Method and apparatus for enhanced physical layer measurement reporting in wireless communications

Abstract

Enhanced physical layer (PL) channel state information (CSI) measurement and reporting may include cell-level PL CSI measurement (PCSM) reporting by a mobile device (UE) to a network. Cell level PCSM results may be derived for the FR2 frequency layer by averaging PCSM results corresponding to a specified number of optimal synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SSB) beams. The UE may optionally report a cell-level or beam-level PCSM result. The maximum number of average beams and the beam merge threshold may be set by parameters in the PL CSI measurement configuration. The report may be sent in the MAC-CE, or sent as uplink control information (UCI) by configuring PUCCH or PUSCH resources (e.g., via RRC) as part of the PL CSI measurement configuration. The measurement gap may also be configured as part of the PL CSI measurement configuration for supporting measurement of a target cell on a different frequency relative to the serving cell.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to wireless communication, including enhanced physical layer measurements and reporting during wireless communication (e.g., during 5G NR communication).

[0002] Description of Related Art

[0003] The use of wireless communication systems is growing rapidly. In recent years, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers have become increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting phone calls, many mobile devices (i.e., user equipment devices or UEs) now also provide access to the Internet, email, text messaging, and navigation using the Global Positioning System (GPS), and are capable of operating sophisticated applications that utilize these functions. Additionally, there are many different wireless communication technologies and wireless communication standards. Some examples of wireless communication standards include GSM, UMTS (WCDMA, TDS-CDMA), LTE, Advanced LTE (LTE-A), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), IEEE 802.11 (WLAN or Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), Bluetooth TM and so on. Currently, the telecommunications standard that goes beyond previous standards is called the fifth-generation mobile network or fifth-generation wireless system, called 3GPP NR (also known as 5G-NR or NR-5G, i.e., 5G New Radio, abbreviated as NR). NR provides higher capacity for a higher density of mobile broadband users, while supporting device-to-device, ultra-reliable and massive machine communication, as well as lower latency and lower battery consumption than the LTE standard.

[0004] One aspect of wireless communication systems that include NR cellular wireless communication is the measurement and reporting of various channels and communication metrics. Mobile services that require low latency and high reliability performance (e.g., ultra-reliable low latency communication, URLLC) have emerged. Although the 5G standard has been designed to address these services, the evolution of 5G New Radio (NR) requires continuous enhancement of the mobility performance robustness for various challenging scenarios. Summary of the Invention

[0005] Embodiments of methods and procedures for enhanced physical layer measurement reporting during wireless communication (e.g., during 3GPP New Radio (NR) communication) are presented herein. Embodiments of a wireless communication system are also presented, the wireless communication system including at least wireless communication devices or user equipment devices (UEs) and / or base stations that communicate with each other within the wireless communication system.

[0006] In some embodiments, enhanced physical layer (L1) measurements and reporting may include cell-level measurement metric (MM) reporting by a mobile device (UE) to a network. Cell-level L1 MM results may be derived for the FR2 frequency layer by averaging the measured L1 MMs corresponding to a specified number of best synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel blocks (SSBs) beams. The UE may optionally choose whether to report cell-level measurements or beam-level measurements. The maximum number of beams to be averaged and the beam combining threshold may be set by corresponding parameters configured in the L1 measurement configuration. Event-triggered measurement reporting may also be implemented, for example, in MAC-CE-based reporting, or by reporting the L1 measurement report as uplink control information (UCI) by configuring PUCCH or PUSCH resources (e.g., via RRC) as part of the L1 measurement configuration. Finally, measurement gaps may also be configured as part of the L1 measurement configuration to support measurements of target cells on different frequencies with respect to the serving cell.

[0007] According to the above, a device may obtain one or more physical layer (PL) channel state information (CSI) measurement results corresponding to one or more CSI resource sets transmitted from one or more beams associated with one or more candidate cells of one or more target base stations via PL CSI measurements. The device may then send a PL CSI measurement report to a serving base station, the PL CSI measurement report containing information derived from the one or more PL CSI measurement results, wherein the PL CSI measurement report is configured for determining to hand over the device from the serving base station to a selected target base station among the one or more target base stations in a layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) operation.

[0008] The device may obtain an average PL CSI measurement result by averaging PL CSI measurement results corresponding to multiple beams associated with a single target base station. The device may similarly obtain multiple average PL CSI measurement results by averaging multiple sets of PL CSI measurement results, where each different set of PL CSI measurement results corresponds to a respective number of beams associated with a different corresponding target base station. This information may then include the average PL CSI measurement result or the multiple average PL CSI measurement results. The multiple beams may include a specified number of best beams, where each of the specified number of best beams is associated with a Synchronization Signal / Physical Broadcast Channel block (SSB). Similarly, each respective number of beams may include a respective number of best beams, where each of the respective number of best beams is associated with an SSB. The averaging may be a linear average or an average using a coefficient value configured via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. The PL CSI measurement results used in the averaging may include only PL CSI measurement results having values greater than a specified threshold. In some embodiments, the specified threshold, the number of beams, and / or the number of each respective beam group (when obtaining multiple average PL CSI measurement results) may be configured in a PL CSI measurement configuration.

[0009] In some embodiments, the information may be derived from PL CSI measurement results each corresponding to a single respective beam. The decision to derive the information in this way may be based on the value of a parameter configured in a PL CSI measurement configuration.

[0010] The transmission of the PL CSI measurement report may be based on a triggering event, where the trigger is determined based on a comparison of first information and second information. The first information may be derived from a first set of PL CSI measurement results corresponding to the serving base station, and the second information may be derived from a second set of PL CSI measurement results corresponding to a candidate target base station. The triggering event may be triggered when the comparison indicates that the result indicated by the second information is better than the result indicated by the first information by at least a configurable offset value.

[0011] The PL CSI measurement report may be sent in a medium access control element (MAC-CE) of variable size. The MAC-CE may include a first information field that contains a best beam index identifying the best beam, a specified PL CSI measurement result of the best beam, and an associated cell index of the best beam. The MAC-CE may further include a second information field that contains beam indices identifying a specified number of reported beams, PL CSI measurement results of each of the specified number of reported beams, and associated cell indices of the specified number of reported beams. The specified PL CSI measurement result may represent the maximum value among a plurality of PL CSI measurement results. For the plurality of reported beams, differential PL CSI reporting may be used with reference to the specified PL CSI measurement result. Each PL CSI report for the number of reported beams may be quantized to a smaller number of bits by using a larger step size.

[0012] In some embodiments, either a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource may be used to send the PL CSI report as uplink control information (UCI). Either or both of the PUCCH resource or the PUSCH resource may be configured via radio resource control information as part of a PL CSI measurement configuration. The UCI may include a first information field that contains a best beam index identifying the best beam, a specified PL CSI measurement result of the best beam, and an associated cell index of the best beam. The UCI may further include a second information field that contains beam indices identifying a specified number of reported beams, PL CSI measurement results of each of the specified number of reported beams, and associated cell indices of the specified number of reported beams. The specified number (of the specified number of beams) may be variable and indicated by the first information field. Additionally, the number of resource elements (REs) corresponding to the specified number (of the specified number of reported beams) provided in the first information field may be derived based on parameter values configured via radio resource control.

[0013] In some embodiments, a measurement gap for the PL CSI measurement may be configured as part of a PL CSI measurement configuration, and wherein the measurement gap is indicated according to a non-serving cell of a target base station or according to a frequency layer.

[0014] Note that the techniques described herein may be implemented in and / or used with a plurality of different types of devices, including but not limited to base stations, access points, cellular phones, portable media players, tablet computers, wearable devices, and various other computing devices.

