Determination of repeater beam application time in aperiodic beam indication

Abstract

A method performed by a repeater node for beam management is provided. The method comprises determining a reference slot associated with the repeater-MT. The reference slot is determined based on a reception time slot (n) and a slot offset (k), the reception time slot (n) and the slot offset (k) both configured in terms of a repeater-MT subcarrier spacing (SCS). The reception time slot (n) may indicate when the repeater node received, from a network node, downlink control information (DCI) carrying an aperiodic beam indication. The method further comprises determining an application time for the aperiodic beam indication in which the application time is determined based on a conversion of the reference slot associated with the repeater-MT to a corresponding slot associated with the repeater-FWD, the corresponding slot configured in terms of a repeater-FWD SCS. The aperiodic beam indication is applied at the repeater-FWD according to the application time.

Description

DETERMINATION OF REPEATER BEAM APPLICATION TIME IN APERIODICBEAM INDICATIONCROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims priority to US Provisional Application No. 63 / 532,037 filed on August 10, 2023, and titled “DETERMINATION OF REPEATER BEAM APPLICATION TIME IN APERIODIC BEAM INDICATION.” The contents of the application are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.FIELD

[0002] This present disclosure relates generally to telecommunication systems and methods, and in particular to improving beam application time determination for network- controlled repeaters.BACKGROUND

[0003] To increase the data rate and support an increasing number of user equipment (UE), different methods, e.g., network densification and millimeter wave (mmW) communications, are considered. Network densification refers to the deployment of multiple access points of different types in, e.g., metropolitan areas. Particularly, it is expected that in future nodes, e.g., small nodes, such as relays, Integrated Access and Backhauls (lABs), repeaters, etc., will be densely deployed to support existing macro base stations (BS) serving UEs.SUMMARY

[0004] IAB has been a main relaying technique in 5G, and the discussions continue nowadays on the mobility aspects of IAB. Here, using decode-and-forward relaying technique, the IAB can well extend the coverage and / or increase the throughput. However, IAB may be a relatively complex and expensive node and thereby, depending on the deployment, we may require alternative nodes with lower complexity / cost for, e.g., blind spot removal. Here, a candidate type of network node is the radio frequency (RF) repeater, which simply amplifies and forwards any signal that it receives. RF repeaters have been considered in 2G, 3G and 4G to supplement the coverage provided by regular full-stack cells. However, RF repeaters lack in, e.g., accurate beamforming which may limit their efficiency in, for instance, Frequency Range 2 (FR2). Network-Controlled Repeaters (NCRs) may provide improvements over traditional repeaters (e.g., RF repeaters). For example, NCRs may receive control informationfrom the network, and the control information may allow the NCR to perform amplify-and- forward operations more efficiently.

[0005] Various computer-implemented systems, methods, and articles of manufacture for repeater beam application time determination with NCRs are described herein. The time determination may improve proper timing configuration of the beamforming management and may improve the flexibility and efficiency of the repeater-assisted networks.

[0006] In one embodiment, a method performed by a repeater node for applying aperiodic beam indication is disclosed. The repeater node may comprise repeater-mobile termination (repeater-MT) and repeater-forwarding (repeater-FWD). The method comprises determining a reference slot associated with the repeater-MT. The reference slot is determined based on a reception time slot (n) and a slot offset (k). The reception time slot (n) and the slot offset (k) are both configured in terms of a repeater-MT subcarrier spacing (SCS). The reception time slot (n) indicates when the repeater node received, from a network node, downlink control information (DCI) carrying an aperiodic beam indication. The method further comprises determining an application time for the aperiodic beam indication. The application time is determined based on a conversion of the reference slot associated with the repeater-MT to a corresponding slot associated with the repeater-FWD. The corresponding slot is configured in terms of a repeater-FWD SCS. The method further comprises applying the aperiodic beam indication at the repeater-FWD according to the application time.

[0007] In one embodiment, a repeater node comprises processing circuitry configured to perform the method above.

[0008] In one embodiment, a method performed by a network node for configuring a repeater node is disclosed. The method comprises determining a repeater mobile termination (repeater-MT) subcarrier spacing (SCS) and a repeater-forwarding (repeater-FWD) SCS. The method further comprises sending, to the repeater node, the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater- FWD SCS.

[0009] In one embodiment, a network node comprises processing circuitry configured to perform the method above.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] For a better understanding of the various described embodiments, reference should be made to the Detailed Description below, in conjunction with the following drawings in which like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout the figures.

[0011] Figure 1 illustrates an example of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments.

[0012] Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.

[0013] Figure 3 illustrates an exemplary network node in accordance with some embodiments.

[0014] Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.

[0015] Figure 5 illustrates exemplary environment of how a network-controlled repeater (NCR) may communicate with a network, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0016] Figure 6 illustrates example beam management procedures.

[0017] Figure 7A illustrates a comparison between a repeater-MT SCS and a repeater- FWD SCS, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0018] Figure 7B illustrates another comparison between a repeater-MT SCS and a repeater-FWD SCS, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0019] Figure 7C illustrates another comparison between a repeater-MT SCS and a repeater-FWD SCS, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0020] Figure 8 illustrates the slot number relation for various SCS, in accordance with some embodiments.

[0021] Figure 9 is a flowchart of an example method, performed by an NCR, for beam management according to some embodiments.

[0022] Figure 10 illustrates a flow chart of an example method, performed by a network node, for beam management according to some embodiments.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] Certain aspects of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art. This concept may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the concept to those skilled in the art.

[0024] Throughout the specification and claims, the following terms take the meanings explicitly associated herein, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise:

[0025] The phrase “in one embodiment” as used herein does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, though it may. Thus, as described below, various embodiments of the invention may be readily combined, without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0026] As used herein, the term “or” is an inclusive “or” operator and is equivalent to the term “and / or,” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0027] The term “based on” is not exclusive and allows for being based on additional factors not described unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0028] As used herein, and unless the context dictates otherwise, the term “coupled to” is intended to include both direct coupling (in which two elements that are coupled to each other contact each other) and indirect coupling (in which at least one additional element is located between the two elements). Therefore, the terms “coupled to” and “coupled with” are used synonymously. Within the context of a networked environment where two or more components or devices are able to exchange data, the terms “coupled to” and “coupled with” are also used to mean “communicatively coupled with”, possibly via one or more intermediary devices.

