Methods and apparatus for relative beam index determination and reporting of predicted beams in a wireless communication network

Abstract

Methods, architectures, apparatus, systems, devices, and computer program products for, and / or directed to, the reporting and / or indication of predicted beams are described. For example, one method may include dynamically assigning and reporting relative indexes to predicted beams.

Description

Methods and Apparatus for Relative Beam Index Determination and Reporting of Predicted Beams in a Wireless Communication NetworkCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 531,124 filed August 7, 2023, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.FIELD

[0002] Example embodiments described in the present disclosure are generally directed to the fields of communications, software and encoding, including, for example, to methods, architectures, apparatus, systems, devices, and computer program products for, and / or directed to the reporting and / or indication of predicted beams.BACKGROUND

[0003] A transmission configuration indicator (TCI) framework in 3GPP is designed to indicate to a UE the transmit (Tx) beam that will be used by the network and / or to indicate the quasi colocation (QCL) relationship between two reference signals (RS). A unified TCI (e.g., a common TCI, a common beam, a common RS, etc.) may refer to a beam and / or RS to be used for multiple physical channels or signals.SUMMARY

[0004] According to some example embodiments, a Wireless Transmit / Receive Unit (WTRU) may be configured to predict and / or report suitable transmit beams, e.g., for use by a network to communicate with the WTRU. In an embodiment, the WTRU may be configured to receive, from the network, configuration information for beam prediction including configuration of a first set of beams for which the WTRU is to measure beam characteristics and a second set of beams for which the WTRU will not make measurements. The WTRU may be configured to measure beam characteristics of the first set of beams and to determine, based on the measurements, a best beam for communicating with the network from the first set of beams. In one example embodiment, the WTRU may be configured to determine or predict, for example from the measurements using Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AIML) methods, a best beam for communicating with the network from the second set of beams. According to anembodiment, the WTRU may be configured to determine an anchor beam from the first set of beams. For example, the anchor beam may be a neighboring beam to the predicted best beam. In an embodiment, the WTRU may be configured to determine an index defining a location of the predicted beam relative to the anchor beam and to transmit to the network the identity of the anchor beam and the index.

[0005] According to some example embodiments, a WTRU may be configured for dynamic beam indication for predicted beams. In an embodiment, the WTRU may be configured to receive, from a network, a configuration of a type of dynamic beam indication indicating how the WTRU updates Quasi -Colocation relationships of transmit beams in a second transmit beam set based on beam measurements of beams in a first transmit beam set. The configuration may include a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) table type to be used for dynamic beam indication. According to an embodiment, the WTRU may be configured to measure a quality parameter of each beam in the first transmit beam set, to receive from the network a TCI state indication, and to determine a Quasi Colocation (QCL) relationship of beams in the second set relative to beams in the first set based on the indicated TCI state. For example, if the indicated TCI state is 0, QCL relationship determination may be based on a best quality beam measured in the first transmit beam set during a last measurement period. As another example, if the indicated TCI state is not 0, QCL relationship determination may be based on the TCI table type configured.

[0006] Some embodiments may be directed to a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) comprising circuitry, which may include any of a processor, memory, transmitter and / or receiver. The circuitry may be configured to receive, from a network element, configuration information indicating (1) any of relative indices of a first set of beams with respect to a second set of beams and a relative indexing structure indicating a relative position of a beam in the first set of beams with respect to a beam in the second set of beams, and (2) a configuration associated with the second set of beams. The circuitry may be configured to measure beam characteristics associated with the second set of beams. The circuitry may be configured to determine, based on the measured beam characteristics, a first beam having a highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, for communicating with the network element. The circuitry may be configured to determine a second beam having a highest predicted beam characteristic, from the first set of beams, for communicating with the network element. The circuitry may be configured to determine an anchor beam, from the second set of beams, having a highest measured beam characteristic, where the anchor beam is a neighboring beam to the determined second beam fromthe first set of beams. The circuitry may be configured to determine, based on the determined anchor beam and the relative indices, a relative index associated with the determined second beam. The circuitry may be configured to send, to the network element, information indicating the relative index associated with the determined second beam.

[0007] Some embodiments may be directed to a method, which may be implemented by a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU). The method may include receiving, from a network element, configuration information indicating (1) any of relative indices of a first set of beams with respect to a second set of beams and a relative indexing structure indicating a relative position of a beam in the first set of beams with respect to a beam in the second set of beams, and (2) a configuration associated with the second set of beams. The method may include measuring beam characteristics associated with the second set of beams. The method may include determining, based on the measured beam characteristics, a first beam having a highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, for communicating with the network element. The method may include determining a second beam having a highest predicted beam characteristic, from the first set of beams, for communicating with the network element. The method may include determining an anchor beam, from the second set of beams, having a highest measured beam characteristic, where the anchor beam is a neighboring beam to the determined second beam from the first set of beams. The method may include determining, based on the determined anchor beam and the relative indices, a relative index associated with the determined second beam. The method may include sending, to the network element, information indicating the relative index associated with the determined second beam.

[0008] In some embodiments, the method may include sending an index associated with the determined first beam from the second set of beams.

[0009] In some embodiments, the configuration information indicates a beam prediction type, and wherein the beam prediction type comprises any of a grid-based beam pattern and non-gri d-based beam pattern.

[0010] In some embodiments, based on the beam prediction type being non-grid-based beam pattern, the method may include determining the first beam based on reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements; predicting a non-grid-based beam pattern using the reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements; and sending an indication of the predicted non-grid-based beam pattern to the network element.[OH] In some embodiments, the measured beam characteristics comprise reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements.

[0012] In some embodiments, the determining of the second beam comprises determining the second beam using an artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) model.

[0013] In some embodiments, the method may include: on condition that the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, is the anchor beam, transmit a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) Resource Indicator (CRI) of the anchor beam and an index defining a location of the second beam relative to the anchor beam; on condition that the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, is not the anchor beam and a difference in the measured beam characteristic between the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic from the second set of beams and the anchor beam is below a threshold, transmit the CRI of the anchor beam and an index defining a location of the second beam relative to the anchor beam; and on condition that the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, is not the anchor beam and a difference in the measured beam characteristic between the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic from the second set of beams and the anchor beam is greater than the threshold, transmit a CRI of the first beam and an index defining a location of the second beam relative to the anchor beam.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] A more detailed understanding may be had from the detailed description below, given by way of example in conjunction with the drawings appended hereto. Figures in such drawings, like the detailed description, are exemplary. As such, the Figures and the detailed description are not to be considered limiting, and other equally effective examples are possible and likely. Furthermore, like reference numerals ("ref.") in the Figures ("FIGs.") indicate like elements, and wherein:

[0015] FIG. 1 A is a system diagram illustrating an example communications system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented;

[0016] FIG. IB is a system diagram illustrating an example wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1 A according to an embodiment;

[0017] FIG. 1C is a system diagram illustrating an example radio access network (RAN) and an example core network (CN) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1 A according to an embodiment;

[0018] FIG. ID is a system diagram illustrating a further example RAN and a further example CN that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1 A according to an embodiment;

[0019] FIG. 2 is diagram illustrating relative indexing for a predicted beam relative to a measured beam in accordance with some embodiments;

[0020] FIG. 3 is diagram illustrating relative indexing for a predicted beam relative to a measured beam in accordance with some embodiments;

[0021] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating relative indexing for a predicted beam relative to a measured beam in accordance with some embodiments;

[0022] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary procedure for TCI table synchronization between the network and a WTRU according to some embodiments;

[0023] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a first AIML model structure according to some embodiments;

[0024] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a second AIML model structure according to some embodiments;

[0025] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a third AIML model structure according to some embodiments;

[0026] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a fourth AIML model structure according to some embodiments;

[0027] FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process for two stage receive beam determination in accordance with some embodiments;

[0028] FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a process for predicting and reporting suitable transmit beams for use by a network for communicating with the WTRU in accordance with some embodiments; and

[0029] FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a process for dynamic beam indication for predicted beams in accordance with some embodiments.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments and / or examples disclosed herein. However, it will be understood that such embodiments and examples may be practiced without some or all of the specific details set forth herein. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail, so as not to obscure the followingdescription. Further, embodiments and examples not specifically described herein may be practiced in lieu of, or in combination with, the embodiments and other examples described, disclosed, or otherwise provided explicitly, implicitly and / or inherently (collectively "provided") herein.

[0031] FIG. 1 A is a diagram illustrating an example communications system 100 in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. The communications system 100 may be a multiple access system that provides content, such as voice, data, video, messaging, broadcast, etc., to multiple wireless users. The communications system 100 may enable multiple wireless users to access such content through the sharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For example, the communications systems 100 may employ one or more channel access methods, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), singlecarrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), zero-tail unique-word DFT-Spread OFDM (ZT UW DTS-s OFDM), unique word OFDM (UW-OFDM), resource block-filtered OFDM, filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), and the like.

[0032] As shown in FIG. 1 A, the communications system 100 may include wireless transmit / receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, a RAN 104 / 113, a CN 106 / 115, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110, and other networks 112, though it will be appreciated that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and / or network elements. Each of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and / or communicate in a wireless environment. By way of example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, any of which may be referred to as a “station” and / or a “STA”, may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals and may include a user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a subscription-based unit, a pager, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a netbook, a personal computer, a wireless sensor, a hotspot or Mi-Fi device, an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. Any of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and 102d may be interchangeably referred to as a UE.

[0033] The communications systems 100 may also include a base station 114a and / or a base station 114b. Each of the base stations 114a, 114b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to facilitate access to one or more communication networks, such as the CN 106 / 115, the Internet 110, and / or the other networks 112. By way of example, the base stations 114a, 114b may be a base transceiver station (BTS), a Node-B, an eNode B, a Home Node B, a Home eNode B, a gNB, a NR NodeB, a site controller, an access point (AP), a wireless router, and the like. While the base stations 114a, 114b are each depicted as a single element, it will be appreciated that the base stations 114a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and / or network elements.

[0034] The base station 114a may be part of the RAN 104 / 113, which may also include other base stations and / or network elements (not shown), such as a base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), relay nodes, etc. The base station 114a and / or the base station 114b may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals on one or more carrier frequencies, which may be referred to as a cell (not shown). These frequencies may be in licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum. A cell may provide coverage for a wireless service to a specific geographical area that may be relatively fixed or that may change over time. The cell may further be divided into cell sectors. For example, the cell associated with the base station 114a may be divided into three sectors. Thus, in one embodiment, the base station 114a may include three transceivers, i.e., one for each sector of the cell. In an embodiment, the base station 114a may employ multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) technology and may utilize multiple transceivers for each sector of the cell. For example, beamforming may be used to transmit and / or receive signals in desired spatial directions.

[0035] The base stations 114a, 114b may communicate with one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d over an air interface 116, which may be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, centimeter wave, micrometer wave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). The air interface 116 may be established using any suitable radio access technology (RAT).

[0036] More specifically, as noted above, the communications system 100 may be a multiple access system and may employ one or more channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, and the like. For example, the base station 114a in the RAN 104 / 113 and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), which mayestablish the air interface 116 using wideband CDMA (WCDMA). WCDMA may include communication protocols such as High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and / or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may include High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and / or High- Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA).

[0037] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or LTE- Advanced (LTE-A) and / or LTE-Advanced Pro (LTE-A Pro).

[0038] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as NR Radio Access, which may establish the air interface 116 using New Radio (NR).

[0039] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement multiple radio access technologies. For example, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement LTE radio access and NR radio access together, for instance using dual connectivity (DC) principles. Thus, the air interface utilized by WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be characterized by multiple types of radio access technologies and / or transmissions sent to / from multiple types of base stations (e.g., an eNB and a gNB).

[0040] In other embodiments, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement radio technologies such as IEEE 802.11 (i.e., Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), IEEE 802.16 (i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 IX, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), and the like.

[0041] The base station 114b in FIG. 1 A may be a wireless router, Home Node B, Home eNode B, or access point, for example, and may utilize any suitable RAT for facilitating wireless connectivity in a localized area, such as a place of business, a home, a vehicle, a campus, an industrial facility, an air corridor (e.g., for use by drones), a roadway, and the like. In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.15 to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yet another embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may utilize a cellularbased RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR etc.) to establisha picocell or femtocell. As shown in FIG. 1 A, the base station 114b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110. Thus, the base station 114b may not be required to access the Internet 110 via the CN 106 / 115.

[0042] The RAN 104 / 113 may be in communication with the CN 106 / 115, which may be any type of network configured to provide voice, data, applications, and / or voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services to one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d. The data may have varying quality of service (QoS) requirements, such as differing throughput requirements, latency requirements, error tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements, mobility requirements, and the like. The CN 106 / 115 may provide call control, billing services, mobile location-based services, pre-paid calling, Internet connectivity, video distribution, etc., and / or perform high-level security functions, such as user authentication. Although not shown in FIG. 1 A, it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 / 113 and / or the CN 106 / 115 may be in direct or indirect communication with other RANs that employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 / 113 or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN 104 / 113, which may be utilizing a NR radio technology, the CN 106 / 115 may also be in communication with another RAN (not shown) employing a GSM, UMTS, CDMA 2000, WiMAX, E-UTRA, or WiFi radio technology.

