Normal CSI-RS configuration for spatial beam prediction

Abstract

Aspects are provided that allow a UE to be configured with nominal CSI resources that provide virtual references for the UE to report channel information for a predicted set of transmit beams (e.g., a set-A beam) based on measurements of another set of physical transmit beams (e.g., a set-B beam). The UE can initially receive a configuration of reference signal resources for virtual reference signals that do not occupy physical resources. The UE can then send a report indicating channel information associated with the reference signal resources. Thus, beam management operations according to AI / ML-based beam prediction or selection can be improved over conventional beam prediction methods because the nominal CSI-RS resource configuration allows the UE to measure signals in fewer transmit beams, switch between fewer receive beams when determining the best beam pair, and receive fewer physical reference signals in wireless communications.

Description

Background Art Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly to wireless communication systems between user equipment (UE) and base stations.

[0002] Introduction

[0003] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide a variety of telecommunication services, such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcast. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

[0004] These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate at city, country, region, and even global levels. An example telecommunication standard is 5G New Radio (NR). 5G NR is part of the continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability (e.g., with the Internet of Things (IoT)) and other requirements. 5GNR includes services associated with enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type communication (mMTC), and ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC). Certain aspects of 5G NR may be based on 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards. It is necessary to further improve 5G NR technology. In addition, these improvements may also be applicable to other multiple access technologies and telecommunication standards that employ these technologies. Summary of the invention

[0005] The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of these aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is neither intended to identify key or important elements of all aspects, nor to describe the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description presented later.

[0006] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus for wireless communication are provided. The apparatus may be a UE. The UE includes: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and operable when executed by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receive a configuration of a reference signal resource for a virtual reference signal that does not occupy a physical resource; and send a report indicating channel information associated with the reference signal resource.

[0007] To achieve the foregoing and related ends, one or more aspects include the features fully described below and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the accompanying drawings set forth in detail some illustrative features of one or more aspects. However, these features are merely indicative of some of the various ways in which the principles of the various aspects may be employed, and this specification is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and an access network.

[0009] Figure 2A is a diagram illustrating an example of a first frame according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0010] Figure 2B is a diagram illustrating an example of DL channels within a subframe according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0011] Figure 2C is a diagram illustrating an example of a second frame according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0012] Figure 2D is a diagram illustrating an example of UL channels within a subframe according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0013] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a base station and a user equipment (UE) in an access network.

[0014] Figure 4 Examples of beam management operations typically associated with 5G (NR) networks are illustrated.

[0015] Figure 5 An example of using an artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning (ML) model to perform beam prediction or selection based on the spatial domain (SD) and time domain (TD) at a base station or UE is illustrated.

[0016] Figure 6 Examples of channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) patterns that may be configured in corresponding resource blocks for non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS or zero power (ZP) CSI-RS are illustrated.

[0017] Figure 7 Examples of UE-based beam prediction in the spatial domain or in the spatial and time domain are illustrated.

[0018] Fig. 8A and Figure 8B An example of a nominal CSI-RS resource configuration is illustrated.

[0019] Fig.9A and Fig. 9B Examples of other nominal CSI-RS resource configurations are illustrated.

[0020] Fig.10 An example of a time domain pattern configuration for a nominal CSI-RS resource is illustrated.

[0021] Fig.11 An example of another time-domain pattern configuration for nominal CSI-RS resources is illustrated.

[0022] FIG. 12A to FIG. 12B An example of CSI-RS pattern configuration for a nominal CSI-RS resource is illustrated.

[0023] Fig.13 An example of beam information for nominal CSI-RS resources is illustrated.

[0024] Fig.14 An example of UE capability information indicating the maximum number of configurable or active nominal CSI-RS resources or ports is illustrated.

[0025] Fig.15 is a diagram illustrating an example of a call flow between a UE and a base station.

[0026] Fig.16 is a flow chart of a method of performing wireless communication at a UE.

[0027] Fig.17 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of an example apparatus. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] The specific embodiments described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings are intended as descriptions of various configurations and are not intended to represent the only configurations with which the concepts described herein can be practiced. In order to provide a thorough understanding of the various concepts, the specific embodiments include specific details. However, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts can be practiced without these specific details. In some cases, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form to avoid blurring such concepts.

[0029] Compared to LTE (4G) technology, 5GNR (New Radio) supports very high data rates at lower latency in sub-6GHz and mmW bands. Due to the propagation losses and other losses associated with the very high frequencies of the mmW bands, directional communications are typically applied using antenna arrays with a large number of antenna elements at such frequencies. Since these directional links require accurate alignment of the beams sent and received, beam pair alignment and other beam management operations have been introduced in 5G NR. Such beam management operations may include, for example, beam scanning (e.g., covering a spatial area with a set of beams according to pre-specified intervals and directions), beam measurement (e.g., evaluating the quality of the received signal based on metrics such as reference signal received power (RSRP) or signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR)), beam determination (e.g., selecting one or more suitable or optimal beams based on beam measurements) and beam reporting (e.g., reporting beam quality and beam decision information to a base station). Beam management may thus allow a UE that is not connected to a base station (e.g., in idle mode or during initial access) and a UE that is connected to a base station (e.g., in connected mode, during tracking, or otherwise when the UE is exchanging data with the network) to acquire and maintain a set of transmit and receive beams to be used for uplink communications and downlink communications, respectively.

[0030] UEs and base stations are also trending towards applying artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) for beam management under targeted use cases to improve performance or reduce the complexity of beam management operations. One such targeted use case in beam management is beam prediction in the time and / or spatial domain, where a base station or UE can utilize an AI / ML model to predict a suitable or optimal beam based on previous beam measurements to reduce overhead and latency and improve accuracy in beam determination or selection. This use case may involve training, deploying, monitoring, and updating AI / ML models to improve inference or prediction of the best beam for downlink or uplink communications.

[0031] In order to allow the base station to improve beam management operations based on AI / ML-based beam prediction or selection, the UE may intend to report the predicted L1-RSRP / L1-SINR of one transmit beam set (e.g., set A beams) to the base station based on the measurement results (e.g., L1-RSRP or L1-SINR) of another transmit beam set (e.g., set B beams). Set B beams may be a subset of set A beams or may be different from set A beams in other ways. For example, set A beams may include narrow beams and set B beams may include wide beams, but in other examples set A beams and set B beams may be different from narrow-wide. Regardless of how set A beams or set B beams are defined, the main difference between the two beam sets is that although set B beams carry physical reference signals (e.g., SSB or CSI-RS), set A beams may not carry any physical information (e.g., these predicted / selected beams may not actually be sent by the base station or received by the UE). In other words, the Set A beams may be considered to carry virtual reference signals, or more practically, virtual CSI-RS (since the Set A beams are typically narrow beams that will not contribute to virtual SSBs).

[0032] However, the conventional CSI-RS configuration that the UE typically applies to L1-RSRP / L1-SINR reporting assumes that the respectively indicated CSI-RS is a physical reference signal that is actually transmitted (e.g., by the serving cell or a neighboring non-serving cell). Therefore, while there is a current CSI-RS definition for physical reference signals in the set B beams, there is currently no CSI-RS definition or resource configuration for the virtual (or "nominal") reference signals in the set A beams. Therefore, since this lack of definition for nominal CSI-RS resources may cause ambiguity in CSI reports for such resources, it would be helpful to introduce a configuration mechanism for the nominal CSI-RS resources associated with a target beam (e.g., the set A beam) to better support beam prediction in the spatial domain or in the spatial and time domains. Similarly, it would be helpful to allow the UE to identify the appropriate CSI-RS pattern and beam shape information for such nominal CSI-RS resources to better support prediction of the CSI for such resources. In addition, since the UE hardware or software that may be required to handle nominal CSI-RS resources and ports may be different from those required to handle physical CSI-RS resources and ports, it would be further helpful to provide additional UE capability signaling to the UE to indicate the maximum number of configured or active nominal CSI-RS resources or ports that it supports.

[0033] For these purposes, the UE may be configured, activated, or triggered with several nominal CSI-RS resources. These nominal CSI-RS resources may be pre-configured or configured by the base station using multiple rules that distinguish these resources from conventional physical CSI-RS resources. For example, in one rule, the UE may not expect to receive or measure nominal CSI-RS resources. That is, the nominal CSI-RS resources do not occupy physical resources in the time domain, frequency domain, or code domain (e.g., as in the set A beam). In addition, in another rule, the UE may be expected to report at least the CRI and / or signal quality metrics (e.g., L1-RSRP or L1-SINR) associated with the nominal CSI-RS resources. In one example, the UE may identify the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR of the nominal CSI-RS resources based on SSB measurements of the physical SSBs (e.g., in the set B beams). In another example, the base station or network may configure the UE with an AI / ML model in which the UE may input L1-RSRP / L1-SINR measured from such SSBs (e.g., in set B beams), wherein the output of the AI / ML model includes L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated with such nominal CSI-RS resources. Based on the AI / ML model output, the UE may identify the signal quality metrics to be reported for those nominal CSI-RS resources.

[0034] Thus, similar to physical CSI-RS resources, nominal CSI-RS resources may provide a means for indexing or identifying virtual reference signals, such that the UE may determine which resource refers to which transmit beam in set A beams, and such that the UE may report signal quality metrics accordingly for these virtual reference signals. For example, a current UE may be configured with 8 physical CSI-RS resources (or other number of resources) in different transmit beams, the UE may measure which associated CSI-RS, and the UE may report a single CRI (e.g., one of CRI#1-8 corresponding to the best beam) for one of the measured beams and the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated with the physical CSI-RS resource. Similarly here, the UE may be configured with nominal CSI-RS resources associated with different transmit beams and a CRI associated with a virtual reference signal (which is not transmitted), and the UE may similarly report a CRI for one of the predicted beams and / or the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated with the nominal CSI-RS resource. As an example, instead of the UE being configured to receive eight physical CSI-RS #1-8 as previously indicated, here the UE may be configured with four physical CSI-RS resources with CRI #1, 3, 5, 7 (corresponding to set B beams) and four nominal CSI-RS resources with CRI #2, 4, 6, 8 (corresponding to set A beams), and the UE may predict and report one of the nominal CRI #2, 4, 6, 8 (e.g., the best beam or prediction result) based on the measurement result of one of the physical CRI #1, 3, 5, 7. The nominal CSI resources may thus provide a reference for the UE to report one or more predicted / selected set A beams based on one or more received / measured set B beams. Therefore, in contrast to conventional beam prediction methods, the nominal CSI-RS resource configuration here allows the UE to measure signals in fewer transmit beams, switch between fewer receive beams when determining the best beam pair, and receive fewer physical reference signals in wireless communication, thereby allowing the UE to save power consumption, experience reduced latency, and communicate with reduced overhead.

[0035] Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented with reference to various apparatus and methods. These apparatus and methods will be described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as "elements"). These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether these elements are implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0036] As an example, an element, or any part of an element, or any combination of elements, may be implemented as a "processing system", which includes one or more processors. Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), application processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, systems on chips (SoCs), baseband processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gating logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform various functionalities described throughout the present disclosure. One or more processors in a processing system may execute software. Whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or other names, software should be broadly interpreted as meaning instructions, instruction sets, codes, code segments, program codes, programs, subroutines, software components, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, threads of execution, processes, functions, etc.

[0037] Therefore, in one or more example embodiments, the described functions can be implemented with hardware, software or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the function can be stored or encoded on a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Computer-readable media include computer storage media. Storage media can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example and not limitation, such computer-readable media can include a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), an optical disk storage device, a magnetic disk storage device, other magnetic storage devices, a combination of computer-readable media of the above type, or any other medium that can be used to store computer executable code in the form of instructions or data structures that can be accessed by a computer.

[0038] Figure 1 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and access network 100. The wireless communication system (also referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) includes a base station 102, a user equipment (UE) 104, an evolved packet core (EPC) 160, and another core network 190 (e.g., a 5G core (5GC)). The base station 102 may include a macro cell (a high-power cellular base station) and / or a small cell (a low-power cellular base station). A macro cell includes a base station. A small cell includes a femto cell, a pico cell, and a micro cell.

[0039] The base station 102 configured for 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) (collectively referred to as Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)) can interface with the EPC 160 via a first backhaul link 132 (e.g., an S1 interface). The base station 102 configured for 5G New Radio (NR) (collectively referred to as Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN)) can interface with the core network 190 via a second backhaul link 184. Among other functions, the base station 102 can also perform one or more of the following functions: delivery of user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (eg, via the EPC 160 or the core network 190) via the third backhaul link 134 (eg, an X2 interface). The first backhaul link 132, the second backhaul link 184, and the third backhaul link 134 may be wired or wireless.

[0040] Base station 102 can communicate wirelessly with UE 104. Each of base stations 102 can provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell 102' can have a coverage area 110' that overlaps with the coverage area 110 of one or more macro base stations 102. A network including both small cells and macro cells can be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network can also include a home evolved Node B (eNB) (HeNB), which can provide services to a restricted group called a closed subscriber group (CSG). The communication link 120 between base station 102 and UE 104 can include an uplink (UL) (also known as a reverse link) transmission from UE 104 to base station 102 and / or a downlink (DL) (also known as a forward link) transmission from base station 102 to UE 104. The communication link 120 can use multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming and / or transmit diversity. The communication link can be through one or more carriers. For each carrier allocated in the carrier aggregation for up to a total of up to Yx MHz (x component carriers) for transmission in each direction, the base station 102 / UE 104 can use a spectrum with a bandwidth of up to Y megahertz (MHz) (e.g., 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz, 20 MHz, 100 MHz, 400 MHz, etc.). These carriers may be adjacent to each other, or may not be adjacent to each other. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL ​​than for UL). The component carrier may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. The primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell) and the secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

[0041] Some UEs 104 may communicate with each other using a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use DL / UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). D2D communication may be through a variety of wireless D2D communication systems, such as, for example, WiMedia, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, LTE, or NR.

[0042] The wireless communication system may also include a Wi-Fi access point (AP) 150 that communicates with a Wi-Fi station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 in, for example, a 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum. When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the STA 152 / AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) to determine whether the channel is available prior to communication.

[0043] The small cell 102' can operate in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the small cell 102' can adopt NR and use the same unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz, etc.) used by the Wi-Fi AP 150. The small cell 102' adopting NR in the unlicensed spectrum can improve the coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network.

[0044] 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 range designations 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 referred to (interchangeably) as the "below 6 GHz" band in various documents and articles. A similar naming issue sometimes occurs with respect to FR2, which is typically (interchangeably) referred to as the "millimeter wave" band in documents and articles, despite being different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz-300 GHz) identified as the "millimeter wave" band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

[0045] In view of the above aspects, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if the term "below 6 GHz" or the like is used in this document, it can be broadly referred to as a frequency that may be less than 6 GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. In addition, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if the term "millimeter wave" or the like is used in this document, it can be broadly referred to as a frequency that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2, or may be within the EHF band.

[0046] The base station 102, whether a small cell 102′ or a large cell (e.g., a macro base station), may include and / or be referred to as an eNB, a gNodeB (gNB), or another type of base station. Some base stations, such as gNB 180, may operate in the traditional sub-6 GHz spectrum, in millimeter wave frequencies, and / or near millimeter wave frequencies to communicate with the UE 104. When the gNB 180 operates in millimeter wave or near millimeter wave frequencies, the gNB 180 may be referred to as a millimeter wave base station. The millimeter wave base station 180 may utilize beamforming 182 with the UE 104 to compensate for path loss and short range. The base station 180 and the UE 104 may each include multiple antennas, such as antenna elements, antenna panels, and / or antenna arrays, to facilitate beamforming.

[0047] Base station 180 may transmit beamformed signals in one or more transmit directions 182′ to UE 104. UE 104 may receive beamformed signals from base station 180 in one or more receive directions 182″. UE 104 may also transmit beamformed signals to base station 180 in one or more transmit directions. Base station 180 may receive beamformed signals from UE 104 in one or more receive directions. Base station 180 / UE 104 may perform beam training to determine the best receive direction and transmit direction for each of base station 180 / UE 104. The transmit direction and receive direction of base station 180 may be the same or may be different. The transmit direction and receive direction of UE 104 may be the same or may be different.

