Robust uplink and downlink beam indication

Abstract

The invention relates to robust uplink and downlink beam indication. An exemplary unified framework for identifying which communication beams are to be uplink and / or downlink communication beams is disclosed. This exemplary unified framework may utilize one or more generic transmission configuration indication (TCI) states to identify the one or more communication beams to be used for uplink and / or downlink communications. The one or more communication beams may be identified using the one or more generic TCI states. The one or more generic TCI states may include suitability information for identifying which control channels (such as, for example, PDCCHs and PUCCHs), data channels (such as, for example, PDSCHs and / or PUSCHs), and / or signals (such as, for example, DMRS, PTRS, SRS, and / or CSI-RS) are to utilize the communication beam identified by the one or more generic TCI states.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the Chinese invention patent application with an international filing date of February 12, 2020, a national application number of 202080086797.5, and an invention name of “Robust uplink and downlink beam indication”. Technical Field

[0002] The described embodiments generally relate to beam determination in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) networks, including 5G MIMO wireless networks. Background Art

[0003] 5G is the fifth generation of wireless technology that standardizes the use of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) networks, especially massive MIMO networks, for wireless networks. MIMO and massive MIMO use multiple communication beams to exploit multipath propagation to multiply the capacity of these beams. MIMO networks typically include two or four antennas, while massive MIMO networks typically include a larger number of antennas, for example, dozens or even hundreds of antennas. In these MIMO and massive MIMO networks, "next generation nodes NodeB (gNB)" and "user equipment (UE)" can typically maintain multiple communication beams. Summary of the invention

[0004] Some embodiments of the present disclosure may include a method for implementing a beam determination process. The method includes receiving a general transmission configuration indication (TCI) state, the general TCI state including applicability information; identifying a communication beam to be an uplink communication beam or a downlink communication beam from the general TCI state; identifying one or more control channels, one or more data channels, or one or more signals to utilize the communication beam from the applicability information; and configuring the communication beam to utilize the one or more control channels, the one or more data channels, or the one or more signals.

[0005] In these embodiments, the one or more control channels may include a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). In these embodiments, the one or more data channels may include a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). In these embodiments, the one or more signals may include a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), a sounding reference signal (SRS), or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0006] In these embodiments, receiving may include receiving one or more downlink control information (DCI) messages, one or more medium access channel (MAC) control elements (CEs), and / or one or more RRC messages with a general TCI state. In these embodiments, the one or more DCI messages, one or more MAC CEs, and / or one or more RRC messages may include one or more fields for identifying a communication beam or one or more control channels, one or more data channels, or one or more signals.

[0007] In these embodiments, the general TCI state may be configured to indicate one or more quasi co-location (QCL) relationships between two or more downlink reference signals. In these embodiments, the method may further include deriving one or more uplink power control parameters using one or more downlink reference signals of the two or more downlink reference signals.

[0008] In these embodiments, receiving may include receiving a common TCI state for a downlink communication beam. In these embodiments, the method may further include selecting the common TCI state from the TCI states for the downlink communication beam. In these embodiments, selecting may include selecting the common TCI state from the TCI states for the downlink communication beam according to a TCI state selection bitmap.

[0009] Some embodiments of the present disclosure may include a user equipment (UE) for implementing a beam determination process. The UE may include a physical layer (PHY) circuit and a processor circuit. The PHY may receive a general transmission configuration indication (TCI) state from an access node (AN), the general TCI state including applicability information. The processor circuit may identify a communication beam to be used as an uplink communication beam or a downlink communication beam from the general TCI state; identify one or more control channels, one or more data channels, and / or one or more signals to be utilized by the communication beam from the applicability information; and configure the communication beam to transmit and / or receive from the one or more control channels, one or more data channels, and / or one or more signals.

[0010] In these embodiments, the one or more control channels may include a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). In these embodiments, the one or more data channels may include a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). In these embodiments, the one or more signals may include a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), a sounding reference signal (SRS), or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0011] In these embodiments, the PHY circuit system may receive one or more downlink control information (DCI) messages, one or more medium access channel (MAC) control elements (CEs), and / or one or more RRC messages with a general TCI state. In these embodiments, the one or more DCI messages, one or more MAC CEs, and / or one or more RRC messages may include a field for identifying a communication beam or one or more control channels, one or more data channels, and / or one or more signals.

[0012] In these embodiments, the general TCI state may indicate one or more quasi co-location (QCL) relationships between two or more downlink reference signals. In these embodiments, the PHY circuitry may use one or more of the two or more downlink reference signals to derive one or more uplink power control parameters.

[0013] In these embodiments, the PHY circuitry may receive a common TCI state for a downlink communication beam. In these embodiments, the processor circuitry may select the common TCI state from the TCI states for the downlink communication beam. In these embodiments, the processor circuitry may select the common TCI state from the TCI states for the downlink communication beam based on a TCI state selection bitmap.

[0014] Some embodiments of the present disclosure may include a wireless network for implementing a beam determination process. The wireless network may include an access node (AN) and a user equipment (UE). The AN may provide a general transmission configuration indication (TCI) state from the access node (AN), and the general TCI state includes applicability information. The UE may identify a communication beam to be used as an uplink communication beam or a downlink communication beam from the general TCI state; identify one or more control channels, one or more data channels, and / or one or more signals to be utilized by the communication beam from the applicability information; and configure the communication beam to transmit and / or receive from the one or more control channels, one or more data channels, and / or one or more signals.

[0015] In these embodiments, the one or more control channels may include a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). In these embodiments, the one or more data channels may include a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). In these embodiments, the one or more signals may include a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), a sounding reference signal (SRS), or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0016] In these embodiments, the UE may receive one or more medium access channel (MAC) control elements (CEs) and / or one or more RRC messages with a general TCI state. In these embodiments, one or more DCI messages, one or more MAC CEs, and / or one or more RRC messages may include fields for identifying a communication beam or one or more control channels, one or more data channels, and / or one or more signals.