[0043] The CN 106 / 115 may also serve as a gateway for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 110, and / or the other networks 112. The PSTN 108 may include circuit-switched telephone networks that provide plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet 110 may include a global system of interconnected computer networks and devices that use common communication protocols, such as the transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP) and / or the internet protocol (IP) in the TCP / IP internet protocol suite. The networks 112 may include wired and / or wireless communications networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. For example, the networks 112 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs, which may employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 / 113 or a different RAT.

[0044] Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d in the communications system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities (e.g., the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may include multiple transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks over different wireless links). For example, the WTRU 102c shown in FIG. 1 A may be configured to communicate with the base station 114a, which may employ a cellular-based radio technology, and with the base station 114b, which may employ an IEEE 802 radio technology.

[0045] FIG. IB is a system diagram illustrating an example WTRU 102. As shown in FIG. IB, the WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit / receive element 122, a speaker / microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display / touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, and / or other peripherals 138, among others. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may include any sub-combination of the foregoing elements while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0046] The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) circuits, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, and the like. The processor 118 may perform signal coding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, and / or any other functionality that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120, which may be coupled to the transmit / receive element 122. While FIG. IB depicts the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separate components, it will be appreciated that the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 may be integrated together in an electronic package or chip.

[0047] The transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit signals to, or receive signals from, a base station (e.g., the base station 114a) over the air interface 116. For example, in one embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an antenna configured to transmit and / or receive RF signals. In an embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an emitter / detector configured to transmit and / or receive IR, UV, or visible light signals, for example. In yet another embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive both RF and light signals. It will be appreciated that the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive any combination of wireless signals.

[0048] Although the transmit / receive element 122 is depicted in FIG. IB as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit / receive elements 122. More specifically, the WTRU 102 may employ MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit / receive elements 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the air interface 116.

[0049] The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate the signals that are to be transmitted by the transmit / receive element 122 and to demodulate the signals that are received by thetransmit / receive element 122. As noted above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. Thus, the transceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers for enabling the WTRU 102 to communicate via multiple RATs, such as NR and IEEE 802.11, for example.

[0050] The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to, and may receive user input data from, the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit or organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit). The processor 118 may also output user data to the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128. In addition, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, any type of suitable memory, such as the non-removable memory 130 and / or the removable memory 132. The non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card, and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, memory that is not physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or a home computer (not shown).

[0051] The processor 118 may receive power from the power source 134 and may be configured to distribute and / or control the power to the other components in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitable device for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 may include one or more dry cell batteries (e.g., nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, and the like.

[0052] The processor 118 may also be coupled to the GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU 102. In addition to, or in lieu of, the information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information over the air interface 116 from a base station (e.g., base stations 114a, 114b) and / or determine its location based on the timing of the signals being received from two or more nearby base stations. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may acquire location information by way of any suitable location-determination method while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0053] The processor 118 may further be coupled to other peripherals 138, which may include one or more software and / or hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality and / or wired or wireless connectivity. For example, the peripherals 138 may include an accelerometer, an e-compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera (for photographs and / orvideo), a universal serial bus (USB) port, a vibration device, a television transceiver, a hands free headset, a Bluetooth® module, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a digital music player, a media player, a video game player module, an Internet browser, a Virtual Reality and / or Augmented Reality (VR / AR) device, an activity tracker, and the like. The peripherals 138 may include one or more sensors, the sensors may be one or more of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a hall effect sensor, a magnetometer, an orientation sensor, a proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, a time sensor; a geolocation sensor; an altimeter, a light sensor, a touch sensor, a magnetometer, a barometer, a gesture sensor, a biometric sensor, and / or a humidity sensor.

[0054] The WTRU 102 may include a full duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with particular subframes for both the uplink (e.g., for transmission) and downlink (e.g., for reception) may be concurrent and / or simultaneous. The full duplex radio may include an interference management unit 139 to reduce and or substantially eliminate self-interference via either hardware (e.g., a choke) or signal processing via a processor (e.g., a separate processor (not shown) or via processor 118). In an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include a half-duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with particular subframes for either the uplink (e.g., for transmission) or the downlink (e.g., for reception)).

[0055] FIG. 1C is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may employ an E-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

[0056] The RAN 104 may include eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any number of eNode-Bs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the eNode-B 160a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and / or receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102a.

[0057] Each of the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the uplink (UL) and / or downlink (DL), and the like. As shown in FIG. 1C, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may communicate with one another over an X2 interface.

[0058] The CN 106 shown in FIG. 1C may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, a serving gateway (SGW) 164, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway (or PGW) 166. While each of the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 106, it will be appreciated that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0059] The MME 162 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 162a, 162b, 162c in the RAN 104 via an SI interface and may serve as a control node. For example, the MME 162 may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, bearer activation / deactivation, selecting a particular serving gateway during an initial attach of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the like. The MME 162 may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as GSM and / or WCDMA.

[0060] The SGW 164 may be connected to each of the eNode Bs 160a, 160b, 160c in the RAN 104 via the SI interface. The SGW 164 may generally route and forward user data packets to / from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. The SGW 164 may perform other functions, such as anchoring user planes during inter-eNode B handovers, triggering paging when DL data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, managing and storing contexts of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the like.

[0061] The SGW 164 may be connected to the PGW 166, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices.

[0062] The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 108, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and traditional land-line communications devices. For example, the CN 106 may include, or may communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to the other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks that are owned and / or operated by other service providers.

[0063] Although the WTRU is described in FIGS. 1 A-1D as a wireless terminal, it is contemplated that in certain representative embodiments that such a terminal may use (e.g., temporarily or permanently) wired communication interfaces with the communication network.

[0064] In some representative embodiments, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

[0065] A WLAN in Infrastructure Basic Service Set (BSS) mode may have an Access Point (AP) for the BSS and one or more stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The AP may have an access or an interface to a Distribution System (DS) or another type of wired / wireless network that carries traffic in to and / or out of the BSS. Traffic to STAs that originates from outside the BSS may arrive through the AP and may be delivered to the STAs. Traffic originating from STAs to destinations outside the BSS may be sent to the AP to be delivered to respective destinations. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be sent through the AP, for example, where the source STA may send traffic to the AP and the AP may deliver the traffic to the destination STA. The traffic between STAs within a BSS may be considered and / or referred to as peer-to-peer traffic. The peer-to-peer traffic may be sent between (e.g., directly between) the source and destination STAs with a direct link setup (DLS). In certain representative embodiments, the DLS may use an 802. l ie DLS or an 802.1 Iz tunneled DLS (TDLS). A WLAN using an Independent BSS (IBSS) mode may not have an AP, and the STAs (e.g., all of the STAs) within or using the IBSS may communicate directly with each other. The IBSS mode of communication may sometimes be referred to herein as an “ad-hoc” mode of communication.

[0066] When using the 802.1 lac infrastructure mode of operation or a similar mode of operations, the AP may transmit a beacon on a fixed channel, such as a primary channel. The primary channel may be a fixed width (e.g., 20 MHz wide bandwidth) or a dynamically set width via signaling. The primary channel may be the operating channel of the BSS and may be used by the STAs to establish a connection with the AP. In certain representative embodiments, Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA / CA) may be implemented, for example in in 802.11 systems. For CSMA / CA, the STAs (e.g., every STA), including the AP, may sense the primary channel. If the primary channel is sensed / detected and / or determined to be busy by a particular STA, the particular STA may back off. One STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit at any given time in a given BSS.

[0067] High Throughput (HT) STAs may use a 40 MHz wide channel for communication, for example, via a combination of the primary 20 MHz channel with an adjacent or nonadj acent 20 MHz channel to form a 40 MHz wide channel.

[0068] Very High Throughput (VHT) STAs may support 20MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and / or 160 MHz wide channels. The 40 MHz, and / or 80 MHz, channels may be formed by combining contiguous 20 MHz channels. A 160 MHz channel may be formed by combining 8 contiguous 20 MHz channels, or by combining two non-contiguous 80 MHz channels, which may be referred to as an 80+80 configuration. For the 80+80 configuration, the data, after channelencoding, may be passed through a segment parser that may divide the data into two streams. Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) processing, and time domain processing, may be done on each stream separately. The streams may be mapped on to the two 80 MHz channels, and the data may be transmitted by a transmitting STA. At the receiver of the receiving STA, the above described operation for the 80+80 configuration may be reversed, and the combined data may be sent to the Medium Access Control (MAC).

[0069] Sub 1 GHz modes of operation are supported by 802.1 laf and 802.1 lah. The channel operating bandwidths, and carriers, are reduced in 802.1 laf and 802.1 lah relative to those used in 802.1 In, and 802.1 lac. 802.1 laf supports 5 MHz, 10 MHz and 20 MHz bandwidths in the TV White Space (TVWS) spectrum, and 802.1 lah supports 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, and 16 MHz bandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to a representative embodiment, 802.1 lah may support Meter Type Control / Machine-Type Communications, such as MTC devices in a macro coverage area. MTC devices may have certain capabilities, for example, limited capabilities including support for (e.g., only support for) certain and / or limited bandwidths. The MTC devices may include a battery with a battery life above a threshold (e.g., to maintain a very long battery life).

[0070] WLAN systems, which may support multiple channels, and channel bandwidths, such as 802.1 In, 802.1 lac, 802.1 laf, and 802.1 lah, include a channel which may be designated as the primary channel. The primary channel may have a bandwidth equal to the largest common operating bandwidth supported by all STAs in the BSS. The bandwidth of the primary channel may be set and / or limited by a STA, from among all STAs in operating in a BSS, which supports the smallest bandwidth operating mode. In the example of 802.1 lah, the primary channel may be 1 MHz wide for STAs (e.g., MTC type devices) that support (e.g., only support) a 1 MHz mode, even if the AP, and other STAs in the BSS support 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, 16 MHz, and / or other channel bandwidth operating modes. Carrier sensing and / or Network Allocation Vector (NAV) settings may depend on the status of the primary channel. If the primary channel is busy, for example, due to a STA (which supports only a 1 MHz operating mode), transmitting to the AP, the entire available frequency bands may be considered busy even though a majority of the frequency bands remains idle and may be available.

[0071] In the United States, the available frequency bands, which may be used by 802.1 lah, are from 902 MHz to 928 MHz. In Korea, the available frequency bands are from 917.5 MHz to 923.5 MHz. In Japan, the available frequency bands are from 916.5 MHz to 927.5 MHz. The total bandwidth available for 802.1 lah is 6 MHz to 26 MHz depending on the country code.

[0072] FIG. ID is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 113 and the CN 115 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 113 may employ an NR radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 113 may also be in communication with the CN 115.

[0073] The RAN 113 may include gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 113 may include any number of gNBs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement MIMO technology. For example, gNBs 180a, 180b may utilize beamforming to transmit signals to and / or receive signals from the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c. Thus, the gNB 180a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and / or receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102a. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement carrier aggregation technology. For example, the gNB 180a may transmit multiple component carriers to the WTRU 102a (not shown). A subset of these component carriers may be on unlicensed spectrum while the remaining component carriers may be on licensed spectrum. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) technology. For example, WTRU 102a may receive coordinated transmissions from gNB 180a and gNB 180b (and / or gNB 180c).

[0074] The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using transmissions associated with a scalable numerology. For example, the OFDM symbol spacing and / or OFDM subcarrier spacing may vary for different transmissions, different cells, and / or different portions of the wireless transmission spectrum. The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using subframe or transmission time intervals (TTIs) of various or scalable lengths (e.g., containing varying number of OFDM symbols and / or lasting varying lengths of absolute time).

[0075] The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be configured to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c in a standalone configuration and / or a non- standalone configuration. In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c without also accessing other RANs (e.g., such as eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c). In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may utilize one or more of gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c as a mobility anchor point. In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using signals in an unlicensed band. In a non- standalone configuration WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with / connect togNBs 180a, 180b, 180c while also communicating with / connecting to another RAN such as eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c. For example, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement DC principles to communicate with one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c and one or more eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c substantially simultaneously. In the non- standalone configuration, eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may serve as a mobility anchor for WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may provide additional coverage and / or throughput for servicing WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c.

[0076] Each of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the uplink (UL) and / or downlink (DL), support of network slicing, dual connectivity, interworking between NR and E-UTRA, routing of user plane data towards User Plane Function (UPF) 184a, 184b, routing of control plane information towards Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 182a, 182b and the like. As shown in FIG. ID, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may communicate with one another over an Xn interface.

[0077] The CN 115 shown in FIG. ID may include at least one AMF 182a, 182b, at least one UPF 184a, 184b, at least one Session Management Function (SMF) 183a, 183b, and possibly a Data Network (DN) 185a, 185b. While each of the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 115, it will be appreciated that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0078] The AMF 182a, 182b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 113 via an N2 interface and may serve as a control node. For example, the AMF 182a, 182b may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, support for network slicing (e.g., handling of different PDU sessions with different requirements), selecting a particular SMF 183a, 183b, management of the registration area, termination of NAS signaling, mobility management, and the like. Network slicing may be used by the AMF 182a, 182b in order to customize CN support for WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c based on the types of services being utilized WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. For example, different network slices may be established for different use cases such as services relying on ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC) access, services relying on enhanced massive mobile broadband (eMBB) access, services for machine type communication (MTC) access, and / or the like. The AMF a82a, 182b may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 113 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and / or non-3GPP access technologies such as WiFi.

