodic messages to offset a specific upcoming scheduled periodic message so that it no longer occurs during the predicted blocking.

[0129] Regarding other options, the base station 105 may determine that congestion on a channel cannot be resolved by adjustments during predicted congestion, and the base station 105 may seek alternative solutions, such as alternative channels for sending data to the network, to avoid congestion.

[0130] At 545, the base station 105 sends a beam blocking response message including an indication of a solution to the predicted beam blocking condition for the first UE 115A to the second UE 115B. For example, the base station 105 may send an indication for the first UE 115A to the second UE 115B for relaying or delivery to the first UE 115A. The indication may indicate or identify the beam blocking condition from 540 and as described in reference Figure 4 The determined solution described. The beam blocking response message may be transmitted via the same type of communication interface (e.g., Uu interface) used to receive the second beam blocking prediction message, and may include or correspond to a downlink channel transmission, such as DCI, MAC-CE, PDCCH, PDSCH, etc.

[0131] In some implementations, the beam blocking response message corresponds to a group of UEs and includes a first indication for the first UE 115A and a second indication for another UE, such as the second UE 115B or a third UE (not shown). In some such implementations, each indication may correspond to a predicted beam blocking condition for a particular UE, and indications for multiple UEs may be included in the beam blocking response message along with corresponding identifiers. Thus, the second UE 115B may decode the beam blocking response message and determine where to transmit (e.g., forward or relay) which indications.

[0132] At 550, the second UE 115B receives a beam blocking response message from the base station 105 via a downlink channel, and sends a second beam blocking response message to the first UE 115A via a sidelink channel. For example, the second UE 115B receives the beam blocking response message and sends (forwards or relays) the beam blocking response message to the first UE 115A via a PSCCH or a PSSCH. The beam blocking response message may be received via a first type of communication interface (e.g., a Uu interface), and the second beam blocking response message may be transmitted via any communication interface (e.g., a Uu interface or a PC5 interface) and optionally via a first type of communication interface for transmitting a beam blocking measurement message. As another example, the second UE 115B receives the beam blocking response message and (at least partially) decodes the beam blocking response message. The second UE 115B may generate a second beam blocking response message based on the decoded beam blocking response message. The second UE 115B then sends a second beam blocking response message different from the beam blocking prediction message to the base station 105 via the PUCCH or PUSCH. The second beam blocking response message may include or correspond to an amplified beam blocking response message, a modified beam blocking response message, or a combination thereof. For example, the second beam blocking response message may include beam blocking responses for multiple other UEs, such as the first UE 115A and the second UE 115B or a third UE (not shown). As described above with reference to 535, the second UE 115B may relay / forward via a DF procedure or an AF procedure.

[0133] In some implementations, the second beam blocking response message is a non-periodic communication. For example, the beam blocking response message may be scheduled or triggered by a previous sidelink transmission. In other implementations, the second beam blocking response message is periodic, such as persistent, semi-persistent, etc. In such implementations, a scheduling message prior to the second beam blocking response message may not be used, however, a previous configuration or authorization message may be used to allocate multiple transmission resources to the second UE 115B for transmitting the beam blocking response message to the first UE 115A.

[0134] The first UE 115A receives the second beam blocking response message from the second UE 115B and determines information for upcoming operations based on the indication in the beam blocking response message and from the base station 105. For example, the UE 115 determines a solution for the predicted beam blocking. For illustration, the UE 115 determines what action to take or suppress for the upcoming operation of the UE 115 and / or the upcoming communication (such as uplink and downlink transmission) with the base station 105 based on the indication. As described above, the solution may indicate one or more actions or adjustments to be performed by the first UE 115A. Figure 5In the example of FIG. 1 , beam adjustment is described.

[0135] At 555, the indication includes beam adjustment, and the first UE 115A adjusts the TCI state for the upcoming transmission to a default TCI state for beam blocking or a TCI state explicitly indicated by an indicator of the second beam blocking response message. For example, the UE 115 switches to a default beam (which corresponds to a default TCI) and transmits or receives communications using the default beam, performs measurements using the default beam, reports the default beam or channel information associated with the default beam, or a combination thereof.

[0136] From 560 to 565, the first UE 115A performs one or more uplink and / or downlink operations with the base station 105 based on the indication. For example, the UE 115 sends a first Uu communication (e.g., uplink communication) at 560 and / or receives a second Uu communication (e.g., downlink communication) at 565 using a previously configured / indicated default beam (default TCI state) or a beam (TCI state) indicated by an indication in the second beam blocking response message.

[0137] As other examples, the first UE 115A may operate using a default or indicated (adjusted) BFD reference signal or with an adjusted periodicity. Alternatively, the first UE 115A may perform one or more other operations with another node or entity connected to the base station 105 to communicate with the base station 105 through another entity or via another channel different from the channel in which the predicted blocking occurs. The other channel may be on another part of the spectrum or in a different spectrum entirely. The one or more other operations may include such as utilizing or operating via a side link of the second UE 115B, or uplink and / or downlink operations with another base station or another part of the base station 105.

[0138] Although in Figure 5 In the example of FIG. 5 , blocking is shown during 560 to 565, but this is for illustrative or clarity purposes, and blocking may occur at any time. For example, blocking may begin at any time after 525. However, if Figure 3 B, the predicted blocking is between the first UE 115A and the base station 105 rather than between the first UE 115A and the second UE 115B. Therefore, the first UE 115A can still transmit and receive transmissions to and from the second UE 115B that is not experiencing the predicted blocking or expected to experience the predicted blocking. Therefore, the first UE 115A may be able to provide the predicted beam blocking situation to the network and receive an indication for resolving the predicted beam blocking situation before a beam or radio link failure.

[0139] Therefore, in Figure 5 In the example, a UE (e.g., first UE 115A) that may not be able to reach base station 105 (due to congestion) may still notify the network of the congestion and receive resolution information from the network for overcoming or handling the congestion, such as without incurring beam or link failure.

[0140] refer to Figure 6 , Figure 6 is a timing diagram 600 illustrating a wireless communication system supporting sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction according to one or more aspects. Figure 6 Examples may include or correspond to examples in which a relay UE performs beam blocking prediction and a blocked UE performs measurements used to obtain the prediction.

[0141] Figure 6 Examples include Figure 1 , Figure 2 and Figure 4 Devices similar to those described in , such as the first UE 115A, the second UE 115B and the network entity 605. Figure 6 The equipment may include Figure 2 and Figure 4 One or more of the components described in . Figure 6 In the embodiment, these devices can use antennas 252a to 252r, transmitter 410, receiver 412, encoder 413 and / or decoder 414, or can use antennas 234a to 234t, transmitter 434, receiver 436, encoder 437 and / or decoder 438 to communicate joint transmission and receive joint transmission. In some specific implementations, network entity 505 may include or correspond to multiple TRPs of a single base station (e.g., base station 105), multiple base stations, or any combination thereof.

[0142] At 610, the base station 105 sends a beam blocking prediction configuration message to the second UE 115B. The beam blocking prediction configuration message includes beam blocking prediction configuration information. The beam blocking prediction configuration message may indicate or include information for configuring the second UE 115B as a relay UE that also determines predicted beam blocking for one or more other UEs based on measurements received from other UEs, such as the first UE 115A. In a particular implementation, the indication from the base station 105 identifies one or more UEs for which the second UE 115B is to act as a relay and, optionally, for which beam blocking prediction is to be performed.

