Unified transmission configuration indicator state selection for physical downlink shared channel or physical uplink shared channel transmissions

Abstract

The application relates to selecting one or more of activated transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states for communications between a network and a user equipment. In an example, a network includes a plurality of transmission and reception points (TRPs) with which a UE communicates. The activated TCI state may be a unified downlink TCI state applied to a plurality of downlink channels or a unified uplink TCI state applied to a plurality of uplink channels, where this state has been activated by the network for the UE. Based on a predefined set of rules or based on signaling of the network, the UE may determine one or more of the activated TCI states for downlink or uplink communications with the network for then performing downlink or uplink communications with the network.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This PCT application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 396,168, filed on August 8, 2022, entitled “UNIFIED TRANSMISSIONCONFIGURATION INDICATOR STATE SELECTION FOR PHYSICAL DOWNLINK SHARED CHANNEL OR PHYSICAL UPLINK SHARED CHANNEL TRANSMISSIONS,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Background Art

[0003] Cellular communications may be defined in various standards to enable communications between user equipment and cellular networks. For example, the fifth generation mobile network (5G) is a wireless standard designed to improve various communication parameters, including data throughput, reliability, availability, etc. Multiple transmission and reception points (TRPs) may be deployed to further improve such communication parameters. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] Figure 1 An example of a network environment according to some embodiments is shown.

[0005] Figure 2 An example of a multiple transmission and reception point (mTRP) network environment is shown according to some embodiments.

[0006] Figure 3 An example of a sequence diagram for using unified transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states is shown according to some embodiments.

[0007] Figure 4 Examples of rule-based use of unified TCI states according to some embodiments are shown.

[0008] Figure 5 Another example of rule-based use of unified TCI states according to some embodiments is shown.

[0009] Figure 6 An example of using unified TCI states based on radio resource control (RRC) according to some embodiments is shown.

[0010] Figure 7 An example of using a unified TCI state based on a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) according to some embodiments is shown.

[0011] Figure 8 An example of using unified TCI states based on downlink control information (DCI) according to some embodiments is shown.

[0012] Fig. 9 Another example of using unified TCI states based on DCI according to some embodiments is shown.

[0013] Fig.10 Yet another example of using unified TCI states based on DCI according to some embodiments is shown.

[0014] Fig.11 Yet another example of using unified TCI states based on DCI according to some embodiments is shown.

[0015] Fig.12 Additional examples of using unified TCI states based on DCI according to some embodiments are shown.

[0016] Fig.13 Another example of using unified TCI states based on DCI according to some embodiments is shown.

[0017] Fig.14 Yet another example of using unified TCI states based on DCI according to some embodiments is shown.

[0018] Fig.15 Another example of using unified TCI states based on RRC according to some embodiments is shown.

[0019] Fig.16 Another example of using unified TCI states based on MAC CE according to some embodiments is shown.

[0020] Fig.17 Another example of using unified TCI states based on DCI according to some embodiments is shown.

[0021] Fig.18 An example of an operational flow / algorithm structure implemented by a user equipment (UE) for using a unified TCI state according to some embodiments is shown.

[0022] Fig.19 An example of an operational flow / algorithm structure implemented by a network for using a unified TCI state is shown according to some embodiments.

[0023] Fig. 20 Another example of an operational flow / algorithm structure implemented by a UE for using a unified TCI state according to some embodiments is shown.

[0024] Fig.21 Another example of an operational flow / algorithm structure implemented by a network for using a unified TCI state is shown according to some embodiments.

[0025] Fig. 22 An example of a receiving component according to some embodiments is shown.

[0026] Fig.23 Examples of UEs according to some embodiments are shown.

[0027] Fig.24 An example of a base station according to some embodiments is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] The following specific embodiments relate to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals may be used to identify the same or similar elements in different drawings. In the following description, specific details, such as specific structures, architectures, interfaces, technologies, etc., are described for the purpose of illustration rather than limitation, so as to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art who benefit from the present disclosure that various aspects of various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that deviate from these specific details. In some cases, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of various embodiments due to unnecessary details. For the purposes of this document, the phrase "A or B" refers to (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0029] The network may include multiple transmission and reception points (TRPs). The user equipment (UE) may communicate with multiple TRPs (e.g., two TRPs), where an ideal or non-ideal backhaul may exist between these TRPs. The UE may also be configured to use multiple transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states, each of which may be applied to multiple channels (e.g., on the downlink, applied to the physical downlink control channel, the physical downlink shared channel, the channel state indicator reference signal channel, the unicast channel, etc.). Such TCI states may be referred to as unified TCI states in this article. Multiple such unified TCI states may be activated. In this case, the UE may determine that one or more of the activated unified TCI states are used for communication with the network (e.g., including downlink transmissions from the TRP to the UE and uplink transmissions from the UE to the TRP, and including for CSI reporting). The determination may rely on a set of predefined rules indicating the selection of the activated unified state to be used. Alternatively, the determination may rely on signaling from the network. The signaling may include any one or a combination of radio resource control (RRC) signaling, medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) signaling, and downlink control information (DCI) signaling. In particular, the network may indicate a specific set of activated unified TCI states that the UE needs to use.

[0030] The following is a glossary of terms that may be used in this disclosure.

[0031] As used herein, the term "circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a hardware component such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) or a memory (shared, dedicated, or group) configured to provide the described functions, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable system on chip (SoC)), a digital signal processor (DSP), etc. In some embodiments, the circuit may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functions. The term "circuit" may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements and a program code for performing the functions of the program code (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system). In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a specific type of circuit.

[0032] As used herein, the term "processor circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a circuit capable of sequentially and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations or recording, storing, or transferring digital data. The term "processor circuit" may refer to an application processor, a baseband processor, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit, a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes.

[0033] As used herein, the term "interface circuit" refers to a circuit that enables, is a part of, or includes information exchange between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuit" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, an I / O interface, a peripheral component interface, a network interface card, etc.

[0034] As used herein, "user equipment" or "UE" refers to a device that has radio communication capabilities and can describe a remote user of network resources in a communication network. In addition, the terms "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous and may be referred to as a client, device, mobile phone, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. In addition, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface. A UE may have the primary function of communicating with another UE or a network, and a UE may be integrated with other devices and / or systems (e.g., in a vehicle).

[0035] The term "base station" as used herein refers to a device with radio communication functionality, i.e., a device of a communication network (or more simply, a network), and can be configured as an access node in the communication network. Access of a UE to a communication network may be at least partially managed by a base station, whereby the UE connects to the base station to access the communication network. Depending on the radio access technology (RAT), a base station may be referred to as a gNodeB (gNB), an eNodeB (eNB), an access point, etc.

[0036] As used herein, the term "computer system" refers to any type of interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term "computer system" or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to one another. Furthermore, the term "computer system" or "system" may refer to multiple computer devices or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to one another and configured to share computing resources or networked resources.

[0037] As used herein, the term "resource" refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, or a physical or virtual component within a specific device, such as a computer device, a mechanical device, a memory space, a processor / CPU time, a processor / CPU usage, a processor and accelerator load, a hardware time or usage, a power supply, an input / output operation, a port or a network socket, a channel / link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, a network, a database and an application, a unit of work, etc. "Hardware resources" may refer to computing, storage or network resources provided by physical hardware elements. "Virtualized resources" may refer to computing, storage or network resources provided by a virtualized infrastructure to an application, a device, a system, etc. The term "network resources" or "communication resources" may refer to resources that a computer device / system can access via a communication network. The term "system resources" may refer to any kind of shared entity that provides a service, and may include computing resources or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services that can be accessed through a server, wherein such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and can be clearly identified.

[0038] As used herein, the term "channel" refers to any tangible or intangible transmission medium for conveying data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous or equivalent to "communication channel", "data communication channel", "transmission channel", "data transmission channel", "access channel", "data access channel", "link", "data link", "carrier", "radio frequency carrier" or any other similar term representing a path or medium through which data is transmitted. In addition, as used herein, the term "link" refers to a connection made between two devices for sending and receiving information.

[0039] As used herein, the terms "instantiate," "instantiate," and the like refer to the creation of an instance. "Instance" also refers to a specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code.

[0040] The term "connected" may mean that two or more elements at a common communication protocol layer have an established signaling relationship with each other through a communication channel, link, interface, or reference point.

[0041] As used herein, the term "network element" refers to physical or virtualized equipment or infrastructure for providing wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous with or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, virtualized network function, etc.

[0042] The term "information element" refers to a structural element that contains one or more fields. The term "field" refers to the individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains the contents. An information element may include one or more additional information elements.

[0043] Figure 1 A network environment 100 is shown according to some embodiments. The network environment 100 may include a UE 104 and a gNB 108. The gNB 108 may be a base station that provides a wireless access cell, such as a third generation partnership project (3GPP) new radio (NR) cell through which the UE 104 can communicate with the gNB 108. The UE 104 and the gNB 108 may communicate over an air interface compatible with 3GPP technical specifications, such as those defining fifth generation (5G) NR system standards.

[0044] The gNB 108 may send information (e.g., data and control signaling) in the downlink direction by mapping logical channels onto transport channels and mapping transport channels onto physical channels. Logical channels may transfer data between the radio link control (RLC) and MAC layers; transport channels may transfer data between the MAC and PHY layers; and physical channels may transfer information across the air interface. Physical channels may include a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0045] The PBCH may be used to broadcast system information that the UE 104 may use to initially access a serving cell. The PBCH may be sent in a synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH block along with a physical synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS). The UE 104 may use the SS / PBCH block (SSB) during a cell search process (including cell selection and reselection) and for beam selection.

[0046] The PDSCH may be used to transfer end-user application data, Signaling Radio Bearer (SRB) messages, system information messages (in addition to, for example, the MIB), and paging messages.

[0047] The PDCCH may convey DCI used by the scheduler of the gNB 108 to allocate both uplink and downlink resources. The DCI may also be used to provide uplink power control commands, configure the slot format, or indicate that preemption has occurred.

[0048] The gNB 108 may also transmit various reference signals to the UE 104. The reference signals may include demodulation reference signals (DMRS) for the PBCH, PDCCH, and PDSCH. The UE 104 may compare the received version of the DMRS with the known DMRS sequence transmitted to estimate the impact of the propagation channel. The UE 104 may then apply the inverse channel of the propagation channel during the demodulation process transmitted by the corresponding physical channel.

[0049] Reference signals may also include a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). CSI-RS may be a multi-purpose downlink transmission that may be used for CSI reporting, beam management, connected mode mobility, radio link failure detection, beam failure detection and recovery, and fine tuning of time and frequency synchronization.