[0015] The present disclosure aims to provide a brief overview of some of the topics described in this document. Accordingly, it should be understood that the above features are merely examples and should not be construed as narrowing the scope or essence of the topics described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the topics described herein will become apparent from the following detailed description, the drawings, and the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Figure 1 Illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system in accordance with some embodiments;

[0017] Figure 2 Illustrates an exemplary base station communicating with an exemplary wireless user equipment (UE) device in accordance with some embodiments;

[0018] Figure 3 Illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a UE in accordance with some embodiments;

[0019] Figure 4 Illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a base station in accordance with some embodiments;

[0020] Figure 5 Shows an exemplary simplified block diagram illustrating a cellular communication circuit in accordance with some embodiments;

[0021] Figure 6 Shows an exemplary diagram illustrating an example of cell-specific L1 measurements in accordance with some embodiments;

[0022] Figure 7 Shows an exemplary table comparison indicating the number of reported values included in an L1 measurement report for a given L1 measurement metric in accordance with some embodiments;

[0023] Figure 8 Shows an exemplary diagram illustrating beam reporting for L1 measurement using a new MAC-CE element in accordance with some embodiments; and

[0024] Figure 9 Shows an exemplary diagram illustrating beam reporting for L1 measurement using UCI by PUCCH or PUSCH in accordance with some embodiments;

[0025] Figure 10 Shows an exemplary code illustrating a measurement gap indication parameter on a per non-serving cell basis in accordance with some embodiments;

[0026] Figure 11 Shows an exemplary code illustrating a measurement gap indication parameter on a per frequency layer basis in accordance with some embodiments; and

[0027] Figure 12 FIG. Figure 12 illustrates an exemplary flowchart of obtaining and sending a physical layer measurement report according to some embodiments.

[0028] Although the features described herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that the drawings and the detailed description thereof are not intended to limit the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, are intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subject matter defined by the appended claims. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] ACRONYMS

[0030] Various acronyms are used throughout this patent application. The definitions of the most prominent acronyms that may appear throughout this patent application are as follows:

[0031] · 5GMM: 5G Mobility Management

[0032] · AF: Application Function

[0033] · AMF: Access and Mobility Management Function

[0034] · AMR: Adaptive Multi-Rate

[0035] · AP: Access Point

[0036] · APN: Access Point Name

[0037] · APR: Application Processor

[0038] · BS: Base Station

[0039] · BSSID: Basic Service Set Identifier

[0040] · CBG: Code Block Group

[0041] · CBRS: Citizen Broadband Radio Service

[0042] · CBSD: Citizen Broadband Radio Service Device

[0043] · CCA: Clear Channel Assessment

[0044] · CMR: Change Mode Request

[0045] · CORESET: Control Resource Set

[0046] · CS: Circuit Switched

[0047] · CSI: Channel State Information

[0048] ·DCI: Downlink Control Information

[0049] ·DL: Downlink (from BS to UE)

[0050] ·DMRS: Demodulation Reference Signal

[0051] ·DN: Data Network

[0052] ·DSDS: Dual SIM Dual Standby

[0053] ·DYN: Dynamic

[0054] ·EDCF: Enhanced Distributed Channel Access · eSNPN: Equivalent Standalone Non-Public Network

[0055] ·ETSI: European Telecommunications Standards Institute

[0056] ·FDD: Frequency Division Duplexing

[0057] ·FT: Frame Type

[0058] ·GAA: General Authorized Access

[0059] ·GPRS: General Packet Radio Service

[0060] ·GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications

[0061] ·GTP: GPRS Tunneling Protocol

[0062] ·HPLMN: Home Public Land Mobile Network · IC: Inside Coverage

[0063] ·ICBM: Inter-Cell Beam Management

[0064] ·IMS: Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem · IOT: Internet of Things

[0065] ·IP: Internet Protocol

[0066] ·ITS: Intelligent Transport System

[0067] ·LAN: Local Area Network

[0068] ·LBT: Listen Before Talk

[0069] ·LCID: Logical Channel ID

[0070] ·LCS: Location Service

[0071] ·LMF: Location Management Function

[0072] ·LPP: LTE Positioning Protocol

[0073] ·LQM: Link Quality Metric

[0074] · LTE: Long Term Evolution

[0075] · MCC: Mobile Country Code

[0076] · MCS: Modulation and Coding Scheme

[0077] · MNO: Mobile Network Operator

[0078] · MO-LR: Mobile Originated Location Request · MT-LR: Mobile Terminated Location Request · NAS: Non-Access Stratum

[0079] · NDI: New Data Indicator

[0080] · NF: Network Function

[0081] · NG-RAN: Next Generation Radio Access Network · NID: Network Identifier

[0082] · NMF: Network Identifier Management Function

[0083] · NPN: Non-Public (Cellular) Network

[0084] · NRF: Network Repository Function

[0085] · NSI: Network Slice Instance

[0086] · NSSAI: Network Slice Selection Assistance Information · OOC: Out of Coverage

[0087] · PAL: Priority Access Licensee

[0088] · PBCH: Physical Broadcast Channel

[0089] · PDCP: Packet Data Convergence Protocol

[0090] · PDN: Packet Data Network

[0091] · PDU: Protocol Data Unit

[0092] · PGW: PDN Gateway

[0093] · PLMN: Public Land Mobile Network

[0094] · ProSe: Proximity Services

[0095] · PRS: Positioning Reference Signal

[0096] · PSCCH: Physical Sidelink Control Channel

[0097] · PSFCH: Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel

[0098] ·PSSCH: Physical Sidelink Shared Channel

[0099] ·PSD: Power Spectral Density

[0100] ·PSS: Primary Synchronization Signal

[0101] ·PT: Payload Type

[0102] ·PTRS: Phase Tracking Reference Signal

[0103] ·PUCCH: Physical Uplink Control Channel · QBSS: Quality of Service Enhanced Basic Service Set · QI: Quality Indicator

[0104] ·RA: Registration Accept

[0105] ·RAT: Radio Access Technology

[0106] ·RF: Radio Frequency

[0107] ·RNTI: Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0108] ·ROHC: Robust Header Compression

[0109] ·RR: Registration Request

[0110] ·RRC: Radio Resource Control

[0111] ·RS: Reference Signal

[0112] ·RSRP: Reference Signal Received Power

[0113] ·RTP: Real-time Transport Protocol

[0114] ·RV: Redundancy Version

[0115] ·RX: Receive

[0116] ·SAS: Spectrum Allocation Server

[0117] ·SD: Slice Descriptor

[0118] ·SI: System Information

[0119] ·SIB: System Information Block

[0120] ·SID: System Identification Number

[0121] ·SIM: Subscriber Identity Module

[0122] ·SGW: Serving Gateway

[0123] ·SMF: Session Management Function

[0124] ·SNPN: Standalone Non-Public Network

[0125] · SRS: Sounding Reference Signal

[0126] · SSS: Secondary Synchronization Signal

[0127] · SUPI: Subscribed Permanent Identifier

[0128] · TBS: Transport Block Size

[0129] · TCP: Transmission Control Protocol

[0130] · TDD: Time Division Duplexing

[0131] · TDRA: Time Domain Resource Allocation

[0132] · TPC: Transmission Power Control

[0133] · TX: Transmit

[0134] · UAC: Unified Access Control

[0135] · UDM: Unified Data Management

[0136] · UDR: User Data Repository

[0137] · UE: User Equipment

[0138] · UI: User Input

[0139] · UL: Uplink (from UE to BS)

[0140] · UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

[0141] · UPF: User Plane Function

[0142] · URLLC: Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication

[0143] · URM: Universal Resource Management

[0144] · URSP: UE Routing Selection Policy

[0145] · USIM: User Subscriber Identity Module

[0146] · Wi-Fi: Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Radio Access Technology (RAT) based on Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards

[0147] · WLAN: Wireless LAN

[0148] · ZP: Zero Power

[0149] Terms

[0150] The following is a glossary of terms that may appear in this application:

[0151] Memory medium - Any of various types of memory devices or storage devices. The term "memory medium" is intended to include installation media such as CD-ROMs, floppy disks, or magnetic tape devices; computer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; non-volatile memory such as flash memory, magnetic media such as hard disk drives or optical storage devices; registers, or other similar types of memory elements, etc. Memory media can also include other types of memory or combinations thereof. Additionally, the memory medium can be located in a first computer system that executes a program, or can be located in a different second computer system that is connected to the first computer system via a network such as the Internet. In the latter example, the second computer system can provide program instructions to the first computer system for execution. The term "memory medium" can include two or more memory media that can reside in different locations in different computer systems connected, for example, via a network. The memory medium can store program instructions (e.g., embodied as a computer program) executable by one or more processors.

[0152] Carrier medium - The memory medium as described above, as well as physical transmission media such as buses, networks, and / or other physical transmission media that convey signals such as electrical signals, electromagnetic signals, or digital signals.

