Signaling method for aggregated CSI-RS resources for large arrays

Abstract

Systems and methods for signaling aggregated channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources for a large array are provided. In some embodiments, a method performed by a user equipment (UE) includes: configuring channel measurement resources in a set of channel measurement resources; receiving an indication to group the channel measurement resources; aggregating antenna ports in measurement resources within each subset of the one or more subsets of channel measurement resources, the total number of antenna ports being greater than 32; performing channel measurement on the total number of antenna ports; calculating one or more channel state information (CSI) based on the one or more subsets; and reporting the one or more calculated CSI to the network node. In this manner, the network node may effectively signal to the UE which traditional CSI-RS resources may be aggregated to form an aggregated CSI-RS resource that contains a larger number of CSI-RS ports.

Description

[0001] Related applications

[0002] This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application serial number 63 / 516,247, filed on July 28, 2023, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Technical Field

[0003] This disclosure generally relates to wireless communications. Background Technology

[0004] Codebook-based precoding

[0005] Multi-antenna technology can significantly increase the data rate and reliability of wireless communication systems. Performance is particularly enhanced when both the transmitter and receiver are equipped with multiple antennas, resulting in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication channel. Such systems and / or related technologies are commonly referred to as MIMO.

[0006] The core components of fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks, or new radio (NR), support MIMO antenna deployment and MIMO-related technologies such as spatial multiplexing. Spatial multiplexing can be used to increase data rates under favorable channel conditions. Figure 1 An example of space multiplexing is shown. Carrying a symbol vector. Information multiplied by Precoding matrix or precoder It is used in The emission energy is distributed in a subspace of the dimensional vector space. The precoder matrix is ​​typically selected from a codebook of possible precoder matrices and is usually indicated by a precoder matrix indicator (PMI) (which specifies a unique precoder matrix in the codebook for a given number of symbol streams). In Each symbol corresponds to a MIMO layer, and This is called the transmission rank, which is equal to the pre-encoder rank. The number of columns. In this way, spatial multiplexing is achieved because multiple symbols can be transmitted simultaneously on the same time / frequency resource element (RE). The number of symbols The adaptation is usually made to match the current channel attributes.

[0007] NR uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) in the downlink. The UE receives [the signal] on a certain RE. vector It can be represented as:

[0008]

[0009] in, This is the receiver noise / interference vector. (Pre-encoder) It can be frequency constant (i.e., broadband) or frequency selective (i.e., per sub-band).

[0010] pre-encoder Selected as match MIMO channel matrix The characteristics of this lead to what is known as channel-dependent precoding. This is also commonly referred to as closed-loop precoding.

[0011] In closed-loop precoding, the UE provides feedback to the gNB in ​​the form of a PMI (Programmable Memory Index) based on downlink channel measurements, recommending suitable precoders. For this purpose, the UE is configured with a Channel State Information (CSI) reporting configuration, which includes a CSI Reference Signal (CSI-RS) for channel measurements and a codebook of candidate precoders. In addition to the precoders, this feedback may also include a Rank Indicator (RI) and one or two Channel Quality Indicators (CQIs). RI, PMI, and CQI are part of the CSI feedback. In NR (Normally Injected Radio), CSI feedback can be wideband (where one CSI is reported for the entire channel bandwidth) or frequency-selective (where one CSI is reported for each subband), each subband being defined as multiple consecutive Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) ranging from 4 to 32 PRBs, depending on the Bandwidth Partial (BWP) size.

[0012] Based on the CSI feedback from the UE, the gNB determines the transmission parameters it wishes to use for transmission to the UE, including the precoding matrix, transmission rank, and modulation and coding scheme (MCS).

[0013] 2D antenna array

[0014] Two-dimensional antenna arrays are widely used, and such antenna arrays can be controlled by the number of antenna ports in the first dimension (e.g., the horizontal dimension). The number of antenna ports in the second dimension (e.g., the vertical dimension) perpendicular to the first dimension. and polarization number To describe it. Therefore, the total number of antenna ports is The concept of an antenna port is non-limiting in the sense that it can refer to any virtualization (e.g., linear mapping) of a physical antenna element. For example, a pair of physical antenna elements can be fed the same signal and therefore share the same virtual antenna port.

[0015] Below Figure 2 The image shows an antenna element with dual polarization (i.e., )of (Right now, Example of an array.

[0016] Precoding can be interpreted as multiplying the signal to be transmitted by a set of beamforming weights at the antenna port before transmission. A typical approach is to customize the precoder for the antenna shape factor; that is, to consider N1, N2, and N when designing the precoder codebook. p .

[0017] Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS):

[0018] CSI-RS is defined for CSI measurement and feedback. CSI-RS is transmitted on the antenna port of the gNB and used by the UE to measure the downlink channel between the antenna port and each of the UE's receive antenna ports. The transmit antenna port is also referred to as the CSI-RS port. The number of CSI-RS ports supported in NR is {1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32}. By measuring the received CSI-RS, the UE can estimate the channel that the CSI-RS is traversing, including the radio propagation channel and antenna gain. CSI-RS used for the above purposes is also referred to as Non-Zero Power (NZP) CSI-RS.

[0019] CSI-RS can be configured to be transmitted in time slots and in certain REs within certain time slots. Figure 3 An example of a CSI-RS RE with 12 antenna ports is shown, where one RE is shown for each RB per port.

[0020] In addition, NR defines Interference Measurement Resources (IMR) for UEs to measure interference. An IMR resource consists of four REs: four frequency-adjacent REs within the same OFDM symbol, or two time- and frequency-adjacent REs within a time slot. By measuring both NZP CSI-RS-based channel and IMR-based interference, the UE can estimate the effective channel and noise-plus-interference to determine the CSI. Furthermore, UEs in NR can be configured to measure interference based on one or more NZP CSI-RS resources.

[0021] CSI framework in NR

[0022] In NR, a UE can be configured with multiple CSI reporting settings and multiple CSI-RS resource settings. Each resource setting can contain multiple resource sets, and each resource set can contain up to 8 CSI-RS resources. For each CSI reporting setting, the UE feeds back a CSI report.

[0023] Each CSI report setting should include at least the following information:

[0024] - CSI-RS resource settings for channel measurements

[0025] - IMR resource set for interference measurement

[0026] -Optional, CSI-RS resource set for interference measurement

[0027] - Temporal behavior, i.e., periodic, semi-persistent, or non-periodic reporting.

[0028] - Frequency granularity, i.e., broadband or subband

[0029] - CSI parameters to report when multiple CSI-RS resources exist in the resource set, such as RI, PMI, CQI, and CSI-RS Resource Indicator (CRI).

[0030] - Codebook types N1, N2 (i.e., type I or type II) and codebook subset restrictions

[0031] - Measurement limitations

[0032] - Subband size. Indicates one of two possible subband sizes, with the value range depending on the BWP's bandwidth. Each subband provides a CQI / PMI feedback (if configured for subband reporting).

[0033] A CSI-RS resource setting used for channel measurements can contain one or more CSI-RS resource sets. However, only one CSI-RS resource set is further configured for CSI reporting. When more than one CSI-RS resource exists / is configured in a CSI-RS resource set, only one of the CSI-RS resources is selected, and the associated CSI is reported in the CSI report. The selected CSI-RS resource is also indicated by the CSI-RS Resource Indicator (CRI) in the CSI report. Each of the CSI-RS resources, CSI-RS resource sets, and CSI-RS resource settings has an associated index or identifier (ID).

[0034] For CSI reporting of noncoherent joint transmissions (NC-JT) across multiple transmit / receive points (TRPs), the UE is configured with two sets of CSI-RS resources in a CSI-RS resource set for channel measurements, where each set of CSI-RS resources is associated with one TRP. The UE selects one CSI-RS resource from each of the two sets and reports the CSI associated with both selected CSI-RS resources, where the CSI includes the CRI, the rank indicator, and the PMI associated with each of the two selected CSI-RS resources.

[0035] For CSI reporting of coherent joint transport (CJT) over multiple TRPs, the UE is configured with multiple CSI-RS resources in a CSI-RS resource set for channel measurements, each CSI-RS resource associated with a TRP. The UE can be configured to select a subset of CSI-RS resources and report the Type II codebook-based CJT CSI of the selected CSI-RS resources. The selected CSI-RS resources are also indicated in the CSI report.

[0036] For CSI reports with channel prediction targeting medium and high UE mobility, the UE is configured with multiple CSI-RS resources in a CSI-RS resource set for channel measurement. Each CSI-RS resource corresponds to the same set of antenna ports transmitted at different time instances. Multiple CSI-RS resources are used to measure and predict channel changes. Predicted CSI for future time periods is calculated and reported. Summary of the Invention

[0037] Systems and methods are provided for signaling aggregated channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) resources for large arrays. In some embodiments, a method performed by a user equipment (UE) includes: multiple channel measurement resources configured with one or more channel measurement resource sets for channel measurement; receiving an instruction to group the multiple channel measurement resources into one or more subsets of channel measurement resources; aggregating antenna ports in the measurement resources within each subset of the one or more channel measurement resource subsets, wherein the total number of antenna ports within each subset of the one or more channel measurement resource subsets is greater than 32 ports; performing channel measurements on a total number of antenna ports within each subset of the one or more channel measurement resource subsets; calculating one or more channel state information (CSI) based on the one or more channel measurement resource subsets; and reporting the calculated one or more CSIs to a network node. In this way, the network node can effectively signal to the UE which conventional CSI-RS resources (i.e., resources each with 32 or fewer CSI-RS ports) can be aggregated to form an aggregated CSI-RS resource containing a larger number of CSI-RS ports (e.g., 64, 96, or 128 CSI-RS ports).

[0038] In some embodiments, channel measurement resources include one or more antenna ports for measurement, and / or resource elements configured in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) time-frequency grid.

[0039] In some embodiments, a first configured channel measurement resource subset is associated with a first aggregated index, and a second configured channel measurement resource subset is associated with a second aggregated index.

[0040] In some embodiments, the first channel measurement subset and the second channel measurement subset are mutually exclusive subsets.

[0041] In some embodiments, the first aggregated resource and the second aggregated resource correspond to two independent new channel measurement resources.

[0042] In some embodiments, all channel measurement resources in each subset have the same number of antenna ports. In some embodiments, the channel measurement resources in each subset may have a different number of antenna ports.

[0043] In some embodiments, the configuration of the second subset is optional.

[0044] In some embodiments, the CSI consists of one or more of the following: a rank indicator (RI), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), and a channel quality indicator (CQI). In some embodiments, the PMI is obtained from a codebook defined based on the number of CSI-RS ports in the aggregated resource.

[0045] In some embodiments, when all channel measurement resources are configured with the same aggregate index, the CSI Resource Indicator (CRI) is not reported as part of the CSI, and the resource is used for channel measurement and CSI feedback.

[0046] In some embodiments, the value of the CRI indicating a certain aggregate resource is the same as the aggregate ID of that aggregate resource.

[0047] In some embodiments, the CRI of a certain aggregate resource is indicated based on a certain order of aggregate resources associated with the reporting settings.

[0048] In some embodiments, the order of aggregate resources associated with a reporting setting is based on the aggregate ID of the aggregate resource associated with that reporting setting.

[0049] In some embodiments, each aggregate resource represents a send / receive point (TRP).

[0050] In some embodiments, all aggregated resources are used as different samples to calculate the predicted PMI or the predicted / Doppler compressed PMI.

[0051] In some embodiments, for CSI used for noncoherent joint transmission (NC-JT), one or more aggregate resources are configured for each channel measurement resource (CMR) group.

[0052] In some embodiments, aggregated resources are indicated by a pair of CSI-RS IDs. In some embodiments, only the number of aggregated resources is indicated for each channel measurement resource set level.

[0053] In some embodiments, the top N channels in the channel measurement resource set x Each channel measurement resource will generate the first of N aggregated resources indicating the number of resources, and the next N... x Each channel measurement resource will generate the next aggregated resource, and so on.

[0054] In some embodiments, the aggregate index may be implicitly sent by signaling or determined via the channel measurement resource set ID.

[0055] In some embodiments, the nth channel measurement resource in each channel measurement resource set is aggregated and becomes the nth aggregated channel measurement resource, wherein... And N is the number of channel measurement resources in each channel measurement resource set.

[0056] In some embodiments, where aggregated indexes are implicitly signaled, an identifier indicating that resource aggregation is enabled is introduced.

[0057] In some embodiments, the identifier is included in the Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) Resource Set Information Element (IE).