[0050] Reference signals and information from physical channels can be mapped to resources of a resource grid. For a given antenna port, subcarrier spacing configuration, and transmission direction (e.g., downlink or uplink), there is a resource grid. The basic unit of the NR downlink resource grid can be a resource element, which can be defined by one subcarrier in the frequency domain and one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol in the time domain. Twelve consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain can constitute a physical resource block (PRB). A resource element group (REG) can include one PRB in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain, such as twelve resource elements. A control channel element (CCE) can represent a resource group used to send a PDCCH. One CCE can be mapped to multiple REGs, for example, six REGs.

[0051] UE 104 may use physical uplink channels to send data and control information to gNB 108. Different types of physical uplink channels are possible, including, for example, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). Where PUCCH carries control information from UE 104 to gNB 108, such as uplink control information (UCI), while PUSCH carries data traffic (e.g., end-user application data) and may carry UCI.

[0052] The UE 104 and the gNB 108 may perform beam management operations to identify and maintain desired beams for transmission in the uplink and downlink directions. Beam management may be applied to both PDSCH and PDCCH in the downlink direction and PUSCH and PUCCH in the uplink direction.

[0053] In one example, communications with gNB 108 and / or base stations may use channels in a frequency range 1 (FR1) band (between 40 megahertz (MHz) and 7,125 MHz) and / or a frequency range 2 (FR2) band (between 24,250 MHz and 52,600 MHz). The FR1 band includes licensed bands and unlicensed bands. The NR unlicensed band (NR-U) includes spectrum shared with other types of radio access technologies (RATs) (e.g., LTE-LAA, WiFi, etc.). A listen-before-talk (LBT) process may be used to avoid or minimize collisions between different RATs in NR-U, whereby a device should apply a clear channel assessment (CCA) check before using a channel.

[0054] Despite Figure 1 Not shown, network environment 100 may also include additional base stations to which UE 104 may also connect. The additional base stations may support the same RAT as gNB 108 (e.g., the base stations are also gNBs) or a different RAT (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) eNB).

[0055] In an example, UE 104 supports carrier aggregation (CA), whereby UE 104 can simultaneously connect and exchange data with gNB 108 over multiple component carriers (CCs). CCs can belong to the same frequency band, in which case they are referred to as intra-band CCs. Intra-band CCs can be contiguous or non-contiguous. CCs can also belong to different frequency bands, in which case they are referred to as inter-band CCs. A serving cell can be configured for UE 104 to use a CC. A serving cell can be a primary cell (PCell), a primary secondary cell (PSCell), or a secondary cell (SCell). Multiple SCells can be activated via an SCell activation procedure, where the component carriers of these serving cells can be intra-band contiguous, intra-band non-contiguous, or inter-band. A serving cell can be collocated or non-collocated.

[0056] As further shown in the following figures, the network may also include multiple transmission and reception points (TRPs). A set of TRPs (e.g., two of them) may be managed by the same base station (e.g., gNB 108) or by different base stations. E 104 may communicate with the network by communicating with a set of TRPs (e.g., this set acting as a radio access network (RAN)).

[0057] Transmissions using different antenna ports may experience different radio channels. However, in some cases, different antenna ports may share common radio channel characteristics. For example, different antenna ports may have similar Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread, or spatial reception parameters (e.g., characteristics associated with the angle of arrival of the downlink received signal at the UE). Antenna ports that share one or more of these large-scale radio channel characteristics may be referred to as quasi-co-located with each other. 3GPP has specified four types of QCL to indicate which specific channel characteristics are shared. In QCL Type A, antenna ports share Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread. In QCL Type B, antenna ports share Doppler shift and Doppler spread. In QCL Type C, antenna ports share Doppler shift and average delay. In QCL Type D, antenna ports share spatial receiver parameters.

[0058] The gNB 108 may provide TCI state information to the UE 104 to indicate the QCL relationships between antenna ports for reference signals (e.g., synchronization signals / PBCH or CSI-RS), downlink data or control signaling (e.g., PDSCH or PDCCH), and / or uplink data or control signaling (e.g., PUSCH or PUCCH). The gNB 108 may use a combination of RRC signaling, MAC control element signaling, and DCI to inform the UE 104 of these QCL relationships.

[0059] TCI states are configured for different channels, such as PDCCH, PDSCH, and CSI-RS channels, to convey QCL indications of corresponding reference signals (RS). In FR1, QCL Type AC applies, and in FR2, QCL Type AD applies. QCL Type D for FR2 indicates that PDCCH / PDSCH / CSI-RS is transmitted using the same spatial filter as the reference signal associated with the TCI. In FR2, the network can indicate a transmit beam change by switching the TCI state.

[0060] The UE 104 may be configured with a TCI list for a channel via RRC. If a TCI state applies to multiple channels (e.g., on the downlink to PDCCH, PDSCH, and CSI-RS channels), the TCI state may be referred to as a unified TCI state. The network may activate one or more of the configured TCI states. The activation may be performed via RRC signaling, MAC CE, or DCI.

[0061] Figure 2 An example of an mTRP network environment 200 according to some embodiments is shown. A UE 210 can communicate with multiple TRPs of the mTRP environment 200. Figure 2 In the example of , the UE communicates with two TRPs in the mTRP environment 200: the first TRP 220 and the second TRP 230. However, the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. In particular, the UE may communicate with K TRPs of the mTRP environment 200, where K is a positive integer equal to or greater than two.

[0062] The TRP 220 and the TRP 230 may be deployed at various geographic locations to support, for example, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology, may be coupled to one or more base stations (e.g., gNBs), and may be associated with one or more cells. The TRP 220 and the TRP 230 may communicate directly with the UE 210 over the air, whereby these TRPs 220 and TRPs 230 may be clustered to communicate with the UE 210. For example, one or more base stations may coordinate with each other to schedule a TRP cluster to serve downlink transmissions to the UE 210.

[0063] Each of the TRP 220 and the TRP 230 may be configured as a macro cell, a small cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, a remote radio head, a relay node, etc. An ideal backhaul may exist between the TRP 220 and the TRP 230. In this case, a single DCI (sDCI) may be used to control communication with the UE 210 (at least on the downlink). Alternatively, a non-ideal backhaul may exist between the TRP 220 and the TRP 230. In this case, multiple DCIs (mDCI) may be used to control communication with the UE 210 (at least on the downlink).

[0064] Different types of downlink and uplink channels may exist between each of TRP 220 and TRP 230 and UE 210. For example, on the downlink, PDCCH, PDSCH, CSI-RS channel and unicast channel may exist between TRP 220 and UE 210, and similarly between TRP 230 and UE 210. As part of a unified TCI framework for reducing overhead associated with TCI states, TCI states may be activated for different downlink channels or for different uplink channels. For the downlink, such TCI states may be referred to as unified downlink TCI states. For the uplink, such TCI states may be referred to as unified uplink TCI states. For the sake of brevity, unified TCI states may refer to unified downlink TCI states or unified uplink TCI states in this article. After activation, the unified TCI state may be referred to as an activated unified TCI state (or, for the sake of brevity in this article, an activated TCI state).

[0065] In the case of mTRP, at least one unified TCI state pair can be activated per TRP: <one unified DL TCI state #i, one unified UL TCI state #j>. In other words, in the case of K TRPs (e.g., Figure 2 In the "K = 2" in the example above, at least K unified TCI state pairs can be activated. Figure 2 In a specific example, a first unified TCI pair may be activated for the first TRP 220: <one unified DL TCI state #i1, one unified UL TCI state #j1>, and a second unified TCI pair may be activated for the second TRP 230: <one unified DL TCI state #i2, one unified UL TCI state #j2>.

[0066] like Figure 2As further shown in , the location of UE 210 can change over time. Depending on its location, the communication of UE 210 with TRP 220 and TRP 230 can change, and such changes can affect the active TCI state that needs to be used. For example, when UE 210 is at a first location 212, UE 212 can be within the cell coverage of the first TRP 220 but not within the cell coverage of the second TRP 230. Therefore, at this location 212, it may be necessary to use an activated unified TCI state pair associated with the first TRP 220 but not with the second TRP 230. Subsequently, UE 210 can be moved to a second location 214 having overlapping cell coverage of both the first TRP 220 and the second TRP 230. At this location 214, it may be necessary to use two activated unified TCI state pairs, one unified TCI state pair associated with the first TRP 220 and the other unified TCI state pair associated with the second TRP 230. Thereafter, the UE 210 may be moved to a third location 216 having cell coverage of only the second TRP 230. At this location 216, it may be desirable to use one activated unified TCI state pair associated with the second TRP 230 rather than the first TRP 220. Note that for each TRP, the activated unified TCI pair may vary with location. For example, at locations 212 and 214, two different activated unified TCI state pairs may be used in association with the first TRP 220: <one unified DL TCI state #i1, one unified UL TCI state #j1> for the first location 212, and <one unified DL TCI state #k1, one unified UL TCI state #l1> for the second location 214.

[0067] The specific unified TCI state to be activated for the downlink or uplink may be indicated to the UE 210 via RRC signaling, MAC CE, or DCI. Additionally or alternatively, the UE 210 may determine the specific unified TCI state based on a set of predefined rules. These and other functions for determining and using unified TCI states are also described below.

[0068] Figure 3An example of a sequence diagram 300 for using a unified TCI state according to some embodiments is shown. In particular, the network 310 may include K TRPs, and the UE 32 may communicate with the network via the K TRPs, where K is a positive integer equal to or greater than two. In the first step of the sequence diagram 300, the network 310 may send configuration information to the UE 320. The configuration information may indicate a plurality of TCI states configured by the network 310 for the UE 32. These TCI states may be unified TCI states and may be configured in pairs, wherein each pair corresponds to a unified downlink TCI state and a unified uplink TCI state and is associated with one of the K TRPs. Each TRP in the K TRPs may be associated with a plurality of unified TCI state pairs. The configuration information may be sent via RRC signaling. At this point, the TCI state is configured but not yet activated.

[0069] Next in the sequence diagram 300, the network 310 may send TCI state trigger information to the UE 320. The information may activate some or all of the unified TCI state pairs. The trigger information may be sent via UCI, MAC CE, or DCI signaling. For each TRP, at least one unified TCI state pair may be activated.

[0070] Thereafter, the UE 320 may determine a set of activated unified TCI state pairs to be used when communicating with one or more of the K TRPs. In an example, the determination is based on a set of predefined rules stored by the UE 320, whereby the UE 320 may execute program code that processes the rules to define the activated unified TCI state pairs to be used. In another example, and as indicated by the dashed arrow, the network 310 may send selection information to the UE 320 indicating the activated unified TCI state pairs to be used. The information may be sent via UCI, MAC CE, or DCI signaling. For each TRP, at least one unified TCI state pair may be activated.

