Method and apparatus for reducing layer 1 (L1) measurement delay using multi reception link reception

Abstract

Enhanced physical layer (L1) measurements received using multiple RX chains (multiple receive chains) may be performed on transmissions simultaneously received from at least two receive points (TRPs) having the same physical cell ID (PCI) or different PCIs. Accordingly, a mobile wireless communication device (UE) may support group-based beam reporting to report a pair of receive beams, including a pair of concurrently received beams. Group-based reporting may be supported for an SSB-based L1-RSRP measurement, an L1-RSRP measurement based on a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), and an L1 signal to interference plus noise ratio (L1-SINR) measurement based on the CSI-RS.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to wireless communications, including reducing latency of physical layer (L1) measurements using multiple receive chain receptions during wireless communications (e.g., during 5G NR communications).

[0002] Related technical description

[0003] The use of wireless communication systems is growing rapidly. In recent years, wireless devices (such as smartphones and tablet computers) have become increasingly complex and 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 complex and sophisticated applications that utilize these capabilities. Additionally, there are many different wireless communication technologies and wireless communication standards. Examples of some 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 The current telecommunications standard, which surpasses previous standards, is called the fifth generation of mobile networks or fifth generation wireless systems, known as 3GPP NR (also known as 5G-NR or NR-5G, or 5G New Radio, or NR for short). NR provides higher capacity for a higher density of mobile broadband users while supporting device-to-device, ultra-reliable, and massive machine-to-machine communications, as well as lower latency and lower battery consumption than the LTE standard.

[0004] One aspect of wireless communication systems, including NR cellular wireless communication, is radio resource management (RRM), which includes physical layer (Layer 1, L1) measurement and reporting of various channel and communication metrics. Continued development requires improvements and support for multiple receive chain (multiple RX chain) reception of physical layer measurements. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In particular, embodiments of methods and processes for enhanced physical layer measurements using multiple receive chains (multiple RX chains) during wireless communications (e.g., during 3GPP New Radio (NR) communications) are presented herein. Embodiments of a wireless communication system are also presented herein, including at least wireless communication devices or user equipment devices (UEs) and / or base stations communicating with each other within the wireless communication system.

[0006] In some embodiments, enhanced physical layer (L1) measurements using multi-RX chain (multi-receive chain) reception may be performed on corresponding transmissions received simultaneously from at least two receive points (TRPs). The two TRPs may have the same physical cell ID (PCI), or they may have different PCIs. Therefore, the mobile wireless communication device (UE) may support group-based beam reporting to report a pair of receive beams, including a pair of simultaneously received beams. Group-based reporting may be supported for L1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurements based on synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), L1-RSRP measurements based on channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs), and L1 signal to interference plus noise ratio (L1-SINR) measurements based on CSI-RSs. As an example, the first TRP may be a serving cell and the second TRP may be another cell, such as a neighboring cell. Therefore, in some embodiments, the measurement may include simultaneous measurement of L1-RSRP on two synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) (e.g., a first SSB received from a serving cell and a second SSB received from a second cell having a different PCI than the serving cell). The measurement may also include simultaneous measurement of L1-RSRP and / or L1-SINR on two CSI-RSs (e.g., a first CSI-RS received from a serving cell and a second CSI-RS received from a second cell having the same PCI as the serving cell).

[0007] According to the above, the device may simultaneously receive a first beam from a first transmit and receive point (TRP) and a second beam from a second TRP, and may perform simultaneous physical layer (L1) measurements on both the first beam and the second beam. The L1 measurements may include:

[0008] i. L1-RSRP measurement based on corresponding synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) associated with the first beam and the second beam;

[0009] ii. L1-RSRP measurement based on the respective CSI-RS associated with the first beam and the second beam; and / or

[0010] iii. L1-SINR measurements based on respective channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) associated with the first beam and the second beam.

[0011] In case (i), the first TRP may be a serving cell, and the second TRP may be a cell having a different physical cell identifier (PCI) than the serving cell. The first SSB associated with the first beam may have the same index as or a different index than the second SSB associated with the second beam. The L1-RSRP measurement may be performed without a sharing factor and / or without resource sharing.

[0012] In case (ii), two sets of CSI-RS resources may be configured for each of the first TRP and the second TRP. A specified number (N) of CSI-RS resources may be configured for each set, and the L1-RSRP measurement may be performed simultaneously for a pair of CSI-RS resources. In some embodiments, for the measurement of a pair of non-overlapping CSI-RS resources, a specified number (K) of TRPs may be obtained. CSI-RS For N overlapping CSI-RS resources on two sets, N 2 Measurements are performed on the CSI-RS resources, and for the N overlapping CSI-RS resources on the two sets, N 2 *K T CSI-RS samples for beam refinement.

[0013] In some embodiments, (iii) may be defined for different configurations including: (a) CSI-RS-based channel measurement resources (CMRs) without dedicated interference measurement resources (IMRs), and (b) CSI-RS-based CMRs with dedicated IMRs. For (a), the signal associated with a beam and the interference associated with the beam may be measured on the same resource. For (b), the signal associated with a beam and the interference associated with the beam may be measured on different CSI-RS resources.

[0014] In some embodiments, (c) may be performed using a specified number (N) of CSI-RS resources. For measurements on a pair of non-overlapping CSI-RS resources, a specified number (K) of T CSI-RS For N overlapping CSI-RS resources, N 2 Perform measurement on CSI-RS resources and obtain N 2 *K T CSI-RS samples for beam refinement.

[0015] Note that the techniques described herein may be implemented in and / or used with a number of different types of devices, including but not limited to base stations, access points, cellular telephones, portable media players, tablets, wearable devices, and various other computing devices.