[0058] In some embodiments, the aggregation index of channel measurement resources in the channel measurement resource set is implicitly determined by parameters N1 and N2 configured in the corresponding codebook configuration, wherein N1 and N2 indicate the number of channel measurement antenna ports for each aggregated channel measurement resource in the first dimension and the second dimension, respectively. Attached Figure Description

[0059] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of this specification, illustrate several aspects of this disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of this disclosure.

[0060] Figure 1 An example of space reuse is shown;

[0061] Figure 2 It shows an antenna element with dual polarization (i.e., )of (Right now, Example of an array;

[0062] Figure 3 An example of Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) Resource Elements (REs) for 12 antenna ports is shown, where one RE is shown per resource block (RB) per port;

[0063] Figure 4 A flowchart illustrating a general embodiment disclosed herein is shown;

[0064] Figure 5A first example embodiment is shown in which two NZP CSI-RS resources are configured within a non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resource set and an aggregate index (e.g., aggregate ID=0) is configured for each NZP CSI-RS resource;

[0065] Figure 6 A second example embodiment is shown, in which eight NZP CSI-RS resources are configured within an NZP CSI-RS resource set.

[0066] Figure 7 An example of information elements for configuring aggregated NZP CSI-RS resources is shown;

[0067] Figure 8 A first example embodiment is shown, which configures four NZP CSI-RS resources within two NZP CSI-RS resource sets;

[0068] Figure 9 A second example embodiment of implicitly signaling aggregated indexes is shown, wherein two NZPCSI-RS resource sets are configured, each resource set having four NZP CSI-RS resources;

[0069] Figure 10 An example embodiment is shown where the CSI resources for channel measurement comprise a single CSI-RS resource set consisting of four 32-port CSI-RS resources;

[0070] Figure 11 Examples of communication systems according to some embodiments of this disclosure are shown;

[0071] Figure 12 User equipment (UE) according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0072] Figure 13 Network nodes according to some embodiments of this disclosure are shown;

[0073] Figure 14 This is a block diagram of a host according to various aspects of the present disclosure described herein, the host may be Figure 11 An example of a host computer;

[0074] Figure 15 This is a block diagram illustrating a virtualized environment capable of virtualizing the functionality implemented by some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0075] Figure 16 A communication diagram is shown illustrating a host communicating with a UE via a network node through a partial wireless connection, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Detailed Implementation

[0076] The embodiments described below provide information for those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and illustrate the best mode for practicing the embodiments. After reading the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of this disclosure and will recognize the applications of these concepts not specifically given herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of this disclosure.

[0077] Some embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. These embodiments are provided by way of example only to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0078] There are some challenges. As carrier frequencies become available above 6 GHz, more antenna elements can be accommodated at these higher frequencies for the same antenna size than at today's widely deployed sub-6 GHz carrier frequencies. In NR, the maximum number of antenna ports supported by CSI feedback based on a Type I single-panel codebook is 32. A straightforward solution to handling a large number (i.e., more than 32) of antenna elements would be to increase the antenna subarray size, mapping antenna ports (or equivalently, CSI-RS ports) to multiple antenna elements, while keeping the maximum number of antenna ports at 32. However, if there are many antenna elements in the subarray, this will reduce angular coverage because the subarray (or antenna port) antenna beam pattern will be much narrower than the beam pattern of each antenna element, which typically has an antenna pattern covering the entire serving cell.

[0079] An alternative solution is to introduce more CSI-RS ports and expand the existing NR Type I codebook to support more than 32 ports, such as 64 or 128 ports. For 64 and 128 ports, it has been discussed that (in the existing NR specification) multiple CSI-RS resources can be aggregated to support new (version 19 and higher) UEs measuring more than 32 ports at the base station / gNB / network node.

[0080] However, how to effectively signal which CSI-RS resources to aggregate in existing specifications, and the relevant new UE behaviors in the context of 5G NR and higher versions, are unclear in the existing technology. Therefore, how to signal which resources to aggregate for a large number of CSI-RS ports (e.g., 64 or 128 ports) is an open problem to be solved.

[0081] How to build and configure CSI-RS resources for multiple (more than 32) ports for the UE is also a problem.

[0082] Certain aspects of this disclosure and its embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. The main idea is to modify the traditional CSI-RS resource configuration by introducing aggregated indexes (either explicitly in the configuration or implicitly), whereby resources with the same index among all CSI-RS resources configured for the UE should be aggregated together by the radio device. These aggregated resources can then be used to calculate the PMI using a new codebase with dimensions matching the sum of the number of antenna ports of these aggregated resources. Aggregated indexes can be introduced at the CSI-RS resource level or the CSI-RS resource set level.

[0083] The sum of the number of antenna ports of the aggregated resources can be, but is not limited to, 64, 96, and 128.

[0084] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages. With the proposed method, the gNB can effectively signal to the UE which traditional CSI-RS resources (i.e., resources each with 32 or fewer CSI-RS ports) can be aggregated to form aggregated CSI-RS resources containing a larger number of CSI-RS ports (e.g., 64, 96, or 128 CSI-RS ports).

[0085] Some embodiments disclosed herein modify the traditional CSI-RS resource configuration by introducing aggregated indexes (either explicitly in the configuration or implicitly), and resources with the same index among all CSI-RS resources configured for the UE should be aggregated together by the radio device, and then the PMI should be calculated using these aggregated resources with a new codebook having dimensions that match the sum of the number of antenna ports of these aggregated resources.

[0086] exist Figure 4 The flowchart depicts the general embodiments disclosed herein.

[0087] In the first step, the network node (e.g., a gNB or similar network node in the context of 6G and higher generations) uses one or more NZP CSI-RS resource sets for multiple channel measurement resources (e.g., NZP CSI-RS resources) for channel measurement to configure the radio device (e.g., UE).

[0088] Channel measurement resources include one or more antenna ports used for measurement and are mapped to resource elements configured in the OFDM time-frequency grid.

[0089] A first configured subset of channel measurement resources is associated with a first aggregated index, and a second configured subset of channel measurement resources is associated with a second aggregated index, wherein the first and second channel measurement subsets are mutually exclusive subsets (i.e., these two subsets do not share any resources). Therefore, these two new resources correspond to two independent new channel measurement resources.

[0090] In some embodiments, all channel measurement resources in each subset have the same number of antenna ports. For example, NZP CSI-RS resources #1 and #2 configured for channel measurement in a subset will have the same number of CSI-RS ports. In alternative embodiments, the channel measurement resources in each subset may have a different number of antenna ports. Note that in some embodiments, the configuration of the second subset may be optional. In some embodiments, the discussion of aggregated resources herein refers to channel measurement resources with a total number of antenna ports greater than 32.

[0091] In the second step, to form an aggregated channel measurement resource with a larger number of ports compared to the number of ports in any configured subset, the wireless device aggregates the antenna ports from the resources of each subset to form a superset of antenna ports. Hereinafter, the aggregated number of ports is referred to as the aggregated resource. Below are some example embodiments of the second step:

[0092] Example 1 of Step 2: Assume that NZP CSI-RS resources #1 and #2 are each configured in a first subset, and each of these resources has 32 CSI-RS ports. These resources with the same aggregation index are configured from the network (e.g., from the gNB) to the UE. Then, in this embodiment, the radio device aggregates two 32 CSI-RS ports from NZP CSI-RS resources #1 and #2 to form a first 64-port CSI-RS aggregated resource. Similarly, when NZP CSI-RS resources #3 and #4 are each configured in a second subset (with aggregation indices different from those configured for NZP CSI-RS resources #1 and #2) and each of these resources has 32 CSI-RS ports, the radio device aggregates two 32 CSI-RS ports from NZP CSI-RS resources #3 and #4 to form a second 64-port CSI-RS aggregated resource.

[0093] Example 2 of Step 2: Assume that NZP CSI-RS resources #1, #2, and #3 are each configured in a first subset, and each of these resources has 32 CSI-RS ports. Then, in this embodiment, the wireless device aggregates three 32 CSI-RS ports from NZP CSI-RS resources #1, #2, and #3 to form a first 96 CSI-RS port aggregation resource. Similarly, when NZP CSI-RS resources #4, #5, and #6 are each configured in a second subset, and each of these resources has 32 CSI-RS ports, the wireless device aggregates three 32 CSI-RS ports from NZP CSI-RS resources #4, #5, and #6 to form a second 96 CSI-RS port aggregation resource.

[0094] Example 2 of Step 3: Assume that NZP CSI-RS resources #1, #2, #3, and #4 are each configured in a first subset, and each of these resources has 32 CSI-RS ports. Then, in this embodiment, the wireless device aggregates four of the 32 CSI-RS ports from NZP CSI-RS resources #1, #2, #3, and #4 to form a first 128 CSI-RS port aggregation resource. Similarly, when NZP CSI-RS resources #5, #6, #7, and #8 are each configured in a second subset, and each of these resources has 32 CSI-RS ports, the wireless device aggregates four of the 32 CSI-RS ports from NZP CSI-RS resources #5, #6, #7, and #8 to form a second 128 CSI-RS port aggregation resource.

[0095] Example 4 of Step 2: Assume that NZP CSI-RS resources #1, #2, #3, and #4 are each configured in a first subset, and each of these resources has 16 CSI-RS ports. Then, in this embodiment, the wireless device aggregates four of the 16 CSI-RS ports from NZP CSI-RS resources #1, #2, #3, and #4 to form a first 64 CSI-RS port aggregation resource. Similarly, when NZP CSI-RS resources #5, #6, #7, and #8 are each configured in a second subset, and each of these resources has 16 CSI-RS ports, the wireless device aggregates four of the 16 CSI-RS ports from NZP CSI-RS resources #5, #6, #7, and #8 to form a second 64 CSI-RS port aggregation resource.

[0096] Example 5 of Step 2: Assume that NZP CSI-RS resources #1 and #2 are configured in the first subset, and these resources have 32 and 16 CSI-RS ports, respectively. Then, in this embodiment, the wireless device aggregates the CSI-RS ports in NZP CSI-RS resources #1 and #2 to form a first 48 CSI-RS port aggregated resource.

[0097] Example 6 of Step 2: Assume NZP CSI-RS resources #1 and #2 are configured within a first subset, and these resources have 8 and 2 CSI-RS ports, respectively. Then, in this embodiment, the wireless device aggregates the CSI-RS ports from NZP CSI-RS resources #1 and #2 to form a first 10 CSI-RS port aggregated resource. Note that the total number of CSI-RS ports is less than 32, which is the maximum supported by conventional methods; however, resources with 10 ports are unavailable for conventional terminals. Therefore, some embodiments disclosed herein allow the introduction of new CSI-RS resources with any number of CSI-RS resources through aggregation.

[0098] In the third step, the wireless device selects one or more aggregated resources and performs channel measurements on the selected aggregated resources. If the second subset is optional and not configured, only one aggregated resource may exist; in this case, the selection step is optional, and the wireless device performs channel measurements on that single aggregated resource.

[0099] In the fourth step, the wireless device calculates the CSI of one or more selected aggregated resources. The CSI may consist of a Rank Indicator (RI), a Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI), and a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI). The PMI is obtained from a codebook defined based on the number of CSI-RS ports in the aggregated resource (e.g., a 48, 64, 96, or 128-port codebook). If the second subset is optional and not configured, only one aggregated resource may exist; in this case, the wireless device calculates the CSI of that single aggregated resource.

[0100] In the fifth step, the wireless device reports the calculated CSI to the network node.

[0101] Note that for each aggregated CSI-RS resource, an interference measurement resource (CSI-IM) can also be configured for interference measurement.

[0102] Implementation Example for Signaling Aggregated Indexes for Each NZP CSI-RS Resource

[0103] Figure 5 A first example embodiment is shown, in which two NZP CSI-RS resources are configured within an NZP CSI-RS resource set, and an aggregate index (e.g., aggregate ID=0) is configured for each NZP CSI-RS resource. This is because... Figure 5 The two NZP CSI-RS resources in the NZPCSI-RS resource set shown are configured with the same aggregation ID, so the UE aggregates NZP CSI-RS resources #0 and #1 to form an aggregated resource.

[0104] exist Figure 5 In the example, since all NZP CSI-RS resources are configured with the same aggregation index, no second subset is configured. In one embodiment, when all NZP CSI-RS resources are configured with the same aggregation index, the CSI Resource Indicator (CRI) is not reported as part of the CSI because there is only a single aggregation resource and that resource is used for channel measurements and CSI feedback.