[0048] The EPC 160 may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a serving gateway 166, an MBMS gateway 168, a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC) 170, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway 172. The MME 162 may communicate with a home subscriber server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the EPC 160. Generally speaking, the MME 162 provides bearer and connection management. All user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are passed through the serving gateway 166, which itself is connected to the PDN gateway 172. The PDN gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation and other functions. The PDN gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 are connected to IP services 176. The IP services 176 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), a PS streaming service, and / or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may provide functions for MBMS user service configuration and delivery. BM-SC 170 may serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS delivery, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS bearer services in a public land mobile network (PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMS delivery. MBMS Gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS services to base stations 102 belonging to a multicast broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) area of ​​a broadcast specific service, and may be responsible for session management (start / stop) and for collecting eMBMS related billing information.

[0049] The core network 190 may include an access and mobility management function (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, a session management function (SMF) 194, and a user plane function (UPF) 195. The AMF 192 may communicate with a unified data management (UDM) 196. The AMF 192 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the core network 190. Generally speaking, the AMF 192 provides quality of service (QoS) flows and session management. All user IP packets are delivered through the UPF 195. The UPF 195 provides UE IP address allocation and other functions. The UPF 195 is connected to an IP service 197. The IP service 197 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IMS, a packet switching (PS) streaming service, and / or other IP services.

[0050] Base stations may include and / or be referred to as gNBs, Node Bs, eNBs, access points, base transceivers, radio base stations, radio transceivers, transceiver functions, basic service sets (BSSs), extended service sets (ESSs), transmit receive points (TRPs), or some other suitable terminology. Base stations 102 provide access points to EPC 160 or core network 190 for UEs 104. Examples of UEs 104 include cellular phones, smart phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), satellite radios, global positioning systems, multimedia devices, video devices, digital audio players (e.g., MP3 players), cameras, game consoles, tablets, smart devices, wearable devices, vehicles, electric meters, gas pumps, large or small kitchen appliances, healthcare devices, implants, sensors / actuators, displays, or any other similarly functional devices. Some of the UEs 104 may be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., parking meters, gas pumps, toasters, vehicles, heart monitors, etc.). UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communication device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology.

[0051] Although the present disclosure may focus on 5G NR, the concepts and various aspects described herein may be applicable to other similar areas such as LTE, Advanced LTE (LTE-A), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and / or other wireless / radio access technologies.

[0052] Reference again Figure 1 In certain aspects, the UE 104 may include a nominal CSI-RS resource component 198 configured to receive a configuration of reference signal resources for a virtual reference signal that does not occupy physical resources and to send a report indicating channel information associated with the reference signal resources.

[0053] Figure 2A FIG200 is a diagram illustrating an example of a first subframe within a 5G NR frame structure. Figure 2B FIG230 is a diagram illustrating an example of DL channels within a 5G NR subframe. Figure 2C FIG250 is a diagram illustrating an example of a second subframe within a 5G NR frame structure. Figure 2DFIG280 is a diagram illustrating an example of an UL channel within a 5G NR subframe. The 5G NR frame structure may be frequency division duplex (FDD) (wherein for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), a subframe within the subcarrier set is dedicated to either DL or UL), or may be time division duplex (TDD) (wherein for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), a subframe within the subcarrier set is dedicated to both DL and UL). Figure 2A , Figure 2C In the example provided, the 5GNR frame structure is assumed to be TDD, where subframe 4 is configured with slot format 28 (most of which are DL), where D is DL, U is UL, and F is flexible between DL / UL, and subframe 3 is configured with slot format 34 (most of which are UL). Although subframes 3 and 4 are shown as having slot formats 34 and 28, respectively, any particular subframe may be configured with any of the various available slot formats 0-61. Slot formats 0 and 1 are full DL and full UL, respectively. Other slot formats 2-61 include a mix of DL, UL and flexible symbols. The UE is configured with the slot format through the received slot format indicator (SFI) (dynamically configured through DL control information (DCI) or semi-statically / statically configured through radio resource control (RRC) signaling). Note that the following description also applies to the 5G NR frame structure as TDD.

[0054] Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels. For example, a 10 millisecond (ms) frame may be divided into 10 equally sized subframes (1 ms). Each subframe may include one or more time slots. A subframe may also include a microslot, which may include 7, 4, or 2 symbols. Each time slot may include 7 or 14 symbols, depending on the time slot configuration. For time slot configuration 0, each time slot may include 14 symbols, and for time slot configuration 1, each time slot may include 7 symbols. The symbol on the DL may be a cyclic prefix (CP) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) (CP-OFDM) symbol. The symbol on the UL may be a CP-OFDM symbol (for high throughput scenarios) or a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbol (also known as a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbol) (for power-constrained scenarios; limited to single-stream transmission). The number of time slots in a subframe is based on the time slot configuration and parameter set (numerology). For slot configuration 0, different parameter sets μ0 to 4 allow 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 slots per subframe, respectively. For slot configuration 1, different parameter sets 0 to 2 allow 2, 4, and 8 slots per subframe, respectively. Therefore, for slot configuration 0 and parameter set μ, there are 14 symbols per slot and 2μ slots per subframe. The subcarrier spacing and symbol length / duration are functions of the parameter set. The subcarrier spacing can be equal to 2μ*15 kilohertz (kHz), where μ is parameter set 0 to 4. Therefore, the subcarrier spacing for parameter set μ=0 is 15kHz, and the subcarrier spacing for parameter set μ=4 is 240kHz. The symbol length / duration is negatively correlated with the subcarrier spacing. FIG. 2A to FIG. 2D An example is provided for slot configuration 0 with 14 symbols per slot and parameter set μ=2 with 4 slots per subframe. The slot duration is 0.25 ms, the subcarrier spacing is 60 kHz, and the symbol duration is approximately 16.67 μs. Within a frame set, there may be one or more different bandwidth parts (BWPs) that are frequency-division multiplexed (see Figure 2B ). Each BWP can have a specific set of parameters.

[0055] A resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each slot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as a physical RB (PRB)) extending over 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into a plurality of resource elements (REs). The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0056] like Figure 2AAs illustrated, some of the REs carry reference (pilot) signals (RS) for the UE. The RS may include a demodulation RS (DM-RS) for channel estimation at the UE (indicated as Rx for one particular configuration, where 100x is the port number, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). The RS may also include a beam measurement RS (BRS), a beam refinement RS (BRRS), and a phase tracking RS (PT-RS).

[0057] Figure 2B Examples of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame are illustrated. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs), each CCE including nine RE groups (REGs), and each REG including four consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol. The PDCCH within a BWP may be referred to as a control resource set (CORESET). Additional BWPs may be located at higher and / or lower frequencies on the channel bandwidth. The primary synchronization signal (PSS) may be within symbol 2 of a specific subframe of a frame. The PSS is used by UE 104 to determine subframe / symbol timing and physical layer identification. The secondary synchronization signal (SSS) may be within symbol 4 of a specific subframe of a frame. The SSS is used by the UE to determine the physical layer cell identification group number and radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identification and the physical layer cell identification group number, the UE may determine the physical cell identifier (PCI). Based on the PCI, the UE may determine the position of the aforementioned DM-RS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying the master information block (MIB) can be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH block (also referred to as an SS block (SSB)). The MIB provides the number of RBs in the system bandwidth and the system frame number (SFN). The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not sent over the PBCH (such as the system information block (SIB)), and paging messages.

[0058] like Figure 2CAs illustrated, some of the REs carry DM-RS (indicated as R for a particular configuration, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) for channel estimation at the base station. The UE may send a DM-RS for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and a DM-RS for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The PUSCH DM-RS may be sent in the first or first two symbols of the PUSCH. Depending on whether a short PUCCH or a long PUCCH is sent and depending on the specific PUCCH format used, the PUCCH DM-RS may be sent in different configurations. The UE may send a sounding reference signal (SRS). The SRS may be sent in the last symbol of a subframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and the UE may send the SRS on one of the teeth of the comb. The SRS may be used by the base station for channel quality estimation to achieve frequency-dependent scheduling of the UL.

[0059] Figure 2D Examples of various UL channels within a subframe of a frame are illustrated. The PUCCH may be located at a position as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, channel quality indicator (CQI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), rank indicator (RI), and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement (ACK) / negative acknowledgement (NACK) feedback. The PUSCH carries data and may be used to carry, among other things, a buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report (PHR), and / or UCI.

[0060] Figure 33 is a block diagram of a base station 310 in an access network communicating with a UE 350. In the DL, IP packets from the EPC 160 may be provided to the controller / processor 375. The controller / processor 375 implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality. Layer 3 includes a radio resource control (RRC) layer, and layer 2 includes a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium access control (MAC) layer. The controller / processor 375 provides RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., MIB, SIB), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with delivery of upper layer packet data units (PDUs), error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0061] The transmit (TX) processor 316 and receive (RX) processor 370 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1 (which includes the physical (PHY) layer) may include error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The TX processor 316 handles the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-order phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-order quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The decoded and modulated symbols can then be divided into parallel streams. Subsequently, each stream can be mapped to an OFDM subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., a pilot) in the time domain and / or frequency domain, and then combined using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially pre-coded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator 374 may be used to determine the coding and modulation schemes, as well as for spatial processing. Channel estimates may be derived from reference signals and / or channel state feedback sent by the UE 350. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a different antenna 320 via a separate transmitter 318TX. Each transmitter 318TX may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0062] At the UE 350, each receiver 354RX receives a signal through its corresponding antenna 352. Each receiver 354RX recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to a receive (RX) processor 356. The TX processor 368 and the RX processor 356 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The RX processor 356 can perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial stream destined for the UE 350. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 350, they can be combined into a single OFDM symbol stream by the RX processor 356. The RX processor 356 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier and the reference signal are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation point sent by the base station 310. These soft decisions can be based on channel estimates calculated by the channel estimator 358. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally sent on the physical channel by base station 310. The data and control signals are then provided to controller / processor 359, which implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality.

[0063] The controller / processor 359 may be associated with a memory 360 that stores program codes and data. The memory 360 may be referred to as a computer readable medium. In the UL, the controller / processor 359 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the EPC 160. The controller / processor 359 is also responsible for error detection using an ACK and / or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

[0064] Similar to the functionality described in conjunction with DL transmissions performed by the base station 310, the controller / processor 359 provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with delivery of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto TBs, demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0065] Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator 358 based on a reference signal or feedback sent by the base station 310 may be used by the TX processor 368 to select the appropriate coding and modulation schemes and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the TX processor 368 may be provided to different antennas 352 via separate transmitters 354TX. Each transmitter 354TX may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0066] UL transmissions are processed at the base station 310 in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with the receiver functionality at the UE 350. Each receiver 318RX receives a signal through its respective antenna 320. Each receiver 318RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to a RX processor 370.

[0067] The controller / processor 375 may be associated with a memory 376 that stores program codes and data. The memory 376 may be referred to as a computer readable medium. In the UL, the controller / processor 375 provides demultiplexing between transport channels and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 350. The IP packets from the controller / processor 375 may be provided to the EPC 160. The controller / processor 375 is also responsible for error detection using ACK and / or NACK protocols to support HARQ operations.

[0068] At least one of the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller / processor 359 may be configured to perform operations related to Figure 1 The nominal CSI-RS reporting component 198 combines various aspects.

[0069] Compared to LTE (4G) technology, 5GNR (New Radio) supports very high data rates at lower latency in sub-6GHz and mmW bands. Due to the propagation losses and other losses associated with the very high frequencies of the mmW bands, directional communications are typically applied using antenna arrays with a large number of antenna elements at such frequencies. Since these directional links require accurate alignment of the beams sent and received, beam pair alignment and other beam management operations have been introduced in 5G NR. Such beam management operations may include, for example, beam scanning (e.g., covering a spatial area with a set of beams according to pre-specified intervals and directions), beam measurement (e.g., evaluating the quality of the received signal based on metrics such as reference signal received power (RSRP) or signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR)), beam determination (e.g., selecting one or more suitable or optimal beams based on beam measurements) and beam reporting (e.g., reporting beam quality and beam decision information to a base station). Beam management may thus allow a UE that is not connected to a base station (e.g., in idle mode or during initial access) and a UE that is connected to a base station (e.g., in connected mode, during tracking, or otherwise when the UE is exchanging data with the network) to acquire and maintain a set of transmit and receive beams to be used for uplink communications and downlink communications, respectively.

[0070] Figure 4An example of beam management operations typically associated with a 5G (NR) network is illustrated 400. A UE in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE mode 410 may perform beam management using a tracking reference signal (TRS) and using a synchronization signal block (SSB) (wide) beam scanning during initial access 412. The SSB may be associated with a random access channel (RACH) opportunity (RO) or a RACH preamble that the UE may use to perform contention-based random access (CBRA). UEs in RRC_CONNECTED mode 414 may perform various beam management operations, such as beam selection and refinement using SSB or CSI-RS (e.g., P1 / P2 / P3 procedures), beam selection and refinement using SRS (e.g., U1 / U2 / U3 procedures), layer 1 (L1)-RSRP reporting, transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state configuration or indication, L1-SINR reporting, and other operations associated with beam management, enhanced beam management (eBM), and further enhanced beam management (FeBM). Connected UEs may also perform beam failure detection (BFD) based on beam measurements, in which case these UEs may perform beam failure recovery (BFR) 416 to remain in RRC_CONNECTED mode. UEs may perform BFD and BFR in a primary cell (PCell), a primary secondary cell (PSCell), or a secondary cell (SCell). Radio link failure 418 is also supported in beam management.

[0071] like Figure 4 As illustrated, UEs are also trending towards applying artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) for beam management under targeted use cases to improve performance or reduce the complexity of beam management operations. One such targeted use case in beam management is beam prediction in the time and / or spatial domains, where a base station or UE may utilize an AI / ML model to predict a suitable or optimal beam based on previous beam measurements to reduce overhead and latency and improve accuracy in beam determination or selection. This use case may involve training, deploying, monitoring, and updating AI / ML models to improve inference or prediction of the best beam for downlink or uplink communications.

[0072] AI / ML-based predictive beam management is an attractive alternative to conventional beam management. In conventional beam management, beam quality or failure is identified via beam measurements. Measuring each beam to determine the best beam or beam failure may require significant device power or overhead to achieve adequate performance, limiting beam accuracy while imposing limits on the amount of power or overhead that can be used, and affecting latency and throughput due to beam recovery efforts. However, in predictive beam management, non-measured beam quality can be predicted, resulting in reduced power and overhead, and future beam blockages or failures can be predicted, resulting in improvements in accuracy, latency, or throughput. In addition, beam prediction itself is a highly nonlinear task, and therefore AI / ML-based beam prediction can help in this regard. For example, predicting future transmit beam quality may depend on the UE's moving speed or trajectory, the receive beam being used or to be used, interference, and other parameters that are difficult to model via conventional statistical signal processing methods.

[0073] AI / ML-based beam prediction and training can be performed at the UE or the base station. Typically for prediction, UE performance can exceed base station performance at the expense of a tradeoff between performance and UE power. For example, the UE may perform more observations (via measurements) than the base station (via UE feedback) to predict future downlink transmit beam quality. While this may result in predictions at the UE outperforming predictions at the base station, these inference efforts consume more UE power. For model training, training at the network typically involves efforts in data collection, while model training at the UE typically involves efforts in UE computation. For example, if model training is performed at the network, the network may experience effort in collecting measurement data or other prediction data via an air interface with the UE or via application layer methods, while if model training is performed at the UE, the UE may incur additional computational or buffering efforts for training and data storage.

[0074] Figure 5 An example 500 of using ML models 502, 503 to perform beam prediction or selection based on spatial domain (SD) and time domain (TD) at a base station or UE is illustrated. Initially, the base station may perform transmit beam scanning of various transmit beams carrying SSBs or CSI-RSs associated with different resource identifiers, respectively. For example, in the example Figure 5In one example of the illustrated spatial domain based beam prediction or selection, the UE may perform L1-RSRP measurements of the SSBs carried in the wide transmit beam 504 within a given time instance. If beam prediction or selection is performed at the base station, the UE may report these RSRPs to the base station (e.g., in a CSI report) for input to the ML model 502 at the base station. Alternatively, if beam prediction or selection is performed at the UE, the UE may input these measured RSRPs into the ML model 502 at the UE. The ML model 502 may in turn output a predicted RSRP, a predicted candidate beam, or a predicted beam failure or blocking for the narrow transmit beam 506 directed to the UE. Using the results of these predictions, the base station or UE may perform codebook-based, spatial domain based beam prediction or selection, which may facilitate beam management operations related to initial access 520, secondary cell group setup 522, serving beam refinement 524, and link quality (CQI or PMI) and interference adaptation 526. Therefore, ML-based beam management may result in fewer beam measurements being performed at the UE and thereby reduce UE power consumption, since the UE may obtain prediction information about one beam set (i.e., narrow transmit beam 506) from RSRP measurements of a different beam set (i.e., wide transmit beam 504).