[0017] In these embodiments, the general TCI state may indicate one or more quasi co-location (QCL) relationships between two or more downlink reference signals. In these embodiments, the UE may use one or more downlink reference signals of the two or more downlink reference signals to derive one or more uplink power control parameters.

[0018] In these embodiments, the UE may receive a common TCI state for a downlink communication beam. In these embodiments, the UE may select a common TCI state from the common TCI states for a downlink communication beam.

[0019] The present invention is provided for the purpose of illustrating some embodiments only, so as to provide an understanding of the subject matter described herein. Therefore, the above-mentioned features are only examples and should not be understood as narrowing the scope or essence of the subject matter in the present disclosure. Other features, aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following specific embodiments, drawings and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, illustrate the disclosure and, together with the description, further serve to explain the principles of the disclosure and enable one skilled in the relevant art to make and use the disclosure.

[0021] Figure 1 graphically illustrates an exemplary wireless network according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0022] Figure 2 A block diagram illustrating an exemplary wireless system of an electronic device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0023] Figure 3 A flow chart for implementing an exemplary unified framework for identifying which communication beams are to be used as uplink and / or downlink communication beams according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0024] Figure 4 A flow chart illustrating an exemplary beam determination process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0025] FIG. 5A to FIG. 5D graphically illustrates exemplary selection and application operations for an exemplary beam determination process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0026] The present disclosure is described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, generally, the same reference numerals represent identical or functionally similar elements. In addition, generally, the leftmost digit of a reference numeral identifies the drawing in which the reference numeral first appears. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] Beam determination (also known as beam indication) refers to a set of processes for access nodes (ANs) and user equipment (UEs) to select from these multiple communication beams for downlink and / or uplink communications. In both 3GPP Release 15 (Rel-15) and 3GPP Release 16 (Rel-16), a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state indicates which of these multiple communication beams are to be used for downlink communications. These TCI states are sent to the UE in a downlink control information (DCI) message on a downlink control channel, such as a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and / or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). The UE can identify from these TCI states one or more communication beams to be used by the AN to transmit one or more downlink reference signals on these downlink control channels. The UE can utilize these communication beams to receive downlink communications from the AN. On the other hand, in both Rel-15 and Rel-16, spatial relationship information is utilized to indicate which of these multiple communication beams are to be used for uplink communications. For example, the TCI state may identify that one or more of the multiple communication beams are quasi-co-located with one or more communication beams used by the AN to transmit one or more downlink reference signals. In this example, the UE may then utilize these quasi-co-located communication beams to perform uplink communications with the AN.

[0028] Exemplary Wireless Networks

[0029] Figure 1 An exemplary wireless network according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is graphically illustrated. Figure 1 The wireless network 100 shown is for illustration purposes only and is not intended to limit the disclosed embodiments. Figure 1In the exemplary embodiment shown, the wireless network 100 may include, but is not limited to, an access node (AN) 102 and a user equipment (UE) 104. UE 104 may include, but is not limited to, a wireless local area network (WLAN) site, such as a wireless communication device, a smart phone, a laptop, a desktop computing device, a tablet computing device, a personal assistant, a monitor, a television, a wearable device, etc. As used herein, the terms "access node", "access point", etc. may describe equipment that provides radio baseband functions for data and / or voice connections between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as base stations (BS), next generation NodeBs (gNBs), radio access network (RAN) nodes, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), NodeBs, roadside units (RSUs), transmit receive points (TRxPs or TRPs), etc., and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (also referred to as a serving cell). AN 102 may include, but is not limited to, WLAN electronic devices, such as wireless routers, wearable devices (e.g., smart watches), wireless communication devices (e.g., smart phones), or combinations thereof. As used herein, the term “downlink” refers to the direction from the AN 102 to the UE 104. The term “uplink” refers to the direction from the UE 104 to the AN 102.

[0030] Example Implementations for Access Nodes and / or User Equipment (UE) within an Example Wireless Network

[0031] Figure 2 A block diagram of an exemplary wireless system of an electronic device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 2 In the exemplary embodiment shown, a wireless system 200 for an electronic device may include a processor circuit 202 , a physical layer (PHY) circuit 204 , an antenna array 206 , a communication infrastructure 208 , and a memory subsystem 210 . Figure 2 The illustrated wireless system 200 may be implemented as a standalone device or a discrete device, and / or may be incorporated into or coupled to another electronic device or host device, such as a wireless communication device, a smart phone, a laptop computing device, a desktop computing device, a tablet computing device, a personal assistant, a monitor, a television, a wearable device, and / or any other suitable electronic device apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Figure 2 The wireless system 200 shown may be represented as above Figure 1 The exemplary embodiments of the AN 102 and / or UE 104 described in the above and / or may be incorporated into Figure 1 Within or coupled to the AN 102 and / or UE 104 described herein.

[0032] exist Figure 2In the exemplary embodiment shown, the processor circuit 202 may include or may be any one of a microprocessor, a graphics processing unit or a digital signal processor and its electronic processing equivalents, such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field programmable gate array (FPGA). The processor circuit 202 represents one or more tangible data and information processing devices that typically use sequence transformations (also referred to as operation control flows) to physically convert data and information. Data and information can be physically represented by electrical signals, magnetic signals, optical signals, or acoustic signals that can be stored, accessed, transmitted, combined, compared, or otherwise manipulated by the processor circuit 202. The processor circuit 202 may represent a single processor and a multi-core system or a multi-processor array, including a graphics processing unit, a digital signal processor, a digital processor, or a combination of these elements. In some embodiments, the processor circuit 202 may execute one or more elements of a protocol stack, such as one or more elements of a 5G protocol stack that will be described in further detail below.