[0105] Note that because an aggregation ID is configured for each NZP CSI-RS resource, this type of aggregation is called explicit resource aggregation, such as... Figure 5 As shown.

[0106] although Figure 5 The example shows only two NZP CSI-RS resources, but this embodiment is not limiting and can be equally applied. Aggregation of NZP CSI-RS resources. That is, if If all NZP CSI-RS resources are configured with the same aggregated index, then the aggregated index will be used. NZP CSI-RS resources are used to form aggregated resources.

[0107] Figure 6 A second example embodiment is shown, configuring eight NZP CSI-RS resources within a single NZP CSI-RS resource set. However, in this case, the different NZP CSI-RS resources within the NZP CSI-RS resource set have different aggregate indices. For example... Figure 6 As shown, the following NZP CSI-RS resources have the same aggregated index:

[0108] - NZP CSI-RS resources #0 and #4 are configured with the same aggregate index (e.g., aggregate ID=0).

[0109] - NZP CSI-RS resources #1 and #5 are configured with the same aggregate index (e.g., aggregate ID=1).

[0110] - NZP CSI-RS resources #2 and #6 are configured with the same aggregate index (e.g., aggregate ID=2).

[0111] - NZP CSI-RS resources #3 and #7 are configured with the same aggregate index (e.g., aggregate ID=3).

[0112] Therefore, there can be up to four aggregate resources, where each aggregate ID corresponds to one aggregate resource.

[0113] In one embodiment, the UE can select one of the aggregated resources to perform channel measurement and CSI feedback. In this case, the UE can report the CRI as part of the CSI report to indicate which of the four aggregated resources to select for channel measurement and CSI feedback. In one embodiment, the value indicating the CRI of a particular aggregated resource is the same as the aggregate ID of that aggregated resource. In another embodiment, the CRI indicating a particular aggregated resource is based on a certain order of that aggregated resource associated with the reporting settings (i.e., CSI-ReportConfig as specified in TS38.331 version 17.2.0). In a related embodiment, the order of the aggregated resources associated with the reporting settings is based on the aggregate ID of the aggregated resource associated with the reporting settings. For example, in a reporting setting associated with an NZP-CSI-RS resource set having four NZP CSI-RS resources (where the first two NZP CSI-RS resources are generating a first aggregate resource with aggregate ID=2, and the remaining two NZP CSI-RS resources are generating a second aggregate resource with aggregate ID=3), the aggregate resources will be ordered such that the first aggregate resource is ranked first (because it has the lowest aggregate ID associated with the reporting setting for two aggregate resources) and the second aggregate resource is ranked last (because it has the highest aggregate ID associated with the reporting setting for two aggregate resources). The UE can then indicate the first aggregate resource by indicating the lowest code point value of the CRI (e.g., 0) and the second aggregate resource by indicating the highest code point value of the CRI (e.g., 1).

[0114] In another embodiment, each aggregated resource can represent a TRP and is therefore associated with a separately configured RS or TCI state of the QCL source. In the case of CJT CSI (e.g., CJT Type II CSI feedback), the UE can select more than one aggregated resource to compute the CSI. In the case of CJT Type II CSI, the UE can select one or more spatial DFT vectors from more than one aggregated resource to compute the CSI. The UE can instruct multiple CRIs to indicate which aggregated resources to select (note that in this case, one CRI indicates one aggregated resource).

[0115] In another embodiment, all aggregated resources can be used as distinct samples to calculate the predicted PMI or the predicted / Doppler compressed PMI. The predicted and / or Doppler compressed PMI is included as part of the CSI feedback. Since all aggregated resources are used to calculate the CSI in this case, it is not necessary to indicate the CRI as part of the CSI in this embodiment.

[0116] In another embodiment, for CSI of NC-JT, each Channel Measurement Resource (CMR) group can be configured with one or more aggregated resources. In this case, the UE can calculate the CSI of one or more NC-JT hypotheses, where each NC-JT hypothesis is associated with measurements on two different aggregated resources, which are associated with different CMR groups. The UE can then select one of the NC-JT hypotheses and indicate the selected NC-JT hypothesis with a CRI. The UE can also report the CSI based on the measurements associated with the two aggregated resources of the indicated NC-JT hypothesis.

[0117] In another embodiment, a pair of aggregated resources can be configured for the UE. In this case, the UE uses the configured pair of aggregated resources to calculate the NC-JT CSI. As part of the NC-JT CSI, the UE determines a first PMI corresponding to the first of the configured pair of aggregated resources and a second PMI corresponding to the second of the configured pair of aggregated resources.

[0118] In one embodiment, instead of configuring the parameter aggregation ID for each NZP CSI-RS resource, NZP CSI-RS resources can be aggregated into distinct aggregate resources by introducing one or more parameters, parameter lists, or bit fields for each NZP CSI-RS resource set (i.e., in the NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet as specified in TS 38.331 version 17.2.0). For example, a new information element (IE) can be included in the NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet IE, wherein the new information element indicates which NZP CSI-RS resources configured in the NZP CSI-RS resource set should be aggregated to form aggregate resources.

[0119] For example, suppose an NZP CSI-RS resource set consists of four NZP CSI-RS resources with NZP CSI-RS resource ID#0, NZP CSI-RS resource ID#1, NZP CSI-RS resource ID#2, and NZP CSI-RS resource ID#3. In this case, the new IE could consist of a list of bit fields, where each bit field consists of 4 bits (equal to the number of NZP CSI-RS resources in the NZP CSI-RS resource set), and where the first field in the list indicates which NZP CSI-RS resources should be aggregated into a first aggregate resource, and the second field in the list indicates which NZP CSI-RS resources should be aggregated into a second aggregate resource, and so on. For example, if the list consists of the following two bit fields:

[1100] and

[0011] , then the first aggregated resource will consist of the first NZP CSI-RS resource and the second NZP CSI-RS resource (with NZP CSI-RS resource ID#0 and NZP CSI-RS resource ID#1), and the second aggregated resource will consist of the third NZP CSI-RS resource and the fourth NZP CSI-RS resource (with NZP CSI-RS resource ID#2 and NZP CSI-RS resource ID#3).

[0120] Note that this is just one example of grouping NZP CSI-RS resources in an NZP CSI-RS resource set into aggregated resources by introducing one or more new parameters at the NZP-CSI-RS resource set level. Another example could be using explicit NZP CSI-RS resource IDs to indicate which NZP CSI-RS resources within a given NZP CSI-RS resource set should be aggregated into aggregated resources.

[0121] For example, the first entry in the list can indicate two values, “0” and “1”, which can indicate that the first aggregated resource should consist of NZP CSI-RS resource ID#0 and NZP CSI-RS resource ID#1, and in a similar manner, the second entry in the list can indicate two values, “2” and “3”, which can indicate that the second aggregated resource should consist of NZP CSI-RS resource ID#2 and NZPCSI-RS resource ID#3.

[0122] In another embodiment, aggregated resources can be indicated by a pair of NZP CSI-RS IDs, such as Figure 7As shown in the attached figure, AGGREGATEDNZP-CSI-RS-rxx defines the IDs of the NZP CSI-RS resources to be aggregated (e.g., nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceId1-rxx and nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceId2-rxx). Alternatively, instead of sending a pair of NZP CSI-RS resource IDs to be aggregated by signaling, other structures can be used, such as a list indicating the IDs of the NZP CSI-RS resources to be aggregated. Although the example shows the aggregation of two NZP CSI-RS resources, this is not limiting and can be applied to the aggregation of any number of NZP CSI-RS resources greater than one.

[0123] NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet Information Element

[0124] -- ASN1START

[0125] -- TAG-NZP-CSI-RS-RESOURCESET-START

[0126] NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet ::= SEQUENCE {

[0127] nzp-CSI-ResourceSetId NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSetId,

[0128] nzp-CSI-RS-Resources SEQUENCE (SIZE(1..maxNrofNZP-CSI-RS-ResourcesPerSet)) OF NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId,

[0129] repetition ENUMERATED { on, off}OPTIONAL, -- Need S

[0130] aperiodicTriggeringOffset INTEGER(0..6) OPTIONAL, -- Need S

[0131] trs-Info ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL,--Need R

[0132] ..., [[

[0134] aperiodicTriggeringOffset-r16 INTEGER(0..31) OPTIONAL -- Need S

[0135] ]], [[

[0137] pdc-Info-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R

[0138] cmrGroupingAndPairing-r17 CMRGroupingAndPairing-r17OPTIONAL, -- Need R

[0139] aperiodicTriggeringOffset-r17 INTEGER (0..124) OPTIONAL, --Need S

[0140] aperiodicTriggeringOffsetL2-r17 INTEGER(0..31) OPTIONAL -- Need R ]] [[

[0143] aggregatedNzp-CSI-RS-rxx AGGREGATEDNZP-CSI-RS-rxxOPTIONAL, -- Need R ]]

[0145] }

[0146] CMRGroupingAndPairing-r17 ::= SEQUENCE {

[0147] nrofResourcesGroup1-r17 INTEGER (1..7),

[0148] pair1OfNZP-CSI-RS-r17 NZP-CSI-RS-Pairing-r17OPTIONAL, -- Need R

[0149] pair2OfNZP-CSI-RS-r17 NZP-CSI-RS-Pairing-r17OPTIONAL -- Need R

[0150] }

[0151] NZP-CSI-RS-Pairing-r17 ::= SEQUENCE {

[0152] nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceId1-r17 INTEGER (1..7),

[0153] nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceId2-r17 INTEGER (1..7)

[0154] }

[0155] AGGREGATEDNZP-CSI-RS-rxx ::= SEQUENCE {

[0156] nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceId1-rxx INTEGER (1..7),

[0157] nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceId2-rxx INTEGER (1..7)

[0158] }

[0159] -- TAG-NZP-CSI-RS-RESOURCESET-STOP

[0160] -- ASN1STOP

[0161] In yet another embodiment, only the number of aggregated resources is indicated for each NZP CSI-RS resource set level. For example, in the case where the NZP CSI-RS resource set consists of four NZP CSI-RS resources as described above, the new parameter could indicate a value N, which would indicate that the NZP CSI-RS resources in the NZP CSI-RS resource set should be aggregated into N distinct aggregated resources. The number of NZP CSI-RS resources to be aggregated to form one aggregated resource is represented by N. x In one embodiment, the top N resources in the NZPCSI-RS resource set x One NZP CSI-RS resource will generate the first of N aggregated resources indicating the number, and the next N xEach NZP CSI-RS resource will generate the next aggregated resource, and so on. Therefore, in the example above, if the new parameter N is 2, NZP CSI-RS resource ID#0 and NZP CSI-RS resource ID#1 (i.e., the first two NZP CSI-RS resources in the set) will be aggregated into the first aggregated resource, and NZP CSI-RS resource ID#2 and NZP CSI-RS resource ID#3 will be aggregated into the second aggregated resource. Similarly, with the new parameter value 1, all four NZP CSI-RS resources (NZP CSI-RS resource ID#0, NZP CSI-RS resource ID#1, NZP CSI-RS resource ID#2, and NZP CSI-RS resource ID#3) will generate a single aggregated resource.

[0162] In yet another example, the 3GPP specification defines a list of predefined patterns for resource aggregation. In this case, a new IE (e.g., resourceAggregationPattern) indicating how resources should be aggregated can be included in the NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet IE. For example, assuming an NZP CSI-RS resource set consists of four NZP CSI-RS resources (NZP CSI-RS resource ID #0, NZP CSI-RS resource ID #1, NZP CSI-RS resource ID #2, and NZP CSI-RS resource ID #3), the aggregation pattern indicator could be a 1-bit indicator, where...

[0163] - "0" indicates that the first half and the second half of the resources in the set are aggregated, while

[0164] - "1" indicates that every second resource in the set starting from the first resource is aggregated into a first aggregate resource, and the remaining resources in the set are aggregated into a second aggregate resource.

[0165] Implementation Example for Signaling the Aggregated Index of Each NZP CSI-RS Resource Set

[0166] Alternatively, the aggregated index can be implicitly signaled or determined via the NZP CSI-RS resource set ID. This is suitable when each configured NZP CSI-RS resource set contains the same number of NZP CSI-RS resources. However, note that the number of NZP CSI-RS ports in each individual NZP CSI-RS resource can be the same or different. In this case, "implicit" means specifying a predefined rule.