[0143] At 615, optionally, the second UE 115B sends a beam blocking capability message to the first UE 115A. For example, the second UE 115B may send a sidelink transmission including the beam blocking capability information. The beam blocking capability information may indicate that the second UE 115B is configured for sidelink relay of the beam blocking message and prediction of beam blocking. The sidelink transmission may include or correspond to a SL-RRC message, a SL-MAC-CE, an SCI, a PSCCH, or a PSSCH. Alternatively, the base station 105 sends a beam blocking prediction configuration message to two UEs (such as to the first UE 115A in addition to the second UE 115B).

[0144] Optionally, the first UE 115A and / or the base station 105 may send a confirmation message in response to the beam blocking configuration message or the beam blocking capability message, respectively. The confirmation message may indicate confirmation of successful receipt of the message and / or confirmation that the device is capable of the indicated mode or operation, measurement, prediction, relay, etc.

[0145] After the beam blocking prediction configuration, the first UE 115A, the second UE 115B, and the base station 105 may participate in one or more operations at 620. For example, the base station 105 may perform one or more downlink-related operations for the first UE 115A and / or the second UE 115B, such as Figure 6 As another example, the first UE 115A and the second UE 115B may perform sidelink operations such as sending or receiving one or more communications utilizing a PC5 communication interface or another communication interface for direct device-to-device communication.

[0146] In some implementations, the first UE 115A and the second UE 115B may send additional configuration messages to adjust the beam blocking prediction operation, such as to participate in or adjust the periodic (e.g., semi-persistent) transmission of beam blocking messages. Figure 6 In an example of , the first UE 115A is configured to perform measurement operations and provide measurement information to the second UE 115B, and the second UE 115B performs beam blocking prediction operations on its own, such as to determine a beam blocking prediction for the first UE 115A. Figure 5 Compared to the example in Figure 6 The example in enables the second UE 115B (e.g., relay UE) instead of the first UE 115A (e.g., blocked UE) to perform beam prediction. This can enable a device with reduced capabilities (such as a device with reduced processing power or battery power limitation) to still perform beam blocking prediction operations with the help of another UE.

[0147] At 625, the first UE 115A may perform one or more measurement operations. For example, the first UE 115A may perform one or more measurement operations on one or more downlink transmissions (such as reference signals thereof) during operation of the first UE 115A with the base station 105 at 620 to generate measurement information. The measurement information may include or correspond to the reference signal. Figure 4 The measurement information described, such as measurement data 408. For illustration, the measurement information may include measurements of layer one, physical layer, RSRP, and other quantities generated from downlink or uplink operations performed after beam blocking prediction configuration.

[0148] At 630, the first UE 115A sends a beam blocking measurement message (also referred to herein as a beam blocking prediction message) for beam blocking prediction operation to the second UE 115B via a sidelink channel. The beam blocking measurement message may be transmitted via a first type of communication interface (e.g., a Uu interface or a PC5 interface) and may include or correspond to an SCI, an SCI-MAC-CE, or an SL-RRC. For example, the first UE 115A may send a beam blocking measurement message including measurement information that may indicate a beam blocking situation and is used for further beam blocking prediction processing by the second UE 115B. The beam blocking measurement message includes beam blocking measurement information, such as a reference Figure 4 As an illustrative, non-limiting example, the beam blocking measurement information may include RSRP measurement information or a parameter derived from the RSRP measurement information.

[0149] In some implementations, the beam blocking measurement message is a non-periodic communication. For example, the beam blocking measurement message may be scheduled or triggered by a previous sidelink transmission (for a UE-scheduled sidelink, such as SCI or PSCCH) or a downlink transmission (for a network-scheduled sidelink, such as DCI or PDCCH). In other implementations, the beam blocking measurement message is periodic, such as persistent, semi-persistent, and the like. In such implementations, a scheduling (e.g., triggering) message prior to the beam blocking measurement message may not be used, however, a previous configuration or authorization message (e.g., activation message) may be used to allocate multiple transmission resources to the first UE 115A for the transmission of multiple beam blocking measurement messages.

[0150] At 635, the second UE 115B may determine a predicted beam blocking condition. For example, the second UE 115B may receive a beam blocking measurement message, decode the message to obtain measurement information, and determine, estimate, or predict a predicted beam blocking condition for the first UE 115A based on the measurement information received from the first UE 115A. For example, the second UE 115B may determine the predicted beam blocking condition based on measurement information included in the beam blocking measurement message (such as raw layer 1 measurements) or based on information derived from the measurement information (such as a certain amount of temporal and / or spatial variation of the measurement information and associated with multiple downlink reference signals). The derived information may alternatively include or correspond to RSRP fingerprint information and may be matched with stored model RSRP fingerprint data to predict impending blocking.

[0151] For illustration, the second UE 115B determines a predicted beam blocking condition based on AI or ML operations or AI or ML model data. As an illustrative example, the second UE 115B may generate an RSRP fingerprint based on the measurement information and compare the RSRP fingerprint with the stored RSRP fingerprint associated with past beam blocking for the first UE 115A, the second UE 115B, other UEs, or a combination thereof. Based on the comparison indicating a match, a match within a threshold level (e.g., a high correlation), or a number of similar markers found above a threshold, the second UE 115B may predict a beam blocking condition. In some implementations, the second UE 115B also determines details of the predicted beam blocking condition based on the measurement information or AI / ML information.

[0152] At 635, the second UE 115B sends a beam blocking prediction message to the base station 105 via an uplink channel. For example, the second UE 115B generates a beam blocking prediction message based on the predicted beam blocking situation, and sends the beam blocking prediction message to the base station 105 via the PUCCH or PUSCH. For illustration, the second UE 115B may send a beam blocking prediction message including a beam blocking prediction indicator configured to indicate that a predicted beam blocking situation has been detected. In some implementations, the indicator may include or correspond to a single bit. As another example, the second UE 115B may send a beam blocking prediction message including beam blocking prediction information indicating or identifying information about the predicted beam blocking situation. For illustration, the beam blocking prediction information may include a reference Figure 4The information described in the embodiment of the present invention may include information such as beam blocking situation information, identifier information of the first UE 115A, serving cell identifier information, or a combination thereof. The beam blocking situation information may include start time information, duration information, severity information, blocking direction information, or a combination thereof. The second UE 115B may send the beam blocking prediction message via a second type of communication interface (e.g., Uu interface) different from the first type of communication interface (e.g., PC5 interface) used to receive the beam blocking measurement message.

[0153] In some implementations, the beam blocking prediction message is a non-periodic communication. For example, the beam blocking prediction message may be scheduled or triggered by a previous downlink transmission from the network (such as an uplink grant DCI). In other implementations, the beam blocking prediction message is periodic, such as persistent, semi-persistent, etc. In such implementations, a scheduling (e.g., triggering) message prior to the beam blocking prediction message may not be used, however, a previous configuration or authorization message (e.g., activation message) may be used to allocate multiple transmission resources to the second UE 115B for sending multiple beam blocking prediction messages to the network (e.g., base station 105).

[0154] At 645, the base station 105 receives a beam blocking prediction for the first UE 115A from the second UE 115B, and the base station 105 determines a solution for the predicted beam blocking condition for the first UE 115A, as described with reference to Figure 4 as well as Figure 5 of 540 as described. Figure 6 The remaining operations can be similar to those in Figure 4 and / or Figure 5 The corresponding operation in .

