Codebook Subset Constraints for CJT via Multiple TRPs

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for codebook subset constraint (CBSR) for coherent joint transmission (CJT) over multiple transmit and receive points (TRPs). In one embodiment, a method performed by a user equipment (UE) includes receiving, from a network node, configuration information for configuring the UE with non-zero power (NZP) channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources with 2N1N2 CSI-RS antenna ports each for CJT channel state information (CSI) feedback, where N1 and N2 are positive integers. The method further includes receiving, from the network node, CBSR information for one or more of the NZP CSI-RS resources, configuring the UE with amplitude constraints on a subset of space vectors or beams for each NZP CSI-RS resource. The method further includes reporting CSI to the network node based on the configuration information and the CBSR information.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] Related Applications This application claims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 480,202, filed January 17, 2023, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] The present disclosure relates to downlink coherent joint transmission (CJT) over multiple transmission and reception points (TRPs) in wireless networks, and more particularly, to codebook subset constraints for downlink CJT over multiple TRPs in wireless networks. [Background technology]

[0003] Codebook-based Precoding Multi-antenna techniques can significantly increase the data rates and reliability of wireless communication systems. Performance is particularly improved when both the transmitter and receiver are equipped with multiple antennas, resulting in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication channel. Such systems and / or related techniques are commonly referred to as MIMO.

[0004] A core component of fourth and fifth generation (4G / 5G) wireless networks or New Radio (NR) defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is support for MIMO antenna deployment and MIMO-related techniques such as spatial multiplexing. Spatial multiplexing can be used to increase data rates in favorable channel conditions. Figure 1 shows how the information carrying the symbol vector s is organized into N symbols so that it can be distinguished at the user equipment (UE). T r transmit antenna ports, which act to distribute the transmit energy in r "virtual" spatial directions, each associated with a data stream, TFigure 1 shows an example of spatial multiplexing where a UE is multiplied by a ∑ x r (row x column) precoding matrix or precoder W. The precoding matrix is ​​typically selected from a codebook of possible precoding matrices and is typically reported by the UE in the form of a precoding matrix indicator (PMI). The PMI indicates the desired precoding matrix in the codebook for a given number of symbol streams. The vector s contains r symbols, each corresponding to a MIMO layer or data stream, where r is referred to as the transmission rank or simply rank. In this way, spatial multiplexing is achieved because multiple symbols or data streams can be transmitted simultaneously on the same time / frequency resource element (RE). r is selected to match the matrix channel H and is typically reported by the UE in the form of a rank indicator (RI).

[0005] NR uses Orthogonal Division Multiplexing (OFDM) in the downlink. The received N REs at the UE for the scheduled REs are R The ×1 vector y is y=HWx+e where e is the receiver noise / interference vector.

[0006] The precoder W is N R ×N TThe precoder is chosen to match the characteristics of the MIMO channel matrix H in the NR base station (gNodeB). This is commonly referred to as closed-loop precoding. In closed-loop precoding, the UE provides feedback to the NR base station (gNodeB) on a suitable precoder in the form of PMI based on downlink channel measurements. To this end, the UE is configured with a CSI reporting configuration that includes a Channel State Information (CSI) Reference Signal (CSI-RS) for channel measurements and a codebook of candidate precoders. In addition to the PMI and RI, the feedback typically also includes a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI). The RI, PMI, and CQI are part of the CSI feedback. In NR, PMI and CQI feedback can be per wideband or per subband, where a subband is defined as a number of 4 to 32 adjacent physical resource blocks (PRBs) depending on the Bandwidth Part (BWP) size.

[0007] The transmit antennas in the gNB can be linear antenna arrays with uniformly spaced antenna ports, or two-dimensional antenna arrays with uniformly spaced antenna ports in each dimension. The antenna array has a number of antenna ports in a first dimension (e.g., horizontal dimension), N1, a number of antenna ports in a second dimension (e.g., vertical dimension) perpendicular to the first dimension, N2, and a number of polarizations, N p Therefore, the total number of antenna ports can be expressed as N T =N1N2N p The concept of an antenna port is non-limiting in the sense that it can refer to any virtualization (e.g., linear mapping) to one or more physical antenna elements. For example, a pair of physical antenna elements may be fed with the same signal and therefore share the same virtualized antenna port.

[0008] Dual polarized antenna elements (i.e., N p An example of a 4x4 (i.e., N1 x N2) array with N = 2 is shown in the following Figure 2. In other words, Figure 2 shows a two-dimensional antenna array (N p =2) is shown below.

[0009] Precoding can also be interpreted as beamforming, where the signal to be transmitted on an antenna port is multiplied by a set of beamforming weights prior to transmission. The beamforming weights are specified in the precoding matrix. Each MIMO layer is transmitted on an antenna beam.

[0010] DFT-based precoder A common type of precoder is the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) based precoder, in which the precoding vector for each MIMO layer is a DFT vector, i.e., each column of W is a DFT vector. For a single-polarized uniform linear array (ULA) with N antennas, the DFT-based precoder is defined as: TIFF2026504874000002.tif24170 where k=0,1,...ON-1 are precoder indices and O is an integer oversampling factor. k is also referred to as a one-dimensional (1D) DFT beam with beam index k. If the ULA is along the horizontal dimension, each DFT beam points in an azimuth direction. If the ULA is along the vertical dimension, each DFT beam points in an elevation direction.

