Lock of one or more antenna patterns or beams

Abstract

According to 3GPP standard TS 38.509 a UE beamlock test function (UBF) is used to lock an antenna array once the UE has formed a beam in a direction of a system simulator, for conformance testing purp

Description

FIELD

[0001] Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to apparatuses, methods, and computer readable storage medium for locking of one or more antenna patterns or beams. BACKGROUND

[0002] To support the fifth-generation system (5GS) conformance testing, user equipment (UE) special conformance test functions are required. These functions form a part of core requirements and thus have a direct impact on a design of a UE. The UE special conformance test functions vary depending on conformance testing functionality which the functions are designed to support. These conformance test functions are broadly classified into the following two groups. One group comprises test loop functions which require a loop to be established between a UE and a network device such as a System Simulator (SS) to allow, for example, downlink (DL) data packets sent by the SS to be looped back by the UE in uplink (UL). The other group comprises general test functions which need commands sent by the SS, for example, to trigger a certain UE behavior. Such a UE behavior comprises a behavior that is determined by the third-generation partnership project (3GPP) core specification requirements, or a behavior that is needed to facilitate conformance testing but is not part of any 3GPP core specification requirements, or a behavior that is used to provide to the UE information needed for the conformance testing.

[0003] The utilization of any UE special conformance test functions may be considered as putting a UE in a test mode. The UE special conformance test functions including relevant procedures and the Test Mode Control (TMC) message contents used for information exchange are defined in the 3GPP standardization, such as TS 38.509. A UE Beamlock test function (UBF) is a UE special conformance test function intended for making a UE to lock an antenna array once the UE has formed a beam in a direction towards a base station (or an SS) following a cell identification procedure in preparation for subsequent test procedures. Activating the UBF may lock the antenna array of all active intra-band component carriers and all Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) layers affected by the test function. The UBF is currently applicable for UEs operating in Frequency Range 2 (FR2) but could in principle be applied to any frequency range.

[0004] Up to 3GPP New Radio (NR) Release 17 (Rel-17), FR2 UE requirements assume to have only one active antenna array at a time to transmit or receive data towards or from the base station, and the conformance testing of such UEs requires the locking of transmitting (Tx), receiving (Rx), or Tx and Rx (or Tx-Rx) beams in the direction towards the base station. For testing Release 18 (Rel-18) multi-Rx feature, radio frequency (RF) requirements are based on rotating a device on a full sphere. During this rotation, for example, 266 rotations are considered, and the beams need to be locked to take the measurements at each of the 266 points on the sphere. Furthermore, for demodulation testing, two beams for a UE are assumed to be fixed. Therefore, for conformance testing of a UE supporting Rel-18 multi-Rx feature, a UBF for simultaneously locking multiple UE beams is required. SUMMARY

[0005] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: receive locking indication information from a second apparatus, the locking indication information indicating at least one of the following: a first number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam to be locked, a second number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam to be locked, or a flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of antenna patterns or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information; and perform, based on the locking indication information, locking of a number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam.

[0006] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to: transmit, to a first apparatus, locking indication information from a second apparatus, the locking indication information indicating at least one of the following: a first number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam to be locked, a second number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam to be locked, or a flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information.

[0007] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving locking indication information from a second apparatus, the locking indication information indicating at least one of the following: a first number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam to be locked, a second number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam to be locked, or a flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of antenna patterns or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information; and performing, based on the locking indication information, locking of a number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam.

[0008] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: transmitting, to a first apparatus, locking indication information from a second apparatus, the locking indication information indicating at least one of the following: a first number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam to be locked, a second number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam to be locked, or a flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information.

[0009] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for receiving locking indication information from a second apparatus, the locking indication information indicating at least one of the following: a first number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam to be locked, a second number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam to be locked, or a flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of antenna patterns or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information; and means for performing, based on the locking indication information, locking of a number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam.

[0010] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a first apparatus, locking indication information from a second apparatus, the locking indication information indicating at least one of the following: a first number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam to be locked, a second number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam to be locked, or a flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information.

[0011] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the third aspect.

[0012] In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the fourth aspect.

[0013] It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

[0015] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

[0016] FIG. 2A illustrates an example beamlock test mode activation procedure;

[0017] FIG. 2B illustrates an example beamlock test mode deactivation procedure;

[0018] FIG. 3 A shows a signaling flow for antenna pattern locking in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0019] FIG. 3B shows a signaling flow for antenna pattern locking in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0020] FIG. 4A illustrates a flowchart of an example method at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0021] FIG. 4B illustrates a flowchart of an example method at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0022] FIG. 5A illustrates a flowchart of an example method at a first apparatus in accordance with some other example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0023] FIG. 5B illustrates a signaling diagram of an example method at a second apparatus in accordance with some other example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0024] FIG. 6 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0025] FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0026] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

[0028] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0029] References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

[0030] It shall be understood that although the terms “first,” “second” and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0031] As used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

[0032] As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

[0033] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and / or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0034] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and / or digital circuitry) and (b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable): (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuit(s) with software / firmware and (ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and (c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

[0035] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0036] As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols and / or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

[0037] As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

[0038] The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customerpremises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the terms “terminal device”, “communication device”, “terminal”, “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0039] FIG. 1 shows an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented.

[0040] In the communication environment 100, a plurality of communication devices, comprising a first apparatus 110 and a second apparatus 120, can communicate with each other. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may operate as a terminal device such as a UE, and the second apparatus 120 may operate as a network device such as a base station or a System Simulator (SS).

[0041] In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described with the first apparatus 110 operating as a terminal device and the second apparatus 120 operating as a network device. However, in some example embodiments, operations described with respect to a terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other devices, and operations described with respect to a network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other devices.

[0042] In some example embodiments, if the first apparatus 110 is a terminal device and the second apparatus 120 is a network device, a link from the second apparatus 120 to the first apparatus 110 is referred to as a DL, while a link from the first apparatus 110 to the second apparatus 120 is referred to as a UL. In DL, the second apparatus 120 is a Tx device (or a transmitter), and the first apparatus 110 is a Rx device (or a receiver). In UL, the first apparatus 110 is a Tx device (or a transmitter), and the second apparatus 120 is a Rx device (or a receiver). If the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120 are both terminal devices, a link between the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120 is referred to as a sidelink (SL). In SL, one of the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120 is a Tx device (or a transmitter), and the other of the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120 is a Rx device (or a receiver).

[0043] Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol(s), comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G), and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and / or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0044] It is to be understood that the number of devices and their connections are shown in FIG. 1 only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitation. The communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of devices configured to implement example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0045] In the communication environment 100, either or both of the first and second apparatuses 110 and 120 may be provided with one or more antenna arrays / panels, each of the antenna arrays / panels having a group of antenna elements that controls antenna patterns to form beams. One antenna array or antenna panel may generate one or more antenna patterns (sometimes referred to as radiation patterns). An antenna pattern may form a number of beams, among which one or more beams can be selected and used for reception or transmission. A beam may be considered as a mean spatial filter associated with transmission and / or reception.

[0046] It is to be understood that any number of physical antenna arrays can be arranged at the first apparatus 110 and / or the second apparatus 120 depending on the implementations.

[0047] To support conformance testing, UE special conformance test functions are required. They form a part of the core requirements and thus have a direct impact on the design of the UE. The UE special conformance test functions vary depending on the conformance testing functionality they are designed to support and are broadly classified into the following two groups. A first group of functions are test loop functions which require a loop to be established between the UE and the System Simulator (SS) to allow e.g., DL data packets sent by the SS to be looped back UL by the UE. A second group of function are general test functions which require commands send by the SS e.g., to trigger a certain UE behavior which may be a behavior determined by the core network requirement, or such needed to facilitate conformance testing and not being part of any the core network requirements, or, to provide to the UE information needed for the conformance testing.

[0048] The utilization of any UE special conformance test functions shall be considered as putting the UE in a test mode. It has been defined the UE special conformance test functions including any relevant procedure and the Test Mode Control (TMC) message contents used for information exchange. One of such functions is the UE Beamlock test Function (UBF). According to UBF, the second apparatus 120, which may operate as an SS or a base station, may instruct the first apparatus 110, which may operate as a UE, to perform UE beamlock function (UBF). The UE Beamlock test function is configured to make the UE locking the UE Tx and / or Rx beam(s).

[0049] The second apparatus 120 may use a beamlock test mode activation procedure to command the first apparatus 110 to lock a beam on an antenna array and use a beamlock test mode deactivation procedure to command the first apparatus 110 to re-track the beam in the direction towards the second apparatus 120.

[0050] FIGS. 2A and 2B show an example beamlock test mode activation procedure 200 and an example beamlock test mode deactivation procedure 205, respectively.

[0051] As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the second apparatus 120 transmits (210, 215) 'ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK' / 'DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK' test messages (or 'activate Beamlock' / 'deactivate Beamlock' messages or commands) to the first apparatus 110 to instruct the first apparatus 110 to lock / unlock a beam on an antenna array. The first apparatus 110 transmits (220, 225) 'ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE' / 'DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE' (or 'Activate Beamlock Complete' / 'Deactivate Beamlock Complete') messages (or commands) to the second apparatus 120 to confirm that it has locked / unlocked the beam. The 'ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK' and 'DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK' messages, which are sent in the direction from the second apparatus 120 to the first apparatus 110, may be embedded in a radio resource control (RRC) 'DIJnformationTransfer' message. The 'ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE' and 'DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE' messages, which are sent in the direction from the first apparatus 110 to the second apparatus 120, may be embedded in a RRC 'ULInformationTransfer' message.

[0052] The current specifications for the UBF are as the following table, with the signaling charts similar to those shown in FIGS. 2A-2B. UE Beamlock test Function (UBF) 5.4.1 General The UE Beamlock test function is intended for making the UE to lock the UE anteima pattern once it has formed a beam towards the base station (SS) direction following the cell identification procedure in preparation for subsequent test procedures. Activating the UBF shall lock the antenna pattern of all active intra-band component carriers and all MIMO layers affected by the test function. The Beamlock test function is mandatory for applicable UEs operating in Frequency Range 2 (FR2). The SS uses the UE Beamlock test mode activation procedure to command the UE to lock the UE antenna pattern. The Beamlock activation procedure can apply to UE transmitter and UE receiver beams either simultaneously or independently. The SS uses the UE Beamlock test mode deactivation procedure to command the UE to re-tracking the beam towards the base station direction. The Beamlock deactivation procedure can apply to UE transmitter and UE receiver beams either simultaneously or independently. 5.4.2 Activate Beamlock procedure 5.4.2.1 Initiation The SS requests the UE to activate beamlock by transmitting an ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message. 5.4.2.2 Reception of ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message by UE When UE receives ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message then the UE shall: 1 >if the UE is operating in FR2 AND is in RRC^CONNECTED state: 2> if UE Beamlock test Function = 01 3> Lock the UE antenna pattern with Tx only 2> else if UE Beamlock test Function = 10 3> Lock the UE antenna pattern with Rx only 2> else if UE Beamlock test Function = 11 3 >Lock the UE antenna pattern with both TxRx 2> Transmit ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE message 1> else: 2> the UE behaviour is unspecified. 5.4.3 Deactivate Beamlock procedure 5.4.3.1 Initiation The SS requests the UE to deactivate beamlock by transmitting a DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message. The SS should do this when the UE is in RRC^CONNECTED state. 5.4.3.2  Reception of DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message by UE When UE receives DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message then the UE shall: 1> if the UE is operating in FR2 AND is in RRC CONNECTED state AND die UE Beamlock test function is active: 2> unlock the UE antenna pattern and transmit DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE message; 1> else: 2> the UE behaviour is unspecified. 5.4.3.3 Release of antenna beamlock by UE When the UE leaves the RRCCONNECTED state, the UE shall: 1> if the UE is operating in FR2 AND the UE Beamlock test Function is active 2> unlock the UE antenna pattern;

[0053] The TMC messages for UBF may be defined as follows.