[0079] The SMF 183a, 183b may be connected to an AMF 182a, 182b in the CN 115 via an N11 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may also be connected to a UPF 184a, 184b in the CN 115 via an N4 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may select and control the UPF 184a, 184b and configure the routing of traffic through the UPF 184a, 184b. The SMF 183 a, 183b may perform other functions, such as managing and allocating UE IP address, managing PDU sessions, controlling policy enforcement and QoS, providing downlink data notifications, and the like. A PDU session type may be IP -based, non-IP based, Ethernet-based, and the like.

[0080] The UPF 184a, 184b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 113 via an N3 interface, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices. The UPF 184, 184b may perform other functions, such as routing and forwarding packets, enforcing user plane policies, supporting multi-homed PDU sessions, handling user plane QoS, buffering downlink packets, providing mobility anchoring, and the like.

[0081] The CN 115 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 115 may include, or may communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 115 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 115 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to the other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks that are owned and / or operated by other service providers. In one embodiment, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be connected to a local Data Network (DN) 185a, 185b through the UPF 184a, 184b via the N3 interface to the UPF 184a, 184b and an N6 interface between the UPF 184a, 184b and the DN 185a, 185b.

[0082] In view of Figs. 1 A-1D, and the corresponding description of Figs. 1 A-1D, one or more, or all, of the functions described herein with regard to one or more of: WTRU 102a-d, Base Station 114a-b, eNode-B 160a-c, MME 162, SGW 164, PGW 166, gNB 180a-c, AMF 182a-b, UPF 184a-b, SMF 183a-b, DN 185a-b, and / or any other device(s) described herein, may be performed by one or more emulation devices (not shown). The emulation devices may be one or more devices configured to emulate one or more, or all, of the functions described herein. For example, the emulation devices may be used to test other devices and / or to simulate network and / or WTRU functions.

[0083] The emulation devices may be designed to implement one or more tests of other devices in a lab environment and / or in an operator network environment. For example, the one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, or all, functions while being fully or partiallyimplemented and / or deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network in order to test other devices within the communication network. The one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, or all, functions while being temporarily implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. The emulation device may be directly coupled to another device for purposes of testing and / or may performing testing using over-the- air wireless communications.

[0084] The one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, including all, functions while not being implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. For example, the emulation devices may be utilized in a testing scenario in a testing laboratory and / or a non-deployed (e.g., testing) wired and / or wireless communication network in order to implement testing of one or more components. The one or more emulation devices may be test equipment. Direct RF coupling and / or wireless communications via RF circuitry (e.g., which may include one or more antennas) may be used by the emulation devices to transmit and / or receive data.

[0085] Some embodiments may relate to beam indication(s). The Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) framework in 3GPP is designed to indicate to the WTRU the Tx beam that will be used by the network to transmit to the WTRU and indicate the Quasi Co-Location (QCL) relationship between two reference signals. A unified TCI (e.g., a common TCI, a common beam, a common Reference Signal (RS), etc.) may refer to a beam / RS to be (simultaneously) used for multiple physical channels / signals. The term “TCI” may at least comprise a TCI state that includes at least one source RS to provide a reference for determining QCL and / or a spatial filter. In existing mechanisms, TCI indication and reporting of Ll-RSRPs (Layer 1 - Reference Signal Received Powers) is associated with Synchronization Signal Block / Channel State Information Reference Signal (SSB / CSI-RS) resources that have actually been transmitted.

[0086] Some embodiments may relate to AI / ML based beam prediction. A RAN study item on Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML) for NR air interface was agreed upon in RAN#94-e. As one of the target use-cases for AI / ML for air interface, beam management was selected. This technology could be significant in improving performance and complexity of many conventional beam management aspects, including beam prediction in time, and / or spatial domain for overhead and latency reduction, beam selection accuracy improvement, etc.

[0087] An important application of AI / ML with respect to beam management is to predict the best beam (or beam pairs) amongst a set of beams (or beam pairs) with greater accuracy and less overhead than legacy beam management procedures. In legacy beam management, the RSsignals associated with a beam are measured by the WTRU to determine the beam quality, and a best beam(s) among the measured beams are reported to the network. In contrast, an AI / ML model in a WTRU (or gNB) may predict one or more beams (or beam pairs) out of all possible beams (or beam pairs), including those not measured by the WTRU (or gNB). The input to the AI / ML model is beam measurements and / or beam parameters of a set of beams / beam-pairs, denoted by Set B (also called a measurement set herein). Set B is a subset of Set A (also called a predicted set herein), wherein Set A comprises all possible beams / beam-pairs. In other words, an AI / ML model in a WTRU (or gNB) predicts one or more beams (or beam pairs) of Set A, by inputting beam measurements and / or beam parameters of beams (or beam pairs) of Set B.

[0088] During inference of AIML-based beam prediction, the WTRU needs to feedback to the network beam indication (e.g., CSLRS Resource Indicator (CRI)) for Set A beams that were not previously transmitted. However, in legacy systems, the WTRU feeds back CRIs that were transmitted by the gNB following a Downlink Reference Signal (DL-RS). In addition, the legacy systems do not define the feedback and indication mechanisms for the case where a WTRU can predict and feedback a non-grid-based Tx beam pattern. This disclosure addresses such issues as how a WTRU may determine and report beam identifier for predicted beams and beam patterns and how a WTRU may receive and process beam indication for predicted beams and reported beam patterns.

[0089] Hereinafter, ‘a’ and ‘an’ and similar phrases are to be interpreted as ‘one or more’ and ‘at least one’. Similarly, any term which ends with the suffix ‘(s)’ is to be interpreted as ‘one or more’ and ‘at least one’. The term ‘may’ is to be interpreted as ‘may, for example’.

[0090] A symbol 7’ (e.g., forward slash) may be used herein to represent ‘and / or’, where for example, ‘A / B’ may imply ‘A and / or B’.

[0091] Artificial intelligence (Al) may be broadly defined as the behavior exhibited by machines. Such behavior may, e.g., mimic cognitive functions to sense, reason, adapt and act.

[0092] Machine learning (ML) may refer to type of algorithms that solve a problem based on learning through experience (‘data’), without explicitly being programmed (‘configuring a set of rules’). Machine learning can be considered as a subset of Al. Different machine learning paradigms may be envisioned based on the nature of data or feedback available to the learning algorithm. For example, a supervised learning approach may involve learning a function that maps input to an output based on a labeled training example, wherein each training example may be a pair consisting of an input and the corresponding output. For example, an unsupervised learning approach may involve detecting patterns in the data with no pre-existing labels. Forexample, a reinforcement learning approach may involve performing sequence of actions in an environment to maximize the cumulative reward. In some embodiments, it is possible to apply machine learning algorithms using a combination or interpolation of the above-mentioned approaches. For example, a semi-supervised learning approach may use a combination of a small amount of labeled data with a large amount of unlabeled data during training. In this regard, semi-supervised learning falls between unsupervised learning (with no labeled training data) and supervised learning (with only labeled training data).

[0093] Deep learning (DL) refers to a class of machine learning algorithms that employ artificial neural networks (specifically DNNs) which were loosely inspired from biological systems. Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) are a special class of machine learning models inspired by the human brain wherein the input is linearly transformed and passed through a non-linear activation function multiple times. DNNs typically comprises multiple layers, wherein each layer comprises a linear transformation and a given non-linear activation function. The DNNs can be trained using the training data via a back-propagation algorithm. Recently, DNNs have shown state-of-the-art performance in a variety of domains, e.g., speech, vision, natural language, etc., and for various machine learning settings, e.g., supervised, un-supervised, and semi-supervised. The term AIML-based methods / processing may refer to realization of behaviors and / or conformance to requirements by learning based on data, without explicit configuration of a sequence of steps or actions. Such methods may enable learning complex behaviors which might be difficult to specify and / or implement when using legacy methods.

[0094] In this document, an AIML model refers to an implementation of an AIML based method which is made up of 1) model parameters and 2) the model structure. For example, a DNN- based AIML model comprises the model parameters (i.e., weights and biases) and the model structure (i.e., the types and sizes of each layer of the deep neural network, such as dense layers, convolutional layers, etc.)

[0095] A WTRU may transmit or receive a physical channel or reference signal according to at least one spatial domain filter. The term “beam” may be used to refer to a spatial domain filter.

[0096] The WTRU may transmit a physical channel or signal using the same spatial domain filter as the spatial domain filter used for receiving an RS (such as CSI-RS) or a Synchronization Signal (SS) block. The WTRU transmission may be referred to as “target”, and the received RS or SS block may be referred to as “reference” or “source”. In such case, the WTRU may be said to transmit the target physical channel or signal according to a spatial relation with a reference to such RS or SS block.

[0097] The WTRU may transmit a first physical channel or signal according to the same spatial domain filter as the spatial domain filter used for transmitting a second physical channel or signal. The first and second transmissions may be referred to as “target” and “reference” (or “source”), respectively. In such case, the WTRU may be said to transmit the first (target) physical channel or signal according to a spatial relation with a reference to the second (reference) physical channel or signal.

[0098] A spatial relation may be implicit, configured by Radio Resource Control (RRC), or signaled by MAC CE (Control Element) or Downlink Control Information (DCI). For example, a WTRU may implicitly transmit Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and Demodulation Reference Signal (DM-RS) of the PUSCH according to the same spatial domain filter as a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) indicated by an SRS resource indicator (SRI) indicated in DCI or configured by RRC. In another example, a spatial relation may be configured by RRC for an SRI or signaled by MAC CE for a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH). Such spatial relation may also be referred to as a “beam indication”.

[0099] The WTRU may receive a first (target) downlink channel or signal according to the same spatial domain filter or spatial reception parameter as a second (reference) downlink channel or signal. For example, such association may exist between a physical channel, such as Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) or Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), and its respective DM-RS. At least when the first and second signals are reference signals, such association may exist when the WTRU is configured with a quasi-colocation (QCL) assumption type D between corresponding antenna ports. Such association may be configured as a TCI (Transmission Configuration Indicator) state. A WTRU may receive indication of an association between a CSI-RS or SS block and a DM-RS by an index to a set of TCI states configured by RRC and / or signaled by MAC CE. Such indication may also be referred to as a “beam indication”.

[0100] Hereafter, the term TRP (Transmission and Reception Point) may be used interchangeably with one or more of TP (Transmission Point), RP (Reception Point), RRH (Radio Remote Head), DA (Distributed Antenna), BS (Base Station), a sector (of a BS), and / or a cell (e.g., a geographical cell area served by a BS). Hereafter, the term Multi-TRPs may be used interchangeably with one or more of MTRP, M-TRP, and multiple TRPs.

[0101] A WTRU may report a subset of Channel State Information (CSI) components, wherein CSI components may correspond to at least a CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI), a SSB resource indicator (SSBRI), an indication of a panel used for reception at the WTRU (such as a panelidentity or group identity), measurements such as Ll-RSRP, Ll-SINR (Signal to Interference and Noise) taken from SSB or CSI-RS (e.g. cri-RSRP, cri-SINR, ssb-Index-RSRP, ssb-Index- SINR), and other channel state information, such as, at least, rank indicator (RI), channel quality indicator (CQI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), Layer Index (LI), and / or the like.

[0102] A WTRU may receive a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (SS / PBCH) block. The SS / PBCH block (SSB) may include a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), and Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH). The WTRU may monitor, receive, or attempt to decode an SSB during initial access, initial synchronization, radio link monitoring (RLM), cell search, cell switching, etc.

[0103] A WTRU may measure and report the CSI, wherein the CSI for each connection mode may include or be configured with one or more of the following: CSI report configuration, CSI- RS Resource Set, and / or NZP CSI-RS Resources. CSI Report Configuration may include one or more of the following: CSI report quantity, e.g., Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), Rank Indicator (RI), Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI), CSI-RS Resource Indicator (CRI), Layer Indicator (LI), etc.; CSI report type, e.g., aperiodic, semi persistent, periodic; CSI report codebook configuration, e.g., Type I, Type II, Type II port selection, etc.; and / or CSI report frequency. CSI-RS Resource Set may include one or more of the following CSI Resource settings: NonZero Power (NZP)-CSLRS Resource for channel measurement; NZP-CSLRS Resource for interference measurement; and / or CSLIM Resource for interference measurement. NZP CSI-RS Resources may include one or more of the following: NZP CSI-RS Resource ID; Periodicity and offset; QCL Info and TCLstate; and / or Resource mapping, e.g., number of ports, density, Code Division Multiplexing (CDM) type, etc.

[0104] A WTRU may indicate, determine, or be configured with one or more reference signals. The WTRU may monitor, receive, and measure one or more parameters based on the respective reference signals. For example, one or more of the following may apply (wherein the following parameters are non-limiting examples of parameters that may be included in reference signal(s) measurements).

[0105] SS reference signal received power (SS-RSRP) may be measured based on the synchronization signals (e.g., demodulation reference signal (DMRS) in PBCH or Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS)). It may be defined as the linear average over the power contribution of the resource elements (RE) that carry the respective synchronization signal. In measuring the RSRP, power scaling for the reference signals may be required. In case SS-RSRPis used for Ll-RSRP, the measurement may be accomplished based on CSI reference signals in addition to the synchronization signals.

[0106] CSI-RSRP may be measured based on the linear average over the power contribution of the REs that carry the respective CSI-RS. The CSI-RSRP measurement may be configured within measurement resources for the configured CSI-RS occasions.