[0011] For a two-dimensional Uniform Planar Array (UPA) with N1 antenna ports in one dimension and N2 antenna ports in the other, the Kronecker product of the two DFT precoder vectors, one vector for each dimension, is A DFT-based precoder can be created similarly by taking TIFF2026504874000003.tif5170. where: TIFF2026504874000004.tif25170 is a 1D DFT beam in each of the two dimensions, and O1 and O2 are the oversampling factors in the two dimensions related to N1 and N2, respectively. k,l is also called a two-dimensional (2D) DFT beam characterized by two beam indices (k, l), one vector for each dimension. Each precoder corresponds to a 2D DFT beam.

[0012] Then, extending the DFT precoder for dual polarization UPA can be done as follows: TIFF2026504874000005.tif11170where, e jΦ teeth, TIFF2026504874000006.tif9170 is a co-phasing factor that can be chosen from the M-PSK alphabet. The above assumes that the same DFT beam is used for both polarizations.

[0013] Precoding matrix W for multi-layer transmission 2D,DP can be created by appending a sequence of DFT vectors as follows: W 2D,DP =[w 2D,DP (k1,l1,φ1)w 2D,DP (k2,l2,φ2) w 2D,DP (k r ,l r ,φ r )], where r is the number of transmission layers. Such DFT-based precoders are used, for example, for NR Type-I CSI feedback, where each layer is associated with one 2D DFT beam.

[0014] NR Rel-15 Type II Codebook To better reflect the multipath propagation nature of the wireless channel, NR Rel-15 introduced a Type II codebook in which the precoder for each MIMO layer consists of a combination of multiple DFT beams. The number of DFT beams can be configured by Radio Resource Control (RRC). The precoder is reported by the UE as multiple selected DFT beams and corresponding combination coefficients. A common set of DFT beams is selected for all layers.

[0015] For a given 2D cross-polarized antenna array with N1 antenna ports in one dimension and N2 antenna ports in the other dimension for each polarization, the precoder layer l∈{1,2} in an NR Rel-15 type codebook can be expressed as: w l =W1w 2,l where: TIFF2026504874000007.tif13170TIFF2026504874000008.tif91701 set of size P CSI-RS / 2×1 2D DFT beam, P CSI-RS =2N1N2, TIFF2026504874000009.tif8170 is the beam index in each dimension for the i-th selected DFT beam. L∈{2,3,4} is set by RRC. W1 is common to all layers. · w 2,l =[w 2,l,0, w 2,l,1 ,…,w 2,l,2L-1 ] T , where TIFF2026504874000010.tif7170 is the coupling coefficient associated with the i-th beam, TIFF2026504874000011.tif7170 each w 2,l,i are the wideband amplitude, subband amplitude, and phase of TIFF2026504874000012.tif10170 · wl is expressed in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.214 V15.16.0, section 5.2.2.2.3, as follows: TIFF2026504874000013.tif24170 where, TIFF2026504874000014.tif29170

[0016] NR Rel-16 Extended Type II Codebook The Rel-15 Type II codebook is extended in NR Rel-16, where instead of reporting separate precoders for different subbands, the precoders for all subbands are reported together by using so-called frequency-domain (FD) basis sets. It exploits frequency-domain channel correlation by representing the precoder changes in the frequency domain with a set of frequency-domain DFT basis vectors (simply called FD basis vectors). Due to the channel correlation in frequency, only a few DFT basis vectors can be used to represent the precoder changes across all subbands. By doing so, feedback overhead can be reduced, or for the same feedback overhead, performance can be improved.

[0017] For each layer l (l=1,...,v), the precoder in the Rel-16 Type II codebook can be expressed as: TIFF2026504874000015.tif8170 where, TIFF2026504874000016.tif8170 PMI in subband t∈{0,1,…,N3-1} for layer l CSI-RS × 1 precoding vector, and N3 = N SB × R is the number of subbands for PMI, and N SB is the number of CQI subbands, and R∈{1,2} is a scaling factor, both set by RRC. W1 is the same as in the Rel-15 Type II codebook. TIFF2026504874000017.tif8170 Layer l, size N3 x M v is the frequency domain (FD) compression matrix of TIFF2026504874000018.tif8170 here TIFF2026504874000019.tif19170RRC set parameter p v It depends on p and may be different for different ranks. v Supported values ​​of can be found in Table 1. TIFF2026504874000020.tif7170 ○ If N3≦19, 1-step free selection is used. For each layer, v The selected FD basis vectors are In TIFF2026504874000021.tif101703GPP TS38.214, the combination indicator is the index i 1,6,l and this index is reported by the UE to the gNB. If N3>19, a two-step selection using layer common intermediate subsets (IntS) is used. In the first step, a window base layer common IntS selection is used, which is initial IntS is a set of FD basis vectors {mod(M initial +n,N3), n=0,1,…,2M v -1}. In TS38.214, the selected IntS is determined by the UE using the parameter i 1,5 This is reported layer by layer as part of the PMI. In the second step, the selected FD basis vectors are In TIFF2026504874000022.tif10170TS38.214, the combination indicator is the index i 1,6,l and this index is reported by the UE to the gNB. TIFF2026504874000023.tif 6170 layers, size 2L x M v is the coefficient matrix of Reported by TIFF2026504874000024.tif6170UE. It is considered to be TIFF2026504874000025.tif61700. TIFF2026504874000026.tif5170 is the maximum number of non-zero coefficients per layer, where β is an RRC configured parameter. Supported β values ​​are shown in Table 1. For v∈{2,3,4}, the total number of non-zero coefficients reported across all layers, TIFF2026504874000027.tif6170○ Selected TIFF2026504874000028.tif6170 size 2LM v Bitmap i 1,7,l and each reported non-zero coefficient is denoted by 1. ○ The strongest coefficient of layer l (its amplitude and phase are not reported) is i 1,8,l ,∈{0,1,...,2L-1}. ○ W 2,l The amplitude coefficient in i 2,3,l (reference amplitude) and i 2,4,l Directed by W 2,l The phase coefficient in i 2,5,l is directed by.