[0075] In such Figure 5 In another example of the illustrated spatial domain based beam prediction or selection, the UE may perform L1-RSRP measurements of the CSI-RS carried in the narrow transmit beam 508 within a given time instance. If beam prediction or selection is performed at the base station, the UE may report these RSRPs to the base station (e.g., in a CSI report) for input to the ML model 503 at the base station. Alternatively, if beam prediction or selection is performed at the UE, the UE may input these measured RSRPs into the ML model 503 at the UE. The ML model 503 may in turn output a predicted direction point, angle of descent (AoD), or angle of arrival (AoA) of an alternative transmit beam 510 directed to the UE. Using the results of these predictions, the base station or UE may perform non-codebook based, spatial domain based beam prediction or selection, which may facilitate beam management operations related to serving beam refinement 524 and link quality (CQI or PMI) and interference adaptation 526. Thus, improved beam management accuracy may be produced without excessive beam scanning using AI / ML, as the UE may obtain prediction information about one beam set (i.e., alternative transmit beam 510) from RSRP measurements of a different beam set (i.e., narrow transmit beam 508).

[0076] In such Figure 5In the illustrated additional example of beam prediction or selection based on the spatial domain and the time domain, the UE may perform L1-RSRP measurements of the SSB carried in the wide transmit beam 504 or the CSI-RS carried in the narrow transmit beam 508 within a plurality of measurement occasions 512. If beam prediction or selection is performed at the base station, the UE may report these RSRPs to the base station (e.g., in a CSI report) for input to the ML models 502, 503 at the base station. Alternatively, if beam prediction or selection is performed at the UE, the UE may input these measured RSRPs into the ML models 502, 503 at the UE. The ML models 502, 503 may in turn output prediction information for the narrow transmit beam 506 or the alternative transmit beam 510 directed to the UE, respectively. Using the results of these predictions, the base station or UE can perform codebook-based or non-codebook-based, spatial domain and time domain-based beam prediction or selection, which can facilitate beam management operations related to serving beam refinement 524, link quality (CQI or PMI) and interference adaptation 526, beam failure or blocking prediction 528, and radio link failure prediction 530. Therefore, ML-based beam management can result in fewer beam measurements being performed at the UE and reduce UE power consumption as well as provide improved beam management accuracy without excessive beam scanning. In addition, ML-based beam management can increase the available memory capacity in the UE or base station (device) and extend device battery life.

[0077] Therefore, in AI / ML-based beam management, the UE or base station may perform beam management based on the measurement result of another beam set B (e.g., Figure 5 A beam set A (eg, Figure 5 The invention also provides a spatial domain downlink beam prediction or a temporal downlink beam prediction of a narrow transmit beam 506 or an alternative transmit beam 510 in the set B beams (e.g., a narrow transmit beam 506 or an alternative transmit beam 510 in the set B beams). Set B beams may be a subset of set A beams or may be different from set A beams in other ways. For example, set A beams may include narrow beams and set B beams may include wide beams, but in other examples set A beams and set B beams may be different from narrow-wide. Regardless of how set A beams or set B beams are defined, the main difference between the two beam sets is that while set B beams carry physical reference signals (e.g., SSB or CSI-RS), set A beams may not carry any physical information (e.g., these predicted / selected beams may not actually be sent by the base station or received by the UE).

[0078] Therefore, the set B beam may carry SSB or CSI-RS (the latter of which is more likely to be used for narrow beams). Currently, there are two types of CSI-RS: non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS and zero power (ZP) CSI-RS. NZP CSI-RS is typically used for channel measurement, beam management, and tracking. For example, NZP CSI-RS may be configured in a channel measurement resource (CMR) associated with a CSI or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR report. In contrast, ZP CSI-RS is typically used for rate matching. NZP CSI-RS or ZP CSI-RS may be sent periodically, semi-persistently, or aperiodically. NZP CSI-RS or ZP CSI-RS may be mapped to a CSI-RS pattern typically associated with 1, 2, 3, 8, 12, 16, 24, or 32 ports, where port multiplexing is based on frequency division multiplexing (FDM) or code division multiplexing (CDM). The NZP CSI-RS resource may also indicate a quasi co-location (QCL) relationship of the NZP CSI-RS with another reference signal (e.g., SSB or another CSI-RS). Such a QCL relationship may be configured via RRC configuration for periodic NZP CSI-RS (e.g., via CSI resource configuration for NZP CSI-RS), indicated via MAC-CE for semi-persistent NZP CSI-RS (e.g., via a MAC-CE activation command to activate the semi-persistent NZP CSI-RS), or indicated via DCI for aperiodic NZP CSI-RS (e.g., in association with an aperiodic NZP CSI-RS trigger state configuration).

[0079] Figure 6 An example of a CSI-RS pattern 600 that may be configured for an NZP CSI-RS or a ZP CSI-RS in a corresponding resource block (RB) 602 is illustrated. The CSI-RS pattern 600 may have different numbers of ports (ranging from 1 to 32 ports) and CDM groups, with the CSI-RS components occupying individual OFDM symbols and subcarriers (i.e., resource elements) in a corresponding slot or RB 602. CSI-RS components that do not occupy adjacent OFDM symbols may be placed anywhere in a given slot.

[0080] In any given time slot, the UE may not have more active CSI-RS ports or active CSI-RS resources in the active bandwidth part (BWP) than those active CSI-RS ports or active CSI-RS resources that the UE reports as its capabilities. Therefore, the number of active CSI-RS ports or active CSI-RS resources that the UE can expect to receive in a given time slot (e.g., in CSI-RS pattern 600) depends on the UE capabilities. Depending on whether the CSI-RS is aperiodic, semi-persistent, or periodic, the NZP CSI-RS resources may be considered active for a time duration. For an aperiodic CSI-RS, this duration may span from the end of the PDCCH containing a request for a CSI report until the end of the scheduled PUSCH containing a report associated with this aperiodic CSI-RS. For a semi-persistent CSI-RS, this duration may span from the end when an activation command for the semi-persistent CSI-RS is applied until the end when a deactivation command for the semi-persistent CSI-RS is applied. For periodic CSI-RS, this duration may span from when the periodic CSI-RS is configured by higher layer signaling until when the periodic CSI-RS configuration is released. In determining the number of active CSI-RS ports or resources used by a CSI-RS resource referenced N times by one or more CSI report settings, the CSI-RS resource and the CSI-RS ports within the CSI-RS resource are counted N times. Thus, any of the above factors may count toward the maximum number of activated CSI-RS resources or ports (and therefore CSI-RS patterns 600 that can be utilized by the UE) indicated in the UE capabilities.

[0081] For the capability reporting itself, the base station may require the UE to report the maximum number of CSI-RS resources or ports configured and activated by the UE to the base station via a parameter used for this purpose (e.g., parameter csi-RS-IM-ReceptionForFeedback or another name). Since the UE typically needs to use hardware or software to process, measure, buffer or otherwise handle measurement results about these CSI-RS resources and ports, this capability signaling may allow the UE to indicate what support the UE has for CSI-RS and CSI interference management (CSI-IM) reception for CSI feedback. Currently, this capability signaling may include at least the following parameters: the maximum number of configured NZP-CSI-RS resources per cell or component carrier (CC) (via parameter maxConfigNumberNZP-CSI-RS-PerCC or another name), the maximum number of ports across all configured NZP-CSI-RS resources per cell or CC (via parameter maxConfigNumberPortsAcrossNZP-CSI-RS-PerCC or another name), the maximum number of configured CSI-IM resources per cell or CC (via parameter maxConfigNumberCSI-IM-PerCC or another name), the maximum number of simultaneous (active) CSI-RS resources per cell or CC (via parameter maxNumberSimultaneousNZP-CSI-RS-PerCC or another name), and the total number of CSI-RS ports in simultaneous (active) CSI-RS resources per cell or CC (via parameter totalNumberPortsSimultaneousNZP-CSI-RS-PerCC or another name). The first three parameters related to the configured NZP-CSI-RS resources or ports or CSI-IM resources may refer to the RRC configured resources or ports, while the last two parameters related to the simultaneous CSI-RS resources or ports may refer to resources or ports activated periodically, semi-persistently or aperiodically.

[0082] Thus, the UE may receive NZP-CSI-RS in one of the multiple CSI-RS patterns 600 based on the maximum number of configured or active CSI-RS resources or ports indicated in the UE capability report. In addition, in order to configure the UE to measure and report the signal quality of this NZP-CSI-RS (or of the received SSB), the base station may provide a CSI reporting configuration (e.g., via parameter reportQuantity or another name) indicating which quantity the UE is to report. This reported quantity may be the RSRP of a specific SSB index (e.g., reportQuantity=ssb-Index-RSRP), the SINR of a specific SSB index (e.g., reportQuantity=ssb-Index-SINR), the RSRP of a specific CSI-RS index (e.g., reportQuantity=cri-RSRP), or the SINR of a specific CSI-RS index (e.g., reportQuantity=cri-SINR). Therefore, the CSI reporting configuration may configure a joint SSB source indicator (SSBRI) / CSI-RS source indicator (CRI) and L1-RSRP / L1-SINR beam reporting. In addition, the CSI reporting configuration may instruct the UE to report the aforementioned measurements for an RRC-configured number of reported reference signals, respectively (in the parameter nrofReportedRS or another name), which may typically be up to two or four different SSBRIs or CRIs depending on the UE capabilities for a given CSI reporting configuration.

[0083] The measurement report of L1-RSRP can be based on a predefined measurement report mapping table. For example, when the UE reports L1-RSRP for the strongest SSBRI or CRI from multiple SSBRIs or CRIs, the UE can report a RSRP value in the range of [-140, -44] dBm from 7-bit RSRP values ​​or code points separated by 1 dBm steps (or resolution) in the predefined measurement report mapping table. For the remaining SSBRIs or CRIs, the UE can report a differential RSRP value in the range of [0, -30] dB from 4-bit differential RSRP values ​​or code points separated by 2 dB steps (or resolution) relative to the L1-RSRP of the strongest SSBRI or CRI in another predefined measurement report mapping table. As an example, if the UE measures the strongest CRI for a transmit beam scan as -45 dBm and the second strongest CRI for a transmit beam scan as -48 dBm, the UE may provide a CSI report indicating RSRP_112 for the strongest beam (which may be associated with -45 dBm) and DIFFRSRP_1 for the second strongest beam (which may be associated with ΔRSRP=-3 or -48 dBm relative to the strongest beam). The available code points for reporting L1-RSRP for the strongest beam may be less than the total amount of code points available for reporting in the associated measurement report mapping table (i.e., there are invalid code points). For example, the UE may select one of 97 code points or individual L1-RSRP values ​​measured for the strongest beam from a mapping table including 128 code points (or bit values ​​out of 7 bits), where the remaining 31 code points are invalid for L1-RSRP reporting (e.g., the UE may apply those code points only to layer 3 (L3)-RSRP reporting).

[0084] The measurement report of L1-SINR may similarly be based on a predefined measurement report mapping table. For example, when the UE reports L1-SINR for the strongest SSBRI or CRI from multiple SSBRIs or CRIs, the UE may report an SINR value ranging from [-23, 40] dB from 7-bit SINR values ​​or code points separated by 0.5 dB steps (or resolution) in another predefined measurement report mapping table. For the remaining SSBRIs or CRIs, the UE may report a differential SINR value ranging from [0, -15] dB from 4-bit differential SINR values ​​or code points separated by 1 dB steps (or resolution) relative to the L1-SINR of the strongest SSBRI or CRI in another predefined measurement report mapping table. Here, unlike for L1-RSRP, there may be no invalid code points for reporting L1-SINR in its associated measurement report mapping table.

[0085] Figure 7An example 700 of UE-based beam prediction in the spatial domain or (in the spatial and temporal domain) is illustrated. Initially, the UE may perform measurements of reference signals such as L1-RSRP or L1-SINR in the set B beams 702. For example, the reference Figure 5 , the set B beam 702 can carry SSB in the wide transmit beam 504 or carry CSI-RS in the narrow transmit beam 508. Figure 6 , if the set B beam 702 carries CSI-RS, these CSI-RS may include NZP CSI-RS or ZP CSI-RS received in one of the multiple CSI-RS patterns 600 based on the maximum number of configured or active CSI-RS resources or ports indicated in the UE capability report. Immediately after receiving the reference signal in the set B beam 702, the UE may input these measurements as input 703 to an AI / ML-based beam prediction model 704 (e.g., Figure 5 ML models 502, 503) are used to derive the L1-RSRP or L1-SINR of the set A beam 706 as output 707. For example, referring to Figure 5 , set A beams 706 may include narrow transmit beams 506 or alternative transmit beams 510.

[0086] In order to allow the base station to improve beam management operations based on codebook-based or non-codebook-based beam prediction or selection, the UE may intend to report these predicted L1-RSRP / L1-SINR of the set A beam 706 to the base station, for example, using one or more code points in a predefined measurement report mapping table. However, as previously described, when the set B beam 702 carries a physical reference signal (e.g., SSB or CSI-RS), the set A beam 706 may not carry any physical information (e.g., these predicted / selected beams may not actually be sent by the base station or received by the UE). In other words, the set A beam 706 can be considered to carry a virtual reference signal, or more practically, a virtual CSI-RS (because the set A beam is typically a narrow beam that will not contribute to a virtual SSB). However, the conventional NZP-CSI-RS configuration and ZP-CSI-RS configuration that the UE typically applies to L1-RSRP / L1-SINR reporting assume that the CSI-RS indicated respectively are physical reference signals actually transmitted (e.g., by a serving cell or a neighboring non-serving cell). Thus, while there is a current CSI-RS definition for the physical reference signals in set B beams 702 , there is currently no CSI-RS definition or resource configuration for the virtual (or “nominal”) reference signals in set A beams 706 .

[0087] Therefore, since this lack of definition for nominal CSI-RS resources may cause ambiguity in CSI reporting for such resources, it would be helpful to introduce a configuration mechanism for the nominal CSI-RS resources associated with the target beam (e.g., set A beam 706) to better support beam prediction in the spatial domain or in the spatial and time domains. Likewise, it would be helpful to allow the UE to identify the appropriate CSI-RS pattern (e.g., in the time domain, spatial domain, frequency domain, or code domain) and beam shape information for such nominal CSI-RS resources to better support the prediction of CRI or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR for such resources. Furthermore, since the UE hardware or software that may be required to process nominal CSI-RS resources and ports may be different from those required to process physical CSI-RS resources and ports (e.g., due to heavy involvement of AI / ML computations or neural networks for beam prediction or selection associated with such nominal CSI-RS resources), it would be further helpful to provide the UE with additional UE capability signaling to indicate the maximum number of configured or active nominal CSI-RS resources or ports that it supports (e.g., via parameter csi-RS-IM-ReceptionForFeedback or another name).

[0088] For these purposes, a UE may be configured, activated, or triggered with several nominal CSI-RS resources. The nominal CSI-RS resources may be periodic CSI-RS resources (e.g., RRC configured), semi-persistent CSI-RS resources (e.g., MAC-CE or DCI activated and deactivated), or aperiodic CSI-RS resources (e.g., DCI triggered). These nominal CSI-RS resources may be pre-configured or configured by the base station using multiple rules that distinguish these resources from regular physical CSI-RS resources. For example, in one rule, the UE may not be expected to receive or measure the nominal CSI-RS resources. That is, the nominal CSI-RS resources do not occupy physical resources in the time domain, frequency domain, or code domain (e.g., as in Figure 7 In addition, in another rule, the UE may be expected to report CRI and / or signal quality metrics (e.g., L1-RSRP or L1-SINR) associated with at least the nominal CSI-RS resource. In one example, the UE may report CRI and / or signal quality metrics (e.g., L1-RSRP or L1-SINR) associated with at least the nominal CSI-RS resource based on the physical SSB (e.g., Figure 7The base station or network may configure the UE with an AI / ML model (e.g., AI / ML model 704) into which the UE may input the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR measured from such SSBs (e.g., in set B beams 702), wherein the output of the AI / ML model includes the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated with such nominal CSI-RS resources. Based on the AI / ML model output, the UE may identify the signal quality metrics to be reported for those nominal CSI-RS resources. The configuration of virtual or nominal CSI-RS resources may be referred to as beam index reporting configuration, predicted CSI-RS resource configuration, or other terminology.

