Lateral link beam management-SL beam management procedure

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network is described. The UE is a sidelink (SL) UE and communicates with one or more other SL-UEs over a sidelink (SL) using more than one antenna or antenna element. The UE is served by a base station of a wireless communication network. The UE is assisted by the base station for one or more beam management procedures.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of wireless communication systems or wireless communication networks, and more specifically, to direct communication between sidelink user equipment using two or more antennas to focus wireless signals or beams onto a receiving device via a transmitting device; this process is also known as beamforming. Embodiments relate to the management of one or more beams during communication via a sidelink (SL), for example, sidelink beam management employing a beam management report (BMR), or sidelink beam management employing a network-assisted (centralized) beam management process or a non-network-assisted (decentralized) beam management process. Background Technology

[0002] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an example of a terrestrial wireless network 100. As shown in Figure 1(A), the terrestrial wireless network 100 includes a core network 102 and one or more radio access networks RAN1, RAN2, …RAN N Figure 1(B) shows the Radio Access Network (RAN). n The example is a schematic diagram. The network may include one or more base stations gNB1 to gNB5, each base station serving a specific area around it, which is schematically represented by corresponding cells 1061 to 1065. Base stations are provided to serve users within the cell. One or more base stations may provide services to users in licensed and / or unlicensed frequency bands. The term base station (BS) refers to gNB in ​​5G networks, eNB in ​​UMTS / LTE / LTE-A / LTE-A Pro, or BS in other mobile communication standards. Users may be fixed or mobile devices. The wireless communication system may also be accessed by mobile or fixed IoT devices connected to base stations or users. Mobile or fixed devices may include physical devices, ground vehicles (such as robots or cars), aircraft (such as manned aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the latter also known as drones), buildings, and other items or devices embedded therein with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, etc., which have network connectivity to enable these devices to collect and exchange data through existing network infrastructure. Figure 1(B) shows an exemplary view of five cells; however, RAN n It can include more or fewer of these cells, and RAN nIt may also include only one base station. Figure 1(B) shows two users, UE1 and UE2, also referred to as user equipment or user facilities, located in cell 1062 and served by base station gNB2. Another user, UE3, is shown in cell 1064 and served by base station gNB4. Arrows 1081, 1082, and 1083 schematically represent uplink / downlink connections used to transmit data from users UE1, UE2, and UE3 to base stations gNB2 and gNB4, or to transmit data from base stations gNB2 and gNB4 to users UE1, UE2, and UE3. This can be implemented on licensed or unlicensed frequency bands. In addition, Figure 1(B) shows two other devices, 1101 and 1102, in cell 1064, such as IoT devices, which can be fixed or mobile devices. Device 1101 accesses the wireless communication system via base station gNB4 to receive and transmit data, as schematically represented by arrow 1121. Device 1102 accesses the wireless communication system through user UE3, as schematically indicated by arrow 1122. Each base station gNB1 to gNB5 can connect to the core network 102, for example, via the S1 interface and corresponding backhaul links 1141 to 1145, as schematically indicated in Figure 1(B) by arrows pointing to the "core". The core network 102 can connect to one or more external networks. External networks can be the Internet, or private networks such as intranets or any other type of campus network, such as a dedicated WiFi communication system or a 4G or 5G mobile communication system. Furthermore, some or all of the base stations gNB1 to gNB5 can be connected to each other, for example, via the S1 interface or X2 interface or the XN interface in the NR, via corresponding backhaul links 1161 to 1165, as schematically indicated in Figure 1(B) by arrows pointing to the "gNBs". The sidelink channel allows direct communication between UEs, also known as device-to-device (D2D) communication. The sidelink interface in 3GPP is called PC5.

[0003] Data transmission can be performed using a physical resource grid. A physical resource grid can include a set of resource elements to which various physical channels and physical signals are mapped. For example, physical channels can include: a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), and a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), carrying user-specific data, also known as downlink payload data, uplink payload data, and sidelink payload data; a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) and a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH), carrying, for example, a Master Information Block (MIB), one or more System Information Blocks (SIBs), and one or more Sidelink Information Blocks (SLIBs) (if supported); a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), and a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSSCH), carrying, for example, downlink control information (DCI), uplink control information (UCI), and sidelink control information (SCI); and a Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH), carrying PC5 feedback responses. The sidelink interface supports two-stage SCI, which refers to a first control region that includes some parts of the SCI, also known as the first-stage SCI, and an optional second control region that includes a second part of the control information, also known as the second-stage SCI.

[0004] For the uplink, physical channels may also include physical random access channels (PRACH or RACH), which the UE uses to access the network once synchronized and acquiring the MIB and SIB. Physical signals may include reference signals or symbols (RS), synchronization signals, etc. The resource grid may include frames or radio frames with a specific duration in the time domain and a given bandwidth in the frequency domain. Frames may have a number of subframes of a predefined length (e.g., 1 ms). Each subframe may include one or more time slots consisting of 12 or 14 OFDM symbols, depending on the length of the cyclic prefix (CP). Frames may also have fewer OFDM symbols, for example, when utilizing shortened transmission time intervals (sTTI) or mini-slot / non-slot-based frame structures that include only a few OFDM symbols.

[0005] Wireless communication systems can be any single-frequency or multi-carrier system employing frequency division multiplexing (FDM) technology, such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, or any other signal based on inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) with or without a cyclic prefix (CP), such as discrete Fourier transform extended OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM). Other waveforms can be used, such as non-orthogonal waveforms for multiple access, such as filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), generalized frequency division multiplexing (GFDM), or universal filtered multicarrier (UFMC). Wireless communication systems can operate, for example, according to 3GPPs LTE, LTE-Advanced, LTE-Advanced Pro, or 5G or 3GPPs New Radio (NR), or within LTE-U, LTE unlicensed, or NR-U (New Radio Unlicensed), as specified in the LTE and NR specifications.

[0006] The wireless network or communication system shown in Figure 1 can be a heterogeneous network, including different overlay networks, such as a network composed of macro cells, each macro cell including macro base stations, such as base stations gNB1 to gNB5, and a network of small cell base stations not shown in Figure 1, such as femtocells or picocells. In addition to the terrestrial wireless networks described above, there are also non-terrestrial wireless communication networks (NTNs), which include spaceborne transceivers (such as satellites) and / or airborne transceivers (such as unmanned aerial vehicle systems). Non-terrestrial wireless communication networks or systems can operate in a similar manner to the terrestrial systems described above with reference to Figure 1, for example, according to LTE-Advanced Pro or 5G or New Radio (NR) standards.

[0007] In mobile communication networks, such as those described above with reference to Figure 1, including LTE or 5G / NR networks, there may be UEs that communicate directly with each other via one or more sidelink (SL) channels, such as PC5 / PC3 interfaces or WiFi Direct. UEs communicating directly with each other via SL channels can include vehicles communicating directly with other vehicles (V2V communication) and vehicles communicating with other entities in the wireless communication network, such as roadside units (RSUs), roadside entities (such as traffic lights, traffic signs, or pedestrians) (V2X communication). Depending on the specific network configuration, an RSU may function as a BS or UE. Other UEs may not be vehicle-related UEs and may include any of the aforementioned devices. Such devices may also communicate directly with each other using SL channels (D2D communication).

[0008] When considering two UEs communicating directly with each other via a sidelink, these two UEs can be served by the same base station, allowing the base station to provide sidelink resource allocation configuration or assistance to the UEs. For example, both UEs can be located within the coverage area of ​​a base station (one of the base stations shown in Figure 1). This is called the "in-coverage" scenario. Another scenario is called the "out-of-coverage" scenario. It is important to note that "out-of-coverage" does not necessarily mean that the two UEs are outside one of the cells shown in Figure 1, but rather that these UEs...

[0009] - It may not be connected to the base station; for example, these UEs are not in RRC connected state, so the UE cannot receive any sidelink resource allocation configuration or assistance from the base station; and / or

[0010] - They may already be connected to the base station, but for one or more reasons, the base station may not provide these UEs with sidelink resource allocation configuration or assistance; and / or

[0011] - It may have already been connected to a base station that does not support NR V2X services, such as a GSM, UMTS, or LTE base station.

[0012] Figure 2(A) is a schematic diagram of an in-coverage scenario where two UEs communicating directly are connected to a single base station. The coverage area of ​​the base station gNB is schematically represented by circle 200, which essentially corresponds to the cell schematically shown in Figure 1. The UEs communicating directly include a first vehicle 202 and a second vehicle 204, both located within the coverage area 200 of the base station gNB. Both the first vehicle 202 and the second vehicle 204 are connected to the base station gNB, and they are also directly interconnected via the PC5 interface. The scheduling and / or interference management of V2V services is assisted by the gNB through control signaling on the Uu interface (the radio interface between the base station and the UE). In other words, the gNB provides SL resource allocation configuration or assistance to the UEs, and allocates resources for V2V communication on the sidelink. This configuration is also referred to as Mode 1 configuration in NR V2X, or Mode 3 configuration in LTE V2X. Therefore, in Mode 1, the S-UE (such as UE 202) connects to the gNB via the Uu interface, and the gNB coordinates resources for UE 202 to send control and / or data to another UE (such as UE 204) via the SL interface (referred to as PC5 in NR).

[0013] Figure 2(B) is a schematic diagram of an out-of-coverage scenario, in which UEs communicating directly with each other are either not connected to a base station (although they may be physically located within a cell of the wireless communication network), or some or all of the directly communicating UEs are connected to a base station but that base station does not provide SL resource allocation configuration or assistance. The three vehicles 206, 208, and 210 shown in the figure communicate directly with each other via a side link (e.g., using a PC5 interface). The scheduling and / or interference management of V2V services are based on algorithms implemented between the vehicles. This configuration is also called Mode 2 configuration in NR V2X, or Mode 4 configuration in LTE V2X. As mentioned above, the scenario in Figure 2(B) is an out-of-coverage scenario, which does not necessarily mean that a Mode 2 UE in NR or a Mode 4 UE in LTE is outside the coverage area 200 of the base station, but rather that a Mode 2 UE in NR or a Mode 4 UE in LTE is not served by the base station, is not connected to a base station in the coverage area, or is connected to a base station but does not receive any SL resource allocation configuration or assistance from the base station. Therefore, it is possible that within the coverage area 200 shown in Figure 2(A), in addition to NR mode 1 or LTE mode 3 UEs 202 and 204, there are also NR mode 2 or LTE mode 4 UEs 206, 208, and 210. Furthermore, Figure 2(B) schematically illustrates out-of-coverage UEs using relay and network communication. For example, UE 210 can communicate with UE 212 via a side link, and UE 212 can connect to the gNB via the Uu interface. Therefore, UE 212 can relay information between the gNB and UE 210. Thus, SL-UEs (such as UEs 206-210) do not need to have a connection to the gNB and perform awareness and access resource allocation or random access-based resource allocation, for example, when transmitting from UE 206 to UE 208. However, basic configuration needs to be available to UEs 206-210 for successful data exchange. This information can be pre-configured or configured when the UE is within the coverage area of ​​the gNB. For this purpose, the gNB can provide basic configuration (such as basic information), which can be transmitted via a broadcast channel (such as using a System Information Block (SIB)). The BS can also assist the Mode 2 UE by providing basic information about which resource pool (RP) to use, or it can act as a synchronization source.

[0014] Although Figures 2(A) and 2(B) show vehicular UEs, it should be noted that the described in-coverage and out-of-coverage scenarios also apply to non-vehicle UEs. In other words, any UE that communicates directly with another UE using the SL channel, such as a handheld device, can be in-coverage or out-of-coverage.

[0015] Typically, Mode 1 refers to operation supported by the RAN (Radio Access Point) including the base station, while Mode 2 refers to autonomous mode, where the UE communicates directly without base station support. In the context of WiFi, coordination performed by the WiFi access point (AP) can be considered similar to Mode 1 operation, while Mode 2 is converted to WiFi autonomous mode. In WiFi autonomous mode, two WiFi devices can communicate directly with each other without the assistance of a WiFi AP.

[0016] In the aforementioned vehicle user equipment (UE) scenario, multiple such UEs can form a UE group (referred to as a group), and communication within or between group members can be achieved through a sidelink interface (such as a PC5 interface) between UEs. For example, the scenario using UEs described above can be applied to the transportation industry, where multiple vehicles equipped with UEs can be grouped together, for example, through remote driving applications. Other use cases where multiple UEs can be grouped together for sidelink communication include, for example, factory automation and power distribution. In factory automation, multiple mobile or stationary machines within a factory can be equipped with UEs and grouped together for sidelink communication, for example, controlling machine operation (such as robot motion control). In power distribution, entities within a power distribution network can be equipped with their own UEs, which are located within specific areas of the system and can be grouped together to communicate with each other via sidelink communication, thereby enabling system monitoring and handling of power distribution network faults and outages.

[0017] 5G / NR networks can operate in multiple frequency ranges, for example, in a first low-frequency range (such as frequency range 1, FR1) and a second high-frequency range (such as frequency range 2, FR2). FR1 includes frequency bands below 6 GHz, some of which have been used by previous standards. FR2 includes operating frequencies allocated to 5G in millimeter-wave regions, for example, above 24 GHz or between 24 GHz and 71 GHz. These bands are designed to provide high-performance 5G because a large amount of bandwidth is available. Networks operating on the FR2 band can achieve gigabit data rates or even higher with extremely low latency.

[0018] However, operating at high frequencies (such as FR2) comes with some limitations regarding the radiation of wireless signals. For example, the penetration of wireless signals is worse at higher frequencies compared to operating at FR1 (such as frequencies below 6 GHz). Therefore, it is anticipated that multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology will be utilized to improve the transmission and reception of these wireless signals. For example, for eMBB services, the Uu interface already supports operation within FR2 and defines beam management techniques, including beam pairing, beam maintenance, and beam recovery procedures during initial access. Note that beam maintenance may include beam tracking, channel state estimation and / or rank estimation of the received beam, and optimal or direct path estimation of the received beam.

[0019] While some basic technologies known from the Uu interface can be used for SL communication, it's crucial to remember the existence of the aforementioned operating modes: Mode 1 and Mode 2. Although the gNB can assist the SL-UE in beam management in Mode 1, in Mode 2, the SL-UE must perform beam management without any assistance from the base station, or more generally, without network-side assistance. Furthermore, the base station includes a larger antenna aperture, more sensitive receivers, and a stronger transmit chain, thus providing more accurate assistance information. In Mode 2, the SL-UE must rely on its own hardware, which is typically more vulnerable due to high integration, hardware costs, and power limitations of the handheld device.

[0020] Another limitation in Modes 1 and 2 is that the link associated with device-to-device communication is the sidelink, i.e., the radio link between the SL and the UE. Therefore, although the gNB may have improved hardware capabilities, it only receives radio signals from the UE via the uplink using the Uu interface, and thus is unaware of the characteristics of the direct link between the UEs that may be blocked. Therefore, the gNB or base station can only estimate certain characteristics of the direct link between the UEs, or alternatively, request information about the sidelink characteristics from a specific UE that has previously measured the sidelink radio channel. This type of measurement report can be obtained by the base station and can be used as an aid in the case of Mode 1 sidelink operation. However, such measurement reports result in significant signaling overhead. Furthermore, the measurement reports may be outdated, so any beam management assistance provided by the base station may be unreliable or useless.

[0021] In traditional methods, beam management is typically based on Channel State Information (CSI) exchanged between communicating entities. However, compared to CSI feedback on the Uu link, only a basic CSI framework exists on the sidelink, which can be used to transmit CSI reports between two communicating UEs via the SL or PC5 interface. Traditionally, CSI transmitted on the sidelink only includes the Channel Quality Index (CQI) of the CQI table defined in the 3GPP specification, which is calculated based on the Rank Indication (RI) and the target error probability (e.g., 0.1 or 0.00001). Since only two antennas are supported in the sidelink, the CQI is only calculated for RI = 1 and RI = 2, and the CSI report includes 1 bit indicating the RI for which the CQI has been calculated. Figure 3 The sidelink CSI report is shown, which is 8 bits = 1 octet in size and is transmitted via the Media Access Control Layer Control Element (MAC CE) embedded in the PSSCH (RI = Rank Indicator, CQI = Channel Quality Index, R = Reserved Bit, as described in TS 38.321 V17.3.0 (2023-01)).