[0153] Programmable hardware element - Includes various hardware devices that include multiple programmable function blocks connected via programmable interconnects. Examples include FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), FPOAs (Field Programmable Object Arrays), and CPLDs (Complex PLDs). The programmable function blocks can range from fine-grained (combinational logic or look-up tables) to coarse-grained (arithmetic logic units or processor cores). Programmable hardware elements can also be referred to as "configurable logic".

[0154] Computer system (or computer) - Any of various types of computing systems or processing systems, including personal computer systems (PCs), mainframe computer systems, workstations, network appliances, Internet appliances, personal digital assistants (PDAs), television systems, grid computing systems, or other devices or combinations of devices. Generally speaking, the term "computer system" can be broadly defined as any device (or combination of devices) that includes at least one processor that executes instructions from a memory medium.

[0155] User Equipment (UE) (or "UE device") - any of various types of computer system devices that perform wireless communication. Also referred to as a wireless communication device, many of which can be mobile and / or portable. Examples of UE devices include mobile phones or smartphones (e.g., iPhone, Android-based TM phones) and tablet computers such as iPad TM , Samsung Galaxy TM , etc., gaming devices (e.g., Sony PlayStation TM , Microsoft XBox TM , etc.), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS TM , PlayStation Portable TM , Gameboy Advance TM , iPod TM ), laptop computers, wearable devices (e.g., smartwatches, smart glasses), PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices or other handheld devices, unmanned aerial vehicles (e.g., drones) and drone controllers, etc. Various other types of devices would fall into this category if they include Wi-Fi communication capabilities or both cellular and Wi-Fi communication capabilities and / or other wireless communication capabilities (e.g., via short-range radio access technology (SRAT) such as Bluetooth TM , etc.). Generally, the term "UE" or "UE device" can be broadly defined to cover any electronic, computing, and / or telecommunications device (or combination of devices) that is capable of wireless communication and can also be portable / mobile.

[0156] Wireless device (or wireless communication device) - any of various types of computer system devices that perform wireless communication using WLAN communication, SRAT communication, Wi-Fi communication, etc. As used herein, the term "wireless device" can refer to a UE device as defined above or a fixed device such as a fixed wireless client or a wireless base station. For example, a wireless device can be a wireless station of any type of 802.11 system, such as an access point (AP) or a client station (UE), or a wireless station of any type of cellular communication system that communicates according to a cellular radio access technology (e.g., 5G NR, LTE, CDMA, GSM), such as a base station or a cellular phone.

[0157] Communication device - Any of various types of computer systems or devices that perform communication, where the communication can be wired or wireless. The communication device can be portable (or mobile), or can be stationary or fixed in a certain location. A wireless device is an example of a communication device. A UE is another example of a communication device.

[0158] Base station (BS) - The term "base station" has the full scope of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station that is installed at a fixed location and is used for communication as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system.

[0159] Processor – Refers to various elements (e.g., circuits) or combinations of elements that are capable of performing functions in a device (e.g., in a user equipment device or in a cellular network device). A processor can include, for example: a general-purpose processor and associated memory, portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processor cores or processing circuit cores, a processing circuit array or a processor array, a circuit such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a programmable hardware element such as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), and any various combinations of the above.

[0160] Channel - A medium for conveying information from a transmitter to a receiver. It should be noted that since the characteristics of the term "channel" can vary according to different wireless protocols, the term "channel" as used herein can be considered to be used in a manner that conforms to the standards of the type of device to which the term usage refers. In some standards, the channel width can be variable (e.g., depending on device capabilities, frequency band conditions, etc.). For example, LTE can support an expandable channel bandwidth from 1.4 MHz to 20 MHz. In contrast, a WLAN channel can be 22 MHz wide, while a Bluetooth channel can be 1 MHz wide. Other protocols and standards may include different definitions of channels. In addition, some standards can define and use multiple types of channels, for example, different channels for uplink or downlink and / or different channels for different purposes such as data, control information, etc.

[0161] Band (or frequency band) - The term "frequency band" has the full range of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a segment of the spectrum (e.g., radio frequency spectrum) in which channels are used or set aside for the same purpose. Additionally, "frequency band" is used to denote any interval in the frequency domain bounded by a lower frequency and a higher frequency. The term can refer to a radio frequency band or an interval of some other spectrum. A radio communication signal can occupy the frequency range over which the signal is carried (or the signal is carried over this frequency range). Such a frequency range is also called the bandwidth of the signal. Thus, bandwidth refers to the difference between the upper frequency and the lower frequency in a continuous frequency band. A frequency band can represent a communication channel, or it can be subdivided into multiple communication channels. The allocation of radio frequency ranges for different uses is a major function of radio spectrum allocation. For example, in 5G NR, the operating frequency bands are classified into two groups. More specifically, according to 3GPP Release 15, the frequency bands are designated for different frequency ranges (FR) and are defined as FR1 and FR2, where FR1 covers the range 410 MHz - 7125 MHz, and FR2 covers the range 24250 MHz - 52600 MHz.

[0162] Wi-Fi - The term "Wi-Fi" has the full range of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication network or RAT that is served by wireless LAN (WLAN) access points and provides connectivity to the Internet through these access points. Most modern Wi-Fi networks (or WLAN networks) are based on the IEEE 802.11 standard and are sold under the name "Wi-Fi". Wi-Fi (WLAN) networks are different from cellular networks.

[0163] Automatically - means that an action or operation is performed by a computer system (e.g., software executed by a computer system) or a device (e.g., a circuit, a programmable hardware element, an ASIC, etc.) without the action or operation being directly specified or performed through user input. Thus, the term "automatically" contrasts with a user manually performing or specifying an operation, where the user provides input to directly perform the operation. An automatic process can be initiated by user-provided input, but the subsequent actions that are "automatically" performed are not specified by the user, i.e., are not performed "manually", where the user specifies each action to be performed. For example, a user filling out a spreadsheet by selecting each field and providing input to specify information (e.g., by typing information, selecting checkboxes, radio selections, etc.) is performing the task manually, even though the computer system must update the spreadsheet in response to the user's actions. The spreadsheet can be filled out automatically by a computer system, where the computer system (e.g., software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of the spreadsheet and fills it out without any user input specifying the answers to the fields. As indicated above, the user can invoke the automatic filling of the spreadsheet but does not participate in the actual filling of the spreadsheet (e.g., the user does not manually specify the answers to the fields but they are completed automatically). This specification provides various examples of operations that are automatically performed in response to actions that a user has taken.

[0164] About - means close to the correct or exact value. For example, about can mean a value within 1% to 10% of the exact (or desired) value. However, it should be noted that the actual threshold (or tolerance) can be application-dependent. For example, in some embodiments, "about" can mean within 0.1% of some specified or desired value, while in various other embodiments, depending on the expectations or requirements of a particular application, the threshold can be, for example, 2%, 3%, 5%, etc.

[0165] Concurrent - means parallel execution or implementation, where tasks, processes, or programs are executed in at least a partially overlapping manner. For example, concurrency can be achieved using "strong" or strict parallelism, where tasks are (at least partially) executed in parallel on corresponding computing elements; or using "weak parallelism", where tasks are executed in an interleaved manner (e.g., through time multiplexing of execution threads).

[0166] Station (STA) - As used in this document, the term "station" refers to any device capable of communicating wirelessly (e.g., by using the 802.11 protocol). A station can be a laptop computer, a desktop PC, a PDA, an access point, or a Wi-Fi phone or any type of device similar to a UE. A STA can be fixed, mobile, portable, or wearable. Generally speaking, in wireless networking terminology, a station (STA) broadly encompasses any device with wireless communication capabilities, and the terms station (STA), wireless client (UE), and node (BS) are thus often used interchangeably.

[0167] Configured to - Various components can be described as "configured to" perform one or more tasks. In such contexts, "configured to" is a broad statement generally meaning "having" the "structure" to perform one or more tasks during operation. Thus, even when a component is not currently performing a task, the component can be configured to perform the task (e.g., a collection of electrical conductors can be configured to electrically connect a module to another module, even when the two modules are not connected). In some contexts, "configured to" can be a broad statement generally meaning "having" the "circuitry" to carry out one or more tasks during operation. Thus, even when a component is not currently powered on, the component can be configured to perform a task. Generally, the circuitry forming the structure corresponding to "configured to" can include hardware circuitry.