[0107] SS signal -to-noise and interference ratio (SS-SINR) may be measured based on the synchronization signals (e.g., DMRS in PBCH or SSS). It may be defined as the linear average over the power contribution of the REs that carry the respective synchronization signal divided by the linear average of the noise and interference power contribution. In case SS-SINR is used for Ll-SINR, the noise and interference power measurement may be accomplished based on resources configured by higher layers.

[0108] CSI-SINR may be measured based on the linear average over the power contribution of the resource elements (RE) that carry the respective CSI-RS divided by the linear average of the noise and interference power contribution. In case CSI-SINR is used for Ll-SINR, the noise and interference power measurement may be accomplished based on resources configured by higher layers. Otherwise, the noise and interference power may be measured based on the resources that carry the respective CSI-RS.

[0109] Received signal strength indicator (RS SI) may be measured based on the average of the total power contribution in configured Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols and bandwidth. The power contribution may be received from different resources (e.g., co-channel serving and non-serving cells, adjacent channel interference, thermal noise, etc.)

[0110] Cross-Layer interference received signal strength indicator (CLI-RSSI) may be measured based on the average of the total power contribution in configured OFDM symbols of the configured time and frequency resources. The power contribution may be received from different resources (e.g., cross-layer interference, co-channel serving and non-serving cells, adjacent channel interference, thermal noise, etc.)

[0111] Sounding reference signals RSRP (SRS-RSRP) may be measured based on the linear average over the power contribution of the resource elements (RE) that carry the respective SRS.

[0112] Secondary synchronization signal reference signal received quality (SS-RSRQ) may be measured based on measurements of the reference signal received power (SS-RSRP) and received signal strength (RSSI). In an example, the SS-RSRQ may be calculated as the ratio of N* SS-RSRP / NR carrier RSSI, where N may be determined based on the number of resource blocks that are in the corresponding NR carrier RSSI measurement bandwidth. As such, themeasurements to be used in the numerator and denominator may be over the same set of resource blocks.

[0113] CSI reference signal received quality (CSI-RSRQ) may be measured based on measurements on the reference signal received power (CSI-RSRP) and received signal strength indicator (RSSI). In an example, the SS-RSRQ may be calculated as the ratio of N*CSI-RSRP / CSIRSSI, where N may be determined based on the number of resource blocks that are in the corresponding CSI-RSSI measurement bandwidth. As such, the measurements to be used in the numerator and denominator may be over the same set of resource blocks.

[0114] A CSI report configuration (e.g., CSI-ReportConfigs) may be associated with a single Bandwidth Part (BWP) (e.g., indicated by BWP-Id), wherein one or more of the following parameters are configured: CSI-RS resources and / or CSI-RS resource sets for channel and interference measurement; CSI-RS report configuration type including the periodic, semi- persistent, and aperiodic; CSI-RS transmission periodicity for periodic and semi-persistent CSI reports; CSI-RS transmission slot offset for periodic, semi-persistent and aperiodic CSI reports; CSI-RS transmission slot offset list for semi -persistent and aperiodic CSI reports; time restrictions for channel and interference measurements; report frequency band configuration (wideband / subb and CQI, PMI, etc.); thresholds and modes of calculations for the reporting quantities (CQI, RSRP, SINR, LI, RI, etc.); codebook configuration; group based beam reporting; CQI table; subband size; non-PMI port indication; port index; etc.

[0115] A CSI-RS Resource Set (e.g., NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet) may include one or more of CSI-RS resources (e.g., NZP-CSI-RS-Resource and CSI-ResourceConfig), wherein a WTRU may be configured with one or more of the following in a CSI-RS Resource: CSI-RS periodicity and slot offset for periodic and semi-persistent CSI-RS Resources CSI-RS resource mapping to define the number of CSI-RS ports, density, CDM-type, OFDM symbol, and subcarrier occupancy; the bandwidth part to which the configured CSI-RS is allocated; the reference to the TCLState including the QCL source RS(s) and the corresponding QCL type(s).

[0116] One or more of following configurations may be used for RS resource set. A WTRU may be configured with one or more RS resource sets. The RS resource set configuration may include one or more of following: RS resource set ID, one or more RS resources for the RS resource set, repetition (i.e., on or off), aperiodic triggering offset (e.g., one of 0-6 slots), TRS info (e.g., true or not).

[0117] One or more of following configurations may be used for RS resource. A WTRU may be configured with one or more RS resources. The RS resource configuration may include one ormore of following: RS resource ID, resource mapping (e.g., REs in a PRB), power control offset (e.g., one value of -8, . . 15), power control offset with SS (e.g., -3 dB, 0 dB, 3 dB, 6 Db), scrambling ID, periodicity and offset, QCL information (e.g., based on a TCI state).

[0118] In the following, a property of a grant or assignment may comprise at least one of the following: a frequency allocation; an aspect of time allocation, such as a duration; a priority; a modulation and coding scheme; a transport block size; a number of spatial layers; a number of transport blocks; a TCI state, CRI or SRI; a number of repetitions; whether the repetition scheme is Type A or Type B; whether the grant is a configured grant type 1, type 2 or a dynamic grant; whether the assignment is a dynamic assignment or a semi-persistent scheduling (configured) assignment; a configured grant index or a semi-persistent assignment index; a periodicity of a configured grant or assignment; a channel access priority class (CAPC); any parameter provided in a DCI, by MAC or by RRC for the scheduling the grant or assignment.

[0119] In the following, an indication by DCI may comprise at least one of the following: an explicit indication by a DCI field or by RNTI used to mask or scramble the CRC of the DCI ; an implicit indication by a property such as DCI format, DCI size, Coreset or search space, Aggregation Level, first resource element of the received DCI (e.g., index of first Control Channel Element), where the mapping between the property and the value may be signaled by RRC or MAC.

[0120] Receiving or monitoring for a DCI with or using an RNTI may mean that the CRC of the DCI is masked or scrambled with the RNTI.

[0121] Hereafter, a signal may be interchangeably used with one or more of following: Sounding Reference Signal (SRS); Channel state information - reference signal (CSI-RS); Demodulation reference signal (DM-RS); Phase tracking reference signal (PT-RS); Synchronization signal block (SSB).

[0122] Hereafter, a channel may be interchangeably used with one or more of following: Physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); Physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); Physical uplink control channel (PUCCH); Physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); Physical random access channel (PRACH); etc.

[0123] Hereafter, signal, channel, and message (e.g., as in DL or UL signal, channel, and message) may be used interchangeably.

[0124] Hereafter, RS may be used interchangeably with one or more of RS resource, RS resource set, RS port and RS port group.

[0125] Hereafter, RS may be used interchangeably with one or more of SSB, CSI-RS, SRS, and DM-RS, TRS, PRS, and PTRS.

[0126] Hereafter, time instance, slot, symbol, and subframe may be used interchangeably.

[0127] Hereafter, the disclosed embodiments for beam resources prediction may be used for beam resources belonging to a single cell or multiple cells as well as single or multiple TRPs.

[0128] Hereafter, CSI reporting may be used interchangeably with CSI measurement, beam reporting, and beam measurement.

[0129] Hereafter, RS resource set may be used interchangeably with beam group.

[0130] Hereafter, Set A beams refer to the set of all possible beams that the network can use. The WTRU is aware of the beams in Set A.

[0131] Hereafter, Set B beams refer to the set of beams that the network actually transmits for beam measurement. Set B beams are a subset of Set A beams. The WTRU uses Set B beam measurements to predict beams in Set A.

[0132] Hereafter, grid-based beams refers to the beams that can be represented on a horizontal vertical angle based discrete grid.

[0133] Hereafter, non-grid-based beams refers to the beams that can be represented with any non-discrete horizontal vertical angle.

[0134] Hereafter, predicted beams refers to the Set A beams that are predicted based on Set B beam measurements.

[0135] Hereafter, beam index refers to the index of the beam assigned by the network. The WTRU is aware of the beam indexing.

[0136] Hereafter, beam pattern refers to the specific beam pattern (i.e., spatial filter parameters) of a grid-based or non-grid-based beam.

[0137] Described below are methods and apparatus for beam reporting and indication for predicted beams. The methods and apparatus comprise new methods to efficiently feedback the predicted beam indexes and to enable dynamic TCI state indication. The feedback on the predicted beams includes efficient reporting of best measured beam and best predicted beam using relative indexing. The methods on dynamic beam indication enables the indicated TCI states to be updated dynamically based on the WTRU reporting of measured and predicted beams.

[0138] Some embodiments may relate to or may be directed to relative beam index determination and / or reporting for predicted beams. In certain embodiments, a WTRU receives configuration for relative beam index reporting, determines a relative index for the predicted Txbeams, and reports the relative beam index of the predicted best Tx beam and index of the best measured beam, and, if so configured, predicts and reports a Tx beam pattern.

[0139] For example, a WTRU receives from the network configuration for Set B beams and relative indexes of Set A beams. The configuration determines the mapping between relative indexes and predicted Set A beams and may include Set A to Set B ratio, Set A relative indexing structure, grid structure of beams, the resources allocated to Set B beams. The WTRU also receives configuration for beam prediction type. This configuration may include the type of Tx beam to be determined, e.g., grid-based or non-grid-based, AIML model or AIML model ID for beam prediction, beam pattern prediction and relative indexing type.

[0140] The WTRU also receives from the network CSI-RS for measuring Set B beams.

[0141] The WTRU then measures Set B beams and determines best Set B Tx beam based on RSRP, predicts best Set A Tx beam, and, if WTRU Tx beam pattern prediction is enabled, predicts non-grid-based Tx beam pattern.

[0142] The WTRU then determines an anchor beam based on the measured RSRP of Set B beams and neighborhood of predicted Set A beam.

[0143] Next, the WTRU determines a relative index for the predicted Tx beam based on the determined anchor beam and the configuration on relative index.

[0144] Finally, the WTRU feeds back a subset of Set B beam indexes, relative beam index of predicted Tx beam, and, if the WTRU Tx beam pattern prediction is enabled, the predicted Tx beam pattern.

[0145] Some embodiments may relate to or may include WTRU configuration for relative beam index determination. For example, a WTRU receives configuration of Set B beams and relative indexes of Set A beams. The relative indexing structure determines the relative position of the Set A beam with respect to closest Set B beam. The configuration of relative indexing may include the indexes and number of Set B beams. WTRU may be configured with a set of identifiers for Set B beams to be used for constructing location of Set B beams in the grid.

[0146] The configuration of relative indexing also may include the Set A to Set B ratio. The WTRU may receive the ratio of Set A beams to Set B beams to determine the number of relative indexes to identify Set A beams with respect to a Set B beam.

[0147] The configuration of relative indexing also may include the Set A relative indexing structure. The WTRU may be configured with the relative indexing structure of Set A beams with respect to Set B beams. For example, the relative indexing may start from the top leftcorner of the neighboring Set A beams of a Set B beam with index 0 and rotate clockwise. The configuration may include start position for relative indexing, start value, and rotation.

[0148] The configuration of relative indexing also may include the Set A relative indexes with respect to each Set B beam. In case there are irregularities in the relative indexes of Set A beams, the WTRU may be configured with the relative indexes of all Set A beams with respect to each Set B beam.

[0149] The configuration of relative indexing also may include the grid structure of Set A beams and Set B beams. The WTRU may be configured with the grid structure of Set B beams and Set A beams which indicates the location and indexing of Set A beams and Set B beams (i.e., spatial relation). The grid structure may be indicated using a look-up table based approach, where each entry in the look-up table may indicate a specific combination of number of Set A beams, number Set B beams and relative indexing structure. The look-up table may be predefined in the WTRU and the network.

[0150] The configuration of relative indexing also may include the resources allocated to DL RS beams for Set B beams.

[0151] Furthermore, the WTRU may receive configuration on the beam prediction.

[0152] For instance, the WTRU may receive configuration of AIML model or AIML model ID. WTRU may receive AIML model or AIML model ID. The model may be used for predicting a Tx beam and a relative index accordingly.

[0153] For instance, the WTRU also may receive configuration of Tx beam pattern prediction type. WTRU may receive configuration on Tx beam pattern prediction, such as Tx beam pattern prediction enabled / disabled.

[0154] For instance, the WTRU also may receive configuration of Tx beam pattern ID type. The WTRU may be configured with a type to determine the Tx beam pattern ID, e.g., proximitybased of non-proximity -based. In proximity -based type, the WTRU may determine the Tx beam pattern ID according to the Tx beam’s proximity to a Set A beam. In non-proximity-based type, the WTRU may determine the Tx beam ID regardless of its proximity to a Set A beam, whereby the WTRU may assign any relative index to the Tx beam.

[0155] According to some embodiments, a WTRU may receive a set of CSI-RS beamformed with Set B beams. The WTRU may measure the RSRP corresponding to all Set B beams. The determination and prediction of best Set B and Set A beams depends on the configuration.

[0156] If the WTRU is configured to predict grid-based Tx beams (e.g., Tx beam pattern prediction disabled), the WTRU may determine the best Tx beam from set B based on the RSRPmeasurements. Then, the WTRU may use an AIML model to predict the best grid-based Set A beam using the RSPR measurements. The WTRU may use an indicated AIML model to predict a grid-based best Set A beam.

[0157] If the WTRU is configured to predict non-grid-based Tx beams (e.g., Tx beam pattern prediction enabled), first, the WTRU may determine the best Tx beam from set B based on RSRP measurements. Then the WTRU may predict non-grid-based best Tx beam (i.e., new Tx beam pattern) using the RSRP measurements. The WTRU may use an indicated AIML model to predict non-grid-based Tx beam pattern.