[0167] Figure 8A first embodiment of the above scenario (where four NZP CSI-RS resources are configured in two NZP CSI-RS resource sets, where NZP CSI-RS resources #0 and #1 belong to resource set #1, and NZP CSI-RS resources #2 and #3 belong to resource set #2) is shown. In one embodiment, the nth NZP CSI-RS resource in each NZP CSI-RS resource set is aggregated and becomes the nth aggregated NZP CSI-RS resource, wherein... And N is the number of NZP CSI-RS resources in each NZP CSI-RS resource set.

[0168] Figure 9 A second example embodiment of implicitly signaling aggregated indexes is shown, wherein two NZP CSI-RS resource sets are configured, each with four NZP CSI-RS resources; in this case, the nth NZP CSI-RS resource in the first NZP CSI-RS resource set is aggregated with the nth NZP CSI-RS resource in the second NZP CSI-RS resource set. This means aggregating the following resources:

[0169] - NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId#0 and NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId#4

[0170] - NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId#1 and NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId#5

[0171] - NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId#2 and NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId#6

[0172] - NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId#3 and NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId#7

[0173] In one embodiment, where aggregation indexes are implicitly signaled, an identifier indicating that resource aggregation is enabled can be introduced. This identifier can be included in the NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet IE. This identifier can use one bit; for example, "0" indicates aggregation is disabled, and "1" indicates aggregation is enabled. Therefore, for all NZP CSI-RS resource sets configured with aggregation enabled, the corresponding NZP CSI-RS resources should be aggregated.

[0174] In an alternative embodiment, the aggregation index of CSI-RS resources in the CSI-RS resource set is implicitly determined by parameters N1 and N2 configured in the corresponding codebook configuration, where N1 and N2 indicate the number of CSI-RS antenna ports in the first and second dimensions, respectively. For example, if a CSI-RS resource set with four CSI-RS resources (each with 32 antenna ports) is configured, and (N1, N2) = (8, 4) is configured in the corresponding codebook, then the number of antenna ports in each aggregated CSI-RS resource is determined by... Given this, the first two CSI-RS resources are associated with the first aggregated CSI-RS resource, and the third and fourth CSI-RS resources are associated with the second aggregated CSI-RS resource. Figure 10 The following example is shown: where the CSI resources used for channel measurements comprise a single CSI-RS resource set, which is composed of resources with CSI-RS resource IDs. It consists of four 32-port CSI-RS resources, and is configured in the codebook configuration of the same CSI report configuration as the CSI resources used for channel measurements. .based on The UE can determine that each aggregated CSI-RS resource has 64 ports. It can then determine that two aggregated CSI-RS resources exist. In the accompanying figure, CSI-RS resources are aggregated according to the order in which they appear / are configured within the CSI-RS resource set; that is, the first aggregated CSI-RS resource consists of two CSI-RS resources k1 and k2, and the second aggregated CSI-RS resource consists of the next two CSI-RS resources k3 and k4.

[0175] In another scenario, CSI-RS resources are aggregated in ascending order of their CSI-RS resource ID values. Assume... Then the first aggregated CSI-RS resource will consist of CSI-RS resource k4 and CSI-RS resource k3, and the second aggregated CSI-RS resource will consist of CSI-RS resource k2 and CSI-RS resource k1.

[0176] Figure 11 An example of a communication system 1100 according to some embodiments is shown.

[0177] In the example, communication system 1100 includes: a telecommunications network 1102, which includes an access network 1104 (such as a radio access network (RAN)); and a core network 1106, which includes one or more core network nodes 1108. Access network 1104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 1110A and 1110B (where one or more may generally be referred to as network node 1110), or any other similar 3GPP access node or non-3GPP access point (AP). Furthermore, those skilled in the art will understand that network nodes are not necessarily limited to implementations that are provided by a single vendor and integrate the radio and baseband portions. Therefore, it should be understood that network nodes include decomposed implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, telecommunications network 1102 includes one or more Open RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunications network 1102 that supports ORAN specifications (e.g., specifications published by the O-RAN Alliance or any similar organization) and can operate independently or together with other nodes to perform one or more functions of any node in the telecommunications network 1102 (including one or more network nodes 1110 and / or core network nodes 1108).

[0178] Examples of ORAN network nodes include Open Radio Units (O-RUs), Open Distributed Units (O-DUs), Open Central Units (O-CUs), including O-CU control planes (O-CU-CPs) or O-CU user planes (O-CU-UPs), managed software or software plug-ins (e.g., near real-time control applications (e.g., xApps) or non-real-time control applications (e.g., rApps)), RAN intelligent controllers (near real-time or non-real-time), or any combination thereof (the adjective "open" indicates support for the ORAN specification). Network nodes can support the specification by, for example, supporting interfaces defined by the ORAN specification (e.g., A1, F1, W1, E1, E2, X2, Xn interfaces), open fronthaul user plane interfaces, or open fronthaul management plane interfaces. Furthermore, ORAN access nodes can be logical nodes within physical nodes. Additionally, ORAN network nodes can be implemented in a virtualized environment (described further below) where one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, a virtualized environment may include an open cloud (O-Cloud) computing platform orchestrated by a service management and orchestration framework via an O-2 interface or equivalent technology defined by the O-RAN Alliance. Network node 1110 facilitates direct or indirect connections of user equipment (UEs), such as connecting UEs 1112A, 1112B, 1112C, and 1112D (one or more of which may generally be referred to as UE 1112) to core network 1106 via one or more wireless connections.

[0179] Examples of wireless communication via wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for transmitting information without using wiring, cables, or other conductors. Furthermore, in various embodiments, communication system 1100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that can facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals (whether via wired or wireless connections). Communication system 1100 may include any type of communication, telecommunications, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar system, and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunications, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar system.

[0180] UE 1112 can be any of a variety of communication devices, including wireless devices that are arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network node 1110 and other communication devices. Similarly, network node 1110 is arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with UE 1112 and / or with other network nodes or devices in telecommunication network 1102 to achieve and / or provide network access (e.g., wireless network access) and / or to perform other functions in telecommunication network 1102 (e.g., management).

[0181] In the depicted example, core network 1106 connects network node 1110 to one or more hosts (such as host 1116). These connections can be direct connections or indirect connections via one or more intermediate networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. Core network 1106 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 1108) that are formed together with hardware and software components. The characteristics of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the description is generally applicable to the corresponding components of core network node 1108. Example core network nodes include the functions of one or more of the following: Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier Unhiding Function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Agent (SEPP), Network Open Function (NEF), and / or User Plane Function (UPF).

[0182] Host 1116 may be owned or under the control of a service provider other than the operator or provider of access network 1104 and / or telecommunications network 1102, and may be operated by or on behalf of the service provider. Host 1116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more services. Examples of such applications include real-time and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services (e.g., retrieving and compiling data about various environmental conditions detected by multiple UEs), analytics functions, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for alarm and monitoring centers, or any other such functions performed by a server.

[0183] As a whole, Figure 11 The communication system 1100 enables connectivity between the UE, network nodes, and hosts. In this sense, the communication system 1100 can be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards including but not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or other suitable second-generation (2G), third-generation (3G), fourth-generation (4G), or fifth-generation (5G) standards, or any applicable future-generation standard (e.g., sixth-generation (6G)); Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard (WiFi); and / or any other suitable wireless communication standards, such as Global Microwave Access Interoperability (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0184] In some examples, telecommunications network 1102 is a cellular network implementing 3GPP standardized features. Therefore, telecommunications network 1102 can support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices connected to it. For example, telecommunications network 1102 can provide ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) services to some UEs while providing enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or massive machine-type communication (mMTC) / massive Internet of Things (IoT) services to yet another UE.

[0185] In some examples, UE 1112 is configured to send and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, the UE may be designed to send information to access network 1104 according to a predetermined schedule when triggered by internal or external events or in response to a request from access network 1104. Additionally, the UE may be configured to operate in single radio access technology (RAT) mode, multiple RAT mode, or multiple standards mode. For example, the UE may operate using any one or a combination of WiFi, New Radio (NR), and LTE, i.e., configured as multiple radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as evolved UMTS terrestrial RAN (E-UTRAN) NR dual connectivity (EN-DC).

[0186] In the example, hub 1114 communicates with access network 1104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 1112C and / or 1112D) and network nodes (e.g., network node 1110B). In some examples, hub 1114 may be a controller, router, content source and analyzer, or any other communication device described herein relating to the UE. For example, hub 1114 may be a broadband router that enables the UE to access core network 1106. As another example, hub 1114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators of the UE. Commands or instructions may be received from the UE, network node 1110, or via executable code, scripts, procedures, or other instructions in hub 1114. As another example, hub 1114 may be a data collector that acts as a temporary storage device for UE data, and in some embodiments, may perform data analysis or other processing. As another example, hub 1114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE acting as a virtual reality (VR) headset, display, speaker, or other media delivery device, hub 1114 can retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to perceived information via a network node, and then provide them directly to the UE after performing local processing and / or adding additional local content. In yet another example, hub 1114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UE, particularly if one or more of the UEs are low-power IoT devices.

[0187] Hub 1114 may have a persistent / persistent or intermittent connection to network node 1110B. Hub 1114 may also allow different communication schemes and / or scheduling between hub 1114 and UEs (e.g., UEs 1112C and / or 1112D) and between hub 1114 and core network 1106. In other examples, hub 1114 is connected to core network 1106 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Furthermore, hub 1114 may be configured to connect to a machine-to-machine (M2M) service provider via access network 1104, and / or to another UE via a direct connection. In some scenarios, a UE may establish a wireless connection with network node 1110 while still being connected via hub 1114 through a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, hub 1114 may be a dedicated hub—that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communication from network node 1110B to UE / to route communication from UE to network node 1110B. In other embodiments, the hub 1114 may be a non-dedicated hub—that is, a device capable of operating to route communication between the UE and network node 1110B, but additionally capable of operating as a communication start point and / or endpoint for certain data channels.

[0188] Figure 12 A UE 1200 according to some embodiments is illustrated. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable of, configured, positioned, and / or operable to wirelessly communicate with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of UEs include, but are not limited to, smartphones, mobile phones, cellular phones, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, desktop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless cameras, gaming consoles or devices, music storage devices, playback devices, wearable terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, tablet computers, laptop computers, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop-mounted devices (LMEs), smart devices, wireless client devices (CPEs), vehicles, vehicle-mounted or vehicle-embedded / integrated wireless devices, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by 3GPP, including narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UEs, machine-type communication (MTC) UEs, and / or enhanced MTC (eMTC) UEs.

[0189] The UE can support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example, by implementing 3GPP standards for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, the UE may not necessarily be a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the associated device. Alternatively, the UE may represent a device intended to be sold to or operated by a human user but which may not or initially may not be associated with a particular human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, the UE may represent a device not intended to be sold to or operated by an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of the user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0190] UE 1200 includes processing circuitry 1202, which is operatively coupled via bus 1204 to input / output interface 1206, power supply 1208, memory 1210, communication interface 1212, and / or any other component or any combination thereof. Some UEs may utilize... Figure 12 The components shown may be all or a subset. The level of integration between components can vary depending on the UE. Furthermore, some UEs may include multiple instances of components, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0191] Processing circuitry 1202 is configured to process instructions and data and can be configured to implement any sequential state machine operable to execute instructions stored in memory 1210 as a machine-readable computer program. Processing circuitry 1202 can be implemented as: one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., implemented with discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors (such as microprocessors or digital signal processors (DSPs)) together with appropriate software; or any combination of the foregoing. For example, processing circuitry 1202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0192] In the example, input / output interface 1206 can be configured to provide one or more interfaces to input devices, output devices, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of output devices include speakers, sound cards, video cards, displays, monitors, printers, actuators, transmitters, smart cards, other output devices, or any combination thereof. Input devices can allow users to capture information into UE 1200. Examples of input devices include touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive displays, cameras (e.g., digital cameras, digital camcorders, webcams, etc.), microphones, sensors, mice, trackballs, directional keyboards, touchpads, scroll wheels, smart cards, etc. Presence-sensitive displays may include capacitive or resistive touch sensors to sense input from the user. Sensors may be, for example, accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt sensors, force sensors, magnetometers, optical sensors, proximity sensors, biometric sensors, etc., or any combination thereof. Output devices can use the same type of interface port as input devices. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port can be used to provide both input and output devices.