[0071] Once the activated unified TCI state pair to be used is determined, the UE 320 can communicate accordingly with the network 310. For example, in the case of PDSCH, the UE 320 can use the first activated unified downlink TCI state for PDSCH transmissions from the TRP. In the case of PUSCH, the UE 320 can use the first activated unified uplink TCI state for PUSCH transmissions to the TRP. In the case of CSI-RS, the UE 320 can use the first activated unified downlink TCI state for CSI-RS transmissions from the TRP to the UE 320 so that the UE 320 can generate a CSI report.

[0072] In the following figures, various embodiments are described in conjunction with two activated unified TCI state pairs: one embodiment for the first TRP, and one embodiment for the second TRP. Typically, two bits (or less) can be used to indicate whether only the first activated unified TCI state pair is used, whether only the second activated unified TCI state pair is used, or whether both the first activated unified TCI state pair and the second activated unified TCI state pair are used. However, the embodiments are not limited to this, and are similarly applicable to more than two activated unified TCI state pairs. When there are more than two activated unified TCI state pairs, more than two bits can be used to indicate the activated unified TCI state pairs to be used. For example, in the case of three activated unified TCI state pairs, three bits can be used.

[0073] In addition, for clarity of explanation, various embodiments are described in conjunction with downlink communications using downlink unified TCI states. However, these embodiments are equally applicable to uplink communications using uplink unified TCI states, and to downlink and uplink communications using unified TCI state pairs.

[0074] Figure 4 An example 400 of using unified TCI states based on rules according to some embodiments is shown. Typically, a UE may store a set of rules. After a communication is scheduled, the UE may determine one or more activated unified TCI states to use based on the set of rules. Figure 4 In the illustration of , a PDSCH transmission to a UE is shown. However, the example 400 is equally applicable to a PUSCH transmission from a UE.

[0075] In example 400, two unified downlink TCI states are activated for the UE: Figure 2 The "unified DL TCI state #i" associated with the second TRP (e.g., Figure 2The set of rules may indicate which of the two unified downlink TCI states (or possibly both) is used for implicit mapping of PDSCH transmissions. The implicit mapping may depend on the transmission scheme used in the mTRP environment, such as whether fdmScheme A, fdmScheme B, tdmScheme A, tdmScheme B, or a spatial division multiplexing (SDM) scheme is used. In the case of using fdmScheme B, tdmScheme A, tdmScheme B, or an SDM scheme, the set of rules may indicate that a first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i," or equivalently a first unified UL TCI state or a first unified TCI state pair) is applied to the first PDSCH transmission opportunity (or equivalently to the first PUSCH transmission or the first PDSCH and PUSCH transmission opportunity). The set of rules may also indicate that a second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., “unified DL TCI state #i,” or equivalently a second unified UL TCI state or a second unified TCI state pair) is applied to a second PDSCH transmission opportunity (or equivalently to a second PUSCH transmission or a second PDSCH and PUSCH transmission opportunity).

[0076] In the case of fdmSchemeA, a single PDSCH transmission opportunity (or similarly, a second PUSCH transmission opportunity) may be scheduled. In this case, the set of rules is not specific to the transmission opportunity, but rather to the frequency domain resource allocation. In particular, the set of rules may indicate that a first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i", or equivalently a first unified UL TCI state or a first unified TCI state pair) is applied to a first frequency domain allocation. The set of rules may also indicate that a second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #j", or equivalently a second unified UL TCI state or a second unified TCI state pair) is applied to a second frequency domain allocation. The first frequency domain allocation and the second frequency domain allocation may be non-overlapping in the frequency domain.

[0077] Reference Figure 4Specific example, fdmScheme B is shown. The first DCI 410 can activate two downlink TCI states. The second DCI 420 is received and scheduled to the UE's PDSCH transmission 430. The transmission 430 involves sixteen physical resource blocks (PRBs) at time "t1". The UE applies the set of rules and determines that the first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i") will be applied to the first PDSCH opportunity, and the second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #j") will be applied to the second PDSCH opportunity, and the pattern is repeated in the frequency domain. The first PDSCH transmission opportunity corresponds to the first four PRBs forming an even physical resource group (PRG), and the second PDSCH transmission opportunity corresponds to the next four PRBs forming an odd PRG, and the pattern repeats (e.g., even PRG and odd PRG). Therefore, the UE uses a first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., “unified DL TCI state #i”) for even PRGs (e.g., PDSCH transmissions on PRBs “0” to “3” and “8” to “11”) corresponding to a first PDSCH (e.g., a PDSCH with a first TRP). The UE also uses a second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., “unified DL TCI state #i”) for odd PRGs (e.g., PDSCH transmissions on PRBs “4” to “7” and “12” to “15”) corresponding to a second PDSCH (e.g., a PDSCH with a second TRP).

[0078] Figure 5 Another example 500 of using a unified TCI state based on rules according to some embodiments is shown. Here, the same Figure 4 5. The same set of rules as described in . Nevertheless, a time division multiplexing (TDM) scheme is shown. The set of rules may indicate whether to use cyclic mapping 510 or sequential mapping 520. Cyclic mapping 510 corresponds to the activated TCI state changing from one PDSCH transmission opportunity to the next PDSCH transmission opportunity over time. Sequential mapping 520 corresponds to the activated TCI state being applied to multiple PDSCH transmission opportunities before changing to the next multiple PDSCH transmission opportunities.

[0079] Example 500 shows four transmission opportunities (shown as rectangles). In addition, a first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i") and a second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #j") are activated. In this example, if the set of rules indicates cyclic mapping 510, the first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i") is applied to the first PDSCH transmission opportunity and the third PDSCH transmission opportunity. In contrast, the second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #j") is applied to the second PDSCH transmission opportunity and the fourth PDSCH transmission opportunity. If the set of rules indicates sequential mapping 520, the first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i") is applied to the first PDSCH transmission opportunity and the second PDSCH transmission opportunity. In contrast, the second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #j") is applied to the third PDSCH transmission opportunity and the fourth PDSCH transmission opportunity.

[0080] Figure 6 An example of using a unified TCI state based on RRC according to some embodiments is shown. The network may send RRC signaling 610 (e.g., one or more RRC messages) to the UE to indicate the selection of an activated unified TCI state for PDSCH and / or PUSCH transmission. Reference is also made here to a first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i") and a second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #j").

[0081] The UE may store a table (or use some other data structure) associating pattern indices with activated unified downlink TCI state selections. The table may be defined based on other RRC signaling or may be predefined based on a technical specification followed by the UE. In particular, a first pattern index (e.g., pattern index "1") may correspond to a selection of a first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i"). A second pattern index (e.g., pattern index "2") may correspond to a selection of a second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #j"). A third pattern index (e.g., pattern index "3") may correspond to a selection of both a first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i") and a second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #j").

[0082] The RRC signaling 610 may indicate a particular mode index (e.g., by including two bits set to indicate a value of "1," "2," or "3"). The UE may then look up the table (or the data structure used) to determine the activated unified downlink TCI state associated with the mode index. If the RRC signaling 610 indicates a mode index of "1," the UE applies a first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i") to the PDSCH transmission. If the RRC signaling 610 indicates a mode index of "2," the UE applies a second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #j") to the PDSCH transmission. If the RRC signaling 610 indicates a mode index of "3," the UE applies a first unified downlink TCI state and a second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i" and "unified DL TCI state #j") to the PDSCH transmission. In the case of mode index "3," in combination with Figure 4 and Figure 5 The rules discussed may be used to determine a specific unified downlink TCI state to use for each transmission opportunity (or non-overlapping frequency domain resource allocation in the case of fdmScheme A).

[0083] For uplink PUSCH transmissions, the same table (or data structure) described above may also indicate the unified uplink TCI state to be used. For example, a pattern index of "1" would correspond to the first activated unified TCI state pair, a pattern index of "2" would correspond to the second activated unified TCI state pair, and a pattern index of "3" would correspond to both the first activated unified TCI state pair and the second activated unified TCI state pair.

[0084] For more than two TRPs, the table (or data structure) described above may include additional entries associating additional mode entries with additional activated unified downlink and / or uplink TCI states. For example, a third unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #k") may be associated with a third TRP. In this case, the table may associate seven mode indexes with the use of the first unified downlink TCI state alone, the use of the second unified downlink TCI state alone, the use of the third unified downlink TCI state alone, the combined use of the first unified downlink TCI state and the second unified downlink TCI state, the combined use of the first unified downlink TCI state and the third unified downlink TCI state, the combined use of the second unified downlink TCI state and the third unified downlink TCI state, and the combined use of the first unified downlink TCI state, the second unified downlink TCI state, and the third unified downlink TCI state. RRC signaling 610 may use three bits to indicate one of the seven mode indexes.

[0085] Figure 7 An example of using a unified TCI state based on a MAC CE according to some embodiments is shown. The network may send a MAC CE to the UE to indicate the selection of an activated unified TCI state for PDSCH and / or PUSCH transmission. Reference is also made here to a first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i") and a second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #j").

[0086] The UE may store a table (or use some other data structure) associating pattern indices with activated unified downlink TCI state selections. The table may be defined based on other RRC signaling or may be predefined based on a technical specification followed by the UE. In particular, a first pattern index (e.g., pattern index "1") may correspond to a selection of a first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i"). A second pattern index (e.g., pattern index "2") may correspond to a selection of a second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #j"). A third pattern index (e.g., pattern index "3") may correspond to a selection of both a first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i") and a second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #j").

[0087] The MAC CE 710 may indicate a particular mode index (e.g., by including two bits set to indicate a value of "1," "2," or "3"). The UE may then look up the table (or the data structure used) to determine the activated unified downlink TCI state associated with the mode index. If the MAC CE 710 indicates a mode index of "1," the UE applies a first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i") to the PDSCH transmission. If the MAC CE 710 indicates a mode index of "2," the UE applies a second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #j") to the PDSCH transmission. If the MAC CE 710 indicates a mode index of "3," the UE applies a first unified downlink TCI state and a second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i" and "unified DL TCI state #j") to the PDSCH transmission. In the case of mode index "3," in combination with Figure 4 and Figure 5 The rules discussed may be used to determine a specific unified downlink TCI state to use for each transmission opportunity (or non-overlapping frequency domain resource allocation in the case of fdmScheme A).

[0088] The MAC CE 710 may be identified by a MAC subheader having a logical channel identifier (LCID) indicating that the MAC CE 710 is for activated TCI state selection. Figure 7 As shown, MAC CE 710 may have a fixed size (e.g., one octet) and include multiple fields. The first field may be a serving cell identifier field, which indicates the identity of the serving cell to which MAC CE 710 is applied. The second field may be a control resource set (coreset) pool index. This field indicates that the selected TCI state for the PDSCH is specific to the PDSCH scheduled by DCI in a CORESET configured with a specific CORESETPoolIndex. This field may be required for mDCI only in the case of mTRP. In the case of mTRP, it may be reserved for sDCI. The third field may be a mode index field indicating an index value of a TCI state mapping mode (e.g., a mode index including three mode indexes in the table described above). For example, 'mode index' is set to '00' to indicate the first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i") for a given PDSCH reception.