[0089] Thus, similar to physical CSI-RS resources, nominal CSI-RS resources may provide a means for indexing or identifying virtual reference signals, such that the UE may determine which resource refers to which transmit beam in set A beams, and such that the UE may report signal quality metrics accordingly for these virtual reference signals. For example, a current UE may be configured with 8 physical CSI-RS resources (or other number of resources) in different transmit beams, the UE may measure which associated CSI-RS, and the UE may report a single CRI (e.g., one of CRI#1-8 corresponding to the best beam) for one of the measured beams and the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated with the physical CSI-RS resource. Similarly here, the UE may be configured with nominal CSI-RS resources associated with different transmit beams and a CRI associated with a virtual reference signal (which is not transmitted), and the UE may similarly report a CRI for one of the predicted beams and / or the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated with the nominal CSI-RS resource. As an example, instead of the UE being configured to receive eight physical CSI-RS #1-8 as previously indicated, here the UE may be configured with four physical CSI-RS resources with CRI #1, 3, 5, 7 (corresponding to set B beams) and four nominal CSI-RS resources with CRI #2, 4, 6, 8 (corresponding to set A beams), and the UE may predict and report one of the nominal CRI #2, 4, 6, 8 (e.g., the best beam or prediction result) based on the measurement result of one of the physical CRI #1, 3, 5, 7. The nominal CSI resources may thus provide a reference for the UE to report one or more predicted / selected set A beams based on one or more received / measured set B beams. Therefore, in contrast to conventional beam prediction methods, the nominal CSI-RS resource configuration here allows the UE to measure signals in fewer transmit beams, switch between fewer receive beams when determining the best beam pair, and receive fewer physical reference signals in wireless communication, thereby allowing the UE to save power consumption, experience reduced latency, and communicate with reduced overhead.

[0090] Fig. 8A and Figure 8B Examples 800, 850 of nominal CSI-RS resource configurations are illustrated. Fig. 8A As illustrated in example 800, NZP CSI-RS resources 802 are typically indicated by serving cell in CSI measurement configuration 804, which in turn may be configured in serving cell configuration 806. Figure 8BAs illustrated in example 850 of , the ZP CSI-RS resource 852 is typically indicated in a PDSCH configuration 854, which in turn may be configured per BWP in a downlink-specific BWP configuration 856. However, since the nominal CSI-RS resources are different from the NZP CSI-RS resources and the ZP CSI-RS resources, the base station may configure these resources differently to allow the UE to determine whether the CSI-RS resources relate to a virtual reference signal or a physical reference signal. Fig. 8A and Figure 8B In the example of , the nominal CSI-RS resources 808, 858 may be configured as a separate type of CSI-RS resource in addition to the NZP CSI-RS resources 802 and the ZP CSI-RS resources 852. Fig. 8A In the example 800 of FIG. 8 , the nominal CSI-RS resources 808 may be configured in parallel with the NZP CSI-RS resources 802 within the CSI measurement configuration 804 (in which case these virtual resources may be configured per serving cell), while in FIG. Figure 8B In example 850, nominal CSI-RS resources 858 may be configured in parallel with ZP CSI-RS resources 852 within a PDSCH configuration 854 (in which case these virtual resources may be configured per BWP).

[0091] Fig.9A and Fig. 9B Examples 900, 950 of other nominal CSI-RS resource configurations are illustrated. Fig. 8A and Figure 8B The examples 800 and 850 are different. Fig.9A and Fig. 9B In the examples 900 and 950, the nominal CSI-RS resources may be defined in the same resource configuration as the NZP CSI-RS resources or the ZP CSI-RS resources. Fig.9A and Fig. 9BIn the examples 900, 950 of , additional fields 902, 952 or flags may be defined within the NZP CSI-RS resource configuration 904 or the ZP CSI-RS resource configuration 954, respectively, indicating whether the associated CSI-RS resource is a nominal CSI-RS resource or a conventional NZP or ZP CSI-RS resource. For example, if the flag is set to "yes", the resource is configured as a nominal CSI-RS resource associated with a virtual reference signal, and if the flag is set to "no", the resource is configured as an NZP or ZP CSI-RS resource associated with a physical reference signal. The NZP CSI-RS resource configuration 904 and the ZP CSI-RS resource configuration 954 may include the additional fields 902, 952 as well as other fields typically present in such resource configurations, such as a CSI-RS resource identifier, a CSI-RS resource mapping, a periodicity and an offset, etc. (e.g., the other fields illustrated).

[0092] exist Fig. 8A and Figure 8B Examples of 800, 850 or Fig.9A and Fig. 9B In the examples 900 and 950, the nominal CSI-RS resource configuration may be based on the UE's reported ability to receive such configuration or field. For example, different UEs may have different capabilities in beam prediction. That is, some UEs may be able to perform beam prediction for the set A beams that are not actually transmitted, while other UEs may not be able to perform such prediction for virtual reference signals. Therefore, the UE may report to the base station its indication of whether the UE is able to receive such as about Fig. 8A , Figure 8B , Fig.9A and / or Fig. 9B Therefore, regardless of how the nominal CSI-RS resources may be configured, the BS may determine to transmit such nominal CSI-RS resource configuration to the UE in response to receiving a capability indication from the UE indicating that the UE is capable of handling such nominal CSI-RS resources. Conversely, if the UE indicates that it is not capable of handling such nominal CSI-RS resources, the base station may not include such nominal CSI-RS configuration in its RRC configuration.

[0093] Fig.10 An example 1000 of a time domain pattern configuration for a nominal CSI-RS resource is illustrated. Although the nominal CSI-RS is not physically transmitted, the time domain pattern configuration of the nominal CSI-RS resource can allow the UE to determine in which time opportunity such nominal CSI-RS would be transmitted if such CSI-RS was physically transmitted. In other words, this time domain pattern configuration can indicate to the UE a virtual transmission timing pattern of the nominal CSI-RS, and the UE can predict the signal quality associated with this virtually transmitted reference signal based on this timing.

[0094] In a first example of a time domain pattern configuration for a nominal CSI-RS resource, the UE may not expect the RRC configuration of the nominal CSI-RS resource to include periodicity or offset information, even if periodicity or offset information is typically configured in a periodic or semi-persistent NZP CSI-RS resource. In such a case, the UE may assume that the nominal CSI-RS associated with such nominal CSI-RS resource is virtually transmitted in the same time slot (or within a predefined time offset) as the physical reference signal (e.g., SSB or CSI-RS) that the UE may apply to determine the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR / CRI of the nominal CSI-RS resource. For example, reference Fig.10 , if the UE determines the nominal CSI-RS resource configuration at block 1002 (e.g., based on Fig. 8A , Figure 8B , Fig.9A or Fig. 9B 1004) lacks periodicity and offset information, the UE may determine at block 1004 that the virtual reference signal associated with the configured nominal CSI-RS resource in the set A beam 1006 is virtually transmitted in the same time slot 1008 as the physical reference signal associated with the regular CSI-RS resource in the set B beam 1010. The UE may determine the physical reference signal or the set B beam 1010, for example, based on a specific reference (e.g., a QCL reference or other specific reference) to the CSI-RS resource in the nominal CSI-RS resource configuration, and the UE may assume that the nominal CSI-RS is virtually transmitted in the same time slot 1008 (or an offset relative to the time slot) as the physical CSI-RS resource configuration for this reference. The UE may then determine the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR of the set A beam 1006 in the time slot or offset associated with the set B beam 1010 via spatial beam prediction.

[0095] In a second example of a time domain pattern configuration for a nominal CSI-RS resource, the UE may expect the RRC configuration of the nominal CSI-RS resource to include the same periodicity or offset information as the periodicity or offset information of the physical reference signal (e.g., SSB or CSI-RS) that the UE may apply to determine the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR / CRI of the nominal CSI-RS resource. In such a case, the UE may assume that the periodicity or offset information configures the nominal CSI-RS associated with such nominal CSI-RS resource to be virtually transmitted in the same time slot as the physical reference signal. For example, the reference Fig.10 , if the UE determines the nominal CSI-RS resource configuration at block 1012 (e.g., based on Fig. 8A , Figure 8B , Fig.9A or Fig. 9BIf the periodicity and offset information is configured in the example of ) including periodicity and offset information, the UE may determine at block 1014 that the periodicity and offset information indicates that the virtual reference signal associated with the configured nominal CSI-RS resource in the set A beam 1006 is virtually transmitted in the same time slot 1008 as the physical reference signal associated with the regular CSI-RS resource in the set B beam 1010. The UE may then determine the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR of the set A beam 1006 in the time slot associated with the set B beam 1010 via spatial beam prediction.

[0096] Thus, regardless of whether periodicity and offset information is included in the nominal CSI-RS resource configuration, the UE may determine the nominal CSI-RS to be virtually sent in the same time slot as the physical CSI-RS. In the first example, this determination may be based on a predefined or preconfigured association between the virtual reference signal timing and the physical reference signal timing in the first example (immediately following blocks 1002 and 1004). In the second example, this determination may be based on an expectation that the explicitly indicated periodicity and offset information for the virtual reference signal timing matches the periodicity and offset information for the physical reference signal timing (immediately following blocks 1012 and 1014). Additionally, in either the first example or the second example, this determination may be further based on a rule to virtually send the nominal CSI-RS in the same time slot as the source QCL reference signal. For example, reference Fig.10 The base station may configure nominal CSI-RS resources for corresponding beams in the set A beam 1006 according to the associated source QCL reference, so that the nominal CSI-RS #1-3 in the first part 1016 of the set A beam 1006 is aligned with the SSB #1 QCL in the first beam 1018 of the set B beam 1010, the nominal CSI-RS #4-6 in the second part 1020 of the set A beam 1006 is aligned with the SSB #2 QCL in the second beam 1022 of the set B beam 1010, and the nominal CSI-RS #7-9 in the third part 1024 of the set A beam 1006 is aligned with the SSB #3 QCL in the third beam 1026 of the set B beam 1010. In such a case, the UE may determine to virtually send nominal CSI-RS #1-3 in the same time slot 1028 or timing as SSB #1 of QCL, send nominal CSI-RS #4-6 in the same time slot 1030 or timing as SSB #2 of QCL, and send nominal CSI-RS #7-9 in the same time slot 1032 or timing as SSB #3 of QCL.

[0097] Regarding the time domain pattern configuration for the nominal CSI-RS resource Fig.10In any of the above examples described, the nominal CSI-RS (prediction resource) is virtually transmitted at the same time as its associated physical CSI-RS (measurement resource). Therefore, these time domain pattern configurations involve pure spatial domain beam prediction (and as described below with respect to Fig.11 Thus, in one example, the aforementioned pre-configuration or configuration of the nominal CSI-RS time domain pattern may be conditional on the associated nominal CSI-RS resource being configured for pure spatial domain beam prediction. Fig.10 In the example of FIG. 1 , the nominal CSI-RS resource configuration may include a spatial beam prediction flag 1034, and in response to determining that this flag 1034 is enabled or “turned on”, the UE may perform the same as Fig.10 The foregoing examples are combined with the above-described operations (e.g., blocks 1002, 1004, 1012, 1014, etc.).

[0098] Fig.11 An example 1100 of another time-domain pattern configuration for a nominal CSI-RS resource is illustrated. Fig.10 Example 1000 where the time domain pattern configuration may indicate to the UE a virtual transmission timing pattern of a nominal CSI-RS, and the UE may predict the signal quality associated with this virtually transmitted reference signal based on this timing. However, and where the time domain pattern is identical to the time domain pattern of the physical CSI-RS resource for the purpose of spatial beam prediction Fig.10 For example 1000, Fig.11 In this example 1100 of , the time domain pattern may be different from the time domain pattern of the physical CSI-RS resource for the purpose of time beam prediction. Additionally, the time domain pattern may be configured so that the nominal CSI-RS and the physical CSI-RS appear in at least one same time instance or opportunity for the purpose of joint spatial and temporal beam prediction.

[0099] In a first example of a time-domain pattern configuration for a nominal CSI-RS resource, similar to Fig.10 In a first example, the UE may not expect the RRC configuration of the nominal CSI-RS resources to include periodicity or offset information. In such a case, the UE may determine the time domain instance (time occasion of the nominal CSI-RS) associated with spatial or joint spatial / temporal beam prediction from a message that configures, activates, or triggers a CSI report including CSI associated with beam prediction. This message may be, for example, an RRC configured CSI report setup for periodic or semi-persistently scheduled CSI reporting, a MAC-CE for semi-persistently scheduled CSI reporting, or a DCI for aperiodic CSI reporting. For example, referring to Fig.11, if the UE determines the nominal CSI-RS resource configuration at block 1102 (e.g., based on Fig. 8A , Figure 8B , Fig.9A or Fig. 9B 1104) lacks periodicity and offset information, the UE may determine at block 1104 that the virtual reference signal associated with the configured nominal CSI-RS resources in the set A beam is virtually transmitted within multiple time instances 1106. Multiple time instances 1106 may be configured (via RRC), activated (via MAC-CE), or triggered (via DCI) in a CSI reporting configuration for reporting L1-RSRP / L1-SINR / CRI measurements of physical reference signals associated with regular CSI-RS resources in the set B beam. The UE may then determine the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR / CRI of the set A beam associated with the time instance 1106 based on the set B beam via time or joint space / time beam prediction.

[0100] In a second example of a time-domain pattern configuration for a nominal CSI-RS resource, similar to Fig.10 In a second example, the UE may expect the RRC configuration of the nominal CSI-RS resource to include periodicity or offset information. Fig.11 As in the first example, the UE may determine the time domain instance (time opportunity of the nominal CSI-RS) associated with the spatial or joint spatial / temporal beam prediction from a message configuring, activating, or triggering a CSI report including CSI associated with the beam prediction. The message may similarly be an RRC configured CSI report setting for periodic or semi-persistently scheduled CSI reporting, a MAC-CE for semi-persistently scheduled CSI reporting, or a DCI for aperiodic CSI reporting. However, as in Fig.11 Unlike the first example of , in this second example, the UE may further determine additional time domain instances for the nominal CSI-RS indicated in the configured periodicity or offset information. Thus, the UE may determine to align these additional time domain instances with the aforementioned time domain instances associated with the CSI report for the purpose of beam prediction.

[0101] For example, refer to Fig.11 , if the UE determines the nominal CSI-RS resource configuration at block 1108 (e.g., based on Fig. 8A , Figure 8B , Fig.9A or Fig. 9B) includes periodicity and offset information, the UE may determine at block 1110 that the virtual reference signal associated with the configured nominal CSI-RS resource in the set A beam is virtually transmitted within a plurality of configured time instances 1112 indicated in the periodicity and offset information. In addition, the UE may further determine at block 1104 a plurality of time instances 1106 configured (via RRC), activated (via MAC-CE), or triggered (via DCI) in a CSI reporting configuration for reporting L1-RSRP / L1-SINR / CRI measurements of physical reference signals associated with the conventional CSI-RS resources in the set B beam. The UE may then determine, based on the set B beam, via time or joint space / time beam prediction, the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR / CRI of the set A beam associated with the configured time instance 1112 that overlaps or aligns with the time instance 1106.

[0102] Thus, regardless of whether periodicity and offset information is included in the nominal CSI-RS resource configuration, the UE may determine the time domain instances in which the nominal CSI-RS is virtually transmitted for the purpose of time beam prediction or joint space / time beam prediction for the set A beam. In a first example, this determination may be based on a predefined or preconfigured association between the virtual reference signal timing and the physical reference signal timing indicated in the associated CSI reporting configuration (immediately following blocks 1102 and 1104). In a second example, this determination may be based on an expectation that the explicitly indicated periodicity and offset information for the virtual reference signal timing matches the periodicity and offset information for the physical reference signal timing indicated in the associated CSI reporting configuration (immediately following blocks 1108, 1110, and 1104). In either example, the UE may apply the measured time instances associated with the physical reference signal in the set B beam to the predicted virtual reference signal in the set A beam, where pure time beam prediction may be applicable if the time instances do not overlap, and joint time and space beam prediction may be applicable if at least one of the time instances overlaps.