[0193] In some embodiments, power supply 1208 is configured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources can be used, such as external power sources (e.g., power outlets), photovoltaic devices, or batteries. Power supply 1208 may also include power supply circuitry for delivering power from power supply 1208 itself and / or an external power source to various parts of UE 1200 via input circuitry or an interface such as a power cable. The delivery of power can, for example, be used for charging power supply 1208. The power supply circuitry can perform any formatting, conversion, or other modifications on the power from power supply 1208 to suit the power for the respective components of UE 1200 to which power is supplied.

[0194] Memory 1210 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable ROM (EPROM), electrically EPROM (EEPROM), disk, optical disk, hard disk, removable magnetic tape, flash drive, etc. In one example, memory 1210 includes one or more application processes 1214, such as an operating system, web browser application, widget, utility engine, or other application, and corresponding data 1216. Memory 1210 may store any one or a combination of various operating systems used by UE 1200.

[0195] The memory 1210 can be configured to include multiple physical drive units, such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, a USB flash drive, an external hard drive, a thumb drive, a pen drive, a key drive, a high-density digital versatile optical disc (HD-DVD) drive, an internal hard drive, a Blu-ray disc drive, a holographic digital data storage (HDDS) disc drive, an external mini dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro DIMM SDRAM, smart card memory (e.g., a tamper-proof module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC), including one or more subscriber identification modules (SIMs), such as a universal SIM (USIM) and / or an Internet Protocol Multimedia Service Identifier Module (ISIM), other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may be, for example, an embedded UICC (eUICC), an integrated UICC (iUICC), or a removable UICC commonly referred to as a "SIM card." The memory 1210 can allow the UE to... 1200 accesses instructions, applications, etc., stored on temporary or non-temporary storage media to unload or upload data. Articles of manufacture (such as those utilizing communication systems) may be tangibly embodied in or contained in memory 1210, which may be or include device-readable storage media.

[0196] Processing circuitry 1202 can be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using communication interface 1212. Communication interface 1212 may include one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to antenna 1222. Communication interface 1212 may include one or more transceivers for communication, such as communication with one or more remote transceivers capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in the access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 1218 and / or a receiver 1220 suitable for providing network communication (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocation, etc.). Furthermore, transmitter 1218 and receiver 1220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 1222) and may share circuitry, software, or firmware, or alternatively, be implemented separately.

[0197] In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions of the communication interface 1212 may include cellular communication, WiFi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communication such as Bluetooth, NFC, location-based communication (e.g., using a Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine location), another type of communication function, or any combination thereof. Communication may be implemented according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards such as: IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP), Synchronous Optical Network (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Fast User Datagram Protocol Internet Connection (QUIC), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), etc.

[0198] Regardless of the sensor type, the UE can provide the output of data captured by its sensors via its communication interface 1212 through a wireless connection with a network node. Data captured by the UE's sensors can be transmitted via another UE through the same wireless connection. The output can be periodic (e.g., every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to balance the load of reports from several sensors), responsive to a triggering event (e.g., sending an alarm when humidity is detected), responsive to a request (e.g., a user-initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., real-time video feed of a patient).

[0199] As another example, the UE includes actuators, motors, or switches associated with a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. The state of the actuator, motor, or switch can change in response to the received wireless input. For example, the UE may include a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a flying drone based on the received input, or adjusts a robotic arm performing a medical procedure based on the received input.

[0200] When the UE takes the form of an IoT device, it can be a device used in one or more application areas, including but not limited to urban wearable technology, extended industrial applications, and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such IoT devices include or embedded in the following devices: connected refrigerators or freezers, televisions, connected lighting devices, electricity meters, robotic vacuum cleaners, voice-controlled smart speakers, home security cameras, motion detectors, thermostats, smoke detectors, door and window sensors, flood / humidity sensors, electronic door locks, connected doorbells, air conditioning systems (such as heat pumps), autonomous vehicles, monitoring systems, weather monitoring devices, vehicle parking monitoring devices, electric vehicle charging stations, smartwatches, fitness trackers, head-mounted displays for augmented reality (AR) or VR, wearable devices for haptic or sensory enhancement, sprinklers, animal or item tracking devices, sensors for monitoring plants or animals, industrial robots, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and any kind of medical device (such as heart rate monitors or remote-controlled surgical robots). In addition to the above... Figure 12 In addition to the other components described in the UE 1200 shown, UEs in the form of IoT devices also include circuitry and / or software depending on the intended application of the IoT device.

[0201] As another specific example, in an IoT scenario, a UE can represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurement and sends the results of such monitoring and / or measurement to another UE and / or network node. In this case, the UE can be an M2M device, which can be referred to as an MTC device in the 3GPP context. As a specific example, this UE can implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE can represent a vehicle (such as a car, bus, truck, ship, and aircraft) or other device capable of monitoring and / or reporting its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0202] In practice, any number of UEs can be used together for a single use case. For example, the first UE can be a drone or integrated into a drone, and provides the drone's speed information (obtained via a speed sensor) to a second UE, which is a remote controller for operating the drone. When the user makes a change from the remote controller, the first UE can adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g., by controlling the actuators) to increase or decrease the drone's speed. The first UE and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functions described above. For example, the UE can include sensors and actuators, and handle data communication between both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0203] Figure 13A network node 1300 according to some embodiments is illustrated. As used herein, a network node refers to a device that is capable of, configured, arranged, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or devices in a telecommunications network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio BSs, node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), NR node Bs (gNBs)), and O-RAN nodes or components of O-RAN nodes (e.g., O-RUs, O-DUs, O-CUs).

[0204] Base stations can be classified based on the coverage they provide (or, in other words, their transmission power levels); therefore, depending on the coverage provided, a base station can be called a femtobase, picobase, microbase, or macrobase. A base station can be a relay node or a relay donor for a control relay. Network nodes can also include one or more (or all) portions of a distributed radio base station, such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in O-RAN access nodes), and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as remote radio headends (RRHs). These RRUs may or may not be integrated with antennas as antenna-integrated radio devices. A portion of a distributed radio base station can also be referred to as a node in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0205] Other examples of network nodes include multi-transmitter point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment (such as MSR BS), network controllers (such as Radio Network Controller (RNC) or BS Controller (BSC)), Base Transceiver Station (BTS), transmitter points, transmitter nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCE), operation and maintenance (O&M) nodes, operation support system (OSS) nodes, self-organizing network (SON) nodes, location nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobility Location Center (E-SMLC)) and / or minimized drive test (MDT).

[0206] Network node 1300 includes processing circuitry 1302, memory 1304, communication interface 1306, and power supply 1308. Network node 1300 may consist of multiple physically separate components (e.g., Node B components and RNC components, BTS components and BSC components, etc.), each with its own corresponding components. In some scenarios where network node 1300 includes multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC can control multiple NodeBs. In such scenarios, each unique NodeB and RNC pair may be considered a single, separate network node in some cases. In some embodiments, network node 1300 may be configured to support multiple RATs. In such embodiments, some components may be replicated (e.g., separate memory 1304 exists for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 1310 may be shared by different RATs). Network node 1300 may also include multiple sets of various components shown herein for different wireless technologies (e.g., GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, RFID, or Bluetooth wireless technologies). These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or chipsets and other components within network node 1300.

[0207] Processing circuitry 1302 may include one or more of the following: a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, CPU, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or coding logic, operable to provide network node 1300 functionality, either alone or in combination with other network node 1300 components (e.g., memory 1304).

[0208] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1302 includes a system-on-a-chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1302 includes one or more of a radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1312 and a baseband processing circuitry 1314. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 1312 and the baseband processing circuitry 1314 may be on separate chips (or chipsets), boards, or units (e.g., radio units and digital units). In alternative embodiments, some or all of the RF transceiver circuitry 1312 and the baseband processing circuitry 1314 may be on the same chip or chipset, board, or unit group.

[0209] Memory 1304 may include any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory, including but not limited to permanent storage devices, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, RAM, ROM, mass storage media (e.g., hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., flash drives, optical discs (CDs), or digital video discs (DVDs)) and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory device that stores information, data, and / or instructions that can be used by processing circuitry 1302. Memory 1304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including computer processes, software, applications including logic, rules, codes, tables, and / or other instructions that can be executed by processing circuitry 1302 and used by network node 1300. Memory 1304 may be used to store any calculations performed by processing circuitry 1302 and / or any data received via communication interface 1306. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1302 and memory 1304 are integrated together.

[0210] Communication interface 1306 is used for wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between network nodes, access networks, and / or UEs. As shown, communication interface 1306 includes a port / terminal 1316 for transmitting and receiving data to and from the network, for example, via a wired connection. Communication interface 1306 also includes radio front-end circuitry 1318, which may be coupled to antenna 1310, or in some embodiments to a portion of antenna 1310. Radio front-end circuitry 1318 includes a filter 1320 and an amplifier 1322. Radio front-end circuitry 1318 may be connected to antenna 1310 and processing circuitry 1302. Radio front-end circuitry 1318 may be configured to modulate the signal transmitted between antenna 1310 and processing circuitry 1302. Radio front-end circuitry 1318 may receive digital data to be transmitted to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. Radio front-end circuitry 1318 may use a combination of filter 1320 and / or amplifier 1322 to convert digital data into radio signals with appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters. Radio signals can then be transmitted via antenna 1310. Similarly, when data is received, antenna 1310 can collect radio signals, which are then converted into digital data by radio front-end circuitry 1318. The digital data can then be passed to processing circuitry 1302. In other embodiments, communication interface 1306 may include different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0211] In some alternative embodiments, network node 1300 does not include a separate radio front-end circuitry 1318; instead, processing circuitry 1302 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to antenna 1310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 1312 is part of communication interface 1306. In yet another embodiment, communication interface 1306 includes one or more ports or terminals 1316, radio front-end circuitry 1318, and RF transceiver circuitry 1312 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and communication interface 1306 communicates with baseband processing circuitry 1314, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0212] Antenna 1310 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals. Antenna 1310 may be coupled to radio front-end circuitry 1318 and may be any type of antenna capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data and / or signals. In some embodiments, antenna 1310 is decoupled from network node 1300 and may be connected to network node 1300 via an interface or port.

[0213] Antenna 1310, communication interface 1306, and / or processing circuitry 1302 can be configured to perform any receive operation and / or certain acquire operation described herein by network node 1300. Any information, data, and / or signals can be received from the UE, another network node, and / or any other network device. Similarly, antenna 1310, communication interface 1306, and / or processing circuitry 1302 can be configured to perform any transmit operation described herein by network node 1300. Any information, data, and / or signals can be transmitted to the UE, another network node, and / or any other network device.

[0214] Power supply 1308 provides power to the various components of network node 1300 in a form suitable for the various components (e.g., at the voltage and current levels required by each respective component). Power supply 1308 may also include or be coupled to power management circuitry to supply power to the components of network node 1300 for performing the functions described herein. For example, network node 1300 may be connected to an external power source (e.g., the mains or a power outlet) via input circuitry or an interface such as a cable, thereby supplying power to the power circuitry of power supply 1308. As another example, power supply 1308 may include a power source in the form of a battery or battery pack, which is connected to or integrated into the power circuitry. The battery can provide backup power if the external power source fails.

[0215] Embodiments of network node 1300 may include more than Figure 13Additional components shown are provided to offer certain aspects of the functionality of the network node, including any of the functions described herein and / or any functionality required to support the topics described herein. For example, network node 1300 may include a user interface device to allow information to be input into and output from network node 1300. This allows users to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other management functions on network node 1300.

[0216] Figure 14 This is a block diagram of host 1400 based on the various aspects described herein, which host 1400 may be Figure 11 The embodiment of host 1116. As used herein, host 1400 can be or include various combinations of hardware and / or software, including processing resources in a standalone server, blade server, cloud-implemented server, distributed server, virtual machine, container, or server cluster. Host 1400 can provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0217] Host 1400 includes processing circuitry 1402 operably coupled via bus 1404 to input / output interface 1406, network interface 1408, power supply 1410, and memory 1412. Other components may be included in other embodiments. The features of these components may be substantially similar to those shown in the preceding figures (such as...). Figure 12 and Figure 13 The characteristics described for the device make its description generally applicable to the corresponding components of the host 1400.