[0018] The above is further detailed in 3GPP TS38.214 (see, e.g., V16.12.0) section 5.2.2.2.5, where: TIFF2026504874000029.tif47170 here TIFF2026504874000030.tif8170{q1,q2} is the parameter i 1,1 where {n1,n2} is the parameter i 1,2 Reported via. TIFF2026504874000031.tif18170 parameter i 1,6,l If N3>19, then parameter i 1,5 Reported via. TIFF2026504874000032.tif61170c l,f =[c l,0,f …c l,2L-1,f ]. Table 1: L, β, and p for the Rel-16 Extended Type II Codebook υ Codebook parameter settings TIFF2026504874000033.tif58170

[0019] In some deployment scenarios, it may be desirable to avoid downlink (DL) transmissions in certain spatial directions, such as the horizontal direction or its periphery, to reduce potential inter-cell interference. This can be achieved via CBSR in both Rel-15 and Rel-16 Type II codebooks, where spatial beams are divided into O1O2 beam groups, each containing N1N2 adjacent beams. Beams in four of the O1O2 beam groups may be constrained. For each beam in the four O1O2 beam groups, two bits are used to indicate the amount of amplitude constraint applied to the beam. The amounts range from 0 (no transmission), 1 (no transmission), 2 (no transmission), 3 (no transmission), and 4 (no transmission), as described in Table 5.2.2.2.3-6 and Table 5.2.2.2.5-6 of 3GPP TS38.214v16.12.0 for Rel-15 Type II CB and Rel-16 Extended Type II CB, respectively. TIFF2026504874000034.tif8170 or 1 (unconstrained, full power). Tables 5.2.2.2.3-6 and 5.2.2.2.5-6 are copied below, where: TIFF2026504874000035.tif9170 are two bits associated with the beam identified by beam index {x1, x2} in beam group k. In Rel-16 Extended Type II CB, the average coefficient amplitude for beam i∈(0,1,…,L-1) and polarization p∈(0,1) in layer l∈(1,…,v) is TIFF2026504874000036.tif19170 It is specified as TIFF2026504874000037.tif19170, where: TIFF2026504874000038.tif91703GPP A bitmap as specified in TS38.214, section 5.2.2.2.5. Table 5.2.2.2.3-6: Maximum possible amplitude coefficients for constrained vectors TIFF2026504874000039.tif44170Table 5.2.2.2.5-6: Maximum possible average coefficient amplitude for constrained vectors TIFF2026504874000040.tif39170

[0020] If the UE does not report the parameters amplitudeSubsetRestriction="supported" or softAmpRestriction-r16="supported" in its capability signaling, the UE shall TIFF2026504874000041.tif8170 or 10. In this case, hard constraints are applied to the beams in the selected beam group (i.e., γ i+pL =0 or γ i+pL =1).

[0021] An example is shown in Figure 3. In other words, Figure 3 shows an example of CBSR for Type II CB with (N1, N2) = (2, 4) and (O1, O2) = (4, 4).

[0022] Note that in both Rel-15 and Rel-16 Type II codebooks, a single strongest beam combining coefficient is determined per layer and its amplitude is set to 1 to be used as the basis for determining the amplitude of the other coefficients or for quantization. Therefore, in the case of soft beam constraints, i.e., the coefficients set in Table 5.2.2.2.3-6 and Table 5.2.2.2.5-6, The amplitude constraint threshold is effectively with respect to the strongest beam in the Rel-15 Type II CBSR case, and with respect to the strongest beam and FD basis vector pair in the Rel-16 Extended Type II CBSR case. This is shown in the example in Figure 4. In this example, L=4 beams {a,b,c,d} are selected by the UE, with beam d being the strongest beam and its amplitude set to 1 in the Rel-15 Type II codebook case, or its reference amplitude set to 1 in the Rel-16 Extended Type II codebook case. Beams a and c are soft-constrained. TIFF2026504874000043.tif7170Constrained beams set by CBSR. In this example, both beams a and c do not exceed the amplitude threshold and are valid. Beams b and d are unconstrained.