[0029] In addition, throughout the specification, the meaning of “a”, “an”, and “the” includes plural references, and the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on”.

[0030] Although some of the various embodiments presented herein constitute a single combination of inventive elements, it should be appreciated that the inventive subject matter is considered to include all possible combinations of the disclosed elements. As such, if one embodiment comprises elements A, B, and C, and another embodiment comprises elements B and D, then the inventive subject matter is also considered to include other remaining combinations of A, B, C, or D, even if not explicitly discussed herein. Further, the transitional term “comprising” means to have as parts or members, or to be those parts or members. As used herein, the transitional term “comprising” is inclusive or open-ended and does not exclude additional, unrecited elements or method steps.

[0031] In various embodiments, the devices, instruments, systems, and methods described herein may be used to facilitate proper timing configuration of beamforming by a repeater node.

[0032] It is noted that description herein is not intended as an extensive overview, and as such, concepts may be simplified in the interests of clarity and brevity. Any process or method or corresponding steps of any process or method described in this application may be performed in any order and may omit any of the steps in the process. Processes or methodsmay also be combined with other processes or steps of other processes, in part or in whole. Parts of processes or methods, or corresponding steps may be combined with other parts of processes or methods, or corresponding steps.

[0033] Figure 1 shows an example of a communication system 100 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0034] In the example, the communication system 100 includes a telecommunication network 102 that includes an access network 104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 106, which includes one or more core network nodes 108. The access network 104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 110a and 110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 110), or any other similar 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3 GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 102 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 102 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 102, including one or more network nodes 110 and / or core network nodes 108.

[0035] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O- CU-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an Al, Fl, Wl, El, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and OrchestrationFramework via an 0-2 interface defined by the 0-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 110 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 112a, 112b, 112c, and 112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 112) to the core network 106 over one or more wireless connections.

[0036] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 100 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0037] The UEs 112 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 110 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 110 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 112 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 102 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 102.

[0038] In the depicted example, the core network 106 connects the network nodes 110 to one or more hosts, such as host 116. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 106 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 108) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 108. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0039] The host 116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 104 and / or the telecommunication network 102, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0040] As a whole, the communication system 100 of Figure 1 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0041] In some examples, the telecommunication network 102 is a cellular network that implements 3 GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 102. For example, the telecommunications network 102 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / Massive loT services to yet further UEs.

[0042] In some examples, the UEs 112 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 104. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi -RAT or multi -standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, e.g., being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN(Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN- DC).

[0043] In the example, the hub 114 communicates with the access network 104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 112c and / or 112d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 110b). In some examples, the hub 114 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 114 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 106 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 114. As another example, the hub 114 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0044] The hub 114 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 110b. The hub 114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 114 and UEs (e.g., UE 112c and / or 112d), and between the hub 114 and the core network 106. In other examples, the hub 114 is connected to the core network 106 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 104 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 110 while still connected via the hub 114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 114 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs from / to the network node 110b. In other embodiments, the hub 114 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0045] Figure 2 shows a UE 200 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0046] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3 GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehi cl e-to- vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle- to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0047] The UE 200 includes processing circuitry 202 that is operatively coupled via a bus 204 to an input / output interface 206, a power source 208, a memory 210, a communication interface 212, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 2. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0048] The processing circuitry 202 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 210. The processing circuitry 202 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits(ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0049] In the example, the input / output interface 206 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 200. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0050] In some embodiments, the power source 208 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 208 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 208 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 200 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 208. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 208 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 200 to which power is supplied.

[0051] The memory 210 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 210 includes one or more application programs 214, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 216. The memory 210 maystore, for use by the UE 200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0052] The memory 210 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD- DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and / or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 210 may allow the UE 200 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 210, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0053] The processing circuitry 202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 212. The communication interface 212 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 222. The communication interface 212 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 218 and / or a receiver 220 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 218 and receiver 220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 222) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0054] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 212 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may beimplemented in according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol / internet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0055] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 212, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0056] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0057] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE inthe form of an loT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 200 shown in Figure 2.

[0058] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0059] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE may be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE may comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0060] Figure 3 shows a network node 300 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NRNodeBs (gNBs)), 0-RAN nodes or components of an 0-RAN node (e g., 0-RU, 0-DU, O-CU).

[0061] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an 0-RAN access node) and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio.Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0062] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi -standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0063] The network node 300 includes a processing circuitry 302, a memory 304, a communication interface 306, and a power source 308. The network node 300 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 300 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 300 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 304 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 310 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 300 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 300, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 300.

[0064] The processing circuitry 302 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 300 components, such as the memory 304, to provide network node 300 functionality.

[0065] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 312 and baseband processing circuitry 314. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 312 and the baseband processing circuitry 314 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 312 and baseband processing circuitry 314 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0066] The memory 304 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer- readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computerexecutable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 302. The memory 304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 302 and utilized by the network node 300. The memory 304 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 302 and / or any data received via the communication interface 306. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 and memory 304 is integrated.

[0067] The communication interface 306 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between a network node, access network, and / or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 306 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 316 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 306 also includes radio front-end circuitry 318 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 310. Radio front-end circuitry 318 comprises filters 320 and amplifiers 322. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may be connected to an antenna 310 and processing circuitry 302. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 310 and processing circuitry 302. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 320 and / or amplifiers 322. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 310. Similarly,when receiving data, the antenna 310 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 318. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0068] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 300 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 318, instead, the processing circuitry 302 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 312 is part of the communication interface 306. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 306 includes one or more ports or terminals 316, the radio front-end circuitry 318, and the RF transceiver circuitry 312, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 306 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 314, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0069] The antenna 310 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 310 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 318 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 310 is separate from the network node 300 and connectable to the network node 300 through an interface or port.

[0070] The antenna 310, communication interface 306, and / or the processing circuitry 302 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 310, the communication interface 306, and / or the processing circuitry 302 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment.

[0071] The power source 308 provides power to the various components of network node 300 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 308 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 300 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 300 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 308. As a further example, the power source 308 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to,or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0072] Embodiments of the network node 300 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 3 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 300 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 300 and to allow output of information from the network node 300. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 300.

[0073] Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 400 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 400 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment 400 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface.

[0074] Applications 402 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0075] Hardware 404 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input / output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 406 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 408a and 408b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 408), and / or perform any ofthe functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 406 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 408.

[0076] The VMs 408 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 406. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 402 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 408, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

[0077] In the context of NFV, a VM 408 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 408, and that part of hardware 404 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 408 on top of the hardware 404 and corresponds to the application 402.