[0218] Memory 1412 may include one or more computer programs, including data 1416 and one or more host applications 1414. Data 1416 may include user data, such as data generated by the UE for the host 1400, or data generated by the host 1400 for the UE. Embodiments of host 1400 may utilize only a subset or all of the illustrated components. Host application 1414 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Universal Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., Free-to-use Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC), Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for various categories, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., mobile phones, desktop computers, wearable display systems, head-up display systems). Host application 1414 may also provide user authentication and authorization checks and may periodically report health status, routing, and content availability to a central node (such as a device in the core network or a device at the edge of the core network). Therefore, host 1400 can select and / or indicate different hosts for over-the-top (OTT) services for the UE. Host application 1414 can support various protocols, such as HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), Real-time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH or MPEG-DASH), etc.

[0219] Figure 15 This is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1500 in which functionality implemented by some embodiments can be virtualized. In this context, virtualization means creating a virtual version of an apparatus or device that may include a virtualized hardware platform, storage devices, and network resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device or component thereof described herein, and involves at least a portion of its functionality being implemented as an implementation of one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functionality described herein can be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) in one or more virtual environments 1500 hosted by one or more hardware nodes, such as hardware computing devices operating as network nodes, UEs, core network nodes, or hosts. Furthermore, in embodiments where virtual nodes do not require radio connectivity (e.g., core network nodes or hosts), the nodes can be fully virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment 1500 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an open cloud environment orchestrated via an O-2 interface by a service management and orchestration framework.

[0220] Application 1502 (which may alternatively be referred to as a software instance, virtual device, network function, virtual node, virtual network function, etc.) runs in virtualization environment 1500 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some embodiments disclosed herein.

[0221] Hardware 1504 includes processing circuitry, memory storing software and / or instructions executable by the hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices described herein (such as network interfaces, input / output interfaces, etc.). The software can be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1506 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 1508A and 1508B (one or more of which may generally be referred to as VM 1508) and / or perform any functions, features, and / or benefits described in relation to some embodiments described herein. Virtualization layer 1506 can present a virtual operating platform to VM 1508, which appears as network hardware.

[0222] VM 1508 includes virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual network or interface, and virtual storage, and can be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1506. Different embodiments of instances of virtual device 1502 can be implemented on one or more VMs 1508, and these implementations can be made in different ways. In some contexts, hardware virtualization is referred to as Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). NFV can be used to unify many network device types into industry-standard high-capacity server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can reside in data centers and customer residential equipment.

[0223] In the context of NFV, VM 1508 can be a software implementation of a physical machine, whose operating procedures are executed as if on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each VM 1508, along with the portion of hardware 1504 that executes that VM (whether it is hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with other VM 1508s), forms a separate virtual network element. Still within the context of NFV, the virtual network function is responsible for handling operations within one or more VM 1508s on top of hardware 1504 and corresponds to the specific network function of application 1502.

[0224] Hardware 1504 can be implemented in a standalone network node with general or specific components. Hardware 1504 can implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1504 can be part of a larger hardware cluster (e.g., in a data center or CPE), where many hardware nodes work together and are managed by management and orchestration 1510, which in particular oversees the lifecycle management of application 1502. In some embodiments, hardware 1504 is coupled to one or more radio units, each radio unit including one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that can be coupled to one or more antennas. The radio units can communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more suitable network interfaces and can be used in conjunction with virtual components to provide radio capabilities to virtual nodes (e.g., RAN or base stations). In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided using a control system 1512, which can alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0225] Figure 16 A communication diagram is shown illustrating how host 1602 communicates with UE 1606 via network node 1604 through a partial wireless connection, according to some embodiments. Reference will now be made to... Figure 16 Describe the UEs discussed in the preceding paragraphs (such as...) Figure 11 UE1112A and / or Figure 12 UE 1200), network nodes (such as Figure 11 Network node 1110A and / or Figure 13 Network node 1300) and hosts (such as Figure 11 Host 1116 and / or Figure 14 Example implementations of the host 1400 according to various embodiments.

[0226] Similar to host 1400, embodiments of host 1602 include hardware such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. Host 1602 also includes software stored in or accessible by host 1602 and executable by the processing circuitry. This software includes a host application operable to provide services to remote users, such as UE 1606 connected via an OTT connection 1650 extending between UE 1606 and host 1602. When providing services to remote users, the host application can provide user data transmitted using OTT connection 1650.

[0227] Network node 1604 includes hardware that enables it to communicate with host 1602 and UE 1606. Connection 1660 can be a direct connection or via a core network (such as...). Figure 11The connection is to the core network (1106) and / or one or more other intermediate networks (such as one or more public, private or hosted networks). For example, an intermediate network can be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0228] UE 1606 includes hardware and software, the software being stored in or accessible by UE 1606 and executable by the UE's processing circuitry. This software includes client applications (such as web browsers or operator-specific "applications") operable to provide services to human or non-human users via UE 1606, supported by host 1602. In host 1602, the executing host application can communicate with the executing client application via OTT connection 1650, which terminates between UE 1606 and host 1602. When providing services to a user, the UE's client application can receive request data from the host application of the host and, in response to the request data, provide user data. OTT connection 1650 can send both request data and user data. The UE's client application can interact with the user to generate user data provided to the host application via OTT connection 1650.

[0229] OTT connection 1650 can be extended via connection 1660 between host 1602 and network node 1604 and via wireless connection 1670 between network node 1604 and UE 1606 to provide connectivity between host 1602 and UE 1606. Connection 1660 and wireless connection 1670, which provide OTT connection 1650, have been abstractly drawn to illustrate communication between host 1602 and UE 1606 via network node 1604, without explicitly involving any intermediate devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

[0230] As an example of sending data via OTT connection 1650, in step 1608, host 1602 provides user data, which can be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a specific human user interacting with UE 1606. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with UE 1606, which shares data with host 1602 without explicit human interaction. In step 1610, host 1602 initiates a transmission to UE 1606 carrying the user data. Host 1602 may initiate the transmission in response to a request sent by UE 1606. This request may be caused by human interaction with UE 1606 or by the operation of a client application executed on UE 1606. According to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, this transmission may be delivered via network node 1604. Therefore, in step 1612, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, network node 1604 sends user data carried in a transmission initiated by host 1602 to UE 1606. In step 1614, UE 1606 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which can be performed by a client application running on UE 1606, associated with a host application running by host 1602.

[0231] In some examples, UE 1606 executes a client application that provides user data to host 1602. User data can be provided as a response to data received from host 1602. Therefore, in step 1616, UE 1606 can provide user data, which can be done by executing the client application. When providing user data, the client application may also consider user input received from a user via the input / output interface of UE 1606. Regardless of the specific manner in which user data is provided, in step 1618, UE 1606 initiates a transmission of user data to host 1602 via network node 1604. In step 1620, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, network node 1604 receives user data from UE 1606 and initiates the transmission of the received user data to host 1602. In step 1622, host 1602 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by UE 1606.

[0232] One or more embodiments in various examples improve the performance of the OTT service provided to the UE 1606 using OTT connection 1650, in which wireless connection 1670 forms the final part. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments can improve, for example, data rate, latency, power consumption, etc., and thus provide benefits such as reduced user wait time, relaxed file size restrictions, improved content resolution, better responsiveness, and extended battery life.

[0233] In the example scenario, host 1602 can collect and analyze plant status information. As another example, host 1602 can process audio and video data that may have been retrieved from the UE for creating mappings. As another example, host 1602 can collect and analyze real-time data to help control vehicle congestion (e.g., control traffic lights). As another example, host 1602 can store surveillance video uploaded by the UE. As another example, host 1602 can store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR, or AR, which can be broadcast, multicast, or unicast to the UE. As other examples, host 1602 can be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time-critical power loads to balance generation demand, location services, presentation services (e.g., compiling charts based on data collected from remote devices), or any other function that collects, retrieves, stores, analyzes, and / or transmits data.

[0234] In some examples, a measurement process may be provided for monitoring data rate, latency, and other factors that are the object of improvement in one or more embodiments. Optional network functions may also be present for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1650 between host 1602 and UE 1606 in response to changes in measurement results. The measurement process and / or the network functions for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1650 may be implemented in the software and hardware of host 1602 and / or UE 1606. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or associated with other devices traversed by the OTT connection 1650; the sensors may participate in the measurement process by providing values ​​of the monitored quantities exemplified above or by providing values ​​of other physical quantities from which the software can calculate or estimate the monitored quantities. Reconfiguration of the OTT connection 1650 may include message formatting, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc.; reconfiguration does not require a direct change in the operation of network node 1604. Such processes and functions may be known and practiced in the art. In some embodiments, the measurement may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates host 1602's measurement of throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. Measurements can be achieved by having the software use an OTT connection 1650 to send messages (especially empty or "virtual" messages) while monitoring propagation time, errors, etc.

[0235] While the computing devices described herein (e.g., UE, network node, host) may include combinations of the hardware components shown, other embodiments may include computing devices with different combinations of components. It should be understood that these computing devices may include any suitable combination of hardware and / or software required to perform the tasks, features, functions, and methods disclosed herein. The determination, calculation, acquisition, or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry that processes information in ways such as: converting acquired information into other information, comparing the acquired or converted information with information stored in a network node, and / or performing one or more actions based on the acquired or converted information, and making determinations based on the results of said processing. Furthermore, although components are depicted as single boxes located within larger boxes or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, a computing device may include multiple different physical components constituting a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between individual components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of a component may be partitioned between processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, the non-computationally intensive functions of any such component may be implemented in software or firmware, and the computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0236] In some embodiments, some or all of the functions described herein may be provided by processing circuitry that executes instructions stored in memory, which in some embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functions may be provided by the processing circuitry, for example, in a hard-wired manner, without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium. In any of these particular embodiments, the processing circuitry may be configured to perform the described functions regardless of whether instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium are executed. The benefits provided by such functions are not limited to the individual processing circuitry or other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed holistically by the computing device and / or generally by the end user and wireless network.

[0237] Example

[0238] Group A Examples

[0239] Example 1: A method performed by a user equipment, the method comprising one or more of the following operations: multiple channel measurement resources (e.g., non-zero power (NZP) channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources) configured with one or more NZP CSI-RS resource sets for channel measurement; receiving an instruction to group the multiple channel measurement resources into one or more resource subsets; aggregating the antenna ports of the resources in each subset to form an aggregated resource having an antenna port superset; selecting one or more aggregated resources and performing channel measurements on the selected one or more aggregated resources; calculating the CSI of the one or more selected aggregated resources; and reporting the calculated CSI to a network node.

[0240] Example 2: According to any of the methods described in the foregoing examples, the channel measurement resources include one or more antenna ports for measurement, and / or resource elements configured in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) time-frequency grid.

[0241] Example 3: According to any of the methods described in the foregoing examples, a first configured subset of channel measurement resources is associated with a first aggregated index, and a second configured subset of channel measurement resources is associated with a second aggregated index.

[0242] Example 4: According to any of the methods described in the foregoing examples, the first channel measurement subset and the second channel measurement subset are mutually exclusive subsets (i.e., the two subsets have no common resources).

[0243] Example 5: According to any of the methods described in the foregoing examples, the first aggregated resource and the second aggregated resource correspond to two independent new channel measurement resources.

[0244] Example 6: According to any of the methods described in the foregoing examples, all channel measurement resources in each subset have the same number of antenna ports.

[0245] Example 7: According to any of the methods described in the foregoing examples, the channel measurement resources in each subset may have a different number of antenna ports.

[0246] Example 8: The method described in any of the foregoing examples, wherein the configuration of the second subset is optional.

[0247] Example 9: According to any of the methods described in the foregoing examples, when both NZP CSI-RS resources #1 and #2 are configured in the first subset, the wireless device aggregates the CSI-RS ports in NZP CSI-RS resources #1 and #2 to form aggregated CSI-RS resources, wherein the number of ports in the aggregated CSI-RS resources is the sum of the number of CSI-RS ports in NZP CSI-RS resources #1 and #2.

[0248] Example 10: According to any of the methods described in the foregoing examples, when NZP CSI-RS resources #1, #2 and #3 are all configured in the first subset, the wireless device aggregates the CSI-RS ports in NZP CSI-RS resources #1, #2 and #3 to form aggregated CSI-RS resources, wherein the number of ports in the aggregated CSI-RS resources is the sum of the number of CSI-RS ports in NZP CSI-RS resources #1, #2 and #3.

[0249] Example 11: According to any of the methods described in the foregoing embodiments, when NZP CSI-RS resources #1, #2, #3 and #4 are all configured in the first subset, the wireless device aggregates the CSI-RS ports in NZP CSI-RS resources #1, #2, #3 and #4 to form aggregated CSI-RS resources, wherein the number of ports in the aggregated CSI-RS resources is the sum of the number of CSI-RS ports in NZP CSI-RS resources #1, #2, #3 and #4.