[0103] Regarding the time domain pattern configuration for the nominal CSI-RS resource Fig.11 In any of the above examples described, the nominal CSI-RS (prediction resource) may be virtually transmitted at a different time instance, and in some cases also virtually transmitted at the same time instance as the associated physical CSI-RS (measurement resource). Thus, these time domain pattern configurations relate to pure time domain beam prediction or joint time and space domain beam prediction. Thus, in one example, the aforementioned pre-configuration or configuration of the nominal CSI-RS time domain pattern may be conditional on the associated nominal CSI-RS resource being configured for pure time domain beam prediction or joint time and space domain beam prediction. For example, in Fig.11In the example of FIG. 1 , the nominal CSI-RS resource configuration may include a time beam prediction flag 1114, and in response to determining that this flag 1114 is enabled or “turned on”, the UE may perform the same Fig.11 The foregoing examples are combined with the above-described operations (e.g., blocks 1102, 1104, 1108, 1110, etc.).

[0104] FIG. 12A to FIG. 12B Examples 1200, 1250 of CSI-RS pattern configurations (in the spatial domain, frequency domain, or code domain) for nominal CSI-RS resources are illustrated. Although the nominal CSI-RS is not physically transmitted, the CSI-RS pattern configuration of the nominal CSI-RS resources may allow the UE to determine the resource elements that would be occupied (and therefore the transmit power associated with such resource elements) if such CSI-RS were physically transmitted. In other words, such CSI-RS pattern configuration may indicate a virtual resource mapping of the nominal CSI-RS to the UE, and the UE may predict the signal quality associated with this virtually transmitted reference signal based on this resource mapping. For example, the UE may calculate the virtual RSRP at the REs indicated in the virtual resource mapping associated with the nominal CSI-RS resources (e.g., by summing the RSRP predicted for the corresponding REs), and the UE may report the summed virtual L1-RSRP (and / or associated CRI) of the nominal CSI-RS resources so that the base station can predict the best associated set A beam accordingly.

[0105] In the first example of CSI-RS pattern configuration for nominal CSI-RS resources, the UE may not expect to configure CSI-RS resource mapping in the RRC configuration for nominal CSI-RS resources. Fig. 12A As illustrated, the nominal CSI-RS configuration 1202 may lack a CSI-RS mapping configuration 1204 (e.g., configuration CSI-RS-ResourceMapping or another name) that is typically associated with a conventional CSI-RS configuration. In such a case, the UE may determine at block 1206 to apply a predefined CSI-RS pattern or a CSI-RS pattern configured or indicated separately by the base station to this resource when predicting the CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated with such nominal CSI-RS resource.

[0106] In one example, this predefined or separately configured / indicated CSI-RS pattern for the nominal CSI-RS resource (e.g., set A beam) may be the same as the spatial, frequency, or code domain CSI-RS pattern configured for the physical CSI-RS resource that the UE will apply as a measurement source for the nominal CSI-RS resource (e.g., set B beam). Figure 6If the set A beam is associated with one of the CSI-RS patterns 600, the set A beam may be associated with the same CSI-RS pattern. In another example, this predefined or individually configured / indicated CSI-RS pattern for the nominal CSI-RS resource may be Figure 6 The virtual CSI-RS pattern 600 may be used to select a specific pre-configured CSI-RS pattern in the CSI-RS pattern 600, regardless of whether this virtual CSI-RS pattern is the same as or different from the physical CSI-RS pattern configured for the associated set B beam. For example, the nominal CSI-RS resources may be used in Figure 6 The CSI-RS pattern 600 illustrated in the upper leftmost portion of FIG. 600 (i.e., a single-port CSI-RS resource occupying 3 REs per PRB, using the first OFDM symbol in a slot, and spanning active BWPs in the frequency domain, as illustrated Fig. 12A In other examples, the base station may configure or indicate a CSI-RS pattern for a nominal CSI-RS resource associated with a set A beam in a message associated with a CSI report for the nominal CSI-RS resource. This message may be, for example, an RRC-configured CSI report setting associated with a CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR report for the nominal CSI-RS resource, a MAC-CE that activates semi-persistent reporting of CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR for the nominal CSI-RS resource, or a DCI that triggers aperiodic reporting of CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR for the nominal CSI-RS resource. In any of the above examples, the UE may calculate the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR and / or determine the CRI associated with this nominal CSI-RS resource based on the RE indicated in a pre-configured or separately configured / indicated spatial domain, frequency domain, or code domain pattern.

[0107] In the second example of CSI-RS pattern configuration for nominal CSI-RS resources, the UE may be expected to configure the CSI-RS resource mapping in the RRC configuration for nominal CSI-RS resources. Fig. 12B As illustrated, the nominal CSI-RS configuration 1252 may include a CSI-RS mapping configuration 1254 (e.g., configuration CSI-RS-ResourceMapping or another name) that is similar to a CSI-RS mapping configuration associated with a conventional CSI-RS configuration. In such a case, the UE may determine to apply the CSI-RS pattern associated with the CSI-RS resource mapping configuration 1254 for this resource when predicting the CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated with such nominal CSI-RS resource. For example, the nominal CSI-RS resource associated with the set A beam may be Figure 6The UE may be configured or indicated by one of the CSI-RS patterns 600, in which case the UE may calculate the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR and / or determine the CRI associated with this nominal CSI-RS resource based on the RE indicated in the spatial domain, frequency domain, or code domain pattern.

[0108] Fig.13 An example 1300 of beam information 1302 for a nominal CSI-RS resource 1304 is illustrated. Typically in the case of physical CSI-RS resources, beam information indicating a beam shape or other parameters of a transmit beam carrying a physical CSI-RS may be configured, and the reported CSI associated with such physical CSI-RS may depend on this beam information. For example, the CSI may be different for a wide transmit beam than for a narrow transmit beam. Similarly, although the nominal CSI-RS is not physically transmitted, the UE may apply beam shape information associated with such nominal CSI-RS to predict CSI (e.g., CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR) that may similarly depend on this virtual beam information. The beam information 1302 may include, for example, a geographic direction 1306 associated with the boresight of a transmit beam associated with a nominal CSI-RS resource, a beamwidth 1308 of the transmit beam associated with the nominal CSI-RS resource (e.g., an X-dB beamwidth in the angular domain relative to a peak beamforming gain, where X is an integer), and beamforming gain information 1310 associated with the angle of the transmit beam associated with the nominal CSI-RS resource, or beamforming coefficients 1312 (digital or analog) associated with the nominal CSI-RS resource.

[0109] Thus, the UE may be expected to configure, activate, or trigger beam information 1302 (e.g., transmit beam shape information) for the nominal CSI-RS resource. In one example, the beam information 1302 may be included in the RRC configuration of the nominal CSI-RS resource 1304. For example, according to Fig. 8A , Figure 8B , Fig.9A or Fig. 9BOne of the example configurations may include beam information 1302 for the nominal CSI-RS resources 1304. In another example, the beam information 1302 may be included in a MAC-CE activation command for the nominal CSI-RS resources 1304. For example, a MAC-CE that activates nominal semi-persistent CSI-RS resources may include beam information 1302 for the nominal CSI-RS resources 1304. In another example, the beam information 1302 may be included in a MAC-CE activation command that activates the UE to provide a report including predicted CSI (e.g., CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR) for the nominal CSI-RS resources 1304. For example, a MAC-CE that activates CSI reporting for the nominal CSI-RS resources may include beam information 1302 for the nominal CSI-RS resources 1304. In an additional example, the beam information 1302 may be included in a trigger configuration for an aperiodic CSI report including predicted CSI (e.g., CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR) for the nominal CSI-RS resources 1304. For example, the DCI triggering the CSI report for the nominal CSI-RS resources may include the beam information 1302 for the nominal CSI-RS resources 1304.

[0110] Based on such beam information associated with the nominal CSI-RS resource, the UE may predict the CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR of the nominal CSI-RS resource. For example, the UE may input beam information 1302 associated with the nominal CSI-RS resource 1304 including one or more of the geographic direction 1306, the beam width 1308, the beamforming gain information 1310, or the beamforming coefficient 1312 into an AI / ML model (e.g., ML models 502, 503, ML-based beam prediction model 704) to obtain the CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated with the nominal CSI-RS resource 1304 as an output from the AI / ML model. Additionally, the UE may further predict the CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR of the nominal CSI-RS resources (e.g., associated with the set A beams) based on similar beam shape information associated with the physical CSI-RS resource configuration (e.g., associated with the set B beams) that the UE may receive from the base station. For example, in addition to inputting the beam information 1302 associated with the nominal CSI-RS resources 1304 in its AI / ML model such as previously described, the UE may also input similar beam information associated with the physically transmitted SSB or CSI-RS in its AI / ML model to output the predicted CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated with the nominal CSI-RS resources 1304.

[0111] Fig.14 An example 1400 of UE capability information 1402 indicating a maximum number of configurable or active nominal CSI-RS resources or ports is illustrated. As previously described with respect to UE capabilities, the UE may report to the base station the maximum number of physical CSI-RS resources and ports (e.g., NZP CSI-RS resources) that it supports that are configured and activated for CSI feedback. For example, in the NZP CSI-RS capability category 1404 (e.g., via parameter csi-RS-IM-ReceptionForFeedback or another name), the UE may report a first NZP CSI-RS capability 1406 including the maximum number of configured NZP-CSI-RS resources per CC, a second NZP CSI-RS capability 1408 including the maximum number of ports across all configured NZP-CSI-RS resources per CC, a third NZP CSI-RS capability 1410 including the maximum number of simultaneous (active) CSI-RS resources per CC, and a fourth NZP CSI-RS capability 1412 including the total number of CSI-RS ports in the simultaneous (active) CSI-RS resources per CC.

[0112] Similarly, the UE may report similar capabilities for nominal CSI-RS resources and ports in the NZP CSI-RS capability category 1404 or in a separate nominal CSI-RS capability category 1414. For example, the UE may report a first nominal CSI-RS capability 1416 including a maximum number of configured nominal CSI-RS resources per cell or CC (e.g., via parameter maxConfigNumberNominal-CSI-RS-PerCC or another name), a second nominal CSI-RS capability 1418 including a maximum number of ports across all configured nominal CSI-RS resources per cell or CC (e.g., via parameter maxConfigNumberPortsAcrossNominal-CSI-RS-PerCC or another name), a second nominal CSI-RS capability 1419 including a maximum number of ports across all configured nominal CSI-RS resources per cell or CC (e.g., via parameter maxConfigNumberPortsAcrossNominal-CSI-RS-PerCC or another name), a second nominal CSI-RS capability 1420 including a maximum number of ports across all configured nominal CSI-RS resources per cell or CC (e.g., via parameter maxConfigNumberPortsAcrossNominal-CSI-RS-PerCC or another name), a second nominal CSI-RS capability 1421 including a maximum number of ports across all configured nominal CSI-RS resources per cell or CC (e.g., via parameter maxConfigNumberPortsAcrossNominal-CSI-RS-PerCC or another name). The first nominal CSI-RS capability 1416 and the second nominal CSI-RS capability 1418 may refer to RRC configured resources or ports, while the third nominal CSI-RS capability 1420 and the fourth nominal CSI-RS capability 1422 may refer to resources or ports that are periodically, semi-persistently, or aperiodically activated within a time duration.

[0113] Therefore, the UE may report its capabilities for processing different types of CSI-RS resources (e.g., NZP CSI-RS and nominal CSI-RS) in the UE capability information 1402. For example, just as a UE generally requires hardware or software to process, measure, buffer, or otherwise handle measurement results regarding physical CSI-RS resources and ports, a UE capable of processing nominal CSI-RS resources and ports may similarly require hardware or software to process the nominal CSI-RS resources and ports. Fig.14As illustrated in example 1400 of , instead of reporting a single capability for both nominal and physical CSI-RS resources, separate capabilities may be reported for nominal CSI-RS resources but not for physical CSI-RS resources, so that backward compatibility may be maintained for UEs that are not capable of handling nominal CSI-RS resources. In addition, some UEs may share hardware or software to handle both types of resources with similar complexity, while other UEs may handle the two types of resources independently. Thus, there may be different examples as to whether the UE's NZP CSI-RS capability category 1404 (i.e., the maximum number of configured or active physical CSI-RS resources and ports of the UE) is taken into account or is alternatively independent of the UE's nominal CSI-RS capability category 1414 (i.e., the maximum number of configured or active nominal CSI-RS resources and ports of the UE).

[0114] In one example, the configured or active nominal CSI-RS resources may be considered to be the total configured or active CSI-RS resources (including physical resources and nominal resources) such that the NZP CSI-RS capability category 1404 reported by the UE (e.g., its maximum number of configured or active CSI-RS resources and ports) takes into account the nominal CSI-RS capability category 1414 (e.g., its maximum configured or active nominal CSI-RS resources or ports). For example, this example may be applicable in a scenario where a UE that was previously able to simultaneously activate 8 NZP CSI-RS resources if the UE was not processing nominal CSI-RS resources would not be able to simultaneously activate the same 8 NZP CSI-RS resources if the UE would also simultaneously activate 4 nominal CSI-RS resources. In such a case, if the UE reports that it is capable of simultaneously activating 8 NZP CSI-RS resources in the NZP CSI-RS capability category 1404 and 4 nominal CSI-RS resources in the nominal CSI-RS capability category 1414, the UE may activate only a total of 8 CSI-RS resources (e.g., at least four physical and at most four nominal in various combinations such as: 4 and 4; 5 and 3; 6 and 2; 7 and 1; or 8 and 0).

[0115] In another example, the configured or active nominal CSI-RS resources may not be considered as the total configured or active CSI-RS resources (including physical resources and nominal resources) such that the NZP CSI-RS capability category 1404 reported by the UE (e.g., its maximum number of configured or active CSI-RS resources and ports) does not take into account the nominal CSI-RS capability category 1414 (e.g., its maximum configured or active nominal CSI-RS resources or ports). For example, this example may be applicable in a scenario where a UE that was previously able to simultaneously activate 8 NZP CSI-RS resources without the UE processing nominal CSI-RS resources will still be able to simultaneously activate the same 8 NZP CSI-RS resources without the UE also simultaneously activating 4 nominal CSI-RS resources. In such a case, if the UE reports that it is capable of simultaneously activating 8 NZP CSI-RS resources in the NZP CSI-RS capability category 1404 and 4 nominal CSI-RS resources in the nominal CSI-RS capability category 1414, the UE may activate a total of 12 CSI-RS resources (e.g., up to eight physical and up to four nominal in various combinations). Thus, the UE may activate physical CSI-RS resources independently of nominal CSI-RS resources in this example.

[0116] Fig.15 1500 is a diagram illustrating an example of a call flow between a UE 1502 and a base station 1504. Initially, the UE 1502 may send a UE capability information message 1506 to the base station indicating a beam prediction capability 1508 of the UE 1502. For example, the beam prediction capability 1508 may indicate whether the UE 1502 is capable of performing beam prediction of a set A beam associated with a virtual reference signal that is not physically transmitted. The UE capability information message 1506 may also include an NZP CSI-RS capability category and a nominal CSI-RS capability category, such as information about Fig.14 as described.

[0117] In response to the UE capability information message 1506 indicating the beam prediction capability 1508, the base station 1504 may send a configuration 1510 indicating virtual reference signal resources 1512 to the UE 1502. For example, if the beam prediction capability 1508 indicates that the UE is capable of handling virtual reference signals 1514 associated with such virtual reference signal resources 1512, the base station may send the configuration 1510. The virtual reference signal resources 1512 may be nominal CSI-RS resources, such as indicated in the RRC configuration 1516 as periodic CSI-RS resources 1518, in the MAC-CE 1520 as semi-persistent CSI-RS resources 1522, or in the DCI 1524 as aperiodic CSI-RS resources 1526. In contrast to a physical reference signal 1528, such as an SSB 1530 or a CSI-RS 1532 (e.g., an NZP CSI-RS or a ZP CSI-RS), that the UE 1502 may physically receive from the base station 1504 in an actual transmit beam (e.g., a set B beam), the virtual reference signal 1514 does not occupy physical resources (e.g., a time slot, a resource element, or a PRB), but instead represents a CSI-RS resource associated with a predicted transmit beam (i.e., a set A beam).