[0078] Hardware 404 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 404 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 404 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 410, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 402. In some embodiments, hardware 404 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 412 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0079] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / orsoftware needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0080] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

[0081] IAB nodes using decode-and-forward relaying techniques can well extend the coverage and / or increase the throughput of a network. However, IAB nodes may be a relatively complex and expensive. Lower cost / lower complexity alternatives, such as simple amplify- and-forward RF repeaters, may be better suited to certain deployment scenarios, such as blind spot removal. However, RF repeater may have limitations, such as a lack of accurate beamforming capability. In some embodiments, NCRs may provide improvements over traditional repeaters (e.g., RF repeater).

[0082] In some embodiments, an NCR may be a normal repeater with beamforming capabilities. In these and other embodiments, the NCR may be considered as a network- controlled “beam bender” when compared to a base station (e.g., gNodeB (gNB)). As such, it is logically a part of the base station for management purposes, e.g., it can be assumed that the NCR is deployed and under the control of the operator. In some instances, the NCR may be based on an amplify-and-forward relaying scheme, and it may be limited to single-hop communication in stationary deployments. As such, the NCR may be an enhancement over conventional RF repeaters, with the NCR having the capability to receive and process side control information from the network. Side control information may allow an NCR to perform an amplify-and-forward operation in a more efficient manner. Potential benefits can include, for instance, mitigation of unnecessary noise amplification, transmissions and receptions with better spatial directivity, simplified network integration, etc.

[0083] Pursuing 3 GPP specification TR 38.867, in some embodiments, NR NCR may support the following features including: specifying the signaling and behavior of the side control information for controlling the NCR forwarding (NCR-Fwd) [RANI, RAN2], Such side control information may comprise one or more of the following: beamforming; Uplink (UL)- Downlink (DL) Time Division Duplex (TDD) operation; and / or ON-OFF information.

[0084] Figure 5 shows a schematic example of an environment 500 of how a network- controlled repeater (NCR) 504 may communicate with a network node 502. Figure 5 gives an example of an NCR deployment. The NCR 504 may include two principal building blocks, namely, NCR mobile termination (NCR-MT) 506 and NCR forwarding (NCR-FWD) 508.

[0085] In some embodiments, the NCR-MT 506 may be defined as including components of the NCR that communicate with the network node 502 (e.g., a gNB) via Control link (C- link) 507 to enable the information exchanges. The C-link 507 may be based on NR Uu interface. In the present disclosure, Uu interface may refer to NG-1U interface and NG-1C interface.

[0086] As another example, the NCR-FWD 508 may be defined as including components of the NCR that perform the amplify-and-forwarding of downlink / uplink RF signal between the network node 502 and a UE 510 via backhaul link 509 and access link 511. The behavior of the NCR-FWD 508 may be controlled according to the side control information that the NCR received from the network node 502.

[0087] In some embodiments, the NCR 504 may be equipped with an antenna configuration, in which a signal is first received in downlink (or uplink), and, after power amplification, transmitted further in downlink (or uplink). Since in its simplest architecture theNCR-FWD 508 only amplifies and analogously beamforms the signal, no advanced digital receiver or transmitter chains may be required. In its simplest and practical architecture, different antenna modules may be used for the BS-side and UE-side, e.g., the antennas targeting the network node 502 and the UE 510, respectively. A more complex architecture, including self-interference cancellation, may allow for using the same antenna modules for both sides.

[0088] The NCR-MT 506 may be used to exchange control and status signaling with the network node 502, in the C-link 507 as shown in Figure 5, that is controlling the NCR 504. For this, the NCR-MT 506 may support at least a sub-set of UE functions. On the BS-side, the NCR-MT 506 may be equipped with antennae separated from the antennae used by the NCR- FWD 508. However, in most configurations, at the BS-side, the NCR-MT 506 and the NCR- FWD 508may share antenna configurations. Particularly, motivated by cost-efficient implementation and a unified beamforming framework for the NCR-MT and NCR-FWD functionalities, it is beneficial to have an architecture with shared NCR-MT and NCR-FWD antennas on the BS-side.

[0089] In general, the NCR-MT 506 and the NCR-FWD 508 may be operating at the same, different, or overlapping frequencies. For example, the NCR-FWD 508 may operate at a high frequency band (FR2) and the NCR-MT 506 may operate at a low frequency band (FR1). However, controlling the backhaul link 509 may be much simplified if the NCR-MT 506 and the NCR-FWD 508 may operate in the same carrier.

[0090] The amplify-and-forward operation of the NCR-FWD may be controlled via the NCR-MT 506. The NCR-MT 506 may also be directly responsible for the beamforming control on the access antenna side, e.g., to / from the UE 510. Additionally or alternatively, the beamforming on the access antenna side is operated by the NCR-FWD 508 under control of the NCR-MT 506. On the BS antenna side, e.g., to / from the network node 502, the NCR-MT 506 may be directly responsible for the beamforming control. Here, the beam control of the NCR 504 on the side of the UE 510 should be conducted smoothly to minimize the impact on cell-common and UE-specific signals / channels, which are forwarded towards the UE 510. Also, a beam arrangement including both wider and narrower beams is required to efficiently accommodate both broadcast and unicast signals.

[0091] Table 1 below illustrates an example of multiple NR Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) numerologies. The subcarrier spacing (SCS) p and the cyclic prefix for a DL or UL bandwidth part are given by higher-layer parameters.

[0092] Table 1 : From 3GPP specification TS 38.211 (Table 4.2-1) Supported transmission numerologies.

[0093] In high frequency range (FR2), multiple RF beams may be used to transmit and receive signals at a gNB and a UE. For each DL beam from a gNB, there is typically an associated best UE Receiver (RX) beam for receiving signals from the DL beam. The DL beam and the associated UE RX beam form a beam pair. The beam pair can be identified through a beam management process in NR.

[0094] A DL beam is (typically) identified by an associated DL reference signal (RS) transmitted in the beam, either periodically, semi-persistently, or in an aperiodic manner. The DL RS for the purpose can be a Synchronization Signal (SS) and Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) block (SSB) or a Channel State Information RS (CSLRS). By measuring all the DL RSs, the UE can determine and report to the gNB the best DL beam to use for DL transmissions. The gNB can then transmit a burst of different DL-RSs in the reported best DL beam to let the UE evaluate candidate UE RX beams.