[0054] The “ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK” message may be sent to indicate which beam is to be locked. Table 1-1 shows an example structure of the “ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK” message from the SS to the UE. Table 1-1 Information Element Presence Format Length Protocol discriminator M V ’A Skip indicator M V ’A Message type M V 1 UE Beamlock test Function M V 1 where the message type may be as follows: Table 1-2 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 bit no. 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 octet 1 where UE beamlock test function may be as follows: Table 1-3 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 bit no. XI X2 octet 1 where XI,X2 = 01 for activating beamlock of the Tx beam only, 10 for activate beamlock 5 of the Rx beam only and 11 for activating beamlock of both the Tx and Rx beams. NOTE: XI,X2 = 00 is not used.

[0055] In an example, example contents of the “ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE” message may be as below. Table 1-4 Information Element Presence Format Length Protocol discriminator M V U Skip indicator M V ’ / 2 Message type M V 1 10 where message type may be: Table 1-5 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 bit no. 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 octet 1

[0056] In an example, example contents of the “DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK” message may be as below. Table 1-6 Information Element Presence Format Length Protocol discriminator M V y2 Skip indicator M V ’ / 2 Message type M V 1 15 where message type is: Table 1-7 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 bit no. 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 octet 1

[0057] In an example, example contents of the “DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK 5 COMPLETE” message may be as below. Table 1-8 Information Element Presence Format Length Protocol discriminator M V Yi Skip indicator M V y2 Message type M V i where message type is: Table 1-9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 bit no. 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 octet 1 10

[0058] The default TMC messages for UBF may be defined as follows.

[0059] In an example, the “ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK” message may be embedded in a RRC DLInformationTransfer message, with example contents as below. Table 2-1 Information Element Value / remark Comment Condition Protocol discriminator 1111 Skip indicator 0 0 0 0 Message type 10100000 UE Beamlock test Function 00000001 Tx Only UE Beamlock test Function 00000010 Rx Only UE Beamlock test Function 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Tx and Rx

[0060] Here, “Tx Only”, “Rx Only” and “Tx and Rx” mean that activation UE beamlock function for Tx only, activation UE beamlock function for Rx only, and activation UE beamlock function for both Tx and Rx, respectively.

[0061] In an example, the “ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE” message may be 5 embedded in a RRC ULInformationTransfer message, with example contents as below. Table 2-2 Information Element Value / remark Comment Condition Protocol discriminator 1111 Skip indicator 0 0 0 0 Message type 10100001

[0062] In an example, the “DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK” message may be embedded in a RRC ULInformationTransfer message, with example contents as below. 10 Table 2-3 Information Element Value / remark Comment Condition Protocol discriminator 1111 Skip indicator 0 0 0 0 Message type 10100010

[0063] In an example, the “DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE” message may be embedded in a RRC ULInformationTransfer message, with example contents as below. Table 2-4 Information Element Value / remark Comment Condition Protocol discriminator 1111 Skip indicator 0 0 0 0 Message type 10100011

[0064] In an example, the test procedures to activate / deactivate UBF may be defined as follows.

[0065] In an example, the test procedure sequence to activate UE Beamlock Test 5 Function (UBF) may be as follows: Table 3-1 St Procedure Message Sequence TP Verdict UE - SS Message / PDU / SDU 1 SS request UE to activate UE beamlock function. <— ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK - - 2 UE confirms that UE beamlock function is activated —> ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE - -

[0066] In an example, example contents of the “ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK” message may be as below. Table 3-2 Information Element Value / remark Comment Condition Protocol discriminator 1111 Skip indicator 0 0 00 Message type 10100000 UE Beamlock test Function 00000001 Tx Only UE Beamlock test Function 00000010 Rx Only UE Beamlock test Function 00000011 Tx and Rx 10

[0067] Here, “Tx Only”, “Rx Only” and “Tx and Rx” mean that activation UE beamlock function for Tx only, activation UE beamlock function for Rx only, and activation UE beamlock function for both Tx and Rx, respectively.

[0068] In an example, example contents of the “ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE” message may be as below. 15 Table 3-3 Information Element Value / remark Comment Condition Protocol discriminator 1111 Skip indicator 0 0 00 Message type 10100001

[0069] In an example, the test procedure sequence to deactivate UE Beamlock Test Function (UBF) may be as below. Table 3-4 St Procedure Message Sequence T P Verdict UE - SS Message / PDU / SDU 1 SS request UE to deactivate UE beamlock function. <— DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK - - 2 UE confirms that UE beamlock function is activated —> DEA C TIVA TE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE - -

[0070] In an example, example contents of the “DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK” message may be as below. Table 3-5 Information Element Value / remark Comment Condition Protocol discriminator 1111 Skip indicator 0 0 00 Message type 10100010

[0071] In an example, example contents of the “DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK 10 COMPLETE” message may be as below. Table 3-6 Information Element Value / remark Comment Condition Protocol discriminator 1111 Skip indicator 0 0 00 Message type 10100011

[0072] The current specifications for the UBF indicates that the current UBF only support locking one antenna pattern once it has formed one beam, e.g., using bits 1 and 2 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE as defined in Table 1-3 to set whether ‘Tx’ or ‘Rx’ or both ‘Tx and Rx’ antenna pattern forming the beam need to be locked by the UE. However, in various use scenarios, it may request locking a varied number of antenna patterns or beams simultaneously. For example, for transmission with multi-panel (STxMP) measurement, it may need to make sure UE Beamlock test function can lock two Tx beams from two panels simultaneously. In another example, UE need to lock two Rx beams from two panels simultaneously for OTA (over the air) testing for multi-Rx chain DL reception.

[0073] Several enhancements to enable efficient and robust DL multi-TRP / panel operation were introduced in the communication systems. For instance, DL transmission schemes with simultaneous and non-simultaneous multi-beam reception from multiple TRPs / panels were introduced. The simultaneous reception may require support of simultaneous multi-panel operation with several independent Rx beams / chains at the UE side. A new FR2 UE capability for simultaneous multi-beam reception was introduced (e.g., the signaling simuttaneousReceptionDiffty^ in 3GPP. However, no RF, radio resource management (RRM) or performance requirements were defined for FR2 UEs with simultaneousReceptionDiffTypeD-r 16 capability.

[0074] Enhanced NR FR2 UEs with multi-beam simultaneous reception and multiple Rx chains can provide a meaningful performance improvement in FR2 improving both demodulation performance (4-layer DL MIMO), RRM performance and improve RF spherical coverage. This aims to introduce the requirements for UEs capable of multi-beam / chain simultaneous DL reception on a single component carrier to achieve improved RF, RRM and UE demodulation performance.

[0075] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure propose a solution for antenna pattern locking. A terminal device, e.g., UE, is indicated with a specific number of antenna pattern(s) forming one or more transmitting and / or one or more receiving beams to be locked. The terminal device can perform locking of the indicated number of antenna pattern(s) forming the one or more transmitting beams and / or one or more receiving beams. In this way, it is feasible to control the antenna pattern locking, e.g., by flexibly varying the number of antenna patterns forming Tx beam(s), Rx beam(s), and / or both Tx and Rx beam(s) to be locked.

[0076] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure propose a solution for beam locking. A terminal device, e.g., UE, is indicated with a specific number of one or more transmitting and / or one or more receiving beams to be locked. The terminal device can perform beamlocking of the indicated number of one or more transmitting beams and / or one or more receiving beams. In this way, it is feasible to control the antenna pattern locking, e.g., by flexibly varying the number of Tx beam(s), Rx beam(s), and / or both Tx and Rx beam(s) to be locked.

[0077] It is to be noted that although the issue is originating from the testing scenario, the proposed scheme herein may be applied in general for different scenarios which need beam locking or antenna pattern locking. For example, in a positioning scenario, a UE may use a fixed Tx beam for UL transmission towards serving and neighboring base stations. In this scenario, the beam locking or antenna pattern locking needs to be performed by UE. In the following, some example embodiments will be described in the testing scenario as an example while the example embodiments herein can be applied in general for other scenarios.

[0078] Some example implementations will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

[0079] FIG. 3A shows a signaling flow 300 for antenna pattern locking in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The signaling flow 300 may involve the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1. The first apparatus 110 may be or may be included in a terminal device, e.g., UE. In an example, the second apparatus 120 may be or may be included in a SS that may be configured to perform a test process with the terminal device. In other examples, the second apparatus 120 may be any other device, e.g., a network device that can configures antenna pattern locking of the terminal device.

[0080] In the signaling flow 300, the second apparatus 120 transmits (305) locking indication information to the first apparatus 110.

[0081] The locking indication information may indicate a first number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one Tx beam to be locked. The first number may be equal to or greater than one. Additionally, or alternatively, the locking indication information may indicate a second number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one Rx beam to be locked. The second number may be equal to or greater than one. As such, the second apparatus 120 may independently set the number of antenna pattern(s) forming the Tx beam(s) and the number of Rx antenna pattern(s)forming the Rx beam(s) to be locked by the first apparatus 110.

[0082] Additionally, or alternatively, the locking indication information may include a flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of antenna patterns or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information. In an example, the full set of antenna patterns to be locked may include all active antenna patterns forming Tx beams to be locked for the first apparatus 110, or all active antenna patterns forming Rx beams to be locked for the first apparatus 110, or all active antenna patterns forming both Tx beams and Rx beams to be locked for the first apparatus 110.

[0083] The first apparatus 110 may be specified or configured to apply a total number of Tx beams that are formed by corresponding active antenna patterns, and a total number of Rx beams that are formed by corresponding active antenna patterns. For example, up to 3 Tx beams and 8 Rx beams have been specified for the UE. In another example, a different number of Tx and Rx beams may be used in the UE according to the feature being tested, e.g., multi-Tx and / or multi-Rx, which need to be locked by the UE for OTA testing. Therefore, the first apparatus 110 may be indicated, through the specific number(s) of antenna pattem(s) forming Tx beams and / or Rx beams, or the flag, to determine how many Tx and / or Rx antenna patterns are to be locked.

[0084] By receiving (310) the locking indication information from the second apparatus 120, the first apparatus 110 performs (315) antenna pattern locking based on the locking indication information, to lock a number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one Tx beam and / or at least one Rx beam.

[0085] In some example embodiments, locking an antenna pattern may include locking the antenna pattern that forms a Tx beam or a Rx beam. The antenna pattern forming a Tx beam may sometimes be referred to as a Tx antenna pattern, and the antenna pattern forming a Rx beam may sometimes be referred to as to as a Rx antenna pattern.

[0086] In some example embodiments, if the locking indication information indicates locking the first number of antenna pattern(s) to be locked, the first apparatus 110 may perform locking of the first number of at least one antenna pattern forming the first number of at least one best Tx beam. If the locking indication information alternatively or additionally indicates the second number of antenna pattern(s) to be locked, the first apparatus 110 may perform locking of the second number of at least one antenna pattern forming the second number of at least one best Rx beam. That is, the number of Tx beams to be locked is the same as the indicated first number of antenna patterns, and the number of Rx beams to be locked is the same as the indicated first number of antenna patterns.

[0087] As used herein, the term “best beam” refers to a beam that provides a best coverage and / or a best signal quality. The beams may be ranked based on one or more measurement metrics associated with the particular beams. The metrics may include one or more of a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), a reference symbol received power (RSRP), a downlink (and / or uplink) path loss, a reference symbol received quality (RSRQ), a ratio of a serving cell RSRP to a sum of detected cells RSRP, a channel rank and / or a channel quality indicator (CQI), a throughput, and / or a transmit power. One or more best beams may then be determined based on the determined metrics. For example, the best beam(s) may be the beam(s) with the highest SINR(s), the highest RSRP, and / or the like.