[0022] Figure 4 illustrates the basic CSI reporting mechanism between the sending SL-UE (referred to as TX-UE) and the receiving SL-UE (referred to as RX-UE). Initially, as shown in Figure 4(A), the RX-UE triggers a CSI report provided by the TX-UE, for example, by sending a 1-bit CSI feedback request in the side link control information (SCI) (such as SCI 2-A or SCI 2-C) by setting the corresponding CSI request field to 1. In response to receiving the CSI feedback request, the TX-UE sends the corresponding reference signal (CSI-RS) on the PSSCH for up to two antenna ports, as shown in Figure 4(B). The RX-UE measures the CSI-RS received on the PSSCH and generates a CSI report, which can be forwarded to the TX-UE, as shown in Figure 4(C), for example, by... Figure 3 The MAC CE form is shown. The procedure for reporting SL CSI is defined in TS 38.214 (V17.4.0, Section 8.5). This specification supports aperiodic transmission of CSI reference symbols (CSI-RS), and aperiodic CSI reporting is triggered by SCI. For CSI reporting, wideband CSI reporting is supported, and wideband CQI is supported for a single codeword within the entire CSI reporting bandwidth. CQI calculation is conditioned on the report's rank (RI). However, the current specification for sidelink CSI does not support any interference measurements or any subband CQI reporting.

[0023] It should be noted that the information in the above sections is only used to enhance the understanding of the background of the present invention, and therefore may include some information that is not within the scope of prior art known to those skilled in the art. Summary of the Invention

[0024] Based on the above, it may be necessary to improve or enhance beam management on side links in wireless communication systems or networks. Attached Figure Description

[0025] The embodiments of the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0026] Figures 1(A) and 1(B) illustrate wireless communication networks, wherein Figure 1(A) is a schematic diagram of an example of a terrestrial wireless network and Figure 1(B) is a schematic diagram of an example of a radio access network (RAN).

[0027] Figure 2(A) is a schematic diagram of the scene within the coverage area.

[0028] Figure 2(B) is a schematic diagram of the scene outside the coverage area.

[0029] Figure 3 An example of a traditional sidelink CSI report is shown.

[0030] Figures 4(A) through 4(C) show examples of traditional basic CSI reporting mechanisms.

[0031] Figure 5 An example of a wireless communication system, similar to the system shown in Figure 1, is illustrated, including a base station and multiple SL-UEs using beamforming.

[0032] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system implementing an embodiment of the present invention, including a transmitter (such as a base station) and one or more receivers (such as user equipment (UE)).

[0033] Figure 7 illustrates an embodiment of the first aspect of the invention. More specifically, Figure 7(A) illustrates a UE providing a beam management report according to an embodiment of the first aspect, Figure 7(B) illustrates a network entity using BMR for beam management according to an embodiment of the first aspect, and Figure 7(C) illustrates a user equipment that identifies its beam to allow the generation of BMR according to an embodiment of the first aspect.

[0034] Figure 8 It shows Figure 5 The system, wherein an embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention is implemented.

[0035] Figure 9 A user equipment for a wireless communication network according to an embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention is shown.

[0036] Figure 10 A network or network-side auxiliary beam management process for a side-link UE is illustrated according to an embodiment of the third aspect of the present invention.

[0037] Figure 11 An embodiment of the third aspect of the invention is shown for beam scan triggering during side link discovery or data exchange.

[0038] Figures 12(A) and 12(B) illustrate embodiments of the third aspect of the present invention for initiating or triggering beam scanning by an SL-UE with a communication request.

[0039] Figure 13 An embodiment of the third aspect of the invention is shown, which distributes beam scanning configurations among SL-UEs in response to a communication request.

[0040] Figure 14 An embodiment of the third aspect of the invention is shown, which performs sidelink communication and beam management on different frequency bands.

[0041] Figure 15 A non-network-assisted or distributed beam management process for a sidelink UE is illustrated according to an embodiment of the third aspect of the present invention.

[0042] Figure 16 An embodiment of the third aspect of the invention is shown, which performs distributed beam management among SL-UEs.

[0043] Figure 17 An embodiment of a third aspect of the invention is shown, which relates to distributed beam management in response to a specific event.

[0044] Figure 18 An embodiment of a third aspect of the invention is shown, which relates to distributed beam adjustment when the SL-UE moves relative to each other.

[0045] Figure 19 An example of a computer system is shown, on which the units or modules described in the method according to the invention and the steps of the method can be performed. Detailed Implementation

[0046] Embodiments of the invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same or similar elements are assigned the same reference numerals.

[0047] In mobile communication systems or networks, such as those described above with reference to Figure 1, such as in LTE or 5G / NR networks, entities can communicate directly with each other via a side link using one or more frequency bands in a high-frequency range (such as FR2). When operating in such a high-frequency range, entities communicating directly via the side link can employ appropriate techniques to focus radio signals or beams from the transmitting or receiving side, either directly or via reflectors, toward the other communicating party (i.e., the receiving entity or the transmitting entity). Focusing radio signals or beams improves the transmission / reception of radio signals and is achieved by using two or more antennas at each entity to generate a radiation pattern that forms a beam pointing in a predefined direction, hereinafter and generally referred to as beamforming. This radiation pattern or beam may include one or more main lobes and one or more side lobes.

[0048] Beamforming radiation patterns are typically formed by transmissions on more than one antenna element. These elements can be located within an antenna panel, such as a single transmit / receive point (TRP), like a Tx / Rx point, or distributed across multiple TRPs, such as using more than one antenna panel. The latter is called multiple TRPs. Beamforming is achieved by combining a set of antenna elements and simultaneously transmitting signals through these elements with a specific amplitude or power and a specific phase or phase shift. Simultaneous transmission means that the phase shift must be applied consistently, as defects such as phase variations between signals transmitted through more than one antenna can negatively impact the desired beamformation. It's important to note that beamforming can be implemented entirely digitally, entirely analogally, or using a hybrid approach using digital and analog components. This may also depend on the frequency band being beamformed, such as high or low frequency. Regardless, beamforming itself requires calibration of all involved hardware components, such as power amplifiers, antenna connectors, antennas, etc. In addition to beamforming, pre-coded transmissions of multiple data streams can be used to create superimposed beams for spatial multiplexing of multiple data streams. For the sake of simplicity, precoding is considered as a generalized form of beamforming in this specification.

[0049] Furthermore, beamforming applies to both the transmit and / or receive directions. This means, for example, that an extremely narrow beam can be formed and pointed towards a specific destination or target receiver, thereby maximizing the energy of the signal at the receiver. In the high-frequency band, this results in a very narrow beam, also known as a pencil beam. Its advantage is that this extremely narrow beam will not interfere with other receivers near the intended receiver, or will only cause limited interference. At the receiver, receive beamforming can be used to point the receiver towards the direction of the beam to be received, thereby improving the quality of the received signal, for example, in terms of SNR or SINR. Finally, the sharpness of the beam can be measured by the half-power beamwidth (HPBW), which is the angular width in degrees measured on the main lobe of the antenna radiation pattern at the half-power point. The half-power point is the point on either side of the main lobe where the signal power is half of the peak value. In other words, the amplitude of the radiation pattern is reduced by 3 dB compared to the peak value of the main beam in the effective radiation field. The smaller the angular width, the "sharper" the radiated beam. It is important to note that this effect also depends on the radiation frequency, as higher frequencies have shorter wavelengths, resulting in narrower and more directional beams.

[0050] Finally, the characteristic of using more than one antenna for transmission can also be characterized as transmission over spatial resources. This means that data streams can be multiplexed not only in the frequency and / or time domains, but also in the spatial domain as a new degree of freedom, thereby increasing the data rate and / or improving signal quality, for example, increasing the SINR of the transmitted or received signal.

[0051] A frequency band includes the start frequency, the end frequency, and all intermediate frequencies between the start and end frequencies. In other words, the start frequency, end frequency, and intermediate frequencies together define a certain bandwidth, for example, 20MHz. A frequency band can also be referred to as a carrier or subcarrier, bandwidth portion (BWP), sub-band, sub-channel, etc.

[0052] When a single frequency band is used, communication can be referred to as single-band operation. For example, a UE sends radio signals to or receives radio signals from another network entity at a frequency within a certain frequency band (such as the 20MHz band).

[0053] When two or more frequency bands are used, communication may be referred to as multi-band operation, wideband operation, or carrier aggregation operation. These frequency bands may have different bandwidths or the same bandwidth, for example, 20 MHz. For example, when the frequency bands have the same bandwidth, the UE can transmit / receive radio signals to / from another network entity on frequencies within two or more 20 MHz frequency bands, such that the frequency range of radio communication can be a multiple of 20 MHz. These two or more frequency bands can be consecutive / adjacent, or some or all of the frequency bands can be separated in the frequency domain.

[0054] Multi-band operation may include bands in licensed spectrum, bands in unlicensed spectrum, or both. For example, unlicensed spectrum may include the 5 GHz band, the 6 GHz band, the 24 GHz band, or the 60 GHz band. Examples of such unlicensed bands include the Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) radio band, which is internationally reserved for radio frequency energy used for industrial, scientific, and medical purposes other than telecommunications.

[0055] Carrier aggregation (CA) is an example of using two or more frequency bands from licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. Mixed combinations are also possible, for example, one or more licensed frequency bands with one or more unlicensed frequency bands. Furthermore, CA can also be used to aggregate additional carriers in only one direction, for example, as supplementary carriers, to improve transmission over UL, DL, or SL.

[0056] As mentioned above, wireless communication systems can include network entities such as base stations, supporting beam management for UEs with two or more antennas and forming radiation patterns that direct radio signals in a specific direction. However, this beam management method only supports UEs connected to the base station via the Uu interface. Given the nature of sidelink communication and related entities, the beam management method used on the Uu interface cannot be simply applied and implemented on the sidelink. Nevertheless, when introducing high-frequency operation (such as FR2 operation) to the sidelink, existing methods (such as existing MIMO mechanisms) need to be enhanced, and suitable beam management techniques need to be introduced on the sidelink to achieve efficient FR2 operation. For example, since the SL supports different operating modes (such as Mode 1 and Mode 2 mentioned above) and different signaling technologies not present on the Uu link, the beam management techniques and procedures of the SL (especially FR2 beam management) may differ fundamentally from those required for beam management on the Uu interface. Therefore, the beam management methods of the Uu interface cannot be simply applied and implemented on the sidelink. For example, beam management can utilize additional SL features, such as the Side Link Feedback Channel (PSFCH) or Inter-UE Coordination Technology (IUC) employing Side Link Auxiliary Information Messages (AIM). Furthermore, MIMO or beamforming on SL only supports a limited number of antenna configurations compared to the Uu interface. SL typically operates in Time Division Duplex (TDD) with half-duplex constraints, meaning a UE cannot transmit while simultaneously receiving, or vice versa. Another issue contributing to the difference between SL and Uu beam management is that SL antenna configurations are generally more symmetrical because the associated UEs all employ similar, compact antenna configurations. On the other hand, in the case of Uu, base stations can benefit from larger apertures or a greater number of antenna elements, as well as more powerful transmit and receive power amplifier circuitry. However, configurations can also be asymmetrical when a UE communicates with a Roadside Unit (RSU) via SL, or when a pedestrian UE (P-UE) or an IoT device (such as VR glasses or headsets) transmits data to a smartphone via SL.

[0057] Figure 5 An example of a wireless communication system, similar to the system shown in Figure 1, is illustrated, including a base station 250 serving multiple UEs 2521 to 2524 via corresponding Uu interfaces, schematically shown as arrows labeled "Uu". Some or all of the UEs 2521 to 2524 are capable of sidelink communication, for example, using one or more resources provided by the system in a sidelink resource pool. Figure 5 As shown, UEs 2521 to 2524 operate in mode 1, meaning that sidelink communication can be assisted by gNB 250 (see also Figure 2(A)). Figure 5Also shown are UEs 2541 to 2543 that are not connected to gNB 250 but are operating in mode 2, i.e., sidelink communication is not assisted by gNB 250 (see also Figure 2(B)). Figure 5 In the illustrated UEs, UEs 2521, 2523, and 2541 to 2543 include two or more antenna elements to allow the generation of a radiation pattern or beam 256, which includes at least one main lobe 256a and one or more side lobes 256b, thereby defining the primary direction of the UE's signal radiation. The radiation pattern, including the main lobe and side lobes, is generated by applying an appropriate precoder in the UE. This process is also known as beamforming. The following considers a side link transmission from TX-UE 2521 to RX-UE 2522 via the PC5 interface. For transmission, the TX-UE creates a radiation pattern or beam 256 that is directed towards the RX-UE. Therefore, the TX-UE is intended to communicate with the RX-UE via SL, both operating in Mode 1, to benefit from control traffic or assistance from the base station 250 or the network. Besides TX-UE 2521, other UEs in the network (whether operating in mode 1 or mode 2) can also transmit using their respective radiation modes. Each radiation mode includes at least one main lobe and one or more side lobes, as schematically shown for UEs 2523 and 2541 to 2543 in the figure. These radiation modes or beams (see...) Figure 5 The main lobe (with a shaded line) may interfere with communication between the TX-UE and the RX-UE. In other words, the communication link 260 between TX-UE 2521 and RX-UE 2522 may be interfered with by the surrounding beams (i.e., the shaded beams generated by UEs 2523 and 2541 to 2543).

[0058] As can be seen, the TX-UE's beam 256 is generally pointed towards the RX-UE. However, for operation in FR2, more precise alignment of the beam direction towards the RX-UE may be required. Traditionally, no technology or method has been available to manage the beams created by individual UEs communicating on the side link to provide reliable communication (such as in the high-frequency range) and / or to handle interference situations as described above.

[0059] This invention addresses the aforementioned needs by providing methods that allow for the management of one or more beams created at various sidelink entities during sidelink communication, thereby enabling efficient and reliable operation of sidelink communication in high-frequency bands (such as FR2). In other words, this invention solves the problems encountered in conventional methods by providing various aspects of implementing beam management on sidelinks.

[0060] Embodiments of the present invention can be implemented in a wireless communication system as shown in FIG1, FIG2(A) or FIG2(B), the system including a base station and a user, such as a mobile terminal or an IoT device. Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system, which includes a transmitter 300 (such as a base station) and one or more receivers 302, 304 (such as user equipment (UE)). The transmitter 300 and receivers 302, 304 can communicate via one or more wireless communication links or channels 306a, 306b, 308 (such as radio links). The transmitter 300 may include one or more antennas ANT. T Alternatively, it may include an antenna array with multiple antenna elements, and a mutually coupled signal processor 300a and transceiver 300b. Receivers 302 and 304 include one or more antennas (ANTs). UE Alternatively, it may include an antenna array with multiple antennas, and mutually coupled signal processors 302a, 304a and transceivers 302b, 304b. Base station 300 can communicate with UEs 302 and 304 via first wireless communication links 306a and 306b (e.g., radio links using a Uu interface), while UEs 302 and 304 can communicate with each other via a second wireless communication link 308 (e.g., radio links using a PC5 interface or a sidelink (SL) interface). When a UE is not served by a base station or is not connected to a base station (e.g., not in an RRC connection state), or more generally, when the base station does not provide SL resource allocation configuration or assistance, the UEs can communicate with each other via the sidelink. Figure 6 The system or network shown Figure 6 One or more UEs 302, 304 and shown Figure 6 The base station 300 shown can operate according to the inventive concept described herein.

[0061] This invention surpasses conventional methods because it improves beam management for user equipment (UEs) using two or more antennas communicating on the sidelink to generate directional radiation patterns. This is achieved, for example, by guiding or focusing the main lobe of the radiation pattern in a desired direction using a properly controlled pre-encoder, a process also known as beamforming. Implementing sidelink-specific beam management improves communication between sidelink UEs, particularly in high-frequency bands (such as FR2), because intelligent beam management effectively suppresses or even avoids signal attenuation and interference from other UEs present in that band. This invention adapts certain known aspects of conventional beam management methods implemented via the Uu interface to the sidelink and, furthermore, provides a sidelink-specific beam management method with the aforementioned advantages. Compared to conventional feedback mechanisms on the sidelink, this innovative method allows for more efficient and reliable SL communication (especially in high-frequency bands) because it allows for stricter control over the beams used for communication between sidelink UEs.