[0095] Although not explicitly stated in the NR specification, beam management has been divided into three procedures 600, including Pl procedure 602, P-2 procedure 604, and P-3 procedure 606, schematically illustrated in Figure 6.

[0096] For the P-1 procedure 602, the purpose may be to find a coarse direction for the UE using wide gNB Transmitter (TX) beam covering the whole angular sector.

[0097] For the P-2 procedure 604, the purpose may be to refine the gNB TX beam by doing a new beam search around the coarse direction found in P-1.

[0098] The P-3 procedure 606 may be used for a UE that has analog beamforming to let the UE find a suitable UE RX beam.

[0099] An example of beam management procedure is shown in Figure 6.

[0100] The P-1 procedure 602 may be expected to utilize beams with rather large beamwidths and where the beam reference signals are transmitted periodically and are shared between all UEs of the cell. Typically, reference signals used for the P-1 procedure 602 are periodic CSLRS or Synchronization Signal Block (SSB). The UE then reports the N best beams to a network and their corresponding Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) values.

[0101] The P-2 procedure 604 may be expected to use aperiodic / or semi-persistent CSI- RS transmitted in narrow beams around the coarse direction found in the P-1 procedure 602.

[0102] The P-3 procedure 606 may be expected to use aperiodic / or semi-persistent CSI- RSs repeatedly transmitted in one narrow gNB beam. One alternative way may be to let the UE determine a suitable UE RX beam based on the periodic SSB transmission. Since each SSB consists of four OFDM symbols, a maximum of four UE RX beams can be evaluated during each SSB burst transmission. One benefit of using SSB instead of CSI-RS is that no extra overhead of CSI-RS transmission is needed.

[0103] In NR, the spatial quasi co-location (QCL) relation for a DL or UL signal / channel may be indicated to the UE by using a “beam indication”. The “beam indication” is used to help the UE to find a suitable RX beam for DL reception, and / or a suitable TX beam for UL transmission. In NR, the “beam indication” for DL is conveyed to the UE by indicating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state to the UE, while in UL the “beam indication” can be conveyed by indicating a DL-RS or UL-RS as spatial relation (in NR Rel-15 / 16) or a TCI state (in NR Rel-17).

[0104] In NR, several signals can be transmitted from different antenna ports of a same base station. These signals can be received with similar large-scale properties such as Doppler shift / spread, average delay spread, or average delay on different antenna ports. These receive antenna ports are then said to be QCL.

[0105] If the UE knows that two of its antenna ports are QCL with respect to a certain parameter (e.g., Doppler spread), the UE can estimate that parameter based on one of the antenna ports and apply that estimate for receiving signal on the other antenna port.

[0106] For example, there may be a QCL relation between a CSI-RS for tracking RS (TRS) and the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) Demodulation reference signals (DMRS). When UE receives the PDSCH DMRS it can use the measurements already made on the TRS to assist the DMRS reception.

[0107] Information regarding the assumptions that can be made regarding QCL is signaled to the UE from the network. In NR, four types of QCL relations between a transmitted source RS and transmitted target RS were defined. The four types may include:_Type A: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}; Type B: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}; Type C: {average delay, Doppler shift}; and Type D: {Spatial Rx parameter}.

[0108] QCL Type D was introduced in NR to facilitate beam management with analog beamforming and is known as spatial QCL. There is currently no strict definition of spatial QCL, but the understanding is that if two transmitted antenna ports are spatially QCL, the UEcan use the same RX beam to receive them. This is helpful for a UE that uses analog beamforming to receive signals, since the UE needs to adjust its RX beam in some direction prior to receiving a certain signal. If the UE knows that the signal is spatially QCL with some other signal it has received earlier, then it can safely use the same RX beam to also receive this signal.

[0109] In NR, the spatial QCL relation for a DL or UL signal / channel can be indicated to the UE by using a “beam indication”. The “beam indication” is used to help the UE to find a suitable RX beam for DL reception, and / or a suitable TX beam for UL transmission. In NR, the “beam indication” for DL is conveyed to the UE by indicating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state to the UE, while in UL the “beam indication” can be conveyed by indicating a DL-RS or UL-RS as spatial relation (in NR Rel-15 / 16) or a TCI state (in NR Rel- 17).

[0110] In the present disclosure, the term “repeater” may represent the network-controlled repeaters (NCR) or nodes with similar functionalities. Therefore, the terms repeater, network- controlled repeater and NCR may be used interchangeably.

[0111] There currently exist certain challenge(s). Currently, the reference time slot indicating the time resource to apply Downlink Control Information (DCI) carrying an aperiodic beam indication is determined based on values n+k, where n refers to the reception time slot that NCR-MT receives the DCI carrying the aperiodic beam indication and k refers to a slot offset value relative to the reception time slot. The start of the first aperiodic beam indicated by the DCI may be determined by another offset (e.g., slotoffsetAperiodic), with the slotoffsetAperiodic configured relative to the application time of the DCI. That is, the slot offset k is used in determining the reference slot n+k that indicates the application time of the DCI, and the application time of the DCI is then used with the slotoffsetAperiodic parameter in determining the time resource when the first aperiodic beam starts. Thus, the slot offset k and the slotoffsetAperiodic may refer to different slot offsets.

[0112] The value of the slot offset k may be declared by a vendor and / or defined by NCR- MT capability. For example, the repeater informs the controlling network about the slot offset value k via NCR-MT capability report. The candidate values of the slot offset k can be determined, for example, based on feature 43-3 provided in the Chairman’s Notes for 3GPP TSG RANI #113, May 2023, and copied in the table below:

[0113] However, it is not clear from previous 3GPP agreements how to determine the application time or the reference slot n+k, in terms of the subcarrier spacing (SCS) for general cases. At the repeater node, the numerology / SCS for transmission / reception of repeater-MT should be provided by the repeater-MT’ s serving cell following the legacy UE procedure. On the other hand, the configuration of numerology / SCS for the repeater-FWD operations are provided separately for periodic beam indications, semi-persistent beam indications, and aperiodic beam indications, in terms of a respective reference-SCS. If repeater-MT transmissions and repeater-FWD operation are configured with different values of SCS, there will be an ambiguity regarding slots n and k. Related, it is also not clear to which SCS in the repeater-MT’s capability report for the feature 43-3 shown in the above table is referred to: the SCS of repeater-MT transmissions or the reference-SCS for repeater-FWD operation. Hence this disclosure recognizes that methods are needed to align the understanding of timing, in the determination of the beam application time for aperiodic beam indication, between base station and the repeater with its repeater-FWD operation.