[0033] The PHY circuit 204 includes circuits and / or control logic components for executing various radio / network protocols and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks. Radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, and / or radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the PHY circuit 204 can perform fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, and / or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments, the PHY circuit 204 can perform convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi and / or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoding / decoding. Figure 2 In the exemplary embodiment shown, PHY circuitry 204 can process baseband signals received from communication infrastructure 208 and generate baseband signals for communication infrastructure 208. In some embodiments, PHY circuitry 204 can connect to and communicate over a wired network and / or a wireless network. For example, PHY circuitry 204 may include a wireless subsystem having various wireless radio transceivers and wireless protocols, such as a cellular subsystem, a WLAN subsystem, and / or a Bluetooth subsystem. TM The wireless subsystem may include circuits and / or control logic components for connecting to and communicating on a wireless network, as will be understood by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. The wireless subsystem may include circuits and / or control logic components for connecting to and communicating on a wireless network. The wireless network may include a cellular network, such as, but not limited to, for example, a 3G / 4G / 5G wireless network, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless network, etc.

[0034] In some embodiments, the processor circuit 202 and / or the PHY circuit 204 may execute a 5G protocol stack having at least 5G layer-1, 5G layer-2, and 5G layer-3. 5G layer 1 may include a physical (PHY) layer. The PHY layer may transmit and / or receive a physical layer signal through one or more physical channels, which may be received and / or transmitted from the one or more radio networks to the one or more radio networks. The PHY layer may also perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., initial synchronization and switching purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers such as the RRC layer. The PHY layer may also perform error detection on one or more transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of the one or more transport channels, modulation / demodulation of the one or more physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the one or more physical channels, and multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna processing. In some embodiments, the PHY layer may process a request from the MAC layer through one or more transport channels and provide an indication to the MAC layer through one or more transport channels.

[0035] 5G Layer 2 may include a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer. The MAC layer processes requests from the RLC layer through one or more logical channels and provides instructions to the RLC layer through one or more logical channels. The MAC layer may perform mapping between the one or more logical channels and the one or more transport channels, multiplex MAC service data units (SDUs) from one or more logical channels onto transport blocks (TBs) to be delivered to the PHY layer via the one or more transport channels, demultiplex MAC SDUs from TBs delivered from the PHY layer via the one or more transport channels to one or more logical channels, multiplex MAC SDUs onto TBs, schedule information reporting, error correction through HARQ, and logical channel prioritization. The RLC layer processes requests from the PDCP layer through one or more RLC channels and provides instructions to the PDCP layer through one or more RLC channels. RLC 930 may operate in a variety of operating modes, including: transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged mode (AM). The RLC 930 may perform transmission of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transmission, and concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission. The RLC 930 may also perform resegmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transmission, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transmission, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detect protocol errors for AM data transmission, and perform RLC re-establishment.

[0036] The PDCP layer processes requests from the RRC layer through one or more radio bearers and provides instructions to the RRC layer through one or more radio bearers. The PDCP layer may, for example, perform header compression and decompression of Internet Protocol (IP) data, maintain PDCP sequence numbers (SNs), perform in-order delivery of upper layer PDUs when lower layers are reestablished, eliminate duplication of lower layer SDUs when lower layers are reestablished for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, encrypt and decrypt control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification on control plane data, control timer-based data discard, and perform security operations such as encryption, decryption, integrity protection, and / or integrity verification.

[0037] 5G Layer 3 may include a radio resource control (RRC) layer. The RRC layer configures various aspects of 5G Layer 1, 5G Layer 2, and / or 5G Layer 3. The RRC layer may include broadcasting of system information, broadcasting of system information related to the access layer (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance, and release of an RRC connection between a UE and an access node (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance, and release of point-to-point radio bearers, security functions including key management, inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting.

[0038] The antenna array 206 may include one or more antenna elements, each of which is capable of converting electrical signals into radio waves for propagation in the air via a communication beam, such as described above. Figure 1 The communication beams 106.1 to 106.m and / or the communication beams 108.1 to 108.n described in. One or more antenna elements may be omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof.

[0039] The memory subsystem 210 includes a plurality of memories including a primary random access memory (RAM) or other volatile storage device for storing instructions and data during program execution, and / or a read-only memory (ROM) in which instructions are stored. The memory subsystem 210 may provide persistent storage for program and data files, and may include a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive and associated removable media, a CD-ROM drive, an optical drive, flash memory, or a removable media cartridge. Figure 2 In the exemplary embodiment shown, the memory subsystem 210 may optionally include an operating system 212 and application programs 214. The operating system 212 may be, for example, Microsoft's Windows, Sun Microsystems' Solaris, Apple Computer's MacOs, Linux, or UNIX. The computer system may also typically include a basic input / output system (BIOS) and processor firmware. The processor circuit 202 may use the operating system, BIOS, and / or firmware to control the PHY circuit 204, the antenna array 206, the communication infrastructure 208, and / or the memory subsystem 210. In some embodiments, the operating system 212 maintains one or more network protocol stacks such as, for example, an Internet Protocol (IP) stack and / or a cellular protocol stack, which may include multiple logical layers. At the corresponding layer of the protocol stack, the operating system 212 includes control mechanisms and data structures to perform functions associated with the layer. The application program 214 may include, for example, an application program used by the wireless system 200 and / or a user of the wireless system 200. The application programs in the application program 254 may include applications such as, but not limited to, Siri. TM, FaceTime TM , radio streaming, video streaming, remote control, and / or other user applications that will be recognized by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

[0040] Exemplary Beam Determination

[0041] As discussed above, beam determination or beam indication refers to a set of processes for AN 102, UE 104, and / or wireless system 200 to select from communication beams 106.1 to 106.m and / or communication beams 108.1 to 108.n for downlink and / or uplink communications. The following detailed description describes various exemplary beam determination processes that can overcome one or more deficiencies in beam determination defined in both Rel-15 and Rel-16.