[0155] At 650, the base station 105 sends a beam blocking response message including an indication of a solution to the predicted beam blocking condition for the first UE 115A to the second UE 115B. For example, the base station 105 may send an indication for the first UE 115A to the second UE 115B for relaying or delivery to the first UE 115A. The indication may indicate or identify the beam blocking response message from 540 and as described in reference Figure 4 The determined solution described. The beam blocking response message may be transmitted via the same type of communication interface (e.g., Uu interface) used to receive the beam blocking prediction message, and may include or correspond to a downlink channel transmission, such as DCI, MAC-CE, PDCCH, PDSCH, etc.

[0156] In some implementations, the beam blocking response message corresponds to a group of UEs and includes a first indication for the first UE 115A and a second indication for another UE, such as the second UE 115B or a third UE (not shown). In some such implementations, each indication may correspond to a predicted beam blocking condition for a particular UE, and indications for multiple UEs may be included in the beam blocking response message along with corresponding identifiers. Thus, the second UE 115B may decode the beam blocking response message and determine where to transmit (e.g., forward or relay) which indications.

[0157] At 655, the second UE 115B receives a beam blocking response message from the base station 105 via a downlink channel, and sends a second beam blocking response message to the first UE 115A via a sidelink channel. For example, the second UE 115B receives the beam blocking response message and sends (forwards or relays) the beam blocking response message to the first UE 115A via a PSCCH or a PSSCH. The second beam blocking response message is transmitted via any type of communication interface (e.g., a Uu interface or a PC5 interface) and optionally via a first type of communication interface for transmitting a beam blocking measurement message. As another example, the second UE 115B receives the beam blocking response message and (at least partially) decodes the beam blocking response message. The second UE 115B may generate a second beam blocking response message based on the decoded beam blocking response message. The second UE 115B then sends a second beam blocking response message different from the beam blocking prediction message to the base station 105 via a PUCCH or a PUSCH. The second beam blocking response message may include or correspond to an amplified beam blocking response message, a modified beam blocking response message, or a combination thereof. For example, the second beam blocking response message may include beam blocking responses for multiple other UEs, such as the first UE 115A and the second UE 115B or a third UE (not shown). As described above with reference to 535, the second UE 115B may relay / forward via a DF procedure or an AF procedure.

[0158] In some implementations, the second beam blocking response message is a non-periodic communication. For example, the beam blocking response message may be scheduled or triggered by a previous sidelink transmission. In other implementations, the second beam blocking response message is periodic, such as persistent, semi-persistent, etc. In such implementations, a scheduling message prior to the second beam blocking response message may not be used, however, a previous configuration or authorization message may be used to allocate multiple transmission resources to the second UE 115B for transmitting the beam blocking response message to the first UE 115A.

[0159] The first UE 115A receives the second beam blocking response message from the second UE 115B and determines resolution information for the upcoming operation based on the indication in the beam blocking response message and from the base station 105. For example, the UE 115 determines one or more resolution actions for the upcoming operation or upcoming communication (such as uplink and downlink transmissions, Uu operations, or a combination thereof) with the base station 105 based on the indication. As described above, the resolution may indicate one or more actions or adjustments to be performed by the first UE 115A.

[0160] From 660 to 665, the first UE 115A performs one or more uplink and / or downlink operations with the base station 105 based on the indication. For example, the UE 115 receives the first Uu communication (e.g., downlink communication) at 660 and / or sends the second Uu communication (e.g., uplink communication) at 665 using the previously configured / indicated default beam (default TCI state) or the beam (TCI state) indicated by the indication in the second beam blocking response message.

[0161] As other examples, the first UE 115A may operate using a default or indicated (adjusted) BFD reference signal or with an adjusted periodicity. Alternatively, the first UE 115A may perform one or more other operations with another node or entity connected to the base station 105 to communicate with the base station 105 through another entity or via another channel different from the channel in which the predicted blocking occurs. The other channel may be on another part of the spectrum or in a different spectrum entirely. The one or more other operations may include such as utilizing or operating via a side link of the second UE 115B, or uplink and / or downlink operations with another base station or another part of the base station 105.

[0162] Although in Figure 6 In the example of FIG. 6 , blocking is shown during 660 to 665, but this is for illustrative or clarity purposes, and blocking may occur at any time. For example, blocking may begin at any time after 625. However, if Figure 3 B, the predicted congestion is between the first UE 115A and the base station 105 rather than between the first UE 115A and the second UE 115B. Therefore, the first UE 115A can still transmit and receive transmissions to and from the second UE 115B that is not experiencing the predicted congestion or expected to experience the predicted congestion. Figure 5 In addition to the example of Figure 6In the example of , the first UE 115A may still participate in sidelink assisted beam blocking prediction even though it may not be capable of beam blocking prediction or is not configured for beam blocking at that time. Thus, the first UE 115A may be able to provide measurement information to another UE that causes the predicted beam blocking situation to be delivered to the network, and the first UE 115A receives an indication for resolving the predicted beam blocking situation before a beam or radio link failure.

[0163] Therefore, in Figure 6 In the example, a UE (e.g., first UE 115A) that may not be able to reach base station 105 (due to congestion) or even predicts congestion can still notify the network of the impending congestion and receive resolution information from the network for overcoming or handling the impending congestion, such as without incurring beam or link failure.

[0164] Although in Figures 4 to 6 In the example of , beam blocking measurement information (also referred to as measurement information), beam blocking prediction information, and beam blocking resolution information are described with reference to discrete messages or transmissions with the same names, but in other specific implementations, one or more of the beam blocking measurement information, beam blocking prediction information, and beam blocking resolution information may be transmitted via other messages or transmissions. Figures 4 to 6 The description of the corresponding beam blocking message and the transmission in the example of represents one specific implementation and is for simplicity and ease of description. In practice, beam blocking related information may be transmitted in other messages or transmissions and may be included with other types of information. For example, beam blocking measurement information or prediction information may be transmitted with general channel report information. As another example, resolution information may be sent with control information (such as channel or device configuration information).

[0165] Figure 7 is a flow chart illustrating example blocks executed by a wireless communication device (eg, a UE or a base station) configured according to an aspect of the present disclosure. These example blocks will also be related to Fig.10 The description will be made using the UE 115 illustrated in FIG. Fig.10 1 is a block diagram illustrating a UE 115 configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure. The UE 115 includes Figure 2 and / or Figure 41001a to 1001r and antennas 252a to 252r. Figure 2 As illustrated in relation to UE 115, modulators / demodulators 254a to 254r, a MIMO detector 256, a receive processor 258, a transmit processor 264, and a TX MIMO processor 266 are included. Fig.10 As illustrated in the example of , the memory 282 stores the side link auxiliary logic 1002, the measurement logic 1003, the beam blocking prediction logic 1004, the AI / ML logic 1005, the beam information data 1006, the measurement data 1007, and the setting data 1008. The data (1002 to 1008) stored in the memory 282 may include or correspond to the data stored in Figure 4 data (406, 408, 442 and / or 444) in memory 404.

[0166] At block 700, a wireless communication device such as a UE obtains measurement information associated with at least one downlink serving cell. For example, a UE (e.g., UE 115) may generate the measurement information itself by performing measurements, or a UE (e.g., 403) may receive the measurement information from another UE (e.g., UE 115).

[0167] When the measurement information is generated locally, the UE may perform one or more downlink channel measurements associated with at least one downlink serving cell to generate the measurement information. For example, the UE 115 may perform the measurement as described in reference to Figures 4 to 6 One or more measurement operations described. For illustration, UE 115 may perform CSI or CSF related measurements, such as layer 1 or physical layer measurements, on downlink reference signals received in downlink communications from a base station. These measurements may include RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, etc. In some implementations, the UE may use these measurements to generate or derive metric information, such as temporal or spatial variations of the measured parameters / quantities.