[0114] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. In this disclosure, methods are described to determine the aperiodic beam application time if the repeater-MT and repeater-FWD are configured with different numerologies.

[0115] In this disclosure, the terms numerology and SCS may be used interchangeably because a numerology serves as an indicator of the SCS.

[0116] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). An advantage of the present invention is that it enables the network node to control time granularity (SCS / numerology) for the beam management of the repeater-Fwd unit for operation of access and backhaul links using different numerologies / SCSs. This enables proper timing configuration of the beamforming management and improves the flexibility and efficiency of the repeater-assisted networks and addresses one of the main objectives of the 3 GPP Rel-18 work item description (WID) on NCRs.

[0117] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0118] Figures 7A-7C illustrate examples comparing repeater-MT timing and repeater- FWD timing. These figures show repeater-MT timing for one time slot comprising 14 symbols, with the first 3 symbols available for DCI. These figures show repeater-FWD timing for two time slots, each time slot comprising 14 symbols, with the first time slot shown as blank (first 3 symbols corresponding to the symbols available for DCI) and upward diagonal shading (remaining 11 symbols), and with the second time slot shown with downward diagonal shading.

[0119] In Figures 7A-7C, the repeater-MT SCS may be: equal to the repeater-FWD SCS (Figure 7A); less than the repeater-FWD SCS (Figure 7B); or greater than the repeater-FWD SCS (Figure 7C). The repeater determines a reference slot n+k, e.g., where n refers to the slot that repeater-MT receives DCI carrying an aperiodic beam indication and k refers to the slot offset value (e.g., in the repeater-MT capability report). Figures 7B-7C show that when the repeater-MT SCS differs from the repeater-FWD SCS, a mismatch can occur between an expected decoding duration (DD) and an actual decoding duration of the DCI, for example, depending on which SCS the repeater uses to determine the reference slot n+k and which SCS the repeater uses to determine the application time of an aperiodic beam indication (DCI applied). Solutions for determining proper timing to apply DCI are described herein, for example, including with respect to Figures 9-10 below.

[0120] Figure 7A gives an example 700 where repeater-MT SCS 702 is the same as repeater-FWD SCS 704 of the aperiodic beam indication. In such instances, the slots of the repeater-MT and repeater-FWD may be aligned.

[0121] Figure 7B illustrates Case A 706 and a Case B 712 of where the repeater-MT SCS is different from the repeater-FWD SCS. For example, Case A 706 illustrates a comparison between the repeater-MT SCS 708 and the repeater-FWD SCS 710, and Case B 712 illustrates a comparison between the repeater MT SCS 714 and the repeater-FWD SCS 716. In some embodiments, decoding duration between the Case A 706 and the Case B 712 may vary based on the ratio between the SCS values. For example, for the Case A 706, the ratio between SCS values is 2, and in the Case B 712 the ratio between the SCS values is 4. If the ratio is too large as in Case B, the conversion from the repeater-MT slot number to repeater-FWD slot number may provide an extremely short decoding duration which is not desired.

[0122] Figure 7C illustrates another set of scenarios where the repeater-MT SCS is larger than the repeater-FWD SCS. Two cases are depicted in Figure 7C where in Case A 720, thefirst symbols are aligned for the slots of repeater-MT 722 and repeater-FWD 724. In Case B 726, the first symbols are not aligned for the slots of repeater-MT 728 and repeater-FWD 730. In Case B 726, the conversion from the repeater-MT slot number to a repeater-FWD slot number has resulted in an undesired slot offset and shortened decoding duration.

[0123] To address the above-described problems, such as the shortened decoding duration that can occur if the repeater does not properly consider differences in the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS when determining the application time for the DCI carrying the aperiodic beam indication, certain embodiments of the repeater convert one slot number associated to the repeater-MT SCS (e.g., repeater-MT PDCCH SCS) to a slot number associated to the repeater-FWD SCS (e.g., repeater-FWD reference SCS). For example, Figure 8 illustrates the slot number relation for various SCS { 15khz, 30khz, 60khz, 120khz}. As shown in the figure, the slot number associated to a small SCS can be mapped to multiple slot numbers associated to a large SCS. In other words, the conversion from a slot number associated to a small SCS to a slot number associated to a large SCS is a 1-to-X mapping where X is the ratio between the large SCS and the small SCS. On the other hand, the conversion from a slot number associated to a large SCS to a slot number associated to a small SCS is an X-to-1 mapping. In order to avoid ambiguity due to the 1-to-X mapping, some rules can be introduced for the conversion to ensure 1-to-l mapping between a slot number associated to repeater-MT SCS and a slot number associated to repeater-FWD SCS, for example if the repeater-MT SCS is smaller than the repeater-FWD SCS.

[0124] In some cases, the first repeater-FWD slot which is overlapped with the repeater- MT slot is selected.

[0125] In some cases, the second repeater-FWD slot which is overlapped with the repeater- MT slot is selected.

[0126] In some cases, the last repeater-FWD slot which is overlapped with the repeater- MT slot is selected.

[0127] In some cases, the second last repeater-FWD slot which is overlapped with the repeater-MT slot is selected.

[0128] Examples of slot (SL) numbers for various SCS { 15khz, 30khz, 60khz, 120khz} are shown in Figure 8.

[0129] In one embodiment, the conversion between a slot number associated to repeater- MT SCS and a slot number associated to repeater-FWD SCS is provided by the network via e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC), MAC. Alternatively, the conversion mapping is according to a specification, or 0AM etc.

[0130] In one embodiment, the conversion from a slot number of a repeater-MT to a slot number of a repeater-FWD may require a rounding operation, for example: an increment to the next slot number; a decrement to the previous slot number; etc.

[0131] This is useful in cases when conversion is performed between a slot number associated to a large SCS to a slot number associated to a small SCS, e.g., X-to-1 mapping.

[0132] In one embodiment, the selection of the increment / decrement operation is based on one or more conditions that: the first symbol of the repeater-MT slot and the repeater-FWD slot, respectively, are aligned; the first symbol of the repeater-MT slot and the repeater-FWD slot, respectively, are not aligned; the repeater-MT slot number is odd; the repeater-MT slot number is even; a repeater-MT slot is the first slot overlapping with a slot according to repeater- FWD operation; and / or a repeater-MT slot is the last slot overlapping with a slot according to repeater-FWD operation, among others.