[0042] For example, the beam determination process described in both Rel-15 and Rel-16 is different for different channels (such as control and / or data channels), which may result in large signaling overhead. Some exemplary beam determination processes to be described below may provide an exemplary unified framework for determining which communication beams from communication beams 106.1 to 106.m are to be used as uplink and / or downlink communication beams. The exemplary unified framework may apply one or more general transmission configuration indication (TCI) states to identify which communication beams (e.g., one or more communication beams from communication beams 106.1 to 106.m) are to be applied to control channels (such as, for example, physical downlink control channels (PDCCH) and physical uplink control channels (PUCCH)), data channels (such as, for example, physical downlink shared channels (PDSCH) and / or physical uplink shared channels (PUSCH)) and / or signals (such as, for example, demodulation reference signals (DMRS), phase tracking reference signals (PTRS), sounding reference signals (SRS) and / or channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS)). Alternatively or additionally, the exemplary unified framework may reuse various downlink control information (DCI) messaging fields and / or introduce new DCI formats to identify which communication beams are to be applied to control channels, data channels, and / or signals.

[0043] As another example, the downlink and / or uplink communication capabilities of UE 104 may be different. In some embodiments, AN 102, UE 104, and / or wireless system 200 may support a different number of uplink communication beams than downlink communication beams. Some exemplary beam determination processes to be described below may indicate M TCI states for downlink communication beams to support M downlink communication beams and N TCI states for uplink communication beams to support N uplink communication beams. As described in further detail below, the exemplary beam determination process may select N TCI states for uplink communication beams from the M TCI states for downlink communication beams and / or may apply N TCI states to both uplink communication beams and downlink communication beams.

[0044] As another example, in both Rel-15 and Rel-16, the beam indication scheme for uplink is based on TCI state, which may make it difficult to derive uplink power control parameters for uplink communications. Some exemplary beam determination processes described below may derive uplink power control parameters when TCI state is indicated for uplink communication beams.

[0045] Exemplary Unified Framework

[0046] The following detailed description is to describe an exemplary unified framework that is used by an exemplary beam determination process to identify which communication beams (e.g., one or more communication beams from communication beams 106.1 to 106.m) are to be used as uplink and / or downlink communication beams. This exemplary unified framework can utilize one or more general transmission configuration indication (TCI) states to identify one or more communication beams to be used for uplink and / or downlink communications. One or more general TCI states can be used to identify one or more communication beams. For example, one or more general TCI states can include configuration parameters for configuring a quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship between communication beams. In this example, this QCL relationship can be used to identify one or more communication beams. And one or more general TCI states may include applicability information for identifying which control channels (such as, for example, PDCCH and PUCCH), data channels (such as, for example, PDSCH and / or PUSCH) and / or signals (such as, for example, DMRS, PTRS, SRS and / or CSI-RS) are to utilize communication beams identified by one or more general TCI states. Alternatively or in addition, the applicability information may further indicate applicable resources and / or resource groups to be utilized for communication beams identified by one or more general TCI states, for example, a PUCCH resource group index and / or a control resource set (CORESET) group index. Alternatively or in addition, the applicability information may further indicate applicable serving cell indexes or serving cell group indexes to be utilized for communication beams identified by one or more general TCI states.

[0047] Figure 3 A flow chart for implementing an exemplary unified framework for identifying which communication beams are to be used as uplink and / or downlink communication beams according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The present disclosure is not limited to this operational description. On the contrary, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that other operational control flows are also within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. The following discussion describes an exemplary operational control flow 300 for implementing an exemplary unified framework for identifying which communication beams are to be used as uplink and / or downlink communication beams, as described above. The operational control flow 300 can be performed by the AN 102, the UE 104, and / or the wireless system 200.

[0048] At operation 302, the operation control flow 300 provides a generic TCI state that can be used to identify a communication beam to be used as an uplink and / or downlink communication beam, such as one or more communication beams from the communication beams 106.1 to 106.m. The generic TCI state includes applicability information that identifies control channels, data channels, and / or signals to utilize the communication beams identified by the one or more generic TCI states. For example, the generic TCI state can identify that the communication beam 106.1 is to be used as a downlink communication beam, and the applicability information can identify that the PDCCH, PDSCH, or PDCCH and PDSCH are to utilize the communication beam 106.1. In some embodiments, operation 302 can be performed as described above in Figure 1 AN 102 and / or as described above in Figure 2 In these embodiments, the applicability information may be predefined and / or may be provided, for example, via higher layer signaling (e.g., as described above in Figure 2 The radio resource control layer (RRC) signaling of the RRC layer described in the above) is dynamically configured to configure the general TCI state and / or as described above in Figure 2 The operation control flow 300 may dynamically send a general TCI state in one or more of a downlink control information (DCI) message on a downlink control channel (e.g., PDCCH) in a downlink control channel (e.g., PDCCH).

[0049] At operation 304, the operational control flow 300 identifies which communication beams (e.g., one or more communication beams from communication beams 106.1 to 106.m) are to be used as uplink and / or downlink communication beams in the general TCI state. In some embodiments, operation 302 may be performed as described above in Figure 1 UE 104 as described in and / or as described above in Figure 1 The wireless system 200 described in the embodiment of the present invention is performed. For example, the general TCI state may include configuration parameters for configuring a quasi co-location (QCL) relationship between communication beams. In this example, the operation control flow 300 may utilize this QCL relationship to identify the communication beam.

[0050] At operation 306, the operation control flow 300 identifies control channels (such as, for example, PDCCH and PUCCH), data channels (such as, for example, PDSCH and / or PUSCH), and / or signals (such as, for example, DMRS, PTRS, SRS, and / or CSI-RS) to utilize the communication beam identified by the general TCI state in operation 304. In some embodiments, operation 302 may be performed as described above in Figure 1UE 104 as described in and / or as described above in Figure 1 The wireless system 200 described in .