[0016] This summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the subject matter described in this document. Therefore, it should be understood that the aforementioned features are merely examples and should not be construed as narrowing the scope or spirit of the subject matter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparent from the following detailed description, accompanying drawings, and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system according to some embodiments;

[0018] Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary base station in communication with an exemplary wireless user equipment (UE) device according to some embodiments;

[0019] Figure 3 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a UE according to some embodiments;

[0020] Figure 4 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a base station according to some embodiments;

[0021] Figure 5 shows an exemplary simplified block diagram of an example cellular communication circuit according to some embodiments;

[0022] Figure 6 An exemplary system diagram illustrating an exemplary device receiving beams from two different cells simultaneously according to some embodiments;

[0023] Figure 7 shows an exemplary diagram illustrating two TRPs with corresponding SSBs according to some embodiments;

[0024] Figure 8 shows an exemplary diagram illustrating two TRPs and corresponding associated CSI-RS resources according to some embodiments; and

[0025] Figure 9 An exemplary flow chart for performing L1 measurements according to an example of some embodiments is shown.

[0026] While 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 herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereof are not intended to be limiting to the particular 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 as defined by the appended claims. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] Acronyms

[0028] Various acronyms are used throughout this patent application. The definitions of the most prominent acronyms used that may appear throughout this patent application are as follows:

[0029] 5GMM: 5G Mobility Management

[0030] AF: Application Function

[0031] AMF: Access and mobility management function

[0032] AMR: Adaptive Multi-Rate

[0033] AOA (AoA): Angle of Arrival

[0034] AP: Access Point

[0035] APN: Access Point Name

[0036] APR: Application Processor

[0037] BFD: Beam Fault Detection

[0038] BS: Base Station

[0039] BSSID: Basic Service Set Identifier

[0040] CBD: Candidate Beam Detection

[0041] CBG: Code Block Group

[0042] CBRS: Citizens Broadband Radio Service

[0043] CBSD: Citizens Broadband Radio Service Device

[0044] CCA: Clear Channel Assessment

[0045] CMR: Channel Measurement Resource

[0046] CORESET: Control resource set

[0047] CS: Circuit Switching

[0048] CSI: Channel State Information

[0049] DCI: Downlink Control Information

[0050] DL: Downlink (from BS to UE)

[0051] DMRS: Demodulation Reference Signal

[0052] DN: Data Network

[0053] DSDS: Dual SIM Dual Standby

[0054] DYN: Dynamic

[0055] EDCF: Enhanced Distributed Coordination Function

[0056] eSNPN: Equivalent Independent Non-Public Network

[0057] ETSI: European Telecommunications Standards Institute

[0058] FDD: Frequency Division Duplex

[0059] FT: frame type

[0060] GAA: General Authorization Access

[0061] GPRS: General Packet Radio Service

[0062] GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications

[0063] GTP: GPRS Tunneling Protocol

[0064] HPLMN: Home Public Land Mobile Network

[0065] IC: within coverage

[0066] ICBM: Inter-cell beam management

[0067] IMR: Interference Measurement Resource

[0068] IMS: Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem

[0069] IOT: Internet of Things

[0070] IP: Internet Protocol

[0071] ITS: Intelligent Transportation System

[0072] LAN: Local Area Network

[0073] LBT: Listen first, speak later

[0074] LCID: Logical channel ID

[0075] LCS: Location Services

[0076] LMF: Location Management Function

[0077] LPP: LTE Positioning Protocol

[0078] LQM: Link Quality Metric

[0079] LTE: Long Term Evolution

[0080] MCC: Mobile Country Code

[0081] MCS: Modulation and Coding Scheme

[0082] MNO: Mobile Network Operator

[0083] MO-LR: Mobile Station Location Request

[0084] MT-LR: Mobile Station Location Request

[0085] NAS: Non-Access Stratum

[0086] NDI: New Data Indicator

[0087] NF: Network Function

[0088] NG-RAN: Next Generation Radio Access Network

[0089] NID: Network Identifier

[0090] NMF: Network Identifier Management Function

[0091] NPN: Non-Public (Cellular) Network

[0092] NRF: Network Repository Function

[0093] NSI: Network Slicing Instance

[0094] NSSAI: Network Slice Selection Auxiliary Information

[0095] OOC: Out of coverage

[0096] PAL: Priority Access Licensee

[0097] PBCH: Physical Broadcast Channel

[0098] PC3: Power Level 3

[0099] PCI: Physical Cell ID

[0100] PDCP: Packet Data Convergence Protocol

[0101] PDN: Packet Data Network

[0102] PDU: Protocol Data Unit

[0103] PGW: PDN Gateway

[0104] PLMN: Public Land Mobile Network

[0105] ProSe: Proximity Services

[0106] PRS: Positioning Reference Signal

[0107] PSCCH: Physical Sidelink Control Channel

[0108] PSFCH: Physical side link feedback channel

[0109] PSSCH: Physical side link shared channel

[0110] PSD: Power Spectral Density

[0111] PSS: Primary Synchronization Signal

[0112] PT: Payload Type

[0113] PTRS: Phase Tracking Reference Signal

[0114] PUCCH: Physical Uplink Control Channel

[0115] QBSS: Basic Service Set with enhanced quality of service

[0116] QI: Quality Indicator

[0117] RA: Registration Acceptance

[0118] RAT: Radio Access Technology

[0119] RF: Radio Frequency

[0120] RLM: Radio Link Monitoring

[0121] RNTI: Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0122] ROHC: Robust Header Compression

[0123] RR: Registration Request

[0124] RRM: Radio Resource Management

[0125] RRC: Radio Resource Control

[0126] RS: Reference signal

[0127] RSRP: Reference Signal Received Power

[0128] RTP: Real-time Transport Protocol

[0129] RV: Redundant Version

[0130] RX: Receive

[0131] SAS: Spectrum Allocation Server

[0132] SD: Slice Descriptor

[0133] SI: System Information

[0134] SIB: System Information Block

[0135] SID: System Identification Number

[0136] SIM: Subscriber Identity Module

[0137] SINR: Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio

[0138] SGW: Serving Gateway

[0139] SMF: Session Management Function

[0140] SNPN: Independent Non-Public Network

[0141] SRS: Sounding Reference Signal

[0142] SSB: Synchronous Signal Block

[0143] SSS: Secondary synchronization signal

[0144] SUPI: Subscription Permanent Identifier

[0145] TBS: Transport Block Size

[0146] TCI: Transmit Configuration Indicator

[0147] TCP: Transmission Control Protocol

[0148] TDD: Time Division Duplex

[0149] TDRA: Time Domain Resource Allocation

[0150] TPC: Transmit Power Control

[0151] TRP: Transmit and Receive Point

[0152] TX: Send

[0153] UAC: Unified Access Control

[0154] UDM: Unified Data Management

[0155] UDR: User Data Repository

[0156] UE: User Equipment

[0157] UI: User input

[0158] UL: Uplink (from UE to BS)