[0023] Codebooks for coherent joint transmission over multiple TRPs NR Rel-18 agreed to support downlink coherent joint transmission (CJT) from multiple transmission and reception points (TRPs) by extending the Rel-16 and Rel-17 extended Type II codebook across multiple TRPs (mTRP for short). For CJT, each layer of the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) is transmitted from multiple TRPs. Figure 5 shows an example in which two layers of the PDSCH are transmitted from two TRPs by applying two different precoding matrices to the PDSCH at TRP1 and TRP2. The two precoders are designed so that, for each layer, the signals received from the two TRPs are phase-aligned and therefore coherently combined at the UE.

[0024] Extending the NR Rel-16 Extended Type II codebook to CJT is currently under consideration in 3GPP RAN1. Two codebook structures or modes have been agreed upon: Mode 1: Spatial Domain (SD) / FD basis selection per TRP / TRP group, allowing independent FD basis selection across N TRPs / TRP groups. Example formulation (N = number of TRPs or TRP groups): TIFF2026504874000044.tif16170 Mode 2: SD basis selection per TRP / TRP group (port group or resource) and joint / common FD basis selection (across N TRPs). Example formulation (N=number of TRPs or TRP groups): TIFF2026504874000045.tif16170In the above formulation, each TRP / TRP group corresponds to one CSI-RS resource.

[0025] In both Mode 1 and Mode 2, the precoding matrix W for CJT is very similar to the matrix in the Rel-16 extended Type II codebook. One difference is that here, spatial beams are selected from multiple TRPs rather than a single TRP. In Mode 1, FD basis vectors are still selected for each TRP basis, while in Mode 2, a common set of FD basis vectors is selected for all TRPs. Summary of the Invention

[0026] Systems and methods are disclosed for codebook subset constraint (CBSR) for coherent joint transmission (CJT) over multiple transmit and receive points (TRPs). In one embodiment, a method performed by a user equipment (UE) includes receiving, from a network node, configuration information for configuring the UE with a plurality of non-zero power (NZP) channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources with 2N1N2 CSI-RS antenna ports each for CJT channel state information (CSI) feedback, where N1 and N2 are positive integers. The method further includes receiving, from the network node, CBSR information for one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, configuring the UE with amplitude constraints on a subset of space vectors or beams for each NZP CSI-RS resource. The method further includes reporting CSI to the network node based on the configuration information and the CBSR information. The CSI includes information about the number of layers and a subset of the multiple NZP CSI-RS resources, as well as information about one or more selected spatial domain (SD) basis vectors or beams for each of the multiple subsets of NZP CSI-RS resources. The CSI further includes, for each of the number of layers, one or more selected frequency domain (FD) basis vectors, and a set of normalized coefficients, each associated with one of the one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams and one or more selected FD basis vectors or beams for each antenna polarization, where the one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams are unconstrained beams or satisfy amplitude constraints. In this manner, flexible configuration of constrained beams for different TRPs is provided to meet different needs in different deployment scenarios, for example, where the antenna heights and orientations may differ.

[0027] In one embodiment, the amplitude constraint is a hard constraint, and a space vector or beam is either allowed or prohibited in the CSI report under the hard constraint.

[0028] In one embodiment, for each beam or spatial vector in a subset of spatial vectors or beams where an amplitude constraint is configured in the UE for each of one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, the CBSR information that sets the amplitude constraint in the UE indicates whether there is no amplitude constraint for the beam or spatial vector or whether the beam or spatial vector is prohibited.

[0029] In one embodiment, the subset of spatial vectors or beams includes four beam groups from among O1O2 beam groups, each containing N1N2 adjacent spatial vectors or beams, where O1=4, and O2=4 for N2>1, and O2=1 for N2=1. In one embodiment, for each beam or spatial vector in one of the four beam groups configured for codebook subset constraints, the CBSR information that sets an amplitude constraint on the UE consists of only one bit indicating whether the beam or spatial vector is prohibited.

[0030] In one embodiment, the CBSR information that sets amplitude constraints for a UE for a subset of beams associated with each of one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources may include: TIFF2026504874000046.tif8170, TIFF2026504874000047.tif8170Identify the four beam groups, TIFF2026504874000048.tif8170 shows the amplitude constraints for the kth (k∈(0,1,2,3)) identified beam group. TIFF2026504874000049.tif8170 includes N1N2 bits each associated with one beam of the kth identified beam group, where a bit value of 0 indicates that the corresponding beam is prohibited and a bit value of 1 indicates that the corresponding beam is allowed, or vice versa.

[0031] In one embodiment, the CBSR information that sets amplitude constraints for a UE for a subset of beams associated with each of one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources includes, for all one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, TIFF2026504874000050.tif8170 contains a concatenation of bit strings, TIFF2026504874000051.tif8170Identify the four beam groups for the nth NZP CSI-RS resource, TIFF2026504874000052.tif8170 illustrates amplitude constraints for beams in the kth (k∈(0,1,2,3)) identified beam group for the nth NZP CSI-RS resource. TIFF2026504874000053.tif8170Each contains N1N2 bits associated with one beam in the kth identified beam group of the nth NZP CSI-RS resource.