[0051] At operation 308, the operational control flow 300 configures the communication beam identified by the general TCI state in operation 304 to transmit on and / or receive from the control channel, data channel, and / or signal identified in operation 306 using the beam configuration information contained in the general TCI state.

[0052] As described above, the exemplary unified framework may utilize one or more generic TCI states to identify one or more communication beams to be used for uplink and / or downlink communications. Alternatively or in addition, the exemplary unified framework may reuse various downlink control information (DCI) messaging fields specified in Rel-15 and Rel-16 and / or introduce new DCI formats to identify which communication beams are to be applied to control channels, data channels, and / or signals to supplement the DCI messaging specified in Rel-15 and Rel-16. In these embodiments, the reused DCI messaging fields and / or new DCI formats may be predefined and / or may be communicated, for example, via higher layer signaling (e.g., as described above in Figure 2 The radio resource control layer (RRC) signaling of the RRC layer described in the above) is dynamically configured to configure the reused DCI message transmission field and / or the new DCI format and / or as described above in Figure 2 The medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) of the MAC layer described in the MAC layer is used to activate the reused DCI message transmission field and / or the new DCI format. Alternatively or in addition, the reused DCI message transmission field and / or the new DCI format may further indicate an applicable serving cell index or serving cell group index of a communication beam identified by one or more general TCI states.

[0053] For example, DCI format 1_0 and DCI format 1_1 used for DCI messaging as defined in Rel-15 and Rel-16 specify a one-bit "identifier of DCI format" for scheduling PDSCH. In this example, this "identifier of DCI format" field can be reused to convey applicability information, as described above. In this example, the one-bit "identifier of DCI format" can be extended to include any suitable number of bits for identifying which communication beams (e.g., one or more communication beams from communication beams 106.1 to 106.m) are to be used as uplink and / or downlink communication beams, and which control channels (such as, for example, PDCCH and PUCCH), data channels (such as, for example, PDSCH and / or PUSCH) and / or signals (such as, for example, DMRS, PTRS, SRS and / or CSI-RS) are to utilize the communication beam identified by the reused "identifier of DCI format" field. Furthermore, instead of using the "identifier of DCI format" field to schedule only PDSCH as specified in Rel-15 and Rel-16, the exemplary unified framework may utilize this reused "identifier of DCI format" field for all control channels and even data channels and / or signals.

[0054] Alternatively or in addition, the exemplary unified framework may introduce one or more new DCI formats to identify which communication beams are to be applied to control channels, data channels, and / or signals. For example, the exemplary unified framework may introduce new DCI formats, such as format 3_0 and format 3_1, which may be used to identify one or more communication beams to be used for uplink and / or downlink communications. In this example, one or more of these new DCI formats may include new fields, such as a new radio network temporary ID (RNTI), for identifying communication beams, such as communication beams from communication beams 106.1 to 106.m, and / or identifying which control channels (such as, for example, PDCCH and PUCCH), data channels (such as, for example, PDSCH and / or PUSCH), and / or signals (such as, for example, DMRS, PTRS, SRS, and / or CSI-RS) are to utilize communication beams.

[0055] In some embodiments, the exemplary unified framework may implement a beam switching process to switch from a communication beam being used for uplink and / or downlink communication to the best communication beam from a communication beam that can be used for uplink and / or downlink communication. The exemplary unified framework may monitor the best communication beam from a communication beam to be used for uplink and / or downlink communication. For example, the exemplary unified framework may perform various measurements on the communication beam, such as reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement, received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurement, reference signal received quality (RSRQ) measurement, and / or signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) measurement. In this example, the exemplary unified framework may determine the best communication beam from a communication beam to be used for uplink and / or downlink communication. The exemplary unified framework may switch to the best communication beam using one or more general TCI states, reused DCI message transmission fields, and / or new DCI formats, as described above. In some embodiments, the exemplary unified framework may optimize the timing and / or frequency of this beam switching. In addition, the exemplary unified framework can implement a beam failure recovery process to indicate a failure of one or more communication beams in the communication beams used for uplink and / or downlink communications. As part of this beam failure recovery process, the exemplary unified framework can utilize one or more reserved resources of the control channel to identify one or more reserved communication beams to be used for uplink and / or downlink communications. The exemplary unified framework can reserve one or more resources of the control channel (e.g., one or more control resource sets (CORESET) and / or one or more PUCCH resources), and the location of these resources in the control channel can be indicated in one or more general TCI states, reused DCI message transmission fields, and / or new DCI formats. Once one or more reserved communication beams have been recovered, the exemplary unified framework can implement a beam switching process to switch from one or more reserved communication beams being used for uplink and / or downlink communications to the best communication beam from the communication beams that can be used for uplink and / or downlink communications.

[0056] Different numbers of uplink and downlink communication beams

[0057] The following detailed description describes various exemplary beam determination processes that may support a different number of uplink communication beams than downlink communication beams. Figure 2The antenna array 206 described in the embodiment may include multiple antenna elements, each antenna element being capable of supporting one or more downlink communication beams and / or uplink communication beams. In some embodiments, a first group of one or more antenna elements from a plurality of antenna elements may support a downlink communication beam, and a second group of one or more antenna elements from a plurality of antenna elements may support an uplink communication beam. In some embodiments, the first group of one or more antenna elements and / or the second group of one or more antenna elements may be derived from one or more general TCI states, as described above. In these embodiments, one or more general TCI states may include a new TCI state field, for example, an srs-ResourceIndictor field, which may be used to derive a second group of one or more antenna elements to be used for, for example, an uplink codebook and / or non-codebook communication. In addition, some exemplary beam determination processes may indicate M TCI states for downlink communication beams and N TCI states for uplink communication beams. In these embodiments, M may be greater than or equal to N. For example, the exemplary beam determination process may indicate M TCI states for downlink communication beams, whereby N TCI states for uplink communication beams may be selected from the M TCI states for downlink communication beams. As another example, the exemplary beam determination process may indicate only N TCI states for uplink communication beams, which are to be applied to both uplink communication beams and downlink communication beams.