[0062] First aspect

[0063] A first aspect of the invention introduces a beam management report to allow network-assisted beam management on a sidelink. For beam management on a sidelink, the network may require additional knowledge about configuration, receive and transmit characteristics, and interference conditions at one or more UEs. According to an embodiment of the first aspect, one or more UEs are allowed to generate beam management reports (BMRs) and send them to a gNB or another network entity via a Uu interface, or also via a PC5 interface to another sidelink UE that manages or assists in beam management of one or more other sidelink UEs. For example, a group leader UE can receive BMRs for beam management purposes within its group. Furthermore, BMRs can also be relayed by UEs connected to the base station via Uu, for example, in cases where a UE receives a BMR directly from another UE. Additionally, UEs relaying BMRs can merge BMRs from multiple UEs to reduce signaling traffic to the base station or network. Ultimately, the BMR sent to the network can also be modified by the UE. For example, the UE can reduce the BMR to select only certain sub-BMRs, such as the first m statistics; or it can select to include only the BMRs of UEs located at the base station or a certain destination of itself, because BMRs from other locations may not be of interest to the base station or network.

[0064] UE providing BMR for SL-UE

[0065] The present invention provides a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network, the wireless communication network including multiple sidelink UEs (SL-UEs) that communicate via a sidelink (SL) using more than one antenna or antenna element.

[0066] The UE generates a Beam Management Report (BMR), which includes information about one or more beams in the radio environment at the UE's location.

[0067] Specifically, the UE provides BMR directly or through relay equipment to the following devices to support beam management of one or more SL-UEs in the wireless communication network:

[0068] - One or more network entities of a wireless communication network; and / or,

[0069] - One or more other UEs in a wireless communication network.

[0070] According to an embodiment, for communication via SL, the SL-UE uses more than one antenna or antenna element to form:

[0071] -Emit the TX beam; and / or,

[0072] - Receive RX beam.

[0073] According to the embodiments, the UE and / or other UEs include one or more of the following:

[0074] - SL-UEs that use more than one antenna or antenna element and operate as a transmitting UE (TX UE) or receiving UE (RX UE) in Mode 1 and / or Mode 2; and

[0075] - UEs that use / do not use more than one antenna or antenna element and communicate with a radio access network (RAN) entity (e.g., gNB, access point (AP) such as WiFi AP, or roadside unit (RSU)).

[0076] According to an embodiment, the network entity includes one or more of the following:

[0077] - Radio Access Network (RAN) entities, such as a gNB serving the UE, or a gNB not serving the UE, or a roadside unit (RSU), or an access point (AP); and

[0078] - Core network (CN) entities, such as beam management network functions (NF).

[0079] According to an embodiment, the UE is configured or pre-configured to monitor one or more beams or specific reference signals in a radio environment.

[0080] According to the embodiments, the UE is configured or pre-configured with a measurement window, during which the UE monitors one or more beams, and the UE generates a BMR for each measurement window or for multiple measurement windows.

[0081] According to the embodiment, a measurement window is configured for the UE using one or more of the following:

[0082] - Resource pool (RP) configuration;

[0083] -Physical layer (PHY) signaling, for example,

[0084] oSCI; or,

[0085] o Includes the first-stage SCI of the next reserved time-domain resource indication value (TRIV) and / or frequency-domain resource indication value (FRIV); or,

[0086] o Second-stage SCI; or,

[0087] o Physical side link broadcast channel (PSBCH);

[0088] - Media Access Control (MAC) layer, for example, executing MAC Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling;

[0089] - Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling; and

[0090] -High-level signaling.

[0091] According to an embodiment, in the time domain, the measurement window is provided in the following manner:

[0092] - Periodically, the periodicity depends on zero or more of the following:

[0093] oUE ID;

[0094] o-beam ID;

[0095] oUE types, for example, roadside units (RSUs) may transmit reference signals, such as beam scanning, more or less frequently in configured or pre-configured time slots; and

[0096] o Considering a specific formula for one or more of UE ID, beam ID, and UE type, for example, periodicity can be randomized by a seed taken from UE ID or beam ID; or,

[0097] - Non-periodic, for example, triggered based on a trigger provided in the Physical Side Link Broadcast Channel (PSBCH); or,

[0098] ■ During the DRX window, a specific UE is configured to transmit a beam training signal so that all other UEs can perform beam management and / or training.

[0099] According to an embodiment, in the frequency domain, the measurement window includes one or more frequency resources, which are selected as follows:

[0100] -Depending on zero or one or more of the following:

[0101] oUE ID;

[0102] o-beam ID;

[0103] oUE types, such as roadside units (RSUs), can transmit more or less frequently in configured or pre-configured frequency resources;

[0104] o Considering a specific formula that takes into account one or more of UE ID, beam ID, and UE type; or,

[0105] - In response to a trigger, for example, based on the frequency location of information from the following devices:

[0106] o Other UEs, for example, via Sidelink Assistive Information Message (AIM) and / or via Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH); and / or,

[0107] o network; or,

[0108] ■ From a set of configured or pre-configured frequency resources, for example, a particular UE is configured to transmit a beam training signal in a specific subband or carrier to enable all other UEs to perform beam management and / or training.

[0109] According to an embodiment, monitoring one or more beams includes measuring one or more specific reference signals, such as demodulation reference signals (DMRS), sounding reference signals (SRS), primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), specific beam management reference signals, or reference signals based on artificial intelligence-machine learning (AI-ML) models.

[0110] According to embodiments, specific reference signals are implicitly or explicitly identified as follows:

[0111] - Use a beam carrying a specific reference signal, such as a beam identifier (ID); and / or,

[0112] - Use the beam from other UEs, such as the UE ID.

[0113] According to an embodiment, the radio environment includes:

[0114] A set of configured or pre-configured resources, such as resources spanning the entire or a portion of a resource pool; and / or,

[0115] Physical channels used for beam management, for example, carrying specific reference signals.

[0116] According to embodiments, BMR includes one or more of the following:

[0117] - One or more beam IDs of one or more beams monitored by the UE;

[0118] - The UE ID and / or the ID of one or more monitored beams from which the UE originates and / or from the UE ID;

[0119] - The location of the UE and / or the location of one or more UEs from which one or more monitored beams originate;

[0120] - Distance to one or more UEs from which one or more monitored beams originate;

[0121] - The speed of the UE and / or the speed of one or more UEs from which one or more monitored beams originate;

[0122] - The motion direction, motion vector, or motion angle of the UE and / or the motion direction, motion vector, or motion angle of one or more UEs from which one or more monitored beams originate;

[0123] - The type of UE and / or the type of one or more UEs from which one or more monitored beams originate, such as pedestrian UE (P-UE), vehicle UE, high-speed vehicle;

[0124] - The signal strength of one or more monitored beams, such as Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR), and Beamwidth;

[0125] - An indication of m beams from all beams of one or more UEs, for example, the first m or m earliest received beams from any one UE or all UEs except a certain UE or from a specific UE or a group of UEs;

[0126] - An indication of the m beams that cause the strongest interference among all monitored beams, for example, the top m or m beams with the strongest interference;

[0127] - Interference map, which includes, for example, one or more of the following: when one or more interfering beams are received, on which antenna panel one or more interfering beams are received, and in which part of the frequency band (e.g., in a sub-channel) one or more interfering beams are received; and

[0128] - Whether the UE and / or one or more monitored beams originate from the UE are operating in mode 1 or mode 2.

[0129] According to the embodiments, the UE provides BMR using one or more of the following:

[0130] - Physical layer (PHY) signaling, such as BMR, may be included in SCI, or Phase 1 SCI, and / or Phase 2 SCI, or Physical Side Link Broadcast Channel (PSBCH);

[0131] - Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling;

[0132] -Media Access Control Layer Control Element (MAC CE);

[0133] -High-level signaling; and

[0134] - One or more sidelink auxiliary information messages (AIM).

[0135] According to an embodiment, AIM includes one or more of the following:

[0136] -One or more preferred or non-preferred space resources to be used or not used during transmission;

[0137] - The identifier (ID) of a network entity or other UE that supports beam management of one or more SL-UEs in a wireless communication network using BMR, such as the UE ID of a UE that coordinates beams among one or more SL-UEs or performs beam management (e.g., group leader UE (GL-UE) or scheduling UE (S-UE)).

[0138] - Indicates beam conflict indications that one or more specific beams are used within the same time window; and

[0139] - This information addresses inter-beam interference that occurs when two UEs use the same specific beam that causes interference within the same time window.

[0140] According to the embodiment, the UE generates the BMR as follows:

[0141] - Periodically, where the periodicity of the periodic reports can

[0142] o is configured or pre-configured, for example, by a RAN entity or CN entity, by a UE requesting BMR, by a specific UE (e.g., a scheduling UE (S-UE) or a coordinating UE), or by a resource pool; or

[0143] o depends on zero or more of the following:

[0144] ■UE ID;

[0145] ■ Beam ID;

[0146] ■UE type, for example, a roadside unit (RSU) may transmit more or less frequently in configured or pre-configured time slots; and

[0147] ■Considering a specific formula for one or more of the UE ID, beam ID, and / or UE type, for example, periodicity can be randomized by a seed taken from the UE ID or beam ID; or

[0148] - In response to a trigger, such as a provided trigger or a trigger in the physical side link broadcast channel (PSBCH).

[0149] According to an embodiment, the generation of BMR is triggered by one or more of the following conditions:

[0150] - Reporting requests from network entities (e.g., network functions (NF)) of the UE, gNB, or CN;

[0151] - Changes in one or more channel conditions exceeding a specific threshold, such as the channel rank, the power in the channel measured based on Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), and Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR);

[0152] - New UE or new beam ID detected;

[0153] - Interference exceeds a specific threshold, such as the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) threshold;

[0154] - Timer timeout, for example, loss of connection within a certain period of time, triggering the wireless link failure (RLF) recovery process;

[0155] - A conflict was detected, for example, due to receiving a negative acknowledgment (NACK) or due to a timeout;

[0156] - Discovery or synchronization process, for example, the UE receiving a synchronization signal block (SSB); and

[0157] - Requests in the Physical Side Link Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).

[0158] Network entities using BMR for beam management of SL-UE

[0159] The present invention provides a network entity for a wireless communication network, the wireless communication network including multiple sidelink UEs (SL-UEs) that communicate via a sidelink (SL) using more than one antenna or antenna element.

[0160] Specifically, the network entity receives beam management reports (BMRs) directly or via relay devices from one or more UEs in the wireless communication network. The BMRs include information about one or more beams in the radio environment at the location of the one or more UEs; and

[0161] The network entity uses BMR to perform, support, or control beam management of one or more SL-UEs in the wireless communication network.

[0162] According to an embodiment, a network entity receives a BMR from one or more UEs according to a first aspect of the invention.

[0163] According to an embodiment, the network entity includes one or more of the following:

[0164] - An SL-UE that uses more than one antenna or antenna element and operates as a transmitting UE (TX UE) or receiving UE (RX UE) in Mode 1 and / or Mode 2;

[0165] - UEs that use / do not use more than one antenna or antenna element and communicate with a Radio Access Network (RAN) entity (e.g., gNB, or Roadside Unit (RSU), or Access Point (AP));

[0166] - Radio Access Network (RAN) entities, such as gNBs serving the UE, gNBs not serving the UE, or RSUs; and

[0167] - Core network (CN) entities, such as beam management network functions (NF).

[0168] Provide beamforming UEs with beam IDs to be included in the BMR

[0169] This invention provides a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network, the wireless communication network including a plurality of sidelink UEs (SL-UEs) communicating via a sidelink (SL) using more than one antenna or antenna element, and one or more other UEs according to the first aspect of the invention.

[0170] The UE uses more than one antenna or antenna element to communicate with the SL-UE and / or with network entities of the wireless communication network; and

[0171] The UE sends a signal to notify the beam identifier of one or more beams formed by the UE, for example, the beam ID of each formed beam.

[0172] According to an embodiment, the beam is identified by one or more of the following:

[0173] - Direct identification, for example, using one or more of the following:

[0174] ■ Beam ID; and

[0175] ■ Sequences, for example, can identify beams based on configured or pre-configured sequences, such as using different codes for each beam, for example, using Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) codes or special types of related sequences.

[0176] - Indirect identification, for example, using one or more of the following:

[0177] ■Time slots, for example, relative time positions in beam scanning; and

[0178] ■ Frequency location, for example, different beams are different frequency combs or frequency modes.

[0179] According to an embodiment, the UE includes the beam identifier in one or more of the following:

[0180] - The discovery signal that the UE needs to send; and

[0181] - When the UE is operating in mode 1, the scheduling request (SR) sent by the UE to the base station may optionally include the UE ID of the target UE to which the UE intends to communicate.

[0182] method

[0183] This invention provides a method for operating a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network, the wireless communication network including multiple sidelink UEs (SL-UEs) communicating via a sidelink (SL) using more than one antenna or antenna element, the method comprising:

[0184] The UE generates a Beam Management Report (BMR), which includes information about one or more beams in the radio environment at the UE; and

[0185] The UE provides BMR directly or through a relay device to the following devices to support beam management of one or more SL-UEs in the wireless communication network:

[0186] - One or more network entities of a wireless communication network; and / or,

[0187] - One or more other UEs in a wireless communication network.

[0188] This invention provides a method for operating a network entity for a wireless communication network, the wireless communication network including multiple sidelink UEs (SL-UEs) communicating via a sidelink (SL) using more than one antenna or antenna element, the method comprising:

[0189] A beam management report (BMR) is received by a network entity directly or via a relay device from one or more UEs in a wireless communication network. The BMR includes information about one or more beams in the radio environment at the location of the UEs.

[0190] The beam management of one or more SL-UEs in a wireless communication network is performed, supported, or controlled by the network entity using BMR.

[0191] This invention provides a method for operating a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network, the wireless communication network including a plurality of sidelink UEs (SL-UEs) communicating via a sidelink (SL) using more than one antenna or antenna element, and one or more other UEs according to a first aspect of the invention, the method comprising:

[0192] The UE uses more than one antenna or antenna element to communicate with the SL-UE and / or with network entities of the wireless communication network; and

[0193] The UE sends a signal to notify the beam identifier of one or more beams formed by the UE, for example, the beam ID of each formed beam.

[0194] Second aspect

[0195] A second aspect of the invention relates to the beam management problem of a sidelink UE operating in Mode 2. More specifically, there is a need for Mode 2 beam management without base station assistance, which is more challenging because beam management needs to be organized in a decentralized manner (i.e., without the assistance of a base station or RSU). Traditionally, beam management has not been performed for such scenarios, and embodiments of the second aspect of the invention address this problem by allowing UEs communicating with one or more other UEs using two or more antennas to perform beam scanning based on their time reference (a concept that may be termed opportunistic beam management). If the radio channel can be considered a reciprocal channel, interference can also be estimated by receiving beam scans from other UEs.

[0196] Beam scanning

[0197] This invention provides a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network.

[0198] Here, the UE is an SL-UE that communicates with one or more other sidelink UEs (SL-UEs) via a sidelink (SL) using more than one antenna or antenna element, and the UE and the one or more other UEs use beam scanning for beam management; and

[0199] The UE performs beam scanning according to the configured or pre-configured beam scanning mode.

[0200] According to an embodiment, the UE coordinates beam scanning for one or more other UEs. In order to coordinate the beam scanning of the UE with one or more other UEs, the UE performs the following operations:

[0201] - Signal to one or more other UEs about their beam scanning mode, allowing one or more other UEs to adjust their beam scanning mode; or

[0202] - Signal auxiliary information to one or more other UEs, indicating information for adjusting or coordinating beamforming between UEs. The auxiliary information includes one or more of the following:

[0203] o Conflict indication, for example, to trigger resource reselection;

[0204] o Preferred resource sets, such as resources available to other UEs for their beam scanning modes;

[0205] o One or more beam scanning modes to use or avoid;

[0206] o Non-preferred resource sets, for example, resources that other UEs should avoid using for their beam scanning modes;

[0207] o Periodic information, for example, to indicate preferred or non-preferred beam scanning period or changes in period; and

[0208] o Limits or includes one or more parameters in the beam scanning mode, such as beam ID, scanning angle or sector, scanning time domain and / or frequency domain and / or spatial domain, and the type of reference signal;

[0209] - Receive the respective beam scanning modes from one or more other UEs and adjust their beam scanning modes accordingly.

[0210] According to an embodiment, the beam scanning mode includes one or more of the following:

[0211] - Detection reference signal (SRS), for example, frequency comb;

[0212] -Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS);

[0213] -Side Link Control Information (SCI), for example

[0214] o New SCI; or

[0215] o First-stage SCI, including UE ID, or beam scan period, or next reserved time domain resource indicator (TRIV) and / or frequency domain resource indicator (FRIV), or beam scan mode, or one or more beam scan parameters, or beam scan sequence; or

[0216] oSecond-stage SCI;

[0217] -Auxiliary Information Messages (AIM); and

[0218] - Discovery information, such as service type indicators that indicate whether the UE is a relay or RSU, a pedestrian UE (P-UE), or a vehicle UE.