[0032] In one embodiment, the amplitude constraints include hard constraints and / or soft constraints where the amplitude of the beam is not allowed to exceed a threshold, where in hard constraints the threshold is either 1 (i.e., no constraint) or zero (i.e., the beam is prohibited), and in soft constraints the threshold can be between zero and 1.

[0033] In one embodiment, the amplitude of the beam is optionally evaluated at each layer, and the amplitude of the beam at each layer is defined as one of the following: (a) the average amplitude of the coefficients associated with the beam and layer at one antenna polarization over the selected FD basis vectors; (b) the amplitude corresponding to the normalized total power of the coefficients associated with the beam and layer at one antenna polarization with respect to the maximum total power of the coefficients associated with all selected beams and layers at one antenna polarization per NZP CSI-RS resource among all of the subsets of the multiple NZP CSI-RS resources; or (c) the amplitude corresponding to the normalized total power of the coefficients associated with the beam and layer at both antenna polarizations with respect to the maximum total power of the coefficients associated with all selected beams and layers per NZP CSI-RS resource among all of the subsets of the multiple NZP CSI-RS resources.

[0034] In one embodiment, the constraint type of the amplitude constraint is the same for all of the multiple NZP CSI-RS resources.

[0035] In one embodiment, the constraint type of the amplitude constraint is different for different resources among the multiple NZP CSI-RS resources.

[0036] Corresponding embodiments of a UE are also disclosed. In one embodiment, the UE comprises a communication interface having a transmitter and a receiver, and processing circuitry associated with the communication interface. The processing circuitry is configured to cause the UE to receive, from a network node, configuration information for configuring the UE with a plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, each having 2N1N2 CSI-RS antenna ports, for CJT CSI feedback, where N1 and N2 are positive integers. The processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to receive, from the network node, CBSR information for one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, configuring the UE with amplitude constraints on a subset of space vectors or beams for each NZP CSI-RS resource. The processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to report CSI to the network node based on the configuration information and the CBSR information. The CSI includes information on the number of layers and the subset of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, as well as information on one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams for each of the subset of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources. The CSI further includes, for each of the number of layers, one or more selected FD basis vectors, and a set of normalized coefficients, each associated with one of the one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams, and one or more selected FD basis vectors or beams, for each antenna polarization, where the one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams are unconstrained beams or satisfy the amplitude constraint.

[0037] An embodiment of a method implemented by a network node is also disclosed. In one embodiment, the method implemented by the network node includes transmitting configuration information to a UE to configure the UE with a plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, each having 2N1N2 CSI-RS antenna ports, for CJT CSI feedback, where N1 and N2 are positive integers. The method further includes, for each NZP CSI-RS resource, completing, for the UE, CBSR information for one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, configuring the UE with amplitude constraints for a subset of space vectors or beams. The method further includes receiving CSI from the UE based on the configuration information and the CBSR information. The CSI includes information about the number of layers and the subset of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, as well as information about one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams for each of the subset of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources. The CSI further includes, for each of the number of layers, one or more selected FD basis vectors, and a set of normalized coefficients, each associated with one of the one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams, and one or more selected FD basis vectors or beams, for each antenna polarization, where the one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams are unconstrained beams or satisfy the amplitude constraint.

[0038] Corresponding embodiments of a network node are also disclosed. In one embodiment, the network node comprises a communications interface and processing circuitry associated with the communications interface. The processing circuitry is configured to cause the network node to transmit configuration information to the UE, configuring the UE with a plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources each having 2N1N2 CSI-RS antenna ports for CJT CSI feedback, where N1 and N2 are positive integers. The processing circuitry is further configured to cause the network node to transmit CBSR information to the UE for one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, configuring the UE with amplitude constraints for a subset of space vectors or beams for each NZP CSI-RS resource. The processing circuitry is further configured to cause the network node to receive CSI from the UE based on the configuration information and the CBSR information. The CSI includes information about the number of layers and the subset of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, as well as information about one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams for each of the subset of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources. The CSI further includes, for each of the number of layers, one or more selected FD basis vectors, and a set of normalized coefficients, each associated with one of the one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams, and one or more selected FD basis vectors or beams, for each antenna polarization, where the one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams are unconstrained beams or satisfy the amplitude constraint.