[0089] For uplink PUSCH transmission, the same MAC CE 710 or another MAC CE may also indicate a unified uplink TCI state to be used. For more than two TRPs, the mode index field in the MAC CE may be a relatively long field to indicate one of the possible mode indexes (e.g., in a use case of three TRPs, three bits indicate one of seven possible mode indexes).

[0090] The use of both RRC signaling and MACE allows additional flexibility relative to using only predefined rules. Additional flexibility is also possible by using DCI to indicate unified TCI state selection. DCI can but need not schedule PDSCH or PUSCH transmission. Multiple unified TCI states can be activated using the same DCI or different DCI. For the sake of clarity of explanation, various DCI examples are described below in conjunction with the PDSCH transmission of UE (e.g., DCI with format 1_1 or 1_2). However, the implementation scheme is equivalently applied to PUSCH transmission from UE (e.g., DCI with format 0_1 ​​or 0_2).

[0091] Figure 8 An example of using a unified TCI state based on DCI according to some embodiments is shown. As shown, the network can send DCI 810 to the UE for PDSCH reception. In the mTRP use case, the DCI 810 can be sDCI. DCI 810 can have format 1_1 or 1_2 and can be used in the absence of a scheduled PDSCH transmission to the UE (or, equivalently, received by the UE's PDSCH). In this case, the DCI format can include a TCI field, other fields, a reserved field, and a CRC field. The TCI state field can be three bits long, and its value can indicate the number of unified downlink TCI states that are activated.

[0092] Some of the reserved bits can be repurposed to indicate the activated TCI state selection. The bit repurpose is shown as DCI 820. In particular, DCI 820 can have format 1_1 or 1_2, which includes a three-bit TCI field, other fields, a reserved field, and a CRC field. Within the reserved field, M bits are repurposed to indicate a mode index. The UE can store a table (or some other data structure) that associates a mode index with a possible activated TCI state selection, similar to the table including three mode indexes (e.g., for two TRPs) or seven mode indexes (e.g., for three TRPs) described above. The UE can determine the value indicated by the M bits and use the value in the search of the table (or data structure). In the case of three mode indexes, M can be two. In the case of seven mode indexes, M can be three.

[0093] Fig. 9 Another example of using a unified TCI state based on DCI according to some embodiments is shown. As shown, the network can send DCI 910 to the UE for PDSCH reception. In the mTRP use case, the DCI 910 can be sDCI. DCI 910 can have format 1_1 or 1_2, and can be used to schedule PDSCH transmission to the UE (or, equivalently, received by the PDSCH of the UE). In this case, the DCI format can include a TCI field, other fields, and a CRC field. The TCI state field can be three bits long, and its value can indicate the number of unified downlink TCI states that are activated.

[0094] Additional bits may be added to the mode index field to indicate an activated TCI state selection. This bit addition is shown as DCI 920. In particular, DCI 920 may have format 1_1 or 1_2, which includes a three-bit TCI field, other fields, a mode index field, and a CRC field. The mode index field may include M bits indicating a mode index. The UE may store a table (or some other data structure) associating a mode index with a possible activated TCI state selection, similar to the table described above including three mode indexes (e.g., for two TRPs) or seven mode indexes (e.g., for three TRPs). The UE may determine the value indicated by the M bits and use the value in the lookup of the table (or data structure). In the case of three mode indexes, M may be two. In the case of seven mode indexes, M may be three.

[0095] Fig.10 Another example of using a unified TCI state based on DCI according to some embodiments is shown. The UE may store a table (or some other data structure) associating a pattern index with a possible activated TCI state selection, similar to the table including three pattern indices (e.g., for two TRPs) or seven pattern indices (e.g., for three TRPs) described above in this document. In addition, the UE may use one of the activated TCI states by default. For example, referring back to the first unified downlink TCI state and the second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i" and "unified DL TCI state #j"), by default, the first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i") is selected for use. In this case, the DIC may indicate whether the second "unified DL TCI state #j" should also be selected. The first unified downlink TCI state may also be used for scheduling PDCCH to align TCI between the scheduled PDCCH and the scheduled PDSCH.

[0096] In particular, the network may send DCI 1010 to the UE for PDSCH reception. In the mTRP use case, the DCI 1010 may be sDCI. The DCI 1010 may have format 1_1 or 1_2 and may be used to schedule PDSCH transmission to the UE (or, equivalently, received by the UE's PDSCH). In this case, the DCI format may include a TCI field, other fields, and a CRC field. The TCI status field may be three bits long and its value may indicate the number of unified downlink TCI states that are activated.

[0097] An additional bit may be added to the Additional TCI Indicator (ATI) field to indicate whether a second unified TCI state not used by the scheduled PDCCH is applied when two joint downlink TCI states are activated / indicated (e.g., via the TCI field). The default unified TCI state used by the scheduled PDCCH is also used for the scheduled PDSCH to align the TCI between the PDCCH and the scheduled PDSCH. If the bit of the ATI field is set to zero, no other activated unified TCI state is selected. Otherwise, the second "unified DL TCI state #j" is also selected.

[0098] Of course, if the table includes more than three mode indices (e.g., seven in the case of three TRPs), the ATI field can be more than one bit long. For example, in the case of three TRPs, the ATI field can be two bits long.

[0099] although Fig.10 The DCI format for scheduling is shown, but the ATI field may also be included in the DCI format used in the case of no scheduled PDSCH transmission. Figure 8 For example, such a DCI format would include a reserved field.

[0100] Fig.11Yet another example of using unified TCI states based on DCI according to some embodiments is shown. The UE may store a table (or some other data structure) associating pattern indices with possible activated TCI state selections, similar to the table described above herein including three pattern indices (e.g., for two TRPs) or seven pattern indices (e.g., for three TRPs). The network may send DCI 1110 to the UE for PDSCH reception. In the mTRP use case, the DCI 1010 may be an sDCI. The DCI 1010 may have format 1_1 or 1_2 and may be used to schedule PDSCH transmissions to the UE (or, equivalently, received by the UE's PDSCH). In this case, the DCI format may include a TCI field, other fields, and a CRC field. The TCI state field may be three bits long and its value may indicate the number of unified downlink TCI states that are activated. Although Fig.11 shows the DCI format for scheduling, but similar to Figure 8 As an example, a DCI format that may not schedule PDSCH may also be used and may include a reserved field.

[0101] The DCI format may also include two one-bit TCI selection indicator (TSI) fields. The first TSI field 1113 is used for the first PDSCH transmission opportunity, and the second TSI field 1115 is applied to the second PDSCH transmission opportunity. Of course, if more than two TRPs are used, additional TSI fields may be added to the DCI format. The value "0" of the first TSI field 1113 indicates that the first unified TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i") is used for the first PDSCH transmission opportunity. The value "1" of the first TSI field 1113 indicates that the second unified TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #j") is used for the first PDSCH transmission opportunity. Similarly, the value "0" of the second TSI field 1115 indicates that the first unified TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i") is used for the second PDSCH transmission opportunity. The value "1" of the second TSI field 1115 indicates that the second unified TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #j") is used for the second PDSCH transmission opportunity.

[0102] like Figure 5 As further shown in FIG. 1 , a first PDCCH transmission 1120 occurs and includes a first DCI. The first DCI includes a TCI field indicating that "unified DL TCI state #i" and "unified DL TCI state #j" are activated.

[0103] Thereafter, a second PDCCH transmission 1130 occurs and includes a second DCI. The second DCI includes a TCI field and two TSI fields 11130 and 1115. Each of the two TSI fields 1113 and 1115 is set to "0". Therefore, the first next PDSCH transmission opportunity 1132 scheduled by the second PDCCH transmission 1130 and the scheduled second next PDSCH transmission opportunity 1134 only use the unified DL TCI state #i".

[0104] Later, a third PDCCH transmission 1140 occurs and includes a third DCI. The third DCI includes a TCI field and two TSI fields 11130 and 1115. The first TSI field 1113 is set to "0" and the second TSI field 1115 is set to "1". Each of the two TSI fields 11130 and 1115 is set to "0". Therefore, the third next PDSCH transmission opportunity 1142 scheduled by the third PDCCH transmission 1140 uses a unified DL TCI state #i", and the fourth next PDSCH transmission opportunity 1144 also scheduled by the third PDCCH transmission 1140 uses a unified DL TCI state #j". For example, when the UE approaches a cell boundary, the gNB can use a <0,1> value pair for the two TSI fields 11130 and 1115 without changing the activated TCI state pair.

[0105] Fig.12 Additional examples of using unified TCI states based on DCI according to some embodiments are shown. As explained above herein, a network may send a DCI to a UE, wherein the DCI has a DCI format that includes a TCI field. One function of the TCI field is to indicate a set of unified TCI states activated by the DCI. In order to reduce the DCI overhead associated with selecting an activated unified TCI state, the function of the TCI field may be repurposed to a second function: activated unified TCI state selection. Thus, depending on which function is enabled, the TCI field may indicate an activated unified TCI state or an activated unified TCI state selection for DCI activation (assuming such a TCI state has already been activated).

[0106] exist Fig.12In the DCI format 1210, the function of the TCI field is explicitly indicated by using a function indicator (FI) field that can be one bit long. In particular, the UE receives DCI 1210 having DCI format 1_1 or 1_2 and including a TCI field, a FI field, other fields, and a CRC field. In the absence of scheduled PDSCH reception, the DCI format may also include a reserved field. If the FI field is set to "0", the UE determines that the TCI field activates a set of unified TCI states, where the value of the field indicates the group. If the FI field is set to "1", the UE determines that the TCI field indicates the selection of a set of activated unified TCI states. Referring back to the first unified TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i") and the second unified TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #j"), only two of the three bits of the TCI field can be used as part of the selection indication. For example, these bits can be the leftmost bits. In the case of three TRPs, all three bits of the TCI field can indicate the selection.

[0107] Fig.13 Another example of using a unified TCI state based on DCI according to some embodiments is shown. Fig.12 As explained in , a one-bit FI field can be used to indicate one of two functions of the TCI field. Instead of explicitly including the FI field in the DCI format, the bit value can be carried by selecting a scrambling sequence to scramble the CRC bits of the PBCH. One scrambling sequence can be defined for a FI field with a value of "0", and the scrambling sequence corresponds to a unified TCI state that uses the TCI field to indicate DCI activation. Another scrambling sequence can be defined for a FI field with a value of "1", and the other scrambling sequence corresponds to selecting an activated unified TCI state using the TCI field.

[0108] The next table shows two examples of scrambling code sequences.