[0133] In one embodiment, the determination of the application time is based on n+k, both n and k according to the frame structure of the repeater-MT. And if this time instance, relative to a radio frame start, does not coincide with a slot start in the frame structure assuming a reference SCS for the repeater-FWD operation, the reference time is shifted / delayed to the next slot start in the repeater-FWD slot domain.

[0134] In one embodiment, the reception slot n is determined as the first slot, according to the first SCS, in which the DCI may not have been received earlier than the slot, according to the second SCS, in which the aperiodic beam indication DCI was received.

[0135] In one embodiment restriction rules are specified to avoid for example shortened offset k-value, or decoding time etc. due to the conversion from a repeater-MT slot number to a repeater-FWD slot number. Some example restriction rules can be one or more of: the ratio between the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS should be smaller than a first threshold value (e.g., value X); the ratio between the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS should be larger than a second threshold value (e.g., value Y); etc.

[0136] A flowchart for the repeater aspect of the invention is shown in Figure 9. An overview of the method shown in Figure 9 is described first, with detailed examples described in greater detail below. Figure 10 is described in a similar manner.

[0137] Figure 9 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 900, performed by an NCR, for beam management according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. One or more operations of the method 900 may be implemented by an NCR such as the NCR 504 of Figure 5. Although illustrated as discrete steps, various steps of the method 900 may be divided into additional steps, combined into fewer steps, or eliminated, depending on the desiredimplementation. Additionally, the order of performance of the different steps may vary depending on the desired implementation.

[0138] In some embodiments, the method 900 may start at block 902. At block 902, a reference slot associated with the repeater-MT may be determined. In some embodiments, the reference slot may be determined based on a reception time slot (n) and a slot offset (k), the reception time slot (n) and the slot offset (k) both configured in terms of a repeater-MT subcarrier spacing (SCS), in which the reception time slot (n) indicates when the repeater node received, from a network node, downlink control information (DCI) carrying an aperiodic beam indication.

[0139] In some embodiments, the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS may be configured with different values. In other embodiments, the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater- FWD SCS may be configured with same values.

[0140] In some embodiments, the repeater-MT SCS may correspond to a numerology configured for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) of the repeater-MT.

[0141] At block 904, an application time for the aperiodic beam indication may be determined based on a conversion of the reference slot associated with the repeater-MT to a corresponding slot associated with the repeater-FWD, the corresponding slot configured in terms of a repeater-FWD SCS.

[0142] In some embodiments, the conversion of the reference slot to the corresponding slot may include either incrementing to a next slot number (e.g., rounding up) or decrementing to a previous slot number (e.g., rounding down) of the repeater-FWD. In some embodiments, incrementing to the next slot number or decrementing to the previous slot number may depend on a first symbol of the reference slot of the repeater-MT not aligning with a first symbol of any repeater-FWD slot. As an example, if the reference slot as determined by the repeater-MT SCS does not coincide with a slot boundary of the repeater-FWD (e.g., based on the repeater- FWD SCS), the conversion of the reference slot associated with the repeater-MT to the corresponding slot associated with the repeater-FWD may comprise incrementing to the next slot number of the repeater-FWD (e.g., based on the repeater-FWD SCS) in order to postpone the application time of the aperiodic beam indication until the start of the subsequent slot of the repeater-FWD. In other embodiments, incrementing to the next slot number or decrementing to the previous slot number may depend on a first symbol of the reference slot of the repeater-MT aligning with a first symbol of any repeater-FWD slot.

[0143] At block 906, the aperiodic beam indication may be applied at the repeater-FWD according to the application time.

[0144] In some embodiments, the NCR may send, prior to receiving the DCI, a capability report to the network node. In these and other embodiments, the capability report may indicate one or more values of the slot offset (k) supported by the repeater node. In some embodiments, the capability report may indicate the one or more values of the slot offset (k) in terms of the repeater-MT SCS.

[0145] Figure 10 illustrates a flowchart showing an example method 1000 performed by a network node, such as a base station (e.g., gNB), according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. At block 1002 of method 1000, the network node determines a repeater mobile termination (repeater-MT) subcarrier spacing (SCS) and a repeater-forwarding (repeater- FWD) SCS. In some embodiments, the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS may be configured with different values. In other embodiments, the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater- FWD SCS are configured with same values.

[0146] In some embodiments, the repeater-MT SCS corresponds to a numerology configured for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) of the repeater-MT.

[0147] In some embodiments, the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS may be configured such that a ratio between the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS is smaller than a threshold value (e.g., value X). In other embodiments, the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS may be configured such that a ratio between the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS is larger than a threshold value (e.g., value Y). As an example, the threshold values may be configured to avoid a shortened decoding time due to the conversion from a repeater-MT slot number to a repeater-FWD slot number.

[0148] At block 1004, the network node may send, to a repeater node, the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS.

[0149] In some embodiments, the network node may send, to the repeater node, DCI carrying an aperiodic beam indication. An application time for applying the aperiodic beam indication by the repeater node depends on a conversion between a slot number associated with the repeater-MT SCS and a slot number associated with the repeater-FWD SCS. In certain embodiments, the conversion between the slot number associated with the repeater-MT SCS and the slot number associated with the repeater-Fwd SCS is provided to the repeater node by the network via, for example, via RRC or MAC signaling. Alternatively, the repeater node may determine the conversion mapping according to a specification, obtain the conversion mapping via 0AM, etc.

[0150] In some embodiments, the network node may receive a capability report from the repeater node prior to sending the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS to the repeaternode in block 1004. The capability report indicates one or more values of the slot offset (k) supported by the repeater node. As discussed above, the slot offset (k) allows for determining a reference time slot (n+k) relative to a reception time slot (n) of DCI carrying an aperiodic beam indication. In certain embodiments, determining the repeater-MT SCS and / or the repeater-FWD SCS in block 1002 is based on the one or more values of the slot offset (k) supported by the repeater node.

[0151] In some embodiments, the capability report may indicate one or more values of the slot offset (k) in terms of the repeater-MT SCS. In other embodiments, the capability report may indicate one or more values of the slot offset (k) in terms of the repeater-FWD SCS.