[0219] According to an embodiment, the beam scanning mode includes additional configuration information and / or SCI and / or AIM, and the additional configuration information and / or SCI and / or AIM includes one or more of the following:

[0220] - SCI with beam management field;

[0221] - An SCI that has a beam management field but no pointer to a second-stage SCI;

[0222] - Beam management field, including one or more of the following:

[0223] o Beam management information format;

[0224] o Beam pattern index, for example, beams 3, 5, and 17;

[0225] o Precoded index;

[0226] o Beam control information, such as:

[0227] • Left-shift beam; and

[0228] • Right-shift beam;

[0229] o-beam power;

[0230] The half-power beamwidth of the o-beam, for example, the half-power beamwidth of the strongest beam;

[0231] o The period of arrival of the next beam;

[0232] o. The length of the scan, for example, omnidirectional scan such as 360° scan, or reduced scan such as 120° scan;

[0233] o One or more target IDs, for example, the expected receiver, so that the expected receiver can send a response to a given beam scan while a UE with other IDs does not respond to the transmitter;

[0234] o. Types of beam scanning, for example:

[0235] ■ Periodic scanning, which may include the period of beam scanning;

[0236] ■ Non-periodic scanning, such as single non-periodic beam scanning; and

[0237] ■ Request-based scanning, for example, in response to signaling from another UE.

[0238] method

[0239] This invention provides a method for operating a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network, the method comprising:

[0240] A UE acting as a sidelink UE (SL-UE) communicates with one or more other SL-UEs via a sidelink SL using more than one antenna or antenna element, and the UE and the one or more other UEs use beam scanning for beam management; and

[0241] The UE performs beam scanning according to the configured or pre-configured beam scanning mode.

[0242] The third aspect – beam management process

[0243] A third aspect of the invention enhances or improves the operation of a sidelink UE communicating with each other using two or more antennas by providing a dedicated sidelink beam management process (which may be network-assisted or network-side assisted, or without network assistance). According to an embodiment, network-assisted beam management may be performed by a RAN entity (such as a base station) serving multiple UEs operating via the sidelink in a high-frequency band range (such as FR2). Alternatively, beam management without network assistance includes a process performed by each sidelink UE operating, for example, in mode 2.

[0244] Network-assisted beam management

[0245] This invention provides a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network.

[0246] Here, the UE is a side-link (SL) UE, which uses more than one antenna or antenna element to communicate with one or more other SL-UEs via the side-link (SL);

[0247] The UE is served by a base station of a wireless communication network; and

[0248] In this process, the UE is assisted by the base station in performing one or more beam management processes.

[0249] According to an embodiment, the UE is assisted by the base station in coordinating beam management in one or more of the following aspects:

[0250] - Beam pairing, for example, to find beam pair links between SL-UEs during the discovery of adjacent SL-UEs within the required communication range;

[0251] - Beam maintenance; and

[0252] - Beam fault recovery.

[0253] According to the embodiment, the UE is assisted by the base station in coordinating beam management during the following periods:

[0254] -SL discovery; and / or

[0255] -SL link recovery; and / or

[0256] Data exchange on the SL-UE to trigger beam scanning at one or both of the transmitting SL-UE (TX SL-UE) and receiving SL-UE (RX SL-UE).

[0257] According to an embodiment, the UE is a TX SL-UE or an RX SL-UE, wherein, in the case of data exchange on the SL, the UE sends a request to the base station to perform beam scanning at one or more other SL-UEs, the request causing the base station to trigger beam scanning at one or more other SL-UEs, wherein the request may be included in a control signal or a scheduling request (SR).

[0258] According to the embodiment, in the case of data exchange on SL, UE:

[0259] - Receive beam scanning configuration distribution to adjust transmission on two or more transmit antennas of both TX SL-UE and RX SL-UE, wherein the beam scanning configuration may include precoder configuration, timing, or frequency information; or

[0260] - Transmit Auxiliary Information (AIM), which includes beam coordination information, including precoder configuration, timing, or frequency information.

[0261] According to an embodiment,

[0262] The UE communicates with other SL-UEs in the first frequency band, for example, in one of the high-frequency bands such as FR2 and the low-frequency band such as FR1; and

[0263] The UE is assisted by the base station to perform beam management in a second frequency band, for example, in another of a high-frequency band such as FR2 and a low-frequency band such as FR1.

[0264] This invention provides a base station for wireless communication networks.

[0265] The base station serves multiple sidelink UEs (SL-UEs), and these SL-UEs communicate with each other via the sidelink (SL) using beamforming; and

[0266] In this process, the base station assists one or more SL-UEs in beam management.

[0267] According to an embodiment, the base station assists in coordinating beam management in one or more of the following aspects:

[0268] - Beam pairing, for example, to find beam pair links between SL-UEs during the period of discovering adjacent SL-UEs within the required communication range;

[0269] - Beam maintenance, for example, for maintaining beam alignment; and

[0270] - Beam fault recovery.

[0271] According to an embodiment, the base station assists in coordinating beam management during the following periods:

[0272] -SL discovery; and / or

[0273] -SL link recovery; and / or

[0274] Data exchange on the SL to trigger beam scanning at one or both of the transmitting SL-UE (TX SL-UE) and receiving UE (RX SL-UE).

[0275] According to an embodiment, in the case of data exchange on SL, the base station:

[0276] - Receive a request from one SL-UE to perform beam scanning at one or more other SL-UEs, wherein the request may be included in a control signal or scheduling request (SR); and

[0277] - In response to a request, trigger beam scanning at one or more other SL-UEs.

[0278] The request is sent by either TX SL-UE or RX SL-UE.

[0279] According to an embodiment, in the case of data exchange on SL, the base station causes:

[0280] - Beam scanning configuration distribution to adjust transmission on multiple transmit antennas of both the TX SL-UE and RX SL-UE, wherein the beam scanning configuration may include precoder configuration, timing, or frequency information; or

[0281] The transmission of auxiliary information (AIM) between the TX SL-UE and the RX SL-UE, wherein the AIM includes beam coordination information, which may include precoder configuration, timing, or frequency information.

[0282] According to an embodiment,

[0283] Multiple sidelink UEs (SL-UEs) communicate with each other via sidelink SL in a first frequency band, such as one of a high-frequency band like FR2 and a low-frequency band like FR1; and

[0284] The base station assists one or more SL-UEs in performing beam management procedures in a second frequency band, such as in another high-frequency band like FR2 and a low-frequency band like FR1.

[0285] Distributed beam scanning

[0286] This invention provides a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network.

[0287] Here, the UE is a sidelink (SL) UE that uses more than one antenna or antenna element to communicate with one or more other SL-UEs via a sidelink (SL); and

[0288] The UE is used to perform beam scanning using beam scanning signals.

[0289] According to an embodiment, the UE sends a communication request within the beam scanning signal.

[0290] According to an embodiment, in response to successfully receiving a communication response from the target SL-UE, the UE:

[0291] - Determine the matching beam between the UE and the target SL-UE; and / or

[0292] - Reserve at least one beamp link for communication between the first SL-UE A and the second SL-UE.

[0293] This invention provides a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network.

[0294] Wherein, the UE is a side-link (SL) UE and communicates with one or more other SL-UEs via the side-link (SL) using more than one antenna or antenna element; and

[0295] The UE receives beam scanning signals from at least one other SL-UE.

[0296] According to an embodiment, the UE receives a communication request from another SL-UE, and the communication request is included in the beam scanning signal.

[0297] According to an embodiment, in response to successfully receiving a beam scanning signal from another SL-UE, the UE sends a communication response including relevant information, which includes one or more of the following:

[0298] - Beam ID;

[0299] -UE ID, for example, source ID and / or destination ID;

[0300] - UE type, for example, source type and / or destination type, such as vehicle UE, RSU, P-UE;

[0301] -CSI feedback;

[0302] - The type of scanning signal, for example, the reference signal and / or beam pattern used;

[0303] -UE capabilities, such as which features are supported, such as maximum rank, peak data rate, and supported codebooks;

[0304] - Matching beam time slots, for example, establishing time instances of beam pairs for links; and

[0305] - Frequency resources, for example, can be used to establish sub-channels of the beam link.

[0306] This invention provides a wireless communication network, comprising:

[0307] Multiple sidelink UEs (SL-UEs) communicate with each other via a sidelink (SL) using more than one antenna (e.g., using beamforming), the multiple SL-UEs including a first SL-UE and a second SL-UE according to the third aspect of the invention.

[0308] The first SL-UE uses a beam scanning signal to perform beam scanning and sends communication requests within the beam scanning signal.

[0309] According to an embodiment, the first SL-UE and the second SL-UE are synchronized with a time reference, and the first SL-UE and the second SL-UE use the time reference to point to one or more time slots that are beam-matched by the first SL-UE and the second SL-UE.

[0310] According to the embodiment, the time reference is one of the following:

[0311] - External time reference, such as GPS;

[0312] - Network time reference, for example, a time reference obtained from a base station, core network (CN), or another server on the Internet;

[0313] - Side Link Synchronization Signal (SLSS); or

[0314] - A UE used as a time reference, for example, a transmitter UE used as a time reference or to give the relative time of a request sent by the UE.

[0315] Beam Adjustment

[0316] This invention provides a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network.

[0317] Here, the UE is a side-link (SL) UE and uses more than one antenna or antenna element to communicate with one or more other SL-UEs via the side-link (SL);

[0318] Specifically, the UE communicates with at least one other SL-UE via a side walking link (SL) using a matched beamline between the UE and other SL-UEs; and

[0319] In response to specific events, the UE performs beam adjustments, for example, to maintain beam matching between the UE and other SL-UEs.

[0320] According to an embodiment, in order to perform beam adjustment, the UE modifies its beam from a first beam to a second beam, for example, so that its beam is pointed directly or through a reflector toward the direction of other SL-UEs.

[0321] According to an embodiment, beam adjustment is performed in response to one or more of the following events:

[0322] -Other SL-UEs move from the first position of the first time instance to the second position of the second time instance;

[0323] - Other SL-UE indicators of degradation, for example, based on beam power measurements;

[0324] - The UE determines a new main beam in response to a beam scan or a reduced beam scan that detects adjacent sidelobes of the main beam.

[0325] - Other SL-UE reports feature new beams with higher power and / or less interference, for example, higher SINR or SNR or RSSI or higher half-power beamwidth;

[0326] - Indicates the variation of the list of m best beams (a list of the top m beams) and / or m worst beams (a list of the worst m beams) among multiple beams, for example, in terms of signal power and / or interference;

[0327] -UE predicts the movement of other SL-UEs;

[0328] - The UE predicts a better beam, for example, to maintain the angle shift of the beam; and

[0329] - Receive auxiliary information, such as AIM, or higher-level auxiliary information, such as Collaborative Awareness Message (CAM) or Distributed Environment Notification Message (DENM), including one or more of the following: speed, direction, angle, distance, position, acceleration, future route, or future location of other SL-UEs providing auxiliary information.

[0330] According to an embodiment, beam adjustment is performed based on the following:

[0331] -Historical data, for example, if the beam previously moved to a specific direction within a specific time unit, the beam moves to that specific direction based on interpolation; and / or

[0332] - The resulting data model, for example, a data model based on a configured or pre-configured data model or a data model generated based on an artificial intelligence (AI) model and / or a machine learning (ML) model.

[0333] According to the embodiment, the data model is implemented as follows:

[0334] -In SL-UE; or

[0335] - In another entity, in order to download to the SL-UE, the other entity includes, for example, a network entity such as a gNB or core network (CN) network function (NF), or, for example, another higher-level processor that stores the data model in the Internet.

[0336] This invention provides a wireless communication network, comprising:

[0337] Multiple sidelink UEs (SL-UEs) communicate with each other via sidelinks (SLs), the multiple SL-UEs including a first SL-UE and a second SL-UE according to a third aspect of the invention, wherein the second SL-UE communicates with each other via SLs using matched beams transmitted by the first SL-UE and the second SL-UE; and

[0338] In response to a specific event, one or both of the first SL-UE and the second SL-UE perform beam adjustment to maintain the matching of the beams transmitted by the first SL-UE and the second SL-UE.

[0339] method

[0340] This invention provides a method for operating a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network, the method comprising:

[0341] A UE that provides services to a base station of a wireless communication network via a sidelink UE (SL-UE) uses more than one antenna or antenna element to communicate with one or more other SL-UEs through the sidelink SL, and

[0342] The base station assists the UE in performing one or more beam management processes.

[0343] This invention provides a method for operating a base station in a wireless communication network, the method comprising:

[0344] Multiple sidelink UEs (SL-UEs) that communicate with each other via sidelink SL using beamforming provided by a base station service; and

[0345] The beam management process is assisted by the base station to one or more SL-UEs.

[0346] This invention provides a method for operating a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network, the method comprising:

[0347] A UE that is a sidelink UE (SL-UE) uses more than one antenna or antenna element to communicate with one or more other SL-UEs via the sidelink SL; and

[0348] The UE uses beam scanning signals to perform beam scanning.

[0349] This invention provides a method for operating a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network, the method comprising:

[0350] A UE acting as a sidelink UE (SL-UE) communicates with one or more other SL-UEs via a sidelink (SL) using more than one antenna or antenna element; and

[0351] The UE receives beam scanning signals from at least one other SL-UE.

[0352] This invention provides a method for operating a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network, the method comprising:

[0353] A UE acting as a sidelink UE (SL-UE) communicates with one or more other SL-UEs via a sidelink (SL) using more than one antenna or antenna element, wherein the UE communicates with at least one other SL-UE via a sidelink (SL) using a matched beam of the UE and other SL-UEs; and

[0354] In response to specific events, the UE performs beam adjustment, for example, to maintain the UE's beam matching with the beams of other SL-UEs.

[0355] General – Applicable to all of the above aspects

[0356] According to an embodiment, the SL-UE uses resources from licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum for SL communication in high-frequency bands (such as in FR2).

[0357] According to an embodiment, multiple SL-UEs use carrier aggregation (CA) or utilize carrier switching to simultaneously perform SL communication:

[0358] - High-frequency bands using resources from licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum, such as FR2; and

[0359] - Use low-frequency bands from resources derived from licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum, such as FR1.

[0360] According to an embodiment,

[0361] UEs include one or more of the following: power-limited UEs; or handheld UEs, such as those used by pedestrians and referred to as vulnerable road users (VRUs); or pedestrian UEs (P-UEs); or personal or handheld UEs used by public safety personnel and emergency responders and referred to as public safety UEs (PS-UEs); or IoT UEs, such as sensors, actuators, or UEs provided in a campus network that perform repetitive tasks and request input from gateway nodes at periodic intervals; or mobile terminals; or stationary terminals; or cell IoT-UEs; or SLs UE; or vehicle UE; or vehicle group leader UE (GL-UE); or dispatch UE (S-UE); or IoT or narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) device; or ground-based vehicle; or aircraft; or unmanned aerial vehicle; or mobile base station; or roadside unit (RSU); or building; or any other item or device that provides network connectivity enabling the item / device to communicate using a wireless communication network, such as a sensor or actuator; or any other item or device that provides network connectivity enabling the item / device to communicate using a side link of a wireless communication network, such as a sensor or actuator; or Wi-Fi device, station (STA), access point (AP), node or mesh node; or mesh point; or mesh AP; or any network entity with side link capability; and

[0362] The network entities of a wireless communication system include one or more of the following:

[0363] - Base stations, such as macro cell base stations, or small cell base stations, or central units of base stations, or distributed units of base stations, or integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes, or Wi-Fi devices such as access points (APs) or mesh nodes (Mesh APs).

[0364] -Roadside Unit (RSU);

[0365] -UE, for example, SL-UE, or group leader UE (GL-UE), or relay UE;

[0366] - Remote wireless head;

[0367] - Core network entities, such as Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), or Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) entities;

[0368] - Network slicing, for example, network slices in the NR or 5G core context; and

[0369] - Any Transmitter Point (TRP) that enables an item or device to communicate using a wireless communication network, whereby the item or device has network connectivity to communicate using a wireless communication network.

[0370] System – applicable to all of the above aspects

[0371] The present invention provides a wireless communication system (such as a 3GPP system or a WiFi communication system) that includes a user equipment (UE) and / or a network entity according to the present invention.