[0109] FI field bit <![CDATA[Scrambling sequence: [w0, w1, w2, …, w 23 > 0 [0,0,0,…,0] 1 [1,1,1,…,1]

[0110] Therefore, the network sends DCI 1310 to the UE. To indicate the first function of the TCI field, the network uses a first scrambling sequence. To indicate the second function of the TCI field, the network uses a second scrambling sequence. In contrast, upon receiving DCI 1310, the UE descrambles the CRC and determines the descrambling sequence. The UE may perform a lookup of a local memory to determine the value of the FI field 1313 corresponding to the descrambling sequence. If the value indicates "0", the UE determines that the TCI field activates a set of unified TCI states, where the value of the field indicates the set. If the FI field is set to "1", the UE determines that the TCI field indicates selection of a set of activated unified TCI states.

[0111] Fig.14 Another example of using a unified TCI state based on DCI according to some embodiments is shown. For PUSCH transmission, the network can send DCI 1410 to the UE, wherein the DCI 1410 can have a format (e.g., format 0_1 ​​or 0_2). The format may include a scheduling request indicator (SRI) field and other fields and a CRC field. The SRI field can be repurposed to be used as a unified TCI state selection. In particular, the SRI field can be reinterpreted as a mode index (e.g., whereby in a use case of three mode indexes, two of the SRI bits can indicate the value of the mode index). Additionally or alternatively, an ATI field can be added to the DCI format, or at least a portion of the SRI field can be repurposed to include the ATI field. Additionally or alternatively, multiple TSI fields can be added to the DCI format, or at least a portion of the SRI field can be repurposed to include such a TSI field.

[0112] Return to reference Figures 6 to 14 , various embodiments are described in conjunction with network-based signaling using unified TCI state selection for PDSCH and / or PUSCH transmissions. Similar network-based signaling can be used for CSI reporting. In particular, the network can use RRC, MAC CE and / or DCI to indicate a unified TCI state selection for the UE to use to receive CSI-RS. The UE can then receive the CSI-RS using the indicated unified TCI state, perform measurements on it, and generate a CSI report and send the CSI report back to the network. Such network-based signaling is further described in the following figures.

[0113] Fig.15 Another example of using a unified TCI state based on RRC according to some embodiments is shown. In particular, RRC signaling 1510 can be used to indicate a unified TCI state selection associated with a periodic CSI-RS (P-CSI-RS) resource. Typically, the network configures the P-CSI-RS for the UE by using RRC signaling. If a unified TCI state is supported for sDCI mTRP, the TCI state for the P-CSI-RS can be semi-statically configured through the same RRC signaling or different RRC signaling.

[0114] The UE may store a table (or use some other data structure) associating a pattern index with an activated unified downlink TCI state selection. The table may be defined based on other RRC signaling or may be predefined based on a technical specification followed by the UE. In particular, a first pattern index (e.g., pattern index "1") may correspond to the selection of a first unified TCI state. A second pattern index (e.g., pattern index "2") may correspond to the selection of a second unified TCI state.

[0115] RRC signaling 1510 may indicate a particular pattern index. The UE may then look up the table (or data structure used) to determine the activated unified downlink TCI state associated with the pattern index. If RRC signaling 1510 indicates pattern index "1", the UE applies a first unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #i") to P-CSI-RS resource reception. If RRC signaling 1510 indicates pattern index "2", the UE applies a second unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DL TCI state #j") to P-CSI-RS resource reception.

[0116] For more than two TRPs, the table (or data structure) described above may include additional entries associating additional mode entries with additional activated unified TCI states. For example, a third unified downlink TCI state (e.g., "unified DLTCI state #k") may be associated with a third TRP. In this case, the table may associate three mode indexes with a separate use of a first unified downlink TCI state, a separate use of a second unified downlink TCI state, and a separate use of a third unified downlink TCI state. RRC signaling 1510 may use two bits to indicate one of the three mode indexes.

[0117] Fig.16 Another example of using a unified TCI state based on a MAC CE according to some embodiments is shown. AMCCE 1600 can be used to indicate the selection of a unified TCI state from the activated unified TCI states for each CSI-RS resource set. Each CSI-RS resource set can include one or more semi-persistent CSI-RS (SP-CSI-RS) resources.

[0118] The UE may store a table (or use some other data structure) associating a pattern index with an activated unified downlink TCI state selection. The table may be defined based on other RRC signaling or may be predefined based on a technical specification followed by the UE. In particular, a first pattern index (e.g., pattern index "1") may correspond to the selection of a first unified TCI state. A second pattern index (e.g., pattern index "2") may correspond to the selection of a second unified TCI state.

[0119] The MAC CE 1600 may indicate a particular pattern index. The UE may then look up the table (or data structure used) to determine the activated unified downlink TCI state associated with the pattern index. If the MAC CE 1600 indicates a pattern index of "1", the UE applies a first unified TCI state to the CSI-RS resource set. If the MAC CE 1600 indicates a pattern index of "2", the UE applies a second unified TCI state to the CSI-RS resource set.

[0120] The MAC CE 1600 may be identified by a MAC subheader with a logical channel identifier (LCID) indicating that the MAC CE 1600 is for activated TCI state selection. Fig.16 As shown, MAC CE 1600 may have a fixed size (e.g., three octets) and include multiple fields. The first field may be a serving cell identifier field, which indicates the identity of the serving cell to which MAC CE 1600 applies. The second field may be a bandwidth portion indicator. This field indicates the downlink bandwidth portion to which MAC CE 1600 applies. This field may be required for mDCI only in the case of mTRP. In the case of mTRP, it may be reserved for sDCI. The third field may be an SP CSI-RS resource set identifier field. This field contains an index to a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set, which contains a semi-persistent NZP CSI-RS resource associated with a selected TCI state. The fourth field may be an SP-CSI for an interference measurement (IM) resource set identifier field. This field contains an index to a CSI-IM resource set, which contains a semi-persistent CSI-IM resource using the same selected TCI state. The fifth field may be an IM field indicating the presence of an eight-bit byte containing the SP CSI-IM resource set ID field. Two reserved "R" fields may also be included. In addition, the MAC CE 1700 may include a TCI status field. In the case of two mode indexes, the TCI status field may be on-bit long. A value of "0" indicates that the first unified TCI state is selected. In contrast, a value of "1" indicates that the second unified TCI state is selected. Of course, if more than two mode indexes are used (for example, in the case of a third TRP), the TCI status field may include a larger number of bits.

[0121] Fig.17Another example of using a unified TCI state based on DCI according to some embodiments is shown. This example relates to an aperiodic CI-RS. RRC signaling may be used whereby the network indicates to the UE a selection of one of the unified downlink TCI states for each CSI-RS resource in an aperiodic CSI-RS resource set or for each aperiodic CSI-RS resource set. Additionally or alternatively, the network may send DCI 1710 to the UE, wherein the DCI 1710 indicates a unified TCI state selection to be used in conjunction with an aperiodic CSI-RS resource set or in conjunction with an aperiodic CSI-RS resource in an aperiodic CSI-RS resource set.

[0122] like Fig.17 As shown, the TCI state of the aperiodic CSI-RS resource may be determined based on a triggering DCI 1710. The DCI 1710 may have a format including a CSI-RS TCI state indicator (C-TSI) field. This field may indicate a unified TCI state for an aperiodic CSI-RS resource set.

[0123] Referring back to the two TRPs and the two unified downlink TCI states, the (C-TSI) field can be one bit long to indicate the selection of the first activated unified downlink TCI state or the second activated unified downlink TCI state. Of course, if more than two TRPs are used, the C-TSI field can be longer.

[0124] In another example, and referring back to the two TRPs and the two unified downlink TCI states, the (C-TSI) field can be two bits long. When the C-TSI field is set to "00", the first activated unified downlink TCI state is selected. When the C-TSI field is set to "01", the second activated unified downlink TCI state is selected. When the C-TSI field is set to "10" or "1", both the first activated unified downlink TCI state and the second activated unified downlink TCI state are selected. The "10" value can be used as a code point indicating the selection of cyclic mapping, and the "11" value can be used as another code point indicating the selection of sequential mapping.

[0125] The cyclic mapping for two unified TCI states may correspond to a first mode in which the first TCI state and the second TCI state are applied to the first aperiodic CSI-RS resource set and the second aperiodic CSI-RS resource set, respectively, and the same TCI mapping pattern continues to the remaining aperiodic CSI-RS resource sets.

[0126] The sequential mapping for the two unified TCI states may correspond to a second mode. In this mode, the first TCI state is applied to a first plurality of aperiodic CSI-RS resource sets associated with the CSI report, and the second TCI state is applied to the remaining second plurality of aperiodic CSI-RS resource sets associated with the CSI report. For example, the first plurality of CSI-RS resource sets corresponds to However, the second plurality of CSI-RS resource sets corresponds to Here, M represents the total number of non-periodic CSI-RS resource sets triggered by DCI 1710.

[0127] Fig.18 An example of an operational flow / algorithm structure 1800 for using a unified TCI state implemented by a UE according to some embodiments is shown. The UE is an example of a UE described above. Its components (e.g., one or more processors configured with program code) can execute the operational flow / algorithm structure 1800.

[0128] In an example, the operation flow / algorithm structure 1800 includes receiving information indicating that a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state associated with a first transmission and reception point (TRP) is activated and a second TCI state associated with a second TRP is activated at 1802, wherein each of the first TCI state and the second TCI state is applicable to multiple channels. For example, the information can be received from the network via RRC signaling, MAC CE, or DCI. Each of the first TCI state and the second TCI state can be a unified TCI state. For a downlink, the unified TCI state can be a unified downlink TCI state. For an uplink, the unified TCI state can be a unified uplink TCI state.

[0129] In an example, the operational flow / algorithm structure 1800 includes, at 1804, determining an activated TCI state to be used in association with a communication on a channel in a plurality of channels by selecting an activated TCI state from at least a first TCI state and a second TCI state, wherein the communication includes a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission to a UE or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission from a UE. The activated TCI state is an activated unified TCI state. For example, the UE uses a predefined set of rules to determine an activated unified TCI state selection, wherein the selection may be one or both of a first unified TCI state and / or a second TCI state. In the case of only PDSCH transmission, the unified TCI state may be a unified downlink TCI state. In the case of only PUSCH transmission, the unified TCI state may be a unified uplink TCI state. In the case of both PDSCH transmission and PUSCH transmission, the unified TCI state may be a pair of unified downlink TCI states and unified uplink TCI states. In another example, additional RRC signaling, MACE and / or DCI is received from the network to indicate the activated unified TCI state selection.

[0130] In an example, the operational flow / algorithm structure 1800 includes performing communications based on an activated TCI state at 1806. For example, the activated TCI state is applied to a PDSCH transmission opportunity and / or a PUSCH transmission opportunity.