[0058] Figure 4 A flow chart of an exemplary beam determination process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The present disclosure is not limited to this operational description. Instead, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that other operational control flows are also within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. The following discussion describes an exemplary operational control flow 400 for implementing the exemplary beam determination process described above. The operational control flow 400 may be performed by the AN 102, the UE 104, and / or the wireless system 200.

[0059] At operation 402, the operation control flow 400 provides a plurality of transmission configuration indication (TCI) states, e.g., a plurality of general TCI states as described above, to identify one or more communication beams to be used for uplink and / or downlink communications. In some embodiments, a plurality of antenna elements of an antenna array (such as, for example, antenna array 206) of a user equipment (UE) (such as, for example, UE 104 and / or wireless system 200) may include a first group of one or more antenna elements from the plurality of antenna elements that may support downlink communication beams and a second group of one or more antenna elements from the plurality of antenna elements that may support uplink communication beams. In these embodiments, the plurality of transmission configuration indication (TCI) states may include M TCI states corresponding to the first group of one or more antenna elements for downlink communication beams and / or N TCI states corresponding to the second group of one or more antenna elements for uplink communication beams. In some embodiments, operation 402 may be performed as described above in Figure 1 AN 102 and / or as described above in Figure 2 The wireless system 200 described in .

[0060] At operation 404 , the operational control flow 400 determines a TCI state for a downlink communication beam and / or a TCI state for an uplink communication beam from the plurality of states of operation 402 .

[0061] In some embodiments, at operation 402, the operation control flow 400 only provides M TCI states corresponding to the first group of one or more antenna elements for the downlink communication beam. In these embodiments, at operation 404, the operation control flow 400 may select N TCI states corresponding to the second group of one or more antenna elements for the uplink communication beam from the M TCI states corresponding to the first group of one or more antenna elements for the downlink communication beam. For example, the operation control flow 400 may select the first TCI state and / or the last TCI state from the M TCI states as the N TCI states. As another example, the operation control flow 400 may use a TCI state selection bitmap to determine which TCI states from the M TCI states are to be used as the N TCI states. In this example, the TCI state selection bitmap includes a sequence of logic values ​​of logic 0 and logic 1, whereby the logic 1 indicates that its associated TCI state from the M TCI states is suitable as the N TCI states, and the logic 0 indicates that its associated TCI state from the M TCI states is not suitable as the N TCI states. In another example, the operational control flow 400 may further indicate a panel and / or group index of the plurality of TCI states from operation 402. FIG. 5A to FIG. 5DEach of these examples is further described in . Alternatively or in addition, in some embodiments, operation control flow 400 only provides the N TCI states corresponding to the second group of one or more antenna elements for the uplink communication beam. In these embodiments, operation control flow 400 may select the M TCI states corresponding to the first group of one or more antenna elements for the downlink communication beam as the N TCI states corresponding to the second group of one or more antenna elements for the uplink communication beam. In some embodiments, operation 404 may be performed as described above in Figure 1 The UE 104 and / or as described above Figure 2 The wireless system 200 described in .

[0062] At operation 406, the operational control flow 400 applies one of the determined TCI states from operation 404 to configure one or more of the one or more communication beams for downlink communication, and / or for uplink communication beams to configure one or more of the one or more communication beams for uplink and / or downlink communication. In some embodiments, operation 406 may be performed as described above in Figure 1 The UE 104 and / or as described above Figure 2 The wireless system 200 described in .

[0063] FIG. 5A to FIG. 5D Graphs are shown for an exemplary selection and application operation of an exemplary beam determination process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, FIG. 5A to FIG. 5D As shown graphically above in Figure 4 Various implementations of operation 404 and / or operation 406 of the operational control flow 400 described in .

[0064] exist FIG. 5A to FIG. 5C In the exemplary embodiment shown, the exemplary beam determination process selects N TCI states corresponding to a second set of one or more antenna elements for an uplink communication beam from the M TCI states corresponding to a first set of one or more antenna elements for a downlink communication beam. Figure 5A As shown, the exemplary beam determination process described above provides TCI states 1 to 4. In this example, the exemplary beam determination process selects TCI states 1 to 4 for the downlink communication beam and / or selects TCI states 1 and 2 for the uplink communication beam, and then applies one or more of these TCI states to the downlink communication beam and / or the uplink communication beam after an applicable delay. As another example, Figure 5BAs shown, the exemplary beam determination process described above provides TCI states 1 to 4 and a TCI state selection bitmap indicating that TCI states 1 and 4 are not applicable to uplink communication beams and TCI states 2 and 3 are applicable to uplink communication beams. In this example, the exemplary beam determination process selects TCI states 1 to 4 for downlink communication beams and / or selects TCI states 2 and 3 for uplink communication beams, and then, after an applicable delay, applies one or more of these TCI states to the downlink communication beam and / or the uplink communication beam. As another example, as Figure 5C As shown, the exemplary beam determination process as described above provides TCI states 1 to 4 and panel and / or group indexes for TCI states 1 to 4. In this further example, the exemplary beam determination process selects TCI states 1 to 4 for a downlink communication beam and / or selects TCI states 1 and 3 for an uplink communication beam, and then applies one or more of these TCI states to the downlink communication beam and / or the uplink communication beam after an applicable delay.