[0168] When the measurement information is received from another UE, the UE may receive the information via the sidelink channel. For example, UE 115 receives a beam blocking measurement message including the measurement information from another UE. Figure 4 and Figure 6As described above, the measurement information indicates future beam blocking for the other UE. The beam blocking measurement message may include or correspond to the following information: Figure 4 and 6 Described Figure 4 The first beam blocking prediction message 452 or Figure 6 For illustration, a receiver (e.g., receiver processor 258 or receiver 412) of the second UE 403 receives a first beam blocking prediction message 452 (or measurement message) including measurement information or a metric derived from the measurement information generated by the UE 115 via wireless radios 1001a to 1001r and antennas 252a to 252r.

[0169] At block 701, the UE sends beam blocking prediction information to the second network node, the beam blocking prediction information being based on the measurement information, and the beam blocking prediction message indicating at least one predicted beam blocking associated with the at least one downlink serving cell. For example, the UE may send the beam blocking prediction information in a message to another UE, such as UE 403, or to a network device, such as base station 105.

[0170] When the UE sends the beam blocking prediction information to another UE, the UE may send a beam blocking prediction message to the second network node via the sidelink channel based on the measurement information, the beam blocking prediction message indicating the future predicted blocking for the downlink serving cell. For example, UE 115 sends a beam blocking prediction message including a beam blocking prediction indicator or beam blocking prediction information, as shown in FIG. Figure 4 and Figure 5 The beam blocking prediction message may include or correspond to the reference Figure 4 and 5 Described Figure 4 The first beam blocking prediction message 452 or Figure 5 For illustration, a transmitter of UE115 (e.g., transmit processor 264 or transmitter 410) transmits a first beam blocking prediction message 452 including an indication of predicted beam blocking or beam blocking prediction information describing a predicted beam blocking situation via wireless radios 1001a to 1001r and antennas 252a to 252r. In some implementations, the UE generates (such as determines, estimates, or predicts) a beam blocking prediction based on a beam blocking prediction technique assisted by artificial intelligence or machine learning or a data set generated using artificial intelligence or machine learning. For example, the UE may use an RSRP fingerprint identification method for beam blocking prediction.

[0171] When the UE sends the beam blocking prediction information to the network device, the UE may send the beam blocking prediction information to the base station 105 via the uplink channel based on the measurement information and indicating the prediction of beam blocking for another UE. For example, the second UE 403 sends a beam blocking prediction message including a beam blocking prediction indicator or beam blocking prediction information for the UE 115 to the network, as shown in FIG. Figure 4 and Figure 6 The beam blocking prediction message may include or correspond to the reference Figure 4 and Figure 6 Described Figure 4 The second beam blocking prediction message 454 or Figure 6 For illustration, the transmitter of the second UE (e.g., the transmission processor 264 or the transmitter 410) transmits a second beam blocking prediction message 454 (or a second beam blocking prediction message 455) including an indication of predicted beam blocking or beam blocking prediction information describing a predicted beam blocking situation via the wireless radios 1001a to 1001r and the antennas 252a to 252r. Figure 6 In some implementations, the UE generates (such as determines, estimates, or predicts) a beam blocking prediction based on executing an artificial intelligence or machine learning-assisted beam blocking prediction technique or using a data set generated by artificial intelligence or machine learning. For example, the UE may use an RSRP fingerprint identification method for beam blocking prediction.

[0172] In other specific implementations, a wireless communication device (e.g., a UE or a base station) may perform additional blocks (or the wireless communication device may be configured to further perform additional operations). For example, a wireless communication device (e.g., a UE 115) may perform one or more of the above operations. As another example, a wireless communication device (e.g., a UE 115) may perform one or more aspects given below.

[0173] In a first aspect, obtaining measurement information includes generating measurement information. For example, the first network node may perform one or more measurements to generate first measurement information (e.g., a directly measured value, such as RSRP). The first network node may process the first measurement information to generate second measurement information (e.g., an indirect value, such as SNR). The obtained information may include the first measurement information, the second measurement information, or a combination thereof.

[0174] In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, obtaining the measurement information comprises receiving measurement information from the third network node, the measurement information corresponding to measurement information generated or derived by the third network node.

[0175] In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the beam blocking prediction information comprises a future predicted beam blocking situation corresponding to at least one predicted beam blocking associated with the at least one downlink serving cell.

[0176] In a fourth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the first network node (e.g., UE 115) further determines a future predicted beam blocking condition based on measurement information, wherein the measurement information includes reference signal received power (RSRP) information corresponding to the at least one downlink serving cell.

[0177] In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, determining a future predicted beam blocking situation based on measurement information includes: inputting the measurement information into a model configured to predict information associated with an input to the model; and obtaining a future predicted beam blocking situation as an output from the model.

[0178] In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the first network node also: receives beam blocking response information from the second network node, wherein the beam blocking response information includes a blocking resolution indication from a third network node associated with the at least one downlink serving cell, and wherein the blocking resolution indication corresponds to a resolution to the at least one predicted beam blocking for the first network node; and sends or receives a transmission from the third network node based on the blocking resolution indication during the at least one predicted beam blocking.

[0179] In a seventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the first network node also: receives beam blocking response information from the second network node, wherein the beam blocking response information includes a blocking resolution indication for the third network node, and wherein the blocking resolution indication corresponds to a resolution to the at least one predicted beam blocking for the third network node; and sends the beam blocking response information to the third network node via a side link channel, wherein the blocking resolution indication enables the third network node to communicate with the second network node during the at least one predicted beam blocking.

[0180] In an eighth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the first network node is a first user equipment (UE), and wherein the second network node is a second UE or a base station.

[0181] In a ninth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the first network node also receives beam blocking prediction configuration information from a third network node, wherein sending the beam blocking prediction information to the second network node includes sending the beam blocking prediction configuration information to the second network node based on the beam blocking prediction configuration information, wherein the measurement information is based on the beam blocking prediction configuration information.

[0182] In a tenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the first network node also: sends beam blocking prediction capability information or a beam blocking prediction request to a third network node, wherein the beam blocking prediction capability information indicates the ability of the first network node to predict future beam blocking, and wherein the beam blocking prediction request indicates a request for an indication of another network node capable of predicting future beam blocking; and receives a confirmation from the third network node in response to the beam blocking prediction capability information or the beam blocking prediction request, wherein the measurement information is based on the confirmation.

[0183] In an eleventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the beam blocking prediction capability information includes beam blocking measurement capability information, power headroom information, coverage information, node type information, or a combination thereof.

[0184] In a twelfth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the first network node also: sends a beam blocking prediction request to the second network node after receiving a first confirmation from the third network node or after receiving beam blocking prediction configuration information from the third network node; and receives a second confirmation from the second network node, wherein the measurement information is based on the first confirmation, and wherein sending the beam blocking prediction information includes sending the beam blocking prediction information based on the first confirmation.

[0185] In a thirteenth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the beam blocking prediction information is included in a sidelink control information (SCI), a sidelink medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (SL-MACCE) or a sidelink radio resource control (SL-RRC) message.

[0186] In a fourteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the beam blocking prediction information is included in a sidelink medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (SL-MAC CE), and the first network node also sends sidelink control information (SCI) scheduling the SL-MAC-CE before sending the SL-MAC-CE.