[0250] Example 12: The method according to any of the foregoing examples, wherein the second subset is optional and not configured, the selection step is optional, and the wireless device performs channel measurement on an aggregated resource.

[0251] Example 13: The method according to any of the foregoing examples, wherein the CSI consists of one or more of the following: rank indicator (RI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), and channel quality indicator (CQI).

[0252] Example 14: The method according to any of the foregoing examples, wherein the PMI is obtained from a codebook defined based on the number of CSI-RS ports in the aggregated resources.

[0253] Example 15: According to the method described in any of the foregoing examples, when all NZP CSI-RS resources are configured with the same aggregation index, the CSI Resource Indicator (CRI) is not reported as part of the CSI, and the resource is used for channel measurement and CSI feedback.

[0254] Example 16: According to any of the methods described in the foregoing examples, the value of the CRI indicating a certain aggregate resource is the same as the aggregate ID of the aggregate resource.

[0255] Example 17: The method according to any of the foregoing examples, wherein the CRI of a certain aggregate resource is indicated based on a certain order of the aggregate resource associated with the reporting settings.

[0256] Example 18: According to any of the methods described in the foregoing examples, the order in which aggregated resources are associated with the report settings is based on the aggregated ID of the aggregated resource associated with the report settings.

[0257] Example 19: The method according to any of the foregoing examples, wherein each of the aggregated resources represents a transmit / receive point (TRP), (e.g., associated with a separately configured Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) status or an RS for a Quasi-co-located (QCL) source).

[0258] Example 20: The method according to any of the foregoing examples, wherein all aggregated resources are used as different samples to calculate the predicted PMI or the predicted / Doppler compressed PMI.

[0259] Example 21: According to the method described in any of the foregoing examples, one or more aggregated resources are configured for each channel measurement resource (CMR) group for CSI used for noncoherent joint transmission (NC-JT).

[0260] Example 22: The method according to any of the foregoing examples, wherein the calculation includes calculating the CSI of one or more NC-JT hypotheses, wherein each NC-JT hypothesis is associated with measurements on two different aggregate resources, wherein the two aggregate resources are associated with different CMR groups.

[0261] Example 23: The method described in any of the foregoing examples, wherein a pair of aggregated resources is configured.

[0262] Example 24: According to any of the methods described in the foregoing examples, instead of configuring a parameter aggregation ID for each NZP CSI-RS resource, the NZP CSI-RS resources are aggregated into different aggregate resources by introducing one or more parameters or parameter lists or bit fields for each NZP CSI-RS resource set.

[0263] Example 25: The method according to any of the foregoing examples, wherein the aggregated resource is indicated by a pair of NZP CSI-RS IDs.

[0264] Example 26: The method described in any of the foregoing examples, wherein AGGREGATEDNZP-CSI-RS-rxx defines the ID of the NZP CSI-RS resources to be aggregated (e.g., nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceId1-rxx and nzp-CSI-RS-ResourceId2-rxx).

[0265] Example 27: The method according to any of the foregoing examples, wherein instead of signaling a pair of IDs of the NZP CSI-RS resources to be aggregated, other structures are used, such as a list indicating the IDs of the NZP CSI-RS resources to be aggregated.

[0266] Example 28: The method according to any of the foregoing examples, wherein the number of aggregated resources is indicated only at the NZP CSI-RS resource set level.

[0267] Example 29: According to any of the methods described in the foregoing examples, the first N_x NZP CSI-RS resources in the NZP CSI-RS resource set will generate the first of the N indicated number of aggregate resources, and the next N_x NZPCSI-RS resources will generate the next aggregate resource, and so on.

[0268] Example 30: According to any of the methods described in the foregoing examples, the aggregated index can be implicitly sent by signaling or determined via the NZP CSI-RS resource set ID.

[0269] Example 31: According to any of the methods described in the foregoing examples, the nth NZP CSI-RS resource in each NZP CSI-RS resource set is aggregated and becomes the nth aggregated NZP CSI-RS resource, where n = 0, 1...N-1, and N is the number of NZP CSI-RS resources in each NZP CSI-RS resource set.

[0270] Example 32: According to any of the methods described in the foregoing examples, wherein, in the case of implicitly sending the aggregated index by signaling, an identifier indicating that resource aggregation has been enabled is introduced.

[0271] Example 33: The method according to any of the foregoing examples, wherein the identifier is included in the NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet information element (IE).

[0272] Example 34: According to any of the methods described in the foregoing examples, the aggregation index of CSI-RS resources in the CSI-RS resource set is implicitly determined by parameters N1 and N2 configured in the corresponding codebook configuration, wherein N1 and N2 indicate the number of CSI-RS antenna ports of each aggregated CSI-RS resource in the first dimension and the second dimension, respectively.

[0273] Example 35: The method according to any of the foregoing embodiments further includes: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to the host via transmission to a network node.

[0274] Group B Implementation Examples

[0275] Example 36: A method performed by a network node, the method comprising one or more of the following operations: configuring a radio device (e.g., a UE) using multiple channel measurement resources (e.g., NZP CSI-RS resources) for channel measurement in one or more NZP CSI-RS resource sets; and receiving one or more calculated CSIs from the radio device, wherein the calculated CSIs are calculated based on: aggregating antenna ports in each subset of resources to form a superset of antenna ports; selecting one or more aggregated resources and performing channel measurements on the selected one or more aggregated resources; and calculating the CSIs of the one or more selected aggregated resources.

[0276] Example 37: The method according to any of the foregoing embodiments further includes the feature described in any of the embodiments in Group A.

[0277] Example 38: The method according to any of the foregoing examples further includes: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host or user equipment.

[0278] Group C Implementation Examples

[0279] Example 39: A user equipment includes: a processing circuit configured to perform any step according to any one of the examples in Group A; and a power supply circuit configured to supply power to the processing circuit.

[0280] Example 40: A network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps described in any of the examples in Group B; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

[0281] Example 41: A user equipment (UE) comprising: an antenna configured to transmit and receive radio signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and processing circuitry and configured to modulate signals transmitted between the antenna and processing circuitry; processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps described in any of the Group A embodiments; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow information to be input into the UE for processing by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

[0282] Example 42: A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide over-the-top (OTT) services, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate the transmission of user data to a network node in a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node being configured to perform any operation according to any of the examples in Group B to transmit user data from the host to the UE.

[0283] Example 43: The host according to the foregoing embodiments, wherein: the host's processing circuitry is configured to execute a host application that provides user data, and the UE includes processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application to receive transmissions of user data from the host.

[0284] Example 44: A method implemented in a host configured to operate in a communication system, the communication system further including a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data to the UE; and initiating a transmission to the UE via a cellular network including the network node, the transmission carrying the user data, wherein the network node performs any of the operations described in any of the Group B embodiments to send the user data from the host to the UE.

[0285] Example 45: The method according to the foregoing embodiments further includes: at the network node, sending user data provided by the host to the UE.

[0286] Example 46: The method according to any one of the two preceding examples, wherein user data is provided at the host by executing a host application, the host application interacting with a client application executed on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

[0287] Example 47: A communication system configured to provide over-the-top (OTT) services, the communication system including a host, the host including: processing circuitry configured to provide user data associated with the OTT service to a user equipment (UE); and a network interface configured to initiate the transmission of user data to a cellular network node for transmission to the UE, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node being configured to perform any of the operations described in any of the Group B embodiments to transmit user data from the host to the UE.

[0288] Example 48: The communication system according to the foregoing embodiments further includes: a network node; and / or a UE.

[0289] Example 49: A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide over-the-top (OTT) services, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to initiate reception of user data; and a network interface configured to receive user data from a network node in a cellular network, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node being configured to perform any of the operations described in any of the Group B embodiments to receive user data from a user equipment (UE) for the host.

[0290] Example 50: The host according to the two embodiments described above, wherein: the host's processing circuitry is configured to execute a host application for receiving user data, and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executed on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

[0291] Example 51: According to any one of the two preceding examples, the host, initiating the reception of user data includes requesting user data.

[0292] Example 52: A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system including a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, initiating the reception of user data from the UE, the user data originating from a transmission already received from the UE by the network node, wherein the network node performs any of the steps described in any of the Group B embodiments to receive the user data from the UE for the host.

[0293] Example 53: The method described in the previous example further includes: sending the received user data to the host at the network node.

[0294] Example 54: A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide over-the-top (OTT) services, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate the transmission of user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE includes a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the operations described in any of the Group A examples to receive user data from the host.

[0295] Example 55: The host according to the previous example, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to send user data from the host to the UE.

[0296] Example 56: The host according to the two embodiments described above, wherein: the host's processing circuitry is configured to execute a host application to provide user data, and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executed on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

[0297] Example 57: A method implemented by a host operating in a communication system, the communication system further comprising a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data to the UE; and initiating a transmission to the UE via a cellular network including the network node, the transmission carrying the user data, wherein the UE performs any of the operations described in any of the Group A examples to receive the user data from the host.

[0298] Example 58: The method according to the previous example further includes: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executed on the UE to receive user data from the host application.

[0299] Example 59: The method according to the previous embodiment further includes: at the host, sending input data to a client application executed on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein user data is provided by the client application in response to input data from the host application.

[0300] Example 60: A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide over-the-top (OTT) services, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate the transmission of user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE includes a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the steps described in any of the Group A examples to transmit user data to the host.

[0301] Example 61: The host according to the previous example, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to send user data from the UE to the host.

[0302] Example 62: The host according to the two embodiments above, wherein: the host's processing circuitry is configured to execute a host application to provide user data, and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executed on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

[0303] Example 63: A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system including a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, receiving user data sent by the UE to the host via the network node, wherein the UE performs any of the steps described in any of the Group A examples to send the user data to the host.

[0304] Example 64: The method according to the previous example further includes: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executed on the UE to receive user data from the UE.

[0305] Example 65: The method according to the foregoing two examples further includes: at the host, sending input data to a client application executed on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein user data is provided by the client application in response to input data from the host application.

[0306] Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of this disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered to fall within the scope of the concept disclosed herein.

[0307] abbreviation

[0308] At least some of the following abbreviations may be used in this disclosure. In the event of inconsistencies between abbreviations, the usage above shall prevail. If listed multiple times below, the first listing shall take precedence over any subsequent listing.

[0309] 1xRTTCDMA2000 1x Radio Transmission Technology

[0310] 3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

[0311] 5G fifth generation

[0312] 6G sixth generation

[0313] ABS almost blank subframe

[0314] ARQ Automatic Repeat Request

[0315] AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise

[0316] BCCH Broadcast Control Channel

[0317] BCH broadcast channel

[0318] CA carrier aggregation

[0319] CC carrier component

[0320] CCCHSDU Common Control Channel SDU

[0321] CDMA Code Division Multiple Access

[0322] CGI Cell Global Identifier

[0323] CIR channel impulse response

[0324] CMR channel measurement resources

[0325] CP loop prefix

[0326] CPICH Common Pilot Channel

[0327] CPICHEc / No CPICH received energy per chip divided by in-band power density

[0328] CQI channel quality information

[0329] CRICSI Resource Indicator

[0330] C-RNTI community RNTI

[0331] CSI Channel Status Information

[0332] DCCH dedicated control channel

[0333] DL downlink

[0334] DM demodulation

[0335] DMRS demodulation reference signal

[0336] DRX discontinuous reception

[0337] DTX is not transmitted continuously.