[0088] For example, if the locking indication information indicates that the first number is 2, then the first apparatus 110 may lock two antenna patterns forming two best Tx beams. If the locking indication information alternatively or additionally indicates that the second number is 4, then the first apparatus 110 may lock four antenna patterns forming four best Rx beams.

[0089] In some example embodiments, the locking indication information indicates locking the first number of antenna pattern(s) to be locked, the first apparatus 110 may perform locking of the first number of best antenna pattern(s) forming Tx beam(s). If the locking indication information alternatively or additionally indicates the second number of antenna pattern(s) to be locked, the first apparatus 110 may perform locking of the second number of best antenna pattern(s) forming Rx beam(s). As used herein, the term “best antenna pattern” may be the antenna pattern forming a best beam, or may be determined based on the coverage and / or signal qualities of the beam(s) formed by the antenna pattern.

[0090] In some example embodiments, if the flag is included in the locking indication information and it indicates locking of a full set of antenna patterns forming Tx beams, the first apparatus 110 may perform locking of all the antenna patterns forming Tx beams. In some example embodiments, if the flag is included in the locking indication information and it indicates locking of a full set of antenna patterns forming Rx beams, the first apparatus 110 may perform locking of all the antenna patterns forming Rx beams. In some example embodiments, if the flag is included in the locking indication information and it indicates locking of a full set of antenna patterns forming Tx beams and Rx beams, the first apparatus 110 may perform locking of all the antenna patterns forming both Tx beams and Rx beams.

[0091] In some example embodiments, if the flag is included in the locking indication information but it indicates locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information, then the first apparatus 110 may perform the locking based on other number(s) indicated in the locking indication information, i.e., perform locking of the first number of at least one antenna pattern forming the first number of at least one best Tx beam, and / or locking of the second number of at least one antenna pattern forming the second number of at least one best Rx beam.

[0092] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may lock the indicated number of antenna pattern(s) or all active antenna patterns once it has formed a number of Tx or Rx beam(s) towards the direction(s) of the second apparatus 120. In an example, for the UE beamlock test function (UBF), the UE Beamlock test function is intended for making the firs apparatus 110 (e.g., the UE) to lock the UE antenna pattern(s) (depending on the indicated number of antenna patterns to be locked) once it has formed beam(s) towards the base station (SS) direction(s) following the cell identification procedure in preparation for subsequent test procedures. Activating the UBF may lock the antenna pattern(s) of all active intra-band component carriers and all MIMO layers affected by the test function.

[0093] In some example embodiments, the locking indication information may comprise one or more first bits corresponding to beam transmission to indicate the first number of at least one antenna pattern. The first number may thus be a binary number. For example, if two bits are used to indicate the first number, then the value “00” may indicate one Tx antenna pattern (e.g., the one forming the best Tx beam) to be locked; the value “01” may indicate two Tx antenna patterns (e.g., the two antenna patterns forming the two best Tx beams) to be locked; the value “ 10” may indicate three Tx antenna patterns (e.g., the three antenna patterns forming the three best Tx beams) to be locked; and the value “11” may indicate four Tx antenna patterns (e.g., the four antenna patterns forming the four best Tx beams) to be locked.

[0094] Alternatively, or in addition, in some example embodiments, the locking indication information may comprise one or more second bits corresponding to beam reception to indicate the second number of at least one antenna pattern. The second number may thus be a binary number. For example, if three bits are used to indicate the second number, then the value “000” may indicate one Rx antenna pattern (e.g., the one forming the best Rx beam) to be locked; the value “001” may indicate two Rx antenna patterns (e.g., the two antenna patterns forming the two best Rx beams) to be locked; the value “010” may indicate three Rx antenna patterns (e.g., the three antenna patterns forming the three best Rx beams) to be locked; and the value “011” may indicate four Rx antenna patterns (e.g., the four antenna patterns forming the four best Rx beams) to be locked, and so forth and so on. The value of “111” may indicate eight Rx antenna patterns (e.g., the eight antenna patterns forming the eight best Rx beams) to be locked.

[0095] In some example embodiments, the locking indication information may further indicate one bit, to indicate whether locking of a full set of antenna patterns or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information. For example, a value of “1” in this bit may indicate locking of a full set of antenna patterns forming Tx beams, or Rx beams, or both Tx and Rx beams; and a value of “0” in this bit may indicate locking of a specific number of Tx / Rx antenna pattern as indicated by the one or more first and / or second bit(s) in the locking indication information.

[0096] It would be appreciated that that the correspondence between the bit values and their indications are provided for the purpose of illustration only and there may be various other ways to define their correspondence.

[0097] In some example embodiments, the locking indication information may be carried in an information element (IE) with an octet, and some bits of the octet may be occupied for other purposes. In this case, the first number, the second number, and / or the flag may be indicated using the remaining reserved bits of the IE.

[0098] In some example embodiments, the locking indication information may be comprised in the activate beamlock message. For example, the locking indication may be carried an “UE Beamlock test Function” IE in the activate beamlock message in the test procedure. The “UE Beamlock test Function” IE. As shown in above Table 1-3, the first and second bits (XI, X2) = “01” for activating beamlock of the Tx beam only, “10” for activate beamlock of the Rx beam only and “11” for activating beamlock of both the Tx and Rx beams. As bits 1 and 2 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE continue to be used to set whether ‘Tx’ or ‘Rx’ or both ‘Tx and Rx’ antenna pattern forming the beam need to be locked by the UE, it can ensure no backward compatibility issue for legacy UE.

[0099] In this case, the one or more first bits indicating the number of Tx antenna pattern(s), and / or the one or more second bits indicating the number of Rx antenna pattern(s) may be selected from the third to the eighth bits in the octet.

[0100] In some example embodiments, five bits (e.g., bits 3 to 7 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) may be applied to denote a binary number from 0 to 31 (32 different possibilities / combinations) to set the number of antenna patterns forming the Tx / Rx beams to be locked, assuming both Tx and Rx antenna patterns use the same numbers of up to 32 beams. In some example embodiments, the eighth bit (e.g., bit 8 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) may be applied to set all active Tx antenna patterns, or Rx antenna patterns, or both Tx and Rx antenna patterns forming the beams to be locked by the first apparatus 110.

[0101] In some example embodiments, if there is a total number of less than or equal to four Tx antenna patterns, then two bits (e.g., the third bit and the fourth bit) in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE to denote a binary number from 0 to 3 (4 possible combinations) to set the number of Tx antenna pattern(s) forming the Tx beam(s) to be locked. In some example embodiments, if there is a total number of less than or equal to eight Rx antenna patterns, then three bits (e.g., the fifth bit and the seventh bit in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) may be applied to denote a binary number from 0 to 7 (8 possible combinations) to set the number of Rx antenna patterns forming the Rx beams to be locked. In some example embodiments, one (e.g., the eight bit in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) may be applied to denote whether all the active Tx and / or Rx antenna patterns forming the Tx and / or Rx beams to be locked or not.

[0102] In some example embodiments, the flag in the locking indication information, which indicates whether locking of a full set of antenna patterns or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information, may be omitted. In this case, fourth bits (e g., bits 3 to 8 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) may be applied to denote a binary number from 0 to 64 (64 different possibilities / combinations) to set the number of antenna patterns forming the Tx / Rx beams to be locked.

[0103] In some example embodiments, three bits (e.g., bits 3 to 5) in the octet of‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE to denote a binary number from 0 to 7 (8 possible combinations) to set the number of Tx antenna patterns forming the Tx beams to be locked. In some example embodiments, three bits (e.g., bits 6 to 8) in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE to denote a binary number from 0 to 8 (8 possible combinations) to set the number of Rx antenna patterns forming the Rx beams to be locked.

[0104] In some example embodiments, the five bits (e.g., bits 3 to 7 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) or the six bits (e.g., bits 3 to 8 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) may be applied to denote a binary number from 0 to 31 to set the number of Tx antenna patterns forming the Tx beams to be locked.

[0105] In some example embodiments, the five bits (e.g., bits 3 to 7 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) or the six bits (e.g., bits 3 to 8 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) may be applied to denote a binary number from 0 to 31 or 0 to 63 to set the number of Rx antenna patterns forming the Rx beams to be locked.

[0106] In some example embodiments, the five bits (e.g., bits 3 to 7 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) or the six bits (e.g., bits 3 to 8 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) may be applied to denote a binary number from 0 to 31 or 0 to 63 to set the number of both Tx and Rx antenna patterns forming the Tx and Rx beams to be locked.

[0107] It would be appreciated that some examples of applying the remaining bits in an octet of an IE are provided above for the purposes of illustration only. There may be various combinations of the bits to indicate the number of Tx antenna pattern(s) to be locked, and / or the number of Rx antenna pattern(s) to be locked, and / or the number of both Tx and Rx antenna pattern(s) to be locked.

[0108] In some example embodiments, after receiving the locking indication information or after performing the locking, the first apparatus 110 may transmit (320) and the second apparatus 120 may receive (325) a completion indication. The first apparatus 110 transmit the completion indication to confirm the reception of the locking indication information or to confirm the completion of the locking.

[0109] As mentioned in some of the above example embodiments, the second apparatus 110 may transmit, to the first apparatus 110, an activate beamlock message comprising the locking indication information. Then the first apparatus 110 may transmit, to the second apparatus 120, an active beamlock message complete message after performing the locking, as the completion indication.

[0110] In some example embodiments, the antenna pattern locking proposed herein may 5 be implemented as new default TMC messages and test procedures.

[0111] In an example, the “ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK” that is sent in the direction of SS to UE may be embedded in a RRC DLInformationTransfer message and comprise message contents as follows: Table 4-1 Information Element Value / remark Comment Condition Protocol discriminator 1111 Skip indicator 0000 Message type 10100000 UE Beamlock test Function xxxxxxO 1 Tx Only UE Beamlock test Function xxxxxxlO Rx Only UE Beamlock test Function xxxxxxll Tx and Rx UE Beamlock test Function xxxxOOxx Best with Tx UE Beamlock test Function xxxxOlx X Best 2 with Tx UE Beamlock test Function xxxxlOx X Best 3 with Tx UE Beamlock test Function xxxxl lx X Best 4 with Tx UE Beamlock test Function xOOOxxxx Best with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xOOlxxxx Best 2 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xOlOxxxx Best 3 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xOllxxxx Best 4 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xlOOxxxx Best 5 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function x101xxxx Best 6 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xllOxxxx Best 7 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xl1Ixxxx Best 8 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function Oxxxxxxx Lock selected UE Beamlock test Function 1xxxxxxx All 10

[0112] The mark of “x” in the “UE Beamlock test Function” IE indicates that the value in the corresponding bit may be either 1 or 0. Some further explanations about the conditions in Table 4-1 are follows: Table 4-2 Condition Explanation Tx Only Activation UE beamlock function for Tx only Rx Only Activation UE beamlock function for Rx only Tx and Rx Activation UE beamlock function for both Tx and Rx Best with Tx Lock the best UE antenna pattern with Tx Best 2 with Tx Lock the best two UE antenna pattern with Tx Best 3 with Tx Lock the best three UE antenna pattern with Tx Best 4 with Tx Lock the best four UE antenna pattern with Tx Best with Rx Lock the best UE antenna pattern with Rx Best 2 with Rx Lock the best two UE antenna pattern with Rx Best 3 with Rx Lock the best three UE antenna pattern with Rx Best 4 with Rx Lock the best four UE antenna pattern with Rx Best 5 with Rx Lock the best five UE antenna pattern with Rx Best 6 with Rx Lock the best six UE antenna pattern with Rx Best 7 with Rx Lock the best seven UE antenna pattern with Rx Best 8 with Rx Lock the best eight UE antenna pattern with Rx Lock selected Lock the UE antenna patterns according to bits 7 to 3 All Lock all active UE antenna pattem(s) with Tx or Rx or TxRx

[0113] In an example, the “ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE” message that is sent in the direction of UE to SS may be embedded in a RRC ULInformationTransfer message and comprise message contents as follows: 5 Table 4-3 Information Element Value / remark Comment Condition Protocol discriminator 1111 Skip indicator 0 0 00 Message type 10100001

[0114] In an example, the “DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK” message that is sent in the direction of SS to UE may be embedded in a RRC DLInformationTransfer message and comprise message contents as follows: 10 Table 4-4 Information Element Value / remark Comment Condition Protocol discriminator 1111 Skip indicator 0 0 00 Message type 10100010

[0115] In an example, the “DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE” message that is sent in the direction of UE to SS may be embedded in a RRC ULInformationTransfer 5 message and comprise message contents as follows: Table 4-5 Information Element Value / remark Comment Condition Protocol discriminator 1111 Skip indicator 0 0 00 Message type 10100011

[0116] In an example, the test procedures to activate / deactivate UBF may be defined as follows.