[0118] Configuration 1510 may include virtual reference signal resources 1512 and physical reference signal resources 1534 associated with physical reference signal 1528. Physical reference signal resources 1534 may be, for example, NZP CSI-RS resources 1536 or ZP CSI-RS resources 1538. Virtual reference signal resources 1512 may be indicated in a configuration separate from physical reference signal resources 1534 within configuration 1510. For example, configuration 1510 may be a CSI measurement configuration that includes NZP CSI-RS resources 1536 and virtual reference signal resources 1512 alone (e.g., as described with respect to FIG. 1 ). Fig. 8A ) or a PDSCH configuration including ZP CSI-RS resources 1538 and virtual reference signal resources 1512 alone (e.g., as described with respect to Figure 8B Alternatively, the virtual reference signal resource 1512 may be indicated in the same configuration as the physical reference signal resource 1534 within the configuration 1510. For example, the virtual reference signal resource 1512 may be an NZP CSI-RS resource 1540 including a parameter 1542 indicating its association with the virtual reference signal 1514 (e.g., as described with respect to Fig.9A ), or the virtual reference signal resource 1512 may be a ZP CSI-RS resource 1544 including a parameter 1546 similarly indicating its association with the virtual reference signal 1514 (e.g., as described with respect to Fig. 9B described).

[0119] Configuration 1510 may include periodicity and offset information 1548 associated with virtual reference signal resources 1512, or may not include periodicity and offset information 1548 associated with virtual reference signal resources 1512. If periodicity and offset information 1548 is absent, virtual reference signal resources 1512 may be preconfigured to be associated with the same time slot or multiple time instances as physical reference signal resources 1534 (e.g., as described with respect to FIG. Fig.10 Boxes 1002 and 1004 or Fig.11 If periodicity and offset information 1548 is included, virtual reference signal resources 1512 may be explicitly preconfigured to be associated with the same time slot or multiple time instances as physical reference signal resources 1534 (e.g., as described with respect to blocks 1102 and 1104 of FIG. 1 ). Fig.10 Boxes 1012 and 1014 or Fig.11 In addition, configuration 1510 may include a QCL indication 1550 indicating a QCL relationship between virtual reference signal 1514 and physical reference signal 1528. In such a case, QCL indication 1550 may indicate to UE 1502 that virtual reference signal resource 1512 and physical reference signal resource 1534 are associated with the same time slot (e.g., with respect to Fig.10 The same time slots 1028, 1030, 1032) described are associated.

[0120] Configuration 1510 may include a CSI-RS resource mapping configuration 1552 indicating a CSI-RS pattern 1554, or may not include a CSI-RS resource mapping configuration 1552 indicating a CSI-RS pattern 1554. If CSI-RS resource mapping configuration 1552 is absent, the CSI-RS pattern 1554 associated with virtual reference signal resource 1512 may be the same as Figure 6 A predefined, configured, or indicated CSI-RS pattern (e.g., as described with respect to Fig. 12A For example, the CSI-RS pattern 1554 may be predefined to match the CSI-RS pattern 1556 associated with the physical reference signal resource 1534. If a CSI-RS resource mapping configuration 1552 is included, the CSI-RS pattern 1554 associated with the virtual reference signal resource 1512 may be as indicated in the CSI-RS resource mapping configuration 1552 (e.g., as described with respect to Fig. 12B described).

[0121] Configuration 1510 may also include beam information 1558 indicating a beam shape or other parameters associated with virtual reference signal resource 1512. For example, beam information 1558 may include a geographic direction of a transmit beam for virtual reference signal 1514, a beam width of the transmit beam, beamforming gain information associated with an angle of the transmit beam, or beamforming coefficients associated with the virtual reference signal, such as information about the transmit beam. Fig.13 Similarly, the physical reference signal resource 1534 may also be associated with the beam information 1560 for the physical reference signal 1528 .

[0122] After receiving the physical reference signal 1528 from the base station 1504, the UE 1502 may obtain a signal quality metric 1562 of the physical reference signal 1528. For example, the UE 1502 may measure the L1-RSRP or L1-SINR of the physical reference signal 1528. Subsequently, the UE 1502 may send a CSI report 1564 including channel information 1566 associated with the virtual reference signal resource 1512. For example, the channel information 1566 may include a CRI 1568 or a signal quality metric 1570 (e.g., L1-RSRP or L1-SINR) associated with the virtual reference signal resource 1512 that the UE 1502 may predict based on the signal quality metric 1562 of the physical reference signal 1528 (associated with the set B beam). Alternatively or additionally, UE 1502 may derive channel information 1566 based on the output of an AI / ML model that predicts the set A beam (e.g., such as the parameters regarding the virtual reference signal resources 1512 and / or the physical reference signal resources 1534) based on inputs of the aforementioned parameters. Figure 5 and Figure 7 described).

[0123] Fig.16 1600 is a flow chart of a method of wireless communication. The method may be performed by a UE (e.g., UE 104, 350, 1502; device 1702). Optional aspects are illustrated by dashed lines. The method allows the UE to be configured with nominal CSI resources that provide a virtual reference for the UE to report channel information for one or more predicted or selected set A beams (e.g., based on one or more received or measured set B beams).

[0124] At 1602, the UE may send a message indicating UE capability information associated with a reference signal resource. For example, 1602 may be performed by message component 1740. For example, reference Fig.15, the UE 1502 may send a UE capability information message 1506 associated with a virtual reference signal resource 1512 (nominal CSI-RS resource). For example, the UE capability information message 1506 may include a nominal CSI-RS capability category 1414, such as Fig.14 The UE capability information may include at least one of: a first maximum amount of configured reference signal resources for a component carrier (e.g., a first nominal CSI-RS capability 1416), a second maximum amount of antenna ports across configured reference signal resources (e.g., a second nominal CSI-RS capability 1418), a third maximum amount of simultaneous reference signal resources for a component carrier (e.g., a third nominal CSI-RS capability 1420), or a total amount of antenna ports in simultaneous reference signal resources (e.g., a fourth nominal CSI-RS capability 1422).

[0125] At 1604, the UE receives a configuration of reference signal resources for a virtual reference signal that does not occupy physical resources. For example, 1604 can be performed by configuration component 1742. For example, reference Fig.15 , the UE 1502 may receive a configuration 1510 indicating a virtual reference signal resource 1512 (e.g., a nominal CSI-RS resource) associated with a virtual reference signal 1514. The virtual reference signal 1514 may not occupy a physical resource (e.g., a time slot, a resource element, or a PRB), but may represent a CSI-RS resource associated with a predicted transmit beam (i.e., a set A beam). In one example, the reference signal resource may be a periodic CSI-RS resource indicated in an RRC configuration, a semi-persistent CSI-RS resource activated in a MAC-CE, or an aperiodic CSI-RS resource triggered in downlink control information. For example, the virtual reference signal resource 1512 may be a nominal CSI-RS resource, such as indicated as a periodic CSI-RS resource 1518 in an RRC configuration 1516, as a semi-persistent CSI-RS resource 1522 in a MAC-CE 1520, or as an aperiodic CSI-RS resource 1526 in a DCI 1524.

[0126] In one example, the configuration may include a plurality of different types of CSI-RS resources, a first type of the different types being a reference signal resource, and a second type of the different types being a NZP CSI-RS resource or a ZP CSI-RS resource. Fig.15, the virtual reference signal resources 1512 may be indicated in a configuration separate from the physical reference signal resources 1534 (e.g., NZP CSI-RS resources 1536 or ZP CSI-RS resources 1538) within the configuration 1510. In one example, the configuration may be a CSI measurement configuration, and the second of the different types may be NZP CSI-RS resources. Fig.15 , the configuration 1510 may be a configuration that includes NZP CSI-RS resources 1536 and virtual reference signal resources 1512 (e.g., as described with respect to Fig. 8A In another example, the configuration may be a PDSCH configuration, and the second type of the different types may be a ZP CSI-RS resource. For example, referring to Fig.15 , the configuration 1510 may be a single configuration including ZP CSI-RS resources 1538 and virtual reference signal resources 1512 (e.g., as described with respect to Figure 8B described) (e.g., PDSCH configuration 854).

[0127] In one example, the reference signal resource may be an NZP CSI-RS resource or a ZP CSI-RS resource, and the reference signal resource may further include a parameter indicating that the virtual reference signal does not occupy a physical resource. Fig.15 , virtual reference signal resource 1512 may be indicated in the same configuration as physical reference signal resource 1534 (e.g., NZP CSI-RS resource 1536 or ZP CSI-RS resource 1538) within configuration 1510. For example, virtual reference signal resource 1512 may include an indication of its association with virtual reference signal 1514 (e.g., as described with respect to Fig.9A 1542 (e.g., additional field 902) of the NZP CSI-RS resource 1540, or the virtual reference signal resource 1512 may include a parameter 1542 (e.g., additional field 902) similarly indicating its association with the virtual reference signal 1514 (e.g., as described with respect to Fig. 9B 1544 of the ZP CSI-RS resources 1544 of the parameters 1546 (eg, the additional field 952) as described above.

[0128] In one example, a configuration may be received at 1604 based on the ability of the device to predict a transmit beam based on a virtual reference signal. Fig.15, the UE capability information message 1506 may indicate a beam prediction capability 1508, which may indicate whether the UE 1502 is capable of performing beam prediction of a set A beam associated with a virtual reference signal that is not physically transmitted. In response to the UE capability information message 1506 indicating the beam prediction capability 1508, the UE 1502 may receive a configuration 1510 indicating a virtual reference signal resource 1512 from the base station 1504. For example, if the beam prediction capability 1508 indicates that the UE 1502 is capable of handling a virtual reference signal 1514 associated with such a virtual reference signal resource 1512, the base station may send the configuration 1510.

[0129] At 1606, the UE may receive a physical reference signal, where the physical reference signal is an SSB or a CSI-RS. For example, 1606 may be performed by reference signal component 1744. For example, reference Fig.15 , UE 1502 may receive a physical reference signal 1528 such as SSB 1530 or CSI-RS 1532 (e.g., NZP CSI-RS or ZP CSI-RS). Physical reference signal 1528 may be associated with physical reference signal resource 1534 and may be physically received from base station 1504 in an actual transmit beam (i.e., set B beam).

[0130] In one example, the virtual reference signal may be mapped to a time slot associated with a physical reference signal based on the lack of periodicity and offset information for the virtual reference signal in the reference signal resource. Fig.15 , the configuration 1510 may not include periodicity and offset information 1548 associated with the virtual reference signal resource 1512, in which case the virtual reference signal resource 1512 may be pre-configured to be associated with the same time slot (e.g., the same time slot 1008) as the physical reference signal resource 1534 (e.g., as described with respect to Fig.10 1002 and 1004).

[0131] In one example, the reference signal resource may include periodicity and offset information for the virtual reference signal, and the virtual reference signal may be mapped to a time slot associated with the physical reference signal based on the periodicity and offset information. Fig.15 , the configuration 1510 may include periodicity and offset information 1548 associated with the virtual reference signal resource 1512, in which case the virtual reference signal resource 1512 may be explicitly preconfigured to be associated with the same time slot (e.g., the same time slot 1008) as the physical reference signal resource 1534 (e.g., as described with respect to Fig.10 1012 and 1014).

[0132] In one example, the reference signal resource may include an indication that the physical reference signal is quasi-co-located with the virtual reference signal, and the virtual reference signal may be mapped to a time slot associated with the physical reference signal based on the indication. Fig.15 , the configuration 1510 may include a QCL indication 1550 indicating a QCL relationship between the virtual reference signal 1514 and the physical reference signal 1528. In such a case, the QCL indication 1550 may indicate to the UE 1502 that the virtual reference signal resource 1512 and the physical reference signal resource 1534 are associated with the same time slot (e.g., such as with respect to Fig.10 The same time slots 1028, 1030, 1032) described are associated.

[0133] In one example, the reference signal resource may include an indication that the reference signal resource is associated with beam prediction in the spatial domain, and the virtual reference signal may be mapped to a time slot associated with the physical reference signal based on the indication. Fig.10 and Fig.15 , the virtual reference signal resource 1512 (e.g., the nominal CSI-RS resource) may include a spatial beam prediction flag 1034, and in response to determining that this flag 1034 is enabled or "turned on", the UE 1502 may perform the same as Fig.10 The foregoing examples are combined with the above-described operations (e.g., virtual reference signal resources 1512 and physical reference signal resources 1534 may be associated with the same time slots 1008, 1028, 1030, 1032 in response to blocks 1002, 1004, 1012, 1014, etc.).

[0134] At 1608, the UE sends a report indicating channel information associated with the reference signal resource. For example, 1608 can be performed by reporting component 1746. The channel information can include at least one of a CRI associated with the reference signal resource or a signal quality metric associated with the reference signal resource. For example, the reference signal resource can be a CRI associated with the reference signal resource. Fig.15 , UE 1502 may send a CSI report 1564 including channel information 1566 associated with virtual reference signal resources 1512. For example, channel information 1566 may include CRI 1568 or signal quality metric 1570 (e.g., L1-RSRP or L1-SINR) associated with virtual reference signal resources 1512. In one example, the channel information may be based on the physical reference signal received at 1606. For example, reference Fig.15 , UE 1502 may predict channel information 1566 (associated with set A beams) based on signal quality metrics 1562 of physical reference signals 1528 (associated with set B beams). For example, UE 1502 may predict channel information 1566 (associated with set A beams) based on physical SSBs (e.g., Figure 7The L1-RSRP / L1-SINR of the nominal CSI-RS resource is identified by SSB measurement of the set B beam 702 of the set B beam, but the set B beam is not limited to carrying SSB. As an example, the UE may be configured with four physical CSI-RS resources with CRI #1, 3, 5, 7 (corresponding to the set B beam) and four nominal CSI-RS resources with CRI #2, 4, 6, 8 (corresponding to the set A beam), and the UE may predict and report one of the nominal CRI #2, 4, 6, 8 (e.g., the best beam or the predicted result) based on the measurement result of one of the physical CRI #1, 3, 5, 7.

[0135] In another example, the signal quality metric of the physical reference signal may be an input to an ML model of the device, and the channel information associated with the reference signal resource may be based on the output of the ML model. Fig.15 , the UE 1502 may derive channel information 1566 based on the output of an AI / ML model (e.g., AI / ML-based beam prediction model 704; ML models 502, 503) that predicts the set A beams based on inputs such as configured parameters and / or measurements (e.g., signal quality metrics 1562) of virtual reference signal resources 1512 and / or physical reference signal resources 1534. As an example, the base station 1504 may configure the UE 1502 with an AI / ML model (e.g., AI / ML model 704) in which the UE 1502 may input L1-RSRP / L1-SINR measured from SSBs (e.g., in the set B beams), wherein the output of the AI / ML model includes L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated with the nominal CSI-RS resources. Based on the AI / ML model output, the UE may identify the signal quality metrics to be reported for those nominal CSI-RS resources.

[0136] In one example, channel information may be sent in a CSI report associated with multiple time instances for transmit beam prediction at 1608, and a virtual reference signal may be mapped to each time instance based on a lack of periodicity and offset information for the virtual reference signal in the reference signal resource. In this example, the time instance may be indicated in the RRC configuration, activated in the MAC-CE, or triggered in the DCI. For example, reference Fig.15 , configuration 1510 may not include periodicity and offset information 1548 associated with virtual reference signal resources 1512, in which case virtual reference signal resources 1512 may be preconfigured to be associated with the same multiple time instances (e.g., time instances 1106) as physical reference signal resources 1534 (e.g., as described with respect to Fig.111104). UE 1502 may determine L1-RSRP / L1-SINR / CRI for set A beams associated with time instance 1106 based on set B beams via time or joint space / time beam prediction, and UE 1502 may send CSI report 1564 reporting channel information 1566 accordingly (e.g., predicted L1-RSRP / L1-SINR / CRI measurements associated with these time instances and set A beams). Multiple time instances 1106 may be configured (via RRC), activated (via MAC-CE), or triggered (via DCI) in a CSI reporting configuration for CSI report 1564.

[0137] In one example, channel information may be sent in a CSI report associated with a plurality of time instances for transmitting beam prediction at 1608, the reference signal resource may include periodicity and offset information for a virtual reference signal, and the virtual reference signal may be mapped to each time instance based on the periodicity and offset information. In this example, the time instance may be similarly indicated in the RRC configuration, activated in the MAC-CE, or triggered in the DCI. For example, the reference Fig.15 , the configuration 1510 may include periodicity and offset information 1548 associated with the virtual reference signal resource 1512, in which case the virtual reference signal resource 1512 may be explicitly pre-configured to be associated with the same multiple time instances as the physical reference signal resource 1534 (e.g., time instances 1106 that overlap or align with the configured time instances 1112) (e.g., as described with respect to Fig.11 1104, 1108, and 1110 of ). The UE may determine the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR / CRI associated with the configured time instances 1112 that overlap or align with the time instances 1106 based on the set B beams via time or joint space / time beam prediction, and the UE 1502 may send a CSI report 1564 reporting channel information 1566 accordingly (e.g., the predicted L1-RSRP / L1-SINR / CRI measurements associated with these time instances and the set A beams). Multiple time instances 1106 may be configured (via RRC), activated (via MAC-CE), or triggered (via DCI) in the CSI reporting configuration for the CSI report 1564.