[0152] In some embodiments, the NCR (e.g., the NCR 504 of Figure 5) may amplify-and- forward signals received from a base station (e.g., the network node 502 of Figure 5). In some embodiments, the NCR may have a capability to receive and process side control information from the network. Side control information may allow an NCR to perform an amplify-and- forward operation in a more efficient manner.

[0153] For example, with reference back to Figure 9, as described above, in block 902 of method 900, a reference slot associated with the repeater-MT may be determined. In some embodiments, the reference slot may be determined based on a reception time slot (ri) and a slot offset (k), the reception time slot (n) and the slot offset (k) both configured in terms of a repeater-MT subcarrier spacing (SCS), in which the reception time slot (ri) indicates when the repeater node received, from a network node, downlink control information (DCI) carrying an aperiodic beam indication.

[0154] In some embodiments, the reference time may be defined as slot n+k. For instance, the reference time may represent a time offset by the slot offset k from the time the repeater- MT received the DCI. In some embodiments, the slot offset k may be determined based on a capability report associated with the repeater-MT SCS. For example, in some embodiments, the NCR may send, prior to receiving the DCI, a capability report to the network node, in which the capability report indicates one or more values of the slot offset k supported by the repeater node or the NCR. The capability report may include one or more values of the slot offset k in terms of the repeater-MT SCS.

[0155] In some embodiments, the repeater-MT may determine the repeater-MT SCS following the legacy UE procedure. The DCI reception time slot n is based on the SCS of the repeater-MT. In one embodiment, the repeater node may determine the repeater-MT SCS following a specification. In one example, the repeater-MT SCS is based on the configured reference SCS in the aperiodic beam configuration. In some embodiments, it may be assumedthat the two numerologies (repeater-MT vs. repeater-FWD) are synchronized at a higher level, e.g., on frame level.

[0156] In some embodiments, the repeater node receives the higher layer configurations (e.g., via RRC, or Medium Access Control (MAC) control element (CE) etc.) regarding the aperiodic beam indication, including time resource configurations that define the repeater- FWD resources.

[0157] With reference back to Figure 9, in block 904 of method 900, the repeater node may determine an application time for the aperiodic beam indication, the application time determined based on a conversion of the reference slot associated with the repeater-MT to a corresponding slot associated with the repeater-FWD, the corresponding slot configured in terms of a repeater-FWD SCS.

[0158] In some embodiments, the application time may be determined based on information such as: the reported repeater-MT capability on the k-values; the SCS of the repeater-MT; the received higher layer aperiodic beam configuration; and / or the slot in which the DCI carrying aperiodic beam indication is received; among others.

[0159] In some embodiments, the conversion from a slot number of the repeater-MT to a slot number of the repeater-FWD may depend on comparison and / or ratio between the SCS values. For example, the comparison of the SCS values may include scenarios in which:_the repeater-MT SCS receiving the aperiodic beam indication DCI is the same as the repeater- FWD SCS associated to the aperiodic beam indication; the repeater-MT SCS receiving the aperiodic beam indication DCI is different from the repeater-FWD SCS associated to the aperiodic beam indication; the repeater-MT SCS receiving the aperiodic beam indication DCI is larger than the repeater-FWD SCS associated to the aperiodic beam indication; and / or the repeater-MT SCS receiving the aperiodic beam indication DCI is smaller than the repeater- FWD SCS associated to the aperiodic beam indication;

[0160] For example, Figure 7A illustrates the slots for the repeater-MT SCS 702 and the slots for the repeater-FWD SCS 704 having the same values and / or sizes. In such instances, the slots may be aligned. In these and other embodiments, the conversion may be performed on substantially one-on-one basis.

[0161] Figure 7B illustrates instances in which the repeater-FWD SCS is larger than the repeater-MT SCS. In such instances, the slots for the repeater-MT may be larger than the slots for the repeater-FWD. The discrepancies may affect decoding duration of the conversion of the reference slot between the repeater-MT and the repeater-FWD. For example, as the ratio between the slots of the repeater-MT and the slots of the repeater-FWD gets larger, theconversion from the repeater-MT slot number to repeater-FWD slot number may provide an extremely short decoding duration. The solutions described herein, for example, with respect to Figures 9-10, may allow for determining the DCI application time in a manner that supports sufficient decoding duration for the DCI.

[0162] As another example, Figure 7C illustrates scenarios where the repeater-MT SCS is larger than the repeater-FWD SCS. In such instances, the slots of the repeater-MT may be narrower than the slots of the repeater-FWD. Figure 7C additionally illustrates an instance in which a first symbol of the reference slot of the repeater-MT does not align with a first symbol of any repeater-FWD slot. The solutions described herein, for example, with respect to Figures 9-10, may allow for determining the DCI application time in a manner that addresses the non- alignment of the slots.

[0163] As discussed above with respect to block 904 of Figure 9, certain embodiments determine an application time for DCI carrying an aperiodic beam indication based on a conversion of the reference slot associated with the repeater-MT to a corresponding slot associated with the repeater-FWD. In some embodiments, the first symbol of the reference slot of the repeater-MT and the first symbol of any repeater-FWD slot may not align such that the reference slot as determined by the repeater-MT SCS does not coincide with a slot boundary of the repeater-FWD SCS. In such instances, the conversion of the reference slot associated with the repeater-MT to the corresponding slot associated with the repeater-FWD may include incrementing to the next slot number or decrementing to the previous slot number such that the DCI may be applied at a first symbol of a slot of the repeater-FWD.

[0164] With reference still to Figure 9, in block 906 of method 900, the aperiodic beam indication may be applied at the repeater-FWD according to the application time. For example, the application time may be determined based on the reference time and comparison of the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS. In response to converting the reference slot associated with the repeater-MT to a corresponding slot associated with the repeater-FWD, the aperiodic beam indication may be applied at the corresponding slot associated with the repeater-FWD.

[0165] In some embodiments, the network (e.g., via the network node 502 of Figure 5) may perform operations for configuring a repeater node.