[0117] In an example, the test procedure sequence to activate UE Beamlock Test 10 Function (UBF) may be as follows: Table 5-1 St Procedure Message Sequence TP Verdict U- S Message / PDU / SDU 1 SS request UE to activate UE beamlock function. <— ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK - - 2 UE confirms that UE beamlock function is activated —> ACTIVATE TEAM LOCK COMPLETE - -

[0118] In an example, example contents of the “ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK” message may be as below. Table 5-2 Information Element Value / remark Comment Condition Protocol discriminator 1111 Skip indicator 0 0 00 Message type 10100000 UE Beamlock test Function xxxxxxO 1 Tx Only UE Beamlock test Function xxxxxxlO Rx Only UE Beamlock test Function xxxxxxl 1 Tx and Rx UE Beamlock test Function xxxxOOx x Best with Tx UE Beamlock test Function xxxxOlx X Best 2 with Tx UE Beamlock test Function V V V V 1 (1 V V A A A A 1 V A A Best 3 with Tx UE Beamlock test Function xxxxl lx X Best 4 with Tx UE Beamlock test Function xOOOxxxx Best with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xOOlxxxx Best 2 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xOlOxxxx Best 3 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xOllxxxx Best 4 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xlOOxxxx Best 5 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function x 1 0 1 xxxx Best 6 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xl lOxxxx Best 7 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xl 1 Ixxxx Best 8 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function Oxxxxxxx Lock selected UE Beamlock test Function 1 xxxxxxx All

[0119] The mark of “x” in the “UE Beamlock test Function” IE indicates that the value in the corresponding bit may be either 1 or 0. Some further explanations about the conditions in Table 5-2 are follows: Table 5-3 Condition Explanation Tx Only Activation UE beamlock function for Tx only Rx Only Activation UE beamlock function for Rx only Tx and Rx Activation UE beamlock function for both Tx and Rx Best with Tx Lock the best UE antenna pattern with Tx Best 2 with Tx Lock the best two UE antenna pattern with Tx Best 3 with Tx Lock the best three UE antenna pattern with Tx Best 4 with Tx Lock the best four UE antenna pattern with Tx Best with Rx Lock the best UE antenna pattern with Rx Best 2 with Rx Lock the best two UE antenna pattern with Rx Best 3 with Rx Lock the best three UE antenna pattern with Rx Best 4 with Rx Lock the best four UE antenna pattern with Rx Best 5 with Rx Lock the best five UE antenna pattern with Rx Best 6 with Rx Lock the best six UE antenna pattern with Rx Best 7 with Rx Lock the best seven UE antenna pattern with Rx Best 8 with Rx Lock the best eight UE antenna pattern with Rx Lock selected Lock the UE antenna patterns according to bits 7 to 3 All Lock all active UE antenna pattern(s) with Tx or Rx or TxRx

[0120] In an example, the test procedure sequence to deactivate UE Beamlock Test Function (UBF) may be as below. Table 5-4 St Procedure Message Sequence TP Verdict UE - SS Message / PDU / SDU 1 SS request UE to deactivate UE beamlock function. <— DEACTIVA. TE BEAMLOCK - - 2 UE confirms that UE beamlock function is activated —> DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE - - 5

[0121] In an example, example contents of the “DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK” message may be as below. Table 5-5 Information Element Value / remark Comment Condition Protocol discriminator 1111 Skip indicator 0 0 00 Message type 10100010

[0122] In an example, example contents of the “DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE” message may be as below. Table 5-6 Information Element Value / remark Comment Condition Protocol discriminator 1111 Skip indicator 0 0 00 Message type 10100011

[0123] In some examples, by applying the antenna pattern locking as proposed herein, the test procedures and TMC messages for UBF may be described in the following Table 6. The signaling charts for UE Beamlock test mode activation procedure and UE Beamlock test mode deactivation procedure may be similar to those shown in FIGS. 2A- 10 2B. Table 6 5.4 UE Beamlock test Function (UBF) 5.4.1 General The UE Beamlock test function is intended for making the UE to lock the UE antenna pattem(s) once it has formed beam(s) towards the base station (SS) direction(s) following the cell identification procedure in preparation for subsequent test procedures. Activating the UBF shall lock the antenna pattem(s) of all active intra-band component carriers and all MIMO layers affected by the test function. The Beamlock test function is mandatory for applicable UEs operating in Frequency Range 2 (FR2). The SS uses the UE Beamlock test mode activation procedure to command the UE to lock the UE antenna pattem(s). The Beamlock activation procedure can apply to UE transmitter and UE receiver beams either simultaneously or independently. The SS uses the UE Beamlock test mode deactivation procedure to command the UE to re-tracking the beam(s) towards the base station direction(s). The Beamlock deactivation procedure can apply to UE transmitter and UE receiver beams either simultaneously or independently. 5.4.2 Activate Beamlock procedure 5.4.2.1 Initiation The SS requests the UE to activate beamlock by transmitting an ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message. 5.4.2.2 Reception of ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message by UE When UE receives ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message then the UE shall: 1> if the UE is operating in FR2 AND is in RRC CONNECTED state: 2> if bits 2 and 1 in UE Beamlock test Function = 01 3 >Lock the UE antenna pattern with Tx only 2> else if bits 2 and 1 in UE Beamlock test Function = 10 3> Lock the UE antenna pattern with Rx only 2> else if bits 2 and 1 in UE Beamlock test Function = 11 3 >Lock tire UE antenna pattern with both TxRx 2> if bits 4 and 3 in UE Beamlock test Function = 00 3> Lock the best UE antenna pattern with Tx 2> else if bits 4 and 3 in UE Beamlock test Function = 01 3> Lock the best two UE antenna patterns with Tx 2> else if bits 4 and 3 in UE Beamlock test Function = 10 3> Lock the best three UE antenna patterns with Tx 2> else if bits 4 and 3 in UE Beamlock test Function = 11 3> Lock the best four UE antenna patterns with Tx 2> if bits 7, 6 and 5 in UE Beamlock test Function = 000 3> Lock the best UE antenna pattern with Rx 2> else if bits 7, 6 and 5 in UE Beamlock test Function = 001 3> Lock the best two UE antenna patterns with Rx 2> else if bits 7. 6 and 5 in UE Beamlock test Function = 010 3> Lock the best three UE antenna patterns with Rx 2> else if bits 7, 6 and 5 in UE Beamlock test Function = 011 3 >Lock the best four UE antenna patterns with Rx 2> else if bits 7. 6 and 5 in UE Beamlock test Function = 100 3> Lock the best five UE antenna patterns with Rx 2> else if bits 7, 6 and 5 in UE Beamlock test Function = 101 3> Lock the best six UE antenna patterns with Rx 2> else if bits 7. 6 and 5 in UE Beamlock test Function = 110 3> Lock the best seven UE antenna patterns with Rx 2> else if bits 7, 6 and 5 in UE Beamlock test Function = 111 3> Lock the best eight UE antenna patterns with Rx 2> if bit 8 in UE Beamlock test Function = 0 3> Lock the UE antenna pattem(s) according to bits 7 to 3 2> else if bit 8 in UE Beamlock test Function = 1 3> Lock all active UE antenna pattem(s) with Tx or Rx or TxRx 2> Transmit ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE message 1> else: 2> the UE behaviour is unspecified. 5.4.3 Deactivate B eamlock procedure 5.4.3.1 Initiation The SS requests the UE to deactivate beamlock by transmitting a DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message. The SS should do this when the UE is in RRC^CONNECTED state. 5.4.3.2 Reception of DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message by UE When UE receives DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message then the UE shall: 1> if the UE is operating in FR2 AND is in RRC_CONNECTED state AND the UE Beamlock test function is active: 2> unlock all active UE antenna pattem(s) and transmit DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE message; 1> else: 2> the UE behaviour is unspecified. 5.4.3.3 Release of antenna beamlock by UE When the UE leaves the RRC CONNECTED state, the UE shall: 1> if the UE is operating in FR2 AND tire UE Beamlock test Function is active 2> unlock all active UE antenna pattem(s);

[0124] In some examples, the beamlock messages may be defined as follows in Table 7. Table 7 6.4 Beamlock messages 6.4.1 ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK Tliis message is only sent in the direction SS to UE. Information Element Reference Presence Format Length Protocol discriminator TS 24.007 [5], sub clause 11.2.3.1.1 M V ½ Skip indicator TS 24.007 [5], sub clause 11.2.3.1.2 M V ½ Message type M V 1 UE Beamlock test Function M V 1 where message ty pe is: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 bit no. 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 octet 1 where UE Beamlock test Function is: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 bit no. Al RI R2 R3 Tl T2 XI X2 octet 1 where XI, X2 = 01 for activate beamlock of Tx only, 10 for activate beamlock of Rx only and 11 for activate beamlock of both TxRx, where Tl, T2 = 00 for activate beamlock ofbest Tx antenna pattern, 01 for activate beamlock of best two Tx antenna patterns, 10 for activate beamlock ofbest three Tx antenna patterns and 11 for activate beamlock of best four Tx antenna patterns, where RI, R2, R3 = 000 for activate beamlock ofbest Rx antenna pattern, 001 for activate beamlock ofbest two Rx antenna patterns, 010 for activate beamlock ofbest three Rx antenna patterns and Oil for activate beamlock of best four Rx antenna patterns, 100 for activate beamlock of best five Rx antenna pattern, 101 for activate beamlock ofbest six Rx antenna patterns, 110 for activate beamlock ofbest seven Rx antenna patterns and 111 for activate beamlock ofbest eight Rx antenna patterns. where Al = 0 for activate beamlock of the Tx / Rx / TxRx antenna pattem(s) according to bits 7 to 3, 1 for activate beamlock of all active Tx / Rx / TxRx antenna pattem(s). NOTE: XI, X2 = 00 is not used 6.4.2 ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE This message is only sent in the direction UE to SS. Information Element Reference Presence Format Length Protocol discriminator TS 24.007 [5], sub clause 11.2.3.1.1 M V A Skip indicator TS 24.007 [5], sub clause 11.2.3.1.2 M V Message type M V 1 where message type is: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 bit no. 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 octet 1 6.4.3 DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK This message is only sent in the direction SS to UE. Information Element Reference Presence Format Length Protocol discriminator TS 24.007 [5], sub clause 11.2.3.1.1 M V A Skip indicator TS 24.007 [5], sub clause 11.2.3.1.2 M V A Message type M V 1 where message type is: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 bit no. 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 octet 1 6.4.4 DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE This message is only sent in the direction UE to SS. Information Element Reference Presence Format Length Protocol discriminator TS 24.007 [5], sub clause 11.2.3.1.1 M V A Skip indicator TS 24.007 [5], sub clause 11.2.3.1.2 M v A Message type M V 1 where message type is: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 bit no. 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 octet 1

[0125] It would be appreciated that only some examples of definitions and specifications to the beamlock related procedures are provided above by incorporating the antenna pattern locking proposed herein. There may be variants applied, without departing from the scope of example embodiments.