[0138] In one example, channel information may be sent in a CSI report associated with a plurality of time instances for transmit beam prediction, a reference signal resource may include an indication that the reference signal resource is associated with the transmit beam prediction in the time domain, and a virtual reference signal may be mapped to each time instance based on the indication. Fig.11 and Fig.15, the virtual reference signal resource 1512 (eg, the nominal CSI-RS resource) may include a time beam prediction flag 1114, and in response to determining that this flag 1114 is enabled or "turned on", the UE 1502 may perform the same Fig.11 The foregoing examples are combined with the above-described operations described above (e.g., blocks 1102, 1104, 1108, 1110, etc., in response to which virtual reference signal resources 1512 and physical reference signal resources 1534 may be associated with the same multiple time instances 1106). UE 1502 may determine the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR / CRI of the set A beams associated with time instance 1106 or with the configured time instance 1112 that overlaps or aligns with time instance 1106 based on the set B beams via time or joint space / time beam prediction, and UE 1502 may accordingly send a CSI report 1564 reporting channel information 1566 (e.g., the predicted L1-RSRP / L1-SINR / CRI measurements associated with these time instances and the set A beams).

[0139] In one example, the reference signal resource may be associated with a CSI-RS pattern for a virtual reference signal based on the reference signal resource lacking a CSI-RS resource mapping configuration, and the channel information may be based on the CSI-RS pattern. Fig.15 , configuration 1510 may not include a CSI-RS resource mapping configuration 1552 (e.g., CSI-RS resource mapping configuration 1204), in which case the CSI-RS pattern 1554 for the virtual reference signal resource 1512 may be the same as Figure 6 A predefined, configured, or indicated CSI-RS pattern (e.g., as described in relation to Fig. 12A Based on this predefined or separately configured or indicated CSI-RS pattern, the UE 1502 may predict channel information 1566 (e.g., signal quality) associated with the virtual reference signal 1514. For example, the UE 1502 may calculate the virtual RSRP at the REs indicated in the virtual resource mapping associated with the nominal CSI-RS resources (e.g., by summing the RSRPs predicted for the corresponding REs), and the UE 1502 may report the summed virtual L1-RSRP (and / or associated CRI) of the nominal CSI-RS resources so that the base station 1504 can predict the best associated set A beam accordingly.

[0140] In one example, the CSI-RS pattern may be pre-configured, may be indicated in the RRC configuration, may be activated in the MAC-CE, or may be triggered in the DCI. Fig.15, a CSI-RS pattern for the nominal CSI-RS resources associated with the set A beam may be configured or indicated in a message associated with CSI reporting of the nominal CSI-RS resources 1554. This message may be, for example, an RRC-configured CSI reporting setting associated with CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR reporting of the nominal CSI-RS resources, a MAC-CE activating semi-persistent reporting of CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR of the nominal CSI-RS resources, or a DCI triggering aperiodic reporting of CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR of the nominal CSI-RS resources.

[0141] In another example, the channel information may be based on a physical reference signal, and the CSI-RS pattern used for the virtual reference signal may be the same as the second CSI-RS pattern associated with the physical reference signal. Fig.15 , the CSI-RS pattern 1554 for the nominal CSI-RS resource (e.g., set A beam) may be the same as the CSI-RS pattern 1556 for the physical reference signal resource 1534, and the UE may apply the physical CSI-RS resource as a measurement source for deriving channel information 1566 associated with the nominal CSI-RS resource (e.g., set B beam). For example, if the set B beam is Figure 6 If a set A beam is associated with one of the CSI-RS patterns 600, the set A beam may be associated with the same CSI-RS pattern.

[0142] In one example, the reference signal resource may include a CSI-RS resource mapping configuration indicating a CSI-RS pattern for a virtual reference signal, and the channel information may be based on the CSI-RS pattern. Fig.15 , the configuration 1510 may include a CSI-RS resource mapping configuration 1552 (e.g., the CSI-RS resource mapping configuration 1254), in which case the CSI-RS pattern 1554 for the virtual reference signal resource 1512 may be as indicated in the CSI-RS resource mapping configuration 1552 (e.g., as indicated with respect to Fig. 12B 1502 may determine to apply the CSI-RS pattern 1554 associated with the CSI-RS resource mapping configuration 1552 to this resource when deriving channel information 1566 (e.g., CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR) associated with such a nominal CSI-RS resource. For example, the nominal CSI-RS resource associated with the set A beam may be Figure 6The UE may be configured or indicated by one of the CSI-RS patterns 600, in which case the UE may calculate the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR and / or determine the CRI associated with this nominal CSI-RS resource based on the RE indicated in CSI-RS pattern 1554.

[0143] In one example, the reference signal resource may be associated with the beam information. Fig.15 , configuration 1510 may include beam information 1558 indicating a beam shape or other parameter associated with virtual reference signal resource 1512. The beam information may include at least one of: a geographic direction of a transmit beam for a virtual reference signal; a beam width of a transmit beam; beamforming gain information associated with an angle of the transmit beam; or a beamforming coefficient associated with a virtual reference signal. Fig.13 and Fig.15 , the beam information 1558 may include a geographic direction of a transmit beam for a virtual reference signal 1514 (e.g., a geographic direction 1306 associated with a boresight of a transmit beam associated with a nominal CSI-RS resource), a beamwidth of the transmit beam (e.g., a beamwidth 1308, such as an X-dB beamwidth in an angular domain relative to a peak beamforming gain, where X is an integer), beamforming gain information associated with an angle of the transmit beam (e.g., beamforming gain information 1310), or beamforming coefficients associated with the virtual reference signal (e.g., beamforming coefficients 1312, which may be digital or analog).

[0144] In one example, the beam information may be indicated in the RRC configuration, activated in the MAC-CE, or triggered in the DCI. Fig.13 and Fig.15 In one example, the beam information 1302, 1558 may be included in the RRC configuration of the nominal CSI-RS resource 1304. For example, according to Fig. 8A , Figure 8B , Fig.9A or Fig. 9BOne of the example configurations may include beam information 1302, 1558 for the nominal CSI-RS resources 1304. In another example, the beam information 1302, 1558 may be included in a MAC-CE activation command for the nominal CSI-RS resources 1304. For example, a MAC-CE that activates nominal semi-persistent CSI-RS resources may include beam information 1302, 1558 for the nominal CSI-RS resources 1304. In another example, the beam information 1302, 1558 may be included in a MAC-CE activation command that activates the UE to provide a report including predicted CSI (e.g., CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR) for the nominal CSI-RS resources 1304. For example, a MAC-CE that activates CSI reporting for the nominal CSI-RS resources may include beam information 1302, 1558 for the nominal CSI-RS resources 1304. In an additional example, the beam information 1302, 1558 may be included in a trigger configuration for an aperiodic CSI report including predicted CSI (e.g., CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR) for the nominal CSI-RS resources 1304. For example, the DCI triggering the CSI report for the nominal CSI-RS resources may include the beam information 1302, 1558 for the nominal CSI-RS resources 1304.

[0145] In one example, the channel information may be based on one of: beam information; or beam information and second beam information associated with a physical reference signal. Fig.13 and Fig.15, the virtual reference signal resource 1512 may be associated with the beam information 1302, 1558 for the virtual reference signal 1514, and the physical reference signal resource 1534 may be associated with the beam information 1302, 1560 for the physical reference signal 1528. The UE 1502 may input the beam information 1302, 1558 associated with the nominal CSI-RS resource 1304 into the AI / ML model (e.g., the ML model 502, 503, the ML-based beam prediction model 704) to obtain the channel information 1566 (e.g., CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR) associated with the nominal CSI-RS resource 1304 as an output from the AI / ML model. Additionally, the UE 1502 may further predict channel information 1566 (e.g., CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR) for the nominal CSI-RS resources (e.g., associated with the set A beam) based on the beam information 1302, 1560 associated with the physical reference signal resources 1534. For example, in addition to inputting the beam information 1302, 1558 associated with the virtual reference signal resources 1512 in its AI / ML model such as previously described, the UE 1502 may also input the beam information 1302, 1560 associated with the physically transmitted SSB or CSI-RS in its AI / ML model to output the predicted CRI and / or L1-RSRP / L1-SINR associated with the nominal CSI-RS resources 1304.

[0146] In one example, the channel information may be based on a physical CSI-RS associated with a physical CSI-RS resource, and the maximum number of supported physical CSI-RS resources or supported physical CSI-RS antenna ports may be based on the UE capability information sent at 1602. For example, referring to Fig.15 , UE 1502 may predict channel information 1566 (e.g., CSI associated with nominal CSI-RS resources associated with set A beams) based on signal quality metrics 1562 of physical reference signal 1528 associated with physical reference signal resources 1534 (e.g., NZP CSI-RS resources associated with set B beams). In addition, when UE 1502 sends UE capability information message 1506, this message may include information such as information about Fig.14The described NZP CSI-RS capability category 1404 and the nominal CSI-RS capability category 1414, wherein the NZP CSI-RS capability category 1404 reported by the UE (e.g., its maximum number of configured or active CSI-RS resources and ports) takes into account the nominal CSI-RS capability category 1414 (e.g., its maximum configured or active nominal CSI-RS resources or ports). Thus, if the UE 1502 reports that it is able to simultaneously activate 8 NZP CSI-RS resources in the NZP CSI-RS capability category 1404 and 4 nominal CSI-RS resources in the nominal CSI-RS capability category 1414, the UE may only activate a total of 8 CSI-RS resources (e.g., at least four physical and at most four nominal in various combinations such as: 4 and 4; 5 and 3; 6 and 2; 7 and 1; or 8 and 0).

[0147] In one example, the channel information may be based on a physical CSI-RS associated with a physical CSI-RS resource, and the maximum number of supported physical CSI-RS resources or supported physical CSI-RS antenna ports may be independent of the UE capability information sent at 1602. For example, referring to Fig.15 , UE 1502 may predict channel information 1566 (e.g., CSI associated with nominal CSI-RS resources associated with set A beams) based on signal quality metrics 1562 of physical reference signal 1528 associated with physical reference signal resources 1534 (e.g., NZP CSI-RS resources associated with set B beams). In addition, when UE 1502 sends UE capability information message 1506, this message may include information such as information about Fig.14 The described NZP CSI-RS capability category 1404 and the nominal CSI-RS capability category 1414, wherein the NZP CSI-RS capability category 1404 reported by the UE (e.g., its maximum number of configured or active CSI-RS resources and ports) does not take into account the nominal CSI-RS capability category 1414 (e.g., its maximum configured or active nominal CSI-RS resources or ports). Thus, if the UE 1502 reports that it can simultaneously activate 8 NZP CSI-RS resources in the NZP CSI-RS capability category 1404 and 4 nominal CSI-RS resources in the nominal CSI-RS capability category 1414, the UE can activate a total of 12 CSI-RS resources (e.g., up to eight physical and up to four nominal in various combinations).

[0148] Fig.171700 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an apparatus 1702. The apparatus 1702 is a UE and includes a cellular baseband processor 1704 (also referred to as a modem) coupled to a cellular RF transceiver 1722 and one or more subscriber identity modules (SIM) cards 1720, an application processor 1706 coupled to a secure digital (SD) card 1708 and a screen 1710, a Bluetooth module 1712, a wireless local area network (WLAN) module 1714, a global positioning system (GPS) module 1716, and a power source 1718. The cellular baseband processor 1704 communicates with the UE 104 and / or the BS 102 / 180 via the cellular RF transceiver 1722. The cellular baseband processor 1704 may include a computer-readable medium / memory. The computer-readable medium / memory may be non-transitory. The cellular baseband processor 1704 is responsible for general processing, including executing software stored on the computer-readable medium / memory. The software, when executed by the cellular baseband processor 1704, causes the cellular baseband processor 1704 to perform the various functions described above. The computer-readable medium / memory may also be used to store data manipulated by the cellular baseband processor 1704 when executing the software. The cellular baseband processor 1704 also includes a receiving component 1730, a communication manager 1732, and a sending component 1734. The communication manager 1732 includes one or more illustrated components. The components within the communication manager 1732 may be stored in a computer-readable medium / memory and / or configured as hardware within the cellular baseband processor 1704. The cellular baseband processor 1704 may be a component of the UE 350 and may include a memory 360 and / or at least one of a TX processor 368, an RX processor 356, and a controller / processor 359. In one configuration, the device 1702 may be a modem chip and include only the baseband processor 1704, and in another configuration, the device 1702 may be the entire UE (e.g., see Figure 3 350), and includes the aforementioned additional modules of device 1702.

[0149] The communications manager 1732 includes a message component 1740 configured to send a message indicating UE capability information associated with reference signal resources, the UE capability information including at least one of: a first maximum amount of configured reference signal resources for a component carrier; a second maximum amount of antenna ports across the configured reference signal resources; a third maximum amount of simultaneous reference signal resources for a component carrier; or a total amount of antenna ports in simultaneous reference signal resources, e.g., as described in conjunction with 1602. For example, a controller / processor 359 or TX processor 368 of a UE 104, 350, 1502 may include a message component 1740 that may send a message to a base station 102 / 180, 310, 1504 by, for example, mapping coded and modulation symbols of the message to a spatial stream, modulating an RF carrier with the spatial stream, and providing the modulated RF carrier to the base station via an antenna 352.

[0150] The communication manager 1732 also includes a configuration component 1742 configured to receive a configuration of reference signal resources for a virtual reference signal that does not occupy physical resources, e.g., as described in conjunction with 1604. For example, the controller / processor 359 or the RX processor 356 of the UE 104, 350, 1502 may include a configuration component 1742 that may receive the configuration from the base station 102 / 180, 310, 1504 by, for example, obtaining, via the antenna 352, a modulated RF carrier including the configured mapped coded and modulation symbols in a spatial stream, demodulating the spatial stream from the RF carrier, and demapping the configured coded and modulation symbols from the demodulated spatial stream.

[0151] The communications manager 1732 also includes a reference signal component 1744 configured to receive a physical reference signal, wherein the physical reference signal is an SSB or a CSI-RS, e.g., as described in conjunction with 1606. For example, the controller / processor 359 or the RX processor 356 of the UE 104, 350, 1502 may include a reference signal component 1744 that may receive a reference signal from the base station 102 / 180, 310, 1504 by, for example, obtaining, via the antenna 352, a modulated RF carrier including mapped coded and modulated symbols of the reference signal in a spatial stream, demodulating the spatial stream from the RF carrier, and demapping the coded and modulated symbols of the reference signal from the demodulated spatial stream.

[0152] The communications manager 1732 also includes a reporting component 1746 configured to send a report indicating channel information associated with the reference signal resources, e.g., as described in conjunction with 1608. For example, the controller / processor 359 or the TX processor 368 of the UE 104, 350, 1502 may include a reporting component 1746 that may send the report to the base station 102 / 180, 310, 1504 by, for example, mapping decoded and modulation symbols of the report to a spatial stream, modulating an RF carrier with the spatial stream, and providing the modulated RF carrier via the antenna 352 to the base station.

[0153] The apparatus may include executing Fig.16 Each of the boxes in the algorithm in the preceding flowchart is an additional component. Therefore, Fig.16 Each block in the aforementioned flow chart of can be performed by a component, and the apparatus may include one or more of those components. These components may be one or more hardware components that are specifically configured to perform the process / algorithm, implemented by a processor configured to perform the process / algorithm, stored in a computer-readable medium for implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

[0154] In one configuration, the apparatus 1702, and in particular the cellular baseband processor 1704, includes means for receiving a configuration of reference signal resources for a virtual reference signal that does not occupy physical resources, and means for sending a report indicating channel information associated with the reference signal resources.

[0155] In one configuration, the means for receiving may be further configured to receive a physical reference signal, wherein the physical reference signal is an SSB or a CSI-RS, and the channel information is based on the physical reference signal.

[0156] In one configuration, the component for sending may be further configured to send a message indicating UE capability information associated with the reference signal resources, the UE capability information comprising at least one of: a first maximum amount of configured reference signal resources for a component carrier; a second maximum amount of antenna ports across the configured reference signal resources; a third maximum amount of simultaneous reference signal resources for the component carrier; or a total amount of antenna ports in the simultaneous reference signal resources.