[0168] Transmission scheduling - Refers to the scheduling of transmissions (such as wireless transmissions). In some specific implementations of cellular radio communications, signal transmissions and data transmissions can be organized according to a specified time unit of a particular duration during which the transmission occurs. As used herein, the term "time slot" has the full range of its ordinary meaning and at least refers to the smallest (or shortest) scheduling time unit in wireless communications. For example, in 3GPP LTE, transmissions are divided into radio frames, each radio frame having an equal (time) duration (e.g., 10 ms). The radio frames in 3GPP LTE can be further divided into a specified number (e.g., ten) of subframes, each subframe having an equal duration, with the subframe being designated as the smallest (shortest) scheduling unit, or the specified time unit for transmission. Thus, in the 3GPP LTE example, a "subframe" can be regarded as an example of a "time slot" as defined above. Similarly, the smallest (or shortest) scheduling time unit for 5G NR (or simply NR) transmissions is referred to as a "time slot". In different communication protocols, the smallest (or shortest) scheduling time unit can also be named differently.

[0169] Resource - The term "resource" has the full scope of its ordinary meaning and can refer to frequency resources and time resources used during wireless communication. As used herein, a resource element (RE) refers to a specific amount or quantity of resources. For example, in the context of time resources, a resource element can be a time period of a specific length. In the context of frequency resources, a resource element can be a specific frequency bandwidth centered at a specific frequency or a specific amount of frequency bandwidth. As a specific example, a resource element can refer to a resource unit having 1 symbol (referring to a time resource, e.g., a time period of a specific length) per 1 sub - carrier (referring to a frequency resource, e.g., a specific frequency bandwidth centered at a specific frequency). A resource element group (REG) has the full scope of its ordinary meaning and at least refers to a specified number of consecutive resource elements. In some specific implementations, a resource element group may not include resource elements reserved for reference signals. A control channel element (CCE) refers to a group of a specified number of consecutive REGs. A resource block (RB) refers to a specified number of resource elements composed of a specified number of sub - carriers per a specified number of symbols. Each RB may include a specified number of sub - carriers. A resource block group (RBG) refers to a unit including a plurality of RBs. The number of RBs within an RBG may vary according to the system bandwidth.

[0170] Bandwidth Part (BWP) - A carrier bandwidth part (BWP) is a set of consecutive physical resource blocks selected from a consecutive subset of common resource blocks of a given parameter set on a given carrier. For the downlink, a UE can be configured with up to a specified number of carrier BWPs (e.g., four BWPs according to some specifications), with one BWP active per carrier at a given time (according to some specifications). For the uplink, a UE can be similarly configured with at most a certain number (e.g., four) of carrier BWPs, with one BWP active per carrier at a given time (according to some specifications). If a UE is configured with supplementary uplink, the UE can be additionally configured with at most a specified number (e.g., four) of carrier BWPs in the supplementary uplink, with one carrier BWP active at a given time (according to some specifications).

[0171] Multi-cell configuration - The master node is defined as the node (radio access node) that provides the control plane connection to the core network in the case of Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC). The master node can be, for example, a master eNB (3GPP LTE) or a master gNB (3GPP NR). The secondary node is defined as a radio access node without a control plane connection to the core network, which provides additional resources to the UE in the case of MR-DC. The Master Cell Group (MCG) is defined as a set of serving cells associated with the master node, including the Primary Cell (PCell) and optionally one or more Secondary Cells (SCell). The Secondary Cell Group (SCG) is defined as a set of serving cells associated with the secondary node, including the special cell, i.e., the Primary Cell of the SCG (PSCell), and optionally including one or more SCell. The UE can generally apply radio link monitoring to the PCell. If the UE is configured with an SCG, the UE can also apply radio link monitoring to the PSCell. Radio link monitoring is generally applied to the active BWP, and the UE does not need to monitor the inactive BWP. The PCell is used to initiate initial access, and the UE can communicate with the PCell and SCell via Carrier Aggregation (CA). The currently modified capability means that the UE can receive and / or transmit to and / or from multiple cells. The UE initially connects to the PCell, and once the UE is in the connected state, one or more SCell can be configured for the UE.

[0172] Core Network (CN) - The core network is defined as a part of the 3GPP system that is independent of the UE's connection technology (e.g., radio access technology, RAT). The UE can connect to the core network via a Radio Access Network RAN, which can be RAT-specific.

[0173] Downlink Control Information (DCI) - In 3GPP communication, DCI is sent to a mobile device or UE (e.g., by a serving base station in the network) and contains multiple different fields. Each field is used to configure a part or aspect of the device's scheduled communication. In other words, each field in the DCI can correspond to one or more specific communication parameters that configure the corresponding aspect of the device's scheduled communication. By decoding the DCI, the UE obtains all configuration parameters or parameter values according to the fields in the DCI, thereby obtaining all information about the scheduled communication, and then performs the scheduled communication according to those parameters / parameter values.

[0174] For ease of description, various components may be described as performing one or more tasks. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including the phrase "configured to". A component described as configured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not to be construed under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f).

[0175] Figure 1 andFigure 2 — Exemplary communication system

[0176] Figure 1 Illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system according to some embodiments. Note that Figure 1 the system is only one example of possible systems, and the embodiment can be implemented in any of the various systems as needed.

[0177] As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes base stations 102A through 102N, also collectively referred to as the plurality of base stations 102 or base station 102. As Figure 1 shown, base station 102A communicates with one or more user devices 106A through 106N via a transmission medium. Each user device may be referred to herein as a “user equipment” (UE) or UE device. Thus, user devices 106A through 106N are referred to as UEs or UE devices, and are also collectively referred to as the plurality of UEs 106 or UEs 106.

[0178] Base station 102A can be a transceiver base station (BTS) or a cell site and can include hardware enabling wireless communication with UEs 106A through 106N. Base station 102A can also be equipped to communicate with network 100 (such as the core network of a cellular service provider, a telecommunications network such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and / or the Internet, a neutral host, or various CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) deployments, and various possibilities). Thus, base station 102A can facilitate communication between user devices 106 and / or between user device 106 and network 100. Specifically, cellular base station 102A can provide UEs 106 with various communication capabilities such as voice, short message service (SMS), and / or data services. The communication area (or coverage area) of base station 106 can be referred to as a "cell". Note that a "cell" can also refer to the logical identification for a given wireless communication coverage area at a given frequency. Generally, any independent cellular wireless coverage area can be referred to as a "cell". In such a case, the base station can be located at a specific intersection of three cells. In such a uniform topology, the base station can serve three 120-degree beamwidth areas referred to as cells. Also, for carrier aggregation, small cells, relays, etc. can all represent cells. Thus, especially in carrier aggregation, there can be a primary cell and a secondary cell that can serve at least partially overlapping coverage areas but on different respective frequencies. For example, a base station can serve any number of cells, and the cells served by the base station can be arranged collinearly or can be arranged non-collinearly (e.g., remote radio heads). Also as used herein, in terms of a UE, the base station can sometimes be considered to represent the network when considering the uplink and downlink communication of the UE. Thus, a UE communicating with one or more base stations in a network can also be interpreted as a UE communicating with that network, and can also be considered to be at least part of the UE communicating over or through the network.

[0179] Base station 102 and user equipment 106 may be configured to communicate via a transmission medium using any one of a variety of radio access technologies (RATs), which are also referred to as wireless communication technologies or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (WCDMA), LTE, advanced LTE (LTE-A), LAA / LTE-U, 5G-NR (abbreviated as NR), 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), Wi-Fi, WiMAX, etc. Note that if base station 102A is implemented in an LTE environment, it may alternatively be referred to as an "eNodeB" or "eNB". Similarly, if base station 102A is implemented in a 5G NR environment, it may alternatively be referred to as a "gNodeB" or "gNB". In some embodiments, base station 102 (e.g., eNB in an LTE network or gNB in an NR network) may communicate with at least one UE that has the ability to transmit reference signals according to the various embodiments disclosed herein. Depending on the given application or specific considerations, for convenience, some different RATs may be grouped functionally according to an overall defining characteristic. For example, all cellular RATs may be uniformly considered to represent a first (form / type) RAT, while Wi-Fi communication may be considered to represent a second RAT. In other cases, the individual cellular RATs may be considered separately as different RATs. For example, when differentiating cellular communication from Wi-Fi communication, "first RAT" may uniformly refer to all cellular RATs under consideration, while "second RAT" may refer to Wi-Fi. Similarly, when applicable, different forms of Wi-Fi communication (e.g., over 2.4 GHz vs. over 5 GHz) may be considered to correspond to different RATs. Additionally, cellular communication performed according to a given RAT (e.g., LTE or NR) may be differentiated from one another based on the spectrum over which those communications are conducted. For example, LTE or NR communication may be performed on a primary licensed spectrum as well as on an unlicensed spectrum such as that allocated to a private network and / or a secondary spectrum of the spectrum. Overall, the use of the various terms and expressions will always be clearly indicated with respect to and within the context of the various application / embodiment environments under consideration.