[0166] For example, with reference back to Figure 10, as described above, in block 1002 of method 1000, the network node may determine repeater-MT SCS and repeater-FWD SCS. In some embodiments, prior to determining and / or sending the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS to the repeater node, the network node may receive a capability report fromthe repeater node. In some embodiments, the capability report may indicate one or more values of the slot offset (k) supported by the repeater node. In some embodiments, the capability report may indicate one or more values of the slot offset (k) in terms of the repeater-MT SCS. Additionally or alternatively, the capability report may indicate one or more values of the slot offset (k) in terms of the repeater-FWD SCS. In some embodiments, the determination of the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-SCS may be based on one or more of: the received repeater- MT capability report; the network traffic load; and / or the network interference condition; among others. One example candidate slot offset values may include 15khz: { 1 }; 30khz: { 1 }; 60khz: { 1,2}; andl20khz: { 1,2}. Another candidate slot offset value may include 15khz: {[0],l[,2,3,4]}; 30khz: { [0], 1 [,2,3,4] }; 60khz: { [0], 1,2[,3,4]}; and 120khz: {[0],I,2[,3,4]}.

[0167] In some embodiments, from perspective of the network node, it may be desirable that the NCR scheduling take place with minimal latency. As such, preferred candidate values may include: 15khz: {0,1 }; 30khz: {0,1 }; 60khz: {0,1 }; 120khz: {0,1,2}; and 240khz: {0,1,2}.

[0168] In some embodiments, the repeater-FWD SCS may be: same as the repeater-MT SCS; smaller than the repeater-MT SCS; or larger than the repeater-MT SCS.

[0169] In some embodiments, the selection of the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS may follow some restriction rules, such as: the ratio between the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS is smaller than a first threshold value; and / or the ratio between the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS is larger than a second threshold value. In these and other embodiments, such restrictions may help provide sufficient (e.g., not too short) decoding time. In some embodiments, the first threshold value and the second threshold value may be determined based on capacity of the repeater node and / or UE, and / or requirements of specific implementations.

[0170] With reference still to Figure 10, in block 1004 of method 1000, the network node may send, to a repeater node, the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS. In some embodiments, the network node may send the aperiodic beam configurations to the repeater node.

[0171] In some embodiments, the aperiodic beam configurations may be provided to the repeater node via both higher layers signaling (e.g., RRC), and the physical layer signaling (e.g., DCI). In some embodiments, the SCS information may be provided to the repeater node via higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC).

[0172] In some embodiments, the network node may determine the conversion between a slot number associated with the repeater-MT SCS and a slot number associated with the repeater-FWD SCS. For example, the network node may determine the conversion based onthe repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS. For instance, the network node may compare different SCSs such as shown in Figure 8 to determine mapping between the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS. In these and other embodiments, the network node may send, to the repeater node, the conversion between the slot number associated with the repeater-MT SCS and a slot number associated with the repeater-FWD SCS. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the repeater node may obtain the conversion in another manner (e.g., by specification, OAM, etc.).

[0173] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., repeater nodes, UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0174] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

Claims

CLAIMSWHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A method performed by a repeater node, the repeater node comprising repeater- mobile termination (repeater-MT) and repeater-forwarding (repeater-FWD), the method comprising: determining (902) a reference slot associated with the repeater-MT, the reference slot determined based on a reception time slot (n) and a slot offset (k), the reception time slot (n) and the slot offset (k) both configured in terms of a repeater-MT subcarrier spacing (SCS), wherein the reception time slot (n) indicates when the repeater node received, from a network node, downlink control information (DCI) carrying an aperiodic beam indication; determining (904) an application time for the aperiodic beam indication, the application time determined based on a conversion of the reference slot associated with the repeater-MT to a corresponding slot associated with the repeater-FWD, the corresponding slot configured in terms of a repeater-FWD SCS; and applying (906) the aperiodic beam indication at the repeater-FWD according to the application time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the conversion of the reference slot to the corresponding slot comprises either incrementing to a next slot number or decrementing to a previous slot number of the repeater-FWD.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein incrementing to the next slot number or decrementing to the previous slot number depends on a first symbol of the reference slot of the repeater-MT not aligning with a first symbol of any repeater-FWD slot.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein incrementing to the next slot number or decrementing to the previous slot number depends on a first symbol of the reference slot of the repeater-MT aligning with a first symbol of any repeater-FWD slot.

5. The method of any of claims 1-4, further comprising: prior to receiving the DCI, sending a capability report to the network node, the capability report indicating one or more values of the slot offset (k) supported by the repeater node.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the capability report indicates the one or more values of the slot offset (k) in terms of the repeater-MT SCS.

7. The method of any of claims 1-6, wherein the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater- FWD SCS are configured with different values.

8. The method of any of claims 1-6, wherein the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater- FWD SCS are configured with same values.

9. The method of any of claims 1-8, wherein the repeater-MT SCS corresponds to a numerology configured for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) of the repeater-MT.

10. A method performed by a network node for configuring a repeater node, the method comprising: determining (1002) a repeater mobile termination (repeater-MT) subcarrier spacing (SCS) and a repeater-forwarding (repeater-FWD) SCS; and sending (1004), to the repeater node, the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater-FWD SCS.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: sending, to the repeater node, downlink control information (DCI) carrying an aperiodic beam indication; wherein an application time for applying the aperiodic beam indication by the repeater node depends on a conversion between a slot number associated with the repeater-MT SCS and a slot number associated with the repeater-FWD SCS.

12. The method of any of claims 10-11, further comprising: receiving, from the repeater node, a capability report, the capability report indicating one or more values of a slot offset (k) supported by the repeater node for determining a reference time slot relative to a reception time slot (n) of downlink control information (DCI) carrying an aperiodic beam indication; wherein determining the repeater-MT SCS and / or the repeater-FWD SCS is based on the one or more values of the slot offset (k) supported by the repeater node.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the capability report indicates the one or more values of the slot offset (k) in terms of the repeater-MT SCS.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the capability report indicates the one or more values of the slot offset (k) in terms of the repeater-FWD SCS.

15. The method of any of claims 10-14, wherein the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater- FWD SCS are configured with different values.

16. The method of any of claims 10-14, wherein the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater- FWD SCS are configured with same values.

17. The method of any of claims 10-16, wherein the repeater-MT SCS corresponds to a numerology configured for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) of the repeater- MT.

18. The method of any of claims 10-17, wherein the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater- FWD SCS are configured such that a ratio between the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater- FWD SCS is smaller than a threshold value.

19. The method of any of claims 10-17, wherein the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater- FWD SCS are configured such that a ratio between the repeater-MT SCS and the repeater- FWD SCS is larger than a threshold value.

20. A network node for configuring a repeater node, the network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform the steps of any one of claims 10-19; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

21. A repeater node, the repeater node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform the steps of any one of claims 1-9; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

Images