[0187] In a fifteenth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the beam blocking prediction information includes service cell identification information of each corresponding downlink service cell in the at least one downlink service cell in which a corresponding beam blocking in the at least one predicted beam blocking is predicted to occur.

[0188] In a sixteenth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the first network node also receives an indication of a default transmit configuration information (TCI) state for use for the at least one predicted beam blocking from a second network node or a third network node associated with the at least one downlink serving cell.

[0189] In a seventeenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the first network node further sends a communication to a third network node using the default TCI state for the at least one predicted beam blocking. The default TCI state may be used for the same serving cell as the blocking or for a different serving cell, including for a primary cell or a secondary cell.

[0190] In the eighteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the beam blocking prediction information includes: beam blocking situation information for a future predicted beam blocking situation corresponding to the at least one predicted beam blocking associated with the at least one downlink service cell, the beam blocking situation information including start time information, duration information, severity information, blocking direction information or a combination thereof; measurement information, wherein the measurement information includes reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement information for the first network node or at least one of the parameters derived from the RSRP measurement information; identifier information of the first network node; service cell identifier information, the service cell identifier information including corresponding identifier information of each corresponding downlink service cell in the at least one downlink service cell; or a combination thereof.

[0191] In a nineteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, transmitting the beam blocking prediction information comprises transmitting the beam blocking prediction information via a side link channel.

[0192] In the twentieth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the first network node (e.g., UE 115) also determines whether uplink path loss information associated with the at least one downlink service cell satisfies one or more conditions, wherein the sending of the beam blocking prediction information is based on the determination, and wherein determining whether the uplink path loss information satisfies the one or more conditions includes: comparing a first uplink path loss value of a first downlink service cell in the at least one downlink service cell with a first uplink path loss threshold associated with the first condition of the first downlink service cell; and comparing a second uplink path loss value of a second downlink service cell in the at least one downlink service cell with a second uplink path loss threshold associated with the second condition of the second downlink service cell.

[0193] In a twenty-first aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the first network node (eg, UE 115) further determines the first uplink path loss threshold based on a payload size of the beam blocking prediction information.

[0194] In a twenty-second aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the first network node (e.g., UE 115) also receives beam blocking prediction capability information from the second network node before sending the beam blocking prediction information, wherein the beam blocking prediction capability information includes an indication of the beam blocking prediction relay capability of the second network node, an indication of the beam blocking prediction capability of the second network node, or both.

[0195] In a twenty-third aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, sending the beam blocking prediction information includes sending a non-periodic transmission including the beam blocking prediction information, and the first network node also: sends a scheduling indication indicating the beam blocking prediction information to the second network node.

[0196] In the twenty-fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, sending the beam blocking prediction information includes sending a first semi-persistent transmission including the beam blocking prediction information, and the first network node also: sends a scheduling request for multiple semi-persistent transmissions including the first semi-persistent transmission to the second network node, wherein the scheduling request includes periodicity information and offset information for the semi-persistent transmissions in the multiple semi-persistent transmissions; and after receiving an acknowledgment from the second network node or a timer associated with the scheduling request expires, sends a scheduling indication for the beam blocking prediction information to the second network node based on the scheduling request.

[0197] Therefore, the wireless communication device can perform a side link auxiliary beam blocking prediction operation of the wireless communication device. By performing the side link auxiliary beam blocking prediction, the predicted beam and radio link failures can be reduced, which increases the throughput and reduces the delay, error and overhead.

[0198] Figure 8 1 is a flow chart illustrating example blocks executed by a wireless communication device (eg, a UE or a network entity such as a base station) configured according to an aspect of the present disclosure. These example blocks will also refer to Fig.10 The description is based on the UE 115 illustrated and described above.

[0199] At block 800, a wireless communication device such as a network device (e.g., a base station 105) receives beam blocking prediction information from a second network node via a sidelink channel, the beam blocking prediction information indicating at least one predicted beam blocking for the second network node and associated with at least one downlink serving cell. For example, the second UE 403 receives a beam blocking prediction message from another UE, the beam blocking prediction message including beam blocking prediction information indicating future beam blocking for the other UE, as described in reference to FIG. Figure 4 and Figure 5 The beam blocking measurement message may include or correspond to the beam blocking measurement message as described in reference Figure 4 and Figure 5 Described Figure 4 The first beam blocking prediction message 452 or Figure 5 For illustration, a receiver (e.g., receiver processor 258 or receiver 412) of second UE 403 receives a first beam blocking prediction message 452 (or measurement message) including measurement information or a metric derived from measurement information generated by UE 115 from UE 115 via wireless radio 1001a to 1001r and antennas 252a to 252r.

[0200] At block 801, the wireless communication device sends the beam blocking prediction information to a third network node via an uplink channel. For example, the second UE 403 sends the beam blocking prediction information to the network, such as in a beam blocking prediction message or through a beam blocking prediction indicator, as shown in FIG. Figure 4 and Figure 5 The beam blocking prediction message may include or correspond to the reference Figure 4 and Figure 5 Described Figure 4 The second beam blocking prediction message 454 or Figure 5For illustration, the transmitter of the second UE 403 (e.g., the transmission processor 264 or the transmitter 410) transmits the second beam blocking prediction message 454 (or the second beam blocking prediction message 455) including an indication of predicted beam blocking or including beam blocking prediction information describing the predicted beam blocking situation via the wireless radios 1001a to 1001r and the antennas 252a to 252r. Figure 5 second beam blocking prediction message).

[0201] In other specific implementations, a wireless communication device (e.g., such as a UE or a base station) may perform additional blocks (or the wireless communication device may be configured to further perform additional operations). For example, the wireless communication device may perform one or more of the above operations. As another example, the wireless communication device may perform as described in reference Figures 4 to 7 One or more aspects as described and presented below.

[0202] In a first aspect, a first network node is configured to receive second beam blocking prediction information for other network nodes and to relay the second beam blocking prediction information to a third network node.

[0203] In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, the first network node (e.g., the second UE 403) also: receives a beam blocking response from a third network node in response to the beam blocking prediction information, wherein the beam blocking response includes information indicating a modified transmission setting configuration for the second network node and a first identifier of the second network node; and sends a beam blocking response indication to the second network node based on the beam blocking response.

[0204] In a third aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the beam blocking response is included in a downlink control information (DCI) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, and the beam blocking response includes an identifier of the second network node.

[0205] In a fourth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, receiving the beam blocking response comprises receiving the beam blocking response via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and wherein the beam blocking response comprises multiple beam blocking response indications associated with multiple network nodes.

[0206] In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the first network node further: determines a second network node identifier of a fourth network node based on the beam blocking response, the second network node identifier being associated with a corresponding indication in the plurality of beam blocking response indications; and sends a second beam blocking response corresponding to the second network node identifier to the fourth network node. Determining the network node identifier may include: decoding the beam blocking response message; parsing the decoded beam blocking response message to determine a network node identifier associated with each indication in the plurality of beam blocking response indications, including the first network node identifier of the second network node and the second network node identifier of the fourth network node.

[0207] In a sixth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the beam blocking response indication comprises one or more transmit configuration indicator (TCI) state identifiers for the second network node, wherein each respective TCI state identifier of the one or more TCI state identifiers is associated with one or more respective control resource sets (CORESETs) associated with the second network node.

[0208] In a seventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the beam blocking response indication comprises one or more beam failure detection (BFD) reference signal (RS) (BFD-RS) identifiers associated with the second network node.