[0065] exist Figure 5D In the exemplary embodiment shown, the exemplary beam determination process selects M TCI states corresponding to a first set of one or more antenna elements for a downlink communication beam as N TCI states corresponding to a second set of one or more antenna elements for an uplink communication beam. Figure 5D As shown, the exemplary beam determination process as described above provides TCI states 1 and 2. In this example, the exemplary beam determination process selects TCI states 1 and 2 for the downlink communication beam and / or selects TCI states 1 and 2 for the uplink communication beam, and then applies one or more of these TCI states to the downlink communication beam and / or the uplink communication beam after an applicable delay.

[0066] Uplink power control parameters

[0067] The following detailed description describes various exemplary beam determination processes to derive uplink power control parameters when a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state (e.g., one or more general TCI states as described above) is indicated for an uplink communication beam. These uplink power control parameters are used to determine the transmit power of different uplink control channels (such as, for example, PUCCH), uplink data channels (such as, for example, PUSCH) (PUCCH, PUSCH) and / or signals (such as, for example, SRS).

[0068] In some embodiments, one or more generic TCI states may indicate a reference signal, such as, for example, a DMRS, PTRS, SRS, and / or CSI-RS, which may be used to determine a path loss for the downlink to derive a path loss for the uplink. In some embodiments, one or more generic TCI states may alternatively or additionally indicate one or more quasi-co-site (QCL) relationships between two or more downlink reference signals, for example, a QCL-TypeD relationship. In these embodiments, one or more of these downlink reference signals indicated in the QCL-TypeD relationship may be used to derive the path loss for the uplink. In some embodiments, the uplink power control parameters may include other uplink power control parameters in addition to the path loss, such as, for example, P0 or alpha, which may be communicated via higher layer signaling (e.g., as described above in Figure 2 Radio Resource Control Layer (RRC) signaling) configuration of the RRC layer described in.

[0069] In some embodiments, one or more of the uplink power control parameters, such as, for example, path loss, P0, and or alpha, may be configured in one or more general TCI states. In these embodiments, these uplink power control parameters may be predefined and / or may be configured, for example, via higher layer signaling (e.g., as described above in Figure 2 The radio resource control layer (RRC) signaling of the RRC layer described in the above) is dynamically configured to configure one or more general TCI states and / or as described above in Figure 2 The medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) of the MAC layer described in , thereby activating one or more general TCI states. In these embodiments, these uplink power control parameters can be configured separately for different uplink channels, such as a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and / or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), and / or can be based on unified signaling for corresponding uplink channels for different bandwidth parts (BWP) or different serving cells. For example, a common parameter pool, such as a P0 list and a path loss reference signal list, can be configured per bandwidth part (BWP) or per serving cell. Alternatively or in addition, one or more of the uplink power control parameters can be derived based on predefined values ​​for these uplink power control parameters.

[0070] Summarize

[0071] It should be understood that the Detailed Description section, rather than the Summary and Abstract sections, is intended to be used to interpret the claims. The Summary and Abstract sections may set forth one or more but not all exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure as contemplated by the inventors, and thus, are not intended to limit the present disclosure and the appended claims in any way.

[0072] The present disclosure has been described above with the aid of functional building blocks, which illustrate the implementation of specified functions and their relationships. For ease of description, the boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein. As long as the specified functions and their relationships are properly performed, alternative boundaries may be defined.

[0073] The above description of specific embodiments will fully demonstrate the general nature of the present disclosure, so that others can easily modify and / or adjust the various applications of such specific embodiments by applying knowledge within the technical scope of the art without excessive experimentation, without departing from the general concept of the present disclosure. Therefore, based on the teachings and guidance presented herein, such adjustments and modifications are intended to be within the meaning and scope of the equivalents of the embodiments disclosed herein. It should be understood that the wording or terminology herein is for the purpose of illustration, not for limitation, so the terms or wording of this specification will be interpreted by the technician according to the teachings and guidance.

[0074] The breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

[0075] As described above, various aspects of the present disclosure may include collecting and using data available from various sources, thereby (for example) improving or enhancing functionality. The present disclosure contemplates that, in some examples, these collected data may include personal information data that uniquely identifies or can be used to contact or locate a specific person. Such personal information data may include demographic data, location-based data, phone numbers, email addresses, Twitter IDs, home addresses, data or records related to the user's health or fitness level (e.g., vital sign measurements, medication information, exercise information), date of birth, or any other identifying information or personal information. The present disclosure recognizes that personal information can be used to benefit users.

[0076] The present disclosure envisions that entities responsible for collecting, analyzing, disclosing, transmitting, storing or otherwise using such personal information data will comply with established privacy policies and / or privacy practices. Specifically, such entities should implement and adhere to privacy policies and practices that are recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or government requirements for maintaining the privacy and security of personal information data. Such policies should be easily accessible to users and should be updated as the collection and / or use of data changes. Personal information from users should be collected for the legitimate and reasonable purposes of the entity and not shared or sold outside of these legitimate uses. In addition, such collection / sharing should only be done after receiving the user's informed consent. In addition, such entities should consider taking any necessary steps to defend and safeguard access to such personal information data and ensure that others who have access to personal information data comply with their privacy policies and processes. In addition, such entities may subject themselves to third-party assessments to demonstrate their compliance with widely accepted privacy policies and practices. In addition, policies and practices should be adjusted to specific types of personal information data collected and / or accessed, and to applicable laws and standards that include specific considerations of jurisdiction. For example, in the United States, the collection or access of certain health data may be governed by federal and / or state laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), while health data in other countries may be subject to other regulations and policies and should be handled accordingly. Therefore, different privacy practices should be maintained in each country for different types of personal data.

[0077] Regardless of the foregoing, the present disclosure also contemplates implementation schemes in which users selectively block the use or access of personal information data. That is, the present disclosure contemplates providing hardware elements and / or software elements to prevent or block access to such personal information data. For example, the present technology may be configured to allow users to selectively participate in "opt-in" or "opt-out" of collecting personal information data at any time during (for example) registration for a service or thereafter. In addition to providing "opt-in" and "opt-out" options, the present disclosure contemplates providing notifications related to access or use of personal information. For example, a user may be notified when downloading an application that their personal information data will be accessed, and then reminded again before the personal information data is accessed by the application.