[0338] DTCH Dedicated Service Channel

[0339] DUT (Device Under Test)

[0340] E-CID Enhanced Cell ID (Location Method)

[0341] eMBMS evolved multimedia broadcasting / multicast service

[0342] E-SMLC Evolved Service Mobility Center

[0343] ECGI evolved into CGI

[0344] eNBE-UTRAN NodeB

[0345] EPDCCH Enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0346] E-SMLC Evolved Service Mobility Center

[0347] E-UTRA Evolution UTRA

[0348] E-UTRAN Evolution UTRAN

[0349] FDD Frequency Division Duplex

[0350] Further research on FFS

[0351] Base stations in gNBNR

[0352] GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System

[0353] HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request

[0354] HO switching

[0355] HSPA high-speed packet access

[0356] HRPD High-Speed ​​Packet Data

[0357] LOS sight distance

[0358] LPP LTE positioning protocol

[0359] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0360] MAC Media Access Control

[0361] MAC Message Authentication Code

[0362] MBSFN Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service Single Frequency Network

[0363] MBSFN ABSMBSFN almost blank subframes

[0364] MDT road test minimization

[0365] MIB Master Information Block

[0366] MME Mobility Management Entity

[0367] MSC Mobile Switching Center

[0368] PDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0369] NR New Radio

[0370] NZP non-zero power

[0371] OCNGOFDMA Channel Noise Generator

[0372] OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing)

[0373] OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access)

[0374] OSS Operation Support System

[0375] OTDOA observation arrival time difference

[0376] O&M Operations and Maintenance

[0377] PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel

[0378] P-CCPCH Main Common Control Physical Channel

[0379] PCell main cell

[0380] PCFICH Physical Control Format Indicator Channel

[0381] PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0382] PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol

[0383] PDP power delay distribution

[0384] PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0385] PGW Packet Gateway

[0386] PHICH Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel

[0387] PLMN Public Land Mobile Network

[0388] PMI Precoding Matrix Indicator

[0389] PRACH Physical Random Access Channel

[0390] PRS positioning reference signal

[0391] PSS master synchronization signal

[0392] PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel)

[0393] PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0394] RACH Random Access Channel

[0395] QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

[0396] QCL Quasi-co-addressable

[0397] RAN Radio Access Network

[0398] RAT radio access technology

[0399] RI rank indicator

[0400] RLC Radio Link Control

[0401] RLM Radio Link Management

[0402] RNC Radio Network Controller

[0403] RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0404] RRC Radio Resource Control

[0405] RRM Radio Resource Management

[0406] RS reference signal

[0407] RSCP received signal code power

[0408] RSRP reference symbol received power or reference signal received power

[0409] RSRQ reference signal reception quality or reference symbol reception quality

[0410] RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator

[0411] RSTD Reference Signal Time Difference

[0412] SCH Synchronization Channel

[0413] SCell Auxiliary Community

[0414] SDAP Service Data Adaptation Protocol

[0415] SDU Service Data Unit

[0416] SFN system frame number

[0417] SGW Service Gateway

[0418] SI System Information

[0419] SIB System Information Block

[0420] SNR signal-to-noise ratio

[0421] SON self-optimizing network

[0422] SS Synchronization Signal

[0423] SSS auxiliary synchronization signal

[0424] TCI Transmission Configuration Indicator

[0425] TDD Time Division Duplex

[0426] TDOA arrival time difference

[0427] TOA arrival time

[0428] TRP Sending / Receiving Points

[0429] TSS Level 3 Synchronization Signal

[0430] TTI Transmission Time Interval

[0431] UE User Equipment

[0432] UL uplink

[0433] USIM Universal Subscriber Identification Module

[0434] UTDOA uplink arrival time difference

[0435] WCDMA Wide CDMA

[0436] WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network)

Claims

1. A method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: Multiple channel measurement resources configured in one or more channel measurement resource sets for channel measurement; Receive an instruction to group the plurality of channel measurement resources into one or more subsets of channel measurement resources; The antenna ports in the measurement resources within each subset of the one or more channel measurement resource subsets are aggregated, wherein the total number of antenna ports in each subset of the one or more channel measurement resource subsets is greater than 32 ports; Perform channel measurements on a total of a certain number of antenna ports within each subset of the one or more channel measurement resource subsets; Calculate one or more Channel State Information (CSI) based on the one or more subsets of channel measurement resources; and The calculated one or more CSIs are reported to the network nodes.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The channel measurement resources include one or more antenna ports for channel measurement, and / or resource elements configured in the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) time-frequency grid.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein, Each subset of the one or more channel measurement resource subsets forms an aggregate resource.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein, The first subset of channel measurement resources is associated with the first aggregation index, and the second subset of channel measurement resources is associated with the second aggregation index.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein, The first channel measurement resource subset and the second channel measurement resource subset are mutually exclusive subsets.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein, The first aggregated resource and the second aggregated resource correspond to two independent new channel measurement resources.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein, All channel measurement resources in each subset have the same number of antenna ports.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein, The channel measurement resources in each subset can have a different number of antenna ports.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein, The configuration of the second subset is optional.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein, The CSI consists of one or more of the following: rank indicator RI, precoding matrix indicator PMI, and channel quality indicator CQI.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein, The PMI is obtained from a codebook defined based on the total number of antenna ports within a subset of channel measurement resources.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein, When all channel measurement resources are configured with the same aggregate index, the CSI Resource Indicator (CRI) is not reported as part of the CSI, and the resource is used for channel measurement and CSI feedback.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein, The value of the CRI indicating a subset of channel measurement resources is the same as the aggregate ID of that subset of channel measurement resources.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein, The CRI indicating a subset of channel measurement resources is based on a certain order associated with the reporting settings of that subset of channel measurement resources.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein, The order in which a subset of channel measurement resources is associated with a reporting setting is based on the aggregate ID of that subset of channel measurement resources associated with the reporting setting.

16. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, wherein, Each subset of the channel measurement resource subset represents a transmit / receive point (TRP).

17. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, wherein, All channel measurement resource subsets are used as different samples to calculate the predicted PMI or the predicted / Doppler compressed PMI.

18. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein, A subset of channel measurement resources is indicated by two or more CSI-RS IDs.

19. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein, Each channel measurement resource set level indicates only the number N of channel measurement resource subsets.

20. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 19, wherein, The top N in the channel measurement resource set x Each channel measurement resource will generate the first of N indicated subsets of channel measurement resources, and the next N... x Each channel measurement resource will generate the next subset of channel measurement resources, and so on.

21. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 20, wherein, The aggregate index can be implicitly sent by signaling or determined via the channel measurement resource set ID.

22. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 21, wherein, The nth channel measurement resource in each channel measurement resource set is aggregated and becomes the nth channel measurement resource subset, where n = 0, 1...N-1, and N is the number of channel measurement resource subsets in each channel measurement resource set.

23. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 22, wherein, In cases where aggregated indexes are implicitly signaled, an identifier indicating that resource aggregation is enabled is introduced.

24. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 23, wherein, The identifier is included in the Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) Resource Set Information Element (IE).

25. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 24, wherein, The aggregation index of channel measurement resources in the channel measurement resource set is implicitly determined by parameters N1 and N2 configured in the corresponding codebook configuration, where N1 and N2 indicate the number of channel measurement antenna ports for each aggregated channel measurement resource in the first and second dimensions, respectively.

26. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 24, wherein, When calculating the one or more Channel State Information (CSI) based on one or more aggregated channel measurement resources selected from the one or more subsets of channel measurement resources, interference measurement is performed using a single interference measurement resource.

27. A method performed by a network node, the method comprising: Configure one or more channel measurement resources for the user equipment (UE) to be used for channel measurement. Send an instruction to the UE to group the plurality of channel measurement resources into one or more subsets of channel measurement resources; as well as Receive one or more calculated Channel State Information (CSI) from the UE; The received CSI is calculated based on the following operations: Aggregate antenna ports from measurement resources within each subset of the one or more channel measurement resource subsets, wherein the total number of antenna ports within each subset of the one or more channel measurement resource subsets is greater than 32 ports; and Channel measurements are performed on a total of a certain number of antenna ports within each subset of the one or more channel measurement resource subsets.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein, The channel measurement resources include one or more antenna ports for channel measurement, and / or resource elements configured in the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) time-frequency grid.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein, Each subset of the one or more channel measurement resource subsets forms an aggregate resource.

30. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 28, wherein, The first subset of channel measurement resources is associated with the first aggregation index, and the second subset of channel measurement resources is associated with the second aggregation index.

31. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 30, wherein, The first channel measurement resource subset and the second channel measurement resource subset are mutually exclusive subsets.

32. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 31, wherein, The first aggregated resource and the second aggregated resource correspond to two independent new channel measurement resources.

33. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 32, wherein, All channel measurement resources in each subset have the same number of antenna ports.

34. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 33, wherein, The channel measurement resources in each subset can have a different number of antenna ports.

35. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 34, wherein, The configuration of the second subset is optional.

36. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 35, wherein, The CSI consists of one or more of the following: rank indicator RI, precoding matrix indicator PMI, and channel quality indicator CQI.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein, The PMI is obtained from a codebook defined based on the total number of antenna ports within a subset of channel measurement resources.

38. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 37, wherein, When all channel measurement resources are configured with the same aggregate index, the CSI Resource Indicator (CRI) is not reported as part of the CSI, and the resource is used for channel measurement and CSI feedback.

39. The method according to claim 38, wherein, The value of the CRI indicating a subset of channel measurement resources is the same as the aggregate ID of that subset of channel measurement resources.

40. The method according to any one of claims 38 to 39, wherein, The CRI indicating a subset of channel measurement resources is based on a certain order associated with the reporting settings of that subset of channel measurement resources.

41. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 40, wherein, The order in which a subset of channel measurement resources is associated with a reporting setting is based on the aggregate ID of that subset of channel measurement resources associated with the reporting setting.

42. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 41, wherein, Each subset of the channel measurement resource subset represents a transmit / receive point (TRP).

43. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 42, wherein, All channel measurement resource subsets are used as different samples to calculate the predicted PMI or the predicted / Doppler compressed PMI.

44. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 43, wherein, A subset of channel measurement resources is indicated by two or more CSI-RS IDs.

45. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 44, wherein, Each channel measurement resource set level indicates only the number N of channel measurement resource subsets.

46. ​​The method according to any one of claims 27 to 45, wherein, The top N of the channel measurement resource set x Each channel measurement resource will generate the first of N indicated subsets of channel measurement resources, and the next N... x Each channel measurement resource will generate the next aggregated resource, and so on.

47. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 46, wherein, The aggregate index can be implicitly sent by signaling or determined via the channel measurement resource set ID.

48. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 47, wherein, The nth channel measurement resource in each channel measurement resource set is aggregated and becomes the nth channel measurement resource subset, where n = 0, 1...N-1, and N is the number of channel measurement resource subsets in each channel measurement resource set.

49. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 48, wherein, In cases where aggregated indexes are implicitly signaled, an identifier indicating that resource aggregation is enabled is introduced.

50. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 49, wherein, The identifier is included in the Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) Resource Set Information Element (IE).

51. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 50, wherein, The aggregation index of channel measurement resources in the channel measurement resource set is implicitly determined by parameters N1 and N2 configured in the corresponding codebook configuration, where N1 and N2 indicate the number of channel measurement antenna ports for each aggregated channel measurement resource in the first and second dimensions, respectively.

52. The method according to any one of claims 27 to 51, wherein, When calculating the one or more Channel State Information (CSI) based on one or more aggregated channel measurement resources selected from the one or more subsets of channel measurement resources, interference measurement is performed using a single interference measurement resource.

53. A user equipment (UE) (1200) includes processing circuitry (1202) and a memory (1210), the memory (1210) including instructions that cause the UE (1200) to: Multiple channel measurement resources configured in one or more channel measurement resource sets for channel measurement; Receive an instruction to group the plurality of channel measurement resources into one or more subsets of channel measurement resources; The antenna ports in the measurement resources within each subset of the one or more channel measurement resource subsets are aggregated, wherein the total number of antenna ports in each subset of the one or more channel measurement resource subsets is greater than 32 ports; Perform channel measurements on a total of a certain number of antenna ports within each subset of the one or more channel measurement resource subsets; Calculate one or more Channel State Information (CSI) based on the one or more subsets of channel measurement resources; and The calculated one or more CSIs are reported to the network nodes.

54. The UE (1200) according to claim 53 is also operable to implement the features according to any one of claims 2 to 26.

55. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 26.

56. A network node (1300) including processing circuitry (1302) and a memory (1304), the memory (1304) including instructions that cause the network node (1300) to: Configure one or more channel measurement resources for the user equipment (UE) to be used for channel measurement. Send an instruction to the UE to group the plurality of channel measurement resources into one or more subsets of channel measurement resources; as well as Receive one or more calculated Channel State Information (CSI) from the UE; The received CSI is calculated based on the following operations: Aggregate antenna ports from measurement resources within each subset of the one or more channel measurement resource subsets, wherein the total number of antenna ports within each subset of the one or more channel measurement resource subsets is greater than 32 ports; and Channel measurements are performed on a total of a certain number of antenna ports within each subset of the one or more channel measurement resource subsets.

57. The network node (1300) according to claim 56 is also operable to implement the features according to any one of claims 28 to 52.

58. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the method according to any one of claims 27 to 52.

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