[0209] In an eighth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the above aspects, the beam blocking response indication comprises an adjustment to a periodicity of a semi-periodic beam blocking prediction measurement or a semi-periodic beam blocking prediction message of the second network node.

[0210] Therefore, the wireless communication device can perform a side link auxiliary beam blocking prediction operation of the wireless communication device. By performing the side link auxiliary beam blocking prediction, the predicted beam and radio link failures can be reduced, which increases the throughput and reduces the delay, error and overhead.

[0211] Fig. 9 is a flow chart illustrating example blocks executed by a wireless communication device (e.g., a UE or a network entity such as a base station) configured according to an aspect of the present disclosure. These example blocks will also be related to Fig.11 The description is made with reference to the illustrated base station 105. Fig.11 is a block diagram illustrating a base station 105 configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure. The base station 105 includes Figure 2 and / or Figure 4105. For example, the base station 105 includes a controller / processor 240 that operates to execute logic or computer instructions stored in a memory 242 and to control components of the base station 105 that provide the features and functions of the base station 105. The base station 105 transmits and receives signals via wireless radios 1101a to 1101t and antennas 234a to 234t under the control of the controller / processor 240. The wireless radios 1101a to 1101t include the following: Figure 2 The various components and hardware illustrated for base station 105 include modulators / demodulators 232a to 232t, a MIMO detector 236, a receive processor 238, a transmit processor 220, and a TX MIMO processor 230. Fig.11 As illustrated in the example of , the memory 242 stores the side link auxiliary logic 1102, the measurement logic 1103, the beam blocking solution logic 1104, the AI / ML logic 1105, the beam information data 1106, the measurement data 1107, and the setting data 1108. The data (1102 to 1108) stored in the memory 242 may include or correspond to the data stored in Figure 4 data (406, 409, 442 and / or 444) in memory 432.

[0212] At block 900, a wireless communication device such as a network device (e.g., base station 105) receives beam blocking prediction information from a second network node via an uplink channel, wherein the beam blocking prediction information indicates a predicted beam blocking situation for a third network node. For example, the base station 105 receives a beam blocking prediction message from a first UE (e.g., a relay UE, a second UE 403), the beam blocking prediction message including beam blocking prediction information indicating future beam blocking for a second UE (e.g., a blocked UE, UE 115), as described in reference to FIG. Figures 4 to 6 The beam blocking prediction message may include or correspond to the beam blocking prediction message as described in reference Figures 4 to 6 Described Figure 4 The second beam blocking prediction message 454 or Figure 5 or Figure 6 For illustration, a receiver (e.g., receiver processor 238 or receiver 436) of base station 105 receives a second beam blocking prediction message 454 including beam blocking prediction information generated based on measurement information or metrics derived from measurement information generated by UE 115 from a second UE 403 via wireless radios 1101a to 1101t and antennas 234a to 234t. In some implementations, UE 115 generates the beam blocking prediction information. In other implementations, the second UE 403 generates the beam blocking prediction information.

[0213] At block 901, the wireless communication device sends beam blocking response information to the second network node via a downlink channel, wherein the beam blocking prediction information includes an indication of a beam blocking recovery operation for a third network node. For example, the base station sends a beam blocking response (e.g., a beam blocking response message) including a beam blocking solution (a solution indicator or information) to the relay UE, as shown in reference Figures 4 to 6 The beam blocking response or response message may include or correspond to the beam blocking response or response message as described in reference Figures 4 to 6 Described Figure 4 The first beam blocking response message 456 or Figure 5 or Figure 6 For illustration, a transmitter of the base station 105 (e.g., the transmit processor 220 / TX MIMO processor 230 or the transmitter 434) transmits a first beam blocking response message 456 including an indication of a beam blocking solution or beam blocking solution information describing a solution action for the predicted beam blocking situation via the wireless radios 1101a to 1101t and the antennas 234a to 234t. In some implementations, the network generates (such as determines, estimates, or predicts) a solution for the predicted beam blocking based on performing an artificial intelligence or machine learning-assisted beam blocking solution technique or using a data set generated by artificial intelligence or machine learning.

[0214] In other specific implementations, a wireless communication device (e.g., such as a UE or a base station) may perform additional blocks (or the wireless communication device may be configured to further perform additional operations). For example, the wireless communication device may perform one or more of the above operations. As another example, the wireless communication device may perform as described in reference Figures 4 to 8 One or more aspects as described and presented below.

[0215] In a first aspect, the first network node (eg, base station 105) is further configured to: transmit or receive transmissions using modified transmission settings based on the beam blocking response message; or perform a beam blocking recovery operation based on the beam blocking response message.

[0216] Therefore, the wireless communication device can perform a side link auxiliary beam blocking prediction operation of the wireless communication device. By performing the side link auxiliary beam blocking prediction, the predicted beam and radio link failures can be reduced, which increases the throughput and reduces the delay, error and overhead.

[0217] As described herein, a node (which may be referred to as a node, a network node, a network entity, or a wireless node) may include, may be, or may be included in (e.g., as a component of) a base station (e.g., any base station described herein), a UE (e.g., any UE described herein), a network controller, an apparatus, a device, a computing system, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a distributed unit (DU), a central unit (CU), a remote / radio unit (RU) (which may also be referred to as a remote radio unit (RRU)), and / or another processing entity configured to perform any of the techniques described herein. For example, the network node may be a UE. For another example, the network node may be a base station or a network entity. For another example, a first network node may be configured to communicate with a second network node or a third network node. In one aspect of this example, the first network node may be a UE, the second network node may be a base station, and the third network node may be a UE. In another aspect of this example, the first network node may be a UE, the second network node may be a base station, and the third network node may be a base station. In yet other aspects of this example, the first network node, the second network node, and the third network node may be different relative to these examples. Similarly, references to UE, base station, device, equipment, computing system, etc. may include disclosure of UE, base station, device, equipment, computing system, etc. as a network node. For example, a disclosure that a UE is configured to receive information from a base station also discloses that a first network node is configured to receive information from a second network node. Consistent with the present disclosure, once a specific example is expanded according to the present disclosure (e.g., a UE is configured to receive information from a base station also discloses that a first network node is configured to receive information from a second network node), a broader example of a narrower example may be interpreted in reverse, but in a broad, open-ended manner. In the above example where a UE is configured to receive information from a base station also discloses that a first network node is configured to receive information from a second network node, the first network node may refer to a first UE configured to receive information, a first base station, a first device, a first device, a first computing system, a first group of one or more components, a first processing entity, etc.; and the second network node may refer to a second UE, a second base station, a second device, a second device, a second computing system, a second group of one or more components, a second processing entity, etc.

[0218] As described herein, different terms may be used in various aspects to describe the communication of information (e.g., any information, signal, etc.). Disclosure of one communication term includes disclosure of other communication terms. For example, a first network node may be described as being configured to send information to a second network node. In this example and consistent with the present disclosure, disclosure that the first network node is configured to send information to the second network node includes disclosure that the first network node is configured to provide, transmit, output, communicate, or send information to the second network node. Similarly, in this example and consistent with the present disclosure, disclosure that the first network node is configured to send information to the second network node includes disclosure that the second network node is configured to receive, obtain, or decode information provided, transmitted, output, communicated, or sent by the first network node.

[0219] It should be understood by those skilled in the art that any of a variety of different technologies and techniques may be used to represent information and signals. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof.

[0220] It should be understood by those skilled in the art that any of a variety of different technologies and techniques may be used to represent information and signals. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof.