[0158] Some embodiments may include anchor beam and / or relative beam index determination. For example, the WTRU may determine the relative index of the predicted beam with respect to an anchor beam. An anchor beam refers to a neighboring Set B Tx beam of the predicted best Set A Tx beam. If there are more than one neighboring Set B beams, the anchor beam may be chosen as the Set B beam with the highest RSRP among all the neighboring Set B beams.

[0159] An example for the case where the number of Set B beams is one quarter of the number of Set A beams is provided in FIG. 2 (i.e., vertical and horizontal spatial relations). Assuming that the WTRU predicts the Tx beam as the beam labeled 201 in FIG. 2, the WTRU may determine an anchor beam from the beams in set B. In this example, there is only one Set B beam in the neighborhood of the predicted Set A beam, i.e., beam 203. Hence the WTRU determines an anchor beam as the Set B beam index 1. Then, the WTRU determines the relative index of the predicted Set A beam as 111 based on the configured relative indexing scheme. In this example, the relative indexing scheme starts with 000 from the left top Set A beam and increments in clockwise direction around the anchor beam.

[0160] It should be borne in mind during this discussion that, as previously mentioned, set B is a subset of Set A (because Set A comprises the totality of beams). Accordingly, although beams in Set B are referred to herein as Set B beams for simplicity, they are also Set A beams. This is important to bear in mind because it is possible that the predicted best Set A beam could be a beam in Set B, e.g., it could be the measured best beam in Set B. Accordingly, the set of indexes should include an index to indicate that fact. In one embodiment, the absence of an index in the report to the network could be used to implicitly indicate that the best Set B beam is, in fact, also the best Set A beam.

[0161] Another example for the case where the number of Set B beams is one half of the number of Set A beams is provided in FIG. 3. Assuming that the WTRU predicts the Tx beam as beam 301 in FIG. 3, the WTRU may determine an anchor beam. In this example, the predicted Set Abeam 301 has 3 neighboring Set B beams, namely, beams 1, 2, and 4. The WTRU determines the anchor beam as the one with the highest RSRP among Set B beams [1,2,4]. Assuming that Set B beam index 4 has the highest RSRP among the three beams, the WTRU determines the anchor beam as Set B beam 4. Then, the WTRU determines the relative index of the predicted Set A 301 beam as 00 based on the configured relative indexing scheme. In this example, the relative indexing scheme starts with 00 from the top Set A beam and increments in clockwise direction around the anchor beam.

[0162] FIG. 4 illustrates an example for the case when WTRU Tx beam pattern prediction is enabled. The WTRU predicts a Tx beam pattern using the Set B beam measurements. Then, the WTRU may determine an anchor beam as the closest neighbor of the Tx beam pattern. In the example, the WTRU determines the Set B beam index 1 as the anchor beam. Then, the WTRU assigns a relative index to the predicted Tx beam pattern. If WTRU is configured with proximity -based Tx beam ID, the WTRU determines the Tx beam index as the closest Set A beam relative index to the predicted Tx beam pattern. In the example in FIG. 4, the WTRU determines 101 based on the configured relative indexing scheme. In this example, the relative indexing scheme starts with 000 from the left top Set A beam and increments in clockwise direction around the anchor beam.

[0163] If the WTRU is configured with non-proximity-based Tx beam ID, the WTRU may determine any beam ID for the predicted Tx beam regardless of the location of Tx beam out of the available relative Set A beam indexes.

[0164] Some embodiments may include feedback on predicted beam and / or relative index. For example, the WTRU may report to the network the indexes of a subset of Set B beams (e.g., CRI).

[0165] If the best Set A beam is a neighbor of the best Set B beam, the WTRU may report CRI of the best Set B beam (i.e., anchor beam) and relative index of the best Set A beam.

[0166] If the best Set A beam is not a neighbor of the best Set B beam and the RSRP difference between the best Set B beam and a Set B beam that is a neighbor of the best Set A beam is below a threshold, then the WTRU may report the neighboring Set B beam (i.e., anchor beam) and the relative Set A beam index.

[0167] If the best Set A beam is not a neighbor of best Set B beam and the RSRP difference between the best Set B beam and a Set B beam that is a neighbor of the best Set A beam is above a threshold, then the WTRU may report the index of both the anchor Set B beam and best Set B beam, and the relative index of the predicted Set A beam to the Set B anchor beam.

[0168] In some embodiments, a WTRU reports the relative index of the predicted Set A beam, i.e., ACRI-a, in case the WTRU is configured with grid-based beam prediction. The relative index of the predicted Set A beam may be determined and reported based on the configuration. For example, the relative index reporting can consist of 3 bits in case the Set B to Set A beam ratio is 1 / 4.

[0169] If the WTRU is configured with Tx beam pattern enabled, then the WTRU reports a Tx beam pattern and relative index to the network.

[0170] In this case, in addition to reporting the indexes of Set B beams, the WTRU also reports the predicted non-grid-based Tx beam pattern. The Tx beam pattern may be compressed at the WTRU and decompressed at the network for efficient transmission.

[0171] The WTRU may report the relative Tx beam pattern index together with the Tx beam pattern. For example, if the WTRU is configured with proximity-based Tx beam ID, then the WTRU may assign an index to the predicted beam pattern so that the index is the relative index of the Set A beam that is closest to the predicted Tx beam pattern. For example, if the WTRU is configured with non-proximity -based Tx beam ID, the WTRU may assign an index to the predicted Tx beam so that the index can be chosen from any available relative index.

[0172] Some embodiments may relate to or may include WTRU specific dynamic beam indication for predicted beams. In certain embodiments, a WTRU receives indication of the beam indication type, receives dynamic beam indication based on the WTRU reported beam measurements, establishes / updates Tx beam relationships for DL transmission accordingly, and receives indication of TCI table update.

[0173] More particularly, a WTRU may receive the type of dynamic beam indication that determines how the WTRU can update the QCL relationship of Tx beams based on WTRU reporting of measurements on Set B beams. For all TCI table types (Type-1, Type-2, Type-3), the configuration may include the number of TCI states. For TCI Table Type-2, the configuration may include the number of allowed historical Tx beam patterns stored.

[0174] Next, the WTRU may receive TCI state indication.

[0175] If the indicated TCI state is 0, then the WTRU determines the QCL relationship based on the best Set B Rx beam measured in the previous Set B beam measurement reporting process.

[0176] If the indicated TCI state is not 0, then the QCL relationship determination may depend on the type of TCI table.

[0177] For TCI Table Type-1, the WTRU may map the indicated relative index to determine the Set A Tx beam based on the last reported best Set B beam.

[0178] For TCI Table Type-2, the WTRU may map the indicated relative index to either (a) determine the Set A Tx beam based on the last reported best Set B beam or (b) determine the Tx beam pattern based on historical Tx beam pattern predictions. The determination of the Tx beam from the TCI Table Type-2 may be a function of the number of allowed historical Tx beam patterns, the size of the table and the historical reported Tx beams.

[0179] For TCI Table Type-3, the WTRU may determine the Tx beam pattern based on the historical reported Tx beam patterns and the size of the table.

[0180] Within each TCI state indication, the WTRU may receive indication from the network indicating whether the TCI state indication is based on the latest Set B beam measurement report fed back by the WTRU.

[0181] Some embodiments may include WTRU configuration for dynamic beam indication. For example, the WTRU may receive configuration of the type of TCI table that may be used. As an example, there may be three types of TCI tables for dynamic beam indication, hereinafter referred to as TCI table type-1, TCI table type-2, and TCI table type-3.

[0182] TCI table type-1 may be a table that indicates the use of only grid-based beam indication consisting of relative Set A beam indexes. The configurations for this type of TCI table may include the size of the table (N).

[0183] TCI table type-2may be a table that indicates the use of combined grid-based / non-grid- based beam indication comprising relative Set A beam indexes and Tx beam pattern indexes. The configuration of this TCI table type may include size of the table (N) and the number of supported Tx beam patterns (P). The number of supported beam patterns can be less than or equal to N-1.

[0184] TCI table type-3may be a table that indicates the use of non-gri d-based beam indication comprising previously reported Tx beam indexes. The configurations of this type of TCI table may include size of the table (N) and type of mapping of indexes to Tx beam patterns. The mapping of indexes to Tx beam patterns may be configured from two types, i.e., WTRU determined indexing and historical indexing.

[0185] Some embodiments may relate to WTRU procedures for TCI table Type-1. For example, a WTRU may be configured with a first set of RS resources, beam resources, and / or beam-pairs that may cover the entire RS resource-space or beam-space or beam-pair-space. The WTRU may determine, select, or be configured with a set A and a set B such that the union of set A and set B covers the entire RS-resource-space or beam-space or beam -pair-space. For example, set A and set B may be mutually exclusive. For example, the WTRU may receive the configurationsof the Set A and Set B beam resources during initial access to a cell and / or after connecting to a cell and in CONNECTED mode. The WTRU may receive the configurations via cell-specific and / or WTRU-specific signaling.

[0186] Herein, a beam resource may comprise a TCI state, CSI-RS, TRS, PT-RS, SSB, beam direction, and / or a reference signal and / or channel for downlink. Alternatively, a beam resource may comprise an SRS resource, TCI state, a beam direction, and / or a reference signal and / or channel for uplink. A beam resource may be identified by a beam indication. Hereafter, a beam resource and a beam-pair resource may be used interchangeably.

[0187] In an example, a set B may include one or more RS resources on which the WTRU may perform measurements. That is, the WTRU may receive one or more RSs based on the Set B RS resources, where the WTRU may measure one or more parameters based on the received RSs. For example, the WTRU may measure one or more parameters including RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, CQI, etc.

[0188] The WTRU may select, determine, and report one or more first beam resources from the set of measured Set B RS resources. For example, the WTRU may determine that at least one of the reported first beam resources may be the best beam among the measured Set B RS resources. In an example, the WTRU may determine that at least one of the measured parameters based on the reported first best beam resource is higher than other beam resources from the set of measured Set B RS resources. For example, the WTRU may determine that the measured RSRP for the reported first best beam is higher than the measured RSRP for other beam resources from the set of measured Set B RS resources.

[0189] In an embodiment, a WTRU may receive one or more configurations and / or indication information of one or more second beam resources, wherein the configuration information may include a relative spatial relation between a first best beam and one or more of the indicated second beams.

[0190] In an example, the WTRU may determine the first best beam to be the reference and / or anchor beam resources. In another example, the first best anchor beam may be one of the beam resources from the set of Set B beams. In another example, the first anchor beam may be one of the reported first beams.

[0191] In an example, the second set of beam resources may be a subset of configured Set A beams. In another example, the second set of beam resources may include beam resources based on a combination of beam resources from configured Set A and / or Set B beams.

[0192] For example, the WTRU may receive the configuration information of the set of second beams and the respective relative spatial relation with the first anchor beam based on a semistatic (e.g., via RRC, MAC-CE) and / or a dynamic (e.g., via DCI, MAC-CE) indication.

[0193] Table Indication. In an embodiment, a WTRU may receive the indication of the relative spatial relation of the beams in the second set with the first anchor beam based on a list and / or a table of indexes, where each index may indicate a relative spatial relation between the first reference and / or anchor beam and a set of indicated and / or configured second beam resources. In an example, the WTRU may be (pre)configured with spatial relations that may be based on the footprints of the beams on the ground, that can be mapped onto, for example, a hexagonal grid, a square grid, a circular grid, a rectangular grid, etc.

[0194] Table 1 below provides an exemplary table indicating the relative spatial relations with regard to the first anchor beam. In an example, in Table 1, CRI B indicates the first anchor beam that may be determined based on the first reported beam. In another example, in Table 1, the indexes are indicated via TCI State ID. The TCI State IDs present different (pre)configured spatial relationships relative to the first anchor beam.Table 1 : Example for TCI Table Type-1

[0195] For example, the WTRU may receive a set of second beam resources in addition to corresponding TCI state ID, based on Table 1, where the WTRU may determine the relative spatial relation associated with each of the second beam resources and the first anchor beam accordingly. In an example, the WTRU may receive a first TCI State ID and a first beam index. In case the first TCI State ID has a first index (e.g., value zero), the WTRU may determine that the indicated first beam index corresponds to the first anchor beam. In another example, the WTRU may receive a second TCI State ID and a second beam index. If the second TCI State ID has an index other than the first index (e.g., non-zero value), the WTRU may determine that theindicated second beam index corresponds to one of the beam indexes from the second set of beam resources.

[0196] In an example, the WTRU may receive or be configured with a first beam from the set of second beam resources that is associated with a first TCI State ID (e.g., non-zero TCI State ID). As such, the WTRU may determine that the configured first beam from the set of second beam resources has a first relative spatial relation relative to the first anchor beam. The WTRU may receive or be configured with a second beam from the set of second beam resources that is associated with a second TCI State ID (e.g., non-zero TCI State ID). As such, the WTRU may determine that the configured second beam from the set of second beam resources has a second relative spatial relation to the first anchor beam, and so forth.

[0197] Evolved QCL Type Indication. In another embodiment, a WTRU may receive an indication of the relative spatial relation of one or more second beam resources based on a first anchor beam via an evolved QCL Type. For example, the WTRU may receive the indication of the beam resources from a gNB, e.g., via RRC, MAC-CE, or DCI. In an example, the WTRU may receive the indication of one or more beam resources, wherein the indication may include the QCL type for the indicated beam resources.