[0039] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several aspects of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0040] [Figure 1]FIG. 10 illustrates an example of spatial multiplexing in which the information carrying symbol vector s is multiplied by an N×r (row by column) precoding matrix or precoder W that acts to distribute the transmit energy over N transmit antenna ports into r “virtual” spatial directions, each associated with a data stream, such that the information is distinguishable by the user equipment (UE). [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example of a 4×4 (i.e., N1×N2) antenna array with dual polarized antenna elements (i.e., Np=2). [Figure 3] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of codebook subset constraints (CBSR) for the New Radio (NR) Type II codebook (CB) where (N1, N2) = (2, 4) and (O1, O2) = (4, 4). [Figure 4] This figure shows that in the soft beam constraint case, the amplitude constraint threshold is effectively with respect to the strongest beam in the NR Rel-15 Type II CBSR case, and with respect to the pair of strongest beam and frequency domain (FD) basis vector in the Rel-16 Extended Type II CBSR case. [Figure 5] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of downlink coherent joint transmission (CJT) from multiple transmit and receive points (TRPs) by extending Rel-16 and Rel-17 extended type-II codebooks across multiple TRPs. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of CJT over multiple TRPs using beams combining precoder feedback from a UE according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] 1 illustrates an example of CBSR for CJT based on an improved Rel-16 extended Type II codebook, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 8] FIG. 1 illustrates the operation of a network node and a UE in accordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 9] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a communication system, according to some embodiments. [Figure 10] FIG. 1 illustrates a UE, according to some embodiments. [Figure 11] FIG. 1 illustrates a network node, according to some embodiments. [Figure 12] 10 is a block diagram of a host, which may be an embodiment of the host of FIG. 9 in accordance with various aspects described herein. [Figure 13] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualized environment in which functionality implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. [Figure 14] FIG. 1 is a communication diagram of a host communicating with a UE via a network node over a partial wireless connection, according to some embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0041] The embodiments described below represent information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and illustrate the best modes of practicing the embodiments. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the present disclosure and will recognize applications of these concepts not specifically addressed herein. It is understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0042] Transmit / Receive Point (TRP): In some embodiments, a TRP can be either a network node, a radio head, a spatial relationship, or a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state. In some embodiments, a TRP can be represented by a spatial relationship or a TCI state. In some embodiments, a TRP may use multiple TCI states. In some embodiments, a TRP can be part of a gNB that transmits and receives radio signals to / from a UE according to physical layer properties and parameters specific to that element. In some embodiments, in multiple TRP (multi-TRP) operation, a serving cell can schedule a UE from two TRPs to provide better physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) coverage, reliability, and / or data rates. There are two different operating modes for multi-TRP: single downlink control information (DCI) and multi-DCI. For both modes, control of uplink and downlink operations is performed by both the physical layer and medium access control (MAC). In single DCI mode, the UE is scheduled by the same DCI for both TRPs, and in multi-DCI mode, the UE is scheduled by independent DCI from each TRP.

[0043] In some embodiments, a set of transmission points (TPs) is a set of geographically co-located transmit antennas (e.g., antenna arrays (with one or more antenna elements)) for one cell, part of one cell, or one Positioning Reference Signal (PRS)-dedicated TP. The TPs may include base station (eNB) antennas, remote radio heads (RRHs), remote antennas of base stations, antennas of PRS-dedicated TPs, etc. One cell can be formed by one or more TPs. In the case of a homogeneous deployment, each TP may correspond to one cell.

[0044] In some embodiments, a set of TRPs is a set of geographically collocated antennas (e.g., antenna arrays (with one or more antenna elements)) that support TP and / or receiving point (RP) functionality.

[0045] It should be noted that the description provided herein focuses on 3GPP cellular communication systems, and therefore 3GPP terminology or terminology similar to 3GPP terminology is often used, however, the concepts disclosed herein are not limited to 3GPP systems.

[0046] Currently, there exists one or more challenges: One issue with Type II codebook extension for coherent joint transmission (CJT) is how to set and signal the codebook subset constraint (CBSR).

[0047] Another problem with existing CBSR for any Type II codebook is that the amplitude of the beam at the precoder is normalized by the amplitude of the strongest beam at the precoder, and the normalized amplitude is compared to a threshold. One use case for CBSR is to reduce or avoid interference to neighboring cells in a specific direction. With existing CBSR, only one beam amplitude relative to the strongest beam at the precoder is compared to the threshold, making it difficult to set a soft amplitude constraint that meets a specific interference expectation in a certain direction (e.g., -6 decibels (dB) below the maximum).

[0048] Furthermore, if the user equipment (UE) only supports hard constraints, two bits are still used to set the amplitude threshold, which is a waste of resources.

[0049] Some aspects of the present disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other problems.

[0014] Embodiments of a system and method for setting a CBSR for CJT channel state information (CSI) feedback based on a refinement of a Rel-16 extended type-II codebook over multiple TRPs are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for setting a CBSR for CJT CSI feedback based on a refinement of a Rel-16 extended type-II codebook over multiple TRPs includes one or more of the following: Network nodes have N CSI-RS antenna ports, each with 2N1N2 CSI Reference Signal (CSI-RS) antenna ports, with half of the antenna ports in one polarization and the other half in another polarization, for CJT CSI feedback. TRP Configure the UE with non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resources. Network nodes are TRP An amplitude constraint, which may be either a hard or soft constraint, is set on the subset of beams associated with each of the NZP CSI-RS resources. o In hard constraints, a beam is either allowed or not allowed to be selected for CJT CSI. o In a soft constraint, the amplitude of the beam is not allowed to exceed a threshold. The amplitude of the beam can be based on one of the following: · Average power of all selected FD basis vectors associated with the beam, per polarization; · Normalized total power of all selected FD basis vectors associated with the beam, per polarization; · The normalized total power of all selected FD basis vectors and the polarization associated with the beam. 〇 The setting is for the nth NZP CSI-RS resource TIFF2026504874000054.tif8170, TIFF2026504874000055.tif8170Identify the four beam groups, TIFF2026504874000056.tif8170This shows the threshold for the beam in the kth (k∈(0,1,2,3)) identified beam group, where there is one bit per beam for hard constraints and two bits per beam for soft constraints. Alternatively, the concatenated bit strings can be All TRPs may be set as TIFF2026504874000057.tif8170. UE is N TRP The CJT CSI is reported according to the CBRS configuration by selecting a set of beams across the NZP CSI-RS resources of the