[0372] Computer program products – applicable to all of the above aspects

[0373] Embodiments of the present invention provide a computer program product including instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform one or more methods according to the present invention.

[0374] Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the aspects or embodiments summarized and described below can be combined such that some or all aspects / embodiments are implemented in one embodiment. Furthermore, it should be noted that in this specification, when referring to “resources,” resources should be understood to include one or more of the following:

[0375] - One or more symbols;

[0376] - One or more time slots, subframes, or frames;

[0377] - One or more frequencies or carriers or sub-channels or groups of sub-channels;

[0378] - One or more interleaved;

[0379] - One or more frequency bands, for example, unlicensed sub-bands;

[0380] - One or more bandwidth portions;

[0381] - One or more resource pools;

[0382] - One or more LBT subbands; and

[0383] - One or more spatial resources, for example, using spatial multiplexing, precoding and / or beamforming.

[0384] Furthermore, it should be noted that in this specification, when referring to a "resource set," a resource set may include one or more resources, as defined above. Also, it should be noted that in this specification, when referring to a "channel," a channel may refer to the resource set as described above. Therefore, "channel" may also refer to a single carrier, subchannel, subband, resource pool, or SLBWP.

[0385] First aspect

[0386] Figure 7 illustrates an embodiment of the first aspect of the invention. More specifically, Figure 7(A) shows a UE 400, which includes a signal processing unit 402 and two or more antennas or one or more antenna arrays including two or more antenna elements 404. For example, the UE 400 may be... Figure 5 One of UEs 252 and 254 is shown. UE 400 is provided for wireless communication networks, such as 3GPP networks, which include multiple sidelink UEs (e.g., Figure 5 UEs 252 and 254 (shown) communicate directly with each other via a side link using more than one antenna or antenna element. According to an embodiment of the first aspect of the invention, UE 400 creates or generates a beam management report (BMR), as shown at 406. The BMR includes information about one or more beams in the radio environment at UE 400. For example, when considering... Figure 5 And it is assumed that when UE 2523 operates according to the present invention, it can be based on Figure 5 The beam management information (such as beams that the UE can recognize in its environment) transmitted by UEs 252 and 254 is used to create a beam management modal. In response to generating or creating a beam management modal, UE 400 can provide the beam management modal, for example via direct communication as shown at 408, to one or more network entities and / or one or more other UEs in the wireless communication network, to allow the network entities or other UEs to use the beam management modal to support beam management for one or more sidelink UEs in the wireless communication network. For example, the beam management modal can be provided to gNB 250, which in turn can provide beam management services to TX-UE 2521 to support its communication with RX-UE 2522. Alternatively, beam management can be supported by another UE (such as UE 2541), and in this case, the UE can provide the beam management modal to... Figure 5 UE 2541.

[0387] According to other embodiments, BMRs can also be relayed to one or more network entities and / or one or more other UEs via relay devices. For example, a BMR can be relayed by a UE connected to a base station via a Uu, for example, in the case where the UE receives a BMR directly from another UE. Furthermore, the UE relaying the BMR can also merge BMRs from multiple UEs to reduce signaling traffic to the base station or network. Finally, the BMR sent to the network can also be modified by the UE; for example, it may reduce the BMR to select only specific sub-BMRs, such as the first m statistics, or it may select only BMRs that include UEs within a specific target range of the base station or itself, because BMRs from other locations may not be of interest to the base station or network.

[0388] Although the beam management report described above is used to support beam management at the TX-UE, which defines the transmit beam or radiation pattern using two or more antennas, also known as TX beamforming, BMR can also be used to support beam management at the RX-UE 2522 to direct the receive beam towards the TX-UE, thereby reducing or avoiding interference from other beams and / or providing more reliable communication, i.e., ensuring that signals from the TX-UE can be received. In this case, the RX-UE forms the receive beam using a precoder and two or more antennas, which is also known as RX beamforming.

[0389] Figure 7(B) illustrates a network entity for a wireless communication network according to another embodiment of the first aspect. Network entity 410 has a signal processing unit 412 and, as indicated at 414, receives a beam management reference (BMR), such as that provided by the UE 400 described above with reference to Figure 7(A). Based on the received BMR, network entity 410 provides beam management (BM) support to one or more sidelink UEs in the network, as shown at 416, for example, by sending appropriate control messages 420 to SL-UEs requiring beam management support. According to the embodiment, the network entity may be one of the sidelink UEs using two or more antennas that provide beams with specific radiation patterns of main lobes for transmitting or receiving data; that is, network entity 410 may be... Figure 5 The network entity can be a TX-UE or RX-UE operating in Mode 1, or one of UEs 2541 to 2543 operating as a transmitting or receiving entity in Mode 2. According to other embodiments, the network entity can be a UE, such as UE 2523 or 2524, regardless of whether beamforming is used, and it interacts with a Radio Access Network (RAN) entity (such as...). Figure 5 The network entity 410 may communicate with the gNB 250 shown or with a roadside unit (RSU). According to another embodiment, network entity 410 may be a RAN entity, such as a base station or gNB (e.g., gNB 250) serving a UE providing BMR, or it may be a gNB not serving a UE providing BMR, or it may be a roadside unit. According to other embodiments, network entity 410 may also be a core network (CN) entity connected to... Figure 5 The gNB 250 in the system can include beam management network functionality (NF).

[0390] Other embodiments of the first aspect of the present invention provide a user equipment, for example, Figure 5 Any of the user equipment shown. Figure 7(C) schematically illustrates a user equipment 420 having two or more antennas or an antenna array with two or more antenna elements 422 to form a desired radiation pattern by using an appropriate precoder pointed in the desired direction. As described above, UE 420 can be Figure 5 Any UE shown, and Figure 5 The network also includes a sidelink UE that communicates with each other using two or more antennas to create a radiation pattern or beam 256 pointing in the desired direction, and one or more UEs 400 as described above with reference to FIG. 7(A). UE 420 can perform sidelink communication or Uu communication with both the sidelink UE and the network entity, i.e., for communication, the main lobe 424 of the radiation pattern or beam 426 is preferably pointed to a communication partner, which, as described above, can be a sidelink UE or a network entity. To allow UE 400 to create or generate a BMR, UE 400 can monitor beams in its radio environment, such as beam 426 created by UE 420. To allow identification of beams in the radio environment of UE 400, surrounding UEs (such as UE 420) signal the beam identifier (such as beam ID) of beam 424. If the antenna array or multiple antennas 422 form more than one beam, each beam is identified, for example, by an associated beam identifier (beam ID). Furthermore, if more than one antenna panel is used (as in a multi-TRP), the beam ID can also include the panel ID, making the antenna panel identifiable. For example, UE 420 could be... Figure 5 Either of UEs 252 and 254 shown, and according to an embodiment, each UE that performs beamforming to create a radiation pattern or beam using two or more antennas can be the UE shown in FIG. 7(C), which includes a beam identifier of the radiated beam so that UE 400 (see FIG. 7(A)) can generate BMR by monitoring beams in its environment and identifying beams from surrounding UEs based on the beam identifier.

[0391] As described above, beam identification can be a beam ID; however, according to other embodiments, beams can also be identified by sequences. For example, beams can be identified according to configured or pre-configured sequences, meaning that each beam uses a different code, such as a specific Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) code or a special type of related sequence. Using beam IDs and sequences allows for direct beam identification; however, indirect identification is also possible, for example, by observing the time slot in which the beam is created or radiated (such as the relative time position in a beam scan). Similarly, according to other embodiments, frequency positions can be used to indirectly identify the beams of the UE 420, for example, by using different frequency combs or frequency patterns for different beams.

[0392] Figure 8 The diagram shows Figure 5In the system according to a first aspect of the invention, beam management reports are sent by one or more UEs 400 (see FIG. 7(A)), as shown in 408. The BMR is sent to gNB 250 or UE 2541, which are network entities 410 in FIG. 7(B). Figure 5 Any UE shown can be a UE conforming to Figure 7(C) that signals the beam identifier of one or more beams.

[0393] As described above, the report can be forwarded to the gNB 250 of the UE providing the report; however, the BMR can also be forwarded to other network entities, such as other base stations. For example, when beam management is performed across cell sites, the BMR can be sent not only to the serving base station but also via the core network or through direct communication between gNBs (e.g., using the XN interface) to the core network or another base station or gNB. This can facilitate the handover (HO) process. When the BMR is sent to the core network, specific beam management network functions (NFs) within the core network can support beam management at the individual sidelink UEs.

[0394] As described above, a BMR can be sent from a TX-UE, RX-UE, or any other UE connected via the Uu interface that can assist in generating a meaningful BMR. The TX-UE can generate a BMR before its transmission to obtain beam management updates from the gNB or network, thereby adjusting one or more of its beams accordingly. Similarly, the RX-UE can generate a beam report to support the TX-UE in performing beam selection / tuning for its transmission. According to other embodiments, another UE that only monitors interference (such as...) Figure 5 or Figure 8 UE2523 can also generate a BMR, for example, based on beams transmitted in its vicinity, and send the BMR to the gNB / network. Furthermore, a sidelink UE operating simultaneously in both Mode 1 and Mode 2 can collect measurement reports from UEs operating only in Mode 2 to generate a BMR and forward it to the serving gNB / network, thereby improving beam management among UEs under the control of the gNB / network. According to other embodiments, the BMR can also be received by a roadside unit (RSU) instead of a base station, for example, in the case of a vehicle use case.

[0395] Further embodiments of the BMR content created or generated by UE 400 will be described below. As mentioned above, UE 400 can be one or more of the following:

[0396] - SL-UEs that use more than one antenna or antenna element and operate as a transmitting UE (TX UE) or receiving UE (RX UE) in Mode 1 and / or Mode 2; and

[0397] - UEs that use / do not use more than one antenna or antenna element and communicate with a radio access network (RAN) entity (such as a gNB), an access point (AP) (such as a WiFi AP), or a roadside unit (RSU).

[0398] The network entity to which the BMR is sent (as shown at 408 in Figure 7(A)) can be one or more of the following:

[0399] - Radio Access Network (RAN) entities, such as gNBs serving the UE, gNBs not serving the UE, roadside units (RSUs), or access points (APs) (such as WiFi APs); and

[0400] - Core network (CN) entities, such as beam management network functions (NF).

[0401] As shown in Figure 7(A), in order to generate a BMR, the UE 400 needs to monitor one or more beams or specific reference signals in its radio environment, as schematically illustrated at 428 in Figure 7(A). To create or generate a BMR, the UE 400 can be configured or pre-configured with a measurement or monitoring window during which the UE monitors one or more beams on a set of one or more resources. This set of resources can span the entire resource pool or a portion of the resource pool used for... Figure 5 And the side link transmission within the wireless communication network shown in Figure 7. The resource pool may also include... Figure 5 The network in Figure 7 contains resources used for Uu and SL communications. According to other embodiments, the radio environment includes physical channels for beam management, for example, to carry specific reference signals. The UE 400 may generate one BMR for each measurement window, or, according to other embodiments, may generate a BMR based on two or more measurement windows. According to embodiments, the measurement windows may be configured through one or more of the following:

[0402] - Resource pool (RP) configuration;

[0403] o Physical layer (PHY) signaling, such as SCI; or, a first-stage SCI including the next reserved time domain resource indication value (TRIV) and / or frequency domain resource indication value (FRIV); or, a second-stage SCI; or, a physical side link broadcast channel (PSBCH).

[0404] - Media Access Control (MAC) layer, for example, executing MAC Control Element (MAC-CE) signaling;

[0405] - Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling; and

[0406] -High-level signaling.

[0407] The measurement window can be defined in the time domain and / or frequency domain. In the time domain, the measurement window can be provided as follows:

[0408] - Periodically, the periodicity depends on zero or more of the following:

[0409] oUE ID;

[0410] o-beam ID;

[0411] oUE types, such as Roadside Units (RSUs), can transmit beam scans or reference signals more or less frequently in configured or pre-configured time slots; for example, RSUs can transmit beam scans or reference signals more frequently than gNBs.

[0412] o Considering a specific formula for one or more of the UE ID, beam ID, and / or UE type, for example, periodicity can be randomized by a seed taken from the UE ID or beam ID; or,

[0413] - Non-periodic, for example, triggered based on triggers that can be provided in the physical side link broadcast channel (PSBCH); or,

[0414] ■ During the DRX window, a specific UE is configured to transmit a beam training signal so that all other UEs can perform beam management and / or training.

[0415] In the frequency domain, the measurement window can include specific frequency resources, which are selected in the following ways:

[0416] -Depending on zero or one or more of the following:

[0417] oUE ID;

[0418] o-beam ID;

[0419] oUE types, such as roadside units (RSUs), can transmit more or less frequently in configured or pre-configured frequency resources;

[0420] o A specific formula considering one or more of UE ID, beam ID, and UE type; or

[0421] - In response to a trigger, for example, based on the frequency location of information from the following devices:

[0422] o Other UEs, for example, via Sidelink Assistive Information Message (AIM) and / or via Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH); and / or,

[0423] o network; or

[0424] ■ From a set of configured or pre-configured frequency resources, for example, a particular UE is configured to transmit a beam training signal in a specific subband or carrier to enable all other UEs to perform beam management and / or training.

[0425] According to another embodiment, the time-domain and / or frequency-domain resources used for the measurement window are derived from a formula. The advantage of this is that receivers interested in reference signals from a particular UE can derive these parameters knowing some or all of the relevant parameters (such as beam ID, UE type, beam ID, etc.), thereby limiting the search space required for signal detection. According to another embodiment, pseudo-randomness can be applied to the function or formula to allow for deterministic window positions, avoiding continuous collisions with another UE.

[0426] According to an embodiment, monitoring one or more beams includes measuring one or more specific reference signals that implicitly or explicitly indicate the associated beam, such as the beam ID as described above with reference to FIG. 7(C), and / or the UE from which the beam originates. The reference signals may include one or more of the following:

[0427] -Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS);

[0428] -Detection Reference Signal (SRS);

[0429] - Master synchronization signal (PSS);

[0430] - Secondary synchronization signal (SSS);

[0431] -Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS);

[0432] - Specific beam management reference signal; and

[0433] - Based on reference signals from an Artificial Intelligence-Machine Learning (AI-ML) model, for example, based on reference signals from a configured or pre-configured AI-ML model stored in the UE, gNB, or network. The AI-ML model can be modified by another UE / gNB / network or even by the same UE based on a configured or pre-configured algorithm.

[0434] According to embodiments, BMR may include one or more of the following:

[0435] - One or more beam IDs of one or more beams monitored by the UE;

[0436] - The UE ID and / or the ID of one or more monitored beams from which the UE originates and / or from the UE ID;

[0437] - The location of the UE and / or the location of one or more UEs from which one or more monitored beams originate;

[0438] - Distance to one or more UEs from which one or more monitored beams originate;

[0439] - The speed of the UE and / or the speed of one or more UEs from which one or more monitored beams originate;

[0440] - The motion direction, motion vector, or motion angle of the UE and / or the motion direction, motion vector, or motion angle of one or more UEs from which one or more monitored beams originate;

[0441] - The type of UE and / or the type of one or more UEs from which one or more monitored beams originate, such as pedestrian UE (P-UE), vehicle UE, high-speed vehicle;

[0442] - The signal strength of one or more monitored beams, such as Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR), and Beamwidth;

[0443] - An indication of m beams from all beams of one or more UEs, for example, the first m or earliest received beams from any one UE, all UEs except a certain UE, a specific UE, or a group of UEs; for example, the indication may be binary to indicate that there are no beams from the UE, i.e., no interference is expected, or that at least one beam exists that causes interference, or may include beam information increments or differences compared to previously reported (e.g., additional beams were detected compared to the number previously reported).

[0444] - An indication of the m most interfering beams among all monitored beams, for example, the top m or the m most interfering beams;

[0445] - Interference map, which includes, for example, one or more of the following: when one or more interfering beams are received, on which antenna panel one or more interfering beams are received, and in which part of the frequency band (e.g., sub-channel) one or more interfering beams are received; and

[0446] - Whether the UE and / or one or more monitored beams originate from the UE are operating in mode 1 or mode 2.

[0447] According to an embodiment, BMR can be transmitted by UE 400 using one or more of the following methods:

[0448] - Physical layer (PHY) signaling, such as BMR, may be included in SCI, or Phase 1 SCI, and / or Phase 2 SCI, or Physical Side Link Broadcast Channel (PSBCH);

[0449] - Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling;

[0450] -Media Access Control Layer Control Element (MAC CE);

[0451] -High-level signaling; and

[0452] - One or more sidelink auxiliary information messages (AIM).