[0159] UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

[0160] UPF: User Plane Function

[0161] URLLC: Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication

[0162] URM: Universal Resource Management

[0163] URSP: UE routing strategy

[0164] USIM: User Subscriber Identity Module

[0165] Wi-Fi: Wireless local area network (WLAN) RAT based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard

[0166] WLAN: Wireless LAN

[0167] ZP: Zero Power

[0168] the term

[0169] The following is a glossary of terms that may appear in this application:

[0170] 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 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 drives or optical storage devices; registers, or other similar types of memory elements, etc. Memory media may also include other types of memory or a combination thereof. Furthermore, a memory medium may be located in a first computer system executing a program, or in a second, different computer system connected to the first computer system via a network, such as the Internet. In the latter example, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer system for execution. The term "memory medium" may include two or more memory media, which may reside in different locations in different computer systems connected, for example, via a network. A memory medium may store program instructions (e.g., embodied as a computer program) that are executable by one or more processors.

[0171] Carrier Medium—memory media as described above, as well as physical transmission media such as a bus, network, and / or other physical transmission media that convey signals (such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals).

[0172] Programmable hardware elements—include 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). Programmable function blocks can range from fine-grained (combinatorial logic or lookup tables) to coarse-grained (arithmetic logic units or processor cores). Programmable hardware elements may also be referred to as "configurable logic."

[0173] Computer system (or computer)—any of various types of computing or processing systems, including a personal computer system (PC), a mainframe computer system, a workstation, a network appliance, an Internet appliance, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a television system, a grid computing system, or other devices or combinations of devices. In general, 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.

[0174] User Equipment (UE) (or "UE device") - any of various types of computer system devices that perform wireless communications. Also known as wireless communication devices, many of which may be mobile and / or portable. Examples of UE devices include mobile phones or smartphones (e.g., iPhones). TM , based on Android TM phones) and tablets such as iPads TM 、Samsung Galaxy TM etc., gaming devices (such as Sony PlayStation TM , Microsoft XBox TM etc.), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS TM PlayStation Portable TM 、Gameboy Advance TM iPod TM ), laptops, wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, 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 that 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 technologies (SRAT) such as BLUETOOTH TM In general, the term "UE" or "UE device" can be broadly defined to cover any electronic, computing and / or telecommunication device (or combination of devices) capable of wireless communication and which may also be portable / mobile.

[0175] 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.

[0176] Communication device—Any of various types of computer systems or devices that perform communication, where the communication can be wired or wireless. A communication device can be portable (or mobile), or stationary or fixed at a location. A wireless device is one example of a communication device. A UE is another example of a communication device.

[0177] Base Station (BS)—The term “base station” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station installed at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system.

[0178] Processor—refers to any element (e.g., circuitry) or combination of elements capable of performing functions in a device (e.g., in a user equipment device or in a cellular network device). Processors may include, for example, general-purpose processors and associated memory, portions or circuitry of individual processor cores, entire processor cores or processing circuit cores, processing circuit arrays or processor arrays, circuits such as ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), programmable hardware elements such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and any combination of the foregoing.

[0179] Channel - the medium used to transport information from a transmitter (sender) to a receiver. It should be noted that because the characteristics of the term "channel" can vary according to different wireless protocols, the term "channel" as used herein may be considered to be used in a manner that is consistent with the standard of the type of device to which the term is used. In some standards, the channel width can be variable (e.g., depending on device capabilities, frequency band conditions, etc.). For example, LTE may support scalable channel bandwidths of 1.4 MHz to 20 MHz. In contrast, a WLAN channel may be 22 MHz wide, while a Bluetooth channel may be 1 MHz wide. Other protocols and standards may include different definitions of channels. In addition, some standards may 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.

[0180] Band (or frequency band)—The term "band" has its full meaning and includes at least a section of spectrum (e.g., radio frequency spectrum) where channels are used or set aside for the same purpose. Furthermore, "band" is used to refer to any interval in the frequency domain bounded by lower and upper frequencies. The term can refer to a radio frequency band or some other interval of spectrum. A radio communication signal may occupy a frequency range over which the signal is carried (or within which the signal is carried). This frequency range is also referred to as the bandwidth of the signal. Thus, bandwidth refers to the difference between the upper and lower frequencies in a continuous frequency band. A 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 primary function of radio spectrum allocation. For example, in 5G NR, operating bands are categorized into two groups. More specifically, according to 3GPP Release 15, frequency bands are designated for different frequency ranges (FRs) and are defined as FR1 and FR2, with FR1 covering the 410 MHz-7125 MHz range and FR2 covering the 24,250 MHz-52,600 MHz range.

[0181] Wi-Fi—The term "Wi-Fi" has the full scope 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 marketed under the name "Wi-Fi." Wi-Fi (WLAN) networks are distinct from cellular networks.

[0182] Automatically—refers to an action or operation being performed by a computer system (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or a device (e.g., a circuit, a programmable hardware element, an ASIC, etc.) without requiring a user to directly specify or execute the action or operation through input. Thus, the term "automatically" is in contrast to manual execution or specification of an action by a user, where the user provides input to directly execute the action. An automatic process may be initiated by user-provided input, but subsequent actions performed "automatically" are not specified by the user, i.e., they are not performed "manually," where the user specifies each action to be performed. For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting each field and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typing information, selecting checkboxes, radio selections, etc.) is manually filling out the form, even though the computer system must update the form in response to the user's actions. The form may be automatically filled out by a computer system, where the computer system (e.g., software executed on the computer system) analyzes the fields of the form and fills it out without requiring any user input to specify the answers to the fields. As indicated above, a user may invoke automatic filling of a form without participating in the actual filling out of the form (e.g., the user does not manually specify the answers to the fields; they are automatically completed). This specification provides various examples of operations that are automatically performed in response to actions that a user has taken.