[0050] Embodiments of the present disclosure may include one or more of the following aspects: For CJT CSI feedback with multiple TRP / NZP CSI-RS resources, CBSR is configured for each TRP / NZP CSI-RS resource, i.e., a subset of beams can be constrained per TRP, and different beams can be configured for different TRPs. For hard constraints, one bit may be used to indicate the threshold value for each constrained beam. o The constraint type (i.e., hard or soft) may be the same for all TRPs or may be different for different TRPs. For soft amplitude constraints, one of three specifications of the beam amplitude can be used: o The mean amplitude of the selected FD basis vectors associated with the beam, for each polarization, the normalized amplitude, which corresponds to the total power of all selected FD basis vectors associated with the beam, or Normalized amplitude corresponding to the total power of all selected FD basis vectors and polarization associated with the beam. The CBSR settings for all TRPs are a single concatenated TIFF2026504874000058.tif5170, TIFF2026504874000059.tif8170 is the CBSR bit string for the nth TRP.

[0051] Some embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages(ies): Embodiments of the present disclosure allow flexible configuration of beams constrained to different TRPs to meet different needs in different deployment scenarios, where antenna heights and orientations may vary.

[0052] An example of CJT over multiple TRPs using beam-combined precoder feedback from the UE is shown in Figure 6, where a modulation symbol s is transmitted over multiple TRPs. The modulation symbol is precoded at each TRP before transmission, and the precoded symbol is then transmitted over each TRP's antenna. A precoder is used to ensure coherent combining of the symbols at the UE.

[0053] Each precoder consists of a combination of multiple spatial domain (SD) DFT vectors, each of which forms a spatial beam. The SD vectors and combining coefficients are selected and reported by the UE as part of the CJT CSI feedback based on downlink (DL) channel measurements across all TRPs. The measurements are performed across multiple CSI-RS resources, each transmitted from one of the TRPs.

[0054] Different precoders may be used for symbols transmitted in different subbands, and different precoders may be used for symbols belonging to different multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) layers.

[0055] N3 PMI subbands and N TRP CJT precoding matrix W for layer l (l=1,...,v) for TRP (or NZP CSI-RS resource)l can be expressed as: TIFF2026504874000060.tif21170 where, TIFF2026504874000061.tif6170 is the precoding matrix associated with the nth NZP CSI-RS resource (or TRP), given by: TIFF2026504874000062.tif8170 here TIFF2026504874000063.tif7170 P associated with the nth CSI-RS resource in PMI subband t∈{0,1,…,N3-1} for layer l CSI-RS,n × 1 precoding vector, P CSI-RS,n =2N 1,n N 2,n is the number of CSI-RS ports in the nth NZP CSI-RS resource, and N 1,n and N 2,n is the number of antenna ports in the first and second dimensions. Note that the number of CSI-RS ports in different NZP CSI-RS resources may be the same or different. TIFF2026504874000064.tif18170nth NZP CSI-RS resource associated with size P CSI-RS,n x2L n is a matrix of TIFF2026504874000065.tif101701 set size P CSI-RS,n is a 2D spatial DFT vector or beam of size / 2 × 1, TIFF2026504874000066.tif16170〇 N 2,n If >1 TIFF2026504874000067.tif16170N 2,n If =1 TIFF2026504874000068.tif9170TIFF2026504874000069.tif15170q 1,n ∈{0,1,…,O 1,n -1}, q2,n ∈{0,1,…,O 2,n -1}, i = 0, 1, … L n -1, and O 1,n and O 2,n are dimension N 1,n and N 2,n is the oversampling factor along TIFF2026504874000070.tif8170M associated with the nth CSI-RS resource v,n of size N3×M containing frequency domain (FD) basis vectors of v,n is the FD compressed matrix of TIFF2026504874000071.tif9170k,t=0,1,…,N3-1. TIFF2026504874000072.tif6170Size 2L associated with the nth CSI-RS resource n ×M v,n is the coefficient matrix of

[0056] In some embodiments, the FD compression matrix is ​​common across CSI-RS resources or TRPs, in which case W f,l is independent of n TIFF2026504874000073.tif6170

[0057] In alternative expression, Each of TIFF2026504874000074.tif7170 can be represented as follows: TIFF2026504874000075.tif45170 where, TIFF2026504874000076.tif7170 is a precoder associated with the nth CSI-RS resource or TRP, It consists of two parts: TIFF2026504874000077.tif7170, is the FD basis vector index of the f-th selected FD basis vector associated with the n-th CSI-RS resource, TIFF2026504874000079.tif9170 Layer l, i-th beam, f-th FD basis vector, polarization of index p, and n-th CSI-RS resource associated with This is the coefficient of TIFF2026504874000080.tif7170. is the reference amplitude associated with layer l, polarization index p, and CSI-RS resource index n, TIFF2026504874000082.tif9170 Associated with layer l, the i-th selected spatial beam, the f-th selected FD basis vector, the polarization index p, and the CSI-RS resource index n Amplitude for TIFF2026504874000083.tif8170. TIFF2026504874000084.tif6170 coefficient c l,i,f,p,n is the co-phase factor associated with

[0058] UE is N TRP N (N≦N) of the configured CSI-RS resources or TRPs TRP ) based on the N selected CSI-RS resources or TRPs, l Note that we can report W l contains the precoding matrices associated with the N selected TRPs.