[0126] FIG. 3B shows a signaling flow 302 for antenna pattern locking in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The signaling flow 300 may involve the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1. The first apparatus 110 may be or may be included in a terminal device, e.g., UE. In an example, the second apparatus 120 may be or may be included in a SS that may be configured to perform a test process with the terminal device. In other examples, the second apparatus 120 may be any other device, e.g., a network device that can configures antenna pattern locking of the terminal device.

[0127] In the signaling flow 302, the second apparatus 120 transmits (350) beamlocking indication information to the first apparatus 110.

[0128] The beamlocking indication information may indicate a first number of at least one Tx beam to be locked. The first number may be equal to or greater than one. Additionally, or alternatively, the beamlocking indication information may indicate a second number of at least one Rx beam to be locked. The second number may be equal to or greater than one. As such, the second apparatus 120 may independently set the number of Tx beam(s) and / or Rx beam(s) to be locked by the first apparatus 110. In some examples, the second apparatus 120 may independently set the number of Tx beams formed by the Tx antenna pattem(s) and the number of Rx beams formed by the Rx antenna pattern(s) to be locked by the first apparatus 110.

[0129] Additionally, or alternatively, the beamlocking indication information may include a flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of Tx and / or Rx beam(s), or locking of a specific number of at least one Tx beam and / or at least one Rx beam indicated by the beamlocking indication information.

[0130] In an example, the beamlocking indication information may include Tx beams, or a full set of Rx beams, or a full set of Tx beams and Rx beams. In an example, the full set of Tx beams to be locked may include a full set of Tx beams formed by the Tx antenna pattern(s) to be locked for the first apparatus 110, or a full set of Rx beams formed by the Rx antenna pattern(s) to be locked for the first apparatus 110, or a full set of both Tx beams and Rx beams formed by the Tx and Rx antenna pattern(s) to be locked for the first apparatus 110.

[0131] The first apparatus 110 may be specified or configured to apply a total number of Tx beams that are formed by corresponding active antenna patterns, and a total number of Rx beams that are formed by corresponding active antenna patterns. For example, up to 3 Tx beams and 8 Rx beams have been specified for the UE. In another example, a different number of Tx and Rx beams may be used in the UE according to the feature being tested, e.g., multi-Tx and / or multi-Rx, which need to be locked by the UE for OTA testing. Therefore, the first apparatus 110 may be indicated, through the specific number(s) of Tx beams and / or Rx beams, or the flag, to determine how many Tx beams and / or Rx beams are to be locked.

[0132] By receiving (355) the beamlocking indication information from the second apparatus 120, the first apparatus 110 performs (360) beamlocking based on the beamlocking indication information, to lock of a number of at least one Tx beam and / or a number of at least one Rx beam.

[0133] In some example embodiments, locking a Tx beam may include locking the beam formed by a Tx antenna pattern, and locking a Rx beam may include locking the beam formed by a Rx antenna pattern. The first apparatus 110 may lock at least one antenna pattern forming a number of at least one Tx beam and / or a number of at least one Rx beam as indicated by the beamlocking indication information.

[0134] In some example embodiments, if the beamlocking indication information indicates the first number of Tx beam(s), the first apparatus 110 may perform locking of the first number of Tx beam(s) formed by at least one antenna pattern. In an example, the first apparatus 110 may perform locking of the first number of best Tx beam(s) for the first apparatus 110. If the beamlocking indication information indicates the second number of Rx beam(s), the first apparatus 110 may perform locking of the second number of Rx beam(s) formed by at least one antenna pattern. In an example, the first apparatus 110 may perform locking of the first number of best Rx beam(s) for the first apparatus 110. The definition and examples of the best beam have been described above, which is not repeated for brevity.

[0135] For example, if the beamlocking indication information indicates that the first number is 2, then the first apparatus 110 may lock two best Tx beams formed by the Tx antenna pattern(s). If the beamlocking indication information alternatively or additionally indicates that the second number is 4, then the first apparatus 110 may lock four best Rx beams formed by the Rx antenna pattern(s).

[0136] In some example embodiments, if the flag is included in the beamlocking indication information and it indicates locking of a full set of at least one Tx beam, the first apparatus 110 may perform locking of all Tx beams formed by the Tx antenna pattern(s). In some example embodiments, if the flag is included in the beamlocking indication information and it indicates locking of a full set of at least one Rx beam, the first apparatus 110 may perform locking of all Rx beams formed by the Rx antenna pattern(s). In some example embodiments, if the flag is included in the beamlocking indication information and it indicates locking of a full set of at least one Tx beam and at least one Rx beam, the first apparatus 110 may perform locking of all Tx beams and Rx beams formed by the Tx antenna pattern(s) and Rx antenna pattern(s).

[0137] In some example embodiments, if the flag is included in the beamlocking indication information but it indicates a specific number of at least one Tx beam and / or at least one Rx beam indicated by the beamlocking indication information, then the first apparatus 110 may perform the beamlocking based on other number(s) indicated in the beamlocking indication information, i.e., perform locking of the first number of best Tx beam(s) formed by the Tx antenna pattern(s), and / or locking of the second number of best Rx beam(s) formed by the Rx antenna pattern(s).

[0138] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may lock the antenna pattern(s) or all active antenna patterns once it has formed the indicated number of Tx or Rx beam(s) towards the direction(s) of the second apparatus 120. In an example, for the UE beamlock test function (UBF), the UE Beamlock test function is intended for making the firs apparatus 110 (e.g., the UE) to lock the UE antenna pattern(s) once it has formed beam(s) (depending on the indicated number of beams to be locked) towards the base station (SS) direction(s) following the cell identification procedure in preparation for subsequent test procedures. Activating the UBF may lock the antenna pattern(s) of all active intra-band component carriers and all MIMO layers affected by the test function.

[0139] In some example embodiments, the beamlocking indication information may comprise one or more first bits corresponding to beam transmission to indicate the first number of Tx beam(s) to be locked. The first number may thus be a binary number. For example, if two bits are used to indicate the first number, then the value “00” may indicate one Tx beam (e.g., the best Tx beam formed by the Tx antenna pattern) to be locked; the value “01” may indicate two Tx beams (e.g., the two best Tx beams formed by the Tx antenna pattern(s)) to be locked; the value “10” may indicate three Tx beams (e.g., the three best Tx beams formed by the Tx antenna pattern(s)) to be locked; and the value “11” may indicate four Tx beams (e.g., the four best Tx beams formed by the Tx antenna pattern(s)) to be locked.

[0140] Alternatively, or in addition, in some example embodiments, the beamlocking indication information may comprise one or more second bits corresponding to beam reception to indicate the second number of at least one Rx beam. The second number may thus be a binary number. For example, if three bits are used to indicate the second number, then the value “000” may indicate one Rx beam (e.g., the best Rx beam formed by the Rx antenna pattern) to be locked; the value “001” may indicate two Rx beams (e.g., the two best Rx beams formed by the Rx antenna pattern(s)) to be locked; the value “010” may indicate three Rx beams (e.g., the three best Rx beams formed by the Rx antenna pattern(s)) to be locked; and the value “011” may indicate four Rx beams (e.g., the four best Rx beams formed by the Rx antenna pattern(s)) to be locked, and so forth and so on. The value of “111” may indicate eight Rx beams (e.g., the eight best Rx beams formed by the Rx antenna pattern(s)) to be locked.

[0141] In some example embodiments, the beamlocking indication information may further indicate one bit, to indicate whether locking of a full set of Tx / Rx beams or locking of a specific number of at least one beams indicated by the beamlocking indication information. For example, a value of “1” in this bit may indicate locking of a full set of Tx beams, or a full set of Rx beams, or a full set of both Tx and Rx beams; and a value of “0” in this bit may indicate locking of a specific number of at least one beams indicated by the beamlocking indication information.

[0142] It would be appreciated that that the correspondence between the bit values and their indications are provided for the purpose of illustration only and there may be various other ways to define their correspondence.

[0143] In some example embodiments, the beamlocking indication information may be carried in an IE with an octet, and some bits of the octet may be occupied for other purposes. In this case, the first number, the second number, and / or the flag may be indicated using the remaining reserved bits of the IE.

[0144] In some example embodiments, the beamlocking indication information may be comprised in the activate beamlock message. For example, the locking indication may be carried an “UE Beamlock test Function” IE in the activate beamlock message in the test procedure. The “UE Beamlock test Function” IE. As shown in above Table 1-3, the first and second bits (XI, X2) = “01” for activating beamlock of the Tx beam only, “10” for activate beamlock of the Rx beam only and “11” for activating beamlock of both the Tx and Rx beams. As bits 1 and 2 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE continue to be used to set whether ‘Tx’ or ‘Rx’ or both ‘Tx and Rx’ antenna pattern forming the beam need to be locked by the UE, it can ensure no backward compatibility issue for legacy UE.

[0145] In this case, the one or more first bits indicating the number of Tx beam(s), and / or the one or more second bits indicating the number of Rx beam(s) may be selected from the third to the eighth bits in the octet.

[0146] In some example embodiments, five bits (e.g., bits 3 to 7 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) may be applied to denote a binary number from 0 to 31 (32 different possibilities / combinations) to set the number of Tx / Rx beams to be locked assuming both Tx and Rx antenna patterns use the same numbers of up to 32 beams. In some example embodiments, the eighth bit (e.g., bit 8 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) may be applied to set all Tx beams and / or Rx beams formed by the antenna pattern(s) to be locked by the first apparatus 110.

[0147] In some example embodiments, if there is a total number of less than or equal to four Tx beams, then two bits (e.g., the third bit and the fourth bit) in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE to denote a binary number from 0 to 3 (4 possible combinations) to set the number of Tx beams formed by the Tx antenna pattern(s) to be locked. In some example embodiments, if there is a total number of less than or equal to eight Rx beams, then three bits (e.g., the fifth bit and the seventh bit in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) may be applied to denote a binary number from 0 to 7 (8 possible combinations) set the number of Rx beams formed by the Rx antenna pattern(s) to be locked. In some example embodiments, one (e.g., the eight bit in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) may be applied to denote whether all active Tx and / or Rx beams formed by the Tx and / or Rx antenna pattern(s) to be locked or not.

[0148] In some example embodiments, the flag in the beamlocking indication information, which indicates whether locking a full set of Tx beam(s) and / or Rx beam(s), or locking of a specific number of at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam indicated by the beamlocking indication information, may be omitted. In this case, fourth bits (e.g., bits 3 to 8 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) may be applied to denote a binary number from 0 to 64 (64 different possibilities / combinations) to set the number of beams to be locked.

[0149] In some example embodiments, three bits (e.g., bits 3 to 5) in the octet of IIF, Beamlock test Function’ IE to denote a binary number from 0 to 7 (8 possible combinations) to set the number of Tx beams formed by the Tx antenna pattern(s) to be locked. In some example embodiments, three bits (e.g., bits 6 to 8) in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE to denote a binary number from 0 to 8 (8 possible combinations) to set the number of Rx beams formed by the Rx antenna pattern(s) to be locked.

[0150] In some example embodiments, the five bits (e.g., bits 3 to 7 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) or the six bits (e.g., bits 3 to 8 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) may be applied to denote a binary number from 0 to 31 to set the number of Tx beams to be locked.