[0183] About—refers to a value that is close to the correct or exact value. For example, about may refer to a value that is within 1% to 10% of the exact (or desired) value. However, it should be noted that the actual threshold value (or tolerance) may be application-dependent. For example, in some embodiments, "about" may mean within 0.1% of some specified or desired value, while in various other embodiments, the threshold value may be, for example, 2%, 3%, 5%, etc., depending on the desires or requirements of a particular application.

[0184] Concurrency—refers to parallel execution or implementation, where tasks, processes, or programs are executed in an at least partially overlapping manner. For example, concurrency can be achieved using "strong" or strict parallelism, where tasks are executed (at least partially) in parallel on respective computing elements, or using "weak parallelism," where tasks are executed in an interleaved manner (e.g., by time multiplexing of execution threads).

[0185] Station (STA)—The term "station" herein refers to any device capable of communicating wirelessly (e.g., using the 802.11 protocol). A station can be a laptop, desktop PC, PDA, access point, or Wi-Fi phone, or any other 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 capable of wireless communication, and the terms station (STA), wireless client (UE), and node (BS) are often used interchangeably.

[0186] Configured to—Various components may be described as being “configured to” perform one or more tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broad statement that generally means “having the structure” to perform one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component may be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently performing the task (e.g., a collection of electrical conductors may be configured to electrically connect a module to another module even when the two modules are not connected). In some contexts, “configured to” may be a broad statement that generally means “having the circuitry” to carry out one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component may be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently turned on. In general, the circuitry that forms the structure corresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuitry.

[0187] Transmission Scheduling—refers to the scheduling of transmissions (such as wireless transmissions). In some implementations of cellular radio communications, signal transmissions and data transmissions may be organized according to designated time units of a specific duration during which the transmission occurs. As used herein, the term "time slot" has the full range of its ordinary meaning and refers to at least the smallest (or shortest) scheduled time unit in wireless communications. For example, in 3GPP LTE, transmissions are divided into radio frames, each of which has an equal (time) duration (e.g., 10 ms). Radio frames in 3GPP LTE can be further divided into a specified number (e.g., ten) of subframes, each of which has an equal duration, with subframes designated as the smallest (shortest) scheduled unit, or a designated time unit for transmission. Thus, in the 3GPP LTE example, a "subframe" can be considered an example of a "time slot" as defined above. Similarly, the smallest (or shortest) scheduled time unit for 5G NR (or simply NR) transmissions is called a "time slot." The smallest (or shortest) scheduled time unit may also be named differently in different communication protocols.

[0188] Resources—The term "resource" has the full scope of its ordinary meaning and may refer to both frequency and time resources used during wireless communications. As used herein, a resource element (RE) refers to a specific quantity or number of resources. For example, in the context of time resources, a resource element may be a time period of a specific length. In the context of frequency resources, a resource element may be a specific frequency bandwidth or a specific amount of frequency bandwidth centered on a specific frequency. As a specific example, a resource element may refer to a resource unit having one symbol (in reference to a time resource, e.g., a time period of a specific length) per one subcarrier (in reference to a frequency resource, e.g., a specific frequency bandwidth, which may be centered on a specific frequency). A resource element group (REG) has the full scope of its ordinary meaning and refers to at least a specified number of contiguous resource elements. In some 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 contiguous REGs. A resource block (RB) refers to a specified number of resource elements consisting of a specified number of subcarriers per a specified number of symbols. Each RB may include a specified number of subcarriers. A resource block group (RBG) refers to a unit that includes multiple RBs. The number of RBs in one RBG may vary according to the system bandwidth.

[0189] Bandwidth Part (BWP) - A carrier bandwidth part (BWP) is a set of contiguous physical resource blocks selected from a contiguous subset of common resource blocks for 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 per some specifications), with one BWP active per carrier at a given time (per some specifications). For the uplink, a UE can similarly be configured with up to a number (e.g., four) of carrier BWPs, with one BWP active per carrier at a given time (per some specifications). If a UE is configured with a supplemental uplink, the UE can additionally be configured with up to a specified number (e.g., four) of carrier BWPs in the supplemental uplink, with one carrier BWP active at a given time (per some specifications).

[0190] Multi-cell arrangement - the master node is defined as a node (radio access node) that provides a 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 that does not have a control plane connection to the core network and 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 (SCells). The secondary cell group (SCG) is defined as a set of serving cells associated with the secondary node, including a special cell, i.e., the primary cell (PSCell) of the SCG, and optionally one or more SCells. 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 is initially connected to a PCell, and once the UE is in the connected state, one or more SCells may be configured for the UE.

[0191] 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). A UE can connect to the core network via a radio access network RAN, which can be RAT-specific.

[0192] Downlink Control Information (DCI) - In 3GPP communications, DCI is sent to a mobile device or UE (e.g., by a serving base station in the network) and contains a number of different fields. Each field is used to configure a portion or aspect of the device's scheduled communications. In other words, each field in the DCI may correspond to one or more specific communication parameters that configure the corresponding aspect of the device's scheduled communications. By decoding the DCI, the UE obtains all configuration parameters or parameter values ​​based on the fields in the DCI, thereby obtaining all information about the scheduled communications, and can then perform the scheduled communications based on those parameters / parameter values.

[0193] 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." Representing a component as being configured to perform one or more tasks expressly does not intend that the component be construed under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) of the Act.

[0194] Figure 1 and Figure 2 —Exemplary Communication System

[0195] Figure 1 An exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system according to some embodiments is illustrated. Note that Figure 1 The system is only one example of a possible system, and the embodiment may be implemented in any of a variety of systems as desired.