[0453] According to an embodiment, AIM may include one or more of the following:

[0454] - One or more preferred or non-preferred space resources to be used or not used during transmission, for example, space resources can be defined by one or more of the following: MIMO mode, number of antennas used (TX and / or RX), precoding technique used, or beamforming technique applied;

[0455] - Use BMR to support the identification (ID) of network entities or other UEs in a wireless communication network that support beam management of one or more SL-UEs, such as the UE ID of a UE that coordinates beams among one or more SL-UEs or performs beam management (such as a group leader UE (GL-UE) or a scheduling UE (S-UE)).

[0456] - Indicates beam conflict indications that one or more specific beams are used within the same time window; and

[0457] - Information to resolve inter-beam interference that occurs when two UEs use the same beam that causes interference within the same time window. For example, the information may include one or more of the following:

[0458] o Interference with time and / or frequency and / or spatial resources;

[0459] o Half-power beamwidth of one or more interfering beams;

[0460] o. Interference level, for example, the signal strength of the interfering signal;

[0461] o The UE ID and / or beam ID that caused the interference;

[0462] o. The direction of the interfering beam, for example, the main path of the beam;

[0463] o Use or avoid preferred and / or non-preferred resources that reduce interference; and

[0464] o Precoder and / or codebook and / or antenna configuration.

[0465] Regarding the aforementioned non-preferred spatial resources, this can refer to specific resources that a UE should not use with its beamformer because it may cause interference to another UE. Furthermore, non-preferred resources can indicate that other beams with sidelobes that cause interference in a specific direction should not be used; that is, specific sidelobes need to be suppressed below a configured or pre-configured threshold to avoid or minimize beam interference to another receiving UE.

[0466] According to other embodiments, the BMR can be created periodically or in response to a trigger, such as a trigger provided or present in the physical side cross-link broadcast channel (PSBCH). For example, the periodicity of periodic reporting can...

[0467] - Configured or pre-configured, for example, by a RAN entity or CN entity, by a UE requesting BMR, by a special UE (e.g., a scheduled UE (S-UE) or a coordinating UE), or by a resource pool; or

[0468] - Depends on zero, one, or more of the following:

[0469] oUE ID;

[0470] o-beam ID;

[0471] The type of oUE, for example, a roadside unit (RSU) can transmit more or less frequently in configured or pre-configured time slots; and

[0472] o Considering a specific formula for one or more of the UE ID, beam ID, and / or UE type, for example, periodicity can be randomized by a seed taken from the UE ID or beam ID.

[0473] The generation of BMR is triggered by one or more of the following conditions:

[0474] - Reporting requests from UE, gNB, or CN network entities (such as network functions (NF));

[0475] - Changes in one or more channel conditions exceeding a specific threshold, such as the channel rank, the power in the channel measured based on Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), and Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR);

[0476] - New UE or new beam ID detected;

[0477] - Interference exceeds a specific threshold, such as the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) threshold;

[0478] - Timer timeout, for example, when the connection is lost after a certain period of time, the wireless link failure (RLF) recovery process is triggered;

[0479] - A conflict was detected, for example, due to receiving a negative acknowledgment (NACK) or due to a timeout;

[0480] - Discovery or synchronization process, for example, the UE receiving a synchronization signal block (SSB); and

[0481] - Requests in the Physical Side Link Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).

[0482] As described above with reference to Figure 7(C), UE 420 provides identification for one or more of its beams. Therefore, according to an embodiment, in addition to the content and timing aspects of the BMR, specific processes in the network are adjusted via UE 420 to provide beam information, such as beam IDs, for inclusion in the BMR, which are not specified in the traditional SCI report of the sidelink. Therefore, according to an embodiment, beam ID exchange is implemented via UE 420, enabling UE 400 to monitor these beam IDs. According to an embodiment, beams can be identified directly or indirectly. Direct identification can use, for example, one or more beam IDs or sequences, such as identifying beams according to configured or pre-configured sequences, for example, using different codes for each beam, such as using Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) codes or special types of related sequences. Indirect identification can use, for example, one or more time slots (such as relative time positions in beam scanning) or frequency domain positions (such as different frequency combs or frequency patterns used for different beams). According to embodiments, the UE may include the beam identifier in its transmitted discovery signal, and / or, when the UE is operating in Mode 1, may include the beam identifier in the scheduling request (SR) sent by the UE to the base station, optionally along with the UE ID of the target UE with which the UE intends to communicate. Providing the UE ID of the target UE with which the UE intends to communicate, in addition to the beam ID, has significant advantages, for example, allowing gNBs (such as...) to... Figure 5 The beam between the UE and the auxiliary coordination side link communication UE (gNB 250 in Figure 7).

[0483] Second aspect

[0484] Figure 9An embodiment of a user equipment (UE) 430 in a wireless communication network according to a second aspect of the present invention is illustrated. The UE 430 is a sidelink UE that communicates with one or more other UEs via a sidelink. The sidelink UE 430 includes a signal processing unit 432 and two or more antennas or one or more antenna arrays having at least two antenna elements 434, thereby allowing the UE 430 to communicate with other UEs via the sidelink using a radiation pattern or beam 436 (formed using a suitable pre-encoder to point in a specific direction). According to an embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention, the UE 430 is configured or pre-configured with a beam scanning mode 438, processed by the signal processing unit 432 to cause beam scanning of the beam 436, as indicated by arrows 436a and 436b, scanning the beam 436 from the upper beam direction 436' to the lower beam direction 436''.

[0485] According to an embodiment, UE 430 coordinates its beam scanning operation with one or more other UEs to reduce sensing workload. For example, if all UEs are performing beam scanning simultaneously, since the UEs are not operating in full-duplex mode, they will be unable to receive beams, and therefore the required beam ID for optimal reception cannot be calculated. Therefore, beam scanning must be coordinated among different UEs. For example, UE 430 may signal its beam scanning mode or auxiliary information to one or more other UEs to allow them to adjust their beam scanning modes accordingly, thereby avoiding simultaneous beam scanning. Auxiliary information may indicate information for adjusting or coordinating beams between UEs, including one or more of the following:

[0486] - Conflict indications, for example, to trigger resource reselection;

[0487] - Preferred resource sets, such as resources available to other UEs for their beam scanning modes;

[0488] - One or more beam scanning modes to use or avoid;

[0489] - Non-preferred resource sets, such as resources that other UEs should avoid using for their beam scanning modes;

[0490] - Periodic information, for example, to indicate preferred or non-preferred beam scanning periods or changes in the period; and

[0491] - Limits or includes one or more parameters in the beam scanning mode, such as beam ID, scanning angle or sector, scanning time and / or frequency and / or space, and the type of reference signal.

[0492] Alternatively, UE 430 may receive beam scanning patterns from one or more other UEs to adjust its own scanning pattern accordingly. Beam scanning can be coordinated using, for example, control messages (such as SCI), or beam scanning can be timed to define a specific beam scanning pattern. Beam scanning patterns can be periodic and can be configured to operate aperiodically or periodically. However, if two UEs are configured with the same scanning pattern, they will not be able to receive each other's beam training signals, and in this case, auxiliary information (such as AIMs) is needed to coordinate beam scanning, causing one UE to, for example, shift its beam scanning pattern accordingly.

[0493] According to an embodiment, the beam scanning mode may include one or more of the following:

[0494] - Detection reference signal (SRS), for example, frequency comb;

[0495] -Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS);

[0496] -Side Link Control Information (SCI), for example

[0497] o New SCI; or

[0498] o First-stage SCI, including UE ID, or beam scan period, or next reserved time domain resource indicator (TRIV) and / or frequency domain resource indicator (FRIV), or beam scan mode, or one or more beam scan parameters, or beam scan sequence; or

[0499] oSecond-stage SCI;

[0500] -Auxiliary Information Messages (AIM); and

[0501] - Discovery information, such as service type indicators that indicate whether the UE is a relay or RSU, a pedestrian UE (P-UE), or a vehicle UE.

[0502] Beam scanning modes may include additional configuration information and / or SCI and / or AIM, which include one or more of the following:

[0503] - SCI with beam management field;

[0504] - An SCI that has a beam management field but no pointer to a second-stage SCI;

[0505] - Beam management field, including one or more of the following:

[0506] o Beam management information format;

[0507] o Beam pattern index, for example, beams 3, 5, and 17;

[0508] o Precoded index;

[0509] o Beam control information, such as:

[0510] ■Left-shifted beam; and

[0511] ■ Right-shift beam;

[0512] o-beam power;

[0513] The half-power beamwidth of an o-beam, for example, the half-power beamwidth of the strongest beam. Half-power beamwidth, or HPBW, is the angular width (in degrees) measured on the main lobe of the antenna's radiation pattern at the half-power point (i.e., the point where the signal power is half its peak value). In other words, half-power beamwidth (HPBW) refers to the angular spacing at which the amplitude of the radiation pattern decreases by 50% (or -3 dB) from the peak value of the main beam or lobe.

[0514] o The period of arrival of the next beam;

[0515] o. The length of the scan, for example, omnidirectional scan such as 360° scan, or reduced scan such as 120° scan;

[0516] One or more target IDs, such as the intended receiver, so that the intended receiver can send a response to a given beam scan, while UEs with other IDs do not respond to the transmitter. For example, the target ID can also be a broadcast ID or multicast ID, for example, addressing a group via beam scan. A group can also consist of a specific set of devices, such as P-UE only, or IoT devices only, or a specific message, such as a UE that must send an emergency message only sending a response;

[0517] o. Types of beam scanning, for example:

[0518] ■ Periodic scanning: This can include the period of beam scanning;

[0519] ■ Non-periodic scanning, such as single non-periodic beam scanning; and

[0520] ■ Request-based scanning, for example, in response to signaling from another UE.

[0521] Figure 9Beam scanning coordination with another UE 440 is also illustrated. Similar to UE 430, UE 440 also includes a signal processing unit 442 and two or more antennas or one or more antenna arrays having at least two antenna elements 444 to allow UE 440 to generate a radiation pattern or beam 446. Similarly, through the signal processing unit 442, UE 440 implements a specific beam scanning pattern to scan beam 446, as shown in 446a and 446b, such that the beam is scanned, for example, between positions 446' and 446''. UEs 430 and 440 can exchange control signaling, as schematically shown in 448, which can be a sidelink connection. UEs 430 and 440 can coordinate beam scanning patterns via connection 448 so that they do not perform beam scanning simultaneously. For example, if the beam scanning patterns indicate that the two UEs are performing beam scanning within an overlapping time period, then one UE can delay or offset the start of its beam scanning operation in response to becoming aware of the other UE's beam scanning pattern.

[0522] According to other embodiments, for example, in cases where the RAN does not provide assistance for scheduling, etc., but the UE has a Uu connection to the base station, connection 448 can also be via the base station.

[0523] Third aspect

[0524] Network-assisted beam management

[0525] The embodiments of the third aspect will now be described in detail. Figure 10 An embodiment of a network- or network-side assisted beam management process is shown, such as a gNB-assisted beam management process. Figure 10 A UE 500 according to a third aspect embodiment is shown, which includes a signal processing unit 502 and one or more antenna arrays having two or more antennas or at least two antenna elements 504, allowing the signal processing unit 502 (which may include a pre-encoder, etc.) to form a desired radiation pattern or beam 506. Figure 10Another sidelink UE 510 is shown, which also includes a signal processing unit 512 and two or more antennas or one or more antenna arrays including at least two antenna elements 514, thereby allowing the signal processing unit 512 to generate the desired radiation pattern or beam 516. UE 500 can communicate directly with UE 510 via the sidelink or PC5 interface. Both UE 500 and UE 510 operate in Mode 1, i.e., connected to base station 520 via Uu interface. Base station 520 includes a signal processing unit 522 and one or more antennas or at least one antenna array including one or more antenna elements 524 for establishing radio links with UEs 500 and 510 via Uu interface. Base station 520 implements beam management functions through signal processing unit 522. UE500 and 510 receive control signaling from the base station via the Uu interface. More specifically, the control signals originating from the beam management function implemented in base station 520, and based on the control signals received from the base station, gNB-assisted beam management can be performed at UE 500 and / or UE 510.

[0526] Therefore, according to a third aspect embodiment, a user equipment (e.g., UE 500) for a wireless communication network (e.g., a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network) is proposed. This user equipment is a sidelink UE that communicates with another sidelink UE (e.g., UE 510) via a sidelink using two or more antennas 504. UE 500 receives control signaling from a base station (which can be connected to UE 500 via a Uu interface) and performs beam management at UE 500 based on this control signaling. As described above, this can be referred to as a network-assisted beam management process, or, in this embodiment, a gNB-assisted beam management process. Another embodiment of the third aspect regarding network-assisted beam management provides a base station, such as base station 520, that serves multiple sidelink UEs (e.g., UE 500 and UE 510) that communicate with each other via a sidelink using two or more antennas. This is also referred to as communication using beamforming, and the base station assists one or more sidelink UEs 500, 510 in performing beam management processes to be performed at the sidelink UE.

[0527] According to embodiments, a base station can assist one or more sidelink UEs 500, 510 in coordinating beam management, for example, in beam pairing, beam maintenance, or beam fault recovery. Beam pairing may include finding a beam pair link between sidelink UE 500 and UE 510 when an adjacent sidelink UE is found within a predefined or desired communication range. For example, as a beam management procedure, the base station may initiate a beam scanning operation at one of UEs 500 or UE 510 to determine the direction of receiving signals from a communication partner in sidelink communication, for example, indicating that the UE is within the desired communication range with a desired signal strength. Beam maintenance procedures may maintain beam alignment, for example, by adjusting beam directions, such as when one or both of UEs 500 or UE 510 move relative to each other, the directions of beams 506 and 516 need to be adjusted to achieve focus or orientation towards each other. When the initially found or existing beam pair link becomes unavailable or insufficient to maintain communication between UE 500 and UE 510, for example, due to link interference caused by a new UE in the environment or due to deterioration of channel conditions, beam fault recovery may be required. In this case, the link may fail, and in response to the detection of such a link failure, beam fault recovery can be initiated at the corresponding UE 500, 510 via base station 520.

[0528] According to an embodiment, base station 520 may assist UEs (such as UE 500 and / or UE 510) during the sidelink discovery process, i.e., during the process when UE 500 discovers, for example, one or more other UEs (such as UE 510) in its vicinity, enabling direct communication between the UEs. Alternatively, gNB-assisted beam management may also be performed during SL link recovery, i.e., during the process when UE 500 restores its link with one or more other UEs (such as UE 510), for example, after a radio link failure. Alternatively, gNB-assisted beam management may also be performed during data exchange on the sidelink, i.e., after the sidelink discovery process. For example, if UE 500 has data transmission to be performed via the sidelink to a receiving UE (such as UE 510), the base station may trigger beam management operations, such as beam scanning, at both UE 500 and 510 in response to signaling on the Uu interface regarding the expected transmission, to find beam pairs for transmitting data from UE 500 to UE 510 via the sidelink.

[0529] Figure 11 An example of beam scan triggering during side link discovery or data exchange is shown. Figure 11UE 500, UE 510, and base station or gNB 520 are shown. UE 500 and 510 operate in Mode 1 and are connected to base station 520 via a Uu interface. Their antennas form desired radiation patterns or beams 506 and 516. During sidelink discovery or data exchange, base station 520 may trigger beam scanning at TX-UE 510 and / or RX-UE 510, as indicated by beam scanning trigger signals 530a and 530b.

[0530] According to another embodiment, a UE with a communication request can initiate or trigger beam scanning. Figure 12(A) illustrates the interaction with... Figure 11 Similar settings, however, with Figure 11 The difference is that, assuming TX-UE 500 has data to exchange with RX-UE 510, it sends a communication request 532 to the gNB via the Uu interface. Communication request 532 can be included in a specific control signal sent from TX-UE 500 to gNB 520, or it can be included in a scheduling request (SR) sent from UE 500 to gNB 520 for scheduling sidelink resources to be used for sidelink communication between UEs 500 and 510. In response to receiving communication request 532, gNB 520 triggers a beam scan at RX-UE 510, as shown at 534, i.e., at the UE that is a communication partner of TX-UE 500 according to the communication request. It should be noted that the embodiment just described is not limited to beam scanning being initiated or triggered by the sending UE; rather, according to other embodiments, triggering can also originate from the receiving UE. For example, as shown in Figure 12(B), the transmitting UE 500 can, for example, notify the receiving UE 510 of the upcoming transmission via SCI, and in response to this information, the receiving UE, which may determine that the direction of receiving SCI needs improvement, can send a communication request or similar control signal 532 to the gNB 520. The gNB 520 then triggers a beam scan operation 534 at the TX-UE 500 to better focus or guide the beam 506 to the receiving UE 510. Note that this method is not limited to unicast; the UE ID can also be a multicast ID, and the gNB can also trigger a beam scan for a group of UEs. Furthermore, the gNB can restrict its triggering to perform a beam scan on a specific UE within the group, so that other UEs in the same group can receive the beam scan and avoid performing a beam scan itself. This ensures that all group members can receive the beam scan and will not miss beam information due to half-duplex constraints. Therefore, the communication request and / or beam scan triggering can also additionally or alternatively include group ID or multicast triggering.