[0198] In an example, the WTRU may be configured with a first beam resource with a first QCL type (e.g., QCL Type D) based on a first reference signal. As such, the WTRU may determine that the first beam resource with the first QCL Type (e.g., QCL Type D) is the first anchor beam.

[0199] In another example, the WTRU may be configured with one or more beam resources with a second QCL type (e.g., Evolved QCL Type). The configuration may indicate the second QCL Type and an index to a list and / or table of TCI states. The WTRU may determine that the beam resource with the second QCL Type (e.g., Evolved QCL Type) is a beam resource from the second set of beam resources, wherein the WTRU may use the configured index to determine the relative spatial relation of the second beam resource with respect to the first anchor beam.

[0200] DL Reception / UL Transmission. In an example, a WTRU may be configured or receive configurations of one or more scheduled DL receptions. For example, the scheduled DL receptions may be based on a configured or dynamic grant. The configurations may include the DL beam direction that may be based on a TCI-state, QCL-Type, etc.

[0201] In an example, if the configured DL beam direction is based on one of the second beam resources, the WTRU may determine the Rx spatial filter based on the Rx spatial filter used and / or determined for the corresponding first anchor beam and the configured relative spatialrelation of the second beam resource. As such, the WTRU may use the determined Rx spatial filter at the WTRU and then receive the configured DL accordingly.

[0202] Alternatively, a WTRU may be configured or receive configurations of one or more scheduled UL transmissions. For example, the scheduled UL transmissions may be based on a configured or dynamic grant. The configurations may include the UL beam direction that may be based on a TCI-state, QCL-Type, etc.

[0203] In an example, if the configured UL beam direction is based on one of the second beam resources, the WTRU may determine the Tx spatial filter based on the Tx spatial filter used and / or determined for the corresponding first anchor beam and the configured relative spatial relation of the second beam resource to the first anchor beam. As such, the WTRU may use the determined Tx spatial filter at the WTRU and transmit the configured UL accordingly.

[0204] Some embodiments may relate to WTRU procedures for TCI table Type-2. In an example, the WTRU may be configured with TCI table type-2 of size N, and the number of supported Tx beam patterns (P). If the WTRU is configured to receive TCI state updates through TCI table type-2, the TCI state interpretation at the WTRU may depend on the historical CSI measurements and TCI state indications.

[0205] An example TCI state table and its interpretation is provided in Table 2 below for N=8 and P=l, where CRI B indicates the first anchor beam that may be determined based on the first reported beam. When the WTRU is configured to use a TCI state table with P=l, only one historical Tx beam pattern can be reused. Initially, the TCI state interpretation is similar to Table 1. After every time the WTRU receives a TCI state indication, the interpretation of the indicated TCI state is updated. In the example given in Table 2, after the first TCI state indication, the WTRU updates its interpretation of the TCI state table, such that, if TCI state 7 is indicated, the network will use the last Tx beam pattern fed back by the WTRU that was reported with relative index #6. After the second TCI state indication, the WTRU updates its interpretation of the TCI state table, such that, if TCI state 3 is indicated, NW will use the last Tx beam pattern fed back by the WTRU that was reported with relative index#2. Any subsequent TCI state indication will be interpreted by the WTRU in a similar manner.Table 2: Example TCI Table Type-2 for N=l

[0206] An example TCI state table and its interpretation is provided in Table 3 below for N=8 and P=2, wherein CRI B indicates the first anchor beam that may be determined based on the first reported beam. When the WTRU is configured to use a TCI state table with P=2, two historical Tx beam pattern can be reused. Let Txtdenote the beam pattern reported at time t. After every time the WTRU receives a TCI state indication, the interpretation of the indicated TCI state is updated. In the example given in Table 3, after the first TCI state indication, the WTRU updates its interpretation of the TCI state table such that in case TCI state 7 is indicated, NW will use the Tx beam pattern (Tx- fed back by the WTRU that was reported with relative index #6. After the second TCI state indication, the WTRU updates its interpretation of the TCI state table such that, if TCI state 3 is indicated, the network will use the Tx beam pattern (Tx2) fed back by the WTRU that was reported with relative index#2, and, if TCI state 7 is indicated, the network will use the Tx beam pattern (Tx- fed back by the WTRU that was reported with relative index#6. After the third TCI state indication, the WTRU updates its interpretation of the TCI state table such that, if TCI state 5 is indicated, NW will use the Tx beam pattern (Tx3) fed back by the WTRU that was reported with relative index#4, and in case TCI state 7 is indicated, NW will use the Tx beam pattern (2) fed back by the WTRU that was reported with relative index#6. Any subsequent TCI state indication will be interpreted by the WTRU in a similar manner.Table 3: Example TCI Table Type-2 for N=2

[0207] Some embodiments may relate to WTRU procedures for TCI table Type-3. In certain embodiments, the WTRU may be configured with TCI table type-3 of size N. If the WTRU is configured to receive TCI state updates through TCI table type-3, the TCI state interpretation at the WTRU depends on the historical CSI measurements and TCI state indications. The TCI table type-3 only indicates the best Set B beam reported by the WTRU and previous Tx beam patterns reported by the WTRU.

[0208] An example TCI state table Type-3 is provided below in Table 4, wherein N=8 and CRI B indicates the first anchor beam that may be determined based on the first reported beam. In this example, the TCI state ID 0 represents the last best Set B beam reported by the WTRU. Other TCI states indicate the past Tx beam patterns reported by the WTRU.

[0209] The mapping of TCI state to reported Tx beam patterns can be determined according to configuration. In an option, the mapping may be determined based on the index reported by the WTRU (WTRU-determined indexing).

[0210] In another option, the mapping may be based on the historical reporting instance of the WTRU (historical indexing). For example, TCI state ID 1 may correspond to the Tx beam pattern reported with the previous reporting instance (e.g., t-1). TCI state ID 2 may correspond to the Tx beam pattern reported at the reporting time instance t-2, and so on.Table 4: Example TCI Table Type-3

[0211] Some embodiments may relate to TCI table synchronization between the WTRU and the network. The WTRU and the network need to keep their TCI table states synchronized since the interpretation of the TCI states is dynamically updated. To achieve this, the WTRU receives a TCI Table Updated indication from the network indicating whether the new TCI state indication belongs to an updated table based on the last WTRU reporting.

[0212] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example procedure for TCI table synchronization between the network and a WTRU. In step 501, the WTRU receives a New TCI state indication from the network in the DCI. In step 503, the WTRU determines whether the new TCI state indication indicates a positive TCI Table Updated indication in the DCI (e.g., bit value 1) or not (bit value 0). If it is a 1 (indicating that the network thinks that the table has been updated, flow proceeds from step 503 to step 507, in which the WTRU gets confirmation on the reception of the last WTRU reporting on Set B beam measurements.

[0213] If the WTRU determines in step 507 that there has been no new reporting by the WTRU since the last TCI state indication, flow proceeds to step 509, wherein the WTRU feeds back a TCI Table out-of-sync message regarding the TCI tables in the WTRU and the network. Otherwise, the WTRU does nothing.

[0214] If, on the other hand, the WTRU determines in step 503 that it has received a negative TCI Table Updated indication (e.g., bit value 0), flow instead proceeds from step 503 to step 505, wherein the WTRU determines whether it has transmitted an update to its table since the last TCI state indication received from the network. If it has (indicative of a lack of table synchronization with the network), flow proceeds to step 509 wherein the WTRU feeds back a TCI Table out-of-sync message regarding the TCI tables in the WTRU and the network. If, on the other hand, the WTRU determines in step 505 that it has performed no new reporting since the previous TCI state indication, the WTRU takes no action regarding the table synchronization.

[0215] The TCI Table Updated indication may trigger an LI procedure to indicate to higher layers (MAC CE and RRC) regarding the interpretation of TCI states for the TCI tables, so that for example DCI, MAC CE and RCC interpretation of the TCI states is aligned.

[0216] In an embodiment, the TCI Table out-of-sync message may be fedback by the WTRU in a 1 bit field in the UCI feedback.

[0217] Some embodiments may include Rx beam determination for predicted beams. For example, the Rx beam determination at the WTRU may be performed using two stages with different AIML models based on the TCI state indication. The first AIML model may be trained to take as inputs the Set B beam measurements and to output the Predicted Set A beam and a first Rx beam. The first AIML model may have two subtypes, a first type that outputs the grid based Tx beam (as illustrated by FIG. 6) or a second type that outputs a non-grid-based-Tx beam (as illustrated by FIG. 7). The first AIML model enables the prediction of Tx and Rx beam using only Set B beam measurements.

[0218] The second AIML model may be trained to take as input the predicted Tx beam, first (previous) predicted Rx beam, secondary CSI-RS measurement beamformed with a single beam, and output a second Rx beam. The second AIML model may have two sub-types, a first type taking as input the grid-based beam (as illustrated in FIG. 8) and the other taking as input the non-grid-based beam (as illustrated in FIG. 9). The second AIML model enables the updating (i.e., fine tuning) of the predicted Rx beam with secondary CSLRS beam beamformed with the predicted Tx beam that was not transmitted previously.

[0219] FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary set of steps based on using multiple AIML models for Rx beam prediction, according to some embodiments.

[0220] A WTRU may receive sets of CSLRS configurations for measurements from the network (NW), such as illustrated at 1010 in FIG. 10. For example, the WTRU may receive a first set of CSLRS (e.g., with Set B beams) and a second set of CSI-RS (e.g., with one beam and / or repetition).

[0221] As seen at 1012, the WTRU may determine a set of CSI-RS to be used for measurement and inference based on an AI / ML model type. For example, if the first AI / ML model type is used, the WTRU may determine the first set of CSI-RS. If the second AI / ML model type is used, the WTRU may determine the second set of CSI-RS.

[0222] The WTRU may indicate a type of AI / ML model to be used (e.g., based on measurement of SSB), as illustrated by 1014. In an embodiment, the WTRU may indicate a preferred type of AI / ML model to be used for inference. The WTRU may indicate the preferred type of AI / MLmodel explicitly. For example, 0 may indicate a first type AI / ML model and 1 may indicate a second type AI / ML model. In another embodiment, the WTRU may indicate the preferred type of AI / ML model implicitly. For example, the implicit indication may be based on one or more of sequences, associated IDs, resources, etc. For example, if the WTRU transmits a first sequence, the first sequence may indicate a first type of AI / ML model. If the WTRU transmits a second sequence, the second sequence may indicate a second type of AI / ML model. The indication may be based on one or more of MAC CE, PUCCH, PUSCH and PRACH.

[0223] If the WTRU indicates a first type AI / ML model, the WTRU may support one or more of the following procedures.

[0224] In an embodiment, a WTRU may activate a first type of AI / ML model (e.g., FIG. 6 or FIG. 7) and / or deactivate other AI / ML models (e.g., FIG. 8 or FIG. 9) if they are currently activated. The WTRU may determine input and output of the AI / ML model based on a type of the activated AI / ML model. For example, if the first type of AI / ML model is activated, the input may be the RSRPs of the received Set B beams, and the output may be the predicted Set A beam (or best Tx beam pattern) and the estimated first Rx beam pattern (e.g., see FIG. 6).

[0225] In an embodiment, in step 1012, the WTRU may measure a first set of CSI-RS for the Set B beams. The WTRU may determine the set of CSLRS to be used for measurement and inference based on an AI / ML model type. For example, if the first AI / ML model type is used, the WTRU may determine the first set of CSI-RS. The WTRU may measure the first set of CSI- RS to acquire the determined input for the activated AI / ML model type. For example, if the first AI / ML model type is used, the WTRU may measure RSRPs of received Set B beams by measuring the first set of CSI-RS. The WTRU may determine one or more best Set A beams and / or Set B beams based on the measurement. For example, the WTRU may use measured / determined values by measuring the first set of CSI-RS as input of the first AI / ML model. Based on the input, the WTRU may determine one or more best Set A beams, a best Tx beam pattern, and an estimated first Rx beam pattern.

[0226] In an embodiment, a WTRU may apply the determined Rx beam pattern for the spatial Rx filter.

[0227] For example, the WTRU may apply the determined Rx beam pattern and the best Tx beams (e.g., to one or more of PDCCH, PDSCH, PUCCH, PUSCH and CSI-RS (e.g., the second set of CSI-RS)) after beam application time. For example, the beam application time may be from the WTRU indication and / or the gNB confirmation.

[0228] In an embodiment, in step 1016, the WTRU may transmit to the network one or more beam related information (e.g., to a gNB) based on the measurement and the inference. For example, the WTRU may indicate one or more best beam IDs (e.g., one or more of best beam indexes (CRI) from Set B), the new Tx beam pattern, and a relative index for the predicted Set A beam (or the new Tx beam pattern).

[0229] In an embodiment, the network may generate (step 1018) and transmit to the WTRU (step 1020) a confirmation of the WTRU indication. For example, the WTRU may receive a PDCCH (e.g., in associated search spaces / CORESETs). Alternately, other DL channels and signals (e.g., one or more of PDSCH, CSI-RS, TRS, DM-RS and PT-RS) may be used.