[0196] As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes base stations 102A through 102N, also collectively referred to as a plurality of base stations 102 or base stations 102. Figure 1 As shown, base station 102A communicates with one or more user devices 106A to 106N via a transmission medium. Each user device may be referred to herein as a "user equipment" (UE) or a UE device. Thus, user devices 106A to 106N are referred to as UEs or UE devices, and are also collectively referred to as multiple UEs 106 or UEs 106.

[0197] Base station 102A may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or cell site and may include hardware that enables wireless communication with UEs 106A through 106N. Base station 102A may also be equipped to communicate with network 100 (e.g., a cellular service provider's core network, 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, among other possibilities). Thus, base station 102A may facilitate communication between user devices 106 and / or between user devices 106 and network 100. Specifically, cellular base station 102A may 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 may be referred to as a "cell." Note that a "cell" may also refer to a logical designation for a given wireless communication coverage area at a given frequency. In general, any individual cellular wireless coverage area may be referred to as a "cell." In such a case, a base station may be located at a particular intersection of three cells. In this uniform topology, a base station may serve three 120 degree beam width areas called cells. Also, for carrier aggregation, small cells, relays, etc. may all represent cells. Thus, particularly in carrier aggregation, there may be primary cells and secondary cells that may serve at least partially overlapping coverage areas but on different respective frequencies. For example, a base station may serve any number of cells, and the cells served by a base station may or may not be collocated (e.g., remote radio heads). Also as used herein, with respect to a UE, a base station may sometimes be considered to represent a network in view of the UE's uplink and downlink communications. Thus, a UE communicating with one or more base stations in a network may also be interpreted as a UE communicating with the network, and may also be considered to be at least a portion of a UE communicating on or through a network.

[0198] Base station 102 and user equipment 106 may be configured to communicate over a transmission medium using any of a variety of radio access technologies (RATs), also known as wireless communication technologies or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (WCDMA), LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), LAA / LTE-U, 5G-NR (abbreviated as NR), 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and the like. Note that if base station 102A is implemented in the context of LTE, it may alternatively be referred to as an "eNodeB" or "eNB." Similarly, if base station 102A is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternatively be referred to as a "gNodeB" or "gNB." In some embodiments, base station 102 (e.g., an eNB in ​​an LTE network or a gNB in ​​an NR network) may communicate with at least one UE capable of transmitting reference signals according to various embodiments disclosed herein. Depending on a given application or specific considerations, some different RATs may be functionally grouped according to overall defining characteristics for convenience. For example, all cellular RATs may be collectively considered to represent a first (form / type) RAT, while Wi-Fi communications may be considered to represent a second RAT. In other cases, each cellular RAT may be individually considered a different RAT. For example, when distinguishing between cellular and Wi-Fi communications, "first RAT" may collectively refer to all cellular RATs under consideration, while "second RAT" may refer to Wi-Fi. Similarly, different forms of Wi-Fi communications (e.g., above 2.4 GHz versus above 5 GHz) may be considered to correspond to different RATs, where applicable. Furthermore, cellular communications performed according to a given RAT (e.g., LTE or NR) may be distinguished from one another based on the spectrum in which those communications occur. For example, LTE or NR communications may be performed on primary licensed spectrum as well as on secondary spectrum, such as unlicensed spectrum and / or spectrum allocated to private networks. Overall, the use of various terms and expressions will always be clearly noted in relation to and within the context of the various applications / implementations under consideration.

[0199] As shown, base station 102A may also be configured to communicate with network 100 (e.g., a cellular service provider's core network, a telecommunications network such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and / or the Internet, among other possibilities). Thus, base station 102A may facilitate communications between user devices 106 and / or between user devices 106 and network 100. Specifically, cellular base station 102A may 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 may be configured to communicate using any or all of 3GPP cellular communication standards (such as LTE or NR) or 3GPP2 cellular communication standards (such as a cellular communication standard in the CDMA2000 family 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 therefore be provided as one or more cell networks that can provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to UE 106 and similar devices over a wide geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards.

[0200] Thus, although base station 102A may function as Figure 1 106N, each UE 106 may also be capable of receiving signals from (and possibly within communication range of) one or more other cells (potentially provided by base stations 102B-102N and / or any other base stations), which may be referred to as "neighboring cells." Such cells may also be capable of facilitating communications between user devices 106 and / or between user devices 106 and network 100. Such cells may include "macro" cells, "micro" cells, "pico" cells, and / or cells of any other variety of granularities of service area size. For example, in Figure 1 The base stations 102A-102B illustrated in FIG may be macro cells, while the base station 102N may be a micro cell. Other configurations are also possible.

[0201] In some embodiments, base station 102A may be a next-generation base station, such as a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station or "gNB." In some embodiments, a gNB may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to an NR core (NRC) network. Furthermore, a gNB cell may include one or more transmit and receive points (TRPs). Furthermore, UEs capable of operating in accordance with 5G NR may be connected to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

[0202] UE 106 may also or alternatively be configured to use WLAN, BLUETOOTHTM 、BLUETOOTH TM Low-Energy, 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, stations, 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 communication resources of the UE 106.

[0203] For example, Figure 1 As shown in FIG, at least some of the UEs (e.g., UE 106D and 106E) may represent vehicles communicating with each other and with base station 102, for example, via cellular communications such as 3GPP LTE and / or 5G-NR communications. Additionally, UE 106F may represent a pedestrian communicating and / or interacting in a similar manner with the vehicles represented by UEs 106D and 106E. For example, in the context of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications (such as those specified by certain versions of 3GPP standards), the disclosed Figure 1 Various embodiments of vehicles communicating in a network exemplified in .

[0204] Figure 2 An exemplary user equipment 106 (e.g., one of UEs 106A through 106N) is illustrated in accordance with some embodiments in communication with a base station 122 and an access point 112. The UE 106 may be a user equipment having cellular communication capabilities and non-cellular communication capabilities (e.g., Bluetooth TM, Wi-Fi, etc.), such as a mobile phone, a handheld device, a computer or a tablet computer, 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 method implementation in the method implementation scheme described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively or in addition, UE 106 may include programmable hardware elements, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) configured to perform any one of the method implementation schemes described herein or any part of any one of the method implementation schemes 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.