[0180] As shown in the figure, base station 102A can also be equipped to communicate with network 100 (e.g., among various possibilities, the core network of a cellular service provider, a telecommunications network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and / or the Internet). Thus, base station 102A can facilitate communication between user equipment 106 and / or between user equipment 106 and network 100. Specifically, cellular base station 102A can provide UE 106 with various telecommunications capabilities such as voice, SMS, and / or data services. UE 106 may be capable of communicating using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, UE 106 can be configured to communicate using any one or all of the 3GPP cellular communication standards (such as LTE or NR) or 3GPP2 cellular communication standards (such as the cellular communication standards in the CDMA2000 series of cellular communication standards). Base station 102A and other similar base stations (such as base stations 102B...102N) operating according to the same or different cellular communication standards can thus be provided as one or more cell networks, which can provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping services to UE 106 and similar devices over a wide geographical area via one or more cellular communication standards.

[0181] Thus, although base station 102A can act as the "serving cell" of UE 106A - 106N as shown in Figure 1 , each UE 106 may also be capable of receiving signals (and potentially within its communication range) from one or more other cells (possibly provided by base stations 102B - 102N and / or any other base stations), and the one or more other cells can be referred to as "adjacent cells". Such cells can also facilitate communication between user equipment 106 and / or between user equipment 106 and network 100. Such cells can include "macro" cells, "micro" cells, "pico" cells, and / or any various other granularities of cells providing service area sizes. For example, base stations 102A - 102B illustrated in Figure 1 can be macro cells, while base station 102N can be a micro cell. Other configurations are also possible.

[0182] In some embodiments, base station 102A can be a next-generation base station, e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station or a "gNB". In some embodiments, the gNB can be connected to a traditional Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network and / or connected to an NR Core (NRC) network. In addition, a gNB cell can include one or more Transmission and Reception Points (TRP). In addition, a UE capable of operating according to 5GNR can be connected to one or more TRP within one or more gNBs.

[0183] UE 106 can also or alternatively be configured to use WLAN, Bluetooth TM , BluetoothTM communicate with low power consumption, one or more Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as GPS or GLONASS, one and / or more mobile television broadcast standards (e.g., ATSC-M / H or DVB-H), etc. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible. In addition, the UE 106 can also communicate with the network 100 through one or more base stations or through other devices, sites, or any appliances not explicitly shown but considered to be part of the network 100. Therefore, the UE 106 communicating with the network can be interpreted as the UE 106 communicating with one or more network nodes considered to be part of the network, and can interact with the UE 106 to communicate with the UE 106, and in some cases affect at least some communication parameters and / or the use of the communication resources of the UE 106.

[0184] For example, also as Figure 1 shown, at least some UEs (e.g., UEs 106D and 106E) can represent vehicles that communicate with each other and with the base station 102, such as via cellular communication such as 3GPP LTE and / or 5G-NR communication. In addition, the UE 106F can represent a pedestrian who is communicating and / or interacting with the vehicles represented by the UEs 106D and 106E in a similar manner. For example, in the context of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication (such as communication specified by certain versions of 3GPP standards, etc.), various embodiments of vehicles communicating in the network illustrated in Figure 1 are disclosed.

[0185] Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary user equipment 106 (e.g., one of the UEs 106A to 106N) that communicates with a base station 122 and an access point 112 according to some embodiments. The UE 106 can be a device with cellular communication capabilities and non-cellular communication capabilities (e.g., Bluetooth TM, devices such as Wi-Fi, such as mobile phones, handheld devices, computers or tablet computers, or almost any type of wireless device. UE 106 may include a processor configured to execute program instructions stored in a memory. UE 106 may perform any of the method embodiments described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively or additionally, UE 106 may include programmable hardware elements, such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) configured to execute any one of the method embodiments described herein or any part of any one of the method embodiments described herein. UE 106 may be configured to communicate using any of a plurality of wireless communication protocols. For example, UE 106 may be configured to communicate using two or more of CDMA2000, LTE, LTE-A, NR, WLAN, or GNSS. Other combinations of wireless communication standards are also possible.

[0186] UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols according to one or more RAT standards, such as those previously described above. In some embodiments, UE 106 may share one or more parts of the receive chain and / or the transmit chain between multiple wireless communication standards. The shared radio components may include a single antenna, or may include multiple antennas for performing wireless communication (e.g., for MIMO). Alternatively, UE 106 may include independent transmit chains and / or receive chains (e.g., including independent antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol it is configured to communicate with. As another alternative form, UE 106 may include one or more radio components or radio circuits shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, and one or more radio components uniquely used by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, UE 106 may include radio circuits for communicating using either LTE or CDMA2000 1xRTT or NR, and independent radio components for communicating using each of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth TM respectively. Other configurations are also possible.

[0187] Figure 3 —Block diagram of an exemplary UE

[0188] Figure 3A block diagram of an exemplary UE 106 in accordance with some embodiments is illustrated. As shown, the UE 106 may include a system on a chip (SOC) 300, which may include various elements / components for various purposes. For example, as shown, the SOC 300 may include a processor 302 that may execute program instructions for the UE 106, and a display circuit 304 that may perform graphics processing and provide a display signal to a display 360. The processor 302 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 340 and / or other circuits or devices (such as the display circuit 304, the radio circuit 330, the connector I / F 320, and / or the display 360), and the MMU may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 302 and translate those addresses into locations in a memory (such as the memory 306, the read-only memory (ROM) 350, the NAND flash memory 310). The MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or setup. In some embodiments, the MMU 340 may be included as part of the processor 302.

[0189] As shown, the SOC 300 may be coupled to various other circuits of the UE 106. For example, the UE 106 may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash 310), a connector interface 320 (e.g., for coupling to a computer system), a display 360, and wireless communication circuits (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, NR, CDMA2000, Bluetooth TM , Wi-Fi, GPS, etc.). The UE device 106 may include at least one antenna (e.g., 335a), and may include multiple antennas (e.g., as shown by antennas 335a and 335b) for performing wireless communication with a base station and / or other devices. Antennas 335a and 335b are shown by way of example, and the UE device 106 may include fewer or more antennas. Generally speaking, one or more antennas are collectively referred to as antenna 335. For example, the UE device 106 may use the antenna 335 to perform wireless communication via the radio circuit 330. As mentioned above, in some embodiments, the UE may be configured to perform wireless communication using multiple wireless communication standards.

[0190] As further described herein, the UE 106 (and / or the base station 102) may include hardware and software components for implementing a method for transmitting reference signals for at least the UE 106 according to various embodiments described herein. The processor 302 of the UE device 106 may be configured to implement part or all of the methods described herein, such as by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). In other embodiments, the processor 302 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Additionally, the processor 302 may be coupled to other components as shown in Figure 3 and / or may interoperate with other components to enable communication via the UE 106 for transmitting reference signals according to various embodiments disclosed herein. Specifically, the processor 302 may be coupled to other components as shown in Figure 3 and / or may interoperate with other components to facilitate communication by the UE 106 in a manner that attempts to optimize RAT selection. The processor 302 may also implement various other applications and / or end-user applications running on the UE 106.

[0191] In some embodiments, the radio circuitry 330 may include separate controllers dedicated to controlling communication for various respective RATs and / or RAT standards. For example, as shown in Figure 3 , the radio circuitry 330 may include a Wi-Fi controller 356, a cellular controller (e.g., an LTE and / or NR controller) 352, and a Bluetooth TM controller 354, and according to at least some embodiments, one or more or all of these controllers may be implemented as respective integrated circuits (referred to simply as ICs or chips) that communicate with each other and with the SOC 300 (e.g., with the processor 302). For example, the Wi-Fi controller 356 may communicate with the cellular controller 352 via a cell-ISM link or a WCI interface, and / or the Bluetooth TM controller 354 may communicate with the cellular controller 352 via a cell-ISM link or the like. Although three separate controllers are shown within the radio circuitry 330, other embodiments may have fewer or more similar controllers for various different RATs and / or RAT standards that may be implemented in the UE device 106. For example, at least one exemplary block diagram illustrating some embodiments of the cellular controller 352 is shown in Figure 5 and will be described further below.