[0221] This article is about Figures 1 to 10 The components, functional blocks and modules described include processors, electronic devices, hardware devices, electronic components, logical circuits, memories, software codes, firmware codes, etc., or any combination thereof. Software should be broadly interpreted to mean instructions, instruction sets, codes, code segments, program codes, programs, subroutines, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, and / or functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language or other terms. In addition, the features discussed herein may be implemented via dedicated processor circuits, via executable instructions, or a combination thereof.

[0222] The technician will further understand that the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits and algorithm steps described in conjunction with the present disclosure can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software or a combination of the two. In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various exemplary components, frames, modules, circuits and steps have been generally described in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints proposed to the entire system. Those skilled in the art can implement the described functions in different ways for each specific application, but such specific implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing departure from the scope of the present disclosure. The technician will also easily recognize that the order or combination of components, methods or interactions described herein are merely examples, and the components, methods or interactions of various aspects of the present disclosure can be combined or performed in a manner other than the manner illustrated and described herein.

[0223] The various illustrative logic components, logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithmic processes described in conjunction with the specific implementations disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. The interchangeability of hardware and software has been generally described in terms of functionality and is exemplified in the various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and processes described above. Whether such functionality is implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0224] The hardware and data processing apparatus for implementing the various exemplary logic components, logic blocks, modules and circuits described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or executed using a general purpose single-chip or multi-chip processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic component, a discrete hardware component or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller or state machine. In some specific implementations, a processor may be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in combination with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. In some specific implementations, specific processes and methods may be performed by circuits specific to a given function.

[0225] In one or more aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, digital electronic circuitry, computer software, firmware, including the structures disclosed in this specification and their structural equivalents, or in any combination thereof. Specific implementations of the subject matter described in this specification may also be implemented as one or more computer programs, i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructions encoded on computer storage media for execution by data processing apparatus or for controlling the operation of data processing apparatus.

[0226] If implemented in software, the function may be stored as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium or sent via a computer-readable medium. The process of the method or algorithm disclosed herein may be implemented in a processor executable software module that may reside on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, including any medium that may be implemented to transfer a computer program from one place to another. The storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access. As an example and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), CD-ROM or other optical disk storage devices, magnetic disk storage devices or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store the required program code in the form of an instruction or data structure and can be accessed by a computer. In addition, any connection may be appropriately referred to as a computer-readable medium. Disks and optical disks as used herein include compact disks (CDs), laser disks, optical disks, digital versatile disks (DVDs), floppy disks, and blue-ray disks, wherein disks generally reproduce data magnetically, and optical disks reproduce data optically with lasers. The above combination should also be included in the scope of computer-readable media. Additionally, the operations of a method or algorithm may reside as a code and instruction set, or any combination of code and instruction sets, on a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computer program product.

[0227] Various modifications to the specific implementations described in this disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to some other specific implementations without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Therefore, the claims are not intended to be limited to the specific implementations shown herein, but are to be consistent with the broadest scope consistent with the disclosure, the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

[0228] Additionally, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the terms "upper" and "lower" are sometimes used for ease of describing the drawings and indicate relative positions corresponding to the orientation of the drawings on a correctly oriented page, and may not reflect the correct orientation of any device as implemented.

[0229] Certain features described in this specification in the context of separate implementations may also be implemented in combination in a single implementation. Conversely, various features described in the context of a single implementation may also be implemented in multiple implementations, either individually or in any suitable subcombination. Furthermore, while features may be described above as functioning in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination may in some cases be removed from the combination, and a claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variations of a subcombination.

[0230] Similarly, although the operations are depicted in a specific order in the accompanying drawings, this should not be understood as requiring such operations to be performed in the specific order shown or in a sequential order, or to perform all illustrated operations to achieve the desired result. In addition, the accompanying drawings can schematically depict one or more example processes in the form of a flow chart. However, other operations that are not depicted can be incorporated into the schematically illustrated example process. For example, one or more additional operations can be performed before, after, simultaneously or between any illustrated operations. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing are advantageous. In addition, the separation of various system components in the specific implementation described above should not be understood as requiring such separation in all specific implementations, and it should be understood that the described program components and systems can generally be integrated together in a single software product or packaged into multiple software products. Additionally, some other specific implementations also fall within the scope of the appended claims. In some cases, the actions narrated in the claims can be performed in different orders and still achieve the desired result.

[0231] As used herein, including in the claims, the term "or" used in a list of two or more items means that any one of the listed items may be employed alone, or any combination of two or more of the listed items may be employed. For example, if a composition is described as comprising components A, B, or C, the composition may comprise A alone; B alone; C alone; A and B in combination; A and C in combination; B and C in combination; or A, B, and C in combination. In addition, as used herein, including in the claims, "or" as used in a list of items beginning with "at least one" indicates a separate list, so that, for example, a list of "at least one of A, B, or C" means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C) or any combination of any of these. The term "substantially" is defined as to a large extent, but not necessarily entirely, what is specified (and includes what is specified; for example, substantially 90 degrees includes 90 degrees, and substantially parallel includes parallel), as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. In any disclosed implementation, the term "substantially" may be replaced with "within [percentage] of" a specified content, where percentages include 0.1%, 1%, 5%, or 10%. As used herein, the phrase "based on" should not be interpreted as referring to a closed set of information, one or more conditions, one or more factors, etc. In other words, the phrase "based on A" (where "A" can be information, a condition, a factor, etc.) should be interpreted as "based at least on A" unless specifically stated differently.

[0232] The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Therefore, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein, but to conform to the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A first network node for wireless communication, the first network node comprising: at least one processor; and a memory coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: obtaining measurement information associated with at least one downlink serving cell; and sending beam blocking prediction information to a second network node, wherein the beam blocking prediction information is based on the measurement information, and wherein the beam blocking prediction information indicates at least one predicted beam blocking associated with the at least one downlink serving cell. 2 . The first network node according to claim 1 , wherein in order to obtain the measurement information, the at least one processor is configured to generate the measurement information.

3. The first network node of claim 1 , wherein in order to obtain the measurement information, the at least one processor is configured to receive the measurement information from a third network node, the measurement information corresponding to measurement information generated or derived by the third network node.

4. The first network node according to claim 1, wherein the beam blocking prediction information comprises a future predicted beam blocking situation corresponding to the at least one predicted beam blocking associated with the at least one downlink serving cell.

5. The first network node according to claim 4, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: The future predicted beam blocking situation is determined based on the measurement information, wherein the measurement information includes reference signal received power (RSRP) information corresponding to the at least one downlink serving cell.

6. The first network node according to claim 5, wherein in order to determine the future predicted beam blocking situation based on the measurement information, the at least one processor is configured to: inputting the measurement information into the model configured to predict information associated with an input to the model; and The future predicted beam blockage situation is obtained as an output from the model.

7. The first network node of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receiving beam blocking response information from the second network node, wherein the beam blocking response information comprises a blocking resolution indication from a third network node associated with the at least one downlink serving cell, and wherein the blocking resolution indication corresponds to a resolution of the at least one predicted beam blocking for the first network node; and and sending or receiving a transmission from the third network node based on the blocking resolution indication during the at least one predicted beam blocking.

8. The first network node of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receiving beam blocking response information from the second network node, wherein the beam blocking response information comprises a blocking resolution indication for a third network node, and wherein the blocking resolution indication corresponds to a resolution of the at least one predicted beam blocking for the third network node; and The beam blocking response information is sent to the third network node via a sidelink channel, wherein the blocking resolution indication enables the third network node to communicate with the second network node during the at least one predicted beam blocking.