[0151] In some example embodiments, the five bits (e.g., bits 3 to 7 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) or the six bits (e.g., bits 3 to 8 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) may be applied to denote a binary number from 0 to 31 or 0 to 63 to set the number of Rx beams to be locked.

[0152] In some example embodiments, the five bits (e.g., bits 3 to 7 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) or the six bits (e.g., bits 3 to 8 in the octet of ‘UE Beamlock test Function’ IE) may be applied to denote a binary number from 0 to 31 or 0 to 63 to set the number of both Tx and Rx beams to be locked.

[0153] It would be appreciated that some examples of applying the remaining bits in an octet of an IE are provided above for the purposes of illustration only. There may be various combinations of the bits to indicate the number of Tx antenna pattern(s) to be locked, and / or the number of Rx antenna pattern(s) to be locked, and / or the number of both Tx and Rx antenna pattern(s) to be locked.

[0154] In some example embodiments, after receiving the beamlocking indication information or after performing the locking, the first apparatus 110 may transmit (365) and the second apparatus 120 may receive (370) a completion indication. The first apparatus 110 transmit the completion indication to confirm the reception of the beamlocking indication information or to confirm the completion of the locking.

[0155] As mentioned in some of the above example embodiments, the second apparatus 110 may transmit, to the first apparatus 110, an activate beamlock message comprising the beamlocking indication information. Then the first apparatus 110 may transmit, to the second apparatus 120, an active beamlock message complete message after performing the locking, as the completion indication.

[0156] In some example embodiments, the beamlocking proposed herein may be implemented as new default TMC messages and test procedures.

[0157] In an example, the “ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK” that is sent in the direction of SS to UE may be embedded in a RRC DLInformationTransfer message and comprise message contents as follows: Table 8-1 Information Element Value / remark Comment Condition Protocol discriminator 1111 Skip indicator 0000 Message type 10100000 UE Beamlock test Function xxxxxxO 1 Tx Only UE Beamlock test Function xxxxxxlO Rx Only UE Beamlock test Function xxxxxxl1 Tx and Rx UE Beamlock test Function xxxxOOx x Best with Tx UE Beamlock test Function xxxxOlx X Best 2 with Tx UE Beamlock test Function xxxxlOx X Best 3 with Tx UE Beamlock test Function xxxxl lx X Best 4 with Tx UE Beamlock test Function xOOOxxxx Best with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xOOlxxxx Best 2 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xOlOxxxx Best 3 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xOlIxxxx Best 4 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xlOOxxxx Best 5 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function x101xxxx Best 6 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xllOxxxx Best 7 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xl1Ixxxx Best 8 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function Oxxxxxxx Lock selected UE Beamlock test Function Ixxxxxxx All

[0158] The mark of “x” in the “UE Beamlock test Function” IE indicates that the value in the corresponding bit may be either 1 or 0. Some further explanations about the conditions in Table 8-1 are follows: Table 8-2 Condition Explanation Tx Only Activation UE beamlock function for Tx only Rx Only Activation UE beamlock function for Rx only Tx and Rx Activation UE beamlock function for both Tx and Rx Best with Tx Lock the best beam formed by the UE antenna pattern with Tx Best 2 with Tx Lock the best two beams formed by the UE antenna pattern(s) with Tx Best 3 with Tx Lock the best three beams formed by the UE antenna pattern(s) with Tx Best 4 with Tx Lock the best four beams formed by the UE antenna pattern(s) with Tx Best with Rx Lock the best beam formed by the UE antenna pattern with Rx Best 2 with Rx Lock the best two beams formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) with Rx Best 3 with Rx Lock the best three beams formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) with Rx Best 4 with Rx Lock the best four beams formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) with Rx Best 5 with Rx Lock the best five beams formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) with Rx Best 6 with Rx Lock the best six beams formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) with Rx Best 7 with Rx Lock the best seven beams formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) with Rx Best 8 with Rx Lock the best eight beams formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) with Rx Lock selected Lock the beam(s) formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) according to bits 7 to 3 All Lock all active beam(s) formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) with Tx or Rx or TxRx

[0159] In an example, examples for the “ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE” message, the “DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK” message, and the “DEACTIVATE 5 BEAMLOCK COMPLETE” message are similar as those provided in above Table 4-3 to Table 4-5.

[0160] In an example, the test procedures to activate / deactivate UBF may be defined as follows. In an example, the test procedure sequence to activate UE Beamlock Test Function (UBF) may be similar as the one provided in above Table 5-1.

[0161] In an example, example contents of the “ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK” message may be as below. Table 9-1 Information Element Value / remark Comment Condition Protocol discriminator 1111 Skip indicator 0 0 00 Message type 10100000 UE Beamlock test Function xxxxxxO 1 Tx Only UE Beamlock test Function xxxxxxlO Rx Only UE Beamlock test Function xxxxxxl 1 Tx and Rx UE Beamlock test Function xxxxOOx x Best with Tx UE Beamlock test Function xxxxOlx X Best 2 with Tx UE Beamlock test Function xxxxlOx x Best 3 with Tx UE Beamlock test Function xxxxl lx X Best 4 with Tx UE Beamlock test Function xOOOxxxx Best with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xOOlxxxx Best 2 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xOlOxxxx Best 3 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xOllxxxx Best 4 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xlOOxxxx Best 5 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function x 1 0 1 xxxx Best 6 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xl lOxxxx Best 7 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function xl 1 Ixxxx Best 8 with Rx UE Beamlock test Function Oxxxxxxx Lock selected UE Beamlock test Function 1 xxxxxxx All

[0162] The mark of “x” in the “UE Beamlock test Function” IE indicates that the value in the corresponding bit may be either 1 or 0. Some further explanations about the conditions in Table 9-1 are follows: Table 9-2 Condition Explanation Tx Only Activation UE beamlock function for Tx only Rx Only Activation UE beamlock function for Rx only Tx and Rx Activation UE beamlock function for both Tx and Rx Best with Tx Lock the best beam formed by the UE antenna pattern with Tx Best 2 with Tx Lock the best two beams formed by the UE antenna pattern(s) Tx Best 3 with Tx Lock the best three beams formed by the UE antenna pattern(s) with Tx Best 4 with Tx Lock the best four beams formed by the UE antenna pattern(s) with Tx Best with Rx Lock the best beam formed by the UE antenna pattern with Rx Best 2 with Rx Lock the best two beams formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) with Rx Best 3 with Rx Lock the best three beams formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) with Rx Best 4 with Rx Lock the best four beams formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) with Rx Best 5 with Rx Lock the best five beams formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) with Rx Best 6 with Rx Lock the best six beams formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) with Rx Best 7 with Rx Lock the best seven beams formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) with Rx Best 8 with Rx Lock the best eight beams formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) with Rx Lock selected Lock the beam(s) formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) according to bits 7 to 3 All Lock all active beam(s) formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) with Tx or Rx or TxRx

[0163] In an example, examples for the “ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE” message, and the test procedure to deactivate UE Beamlock Test Function (UBF) are similar as those provided in above Table 5-4 to Table 5-6.

[0164] In some examples, by applying the antenna pattern locking as proposed herein, the test procedures and TMC messages for UBF may be described in the following Table 10. The signaling charts for UE Beamlock test mode activation procedure and UE 5 Beamlock test mode deactivation procedure may be similar to those shown in FIGS. 2A-2B. Table 10 5.4 UE Beamlock test Function (UBF) 5.4.1 General The UE Beamlock test function is intended for making the UE to lock the UE antenna pattern(s) once it has formed beam(s) towards the base station (SS) direction(s) following the cell identification procedure in preparation for subsequent test procedures. Activating the UBF shall lock the antenna pattern(s) of all active intra-band component carriers and all MIMO layers affected by the test function. The Beamlock test function is mandatory for applicable UEs operating in Frequency Range 2 (FR2). The SS uses the UE Beamlock test mode activation procedure to command the UE to lock the UE antenna pattem(s). The Beamlock activation procedure can apply to UE transmitter and UE receiver beams either simultaneously or independently. The SS uses the UE Beamlock test mode deactivation procedure to command the UE to retracking the beam(s) towards the base station direction(s). The Beamlock deactivation procedure can apply to UE transmitter and UE receiver beams either simultaneously or independently. 5.4.2 Activate Beamlock procedure 5.4.2.1 Initiation The SS requests the UE to activate beamlock by transmitting an ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message. 5.4.2.2 Reception of ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message by UE When UE receives ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message then the UE shall: 1 >if the UE is operating in FR2 AND is in RRCCOWECTED state: 2> if bits 2 and 1 in UE Beamlock test Function = 01 3> Lock the UE antenna pattern with Tx only 2> else if bits 2 and 1 in UE Beamlock test Function = 10 3> Lock the UE antenna pattern with Rx only 2> else if bits 2 and 1 in UE Beamlock test Function = 11 3> Lock the UE antenna pattern with both TxRx 2> if bits 4 and 3 in UE Beamlock test Function = 00 3> Lock the best beam formed by the UE antenna pattern with Tx 2> else if bits 4 and 3 in UE Beamlock test Function = 01 3> Lock the best two beams formed by the UE antenna pattern(s) with Tx 2> else if bits 4 and 3 in UE Beamlock test Function = 10 3> Lock the best three beams formed by the UE antenna pattern(s) with Tx 2> else if bits 4 and 3 in UE Beamlock test Function = 11 3> Lock the best four beams formed by the UE antenna pattern(s) with Tx 2> if bits 7, 6 and 5 in UE Beamlock test Function = 000 3> Lock the best beam formed by the UE antenna pattern with Rx 2> else if bits 7, 6 and 5 in UE Beamlock test Function = 001 3> Lock the best two beams formed by the UE antenna pattern(s) with Rx 2> else if bits 7, 6 and 5 in UE Beamlock test Function = 010 3> Lock the best three beams formed by the UE antenna pattern(s) with Rx 2> else if bits 7, 6 and 5 in UE Beamlock test Function = 011 3> Lock the best four beams formed by the UE antenna pattern(s) with Rx 2> else if bits 7, 6 and 5 in UE Beamlock test Function = 100 3> Lock the best five beams formed by the UE antenna pattern(s) with Rx 2> else if bits 7, 6 and 5 in UE Beamlock test Function = 101 3> Lock the best six beams formed by the UE antenna pattern(s) with Rx 2> else if bits 7, 6 and 5 in UE Beamlock test Function = 110 3> Lock the best seven beams formed by the UE antenna pattern(s) with Rx 2> else if bits 7, 6 and 5 in UE Beamlock test Function = 111 3> Lock the best eight beams formed by the UE antenna pattern(s) with Rx 2> if bit 8 in UE Beamlock test Function = 0 3> Lock the beam(s) formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) according to bits 7 to 3 2> else if bit 8 in UE Beamlock test Function = 1 3> Lock all active beam(s) formed by the UE antenna pattem(s) with Tx or Rx or TxRx 2> Transmit ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE message l>else: 2>the UE behaviour is unspecified. 5.4.3 Deactivate Beamlock procedure 5.4.3.1 Initiation The SS requests the UE to deactivate beamlock by transmitting a DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message. The SS should do this when the UE is in RRCCOWECTED state. 5 .4.3.2 Reception of DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message by UE When UE receives DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK message then the UE shall: 1 >if the UE is operating in FR2 AND is in RRCCONNECTED state AND the UE Beamlock test function is active: 2> unlock all active beam(s) formed by the UE antenna pattern(s) and transmit DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE message; 1> else: 2>the UE behaviour is unspecified. 5.4.3.3 Release of antenna beamlock by UE When the UE leaves the RRCCONNECTED state, the UE shall: 1> if the UE is operating in FR2 AND the UE Beamlock test Function is active 2> unlock all active beam(s) formed by the UE antenna pattern(s);