[0192] Figure 4 - Block Diagram of an Exemplary Base Station

[0193] Figure 4A block diagram of an exemplary base station 102 in accordance with some embodiments is illustrated. Note that Figure 4 the base station is only one example of possible base stations. As shown, the base station 102 may include a processor 404 that can execute program instructions for the base station 102. The processor 404 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 440 or other circuits or devices, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 404 and translate those addresses to locations in a memory (e.g., memory 460 and read-only memory (ROM) 450).

[0194] The base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. The network port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network and provide access to a plurality of devices such as UE devices 106 to the telephone network as described above in Figure 1 and Figure 2 . The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also be configured or alternatively may be configured to couple to a cellular network, such as a core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility-related services and / or other services to a plurality of devices (such as UE devices 106). In some cases, the network port 470 may be coupled to the telephone network via the core network, and / or the core network may provide the telephone network (e.g., in other UE devices served by a cellular service provider).

[0195] Base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434a and may include multiple antennas (e.g., illustrated by antennas 434a and 434b) for performing wireless communication with mobile devices and / or other devices. Antennas 434a and 434b are shown as an example, and base station 102 may include fewer or more antennas. Generally, one or more antennas that may include antenna 434a and / or antenna 434b are collectively referred to as antenna 434 or multiple antennas 434. Antenna 434 may be configured to function as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with UE device 106 via radio circuitry 430. Antenna 434 communicates with the radio component 430 via communication link 432. Communication link 432 may be a receive link, a transmit link, or both. Radio circuitry 430 may be designed to communicate via various radio telecommunications standards, including but not limited to LTE, LTE-A, 5G-NR (NR), WCDMA, CDMA2000, etc. Processor 404 of base station 102 may be configured to implement some or all of the methods described herein, such as by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, processor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or as an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) or a combination thereof. In the case of some RATs (e.g., Wi-Fi), base station 102 may be designed as an access point (AP), in which case network port 470 may be implemented to provide access to a wide area network and / or one or more local area networks. For example, it may include at least one Ethernet port, and the radio component 430 may be designed to communicate according to the Wi-Fi standard.

[0196] Figure 5 — Exemplary cellular communication circuitry

[0197] Figure 5 An exemplary simplified block diagram of an exemplary cellular controller 352 according to some embodiments is illustrated. Note that Figure 5 The block diagram of the cellular communication circuitry is merely an example of possible cellular communication circuitry; other circuits, such as circuits that include or are coupled to sufficient antennas for different RATs to perform uplink activities using separate antennas, or circuits that include or are coupled to fewer antennas, such as circuits that may be shared among multiple RATs, are also possible. According to some embodiments, cellular communication circuitry 352 may be included in a communication device such as communication device 106 described above. As mentioned above, in addition to other devices, communication device 106 may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop computer, notebook or portable computing device), a tablet computer, and / or a combination of devices.

[0198] The cellular communication circuit 352 can be (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) coupled to one or more antennas, such as antennas 335a - 335b and 336 as shown in the figure. In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuit 352 can include dedicated receive chains for multiple RATs (including and / or coupled to (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) dedicated processors and / or radio components (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). For example, as Figure 5 shown, the cellular communication circuit 352 can include a first modem 510 and a second modem 520. The first modem 510 can be configured for communication according to a first RAT (e.g., such as LTE or LTE - A), and the second modem 520 can be configured for communication according to a second RAT (e.g., such as 5G NR).

[0199] As shown in the figure, the first modem 510 can include one or more processors 512 and a memory 516 communicatively coupled to the processors 512. The modem 510 can communicate with a radio frequency (RF) front - end 530. The RF front - end 530 can include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, the RF front - end 530 can include a receive circuit (RX) 532 and a transmit circuit (TX) 534. In some embodiments, the receive circuit 532 can communicate with a downlink (DL) front - end 550, which can include circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna 335a.

[0200] Similarly, the second modem 520 can include one or more processors 522 and a memory 526 communicatively coupled to the processors 522. The modem 520 can communicate with an RF front - end 540. The RF front - end 540 can include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, the RF front - end 540 can include a receive circuit 542 and a transmit circuit 544. In some embodiments, the receive circuit 542 can communicate with a DL front - end 560, which can include circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna 335b.

[0201] In some embodiments, switch 570 can couple transmit circuit 534 to an uplink (UL) front end 572. Additionally, switch 570 can couple transmit circuit 544 to UL front end 572. UL front end 572 can include circuitry for transmitting radio signals via antenna 336. Thus, when cellular communication circuit 352 receives an instruction to transmit according to a first RAT (e.g., supported via first modem 510), switch 570 can be switched to a first state that allows first modem 510 to transmit signals according to the first RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain including transmit circuit 534 and UL front end 572). Similarly, when cellular communication circuit 352 receives an instruction to transmit according to a second RAT (e.g., supported via second modem 520), switch 570 can be switched to a second state that allows second modem 520 to transmit signals according to the second RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain including transmit circuit 544 and UL front end 572).

[0202] As described herein, first modem 510 and / or second modem 520 can include hardware and software components for implementing any of the various features and techniques described herein. For example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium), processors 512, 522 can be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein. Alternatively (or additionally), processors 512, 522 can be configured as programmable hardware elements, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Alternatively (or additionally), in combination with one or more of the other components 530, 532, 534, 540, 542, 544, 550, 570, 572, 335, and 336, processors 512, 522 can be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein.

[0203] Furthermore, as described herein, processors 512, 522 can include one or more components. Thus, processors 512, 522 can include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processors 512, 522. Additionally, each integrated circuit can include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processors 512, 522.

[0204] In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry 352 may include only one transmit / receive chain. For example, the cellular communication circuitry 352 may not include the modem 520, the RF front end 540, the DL front end 560, and / or the antenna 335b. As another example, the cellular communication circuitry 352 may not include the modem 510, the RF front end 530, the DL front end 550, and / or the antenna 335a. In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry 352 may also not include the switch 570, and the RF front end 530 or the RF front end 540 may communicate with the UL front end 572 (e.g., directly).

[0205] Measurements and Reporting During Wireless Communication

[0206] As previously mentioned, wireless communication such as NR cellular wireless communication involves the measurement and reporting of various channels and communication metrics. In addition, mobile services that require low latency and high reliability performance (e.g., ultra-reliable low-latency communication, URLLC) have emerged. The 3GPP NR / 5G standards have been designed to address these services. However, the evolution of 5G New Radio (NR) requires continuous enhancement of the mobility performance robustness for various challenging scenarios.

[0207] Currently supported Layer 3 (L3) handover / mobility can result in latency issues, e.g., during handover operations. As part of recent developments, certain objectives for NR mobility enhancement have been identified. One such objective relates to Layer 1 (physical layer; L1) enhancements for inter-cell beam management, including L1 measurements and reporting and beam indication. The following issues have been identified as being related to these enhancements.

[0208] Problem 1: For layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2)-triggered mobility (LTM), compared to layer 3 (L3) handover (HO) or mobility, one problem is the potential ping-pong effect caused by the L1-RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) measurement results. In some cases, since the measurement indication may be a more suitable condition associated with the serving cell (or serving base station) during the handover operation to the target cell (or target base station), a device that has switched from the serving cell to the target cell may attempt to return to the serving cell (or serving base station). Such scenarios can prevent the device from establishing reliable connectivity on a given cell, thus attempting to move from one cell to another and back. For example, this can occur in the case of low-latency LTM operations. Resolving or mitigating this problem will lead to increased L1-based HO reliability. For L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility, it may be necessary to configure a very large number of target candidate cells and beams to perform L1 measurements and then trigger HO operations in a timely manner to reduce latency. If the network (e.g., the serving base station of the network) requests the UE to send a report including the physical cell identifier (PCI) and / or any synchronization signal / PBCH block (SSB) index, each entry in the report may consume more than 20 bits. If the network additionally requests to include more than a specified number of measurements (e.g., four) in a single report, the size of the report can increase significantly compared to the current legacy report.