[0078] In addition, it is an object of the present disclosure that personal information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use. Risks can be minimized by limiting data collection and deleting data once it is no longer needed. In addition, and when applicable, including in certain health-related applications, data de-identification can be used to protect the privacy of users. De-identification can be facilitated by removing specific identifiers (e.g., date of birth, etc.), controlling the amount or specificity of stored data (e.g., collecting location data at the city level rather than at the address level), controlling how data is stored (e.g., aggregating data between users), and / or other methods when appropriate.

[0079] Thus, while the present disclosure may broadly cover the use of personal information data to implement one or more of the various disclosed embodiments, the present disclosure also contemplates that various embodiments may also be implemented without access to such personal information data. That is, various embodiments of the present technology will not fail to function properly due to the lack of all or part of such personal information data.

Claims

1. A method for implementing a beam determination process, the method comprising: Identifying, by the access node AN, a first communication beam to be used as an uplink communication beam from a plurality of communication beams, and identifying a second communication beam to be used as a downlink communication beam from the plurality of communication beams; Generating, by the AN, a general transmission configuration indication (TCI) state, the general TCI state identifying the first communication beam and the second communication beam and including applicability information; as well as The general TCI status is provided by the AN to user equipment UE.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the applicability information identifies one or more control channels, one or more data channels, or one or more signals of the first communication beam or the second communication beam identified by the general TCI state to be utilized.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: The one or more control channels, the one or more data channels, or the one or more signals that have been identified by the applicability information as utilizing the first communication beam or the second communication beam are received by the AN from the UE.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said generating comprises: The TCI state is generated to include one or more configuration parameters for configuring one or more quasi-co-located QCL relationships between the plurality of communication beams.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: monitoring, by the AN, a third communication beam being used for the uplink communication beam and a fourth communication beam being used for the downlink communication beam; and Wherein the generating comprises: switching from the third communication beam to the first communication beam for the uplink communication beam, and switching from the fourth communication beam to the second communication beam for the downlink communication beam.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing comprises: One or more downlink control information DCI messages, one or more medium access channel MAC control elements CE, or one or more radio resource control RRC messages with the general TCI state are provided by the AN.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more DCI messages, the MAC CE or the RRC message comprises one or more fields for identifying the first communication beam or the second communication beam.

8. An access node AN, the AN comprising: A processor circuit, the processor circuit being configured to: identifying a first communication beam from among the plurality of communication beams to be an uplink communication beam, and identifying a second communication beam from among the plurality of communication beams to be a downlink communication beam; as well as generating a general transmission configuration indication (TCI) state, the general TCI state identifying the first communication beam and the second communication beam and including applicability information; as well as A physical layer (PHY) circuit is configured to provide the general TCI state to a user equipment (UE).

9. An AN according to claim 8, wherein the applicability information identifies one or more control channels, one or more data channels, or one or more signals of the first communication beam or the second communication beam identified by the general TCI state to be utilized.

10. The AN according to claim 9, wherein the PHY circuit is further configured to: receive from the UE the one or more control channels, the one or more data channels or the one or more signals that have been identified by the applicability information as utilizing the first communication beam or the second communication beam.

11. The AN according to claim 8, wherein the processor circuit is configured to: generate the TCI state to include one or more configuration parameters, and the one or more configuration parameters are used to configure one or more quasi-co-site QCL relationships between the multiple communication beams.

12. The AN of claim 8, wherein the processor circuit is configured to: monitoring a third communication beam being used for the uplink communication beam and a fourth communication beam being used for the downlink communication beam; and Switching from the third communications beam to the first communications beam for the uplink communications beam, and switching from the fourth communications beam to the second communications beam for the downlink communications beam.

13. The AN according to claim 8, wherein the PHY circuit is configured to: provide one or more downlink control information DCI messages, one or more medium access channel MAC control elements CE, or one or more radio resource control RRC messages with the general TCI state.

14. The AN according to claim 13, wherein the one or more DCI messages, the MAC CE or the RRC message includes one or more fields for identifying the first communication beam or the second communication beam.

15. A wireless network for implementing a beam determination process, the wireless network comprising: An access node AN, wherein the AN is configured to: identifying a first communication beam from among the plurality of communication beams to be an uplink communication beam, and identifying a second communication beam from among the plurality of communication beams to be a downlink communication beam; as well as generating a general transmission configuration indication (TCI) state, the general TCI state identifying the first communication beam and the second communication beam and including applicability information; as well as A user equipment UE is configured to receive the general TCI state from the AN.

16. A wireless network according to claim 15, wherein the applicability information identifies one or more control channels, one or more data channels, or one or more signals of the first communication beam or the second communication beam identified by the general TCI state to be utilized.

17. A wireless network according to claim 16, wherein the AN is further configured to: receive from the UE the one or more control channels, the one or more data channels or the one or more signals that have been identified by the applicability information as utilizing the first communication beam or the second communication beam.

18. A wireless network according to claim 15, wherein the AN is configured to: generate the TCI state to include one or more configuration parameters, and the one or more configuration parameters are used to configure one or more quasi-co-site QCL relationships between the multiple communication beams.

19. The wireless network of claim 15, wherein the AN is configured to: monitoring a third communication beam being used for the uplink communication beam and a fourth communication beam being used for the downlink communication beam; and Switching from the third communications beam to the first communications beam for the uplink communications beam, and switching from the fourth communications beam to the second communications beam for the downlink communications beam.

20. The wireless network of claim 15, wherein the UE is configured to receive one or more downlink control information (DCI) messages, one or more medium access channel (MAC) control elements (CE), or one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages with the general TCI state.

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