[0165] In some examples, the beamlock messages may be defined as follows in Table 11 below. 6.4 Beamlock messages 6.4.1 ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK This message is only sent in the direction SS to UE. Information Element Reference Presence Format Length Protocol discriminator TS 24.007 [5], sub clause 11.2.3.1.1 M V ’ / 2 Skip indicator TS 24.007 [5], sub clause 11.2.3.1.2 M V ’ / 2 Message type M V 1 UE Beamlock test Function M V 1 where message type is: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 bit no. 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 octet 1 where UE Beamlock test Function is: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 bit no. Al RI R2 R3 Tl T2 XI X2 octet 1 where XI, X2 = 01 for activate beamlock of Tx only, 10 for activate beamlock of Rx only and 11 for activate beamlock of both TxRx, where Tl, T2 = 00 for activate beamlock of best beam formed by the Tx antenna pattern, 01 for activate beamlock of best two beams formed by the Tx antenna pattern(s), 10 for activate beamlock of best three beams formed by the Tx antenna pattern(s) and 11 for activate beamlock of best four beams formed by the Tx antenna pattem(s), where RI, R2, R3 = 000 for activate beamlock of best beam formed by the Rx antenna pattern, 001 for activate beamlock of best two beams formed by the Rx antenna pattern(s), 010 for activate beamlock of best three beams formed by the Rx antenna pattern(s) and Oil for activate beamlock of best beams formed by the Rx antenna pattem(s), 100 for activate beamlock of best five beams formed by the Rx antenna pattern(s), 101 for activate beamlock of best six beams formed by the Rx antenna pattern(s), 110 for activate beamlock of best seven beams formed by the Rx antenna pattern(s) and 111 for activate beamlock of best eight beams formed by the Rx antenna pattern(s), where Al = 0 for activate beamlock of the beams(s) formed by the Tx / Rx / TxRx antenna pattern(s) according to bits 7 to 3, 1 for activate beamlock of all active beam(s) formed by the Tx / Rx / TxRx antenna pattern(s). NOTE: XI, X2 = 00 is not used 6.4.2 ACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE This message is only sent in the direction UE to SS. Information Element Reference Presence Format Length Protocol discriminator TS 24.007 [5], sub clause 11.2.3.1.1 M V 'A Skip indicator TS 24.007 [5], sub clause 11.2.3.1.2 M V * / 2 Message type M V 1 where message type is: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 bit no. 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 octet 1 6.4.3 DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK This message is only sent in the direction SS to UE. Information Element Reference Presence Format Length Protocol discriminator TS 24.007 [5], sub clause 11.2.3.1.1 M V ‘ / 2 Skip indicator TS 24.007 [5], sub clause 11.2.3.1.2 M V ’ / 2 Message type M V 1 where message type is: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 bit no. 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 octet 1 6.4.4 DEACTIVATE BEAMLOCK COMPLETE This message is only sent in the direction UE to SS. Information Element Reference Presence Format Length Protocol discriminator TS 24.007 [5], sub clause 11.2.3.1.1 M V > / 2 Skip indicator TS 24.007 [5], sub clause 11.2.3.1.2 M V ’ / 2 Message type M V 1 where message type is: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 bit no. 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 octet 1

[0166] It would be appreciated that only some examples of definitions and specifications to the beamlock related procedures are provided above by incorporating the antenna pattern locking proposed herein. There may be variants applied, without departing from the scope of example embodiments.

[0167] FIG. 4A shows a flowchart of an example method 400 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 400 can be implemented by the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 400 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 with reference to FIG. 1.

[0168] At block 410, At block 410, the first apparatus 110 receives locking indication information from a second apparatus. The locking indication information indicates at least one of the following: a first number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam to be locked, a second number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam to be locked, or a flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of antenna patterns or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information.

[0169] At block 420, the first apparatus 110 performs, based on the locking indication information, locking of a number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam.

[0170] In some example embodiments, the performing locking comprises: in accordance with a determination that the locking indication information indicates the first number of at least one antenna pattern, performing locking of the first number of at least one antenna pattern forming the first number of at least one best transmitting beam; and in accordance with a determination that the locking indication information indicates the second number of at least one antenna pattern, performing locking of the second number of at least one antenna pattern forming the second number of at least one best receiving beam.

[0171] In some example embodiments, the locking indication information comprises one or more first bits corresponding to beam transmission to indicate the first number of at least one antenna pattern, and / or wherein the locking indication information comprises one or more second bits corresponding to beam reception to indicate the second number of at least one antenna pattern.

[0172] In some example embodiments, the performing locking comprises: in accordance with a determination that the flag indicates locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information, performing locking of a number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam based on the one or more first bits corresponding to beam transmission, and / or the one or more second bits corresponding to beam reception.

[0173] In some example embodiments, the locking indication information is carried in an information element with an octet, and wherein the one or more first bits and the one or more second bits are each selected from the third to the eighth bits in the octet.

[0174] In some example embodiments, the flag indicates locking of a full set of antenna patterns forming transmitting beams, or locking of a full set of antenna patterns forming receiving beams, or locking of a full set of antenna patterns forming transmitting beams and receiving beams.

[0175] In some example embodiments, the locking indication information further comprises a bit in an information element with an octet, to indicate whether locking of a full set of antenna patterns or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information.

[0176] In some example embodiments, the method 400 further comprises: transmitting, to the second apparatus, an active beamlock message complete message after performing the locking.

[0177] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is or is comprised in a terminal device, and / or wherein the second apparatus is or is comprised in a system simulator configured to perform a test process with the terminal device.

[0178] FIG. 4B shows a flowchart of an example method 402 implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 402 will be described from the perspective of the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0179] At block 412, the second apparatus 120 transmits, to a first apparatus, locking indication information from a second apparatus. The locking indication information indicates at least one of the following: a first number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam to be locked, a second number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam to be locked, or a flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information.

[0180] In some example embodiments, the locking indication information comprises one or more first bits corresponding to beam transmission to indicate the first number of at least one antenna pattern, and / or wherein the locking indication information comprises one or more second bits corresponding to beam reception to indicate the second number of at least one antenna pattern.

[0181] In some example embodiments, the locking indication information is carried in an information element with an octet, and wherein the one or more first bits and the one or more second bits are each selected from the third to the eighth bits in the octet.

[0182] In some example embodiments, the flag indicates locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam, or locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam, or locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam and receiving beam.

[0183] In some example embodiments, the locking indication information further comprises a bit to indicate whether locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information.

[0184] In some example embodiments, the method 402 further comprises: receiving, from the first apparatus, an active beamlock message complete message.

[0185] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is or is comprised in a terminal device, and / or wherein the second apparatus is or is comprised in a system simulator configured to perform a test process with the terminal device.

[0186] FIG. 5A shows a flowchart of an example method 500 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 500 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

[0187] At block 510, the first apparatus 110 receives beamlocking indication information from a second apparatus. The beamlocking indication information indicates at least one of the following: a first number of at least one transmitting beam to be locked, a second number of at least one receiving beam to be locked, or a flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam, or locking of a specific number of at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam indicated by the beamlocking indication information.

[0188] At block 520, the first apparatus 110 performs, based on the beamlocking indication information, locking of a number of at least one transmitting beam and / or a number of at least one receiving beam.

[0189] In some example embodiments, the performing the locking comprises: lockinging, based on the beamlocking indication information, at least one antenna pattern forming a number of at least one transmitting beam and / or a number of at least one receiving beam.

[0190] In some example embodiments, the performing the locking comprises: in accordance with a determination that the beamlocking indication information indicates the first number of at least one transmitting beam, performing locking of the first number of at least one transmitting beam formed by at least one antenna pattern; and in accordance with a determination that the beamlocking indication information indicates the second number of at least one receiving beam, performing locking of the second number of at least one receiving beam formed by at least one antenna pattern.

[0191] In some example embodiments, the beamlocking indication information comprises one or more first bits corresponding to beam transmission to indicate the first number of at least one transmitting beam, and / or wherein the beamlocking indication information comprises one or more second bits corresponding to beam reception to indicate the second number of at least one receiving beam.

[0192] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the flag indicates locking of a specific number of at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam indicated by the beamlocking indication information, performing locking of the first number of at least one transmitting beam based on the one or more first bits corresponding to beam transmission, and / or locking of the second number of at least one receiving beam based on the one or more second bits corresponding to beam reception.

[0193] In some example embodiments, the beamlocking indication information is carried in an information element with an octet, and wherein the one or more first bits and the one or more second bits are each selected from the third to the eighth bits in the octet.

[0194] In some example embodiments, the flag indicates locking of a full set of at least one transmitting beam, or locking of a full set of at least one receiving beam, or locking of a full set of at least one transmitting beam and at least one receiving beam.

[0195] In some example embodiments, the beamlocking indication information further comprises a bit in an information element with an octet, to indicate whether locking of a full set of at least one transmitting beam and / or receiving beam, or locking of a specific number of at least one transmitting beam and / or receiving beam indicated by the beamlocking indication information.

[0196] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: transmitting, to the second apparatus, an active beamlock message complete message after performing the locking.

[0197] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is or is comprised in a terminal device, and / or wherein the second apparatus is or is comprised in a system simulator configured to perform a test process with the terminal device.

[0198] FIG. 5B shows a flowchart of an example method 502 implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 502 will be described from the perspective of the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0199] At block 512, the second apparatus 120 transmits, to a first apparatus, beamlocking indication information from a second apparatus. The beamlocking indication information indicates at least one of the following: a first number of at least one transmitting beam to be locked, a second number of at least one receiving beam to be locked, or a flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam, or locking of a specific number of at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam indicated by the beamlocking indication information.

[0200] In some example embodiments, the beamlocking indication information comprises one or more first bits corresponding to beam transmission to indicate the first number of at least one transmitting beam, and / or wherein the beamlocking indication information comprises one or more second bits corresponding to beam reception to indicate the second number of at least one receiving beam.

[0201] In some example embodiments, the beamlocking indication information is carried in an information element with an octet, and wherein the one or more first bits and the one or more second bits are each selected from the third to the eighth bits in the octet.

[0202] In some example embodiments, the flag indicates locking of a full set of at least one transmitting beam, or locking of a full set of at least one receiving beam, or locking of a full set of at least one transmitting beam and at least one receiving beam.

[0203] In some example embodiments, the beamlocking indication information further comprises a bit to indicate whether locking of a full set of at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam, or locking of a specific number of at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam indicated by the beamlocking indication information.

[0204] In some example embodiments, the method 502 further comprises: receiving, from the first apparatus, an active beamlock message complete message.

[0205] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is or is comprised in a terminal device, and / or wherein the second apparatus is or is comprised in a system simulator configured to perform a test process with the terminal device.

[0206] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 400 (for example, the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1 ) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 400. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1 .

[0207] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for receiving locking indication information from a second apparatus, the locking indication information indicating at least one of the following: a first number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam to be locked, a second number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam to be locked, or a flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of antenna patterns or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information; and means for performing, based on the locking indication information, locking of a number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam.

[0208] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the locking indication information indicates the first number of at least one antenna pattern, performing locking of the first number of at least one antenna pattern forming the first number of at least one best transmitting beam; and means for in accordance with a determination that the locking indication information indicates the second number of at least one antenna pattern, performing locking of the second number of at least one antenna pattern forming the second number of at least one best receiving beam. [0209[ In some example embodiments, the locking indication information comprises one or more first bits corresponding to beam transmission to indicate the first number of at least one antenna pattern, and / or wherein the locking indication information comprises one or more second bits corresponding to beam reception to indicate the second number of at least one antenna pattern.