[0209] Problem 2: Another problem is the potential size of the L1 reporting overhead and the reduction of such overhead.

[0210] Problem 3: Currently, for inter-cell beam management (ICBM) L1 measurements for non-serving cells, they are limited to intra-frequency measurements and within the UE's active BWP, and thus do not require measurement gaps. However, in the future, inter-frequency handovers may also include L1 / L2-based handovers. Therefore, there remains the problem of how to design / perform measurements for the inter-frequency case of L1 / L2-based handovers.

[0211] Enhanced L1 Measurements for Inter-Cell Mobility

[0212] According to various embodiments disclosed herein, a network may explicitly configure different metrics for L1 measurement reporting, where the higher layer parameter reportQuantity in CSI-ReportConfig is set to L1-RSRP or L1-RSRQ (Reference Signal Receiving Quality) or L1-SINR (Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio). As further described herein, a more detailed description is provided with reference to the use of L1-RSRP, but the description equally applies to other L1 measurement metrics, such as, L1-RSRQ, L1-SINR, etc. In some embodiments, various methods may be considered to enhance L1 measurements for L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility, such that the ping-pong effect is alleviated.

[0213] First method: L1 cell-level metric

[0214] According to some embodiments, a cell-level L1 measurement metric (e.g., L1-RSRP) result may be derived / determined for a specified frequency layer (e.g., "Frequency Range 2" (FR2) frequency layer) by averaging the measured L1-RSRP corresponding to a specified number (K) of the best SSB beams. In some embodiments, the value of K may be set to K ≤ 4. Also as previously mentioned, it should be noted that although various exemplary descriptions herein refer to specific L1 measurement metrics (e.g., L1-RSRP), specified beam numbers (e.g., 4) and / or parameters (e.g., SSB), the methods and systems detailed herein are not limited to those specific values / examples.

[0215] In some embodiments, the derived / determined cell-level L1-RSRP quantity may be included in the L1 measurement report to the network. Alternatively, as will be further described in detail below, the derived cell-level measurement metric may be used as a criterion for determining whether to trigger an event-based L1 report.

[0216] In some embodiments, the maximum number of beams to be averaged (represented by the parameter "nrofSS-BlocksToAverage") and the beam consolidation threshold (represented by the parameter "absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation") can be configured in the L1 measurement configuration for deriving the cell-level L1-RSRP result. Thus, L1-RSRP results above "absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation" can be considered (or eligible) for the averaging operation, and the total number of L1-RSRP results can be no higher than "nrofSS-BlocksToAverage". In the case where "nrofSS-BlocksToAverage" or "absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation" is not configured, the UE can report cell-specific L1-RSRP results according to different criteria, e.g., based on the SS / PBCH (Search Space / Physical Broadcast Channel) block with the highest beam measurement magnitude.

[0217] Two options can be considered for the averaging operation. According to the first option, the derivation of the cell-level L1-RSRP can include a linear averaging of the L1-RSRP values corresponding to (or associated with) the best "K" beams. According to the second option, the coefficient values for averaging can be configured via RRC signaling.

[0218] Figure 6 An exemplary diagram illustrating an example of cell-specific L1 measurements is shown. The measurements can be performed by UE 606, which can move from the coverage area of cell #1 served by base station 602 to the coverage area of cell #2 served by base station 604, and thus the base station represents the target base station for the L1 / L2 handover operation. As Figure 6 shown, according to the first method, three beam-specific L1-RSRP can be measured respectively for the corresponding beams #1 / #2 / #3 of cell #2. Then, the measured L1-RSRP values can be averaged first, and then the averaged cell-specific quantity can be included in the L1 measurement report or metric, and can also be used to determine whether to trigger an L1 report to the serving base station 602.

[0219] Figure 7 An exemplary table comparison indicating the number of reported values included in the L1 measurement report for a given L1 measurement metric is shown. Table 702 corresponds to the measurement report performed today, while table 704 corresponds to the proposed measurement report with a reduced number of reported values. As Figure 7As shown, the L1 reporting overhead can be significantly reduced, especially when the number of reported candidate cells increases significantly. For example, instead of reporting multiple values for each candidate cell (as illustrated in Table 702), it may only be necessary to report a single value for each cell (as illustrated in Table 704). Therefore, the reporting overhead can be reduced and the L1 handover reliability can be improved.

[0220] Second method: Optional selection of cell-specific or beam-specific reporting

[0221] In some embodiments, the UE may have the option to derive cell-specific or beam-specific measurement results for candidate cells. For example, setting the nrofSS-BlocksToAverage parameter to "1" (thereby setting the maximum number of beams to be averaged to 1) can be interpreted as an indication of beam-specific L1-RSRP reporting. Setting the nrofSS-BlocksToAverage parameter to a value greater than 1 can in turn be interpreted as an indication of cell-specific RSRP reporting (and the first method can be applied).

[0222] Event-triggered L1 measurement reporting

[0223] In some embodiments, event-triggered L1 measurement reporting can also be implemented for L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility. For example, the L1 measurement report can be triggered based on a candidate cell being considered (or having been determined) to be better than the current cell, based on a configurable offset value. The measurement metric used to determine whether the condition is met (e.g., whether the value of the measurement metric for the candidate cell reflects a difference greater than the offset value relative to the measurement metric corresponding to the current cell) can be configured at the cell level or the beam level, as described above with respect to the second method related to the proposed L1 measurement enhancement.

[0224] According to the above, various signaling can be considered to convey event-triggered L1-RSRP measurement results (or more generally, L1 measurement metric measurement results).

[0225] First method: MAC-CE-based reporting

[0226] In some embodiments, a new MAC-CE can be introduced to report the measured L1-RSRP, or more generally, the measured L1 measurement metric. The MAC-CE can be identified by a MAC sub-header with a dedicated logical channel ID (LCID). The MAC-CE size can be variable and can include Figure 8 the following information fields cited in

[0227] · Part 1 (802; Figure 8) is the first information field and contains: the best beam index identifying the beam with the maximum measured L1-RSRP value, the measured L1-RSRP value of the best beam, and the associated cell index of the best beam. And

[0228] · Part 2 (804; Figure 8 ) is the second information field and contains: (as a supplement to Part 1), identifying a specified number (“K-1”) of beam indices, the reported beams, the L1-RSRP measurement results (or more generally, physical layer metric measurement results) of each reported beam, and the associated cell index of the reported beam, where 1 ≤ K ≤ K max .

[0229] The maximum number K max can be configured by RRC signaling (e.g., K max = 3) and may be subject to the capabilities of the UE (or UE capabilities). The value of “K” (referring to the number of reported beams in the report) may vary depending on the measurement results. L1-RSRP measurement results with values higher than the beam consolidation threshold (“absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation”) may be considered (or may be considered eligible) for inclusion in the report. In some embodiments, the “K-1” reported beams may use differential L1-RSRP-based reporting relative to a reference measurement that represents the maximum measured L1-RSRP value as part of the same L1-RSRP reporting instance (refer to Part 1 above). Compared to Part 1, each of the “K-1” reported beams may be quantized to fewer bits by using a larger step size.

[0230] Second method: Reporting L1 measurements as UCI via PUCCH or PUSCH resources

[0231] The measurement report may be sent as uplink control information (UCI) via PUCCH or PUSCH resources. The PUCCH resource or PUSCH resource may be correspondingly configured by RRC as part of the L1 (e.g., PL CSI) measurement configuration. An Figure 9 exemplary illustration of this method is provided. The fields proposed for the above first method may be reused in this second method. They are indicated as Part 1 (902; Figure 9 ) and Part 2 (904; Figure 9)。For the information fields of part 1 (902) and part 2 (904) of UCI respectively, they can be similar to the information fields 802 and 804 described above for MAC-CE. The size of (UCI) (affected by the number of reporting beams “K”) can also be variable, as indicated above in the description of the first method. To minimize the decoding complexity of the variable size of UCI, separate fields and modulation orders (e.g., quadrature phase shift keying QPSK) can be used to encode the value of “K”. The number of resource elements (REs) corresponding to the (number of reporting beams) can be derived based on the parameter values configured by RRC.