[0131] Fig.19 An example of an operational flow / algorithm structure 1900 implemented by a network for using a unified TCI state according to some embodiments is shown. The network is an example of the network described above. Its components (e.g., a base station or a network node) can perform the operational flow / algorithm structure 1900.

[0132] In an example, the operation flow / algorithm structure 1900 includes sending first information to a user equipment (UE) at 1902, the first information indicating that a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state associated with a first transmission and reception point (TRP) is activated and a second TCI state associated with a second TRP is activated, wherein each of the first TCI state and the second TCI state is applicable to multiple channels. For example, the first information can be sent via RRC signaling, MAC CE, or DCI. Each of the first TCI state and the second TCI state can be a unified TCI state. For a downlink, the unified TCI state can be a unified downlink TCI state. For an uplink, the unified TCI state can be a unified uplink TCI state.

[0133] In an example, the operational flow / algorithm structure 1900 includes sending second information to the UE at 1904, the second information indicating that an activated TCI state is to be used in association with communication on a channel among multiple channels by at least making a selection, wherein the second information causes the UE to select the activated TCI state from a first TCI state and a second TCI state, wherein the communication includes a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission to the UE or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission from the UE. The activated TCI state is an activated unified TCI state. For example, the second information is sent as additional RRC signaling, MACE and / or DCI to indicate the activated unified TCI state selection. In the case of only PDSCH transmission, the unified TCI state can be a unified downlink TCI state. In the case of only PUSCH transmission, the unified TCI state can be a unified uplink TCI state. In the case of both PDSCH transmission and PUSCH transmission, the unified TCI state can be a pair of unified downlink TCI states and unified uplink TCI states. In another example,

[0134] In an example, the operational flow / algorithm structure 1900 includes performing communications based on an activated TCI state at 1906. For example, the activated TCI state is applied to a scheduled PDSCH transmission and / or a scheduled PUSCH transmission.

[0135] Fig. 20 An example of an operational flow / algorithm structure 2000 implemented by a UE for using a unified TCI state according to some embodiments is shown. The UE is an example of a UE described above. Its components (e.g., one or more processors configured with program code) can execute the operational flow / algorithm structure 2000.

[0136] In an example, the operational flow / algorithm structure 2000 includes receiving information indicating that a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state associated with a first transmission and reception point (TRP) is activated and a second TCI state associated with a second TRP is activated at 2002, wherein each of the first TCI state and the second TCI state is applicable to multiple channels. For example, the information can be received from the network via RRC signaling, MAC CE, or DCI. Each of the first TCI state and the second TCI state can be a unified TCI state. For a downlink, the unified TCI state can be a unified downlink TCI state. For an uplink, the unified TCI state can be a unified uplink TCI state.

[0137] In an example, the operation flow / algorithm structure 2000 includes determining at 2004 an activated TCI state used in association with receiving a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) to generate a channel state information (CSI) report resource, wherein the activated TCI state corresponds to at least one of a first TCI state or a second TCI state. The activated TCI state is an activated unified TCI state. For example, the UE uses a predefined set of rules to determine an activated unified TCI state selection, wherein the selection may be one or both of a first unified TCI state and / or a second TCI state. Based on the set of rules, the UE may select a first activated unified downlink TCI state and / or a second activated unified downlink TCI state for a CSI-RS resource or a CSI-RS resource set to be received and measured. In another example, RRC signaling for periodic CSI-RS resources may be received from the network. The RRC signaling may indicate that one of the first activated unified TCI state or the second activated unified TCI state is selected per P-CSI-RS resource. In yet another example, a MAC CE for an SP-CSI resource set may be received from the network. The MAC CE may indicate that one of a first activated unified TCI state or a second activated unified TCI state is selected for the SP-CSI-RS resource set. In a further example, RRC signaling may be received to configure aperiodic (AP) CSI-RS resources. The RRC signaling may also indicate that one of a first activated unified TCI state or a second activated unified TCI state is selected for each AP-CSI-RS resource or each AP-CSI-RS resource set. In another example, a DCI may be received to trigger an aperiodic CSI report, and the DCI may also indicate that one of a first activated unified TCI state or a second activated unified TCI state is selected for the AP-CSI-RS resource set.

[0138] In an example, the operational flow / algorithm structure 2000 includes generating a CSI report based on reception of CSI-RS resources using an activated TCI state at 2006. For example, the UE receives and measures CSI-RS resources (if applicable) using an activated unified downlink TCI state, and then generates and sends a CSI report to the network.

[0139] Fig.21 Another example of an operational flow / algorithm structure 2100 implemented by a network for using a unified TCI state according to some embodiments is shown. The network is an example of the network described above. Its components (e.g., a base station or a network node) can perform the operational flow / algorithm 2100.

[0140] In an example, the operation flow / algorithm structure 2100 includes sending first information to a user equipment (UE) at 2102, the first information indicating that a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state associated with a first transmission and reception point (TRP) is activated and a second TCI state associated with a second TRP is activated, wherein each of the first TCI state and the second TCI state is applicable to multiple channels. For example, the first information can be sent via RRC signaling, MAC CE, or DCI. Each of the first TCI state and the second TCI state can be a unified TCI state. For a downlink, the unified TCI state can be a unified downlink TCI state. For an uplink, the unified TCI state can be a unified uplink TCI state.

[0141] In an example, the operational flow / algorithm structure 2100 includes, at 2104, sending second information to the UE, the second information indicating an activated TCI state used in association with receiving a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) for a channel state information (CSI) reporting resource, wherein the activated TCI state corresponds to at least one of a first TCI state or a second TCI state. For example, RRC signaling may be sent for periodic CSI-RS resources. The RRC signaling may indicate that one of a first activated unified TCI state or a second activated unified TCI state is selected per P-CSI-RS resource. In another example, a MAC CE may be sent for an SP-CSI resource set. The MAC CE may indicate that one of a first activated unified TCI state or a second activated unified TCI state is selected for the SP-CSI-RS resource set. In yet another example, RRC signaling may be sent to configure an aperiodic (AP) CSI-RS resource. The RRC signaling may also indicate that one of the first activated unified TCI state or the second activated unified TCI state is selected for each AP-CSI-RS resource or each AP-CSI-RS resource set. In a further example, a DCI may be sent to trigger an aperiodic CSI report, and the DCI may also indicate that one of the first activated unified TCI state or the second activated unified TCI state is selected for the AP-CSI-RS resource set.

[0142] In an example, the operational flow / algorithm structure 2100 includes receiving a CSI report based on an activated TCI state from the UE at 2106. For example, the network sends CSI-RS resources. The UE then receives and measures the CSI-RS resources (if applicable) using the activated unified downlink TCI state and generates a CSI report. The network can then receive the CSI report.

[0143] Fig. 22A receiving component 2200 of a UE 104 is shown according to some embodiments. The receiving component 2200 may include an antenna panel 2204 including a plurality of antenna elements. The panel 2204 is shown as having four antenna elements, but other embodiments may include other numbers.

[0144] The antenna panel 2204 may be coupled to an analog beamforming (BF) component that includes a plurality of phase shifters 2208(1) to 2208(4). The phase shifters 2208(1) to 2208(4) may be coupled to a radio frequency (RF) chain 2212. The RF chain 2212 may amplify the received analog RF signal, down-convert the RF signal to baseband, and convert the analog baseband signal to a digital baseband signal that may be provided to a baseband processor for further processing.

[0145] In various embodiments, control circuitry that may reside in a baseband processor may provide BF weights (e.g., W1 to W4) to phase shifters 2208(1) to 2208(4) to provide receive beams at antenna panel 2204, which may represent phase shift values. These BF weights may be determined based on channel-based beamforming.

[0146] Fig.23 UE 2300 according to some embodiments is shown. UE 2300 may be similar to Figure 1 UE 104 and is substantially interchangeable therewith.

[0147] Similar to what is described above with respect to UE 204, UE 2300 may be any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as a mobile phone, computer, tablet, industrial wireless sensor (e.g., microphone, carbon dioxide sensor, pressure sensor, humidity sensor, thermometer, motion sensor, accelerometer, laser scanner, fluid level sensor, inventory sensor, voltage / current meter, actuator, etc.), video surveillance / monitoring equipment (e.g., camera, camcorder, etc.), wearable device, or loose IoT device. In some embodiments, the UE may be a reduced capacity UE or an NR-Light UE.

[0148] UE 2300 may include a processor 2304, an RF interface circuit 2308, a memory / storage device 2312, a user interface 2316, a sensor 2320, a driver circuit 2322, a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 2324, and a battery 2328. The components of UE 2300 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), a portion of an integrated circuit, a discrete electronic device or other module, logical component, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. Fig.23The block diagram of UE 2300 is intended to show a high-level view of some of the components of UE 2300. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0149] Components of UE 2300 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 2332, which may represent any type of interface, input / output, bus (local, system, or extension), transmission line, trace, optical connection, etc., that allows various circuit components (on a common or different chip or chipsets) to interact with each other.

[0150] The processor 2304 may include processor circuits such as a baseband processor circuit (BB) 2304A, a central processor unit circuit (CPU) 2304B, and a graphics processor unit circuit (GPU) 2304C. The processor 2304 may include any type of circuit or processor circuit that executes or otherwise operates computer-executable instructions (such as program codes, software modules, or functional processes from the memory / storage device 2312) to cause the UE 2300 to perform operations as described herein.

[0151] In some embodiments, the baseband processor circuit 2304A can access the communication protocol stack 2336 in the memory / storage device 2312 to communicate through a 3GPP compatible network. In general, the baseband processor circuit 2304A can access the communication protocol stack to: perform user plane functions at the PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, SDAP layer, and PDU layer; and perform control plane functions at the PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, RRC layer, and non-access layer (NAS) layer. In some embodiments, the PHY layer operations may be performed in addition / alternatively by components of the RF interface circuit 2308.

[0152] The baseband processor circuit 2304A may generate or process baseband signals or waveforms that carry information in a 3GPP-compatible network. In some embodiments, the waveforms used for NR may be based on cyclic prefix OFDM (CP-OFDM) in the uplink or downlink, and discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) in the uplink.

[0153] The baseband processor circuit 2304A may also access group information from the memory / storage 2312 to determine a search space group in which multiple repetitions of the PDCCH may be sent.

[0154] The memory / storage 2312 may include any type of volatile or non-volatile memory that may be distributed throughout the UE 2300. In some embodiments, some of the memory / storage 2312 may be located on the processor 2304 itself (e.g., L1 cache and L2 cache), while other memory / storage 2312 is external to the processor 2304 but accessible via a memory interface. The memory / storage 2312 may include any suitable volatile or non-volatile memory, such as, but not limited to, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state memory, or any other type of memory device technology.