[0205] 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 portions of a receive chain and / or 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 an independent transmit chain and / or receive chain (e.g., including independent antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As another alternative, UE 106 may include one or more radio components or radio circuits shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, as well as one or more radio components used uniquely by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, UE 106 may include radio circuits for communicating using any of LTE or CDMA2000 1xRTT or NR, and radio circuits for communicating using Wi-Fi and BLUETOOTH. TM Independent radio components for each of the communications. Other configurations are also possible.

[0206] Figure 3 —Block diagram of an exemplary UE

[0207] Figure 3A block diagram of an exemplary UE 106 according to 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 can execute program instructions for the UE 106, and a display circuit 304 that can perform graphics processing and provide display signals 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). The MMU 340 may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 302 and convert those addresses to locations in a memory (e.g., 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.

[0208] 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 memory 310), a connector interface 320 (e.g., for coupling to a computer system), a display 360, and wireless communication circuitry (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, NR, CDMA2000, BLUETOOTH, etc.). 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 communications with base stations 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 antennas 335. For example, the UE device 106 may use antennas 335 to perform wireless communications with the radio circuit 330. As mentioned above, in some embodiments, the UE may be configured to perform wireless communications using multiple wireless communication standards.

[0209] As further described herein, the UE 106 (and / or the base station 102) may include hardware and software components for implementing methods for at least the UE 106 to send reference signals according to various embodiments described herein. The processor 302 of the UE device 106 may be configured to implement a portion or all of the methods described herein, for example, 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). In addition, the processor 302 may be coupled to a processor such as a processor 106 (e.g., a processor 106) ... Figure 3 The other components shown and / or may interoperate with other components to enable communication through the UE 106 for transmitting a reference signal according to various embodiments disclosed herein. Specifically, the processor 302 may be coupled to Figure 3 The other components shown in and / or may interoperate with other components to facilitate UE 106 to communicate in a manner that attempts to optimize RAT selection. Processor 302 may also implement various other applications and / or end-user applications running on UE 106.

[0210] In some embodiments, the radio circuitry 330 may include separate controllers dedicated to controlling communications for various corresponding RATs and / or RAT standards. Figure 3 As shown, the radio circuit 330 may include a Wi-Fi controller 356, a cellular controller (e.g., an LTE and / or NR controller) 352, and a BLUETOOTH controller. 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 (ICs or chips) that communicate with each other and with SOC 300 (e.g., with processor 302). For example, Wi-Fi controller 356 may communicate with cellular controller 352 via a cell-ISM link or WCI interface, and / or BLUETOOTH TM The controller 354 may communicate with the cellular controller 352 via a cell-ISM link, etc. Although three separate controllers are shown within the radio circuit 330, other embodiments may have fewer or more similar controllers for various different RATs and / or RAT standards implemented in the UE device 106. For example, in Figure 5 At least one exemplary block diagram illustrating some embodiments of the cellular controller 352 is shown in FIG. 1 and will be further described below.

[0211] Figure 4 —Block diagram of an exemplary base station

[0212] Figure 4 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary base station 102 according to some embodiments. Note that Figure 4 The base station of is only one example of a possible base station. As shown, the base station 102 may include a processor 404 that may execute program instructions for the base station 102. The processor 404 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 440 or other circuit or device that may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 404 and translate those addresses into locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read-only memory (ROM) 450).

[0213] 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 the UE device 106, as described above. Figure 1 and Figure 2 . Network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also or alternatively 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 multiple devices, such as UE devices 106. In some cases, network port 470 may be coupled to a telephone network via the core network, and / or the core network may provide the telephone network (e.g., in other UE devices served by the cellular service provider).

[0214] The 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 communications with mobile devices and / or other devices. Antennas 434a and 434b are shown as examples, and the base station 102 may include fewer or more antennas. In general, one or more antennas, including antenna 434a and / or antenna 434b, may be 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 the UE device 106 via radio circuitry 430. Antenna 434 communicates with radio component 430 via communication chain 432. Communication chain 432 may be a receive chain, a transmit chain, or both. Radio circuitry 430 may be designed to communicate via various wireless telecommunications standards, including but not limited to LTE, LTE-A, 5G-NR (NR), WCDMA, CDMA2000, and the like. The processor 404 of the base station 102 can be configured to implement some or all of the methods described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, the processor 404 can 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 certain RATs (e.g., Wi-Fi), the base station 102 can be designed as an access point (AP), in which case the network port 470 can be implemented to provide access to a wide area network and / or one or more local area networks, for example, it can include at least one Ethernet port, and the radio component 430 can be designed to communicate according to the Wi-Fi standard.

[0215] Figure 5 —Exemplary Cellular Communications Circuit

[0216] 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 only one example of possible cellular communication circuitry; other circuitry, such as circuitry that includes or is coupled to sufficient antennas for different RATs to perform uplink activities using separate antennas, or circuitry that includes or is coupled to fewer antennas, e.g., circuitry that can be shared between multiple RATs, is also possible. According to some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry 352 may be included in a communication device such as the communication device 106 described above. As described above, the 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, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet computer, and / or a combination of devices, among other devices.

[0217] The cellular communication circuitry 352 may be (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) coupled to one or more antennas, such as antennas 335a-335b and 336 as shown. In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry 352 may 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, Figure 5 As shown, the cellular communication circuit 352 may include a first modem 510 and a second modem 520. The first modem 510 may be configured for communication according to a first RAT (e.g., such as LTE or LTE-A), and the second modem 520 may be configured for communication according to a second RAT (e.g., such as 5G NR).

[0218] As shown, the first modem 510 may include one or more processors 512 and a memory 516 in communication with the processor 512. The modem 510 may communicate with a radio frequency (RF) front end 530. The RF front end 530 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, the RF front end 530 may include receive circuitry (RX) 532 and transmit circuitry (TX) 534. In some embodiments, the receive circuitry 532 may communicate with a downlink (DL) front end 550, which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna 335a.