[0531] According to other embodiments, the gNB 520 can distribute beam scanning configurations among UEs. Figure 13A scenario similar to Figure 12(B) is illustrated, where the receiving UE 510 initiates a beam scan at the transmitting UE 530 via the gNB 520. According to an embodiment, in response to a communication request 532, the base station 520 signals the RX-UE 510 to notify the beam scan configuration applied at the TX-UE 500, as shown in 536. It should be noted that additional information can also be provided in the embodiment of Figure 12(A), where the TX-UE triggers the beam scan operation at the RX-UE 510 via the gNB. In this scenario, the gNB 520 distributes the beam scan information 536 back to the transmitting UE 500.

[0532] According to other embodiments, in response to receiving a beam scan trigger 534, instead of providing beam scan information 536 via a gNB, the UE (e.g., ...) that receives the beam scan trigger 534... Figure 13 The UE 500 can send beam scanning information via the sidelink, for example, using the Sidelink Auxiliary Information Message (SL-AIM), such as... Figure 13 As illustrated at point 538. AIM can include beam coordination information, such as information about precoder configuration, timing, or frequency information. Therefore, by providing additional beam scanning configuration to a UE that triggers beam scanning via a gNB or SL, the UE is informed of the specific details of the beam scan its communication partner is about to perform, thereby improving the beam management process.

[0533] According to the currently described embodiments, beam management is implemented within the frequency range where sidelink communication occurs (e.g., FR2). However, according to other embodiments, sidelink communication and beam management can be performed in different frequency bands. For example, if the sidelink UE can utilize different frequency bands (e.g., the bands in FR1 and the bands in FR2), then the actual beam management of the sidelink can be performed using the frequency band where both UEs have stable connections (e.g., the lower frequency band in FR1). Figure 14 An embodiment is shown in which the transmitting UE 500 and the receiving UE 510 can operate in FR1 and FR2. FR2 is used for sidelink communication, while signaling via FR1 is used for beam management. Figure 14 As shown, base station 520 provides beam scan triggering 530a, 530b in FR1 (see also...) Figure 11 This allows UEs to perform beam management for high-frequency bands via low-frequency bands (e.g., through carrier aggregation or carrier handover), so that once a beam pair link is established, both UEs switch to the high-frequency band. It's important to note that beam management in low-frequency bands is not limited to... Figure 14 The scene is shown in Figure 12 above. Figure 13The described scenario can also be implemented in lower frequency bands (such as FR1). Note that in this scenario, the UE operating in FR2 can be a Mode 2 UE, while the configuration in FR1 can be without base station assistance (such as Mode 2) or with base station assistance (such as Mode 1). Finally, in addition to using different frequency bands for management, different radio access technologies (RATs) can also be used for beam management, such as LTE or WiFi.

[0534] It should be noted that, according to other embodiments, the UE can communicate with other SL-UEs in a first frequency band (e.g., a low frequency band, such as FR1) and have the beam management process assisted by the base station in a second frequency band (e.g., a high frequency band, such as FR2).

[0535] Non-network-assisted beam management

[0536] According to other embodiments of the third aspect of the present invention, non-network-assisted beam management can be implemented, also known as distributed beam management. Such embodiments are applicable to scenarios where individual sidelink UEs operate without network assistance, thus requiring distributed beam management. Figure 15 An embodiment of UE 550 is illustrated. UE 550 includes a signal processing unit 552 and two or more antennas, or at least one antenna array including two or more antenna elements 554, for creating a desired radiation pattern or beam 556 for, for example, sidelink communication with another sidelink UE via a PC5 interface. For distributed beam management, UE 550 performs beam scanning, as indicated by arrows 556a and 556b. According to an embodiment, UE 550 may include a communication request in the beam scanning signal. UE 550 may receive a communication response from a communication partner including connection-related information, such as one or more of the following:

[0537] - Beam ID;

[0538] -UE ID, for example, source ID and / or destination ID;

[0539] - The type of UE, such as source type and / or destination type, like vehicle UE, RSU, P-UE;

[0540] -CSI feedback;

[0541] - The type of scanning signal, for example, the reference signal and / or beam pattern used;

[0542] -UE capabilities, such as supported features like maximum rank, peak data rate, and supported codebooks; and

[0543] - Matching beam time slots, for example, can establish time instances of beam pairs for links; and / or frequency resources, for example, can establish sub-channels of beam pairs for links.

[0544] Based on the information included in the received communication response, UE 550 can determine whether there is a matching beam between UE 550 and its communication partner, thereby preserving at least one beam pair link for communication on the side link.

[0545] A further embodiment of the third aspect of the invention concerning a decentralized management process relates to user equipment 560, which is Figure 15 The communication partner of UE 550 also includes a signal processing unit and two or more antennas or at least one antenna array having at least two antenna elements 564 for creating a radiation pattern or beam 566. UE 560 receives beam scanning signal 556 from UE 550. According to an embodiment, UE 560 may also receive a communication request included in the beam scanning signal 556 of UE 550. In response to successfully receiving the beam scanning signal, UE 560 sends the aforementioned communication response including relevant information to allow UE 550 to determine the matching beam sent by UE 550 and 560 that will be reserved for communication between these UEs via the side link.

[0546] Therefore, beam management among UEs operating without network assistance is performed in a decentralized manner, and, as Figure 16 As shown, according to an embodiment, UE 550 performs beam scanning and sends a communication request 570 within the beam scanning signal 556. The communication request, for example, includes information about the beam scanning, a synchronization signal, and a discovery signal. For example, the communication request 570 may include the UE 550's ID, beam ID or panel ID, message type, and application type. Upon receiving successful decoding of the beam scanning signal via the receiving beam 566 from UE 560, for example, at the time the beam is at position 556'', as shown in 572, a communication response is sent, which may include information about the beam scanning, a synchronization signal, a discovery signal, data transmission, or any other related information. The transmission may be based on timing information included in the signaling of UE 550, such that UE 550 receives the communication response and its included information to maintain a successful beam pair link formed by beam 556'' at UE 550 and beam 566 at UE 560. This successful beam pair link is then used for communication between UE 550 and 560 via a side link.

[0547] According to other embodiments, UEs 550 and 560 can synchronize using an external time reference. In this scenario, the beam ID is not necessary and can be ignored because the UE can use the time reference to point to the time slot when beams 556 and 566 transmitted by UEs 550 and 560 match. The aforementioned time reference may include one or more of the following:

[0548] - External time reference, such as GPS;

[0549] - Network time reference, such as a time reference from a base station, the core network (CN), or another server on the Internet;

[0550] - Side Link Synchronization Signal (SLSS); or

[0551] - UEs used as time references, for example, transmitter UEs are used as time references or to provide relative time for requests sent by UEs.

[0552] A further embodiment of the third aspect of the invention with respect to distributed beam management is now described, namely, in addition to the previously described embodiments with respect to beam scanning, an embodiment in which a side-link UE performs beam adjustment in response to a specific event. Figure 17 A UE 570 according to an embodiment of the third aspect of the present invention is illustrated. The UE 570 includes a signal processing unit 572 and two or more antennas or at least one antenna array including two or more antenna elements 574 for generating a desired beam pattern or beam 576. Assuming the UE 570 has established a communication link with another UE on a crosslink via a PC5 interface, for example, the beam is directed towards the communication partner using the radiation pattern or beam 576. In response to a specific event, the UE 570 can perform beam adjustment, for example, by adjusting the radiation pattern or beam to move the main radiation direction from the direction indicated by 576 to the direction indicated by 576'. Figure 17 A wireless communication network including UE 570 and another SL-UE 580 is also schematically illustrated. UE 580, similar to UE 570, includes a signal processing unit 582 and two or more antennas or at least one antenna array having at least two antenna elements 584 for generating a desired radiation pattern or beam 586 pointing in a specific direction. A side link connection between UEs 570 and 580 via a PC5 interface is also shown. According to an embodiment, when either or both of UEs 570 and 580 identify a specific event requiring beam adjustment, either or both of UEs 570 and 580 can initiate beam adjustment of beams 566 and / or 586, directing them towards directions 566' and / or 586'.

[0553] According to the embodiments, also as Figure 17As shown, beam adjustment may include modifying the radiation pattern of the UE, such that the beam is changed from a first beam (e.g., beam 566 or 586) to a second beam 566' or 586', thereby causing the respective UEs 570, 580 to provide radiation patterns or beams pointing towards each other, directly or via reflector 590. According to an embodiment, the UE may perform beam adjustment in response to one or more of the following events:

[0554] -UE 580 moves from the first position of the first time instance to the second position of the second time instance;

[0555] -UE 580 indicates degradation, for example, based on beam power measurements;

[0556] -UE 570 determines a new main beam in response to a reduced beam scan or to test the neighboring sidelobes of the main beam;

[0557] -UE 580 reports new beams with higher power and / or less interference, such as higher SINR or SNR or RSSI or larger half-power beamwidth;

[0558] - Indicates the variation of the list of m best beams (a list of the top m beams) and / or m worst beams (a list of the worst m beams) among multiple beams, for example, in terms of signal power and / or interference;

[0559] -UE 570 predicts the movement of UE 580;

[0560] -UE 570 predicts better beams, for example, to maintain beam angular displacement; and

[0561] - Receive auxiliary information, such as AIM, or higher-level auxiliary information, such as Collaborative Awareness Message (CAM) or Distributed Environmental Notification Message (DENM), including one or more of the following: the speed, direction, angle, distance, position, acceleration, future route, or future location of the UE 580 providing the auxiliary information.

[0562] Figure 18An embodiment of beam adjustment is illustrated when sidelink UEs move relative to each other. It is assumed that sidelink UEs 570 and 580 communicate with each other via a PC5 interface, and UE 580 moves from a first position in time instance t0 to a second position in time instance t1. Initially, UE 570 uses a radiation pattern or beam 566 pointing towards UE 580 in time instance t0. In response to detecting the movement of UE 580, UE 570 performs beam adjustment to maintain the beam pair link. To this end, UE 570 modifies its beam from beam 566 in time instance t0 to beam 566' in time instance t1, such that the transmitted beam is pointed directly or through a reflector towards UE 580, thereby minimizing path loss between the two UEs. Although Figure 18 An embodiment is shown in which the transmitting UE 570 adjusts its beam due to the movement of UE 580, but it should be noted that the invention is not limited to such embodiments. Rather, according to other embodiments, it may be UE 580, rather than UE 570, that performs beam adjustment, or, according to other embodiments, both UEs may perform beam adjustment so that their respective beams point to each other.

[0563] According to other embodiments, beam adjustment can be based on historical data, for example, if the beam moves to a specific direction within a specific time unit, the beam moves to the specific direction according to interpolation, and / or based on a configured or pre-configured data model or a data model generated based on an artificial intelligence (AI) model and / or a machine learning (ML) model. The data model can be implemented in the SL-UE or other entities. In other words, beam adjustment can be based on a data model generated within one or more sidelink UEs, for example, based on a configured or pre-configured data model or based on an artificial intelligence (AI) and / or machine learning (ML) model. If the UE's processing capabilities are limited, the data model can also be implemented in a third entity or calculated by other entities and downloaded to the corresponding UE. For example, the model can be stored in a network entity (such as a base station or CN network function), or stored by other higher-level processors, and stored on the Internet.

[0564] Overview

[0565] The embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above. Each embodiment and aspect can be implemented individually, or two or more embodiments or aspects can be combined. For example, in response to providing one or more BMRs according to the first aspect of the present invention, a beam management process according to the second and / or third aspects of the present invention can be implemented and the information provided in the BMRs can be utilized. Similarly, prior to implementing the beam management process according to the second and / or third aspects of the present invention, the generation and distribution of one or more BMRs according to the first aspect of the present invention can be triggered, thereby taking into account the information in the BMRs when performing the corresponding beam management process.

[0566] According to an embodiment, the SL-UE can use carrier aggregation (CA) or utilize one or more of the following simultaneously for SL communication by using carrier switching:

[0567] -Use one or more high-frequency bands from resources derived from licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum, e.g., FR2; and

[0568] - Use one or more low-frequency bands from resources derived from licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum, such as FR1.

[0569] Carrier aggregation (CA) uses more than one carrier simultaneously in the frequency domain. Carrier switching uses resources within a specific time band (e.g., FR1) and resources within another frequency band (e.g., FR2) in a different time instance. Carrier switching can save resources, such as power consumption in devices, while still allowing the use of resources from more than one frequency band. Typically, control traffic can be transmitted very robustly on low-frequency carriers (e.g., FR1), while data exchange can be performed on high-frequency carriers (e.g., FR2), thus enabling high data rate transmission over a wider frequency band.

[0570] According to embodiments, the wireless communication system may include a terrestrial network, a non-terrestrial network, or a network or network segment that uses an empty vehicle or a space-based vehicle as a receiver, or a combination thereof. Furthermore, the wireless communication system may be a system or network different from the aforementioned 4G or 5G mobile communication systems; conversely, embodiments of the method of the present invention may also be implemented in any other wireless communication network, for example, in a private network (such as an intranet or any other type of campus network), or in a WiFi communication system.

[0571] According to embodiments of the present invention, the user equipment includes one or more of the following: a power-limited UE; or a handheld UE, such as a UE used by pedestrians, and referred to as a vulnerable road user (VRU); or a pedestrian UE (P-UE); or a personal or handheld UE used by public safety personnel and emergency responders, and referred to as a public safety UE (PS-UE); or an IoT UE, for example, a sensor, actuator, or UE provided in a campus network performing repetitive tasks and requiring input from a gateway node at periodic intervals; or a mobile terminal; or a stationary terminal; or a cell IoT-UE; or a vehicle UE; or a vehicle group leader UE (GL-UE); or a sidelink relay; or an IoT or narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) device; or a wearable device, such as a smartwatch, or a fitness tracker or smart glasses; or a ground-based vehicle; or an aircraft; or a drone; or a mobile base station; or a roadside unit (RSU); or a building; or any other item or device that provides network connectivity enabling the item / device to communicate using a wireless communication network, such as a sensor or actuator; or any other item or device that provides network connectivity enabling the item / device to communicate using a sidelink of a wireless communication network, such as a sensor or actuator; or a Wi-Fi device, such as a station (STA), access point (AP), node, or mesh node; or a mesh point; or a mesh AP; or any network entity with sidelink capability.

[0572] According to embodiments of the present invention, network entities include one or more of the following: macro cell base stations; or small cell base stations; or central units of base stations; or integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes; or distributed units of base stations; or roadside units (RSUs); or Wi-Fi devices (such as access points (APs) or mesh nodes (Mesh APs)); or remote wireless heads; or AMFs; or MMEs; or SMFs; or core network entities; or mobile edge computing (MEC) entities; or network slices in NR or 5G core contexts; and any transmit / receive point (TRP) that enables items or devices to communicate using wireless communication networks, and the items or devices have network connectivity capabilities to communicate using wireless communication networks.

[0573] Although some aspects of the above concepts are described in the context of an apparatus, it is clear that these aspects also represent descriptions of the corresponding methods, where modules or devices correspond to method steps or features of method steps. Similarly, aspects described in the context of method steps also represent descriptions of corresponding modules, items, or features of the corresponding apparatus.

[0574] The various elements and features of this invention can be implemented in hardware using analog and / or digital circuitry, in software, by executing instructions via one or more general-purpose or special-purpose processors, or as a combination of hardware and software. For example, embodiments of this invention can be implemented in the environment of a computer system or another processing system. Figure 19 An example of a computer system 600 is shown. These units or modules, and the steps of the methods performed by these units, can be executed on one or more computer systems 600. The computer system 600 includes one or more processors 602, such as dedicated or general-purpose digital signal processors. The processors 602 are connected to a communication infrastructure 604, such as a bus or network. The computer system 600 includes main memory 606, such as random access memory (RAM), and secondary memory 608, such as hard disk drives and / or removable storage drives. The secondary memory 608 can allow computer programs or other instructions to be loaded into the computer system 600. The computer system 600 may also include a communication interface 610 to enable the transfer of software and data between the computer system 600 and external devices. Such communication can take the form of electronic, electromagnetic, optical, or other signals that can be processed by the communication interface. Communication can use wires or cables, optical fibers, telephone lines, cellular telephone links, RF links, and other communication channels 612.