[0230] If the WTRU indicates a second type of AI / ML model, such as illustrated at 1024 in FIG.10 (e.g., based on measurement of beamformed CSI-RS), in an embodiment, the WTRU may activate a second type of AI / ML model at step 1022 (e.g., FIG. 8 or FIG. 9 type of AIML model) and / or deactivate other AI / ML models (e.g., FIG. 6 or FIG. 7) if they are currently activated. The WTRU may determine the input and output of the AI / ML model based on a type of the activated AI / ML model. For example, if the second type of AI / ML model is activated, the input may be the predicted Set A beam (or best Tx beam pattern), the first Rx beam pattern, and the RSRPs of received secondary CSI-RS beamformed with Predicted Set A beam (or best Tx beam pattern) (see, e.g., FIG. 9), and the output may be the updated second Rx beam pattern and the estimated RI / PMI / CQI received by using the second Rx beam pattern.

[0231] In an embodiment, in step 1022, the WTRU may measure a second set of CSI-RS with Set B beams.

[0232] In an embodiment, the WTRU may determine one or more Tx beams for the second set of CSI-RS. For example, the second set of CSI-RS may be received by assuming a default gNB Tx beam, e.g., the SSB beam that is used for initial access. In another example, the second set of CSI-RS may be received by assuming a Tx beam previously indicated by the WTRU, e.g., the reported beam (e.g., via CRI and / or relative beam indexes). In yet another example, one of the default gNB Tx beam and the previously indicated beam may be determined by the WTRU. For instance, if the WTRU previously indicated one or more best Tx beams, the WTRU may assume the indicated beams. Otherwise, if the WTRU didn’t indicate the Tx beam, the WTRU may use the default beam.

[0233] The WTRU may determine a set of CSI-RS to be used for measurement and inference based on an AI / ML model type. For example, if the second AI / ML model type is used, the WTRU may determine the second set of CSI-RS.

[0234] The WTRU may measure the second set of CSI-RS to acquire the determined input for the activated AI / ML model type. For example, if the second AI / ML model type is used, the WTRU may measure RSRPs of one or more Set B beams with different WTRU Rx beams by measuring the second set of CSI-RS.

[0235] The WTRU may determine one or more of the second Rx beam ID, Rx beam pattern, and associated CSI parameters (e.g., RI / PMI / CQI) based on the measurement. For example, the WTRU may use measured / determined values by measuring the second set of CSI-RS as input of the second AI / ML model. One or more of previously used Rx beam pattern, Rx beam ID, Tx beam ID / beam pattern for the second set of CSI-RS may be additionally used. Based on the input, the WTRU may determine one or more of the second Rx beam ID, Rx beam pattern, and associated CSI parameters (e.g., RI / PMI / CQI).

[0236] In an embodiment, a WTRU may transmit to the network one or more beam related information (e.g., to a gNB) based on the measurement and the inference, as shown at 1026. For example, the WTRU may indicate one or more Rx beam ID / Rx beam patterns (e.g., SRS resource ID, SRS resource set, UL TCI state ID, UL TCI state group, etc.) and associated CSI parameters (e.g., RI / PMI / CQI). At step 1028, the network selects a Tx beam based on the report and, at 1030 transmits DCI back to the WTRU for the selected Tx beam, including a TCI state type. As shown at 1034, if the TCI state is 0, then the WTRU may use the determined best Set B Rx beam from step 1012. Otherwise, the WTRU may use the predicted second Rx beam from step 1022.

[0237] In an embodiment, a WTRU may apply the determined Rx beam pattern and / or the Rx beam for the spatial Rx filter, as shown at step 1032, and receive one or more PDSCH scheduling(s) based on the reported CSI parameters (not shown in FIG. 10).

[0238] FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for predicting and reporting suitable transmit beams for use by a network for communicating with a WTRU as described hereinabove as viewed from the perspective of the WTRU.

[0239] At step 1101, the WTRU receives configuration information for beam prediction. This may include, for instance, identification of the beam sets A and B (i.e., set A comprising all of the transmit beams from the network to the WTRU and set B comprising the subset of set A for which the WTRU is to take beam measurements). The configuration information may also contain additional configurations, such as the indexing scheme to be used for defining the location of the predicted Set A relative to a Set B beam, and the ratio of the number of beams is Set B relative to the number of beams in Set A, and the beam prediction type (e.g., grid-basedversus non-grid based, which AIML model to use for predicting the best Set A beam, what beam parameter(s) to measure, etc.).

[0240] In step 1103, the WTRU measures the selected beam characteristics of the beams in Set B indicative of the beam quality. In one preferred embodiment, the beam characteristic is at least RSRP.

[0241] In step 1105, the WTRU determines which of the beams in Set B has the best quality.

[0242] Next, in step 1107, the WTRU uses the selected AIML model to predict which beam in Set A is likely to have the best beam quality.

[0243] Then, in step 1109, the WTRU selects an anchor beam to use as the reference beam for defining the predicted Set A best beam relative to the anchor beam using a relative indexing scheme as previously described.

[0244] Then, in step 1111, the WTRU determines the index to use to define the location of the predicted Set A beam relative to the Set B anchor beam

[0245] Finally, in step 1113, the WTRU transmits the predicted beam information to the network. Depending on the circumstances, this information may be as simple as the identity of the anchor beam and the relative index value.

[0246] FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a process for dynamic beam indication for predicted beams as described hereinabove as viewed from the perspective of the WTRU.

[0247] In step 1201, the WTRU receive a configuration for how to perform updating of QCL relationships of transmit beams. In an embodiment, this configuration primarily comprises an indication of a TCI table type to use in dynamic beam indication.

[0248] In step 1203, the WTRU measures a beam quality parameter, such as RSRP for each beam in a set of beams selected for measurement. As previously noted, in an embodiment, the complete set of transmit beams may be divided into two sets, namely, a first set on which the WTRU takes such measurements, and a second set for which the WTRU will predict beam quality using AIML and the measurements on the first set of beams. Step 1203 may occur at any time and may be performed completely independent of the other steps illustrated in FIG. 12, but is shown here because those measurements are used in the dynamic beam indication process.

[0249] In step 1205, the WTRU receives a TCI state indication from the network. In step 1207, the WTRU determines if the TCI state is state 0. If so, flow proceeds to step 1209, in which the WTRU determines QCL relationship for a predicted best beam in the second beam set based on the best beam measured in the first beam set as discussed hereinabove. If, on the other hand, it is determined in step 1207 that the TCI state is not 0, then the QCL determination will beperformed on one of several ways depending on the configured TCL table type. For instance, if the TCI table type is TCI table type-1 comprising a table that indicates the use of only grid-based beam indication, then beam indication is performed via specifying the identity of an anchor beam as well as a relative index indicating the position of the predicted beam relative to the anchor beam as previously described. If, on the other hand, the TCI table is TCI table type-2 indicating a hybrid grid and non-grid technique, then a combination of grid-based beam indication and non-grid-based beam indication is used. Finally, if the TCI table is TCI table type-3, indicating non-grid-based technique, then beam indication is performed via non-grid-based indication using one or more previously reported transmit beam indexes.

[0250] Some embodiments may be directed to a method, which may be implemented by a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU). The method may include receiving, from a network element, configuration information indicating (1) any of relative indices of a first set of beams with respect to a second set of beams and a relative indexing structure indicating a relative position of a beam in the first set of beams with respect to a beam in the second set of beams, and (2) a configuration associated with the second set of beams. The method may include measuring beam characteristics associated with the second set of beams. The method may include determining, based on the measured beam characteristics, a first beam having a highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, for communicating with the network element. The method may include determining a second beam having a highest predicted beam characteristic, from the first set of beams, for communicating with the network element. The method may include determining an anchor beam, from the second set of beams, having a highest measured beam characteristic, where the anchor beam is a neighboring beam to the determined second beam from the first set of beams (e.g., in other words, the anchor beam is a beam from the second set of beams that has the highest measured beam characteristic that is neighboring to the second beam). The method may include determining, based on the determined anchor beam and the relative indices, a relative index associated with the determined second beam. The method may include sending, to the network element, information indicating the relative index associated with the determined second beam.

[0251] In some embodiments, the method may include sending an index associated with the determined first beam from the second set of beams.

[0252] In some embodiments, the configuration information indicates a beam prediction type, and wherein the beam prediction type comprises any of a grid-based beam pattern and non-grid- based beam pattern.

[0253] In some embodiments, based on the beam prediction type being non-grid-based beam pattern, the method may include determining the first beam based on reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements; predicting a non-grid-based beam pattern using the reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements; and sending an indication of the predicted non- grid-based beam pattern to the network element.

[0254] In some embodiments, the measured beam characteristics comprise reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements.

[0255] In some embodiments, the determining of the second beam comprises determining the second beam using an artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) model.

[0256] In some embodiments, the method may include: on condition that the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, is the anchor beam, transmit a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) Resource Indicator (CRI) of the anchor beam and an index defining a location of the second beam relative to the anchor beam; on condition that the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, is not the anchor beam and a difference in the measured beam characteristic between the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic from the second set of beams and the anchor beam is below a threshold, transmit the CRI of the anchor beam and an index defining a location of the second beam relative to the anchor beam; and on condition that the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, is not the anchor beam and a difference in the measured beam characteristic between the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic from the second set of beams and the anchor beam is greater than the threshold, transmit a CRI of the first beam and an index defining a location of the second beam relative to the anchor beam.

[0257] Although features and elements are provided above in particular combinations, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that each feature or element can be used alone or in any combination with the other features and elements. The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particular embodiments described in this application, which are intended as illustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations may be made without departing from its spirit and scope, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. No element, act, or instruction used in the description of the present application should be construed as critical or essential to the invention unless explicitly provided as such. Functionally equivalent methods and apparatuses within the scope of the disclosure, in addition to those enumerated herein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing descriptions. Suchmodifications and variations are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. The present disclosure is to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is to be understood that this disclosure is not limited to particular methods or systems.

[0258] The foregoing embodiments are discussed, for simplicity, with regard to the terminology and structure of infrared capable devices, i.e., infrared emitters and receivers. However, the embodiments discussed are not limited to these systems but may be applied to other systems that use other forms of electromagnetic waves or non-electromagnetic waves such as acoustic waves.

[0259] It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the term “video” or the term “imagery” may mean any of a snapshot, single image and / or multiple images displayed over a time basis. As another example, when referred to herein, the terms “user equipment” and its abbreviation “UE”, the term “remote” and / or the terms “head mounted display” or its abbreviation “HMD” may mean or include (i) a wireless transmit and / or receive unit (WTRU); (ii) any of a number of embodiments of a WTRU; (iii) a wireless-capable and / or wired-capable (e.g., tetherable) device configured with, inter alia, some or all structures and functionality of a WTRU; (iii) a wireless-capable and / or wired-capable device configured with less than all structures and functionality of a WTRU; or (iv) the like. Details of an example WTRU, which may be representative of any WTRU recited herein, are provided herein with respect to FIGs. 1 A-1D. As another example, various disclosed embodiments herein supra and infra are described as utilizing a head mounted display. Those skilled in the art will recognize that a device other than the head mounted display may be utilized and some or all of the disclosure and various disclosed embodiments can be modified accordingly without undue experimentation. Examples of such other device may include a drone or other device configured to stream information for providing the adapted reality experience.

[0260] In addition, the methods provided herein may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of computer-readable media include electronic signals (transmitted over wired or wireless connections) and computer-readable storage media. Examples of computer- readable storage media include, but are not limited to, a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a register, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks, and digital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor in associationwith software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for use in a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, MME, EPC, AMF, or any host computer.

[0261] Variations of the method, apparatus and system provided above are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. In view of the wide variety of embodiments that can be applied, it should be understood that the illustrated embodiments are examples only, and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the following claims. For instance, the embodiments provided herein include handheld devices, which may include or be utilized with any appropriate voltage source, such as a battery and the like, providing any appropriate voltage.

[0262] Moreover, in the embodiments provided above, processing platforms, computing systems, controllers, and other devices that include processors are noted. These devices may include at least one Central Processing Unit (“CPU”) and memory. In accordance with the practices of persons skilled in the art of computer programming, reference to acts and symbolic representations of operations or instructions may be performed by the various CPUs and memories. Such acts and operations or instructions may be referred to as being “executed”, “computer executed” or “CPU executed”.

[0263] One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the acts and symbolically represented operations or instructions include the manipulation of electrical signals by the CPU. An electrical system represents data bits that can cause a resulting transformation or reduction of the electrical signals and the maintenance of data bits at memory locations in a memory system to thereby reconfigure or otherwise alter the CPU’s operation, as well as other processing of signals. The memory locations where data bits are maintained are physical locations that have particular electrical, magnetic, optical, or organic properties corresponding to or representative of the data bits. It should be understood that the embodiments are not limited to the above- mentioned platforms or CPUs and that other platforms and CPUs may support the provided methods.

[0264] The data bits may also be maintained on a computer readable medium including magnetic disks, optical disks, and any other volatile (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM)) or nonvolatile (e.g., Read-Only Memory (ROM)) mass storage system readable by the CPU. The computer readable medium may include cooperating or interconnected computer readable medium, which exist exclusively on the processing system or are distributed among multiple interconnected processing systems that may be local or remote to the processing system. It should be understood that the embodiments are not limited to the above-mentioned memories and that other platforms and memories may support the provided methods.

[0265] In an illustrative embodiment, any of the operations, processes, etc. described herein may be implemented as computer-readable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable instructions may be executed by a processor of a mobile unit, a network element, and / or any other computing device.