[0210] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the flag indicates locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information, performing locking of a number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam based on the one or more first bits corresponding to beam transmission, and / or the one or more second bits corresponding to beam reception. [021 l]In some example embodiments, the locking indication information is carried in an information element with an octet, and wherein the one or more first bits and the one or more second bits are each selected from the third to the eighth bits in the octet.

[0212] In some example embodiments, the flag indicates locking of a full set of antenna patterns forming transmitting beams, or locking of a full set of antenna patterns forming receiving beams, or locking of a full set of antenna patterns forming transmitting beams and receiving beams.

[0213] In some example embodiments, the locking indication information further comprises a bit in an information element with an octet, to indicate whether locking of a full set of antenna patterns or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information.

[0214] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the second apparatus, an active beamlock message complete message after performing the locking.

[0215] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is or is comprised in a terminal device, and / or wherein the second apparatus is or is comprised in a system simulator configured to perform a test process with the terminal device.

[0216] In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 402 (for example, the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 402. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0217] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a first apparatus, locking indication information from a second apparatus, the locking indication information indicating at least one of the following: a first number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam to be locked, a second number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam to be locked, or a flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information.

[0218] In some example embodiments, the locking indication information comprises one or more first bits corresponding to beam transmission to indicate the first number of at least one antenna pattern, and / or wherein the locking indication information comprises one or more second bits corresponding to beam reception to indicate the second number of at least one antenna pattern.

[0219] In some example embodiments, the locking indication information is carried in an information element with an octet, and wherein the one or more first bits and the one or more second bits are each selected from the third to the eighth bits in the octet.

[0220] In some example embodiments, the flag indicates locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam, or locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam, or locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam and receiving beam.

[0221] In some example embodiments, the locking indication information further comprises a bit to indicate whether locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information.

[0222] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the first apparatus, an active beamlock message complete message.

[0223] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is or is comprised in a terminal device, and / or wherein the second apparatus is or is comprised in a system simulator configured to perform a test process with the terminal device.

[0224] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 500 (for example, the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 500. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

[0225] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for receiving beamlocking indication information from a second apparatus, the beamlocking indication information indicating at least one of the following: a first number of at least one transmitting beam to be locked, a second number of at least one receiving beam to be locked, or a flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam, or locking of a specific number of at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam indicated by the beamlocking indication information; and means for performing, based on the beamlocking indication information, locking of a number of at least one transmitting beam and / or a number of at least one receiving beam.

[0226] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for lockinging, based on the beamlocking indication information, at least one antenna pattern forming a number of at least one transmitting beam and / or a number of at least one receiving beam.

[0227] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the beamlocking indication information indicates the first number of at least one transmitting beam, performing locking of the first number of at least one transmitting beam formed by at least one antenna pattern; and means for in accordance with a determination that the beamlocking indication information indicates the second number of at least one receiving beam, performing locking of the second number of at least one receiving beam formed by at least one antenna pattern.

[0228] In some example embodiments, the beamlocking indication information comprises one or more first bits corresponding to beam transmission to indicate the first number of at least one transmitting beam, and / or wherein the beamlocking indication information comprises one or more second bits corresponding to beam reception to indicate the second number of at least one receiving beam.

[0229] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the flag indicates locking of a specific number of at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam indicated by the beamlocking indication information, performing locking of the first number of at least one transmitting beam based on the one or more first bits corresponding to beam transmission, and / or locking of the second number of at least one receiving beam based on the one or more second bits corresponding to beam reception.

[0230] In some example embodiments, the beamlocking indication information is carried in an information element with an octet, and wherein the one or more first bits and the one or more second bits are each selected from the third to the eighth bits in the octet.

[0231] In some example embodiments, the flag indicates locking of a full set of at least one transmitting beam, or locking of a full set of at least one receiving beam, or locking of a full set of at least one transmitting beam and at least one receiving beam.

[0232] In some example embodiments, the beamlocking indication information further comprises a bit in an information element with an octet, to indicate whether locking of a full set of at least one transmitting beam and / or receiving beam, or locking of a specific number of at least one transmitting beam and / or receiving beam indicated by the beamlocking indication information.

[0233] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the second apparatus, an active beamlock message complete message after performing the locking.

[0234] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is or is comprised in a terminal device, and / or wherein the second apparatus is or is comprised in a system simulator configured to perform a test process with the terminal device.

[0235] In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 502 (for example, the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 502. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0236] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a first apparatus, beamlocking indication information from a second apparatus, the beamlocking indication information indicating at least one of the following: a first number of at least one transmitting beam to be locked, a second number of at least one receiving beam to be locked, or a flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam, or locking of a specific number of at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam indicated by the beamlocking indication information.

[0237] In some example embodiments, the beamlocking indication information comprises one or more first bits corresponding to beam transmission to indicate the first number of at least one transmitting beam, and / or wherein the beamlocking indication information comprises one or more second bits corresponding to beam reception to indicate the second number of at least one receiving beam.

[0238] In some example embodiments, the beamlocking indication information is carried in an information element with an octet, and wherein the one or more first bits and the one or more second bits are each selected from the third to the eighth bits in the octet.

[0239] In some example embodiments, the flag indicates locking of a full set of at least one transmitting beam, or locking of a full set of at least one receiving beam, or locking of a full set of at least one transmitting beam and at least one receiving beam.

[0240] In some example embodiments, the beamlocking indication information further comprises a bit to indicate whether locking of a full set of at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam, or locking of a specific number of at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam indicated by the beamlocking indication information.

[0241] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the first apparatus, an active beamlock message complete message.

[0242] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is or is comprised in a terminal device, and / or wherein the second apparatus is or is comprised in a system simulator configured to perform a test process with the terminal device.

[0243] FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram of a device 600 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 600 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first apparatus 110 or the second apparatus 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 600 includes one or more processors 610, one or more memories 620 coupled to the processor 610, and one or more communication modules 640 coupled to the processor 610.

[0244] The communication module 640 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 640 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 640 may include at least one antenna.

[0245] The processor 610 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 600 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

[0246] The memory 620 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 624, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and / or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random-access memory (RAM) 622 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

[0247] A computer program 630 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 610. The instructions of the program 630 may include instructions for performing operations / acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 630 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 624. The processor 610 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 630 into the RAM 622.

[0248] The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 630 so that the device 600 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 3 to FIG. 5B. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0249] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0250] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0251] Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

[0252] In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

[0253] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0254] In the foregoing, embodiments of the present disclosure are described for transferring beamlock messages for locking and / or activating beamlocking, in response to which locking and / or activating beamlocking is performed. It should be understood that equivalent embodiments are hereby disclosed for transferring beamlock messages for unlocking and / or deactivating beamlocking, in response to which unlocking and / or deactivating beamlocking is performed. For example, in relation to FIG. 3, an embodiment should be considered disclosed where the first apparatus 110 receives a beamlock message from the second apparatus 120. The beamlock message indicates that one or more Tx beams are to be unlocked on a first list of antenna arrays and / or one or more Rx beams are to be unlocked on a second list of antenna arrays. Based on the beamlock message, the first apparatus 110 then performs unlocking of the one or more Tx beams and / or the one or more Rx beams.

[0255] Further, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0256] Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A first apparatus comprising:at least one processor; andat least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to:receive locking indication information from a second apparatus, the locking indication information indicating at least one of the following:a first number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam to be locked,a second number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam to be locked, ora flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of antenna patterns or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information; andperform, based on the locking indication information, locking of a number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam.

2. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:in accordance with a determination that the locking indication information indicates the first number of at least one antenna pattern, perform locking of the first number of at least one antenna pattern forming the first number of at least one best transmitting beam; andin accordance with a determination that the locking indication information indicates the second number of at least one antenna pattern, perform locking of the second number of at least one antenna pattern forming the second number of at least one best receiving beam.

3. The first apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the locking indication information comprises one or more first bits corresponding to beam transmission to indicate the first number of at least one antenna pattern, and / orwherein the locking indication information comprises one or more second bits corresponding to beam reception to indicate the second number of at least one antenna pattern.

4. The first apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:in accordance with a determination that the flag indicates locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information, perform locking of a number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam based on the one or more first bits corresponding to beam transmission, and / or the one or more second bits corresponding to beam reception.

5. The first apparatus of claim 3 or 4, wherein the locking indication information is carried in an information element with an octet, and wherein the one or more first bits and the one or more second bits are each selected from the third to the eighth bits in the octet.

6. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the flag indicates locking of a full set of antenna patterns forming transmitting beams, or locking of a full set of antenna patterns forming receiving beams, or locking of a full set of antenna patterns forming transmitting beams and receiving beams.

7. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the locking indication information further comprises a bit in an information element with an octet, to indicate whether locking of a full set of antenna patterns or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information.

8. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:receive, from the second apparatus, an activate beamlock message comprising the locking indication information, andwherein the first apparatus is further caused to:transmit, to the second apparatus, an active beamlock message complete message after performing the locking.

9. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the first apparatus is or is comprised in a terminal device, and / orwherein the second apparatus is or is comprised in a system simulator configured to perform a test process with the terminal device.

10. A second apparatus comprising:at least one processor; andat least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to:transmit, to a first apparatus, locking indication information from a second apparatus, the locking indication information indicating at least one of the following:a first number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam to be locked,a second number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam to be locked, ora flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information.

11. The second apparatus of claim 10, wherein the locking indication information comprises one or more first bits corresponding to beam transmission to indicate the first number of at least one antenna pattern, and / orwherein the locking indication information comprises one or more second bits corresponding to beam reception to indicate the second number of at least one antenna pattern.

12. The second apparatus of claim 11, wherein the locking indication information is carried in an information element with an octet, and wherein the one or more first bits and the one or more second bits are each selected from the third to the eighth bits in the octet.

13. The second apparatus of any of claims 10 to 12, wherein the flag indicates locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam, or locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam, or locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam and receiving beam.

14. The second apparatus of any of claims 10 to 13, wherein the locking indication information further comprises a bit to indicate whether locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information.

15. The second apparatus of any of claims 10 to 14, wherein the second apparatus is caused to:transmit, to the first apparatus, an activate beamlock message comprising the locking indication information, andwherein the second apparatus is further caused to:receive, from the first apparatus, an active beamlock message complete message.

16. The second apparatus of any of claims 10 to 15, wherein the first apparatus is or is comprised in a terminal device, and / orwherein the second apparatus is or is comprised in a system simulator configured to perform a test process with the terminal device.

17. A method comprising:receiving, by a first apparatus, locking indication information from a second apparatus, the locking indication information indicating at least one of the following:a first number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam to be locked,a second number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam to be locked, ora flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of antenna patterns or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information; andperforming, based on the locking indication information, locking of a number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam.

18. A method comprising:transmitting, by a second apparatus and to a first apparatus, locking indication information from a second apparatus, the locking indication information indicating at least one of the following:a first number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam to be locked,a second number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam to be locked, ora flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information.

19. A first apparatus comprising:means for receiving locking indication information from a second apparatus, the locking indication information indicating at least one of the following:a first number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam to be locked,a second number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receiving beam to be locked, ora flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of antenna patterns or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information; andmeans for performing, based on the locking indication information, locking of a number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam and / or at least one receiving beam.

20. A second apparatus comprising:means for transmitting, to a first apparatus, locking indication information from a second apparatus, the locking indication information indicating at least one of the following:a first number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one transmitting beam to be locked,a second number of at least one antenna pattern forming at least one receivingbeam to be locked, ora flag indicative of whether locking of a full set of at least one antenna pattern or locking of a specific number of at least one antenna pattern indicated by the locking indication information.

21. A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of any of claim 17 or the method of any of claim 18.

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