[0575] The terms "computer program medium" and "computer-readable medium" generally refer to tangible storage media, such as removable storage units or hard disks installed in hard disk drives. These computer program products are means of providing software to computer system 600. The computer program, also referred to as computer control logic, is stored in main memory 606 and / or auxiliary memory 608. The computer program can also be received via communication interface 610. When the computer program is executed, it causes computer system 600 to implement the contents of the present invention. In particular, when the computer program is executed, it causes processor 602 to implement the processes of the present invention, such as any methods described herein. Thus, such a computer program can represent the controller of computer system 600. If the present invention is implemented using software, then the software can be stored in the computer program product and loaded into computer system 600 via a removable storage drive or an interface (such as communication interface 610).

[0576] The implementation in hardware or software can be carried out using digital storage media, such as cloud storage, floppy disks, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, CDs, ROMs, PROMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, or FLASH memories. These storage media have electronically readable control signals stored thereon that cooperate with or are capable of cooperating with a programmable computer system to implement the corresponding methods. Therefore, such digital storage media can be computer-readable.

[0577] Some embodiments of the present invention include a data carrier having electronically readable control signals thereon, which are capable of cooperating with a programmable computer system to implement one of the methods described herein.

[0578] Typically, embodiments of the present invention can be implemented in the form of a computer program product including program code, which, when run on a computer, enables the program code to execute one of the methods therein. For example, the program code can be stored on a readable machine medium.

[0579] Other embodiments include a computer program for performing one of the methods described herein, the computer program being stored on a readable machine carrier. In other words, therefore, one embodiment of the method of the present invention is a computer program comprising program code for performing one of the methods described herein, the program code being executable when the computer program is run on a computer.

[0580] Therefore, another embodiment of the method of the present invention is a data carrier or digital storage medium, or a computer-readable medium, on which a computer program for performing one of the methods described in the present invention is recorded. Therefore, another embodiment of the method of the present invention is a data stream or signal sequence representing a computer program for performing one of the methods described in the present invention. For example, the data stream or signal sequence can be configured to be transmitted via a data communication connection, such as via the Internet. Another embodiment includes a processing apparatus, such as a computer or programmable logic device, for performing or adapted to perform one of the methods described in the present invention. Another embodiment includes a computer on which a computer program for performing one of the methods described in the present invention is installed.

[0581] In some embodiments, a programmable logic device, such as a field-programmable array (FPGA), can be used to perform some or all of the functions of the methods described herein. In some embodiments, the FPGA may work in conjunction with a microprocessor to perform one of the methods described herein. Typically, these methods are preferably performed by any hardware device.

[0582] The above embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles of the present invention. It is understood that modifications and variations to the above structures and details will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the intent is limited only by the scope of the forthcoming patent claims, and not by the specific details presented herein through the description and explanation of the embodiments.

Claims

1. A user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network, in, The UE is a sidelink SL-UE that uses more than one antenna or antenna element to communicate with one or more other SL-UEs via the sidelink SL. In this context, the UE is served by the base station of the wireless communication network. In this process, the UE is assisted by the base station in performing one or more beam management procedures.

2. The user equipment (UE) according to claim 1, wherein, The UE is assisted by the base station in coordinating beam management in one or more of the following ways: - Beam pairing, for example, to find beam pair links between SL-UEs during the discovery of adjacent SL-UEs within the required communication range; - Beam maintenance; and - Beam fault recovery.

3. The user equipment (UE) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, The UE is subject to base station-assisted coordinated beam management during the following periods: -SL discovery; and / or -SL link recovery; and / or Data exchange on SL-UE to trigger beam scanning at one or both of the transmission SL-UE TX SL-UE and reception SL-UE RX SL-UE.

4. The user equipment (UE) according to claim 3, wherein, The UE is a TX SL-UE or an RX SL-UE, and in the case of data exchange on the SL, the UE sends a request to the base station to perform beam scanning at one or more other SL-UEs, the request causing the base station to trigger beam scanning at one or more other SL-UEs, wherein the request may be included in a control signal or a scheduling request SR.

5. The user equipment (UE) according to claim 3 or 4, wherein, In the case of data exchange on SL, UE: - Receive beam scanning configuration distribution to adjust transmission on two or more transmit antennas of both TX SL-UE and RX SL-UE, wherein the beam scanning configuration may include precoder configuration, timing, or frequency information, or - Send Auxiliary Information (AIM), which includes beam coordination information, including precoder configuration, timing, or frequency information.

6. The user equipment (UE) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein, The UE communicates with other SL-UEs in the first frequency band, for example, in one of the high frequency bands such as FR2 and the low frequency bands such as FR1; as well as The UE is assisted by the base station to perform beam management in a second frequency band, for example, in another of a high-frequency band such as FR2 and a low-frequency band such as FR1.

7. A base station for a wireless communication network, in, The base station serves multiple sidelink UEs, SL-UEs, and multiple SL-UEs communicate with each other via sidelink SL using beamforming. In this process, the base station assists one or more SL-UEs in beam management.

8. The base station according to claim 7, wherein, The base station assists in coordinating beam management in one or more of the following ways: - Beam pairing, for example, to find beam pair links between SL-UEs during the discovery of adjacent SL-UEs within the required communication range; - Beam maintenance, for example, for maintaining beam alignment; and - Beam fault recovery.

9. The base station according to claim 7 or 8, wherein, The base station assists in coordinating beam management during the following periods: -SL discovery, and / or -SL link recovery, and / or Data exchange on SL-UE to trigger beam scanning at one or both of the transmission SL-UE TX SL-UE and reception SL-UE RX SL-UE.

10. The base station according to claim 9, wherein, In the case of data exchange on SL, the base station: - Receive a request from one SL-UE to perform beam scanning at one or more other SL-UEs, wherein the request may be included in a control signal or scheduling request SR; and - In response to a request, trigger beam scanning at one or more other SL-UEs, and The request is notified by TX SL-UE or RX SL-UE signaling.

11. The base station according to claim 9 or 10, wherein, In the case of data exchange on SL, the base station causes: - Beam scanning configuration distribution to adjust transmission on multiple transmit antennas of both the TX SL-UE and RX SL-UE, wherein the beam scanning configuration may include precoder configuration, timing, or frequency information, or The transmission of Auxiliary Information (AIM) between the TX SL-UE and the RX SL-UE. AIM includes beam coordination information, which may include precoder configuration, timing, or frequency information.

12. The base station according to any one of claims 7 to 11, wherein, Multiple sidelink UEs (SLs) communicate with each other via sidelink SLs using more than one antenna or antenna element in a first frequency band, such as one of a high-frequency band like FR2 and a low-frequency band like FR1; and The base station assists one or more SL-UEs in performing beam management procedures in a second frequency band, such as in another high-frequency band like FR2 and a low-frequency band like FR1.

13. A user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network, in, The UE is a sidelink SL-UE and communicates with one or more other SL-UEs via the sidelink SL using more than one antenna or antenna element. The UE uses beam scanning signals for beam scanning.

14. The user equipment (UE) according to claim 13, wherein, The UE sends a communication request within the beam scanning signal.

15. The user equipment (UE) according to claim 14, wherein, In response to successfully receiving a communication response from the target SL-UE, the UE: - Determine the matching beam between the UE and the target SL-UE; and / or - Reserve at least one beam pair link for communication between the first SL-UE A and the second SL-UE.

16. A user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network, in, The UE is a sidelink SL-UE and communicates with one or more other SL-UEs via the sidelink SL using more than one antenna or antenna element. The UE receives beam scanning signals from at least one other SL-UE.

17. The user equipment (UE) according to claim 16, wherein, The UE receives communication requests from other SL-UEs, and the communication requests are included in the beam scanning signal.

18. The user equipment (UE) according to claim 16 or 17, wherein, Upon successfully receiving a beam scanning signal from another SL-UE, the UE sends a communication response including relevant information, which may include one or more of the following: - Beam ID; -UE ID, for example, source ID and / or destination ID; - UE type, for example, source type and / or destination type, such as vehicle UE, RSU, P-UE; -CSI feedback; - The type of scanning signal, for example, the reference signal and / or beam pattern used; -UE capabilities, such as which features are supported, such as maximum rank, peak data rate, and supported codebooks; - Matching beam time slots, for example, can establish time instances of beam pairs to links; and - Frequency resources, for example, can be used to establish sub-channels of the beam link.

19. A wireless communication network, comprising: Multiple sidelink UEs (SL-UEs) using more than one antenna, for example using beamforming, communicate with each other via a sidelink SL, the multiple SL-UEs including a first SL-UE according to any one of claims 13 to 15 and a second SL-UE according to any one of claims 16 to 18. The first SL-UE uses a beam scanning signal to perform beam scanning and sends communication requests within the beam scanning signal.

20. The wireless communication network according to claim 19, wherein, The first SL-UE and the second SL-UE are synchronized with a time reference, and the first SL-UE and the second SL-UE use the time reference to point to one or more time slots that are beam-matched to the first SL-UE and the second SL-UE.

21. The wireless communication network according to claim 20, wherein, The time reference is one of the following: - External time reference, such as GPS; - Network time reference, for example, a time reference obtained from a base station, the core network (CN), or another server on the Internet; -Side link synchronization signal SLSS; - A UE that acts as a time reference, for example, a transmitter UE used as a time reference or to give the relative time of a request sent by the UE.

22. A user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network, in, The UE is a sidelink SL-UE and communicates with one or more other SL-UEs via the sidelink SL using more than one antenna or antenna element. In this context, the UE uses the matched beams of the UE and other SL-UEs to communicate with at least one other SL-UE via the side link SL, and In response to specific events, the UE performs beam adjustments, for example, to maintain beam matching between the UE and other SL-UEs.

23. The user equipment (UE) according to claim 22, wherein, In order to perform beam adjustment, the UE changes the UE's beam from the first beam to the second beam, for example, so that the UE's beam is pointed directly or through a reflector toward the direction of other SL-UEs.

24. The user equipment (UE) according to claim 22 or 23, wherein, Beam adjustment is performed in response to one or more of the following events: -Other SL-UEs move from the first position of the first time instance to the second position of the second time instance; - Other SL-UE indicators of degradation, for example, based on beam power measurements; - The UE determines a new main beam in response to a beam scan or a reduced beam scan that detects adjacent sidelobes of the main beam. - Other SL-UE reports feature new beams with higher power and / or less interference, for example, higher SINR or SNR or RSSI or higher half-power beamwidth; - Indicates the variation of the list of m best beams (a list of the top m beams) and / or m worst beams (a list of the worst m beams) among multiple beams, for example, in terms of signal power and / or interference; -UE predicts the movement of other SL-UEs; -UE predicts a better beam, for example, to continue the beam angle shift; - Receive auxiliary information, such as AIM, or higher-level auxiliary information, such as Collaborative Awareness Message (CAM) or Distributed Environment Notification Message (DENM), including one or more of the following: speed, direction, angle, distance, position, acceleration, future route, or future location of other SL-UEs that provide auxiliary information.

25. The user equipment (UE) according to any one of claims 22 to 24, wherein, Beam adjustment is based on the following: -Historical data, for example, if the beam moved to a specific direction within a specific time unit in the past, the beam moves to that specific direction based on interpolation; and / or - The resulting data model, for example, a data model based on a configured or pre-configured data model or a data model generated based on an artificial intelligence (AI) model and / or a machine learning (ML) model.

26. The user equipment (UE) according to claim 25, wherein, The data model was implemented: -In SL-UE; or - In another entity, to be downloaded to the SL-UE, the other entity includes, for example, a network entity such as a gNB or a core network CN network function NF or another higher-level processor, for example, storing the data model in the Internet.

27. A wireless communication network, comprising: Multiple sidelink UEs (SL-UEs) communicate with each other via sidelink SL, the multiple SL-UEs including a first SL-UE and a second SL-UE according to any one of claims 22 to 26, the first SL-UE and the second SL-UE communicating with each other using matched beams transmitted by the first SL-UE and the second SL-UE, and In response to a specific event, one or both of the first SL-UE and the second SL-UE perform beam adjustment to maintain the matching of the beams transmitted by the first SL-UE and the second SL-UE.

28. The user equipment (UE) or network entity or wireless communication network according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, SL-UE uses resources from licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum in high-frequency bands such as FR2 for SL communication.

29. The user equipment (UE) or network entity or wireless communication network according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, Multiple SL-UEs can communicate simultaneously using carrier aggregation (CA) or by using carrier handover: - High-frequency bands using resources from licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum, such as FR2; and - Use low-frequency bands from resources derived from licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum, such as FR1.

30. The user equipment (UE) or network entity or wireless communication network according to any one of the preceding claims, in, UE includes one or more of the following: power-limited UE; or handheld UE, such as a UE used by pedestrians and referred to as a vulnerable road user (VRU); or pedestrian UE, P-UE; or personal or handheld UE used by public safety personnel and emergency responders and referred to as a public safety UE, PS-UE; or IoT UE, such as a sensor, actuator, or UE provided in a campus network to perform repetitive tasks and request input from a gateway node at periodic intervals; or mobile terminal; or stationary terminal; or cell IoT-UE; or SL UE; or vehicle UE; or vehicle group leader UE, GL-UE; or dispatch UE, S-UE; or IoT or narrowband IoT, NB-IoT, device; or ground-based vehicle; or aircraft; Or unmanned aerial vehicles; or mobile base stations; or roadside units (RSUs); or buildings; Or any other item or device that provides network connectivity enabling the item / device to communicate using a wireless communication network, such as a sensor or actuator; or any other item or device that provides network connectivity enabling the item / device to communicate using a sidelink of a wireless communication network, such as a sensor or actuator; or a Wi-Fi device, station (STA), access point (AP), node, or mesh node; or mesh point; or mesh AP; or any network entity with sidelink capability, and The network entities of the wireless communication system include one or more of the following: - Base stations, such as macro cell base stations, or small cell base stations, or central units of base stations, or distributed units of base stations, or integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes, or Wi-Fi devices such as access points (APs) or mesh nodes (Mesh APs). -Roadside Unit (RSU); -UE, such as SL-UE, or group leader UE, GL-UE, or relay UE; - Remote wireless head; - Core network entities, such as Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), or Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) entities; - Such as network slicing in the context of NR or 5G core; and - Any Transmitter Point (TRP) that enables items or devices to communicate using a wireless communication network, whereby the items or devices possess network connectivity to communicate using a wireless communication network.

31. A wireless communication system, such as a 3GPP system or a WiFi communication system, comprising a user equipment (UE) and / or a network entity according to any one of the preceding claims.

32. A method for operating a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network, the method comprising: A sidelink UE (SL-UE) that is served by a base station of a wireless communication network uses more than one antenna or antenna element to communicate with one or more other SL-UEs via the sidelink SL. The base station assists the UE in performing one or more beam management processes.

33. A method for operating a base station for a wireless communication network, the method comprising: Multiple sidelink UEs (SL-UEs) that communicate with each other via sidelink SL using beamforming provided by a base station service; as well as The beam management process is assisted by the base station to one or more SL-UEs.

34. A method for operating a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network, the method comprising: As a sidelink UE, an SL-UE uses more than one antenna or antenna element to communicate with one or more other SL-UEs via the sidelink SL; as well as The UE uses beam scanning signals to perform beam scanning.

35. A method for operating a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network, the method comprising: For a sidelink UE, an SL-UE uses more than one antenna or antenna element to communicate with one or more other SL-UEs via the sidelink SL, and The UE receives beam scanning signals from at least one other SL-UE.

36. A method for operating a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication network, the method comprising: For a sidelink UE, an SL-UE uses more than one antenna or antenna element to communicate with one or more other SL-UEs via the sidelink SL, wherein the UE uses matched beams of the UE and other SL-UEs to communicate with at least one other SL-UE via the sidelink SL, and In response to specific events, the UE performs beam adjustment, for example, to maintain the UE's beam matching with the beams of other SL-UEs.

37. A non-transitory computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed on a computer, implement the method of any one of claims 32 to 36.

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