[0266] There is little distinction left between hardware and software implementations of aspects of systems. The use of hardware or software is generally (but not always, in that in certain contexts the choice between hardware and software may become significant) a design choice representing cost versus efficiency tradeoffs. There may be various vehicles by which processes and / or systems and / or other technologies described herein may be effected (e.g., hardware, software, and / or firmware), and the preferred vehicle may vary with the context in which the processes and / or systems and / or other technologies are deployed. For example, if an implementer determines that speed and accuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly hardware and / or firmware vehicle. If flexibility is paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly software implementation. Alternatively, the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware, software, and / or firmware.

[0267] The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments of the devices and / or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts, and / or examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and / or examples include one or more functions and / or operations, it will be understood by those within the art that each function and / or operation within such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples may be implemented, individually and / or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In an embodiment, several portions of the subject matter described herein may be implemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), and / or other integrated formats. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, in whole or in part, may be equivalently implemented in integrated circuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or more computers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors), as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designing the circuitry and / or writing the code for the software and or firmware would be well within the skill of one of skill in the art in light of this disclosure. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein may be distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that anillustrative embodiment of the subject matter described herein applies regardless of the particular type of signal bearing medium used to actually carry out the distribution. Examples of a signal bearing medium include, but are not limited to, the following: a recordable type medium such as a floppy disk, a hard disk drive, a CD, a DVD, a digital tape, a computer memory, etc., and a transmission type medium such as a digital and / or an analog communication medium (e.g., a fiber optic cable, a waveguide, a wired communications link, a wireless communication link, etc.).

[0268] Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common within the art to describe devices and / or processes in the fashion set forth herein, and thereafter use engineering practices to integrate such described devices and / or processes into data processing systems. That is, at least a portion of the devices and / or processes described herein may be integrated into a data processing system via a reasonable amount of experimentation. Those having skill in the art will recognize that a typical data processing system may generally include one or more of a system unit housing, a video display device, a memory such as volatile and non-volatile memory, processors such as microprocessors and digital signal processors, computational entities such as operating systems, drivers, graphical user interfaces, and applications programs, one or more interaction devices, such as a touch pad or screen, and / or control systems including feedback loops and control motors (e.g., feedback for sensing position and / or velocity, control motors for moving and / or adjusting components and / or quantities). A typical data processing system may be implemented utilizing any suitable commercially available components, such as those typically found in data computing / communication and / or network computing / communication systems.

[0269] The herein described subject matter sometimes illustrates different components included within, or connected with, different other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely examples, and that in fact many other architectures may be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated” such that the desired functionality may be achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality may be seen as “associated with” each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated may also be viewed as being “operably connected”, or “operably coupled”, to each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two components capable of being so associated may also be viewed as being “operably couplable” to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but are not limited to physicallymateable and / or physically interacting components and / or wirelessly interactable and / or wirelessly interacting components and / or logically interacting and / or logically interactable components.

[0270] With respect to the use of substantially any plural and / or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and / or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and / or application. The various singular / plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.

[0271] It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.) and / or “permissive” terms (e.g., the term “is” and / or the term “are” may be interpreted as “may” and / or “might”, the terms ”"refer(s)" may be interpreted as "may refer" and / or "might refer", the terms "receive(s)" may be interpreted as "may receive" and / or "might receive", the terms "support(s)" may be interpreted as "may support" and / or "might support", the terms "interface(s)" may be interpreted as "may interface" and / or "might interface", the terms "transmit(s)" may be interpreted as "may interface" and / or "might interface", "may transmit" and / or "might transmit", the terms "send(s)" may be interpreted as "may send" and / or "might send", the terms "does not refer" (and / or the like) may be interpreted as "may not refer" and / or "might not refer", the terms "does not receive" (and / or the like) may be interpreted as "may not receive" and / or "might not receive", the terms "does not support" (and / or the like) may be interpreted as "may not support" and / or "might not support", the terms "does not interface" (and / or the like) may be interpreted as "may not interface" and / or "might not interface", the terms "does not transmit" (and / or the like) may be interpreted as "may not transmit" and / or "might not transmit", the terms "does not send" (and / or the like) may be interpreted as "may not send" and / or "might not send", etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, where only one item is intended, the term "single" or similar language may be used. As an aid to understanding, the following appended claims and / or the descriptions herein may include usage of the introductory phrases "at least one" and "one or more" to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles "a" or "an" limits anyparticular claim including such introduced claim recitation to embodiments including only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases "one or more" or "at least one" and indefinite articles such as "a" or "an" (e.g., "a" and / or "an" should be interpreted to mean "at least one" or "one or more"). The same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of "two recitations," without other modifiers, means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B, and C, etc." is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B, and C" would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and / or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B, or C, etc." is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B, or C" would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and / or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and / or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase "A or B" will be understood to include the possibilities of "A" or "B" or "A and B." Further, the terms "any of followed by a listing of a plurality of items and / or a plurality of categories of items, as used herein, are intended to include "any of," "any combination of," "any multiple of," and / or "any combination of multiples of' the items and / or the categories of items, individually or in conjunction with other items and / or other categories of items. Moreover, as used herein, the term "set" is intended to include any number of items, including zero. Additionally, as used herein, the term "number" is intended to include any number, including zero. And the term "multiple", as used herein, is intended to be synonymous with "a plurality".

[0272] In addition, where features or aspects of the disclosure are described in terms of Markush groups, those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosure is also thereby described in terms of any individual member or subgroup of members of the Markush group.

[0273] As will be understood by one skilled in the art, for any and all purposes, such as in terms of providing a written description, all ranges disclosed herein also encompass any and all possible subranges and combinations of subranges thereof. Any listed range can be easily recognized as sufficiently describing and enabling the same range being broken down into at least equal halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, tenths, etc. As a non-limiting example, each range discussed herein may be readily broken down into a lower third, middle third and upper third, etc. As will also be understood by one skilled in the art all language such as "up to," "at least," "greater than," "less than," and the like includes the number recited and refers to ranges which can be subsequently broken down into subranges as discussed above. Finally, as will be understood by one skilled in the art, a range includes each individual member. Thus, for example, a group having 1-3 cells refers to groups having 1, 2, or 3 cells. Similarly, a group having 1-5 cells refers to groups having 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 cells, and so forth.

[0274] Moreover, the claims should not be read as limited to the provided order or elements unless stated to that effect. In addition, use of the terms "means for" in any claim is intended to invoke 35 U.S.C. §112, 6 or means-plus-function claim format, and any claim without the terms "means for" is not so intended.

[0275] Suitable processors include, by way of example, a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Application Specific Standard Products (ASSPs); Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) circuits, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), and / or a state machine.

[0276] The WTRU may be used in conjunction with modules, implemented in hardware and / or software including a Software Defined Radio (SDR), and other components such as a camera, a video camera module, a videophone, a speakerphone, a vibration device, a speaker, a microphone, a television transceiver, a hands free headset, a keyboard, a Bluetooth® module, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a Near Field Communication (NFC) Module, a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit, an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit, a digital music player, a media player, a video game player module, an Internet browser, and / or any Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) or Ultra Wide Band (UWB) module.

[0277] Although the various embodiments have been described in terms of communication systems, it is contemplated that the systems may be implemented in software on microprocessors / general purpose computers (not shown). In certain embodiments, one or moreof the functions of the various components may be implemented in software that controls a general-purpose computer.

[0278] In addition, although the invention is illustrated and described herein with reference to specific embodiments, the invention is not intended to be limited to the details shown. Rather, various modifications may be made in the details within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims and without departing from the invention.REFERENCES

[0279] The following references may have been referred to hereinabove, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety:[1] TS 38.321, “Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification" vl7.2.0[2] 3GPP TS 38.214, “Physical layer procedures for data”, V17.3.0[3] 3GPP TS 38.213, “Physical layer procedures for control”, V17.3.0[4] 3GPP TS 38.212, “Multiplexing and channel coding”, vl7.3.0[5] 3GPP TS 38.211, “Physical Channels and Modulation”, vl7.3.0[6] 3GPP TS 38.331, “Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification”, vl7.2.0

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), comprising: circuitry, including any of a processor, memory, transmitter and receiver, the circuitry configured to: receive, from a network element, configuration information indicating (1) any of relative indices of a first set of beams with respect to a second set of beams and a relative indexing structure indicating a relative position of a beam in the first set of beams with respect to a beam in the second set of beams, and (2) a configuration associated with the second set of beams; measure beam characteristics associated with the second set of beams; determine, based on the measured beam characteristics, a first beam having a highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, for communicating with the network element; determine a second beam having a highest predicted beam characteristic, from the first set of beams, for communicating with the network element; determine an anchor beam, from the second set of beams, having a highest measured beam characteristic, wherein the anchor beam is a neighboring beam to the determined second beam; determine, based on the determined anchor beam and the relative indices, a relative index associated with the determined second beam; and send, to the network element, information indicating the relative index associated with the determined second beam.

2. The WTRU of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to send an index associated with the determined first beam from the second set of beams.

3. The WTRU of claims 1 or 2, wherein the configuration information indicates a beam prediction type, and wherein the beam prediction type comprises any of a grid-based beam pattern and nongrid-based beam pattern.

4. The WTRU of any of claims 1-3, wherein, based on the beam prediction type being non-grid- based beam pattern, the circuitry is configured to:determine the first beam based on reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements; predict a non-grid-based beam pattern using the reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements; and send an indication of the predicted non-grid-based beam pattern to the network element.

5. The WTRU of any of claims 1-4, wherein the measured beam characteristics comprise reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements.

6. The WTRU of any of claims 1-5, wherein the circuitry is configured to use an artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) model to determine the second beam.

7. The WTRU of any of claims 1-6, wherein the circuitry is configured to: on condition that the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, is the anchor beam, transmit a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) Resource Indicator (CRI) of the anchor beam and an index defining a location of the second beam relative to the anchor beam; on condition that the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, is not the anchor beam and a difference in the measured beam characteristic between the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic from the second set of beams and the anchor beam is below a threshold, transmit the CRI of the anchor beam and an index defining a location of the second beam relative to the anchor beam; and on condition that the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, is not the anchor beam and a difference in the measured beam characteristic between the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic from the second set of beams and the anchor beam is greater than the threshold, transmit a CRI of the first beam and an index defining a location of the second beam relative to the anchor beam.

8. A method, implemented by a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), the method comprising: receiving, from a network element, configuration information indicating (1) any of relative indices of a first set of beams with respect to a second set of beams and a relative indexing structure indicating a relative position of a beam in the first set of beams with respect to a beam in the second set of beams, and (2) a configuration associated with the second set of beams; measuring beam characteristics associated with the second set of beams;determining, based on the measured beam characteristics, a first beam having a highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, for communicating with the network element; determining a second beam having a highest predicted beam characteristic, from the first set of beams, for communicating with the network element; determining an anchor beam, from the second set of beams, having a highest measured beam characteristic, wherein the anchor beam is a neighboring beam to the determined second beam; determining, based on the determined anchor beam and the relative indices, a relative index associated with the determined second beam; and sending, to the network element, information indicating the relative index associated with the determined second beam.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising sending an index associated with the determined first beam from the second set of beams.

10. The method of claims 8 or 9, wherein the configuration information indicates a beam prediction type, and wherein the beam prediction type comprises any of a grid-based beam pattern and nongrid-based beam pattern.

11. The method of any of claims 8-10, wherein, based on the beam prediction type being non-grid- based beam pattern, the method comprises: determining the first beam based on reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements; predicting a non-grid-based beam pattern using the reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements; and sending an indication of the predicted non-grid-based beam pattern to the network element.

12. The method of any of claims 8-11, wherein the measured beam characteristics comprise reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements.

13. The method of any of claims 8-12, wherein the determining of the second beam comprises determining the second beam using an artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) model.

14. The method of any of claims 8-13, wherein the method comprises: on condition that the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, is the anchor beam, transmitting a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) Resource Indicator (CRI) of the anchor beam and an index defining a location of the second beam relative to the anchor beam; on condition that the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, is not the anchor beam and a difference in the measured beam characteristic between the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic from the second set of beams and the anchor beam is below a threshold, transmitting the CRI of the anchor beam and an index defining a location of the second beam relative to the anchor beam; and on condition that the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, is not the anchor beam and a difference in the measured beam characteristic between the first beam having the highest measured beam characteristic from the second set of beams and the anchor beam is greater than the threshold, transmitting a CRI of the first beam and an index defining a location of the second beam relative to the anchor beam.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to: receive, from a network element, configuration information indicating (1) any of relative indices of a first set of beams with respect to a second set of beams and a relative indexing structure indicating a relative position of a beam in the first set of beams with respect to a beam in the second set of beams, and (2) a configuration associated with the second set of beams; measure beam characteristics associated with the second set of beams; determine, based on the measured beam characteristics, a first beam having a highest measured beam characteristic, from the second set of beams, for communicating with the network element; determine a second beam having a highest predicted beam characteristic, from the first set of beams, for communicating with the network element; determine an anchor beam, from the second set of beams, having a highest measured beam characteristic, wherein the anchor beam is a neighboring beam to the determined second beam from the first set of beams;determine, based on the determined anchor beam and the relative indices, a relative index associated with the determined second beam; and send, to the network element, information indicating the relative index associated with the determined second beam.

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