[0219] Similarly, the second modem 520 may include one or more processors 522 and a memory 526 in communication with the processor 522. The modem 520 may communicate with an RF front end 540. The RF front end 540 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, the RF front end 540 may include receive circuitry 542 and transmit circuitry 544. In some embodiments, the receive circuitry 542 may communicate with a DL front end 560, which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals via the antenna 335b.

[0220] In some embodiments, the switch 570 can couple the transmit circuitry 534 to an uplink (UL) front end 572. Additionally, the switch 570 can couple the transmit circuitry 544 to the UL front end 572. The UL front end 572 can include circuitry for transmitting radio signals via the antenna 336. Thus, when the cellular communication circuitry 352 receives an instruction to transmit according to a first RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain including the transmit circuitry 534 and the UL front end 572), the switch 570 can be switched to a first state that allows the first modem 510 to transmit signals according to the first RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain including the transmit circuitry 534 and the UL front end 572). Similarly, when the cellular communication circuitry 352 receives an instruction to transmit according to a second RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain including the transmit circuitry 544 and the UL front end 572), the switch 570 can be switched to a second state that allows the second modem 520 to transmit signals according to the second RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain including the transmit circuitry 544 and the UL front end 572).

[0221] As described herein, the first modem 510 and / or the second modem 520 may 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), the processors 512 and 522 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein. Alternatively (or in addition), the processors 512 and 522 may be configured as programmable hardware elements, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). Alternatively (or in addition), in combination with one or more of the other components 530, 532, 534, 540, 542, 544, 550, 570, 572, 335, and 336, the processors 512 and 522 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein.

[0222] Furthermore, as described herein, processors 512 and 522 may include one or more components. Thus, processors 512 and 522 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processors 512 and 522. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuits (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processors 512 and 522.

[0223] In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuit 352 may include only one transmit / receive chain. For example, the cellular communication circuit 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 circuit 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 circuit 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).

[0224] Measurement and reporting during wireless communications

[0225] As previously mentioned, wireless communications, such as NR cellular wireless communications, involve the measurement and reporting of various channel and communication metrics. The evolution of 5G New Radio (NR) requires support for group-based beam reporting to report on multiple receive beams (e.g., a pair of beams received simultaneously).

[0226] In Release 18 (R18) of the 3GPP standard, requirements for NR Frequency Range 2 (FR2) multi-RX chain downlink (DL) reception were developed with certain goals in mind. One goal was to specify radio frequency (RF) requirements, primarily spherical coverage requirements, for devices that simultaneously receive different quasi-co-located (QCL) Type D reference signals (RS) from different directions. Based on these requirements, the traditional spherical coverage requirement for reception from a single direction was retained. Additionally, once the Power Class 3 (PC3) requirement framework was finalized, PC3 was prioritized while other power classes were considered.

[0227] Based on the above, the following RRM requirements can be considered:

[0228] L1-RSRP measurement delay;

[0229] Layer 3 (L3) measurement delay (both cell detection delay and measurement period can be considered). The starting point is the enhancement related to L1-RSRP measurement enhancement;

[0230] Radio link monitoring (RLM) and beam failure detection / candidate beam detection (BFD / CBD) requirements;

[0231] Scheduling / measurement constraints;

[0232] Transmit Configuration Indicator (TCI) state switching delay with dual TCI; and

[0233] The reception timing difference between different directions (different QCL types of DRs).

[0234] Group-based beam reporting for a pair of beams received simultaneously

[0235] As disclosed herein, for multi-RX support, a UE may support group-based beam reporting to report multiple receive beams (eg, a pair of beams received simultaneously). Figure 6 6. FIG. 6 shows an exemplary system diagram in which an exemplary device 610 simultaneously receives a beam 606 from a first cell 602 and a beam 608 from a second cell 604. Figure 6 As shown, the corresponding angle of arrival (AoA) of each beam is different at UE 610.

[0236] Thus, the following functions can be realized (e.g. via communication parameters):

[0237] groupBeamReporting, used to report L1-RSRP on one (1) pair of receive beams;

[0238] groupSINR-reporting-r16, for reporting the L1-SINR on one (1) pair of receive beams; and

[0239] mTRP-GroupBasedL1-RSRP-r17, used to report L1-RSRP on up to four (4) pairs of receive beams.

[0240] Currently, only single-panel reception requirements are defined for L1-RSRP and L1-SINR measurements. As disclosed herein, L1 measurements are enhanced to support group-based reporting for at least the following:

[0241] (Simultaneous) L1-RSRP measurements based on SSB;

[0242] (Simultaneous) L1-RSRP measurements based on CSI-RS; and

[0243] • (Simultaneous) L1-SINR measurement based on CSI-RS.

[0244] SSB-based measurement-L1-RSRP

[0245] Currently, SSB-based L1-RSRP measurements for a single RX are defined for the serving cell and for cells with a different PCI than the serving cell (for inter-cell beam management). For multiple RX reception, such as in the case of simultaneous beam reception, requirements may be defined for:

[0246] 1. Simultaneous reception from a serving cell and a cell with a different PCI (from the serving cell); and

[0247] 2. Simultaneous reception of two (2) SSBs and L1-RSRP from the serving cell and a cell with a different PCI (from the serving cell).

[0248] Regarding (1) above, SSBs from the same cell with the same index may not be transmitted from different transmission and reception points (TRPs), and each SSB index may be associated with a TX beam. Regarding (2) above, for overlapping SSBs, a sharing factor / resource sharing currently exists between the serving cell and a cell with a different PCI (from the serving cell). In the case of simultaneous reception, the UE can measure both simultaneously without the need for a sharing factor or resource sharing. Figure 7 An exemplary diagram illustrating two TRPs with corresponding SSBs is shown. The UE may receive corresponding SSBs from TRP1 and TRP2 simultaneously and measure both simultaneously to obtain L1-RSRP measurements.