9. The first network node of claim 1, wherein the first network node is a first user equipment (UE), and wherein the second network node is a second UE or a base station.

10. The first network node of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: Receiving beam blocking prediction configuration information from a third network node, wherein in order to send the beam blocking prediction information to the second network node, the at least one processor is configured to send to the second network node based on the beam blocking prediction configuration information, wherein the measurement information is based on the beam blocking prediction configuration information.

11. The first network node of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to: sending beam blocking prediction capability information or a beam blocking prediction request to a third network node, wherein the beam blocking prediction capability information indicates a capability of the first network node to predict future beam blocking, and wherein the beam blocking prediction request indicates a request for an indication of another network node capable of predicting future beam blocking; and An acknowledgement is received from the third network node in response to the beam blocking prediction capability information or the beam blocking prediction request, wherein the measurement information is based on the acknowledgement.

12. The first network node according to claim 11, wherein the beam blocking prediction capability information comprises beam blocking measurement capability information, power headroom information, coverage information, node type information, or a combination thereof.

13. The first network node of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to: after receiving a first confirmation from a third network node or after receiving beam blocking prediction configuration information from the third network node, sending a beam blocking prediction request to the second network node; and A second acknowledgement is received from the second network node, wherein the measurement information is based on the first acknowledgement, and wherein to send the beam blocking prediction information, the at least one processor is configured to send the beam blocking prediction information based on the first acknowledgement.

14. The first network node of claim 1, wherein the beam blocking prediction information is included in a sidelink control information (SCI), a sidelink medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (SL-MAC CE), or a sidelink radio resource control (SL-RRC) message.

15. The first network node of claim 1 , wherein the beam blocking prediction information is included in a sidelink medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (SL-MAC CE), and wherein the at least one processor is configured to: Sidelink control information (SCI) for scheduling the SL-MAC-CE is sent before sending the SL-MAC-CE.

16. The first network node according to claim 1, wherein the beam blocking prediction information includes service cell identification information identifying each corresponding downlink service cell in the at least one downlink service cell in which a corresponding beam blocking in the at least one predicted beam blocking is predicted to occur.

17. The first network node of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: An indication of a default transmit configuration information (TCI) state for use with respect to the at least one predicted beam blocking is received from the second network node or a third network node associated with the at least one downlink serving cell.

18. The first network node of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: and sending a communication to the third network node using the default TCI state for the at least one predicted beam blocking.

19. The first network node according to claim 1, wherein the beam blocking prediction information comprises: beam blocking situation information for a future predicted beam blocking situation corresponding to the at least one predicted beam blocking associated with the at least one downlink serving cell, the beam blocking situation information comprising start time information, duration information, severity information, blocking direction information, or a combination thereof; measurement information, wherein the measurement information comprises at least one of reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement information for the first network node or a parameter derived from the RSRP measurement information; identifier information of the first network node; serving cell identifier information, the serving cell identifier information comprising respective identifier information of each respective downlink serving cell in the at least one downlink serving cell; or A combination of them.

20. The first network node of claim 1, wherein to transmit the beam blocking prediction information, the at least one processor is configured to transmit the beam blocking prediction information via a side link channel.

21. The first network node of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to: determining whether uplink path loss information associated with the at least one downlink serving cell satisfies one or more conditions, wherein the sending of the beam blocking prediction information is based on the determination, and wherein to determine whether the uplink path loss information satisfies the one or more conditions, the at least one processor is configured to: comparing a first uplink path loss value of a first downlink serving cell of the at least one downlink serving cell with a first uplink path loss threshold associated with a first condition of the first downlink serving cell; and A second uplink path loss value of a second downlink serving cell of the at least one downlink serving cell is compared with a second uplink path loss threshold associated with a second condition of the second downlink serving cell.

22. The first network node of claim 21, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: The first uplink path loss threshold is determined based on a payload size of the beam blocking prediction information.

23. The first network node of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: Prior to said sending of said beam blocking prediction information, beam blocking prediction capability information is received from said second network node, wherein said beam blocking prediction capability information comprises an indication of a beam blocking prediction relay capability of said second network node, an indication of a beam blocking prediction capability of said second network node, or both.

24. The first network node of claim 1 , wherein to transmit the beam blocking prediction information, the at least one processor is configured to transmit an aperiodic transmission comprising the beam blocking prediction information, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to: Sending a scheduling indication indicating the beam blocking prediction information to the second network node.

25. The first network node of claim 1 , wherein to send the beam blocking prediction information, the at least one processor is configured to send a first semi-persistent transmission including the beam blocking prediction information, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to: sending, to the second network node, a scheduling request for a plurality of semi-persistent transmissions including the first semi-persistent transmission, wherein the scheduling request includes periodicity information and offset information for a semi-persistent transmission in the plurality of semi-persistent transmissions; and After receiving an acknowledgement from the second network node or a timer associated with the scheduling request expires, a scheduling indication for the beam blocking prediction information is sent to the second network node based on the scheduling request.

26. A first network node for wireless communication, the first network node comprising: at least one processor; and a memory coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receiving beam blocking prediction information from a second network node via a sidelink channel, wherein the beam blocking prediction information indicates at least one predicted beam blocking for the second network node and is associated with at least one downlink serving cell; and The beam blocking prediction information is sent to a third network node via an uplink channel.

27. The first network node according to claim 26, wherein the first network node is configured to receive second beam blocking prediction information for other network nodes and relay the second beam blocking prediction information to the third network node.

28. The first network node of claim 26, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receiving a beam blocking response from the third network node in response to the beam blocking prediction information, wherein the beam blocking response comprises information indicating a modified transmit setting configuration for the second network node and a first identifier of the second network node; and A beam blocking response indication is sent to the second network node based on the beam blocking response.

29. The first network node of claim 28, wherein the beam blocking response is included in a downlink control information (DCI) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, and wherein the beam blocking response includes an identifier of the second network node.

30. A first network node according to claim 28, wherein in order to receive the beam blocking response, the at least one processor is configured to receive the beam blocking response via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and wherein the beam blocking response includes multiple beam blocking response indications associated with multiple network nodes.

31. The first network node of claim 30, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: determining a second network node identifier of a fourth network node based on the beam blocking response, the second network node identifier being associated with a respective one of the plurality of beam blocking response indications; and A second beam blocking response corresponding to the second network node identifier is sent to the fourth network node.

32. The first network node of claim 28, wherein the beam blocking response indication comprises one or more transmit configuration indicator (TCI) state identifiers for the second network node, wherein each respective one of the one or more TCI state identifiers is associated with one or more respective control resource sets (CORESETs) associated with the second network node.

33. The first network node of claim 28, wherein the beam blocking response indication comprises one or more beam failure detection (BFD) reference signal (RS) (BFD-RS) identifiers associated with the second network node.

34. The first network node of claim 28, wherein the beam blocking response indication comprises an adjustment to the periodicity of a semi-periodic beam blocking prediction measurement or a semi-periodic beam blocking prediction message of the second network node.

35. A first network node for wireless communication, the first network node comprising: at least one processor; and a memory coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receiving beam blocking prediction information from the second network node via an uplink channel, wherein the beam blocking prediction information indicates a predicted beam blocking situation for the third network node; and Transmitting beam blocking response information to the second network node via a downlink channel, wherein the beam blocking prediction information includes an indication of a beam blocking recovery operation for the third network node.

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