[0232] Measurement gap for L1 measurement operation

[0233] In some embodiments, for L1 / L2-based handover, even when the measurement reference signal (RS) of the target cell is at a different frequency relative to the serving cell, inter-frequency handover can be supported. Thus, the measurement gap can be configured as part of the L1 measurement configuration. In some embodiments, the parameter “measGapConfig” can be used to set and release the measurement gap for L1 measurement in NR. The parameter can be included in an information element (IE), as described in further detail below.

[0234] According to the first option, the measurement gap indication can be provided on a per “non-serving cell” basis, for example, by adding the “measGapConfig” parameter to the “SSB-MTC-AdditionalPCI” message, as Figure 10 indicated in item 1002 of. This option provides flexibility that allows different measurement gaps to be configured for each non-serving cell on the same frequency layer when different subcarrier spacings (SCSs) are used relative to the serving cell.

[0235] According to the second option, the measurement gap indication can be provided on a per frequency layer basis, as Figure 11 indicated in item 1102 of. The assumption here is that the same SCS mode and the same SSB mode can be used for all candidate cells on the same frequency layer. Thus, it may be sufficient to configure a single measurement gap and apply this measurement gap to all non-serving cells on the frequency layer to minimize signaling overhead.

[0236] Exemplary method for physical layer measurement reporting

[0237] Figure 12FIG. 0 illustrates an exemplary flowchart of obtaining and sending a physical layer measurement report according to some embodiments. A device (e.g., a mobile device (UE)) may obtain one or more physical layer (PL) channel state information (CSI) measurement results corresponding to one or more CSI resource sets transmitted from one or more beams associated with one or more candidate cells of one or more target base stations via PL channel state information (CSI) measurements (1202). The device may then derive information from the one or more PL CSI measurement results (1204) and may send a PL CSI measurement report including the information to a serving base station (1206). The PL CSI measurement report may be configured to determine a target base station selected from the one or more target base stations to which the device is to be switched from the serving base station in a layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) operation. The information may include cell-level or beam-level metrics, the sending of the PL CSI measurement report may be event-triggered and may occur on a PUCCH or PUSCH resource or in a MAC-CE as UCI, and a measurement gap may be configured for PL CSI measurements, as disclosed herein and further described in detail previously.

[0238] It is well known that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of inadvertent or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly explained to the user.

[0239] Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in any of a variety of forms. For example, in some embodiments, the present invention may be implemented as a computer-implemented method, a computer-readable memory medium, or a computer system. In other embodiments, the present invention may be implemented using one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as an ASIC. In other embodiments, the present invention may be implemented using one or more programmable hardware elements such as an FPGA.

[0240] In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory memory element) may be configured to store program instructions and / or data, which, if executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method, such as any of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or any subset of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of such subsets.

[0241] In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE) may be configured to include a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium (or memory elements), where the memory medium stores program instructions, where the processor is configured to read and execute these program instructions from the memory medium, and where these program instructions are executable to implement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or any subset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of such subsets). The device may be implemented in any of a variety of forms.

[0242] While the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, many variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully understood. The following claims are intended to be construed to include all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication, the method comprises: obtaining, by a device, one or more physical layer (PL) channel state information (CSI) measurement results corresponding to one or more CSI resource sets, the one or more CSI resource sets being transmitted from one or more beams associated with one or more candidate cells of one or more target base stations; and sending, by the device, a PL CSI measurement report to a serving base station, the PL CSI measurement report containing information derived from the one or more PL CSI measurement results, wherein the PL CSI measurement report is configured to determine a handover of the device from the serving base station to a selected target base station among the one or more target base stations in a layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) operation.

2. The method according to claim 1, the method further comprises the device performing one of the following: obtaining an average PL CSI measurement result by averaging a single plurality of PL CSI measurement results among the one or more PL CSI measurement results, wherein the single plurality of PL CSI measurement results corresponds to a single plurality of beams among the one or more beams and is associated with a single target base station among the one or more target base stations; or obtaining a plurality of average PL CSI measurement results by averaging a plural plurality of PL CSI measurement results among the one or more PL CSI measurement results, wherein each different plural plurality of PL CSI measurement results among the plural plurality of PL CSI measurement results corresponds to a respective plurality of beams among the one or more beams and is associated with a different respective target base station among the one or more target base stations; wherein the information comprises one of the following: the average PL CSI measurement result; or the plurality of average PL CSI measurement results.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the single plurality of beams comprises a specified number of best beams, wherein each of the specified number of best beams is associated with a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SSB).

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein each of the respective plurality of beams comprises a respective plurality of best beams, wherein each of the respective plurality of best beams is associated with a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SSB).

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the averaging of the single plurality of PL CSI measurement results comprises one of the following: linearly averaging the single plurality of PL CSI measurement results; or averaging the single plurality of PL CSI measurement results using a coefficient value configured via radio resource control (RRC) signaling; and wherein the averaging of the plural plurality of PL CSI measurement results comprises one of the following: linearly averaging the plural plurality of PL CSI measurement results; or Average the plurality of complex PL CSI measurement results using the coefficient value configured via RRC signaling.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the single plurality of PL CSI measurement results includes only PL CSI measurement results having values greater than a specified threshold; and wherein each of the plurality of complex PL CSI measurement results includes only PL CSI measurement results having values greater than the specified threshold.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein at least one of the specified threshold, the number of the plurality of beams, or the number of each corresponding plurality of beams is configured in a PL CSI measurement configuration.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the information is derived from the PL CSI measurement results in the one or more PL CSI measurement results, each corresponding to a single respective beam in the one or more beams.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the decision to derive the information from the PL CSI measurement results in the one or more PL CSI measurement results, each corresponding to a single respective beam in the one or more beams, is based on the value of a parameter configured in a PL CSI measurement configuration.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein transmitting the PL CSI measurement report is based on a trigger event, wherein the trigger event is determined based on a comparison of first information and second information, wherein the first information is derived from a first one or more PL CSI measurement results corresponding to the serving base station, and wherein the second information is derived from a second one or more PL CSI measurement results corresponding to a candidate target base station among the one or more target base stations.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the trigger event is triggered when the comparison indicates that the result indicated by the second information is better than the result indicated by the first information by at least a configurable offset value.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the PL CSI measurement report is transmitted in a medium access control element (MAC-CE) of variable size, wherein the MAC-CE comprises: A first information field, the first information field comprising A best beam index identifying the best beam, The specified PL CSI measurement result of the best beam, and The associated cell index of the best beam; and A second information field, the second information field comprising Beam indices identifying a specified number of reported beams, The PL CSI measurement results of each of the specified number of reported beams, and The associated cell indices of the specified number of reported beams.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the specified PL CSI measurement result represents the maximum value among the plurality of PL CSI measurement results.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein for a plurality of reported beams, differential PL CSI reporting is used with reference to the specified PL CSI measurement result.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein each of the PL CSI reports for the number of reporting beams is quantized to a smaller number of bits by using a larger step size.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein either a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource is used to transmit the PL CSI measurement report as uplink control information (UCI).

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein either or both of the PUCCH resource and the PUSCH resource are configured via radio resource control information as part of a PL CSI measurement configuration.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein the UCI comprises: a first information field, the first information field comprising a best beam index identifying the best beam, a specified PL CSI measurement result of the best beam, and an associated cell index of the best beam; and a second information field, the second information field comprising beam indices identifying a specified number of reporting beams, PL CSI measurement results of each of the specified number of reporting beams, and associated cell indices of the specified number of reporting beams.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the specified number is variable and is indicated by the first information field.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the number of resource elements corresponding to the specified number is derived based on a parameter value configured via radio resource control.

21. The method according to claim 1, wherein a measurement gap for the PL CSI measurement is configured as part of a PL CSI measurement configuration, and wherein the measurement gap is indicated according to one of the following: a non-serving cell of a target base station; or a frequency layer.

22. An apparatus configured to cause a user equipment (UE) to perform any one of the methods according to claims 1 to 21.

23. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) comprises: radio circuitry configured to enable the UE to communicate wirelessly; and the apparatus according to claim 22, the apparatus being communicatively coupled to the radio circuitry.

24. A non-transitory memory element storing instructions executable by a processor to cause a user equipment (UE) to perform any one of the methods according to claims 1 to 21.

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