[0249] CSI-RS-based measurement - L1 RSRP

[0250] Support can also be provided for CSI-RS based measurements with multiple RX chains. In some embodiments, two resource sets can be configured for each TRP / AoA (angle of arrival). For example, a certain number (N) of resources can be defined per set, and / or the UE can measure a pair of resources simultaneously. As an example, for a measurement of one resource (single TRP), the UE can obtain 8 TRPs. CSI-RS Therefore, for a pair of non-overlapping resources, the UE can obtain 8 T CSI-RS samples for beam refinement.

[0251] Figure 8 Two exemplary TRPs (TRP1 and TRP2) and corresponding associated four pairs of overlapping CSI-RS resources (CSI-RS i to CSI-RS j and CSI-RS p to CSI-RS s For each set of two overlapping resources, the UE can measure four pairs of resources, and if all resources overlap, the UE can obtain 4*8 T CSI-RS Samples for beam refinement / measurement. In general, for N overlapping resources on two sets, the UE can measure N 2 For resources, thus obtaining N*N*8 T CSI-RS Samples for beam refinement / measurement.

[0252] CSI-RS-based measurement - L1 SINR

[0253] CSI-RS-based L1-SINR measurement can be defined for at least two configurations: (1) CSI-RS-based Channel Measurement Resource (CMR) without dedicated Interference Measurement Resource (IMR), and (2) CSI-RS-based CMR with dedicated IMR. For (1), both signal and interference can be measured on the same resource. For (2), signal and interference can be measured on different resources.

[0254] In some embodiments, group-based L1-SINR reporting may be supported for a pair of resources. The current requirement may be applicable to the UE supporting multiple RX chain measurements on a pair of resources, such as supporting simultaneous measurements on multiple RX chains. Therefore, the UE may obtain 8 T CSI-RS Samples are used for beam refinement to measure a pair of resources.

[0255] Group-based beam reporting can be extended to a maximum of "N" resources for multi-RX chain / multi-TRP measurements. For measurements on a pair of non-overlapping resources, for example, when performing analog measurements, the UE may acquire 8 T CSI-RS For each set of two overlapping resources, the UE can measure four pairs of resources. If all resources are overlapping, 4*8 T CSI-RS For N overlapping resources on two sets, the UE can measure N 2 For resources, thus obtaining N*N*8 T CSI-RS Samples for beam refinement / measurement.

[0256] Exemplary Method for Performing Physical Layer Measurements

[0257] FIG12 shows an exemplary flow diagram illustrating performing physical layer (L1) measurements on corresponding beams received simultaneously from multiple TRPs. A device (e.g., a mobile device (UE)) may simultaneously receive a first beam from a first TRP and a second beam from a second TRP (902). The device may then perform L1 measurements on both beams simultaneously (904). The simultaneous L1 measurements may include SSB-based L1-RSRP measurements, CSI-RS-based L1-RSRP measurements, and / or CSI-RS-based L1-SINR measurements.

[0258] 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 authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0259] 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 storage medium, or a computer system. In other embodiments, the present invention may be implemented using one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. In other embodiments, the present invention may be implemented using one or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs.

[0260] In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory memory element) may be configured to store program instructions and / or data, wherein the program instructions, 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 any of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of such subsets.

[0261] In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE) may be configured to include a processor (or a group of processors) and a memory medium (or a memory element), wherein the memory medium stores program instructions, wherein the processor is configured to read and execute these program instructions from the memory medium, wherein these program instructions are executable to implement any method implementation of the various method implementations described herein (or any combination of the method implementations described herein, or any subset of any method implementation in the method implementations described herein, or any combination of such subsets). The device may be implemented in any of various forms.

[0262] 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 encompass all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication, the method comprising: receiving, by a device, a first beam from a first transmit and receive point (TRP) and a second beam from a second TRP simultaneously; as well as performing, by the device, simultaneous physical layer (L1) measurements on both the first beam and the second beam, wherein the simultaneous L1 measurements comprise one or more of: (a) L1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurement based on respective synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) associated with the first beam and the second beam; (b) L1-RSRP measurement based on respective channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) associated with the first beam and the second beam; or (c) L1 signal to interference plus noise ratio (L1-SINR) measurement based on respective channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) associated with the first beam and the second beam.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein for (a), the first TRP is a serving cell and the second TRP is a cell having a physical cell identifier (PCI) different from that of the serving cell.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein a first SSB associated with the first beam has the same index as or a different index than a second SSB associated with the second beam. 4 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the L1-RSRP measurement is performed without a sharing factor and / or without resource sharing.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein for (b), two sets of CSI-RS resources are configured for each of the first TRP and the second TRP.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein a specified number (N) of CSI-RS resources are configured per set, and the L1-RSRP measurement is performed simultaneously for a pair of CSI-RS resources.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein for the measurement of a pair of non-overlapping CSI-RS resources, a specified number (K) of T CSI-RS samples for beam refinement.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein for N overlapping CSI-RS resources on two sets, 2 Measurements are performed on the CSI-RS resources.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein for the N overlapping CSI-RS resources on the two sets, N 2 *K T CSI-RS samples for beam refinement.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein (c) is defined for at least one of two configurations comprising: (i) CSI-RS based channel measurement resources (CMR) without dedicated interference measurement resources (IMR), and (ii) CSI-RS based CMR with dedicated IMR.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein for (i), a signal associated with a beam and interference associated with the beam are measured on the same resource.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein for (ii), a signal associated with a beam and interference associated with the beam are measured on different CSI-RS resources.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein (c) is performed using a specified number (N) of CSI-RS resources.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein for the measurement of a pair of non-overlapping CSI-RS resources, a specified number (K) of T CSI-RS samples for beam refinement.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein for N overlapping CSI-RS resources, 2 Perform measurement on CSI-RS resources and obtain N 2 *K T CSI-RS samples for beam refinement.

16. An apparatus configured to cause a user equipment (UE) to perform any one of the methods according to claims 1-15.

17. A user equipment (UE), comprising: a radio circuit configured to enable the UE to perform wireless communication; and The apparatus of claim 16, said apparatus being communicatively coupled to said radio circuitry.

18. A non-transitory memory element storing instructions executable by a processor to cause a user equipment (UE) to perform any of the methods according to claims 1-15.

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