[0157] The aforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementioned components of the apparatus 1702 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. As described above, the apparatus 1702 may include the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller / processor 359. Therefore, in one configuration, the aforementioned means may be the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller / processor 359 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

[0158] Thus, aspects of the present disclosure allow a UE to be configured with nominal CSI resources that provide a virtual reference for the UE to report channel information for a predicted set of transmit beams (e.g., set A beams) based on measurements of another set of physical transmit beams (e.g., set B beams). A configuration mechanism for nominal CSI-RS resources associated with a target beam (e.g., set A beam) may be provided to better support beam prediction in the spatial domain or in the spatial and time domains. Similarly, the UE may identify appropriate CSI-RS patterns and beam shape information for such nominal CSI-RS resources to better support prediction of CSI for such resources. In addition, since the UE hardware or software that may be required to process nominal CSI-RS resources and ports may be different from those required to process physical CSI-RS resources and ports, additional UE capability signaling may be provided so that the UE indicates the maximum number of configured or active nominal CSI-RS resources or ports that it supports. Thus, beam management operations based on AI / ML based beam prediction or selection can be improved relative to conventional beam prediction methods because the nominal CSI-RS resource configuration allows the UE to measure signals in fewer transmit beams, switch between fewer receive beams when determining the best beam pair, and receive fewer physical reference signals in wireless communications, thereby allowing the UE to save power consumption, experience reduced latency, and communicate with reduced overhead.

[0159] It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of the blocks in the disclosed process / flowchart is merely an illustration of the exemplary method. It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of the blocks in the process / flowchart may be rearranged based on design preferences. Further, some blocks may be combined or omitted. The attached method claims provide the elements of each block in a sample order, but are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy provided.

[0160] The foregoing description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein can be applied to other aspects. Therefore, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but to conform to the full scope consistent with the language claims, wherein the elements mentioned in the singular are not intended to represent "one and only one", unless specifically so stated, but "one or more". Terms such as "if", "when ......" and "while ......" should be interpreted as "under the conditions of ......", rather than meaning an instantaneous time relationship or reaction. That is, these phrases, such as "when ......", do not mean instantaneous actions in response to the occurrence of an action or during the occurrence of an action, but simply imply that if the conditions are met, then the action will occur, but no specific or instantaneous time limit for the occurrence of the action is required. The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "used as an example, instance, or illustration". Any aspect described as "exemplary" herein is not necessarily interpreted as being preferred or having advantages over other aspects. Unless otherwise specified, the term "some" refers to one or more. Combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C,” “one or more of A, B, or C,” “at least one of A, B and C,” “one or more of A, B, and C,” and “A, B, C, or any combination thereof,” include any combination of A, B, and / or C, which may include multiple A, multiple B, or multiple C. Specifically, combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C,” “one or more of A, B, or C,” “at least one of A, B, and C,” “one or more of A, B, and C,” and “A, B, C, or any combination thereof” may be A only, B only, C only, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, where any such combination may include one or more members of A, B, or C. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout the disclosure that are known or later become known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Furthermore, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public, regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. Words such as "module," "mechanism," "element," "device," etc. cannot replace the word "component." Thus, no claim element will be construed as a component plus function unless the element is explicitly recited using the phrase "component for..."

[0161] The following examples are merely illustrative and may be combined with aspects of other embodiments or teachings described herein, but are not limited thereto.

[0162] Embodiment 1 is a device for wireless communication, the device comprising: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions, the instructions being stored in the memory and being operable when executed by the processor to cause the device to: receive a configuration of reference signal resources for a virtual reference signal that does not occupy physical resources; and send a report indicating channel information associated with the reference signal resources.

[0163] Embodiment 2 is a device according to embodiment 1, wherein the channel information includes at least one of the following items: a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS) resource indicator (CRI) associated with the reference signal resource; or a signal quality metric associated with the reference signal resource.

[0164] Embodiment 3 is a device according to embodiment 1 or 2, wherein the instruction, when executed by the processor, further causes the device to: receive a physical reference signal, wherein the physical reference signal is a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS), and the channel information is based on the physical reference signal.

[0165] Embodiment 4 is the apparatus of embodiment 3, wherein the signal quality metric of the physical reference signal is an input to a machine learning (ML) model of the apparatus, and the channel information associated with the reference signal resource is based on an output of the ML model.

[0166] Embodiment 5 is an apparatus according to any one of embodiments 1 to 4, wherein the reference signal resource is a periodic channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS) resource indicated in a radio resource control (RRC) configuration, a semi-persistent CSI-RS resource activated in a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE), or an aperiodic CSI-RS resource triggered in downlink control information.

[0167] Embodiment 6 is an apparatus according to any one of embodiments 1 to 5, wherein the configuration includes multiple different types of channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS) resources, a first type of the different types is the reference signal resource, and a second type of the different types is a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource or a zero power (ZP) CSI-RS resource.

[0168] Embodiment 7 is the apparatus of embodiment 6, wherein the configuration is a CSI measurement configuration, and the second type of the different types is the NZP CSI-RS resource.

[0169] Embodiment 8 is the apparatus of embodiment 6, wherein the configuration is a physical downlink control channel (PDSCH) configuration, and the second type of the different types is the ZP CSI-RS resource.

[0170] Embodiment 9 is a device according to any one of Embodiments 1 to 5, wherein the reference signal resource is a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource or a zero power (ZP) CSI-RS resource, and the reference signal resource also includes a parameter indicating that the virtual reference signal does not occupy the physical resource.

[0171] Embodiment 10 is an apparatus according to any one of embodiments 1 to 9, wherein the configuration is received based on an ability of the apparatus to predict a transmit beam based on the virtual reference signal.

[0172] Embodiment 11 is an apparatus according to any one of embodiments 1 to 10, wherein the virtual reference signal is mapped to a time slot associated with a physical reference signal based on the reference signal resource lacking periodicity and offset information for the virtual reference signal.

[0173] Embodiment 12 is a device according to any one of embodiments 1 to 10, wherein the reference signal resource includes periodicity and offset information for the virtual reference signal, and the virtual reference signal is mapped to a time slot associated with a physical reference signal based on the periodicity and offset information.

[0174] Embodiment 13 is a device according to any one of embodiments 1 to 12, wherein the reference signal resource includes an indication of quasi-co-location (QCL) of a physical reference signal and the virtual reference signal, and the virtual reference signal is mapped to a time slot associated with the physical reference signal based on the indication.

[0175] Embodiment 14 is an apparatus according to any one of embodiments 1 to 13, wherein the reference signal resource includes an indication that the reference signal resource is associated with beam prediction in the spatial domain, and the virtual reference signal is mapped to a time slot associated with a physical reference signal based on the indication.

[0176] Embodiment 15 is an apparatus according to any one of embodiments 1 to 14, wherein the channel information is sent in a channel state information (CSI) report associated with multiple time instances for sending beam predictions, and the virtual reference signal is mapped to each of the time instances based on the lack of periodicity and offset information for the virtual reference signal in the reference signal resource, and the time instance is indicated in a radio resource control (RRC) configuration, activated in a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE), or triggered in downlink control information (DCI).

[0177] Embodiment 16 is a device according to any one of embodiments 1 to 14, wherein the channel information is sent in a channel state information (CSI) report associated with multiple time instances for sending beam prediction, the reference signal resource includes periodicity and offset information for the virtual reference signal, and the virtual reference signal is mapped to each time instance in the time instances based on the periodicity and offset information, and the time instance is indicated in a radio resource control (RRC) configuration, activated in a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE), or triggered in a downlink control information (DCI).

[0178] Embodiment 17 is a device according to any one of embodiments 1 to 16, wherein the channel information is sent in a channel state information (CSI) report associated with multiple time instances for transmit beam prediction, the reference signal resource includes an indication that the reference signal resource is associated with the transmit beam prediction in the time domain, and the virtual reference signal is mapped to each time instance in the time instances based on the indication.

[0179] Embodiment 18 is a device according to any one of embodiments 1 to 17, wherein the reference signal resource is associated with a CSI-RS pattern for the virtual reference signal based on a lack of a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS) resource mapping configuration on the reference signal resource, and the channel information is based on the CSI-RS pattern.

[0180] Embodiment 19 is an apparatus according to embodiment 18, wherein the CSI-RS pattern is pre-configured, indicated in a radio resource control (RRC) configuration, activated in a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE), or triggered in downlink control information (DCI).

[0181] Embodiment 20 is an apparatus according to embodiment 18 or 19, wherein the channel information is based on a physical reference signal, and the CSI-RS pattern used for the virtual reference signal is the same as a second CSI-RS pattern associated with the physical reference signal.

[0182] Embodiment 21 is a device according to any one of embodiments 1 to 17, wherein the reference signal resource includes a CSI-RS resource mapping configuration indicating a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS) type for the virtual reference signal, and the channel information is based on the CSI-RS type.

[0183] Embodiment 22 is a device according to any one of embodiments 1 to 21, wherein the reference signal resource is associated with beam information, and the beam information is indicated in a radio resource control (RRC) configuration, activated in a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE), or triggered in downlink control information (DCI).

[0184] Embodiment 23 is a device according to embodiment 22, wherein the beam information includes at least one of the following items: the geographic direction of the transmit beam used for the virtual reference signal; the beam width of the transmit beam; beamforming gain information associated with the angle of the transmit beam; or a beamforming coefficient associated with the virtual reference signal.

[0185] Embodiment 24 is an apparatus according to embodiment 22 or 23, wherein the channel information is based on one of the following items: the beam information; or the beam information and second beam information associated with a physical reference signal.

[0186] Embodiment 25 is a device according to any one of embodiments 1 to 24, wherein the instruction, when executed by the processor, further causes the device to: send a message indicating user equipment (UE) capability information associated with the reference signal resources, the UE capability information including at least one of the following items: a first maximum amount of configured reference signal resources for a component carrier; a second maximum amount of antenna ports across the configured reference signal resources; a third maximum amount of simultaneous reference signal resources for the component carrier; or a total amount of the antenna ports in the simultaneous reference signal resources.

[0187] Embodiment 26 is an apparatus according to embodiment 25, wherein the channel information is based on a physical channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS) associated with a physical CSI-RS resource, and the maximum number of supported physical CSI-RS resources or supported physical CSI-RS antenna ports is based on the UE capability information.

[0188] Embodiment 27 is a device according to embodiment 25, wherein the channel information is based on a physical channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS) associated with a physical CSI-RS resource, and the maximum number of supported physical CSI-RS resources or supported physical CSI-RS antenna ports is independent of the UE capability information.

[0189] Embodiment 28 is a method for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving a configuration of reference signal resources for a virtual reference signal that does not occupy physical resources; and sending a report indicating channel information associated with the reference signal resources.

[0190] Embodiment 29 is an apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising: a component for receiving configuration of reference signal resources for a virtual reference signal that does not occupy physical resources; and a component for sending a report indicating channel information associated with the reference signal resources.

[0191] Embodiment 30 is a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable code which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to: receive a configuration of reference signal resources for a virtual reference signal that does not occupy physical resources; and send a report indicating channel information associated with the reference signal resources.

Claims

1. A device for wireless communication, the device comprising: processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and operable when executed by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receiving a configuration of reference signal resources for a virtual reference signal that does not occupy physical resources; and A report is sent indicating channel information associated with the reference signal resource.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the channel information comprises at least one of: a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS) resource indicator (CRI) associated with the reference signal resource; or A signal quality metric associated with the reference signal resource.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the apparatus to: A physical reference signal is received, wherein the physical reference signal is a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS), and the channel information is based on the physical reference signal.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the signal quality metric of the physical reference signal is an input to a machine learning (ML) model of the apparatus, and the channel information associated with the reference signal resource is based on an output of the ML model.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the reference signal resource is a periodic channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS) resource indicated in a radio resource control (RRC) configuration, a semi-persistent CSI-RS resource activated in a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE), or an aperiodic CSI-RS resource triggered in downlink control information.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the configuration includes multiple different types of channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS) resources, a first type of the different types is the reference signal resource, and a second type of the different types is a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource or a zero power (ZP) CSI-RS resource. 7 . The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the configuration is a CSI measurement configuration, and the second type of the different types is the NZP CSI-RS resource.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the configuration is a physical downlink control channel (PDSCH) configuration, and the second type of the different types is the ZP CSI-RS resource.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reference signal resource is a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource or a zero power (ZP) CSI-RS resource, and the reference signal resource further includes a parameter indicating that the virtual reference signal does not occupy the physical resource.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the configuration is received based on an ability of the apparatus to predict a transmit beam based on the virtual reference signal.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the virtual reference signal is mapped to a time slot associated with a physical reference signal based on a lack of periodicity and offset information for the virtual reference signal in the reference signal resource.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reference signal resource comprises periodicity and offset information for the virtual reference signal, and the virtual reference signal is mapped to a time slot associated with a physical reference signal based on the periodicity and offset information.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reference signal resource comprises an indication that a physical reference signal is quasi co-located (QCL) with the virtual reference signal, and the virtual reference signal is mapped to a time slot associated with the physical reference signal based on the indication.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reference signal resource comprises an indication that the reference signal resource is associated with beam prediction in a spatial domain, and the virtual reference signal is mapped to a time slot associated with a physical reference signal based on the indication.

15. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the channel information is sent in a channel state information (CSI) report associated with multiple time instances for sending beam prediction, and the virtual reference signal is mapped to each of the time instances based on the lack of periodicity and offset information for the virtual reference signal in the reference signal resource, and the time instance is indicated in a radio resource control (RRC) configuration, activated in a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE), or triggered in downlink control information (DCI).

16. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the channel information is sent in a channel state information (CSI) report associated with multiple time instances for sending beam prediction, the reference signal resource includes periodicity and offset information for the virtual reference signal, and the virtual reference signal is mapped to each of the time instances based on the periodicity and offset information, and the time instance is indicated in a radio resource control (RRC) configuration, activated in a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE), or triggered in downlink control information (DCI).

17. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the channel information is sent in a channel state information (CSI) report associated with multiple time instances for transmit beam prediction, the reference signal resource includes an indication that the reference signal resource is associated with the transmit beam prediction in the time domain, and the virtual reference signal is mapped to each time instance in the time instances based on the indication.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reference signal resource is associated with a CSI-RS pattern for the virtual reference signal based on a lack of a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS) resource mapping configuration for the reference signal resource, the channel information being based on the CSI-RS pattern.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the CSI-RS pattern is pre-configured, indicated in a radio resource control (RRC) configuration, activated in a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE), or triggered in downlink control information (DCI).

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the channel information is based on a physical reference signal, and the CSI-RS pattern for the virtual reference signal is the same as a second CSI-RS pattern associated with the physical reference signal.

21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reference signal resources comprise a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS) resource mapping configuration indicating a CSI-RS pattern for the virtual reference signal, the channel information being based on the CSI-RS pattern.

22. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the reference signal resource is associated with beam information, the beam information being indicated in a radio resource control (RRC) configuration, activated in a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE), or triggered in downlink control information (DCI).

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the beam information comprises at least one of: a geographical direction of a transmit beam for the virtual reference signal; The beam width of the transmit beam; beamforming gain information associated with the angle of the transmit beam; or and beamforming coefficients associated with the virtual reference signal.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the channel information is based on at least one of: the beam information; or The beam information and second beam information associated with a physical reference signal.

25. The device of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the device to: Sending a message indicating user equipment (UE) capability information associated with the reference signal resource, the UE capability information comprising at least one of: a first maximum amount of reference signal resources for configuration of a component carrier; a second maximum number of antenna ports across the configured reference signal resources; a third maximum amount of simultaneous reference signal resources for the component carrier; or The total number of the antenna ports in the simultaneous reference signal resources.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the channel information is based on a physical channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS) associated with a CSI-RS resource, and a maximum number of supported physical CSI-RS resources or supported physical CSI-RS antenna ports is based on the UE capability information.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the channel information is based on a physical channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS) associated with a CSI-RS resource, and a maximum number of supported physical CSI-RS resources or supported physical CSI-RS antenna ports is independent of the UE capability information.

28. A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving a configuration of reference signal resources for a virtual reference signal that does not occupy physical resources; as well as A report is sent indicating channel information associated with the reference signal resource.

29. An apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising: means for receiving a configuration of reference signal resources for a virtual reference signal that does not occupy physical resources; as well as Means for sending a report indicative of channel information associated with the reference signal resources.

30. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable code that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to: receiving a configuration of reference signal resources for a virtual reference signal that does not occupy physical resources; and A report is sent indicating channel information associated with the reference signal resource.

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