[0155] The RF interface circuit 2308 may include a transceiver circuit and a radio frequency front end module (RFEM), which allows the UE 2300 to communicate with other devices through a radio access network. The RF interface circuit 2308 may include various elements arranged in a transmit path or a receive path. These elements may include, for example, switches, mixers, amplifiers, filters, synthesizer circuits, control circuits, etc.

[0156] In the receive path, the RFEM may receive the radiated signal from the air interface via antenna 2350 and proceed to filter and amplify the signal (using a low noise amplifier). The signal may be provided to a transceiver's receiver, which down-converts the RF signal to a baseband signal that is provided to a baseband processor of processor 2304.

[0157] In the transmit path, the transmitter of the transceiver up-converts the baseband signal received from the baseband processor and provides the RF signal to the RFEM. The RFEM may amplify the RF signal through a power amplifier before the signal is radiated across the air interface via the antenna 2350.

[0158] In various embodiments, the RF interface circuit 2308 may be configured to send / receive signals in a manner compatible with NR access technology.

[0159] Antenna 2350 may include multiple antenna elements, each of which converts electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and converts received radio waves into electrical signals. These antenna elements may be arranged into one or more antenna panels. Antenna 2350 may have an antenna panel that is omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof to achieve beamforming and multi-input, multi-output communications. Antenna 2350 may include a microstrip antenna, a printed antenna manufactured on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards, a patch antenna, a phased array antenna, etc. Antenna 2350 may have one or more panels that are designed for a specific frequency band included in a band in FR1 or FR2.

[0160] The user interface circuit 2316 includes various input / output (I / O) devices designed to enable a user to interact with the UE 2300. The user interface 2316 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual device for accepting input, and in particular includes one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., reset button), physical keyboard, keypad, mouse, touch pad, touch screen, microphone, scanner, headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual device for displaying information or otherwise conveying information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). The output device circuit may include any number or combination of audio or visual displays, in particular including one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary state indicators (such as light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs) or more complex outputs (such as display devices or touch screens (e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCDs), LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.)), where the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. is generated or produced by the operation of the UE 2300.

[0161] Sensor 2320 may include a device, module, or subsystem whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an inertial measurement unit including an accelerometer; a gyroscope; or a magnetometer; a micro-electromechanical system or nano-electromechanical system including: a three-axis accelerometer; a three-axis gyroscope; or a magnetometer; a level sensor; a flow sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; a barometric pressure sensor; a gravity meter; an altimeter; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.); a depth sensor; an ambient light sensor; an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; and the like.

[0162] The driver circuit 2322 may include software and hardware elements for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the UE 2300. The driver circuit 2322 may include various drivers to allow other components to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in or connected to the UE 2300. For example, the driver circuit 2322 may include: a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor circuit 2320 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 2320, a driver for obtaining an actuator position of an electromechanical component or controlling and allowing access to an electromechanical component, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0163] The PMIC 2324 may manage the power provided to various components of the UE 2300. In particular, with respect to the processor 2304, the PMIC 2324 may control power source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion.

[0164] In some embodiments, the PMIC 2324 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the UE 2300. For example, if the platform UE is in the RRC_Connected state, in which the platform is still connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic soon, then after a period of inactivity, the platform may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the UE 2300 may be powered off for short time intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the UE 2300 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which the device is disconnected from the network and no operations such as channel quality feedback, handovers, etc. are performed. The UE 2300 enters a very low power state and performs paging, in which the device wakes up again periodically to listen to the network and then powers off again. The UE 2300 may not receive data in this state; in order to receive data, the platform must transition back to the RRC_Connected state. Additional power saving modes may prevent the device from using the network for a time exceeding the paging interval (from a few seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and can be completely powered off. Any data transmitted during this time will be significantly delayed, and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

[0165] The battery 2328 can power the UE 2300, but in some examples, the UE 2300 can be installed in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to the power grid. The battery 2328 can be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, etc. In some specific implementations, such as in vehicle-based applications, the battery 2328 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0166] Fig.24 FIG. 2 shows a gNB 2400 according to some embodiments. The gNB 2400 may be similar to Figure 1 The gNB 108 is similar to and essentially interchangeable with it.

[0167] The gNB 2400 may include a processor 2404, RAN interface circuitry 2408, core network (CN) interface circuitry 2412, and memory / storage circuitry 2416. The TRP may include similar components.

[0168] Components of the gNB 2400 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 2428.

[0169] The processor 2404, RAN interface circuit 2408, memory / storage circuit 2416 (including communication protocol stack 2410), antenna 2450 and interconnect 2428 may be similar to those of reference Fig.23 Like-named elements are shown and described.

[0170] The CN interface circuit 2412 may provide connectivity to a core network, e.g., a fifth generation core network (5GC) using a 5GC-compatible network interface protocol, such as a Carrier Ethernet protocol, or some other suitable protocol. Network connectivity may be provided to / from the gNB 2400 via optical fiber or wireless backhaul. The CN interface circuit 2412 may include one or more dedicated processors or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the CN interface circuit 2412 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0171] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0172] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, or methods described in the following example section. For example, the baseband circuit described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below. For another example, the circuits associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below in the example section.

[0173] Example

[0174] In the following sections, additional exemplary embodiments are provided.

[0175] Example 1 includes a method implemented by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving information indicating that a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state associated with a first transmission and reception point (TRP) is activated and a second TCI state associated with a second TRP is activated, wherein each of the first TCI state and the second TCI state is applicable to multiple channels; determining an activated TCI state to be used in association with communication on a channel among multiple channels by selecting an activated TCI state from at least the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the communication includes a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission to the UE or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission from the UE; and performing communication based on the activated TCI state.

[0176] Example 2 includes a method implemented by a network, the method comprising: sending first information to a user equipment (UE), the first information indicating that a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state associated with a first transmission and reception point (TRP) is activated and a second TCI state associated with a second TRP is activated, wherein each of the first TCI state and the second TCI state is applicable to multiple channels; sending second information to the UE, the second information indicating that the activated TCI state will be used in association with communication on a channel among multiple channels by at least selecting, wherein the second information causes the UE to select the activated TCI state from the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the communication includes a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission to the UE or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission from the UE; and performing communication based on the activated TCI state.

[0177] Example 3 includes the method of Example 1 or Example 2, wherein the method further includes: based on a predefined set of rules, determining that a first TCI state will be used for a first transmission timing and a second TCI state will be used for a second transmission timing, wherein each of the first transmission timing and the second transmission timing is a corresponding PDSCH transmission timing or a corresponding PUSCH transmission.

[0178] Example 4 includes the method of Example 3, wherein the first transmission opportunity and the second transmission opportunity use fdmScheme B, tdmScheme A, tdmScheme B, or a spatial division multiplexing (SDM) scheme.

[0179] Example 5 includes the method of Example 1 or Example 2, wherein the method further includes: based on a predefined set of rules, determining that the first TCI state is used for the first frequency domain resource allocation for PDSCH transmission, and the second TCI state is used for the second frequency domain resource allocation for the PDSCH transmission timing.

[0180] Example 6 includes the method of Example 1 or Example 2, wherein the method further includes: receiving or sending radio resource control (RRC) information indicating a selection of an activated TCI state from a first TCI state and a second TCI state.

[0181] Example 7 includes the method of Example 6, wherein the RRC information indicates a mode index from a plurality of mode indexes, wherein a first mode index corresponds to selecting a first TCI state, a second mode index corresponds to selecting a second TCI state, and a third mode index corresponds to selecting the first TCI state and the second TCI state.

[0182] Example 8 includes the method of Example 1 or Example 2, wherein the method further includes: receiving or sending a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), which indicates a selection of an activated TCI state from a first TCI state and a second TCI state, wherein the MAC CE includes a logical channel identifier (LCID) associated with the TCI state selection.

[0183] Example 9 includes the method of Example 8, wherein the MAC CE indicates a mode index selected from a plurality of mode indexes, wherein a first mode index corresponds to selecting a first TCI state, a second mode index corresponds to selecting a second TCI state, and a third mode index corresponds to selecting the first TCI state and the second TCI state.

[0184] Example 10 includes the method of Example 9, wherein the MAC CE includes a control resource set pool identifier indicating that the selected mode index is associated with a channel configured with a corresponding control resource set pool index number identifier.

[0185] Example 11 includes the method of Example 1 or Example 2, wherein the method further includes: receiving or sending downlink control information (DCI), the downlink control information indicating a selection of an activated TCI state from a first TCI state and a second TCI state, wherein the selection corresponds to selecting only the first TCI state, selecting only the second TCI state, or selecting the first TCI state and the second TCI state.

[0186] Example 12 includes the method of Example 11, wherein the DCI has a DCI format without a downlink assignment, wherein the DCI format includes a TCI field and a reserved field, wherein a plurality of bits of the reserved field are repurposed to indicate the selection.

[0187] Example 13 includes the method of Example 11, wherein the DCI has a DCI format with a downlink assignment, wherein the DCI format includes a TCI field and an additional field having additional bits in addition to the TCI field, wherein the additional field indicates a selection.

[0188] Example 14 includes the method of Example 11, wherein the first TCI state is selected by default for the channel, and wherein the DCI indicates whether the second TCI state is also to be selected for the channel.

[0189] Example 15 includes the method of Example 14, wherein the first TCI state is also used for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmissions to the UE.

[0190] Example 16 includes the method of Example 1 or Example 2, wherein the method further includes: receiving or sending downlink control information (DCI), the downlink control information indicating a selection of an activated TCI state from a first TCI state and a second TCI state, wherein the selection corresponds to selecting only the first TCI state, selecting only the second TCI state, or selecting both the first TCI state and the second TCI state, and wherein the DCI has a DCI format, the DCI format including a TCI field, a first TCI selection indicator (TSI) field indicating whether the first TCI state is to be selected, and a second TSI field indicating whether the second TCI state is to be selected.

[0191] Example 17 includes the method of Example 1 or Example 2, wherein the method further includes: receiving or sending downlink control information (DCI), the downlink control information indicating a selection of an activated TCI state from a first TCI state and a second TCI state, wherein the selection corresponds to selecting only the first TCI state, selecting only the second TCI state, or selecting both the first TCI state and the second TCI state, and wherein the DCI has a DCI format, the DCI format including a TCI field and a function indicator (FI) field indicating whether a function of the TCI field in the DCI is to indicate a selection of an activated TCI state.

[0192] Example 18 includes the method of Example 1 or Example 2, wherein the method further includes: receiving or sending downlink control information (DCI), the downlink control information indicating a selection of an activated TCI state from a first TCI state and a second TCI state, wherein the selection corresponds to selecting only the first TCI state, selecting only the second TCI state, or selecting both the first TCI state and the second TCI state, and wherein the DCI has a DCI format including a TCI field and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bit; determining that the CRC bit is associated with a scrambling sequence; determining that the scrambling sequence is associated with a functional bit indicating whether a function of the TCI field indicates a selection of an activated TCI state.

[0193] Example 19 includes the method of Example 1 or Example 2, wherein the communication includes PUSCH transmission, and wherein the method further includes: receiving or sending downlink control information (DCI), the downlink control information indicating a selection of an activated TCI state from a first TCI state and a second TCI state, wherein the selection corresponds to selecting only the first TCI state, selecting only the second TCI state, or selecting the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the DCI has a DCI format including a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource indicator (SRI) field and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bit, wherein the SRI field indicates the selection.

[0194] Example 20 includes the method of Example 1 or Example 2, wherein the communication includes PUSCH transmission, wherein the first TCI state is selected by default, and wherein the method further includes: receiving or sending downlink control information (DCI), the downlink control information indicating a selection of an activated TCI state from a first TCI state and a second TCI state, wherein the selection corresponds to selecting only the first TCI state, selecting only the second TCI state, or selecting both the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the DCI has a DCI format including an additional TCI indicator (ATI) field, the additional TCI indicator field indicating whether the second TCI state is also to be selected.

[0195] Example 21 includes the method of Example 1 or Example 2, wherein the communication includes PUSCH transmission, wherein the first TCI state is selected by default, and wherein the method further includes: sending downlink control information (DCI), the downlink control information indicating a selection of an activated TCI state from a first TCI state and a second TCI state, wherein the selection corresponds to selecting only the first TCI state, selecting only the second TCI state, or selecting the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the DCI has a DCI format including an additional TCI indicator (ATI) field, the additional TCI indicator field indicating whether the second TCI state is also to be selected.

[0196] Example 22 includes the method of Example 1 or Example 2, wherein the communication includes PUSCH transmission, and wherein the method further includes: receiving or sending downlink control information (DCI), the downlink control information indicating a selection of an activated TCI state from a first TCI state and a second TCI state, wherein the selection corresponds to selecting only the first TCI state, selecting only the second TCI state, or selecting the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the DCI has a DCI format, the DCI format including a first TCI selection indicator (TSI) field indicating whether the first TCI state is selected, and a second TSI field indicating whether the second TCI state is selected.

[0197] Example 23 includes a UE comprising a device for performing one or more elements of a method described in or related to any one of Examples 1 and Examples 3 to 22.

[0198] Example 24 includes one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the UE, cause the UE to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any one of Examples 1 and Examples 3 to 22.

[0199] Example 25 includes a UE comprising logic, modules, or circuits to perform one or more elements of the methods described in or related to any one of Examples 1 and Examples 3 to 22.

[0200] Example 26 includes a UE comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, the one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any one of Examples 1 and Examples 3 to 22.

[0201] Example 27 includes a network comprising one or more element devices for performing a method described or related to any one of Examples 2 to 22.

[0202] Example 28 includes one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a network, cause the network to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any one of Examples 2 to 22.

[0203] Example 29 includes a network comprising logic components, modules, or circuit systems for performing one or more elements of the method described or related to any one of Examples 2 to 22.

[0204] Example 30 includes a network comprising one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, the one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any one of Examples 2 to 22.

[0205] Example 31 includes a system comprising a device for performing one or more elements of a method described or related to any one of Examples 1 to 22.

[0206] Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any of the above embodiments may be combined with any other embodiment (or combination of embodiments). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings or may be obtained from the practice of the various embodiments.

[0207] Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to include all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memories storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the UE to: receiving information indicating that a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state associated with a first transmission and reception point (TRP) is activated and a second TCI state associated with a second TRP is activated, wherein each of the first TCI state and the second TCI state is applicable to a plurality of channels; determining an activated TCI state to be used in association with communication on a channel of the plurality of channels by selecting the activated TCI state from at least the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the communication comprises a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission to the UE or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission from the UE; and The communicating is performed based on the activated TCI state.

2. The UE according to claim 1, wherein: The one or more memories store further instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the UE to: Based on a predefined set of rules, it is determined that the first TCI state will be used for a first transmission opportunity and the second TCI state will be used for a second transmission opportunity, wherein each of the first transmission opportunity and the second transmission opportunity is a corresponding PDSCH transmission opportunity or a corresponding PUSCH transmission.

3. The UE according to claim 2, wherein: The first transmission opportunity and the second transmission opportunity use fdmScheme B, tdmScheme A, tdmScheme B, or a space division multiplexing (SDM) scheme.

4. The UE according to claim 1, wherein: The one or more memories store further instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the UE to: Based on a set of predefined rules, it is determined that the first TCI state is used for a first frequency domain resource allocation for a PDSCH transmission opportunity and the second TCI state is used for a second frequency domain resource allocation for the PDSCH transmission opportunity.

5. The UE according to claim 1, wherein: The one or more memories store further instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the UE to: Radio resource control (RRC) information indicating selection of the activated TCI state from among the first TCI state and the second TCI state is received.

6. The UE according to claim 5, wherein: The RRC information indicates a pattern index from a plurality of pattern indexes, wherein a first pattern index corresponds to selecting the first TCI state, a second pattern index corresponds to selecting the second TCI state, and a third pattern index corresponds to selecting the first TCI state and the second TCI state.

7. The UE according to claim 1, wherein: The one or more memories store further instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the UE to: A medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) is received, the medium access control control element indicating the selection of the activated TCI state from the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the MAC CE includes a logical channel identifier (LCID) associated with the TCI state selection.

8. The UE according to claim 7, wherein: The MAC CE indicates a mode index selected from a plurality of mode indexes, wherein a first mode index corresponds to selecting the first TCI state, a second mode index corresponds to selecting the second TCI state, and a third mode index corresponds to selecting the first TCI state and the second TCI state.

9. The UE according to claim 8, wherein: The MAC CE includes a control resource set pool identifier, and the control resource set pool identifier indicates that the pattern index is associated with a channel configured with a corresponding control resource set pool index number identifier.

10. The UE according to claim 1, wherein: The one or more memories store further instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, configure the UE to: Receive downlink control information (DCI), the downlink control information indicating the selection of the activated TCI state from the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the selection corresponds to selecting only the first TCI state, selecting only the second TCI state, or selecting the first TCI state and the second TCI state.

11. The UE according to claim 10, wherein: The DCI has a DCI format without downlink assignment, wherein the DCI format includes a TCI field and a reserved field, wherein a plurality of bits of the reserved field are repurposed to indicate the selection.

12. The UE according to claim 10, wherein: The DCI has a DCI format with a downlink assignment, wherein the DCI format includes a TCI field and an additional field having additional bits in addition to the TCI field, wherein the additional field indicates the selection.

13. One or more computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed on a user equipment (UE), configure the UE to perform operations comprising: receiving information indicating that a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state associated with a first transmission and reception point (TRP) is activated and a second TCI state associated with a second TRP is activated, wherein each of the first TCI state and the second TCI state is applicable to a plurality of channels; determining an activated TCI state to be used in association with communication on a channel of a plurality of channels by selecting the activated TCI state from at least the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the communication comprises a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission to the UE or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission from the UE; and The communicating is performed based on the activated TCI state.

14. One or more computer-readable storage media according to claim 13, wherein: The first TCI state is selected by default for the channel, and wherein the operations further include: Downlink control information (DCI) is received, the downlink control information indicating whether the second TCI state is also to be selected for the channel.

15. One or more computer-readable storage media according to claim 14, wherein: The first TCI state is also used for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmissions to the UE.

16. One or more computer-readable storage media according to claim 13, wherein: The operations also include: Receive downlink control information (DCI), the downlink control information indicating the selection of the activated TCI state from the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the selection corresponds to selecting only the first TCI state, selecting only the second TCI state, or selecting both the first TCI state and the second TCI state, and wherein the DCI has a DCI format, the DCI format including a TCI field, a first TCI selection indicator (TSI) field indicating whether the first TCI state is to be selected, and a second TSI field indicating whether the second TCI state is to be selected.

17. One or more computer-readable storage media according to claim 13, wherein: The operations also include: Receive downlink control information (DCI), the downlink control information indicating the selection of the activated TCI state from the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the selection corresponds to selecting only the first TCI state, selecting only the second TCI state, or selecting both the first TCI state and the second TCI state, and wherein the DCI has a DCI format, the DCI format including a TCI field and a function indicator (FI) field indicating whether the function of the TCI field in the DCI is to indicate the selection of the activated TCI state.

18. One or more computer-readable storage media according to claim 13, wherein: The operations also include: receiving downlink control information (DCI) indicating selection of the activated TCI state from among the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the selection corresponds to selecting only the first TCI state, selecting only the second TCI state, or selecting both the first TCI state and the second TCI state, and wherein the DCI has a DCI format including a TCI field and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bit; determining that the CRC bits are associated with a scrambling sequence; and It is determined that the scrambling code sequence is associated with a function bit, the function bit indicating whether a function of the TCI field indicates the selection of the activated TCI state.

19. A method implemented by a network, the method comprising: sending first information to a user equipment (UE), the first information indicating that a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state associated with a first transmission and reception point (TRP) is activated and a second TCI state associated with a second TRP is activated, wherein each of the first TCI state and the second TCI state is applicable to a plurality of channels; sending second information to the UE, the second information indicating that an activated TCI state is to be used in association with communication on a channel of the plurality of channels by at least selecting, wherein the second information causes the UE to select the activated TCI state from the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the communication comprises a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission to the UE or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission from the UE; and The communicating is performed based on the activated TCI state.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein: The communication comprises a PUSCH transmission, and wherein the method further comprises: Send downlink control information (DCI), the downlink control information indicating the selection of the activated TCI state from the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the selection corresponds to selecting only the first TCI state, selecting only the second TCI state, or selecting both the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the DCI has a DCI format including a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource indicator (SRI) field and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bit, wherein the SRI field indicates the selection.

21. The method according to claim 19, wherein: The communication comprises a PUSCH transmission, wherein the first TCI state is selected by default, and wherein the method further comprises: Sending downlink control information (DCI), the downlink control information indicating the selection of the activated TCI state from the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the selection corresponds to selecting only the first TCI state, selecting only the second TCI state, or selecting the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the DCI has a DCI format including an additional TCI indicator (ATI) field, and the additional TCI indicator field indicates whether the second TCI state is also to be selected.

22. The method according to claim 19, wherein: The communication comprises a PUSCH transmission, and wherein the method further comprises: Send downlink control information (DCI), the downlink control information indicating the selection of the activated TCI state from the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the selection corresponds to selecting only the first TCI state, selecting only the second TCI state, or selecting the first TCI state and the second TCI state, wherein the DCI has a DCI format, and the DCI format includes a first TCI selection indicator (TSI) field indicating whether the first TCI state is selected, and a second TSI field indicating whether the second TCI state is selected.

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