[0059] CBSR for CJT In some scenarios, some spatial beams or SD vectors can be constrained with hard constraints, such that a beam is prohibited from being selected, or with soft constraints, such that the amplitude of a beam is not allowed to exceed a certain threshold.

[0060] In one embodiment, constrained spatial beams or SD vectors are configured and signaled to the UE per TRP or per CSI-RS resource. This per-TRP CBSR allows for more flexible beam constraints because antennas at different TRPs may be at different heights and / or have different orientations (e.g., tilted downward), requiring different beam constraints to be applied for different TRPs.

[0061] For each TRP or CSI-RS resource, four beam groups are indicated for beam constraint, and in each of the four beam groups, two bits per beam are signaled to the UE. For the nth TRP or CSI-RS resource, the average amplitude of beam i in polarization p∈(0,1) and layer l is defined as: TIFF2026504874000085.tif15170 here TIFF2026504874000086.tif9170 A bit indicating whether the coefficient associated with beam i of the nth TRP and FD basis vector f in polarization p and layer l is a reported non-zero coefficient. If beam i of the nth TRP is in one of the four beam groups configured for CBSR, then condition a avg (i,p,n,l)≦γ i,p,n must be satisfied. TIFF2026504874000087.tif10170

[0062] In the above, the soft beam constraints are for the strongest beam and FD basis vector pair, which may be selected from different TRPs. The practical usefulness of such soft beam constraints is less clear because beams in different TRPs do not share power and, unlike the single-TRP case, constraining one beam in one TRP in CJT does not automatically boost the beam transmit power of other TRPs.

[0063] Therefore, alternatively, in another embodiment, the soft beam constraint is for DL ​​transmission using a single beam, where all available power is transmitted in a single beam. This is shown in FIG. 7, where L=2 beams {a, b} are selected by the UE for CJT from one TRP. In other words, FIG. 7 illustrates an example of CBSR for CJT based on a refinement of the Rel-16 extended Type II codebook. Beam k is shown as a hypothetical single-beam transmission with the available transmit power. If multiple beams are used for DL ​​transmission from a TRP, the available transmit power is distributed across multiple beams. In this example, beams a and b are each soft-constrained. The constraint beam set in CBSR is shown in Figure 2. The constraint is for a single beam transmission with amplitude 1. In this case, the amplitude of beam i at polarization p∈(0,1) and layer l can be defined as: TIFF2026504874000089.tif23170 here TIFF2026504874000090.tif10170For one polarization and layer l, this corresponds to the maximum power allocation to one TRP in the CJT precoder among all selected TRPs, which is equivalent to the maximum transmit power when a single beam is selected. TIFF2026504874000091.tif9170In the nth TRP in all subbands, this corresponds to the power allocation in the CJT precoder to beam i of polarization p. If beam i is a constrained beam, then: TIFF2026504874000092.tif10170

[0064] In another embodiment, for the nth TRP or CSI-RS resource, the amplitude of beam i and layer l may be defined as the sum over both polarizations, i.e., the amplitude corresponding to the total wideband power over both polarizations associated with the beam, with respect to the maximum total wideband transmit power over all beams and polarizations per TRP among all TRPs. TIFF2026504874000093.tif19170

[0065] If beam i is a constrained beam, then TIFF2026504874000094.tif10170

[0066] RRC configuration: In the above per-TRP CBSR method, TIFF2026504874000095.tif8170 can be used to set CBSR for the nth TRP, TIFF2026504874000096.tif9170 Used to indicate selected four beam groups out of the O1O2 beam groups associated with the nth TRP or CSI-RS resource, TIFF2026504874000097.tif71702 contains N1N2 bits or N1N2 bit pairs, TIFF2026504874000098.tif7170Amplitude constraint for the i-th beam associated with the k-th selected beam group of the n-th TRP TIFF2026504874000099.tif7170, where i = N1x2 + x1, x1 ∈ (0, 1, …, N1-1) and x2 ∈ (0, 1, …, N2-1), k = 0, 1, 2, 3, and n = 1, …, n TRP .

[0067] In another embodiment, a single bit string may be used to set the CBSR for all TRPs by concatenating the CBSR bits for each TRP, as follows: TIFF2026504874000100.tif8170

[0068] In a further embodiment, for each beam of polarization p∈(0,1) in one of the four beam groups configured for CBSR, the beam is constrained / prohibited (i.e., γ i,p,n =0 or γ i,n =0) or is unconstrained (i.e., γ i,p,n = 1 or γ i,n =1), only hard beam constraints may be supported. TIFF2026504874000101.tif7170N1N2 bits are required. TIFF2026504874000102.tif7170 Used to indicate whether the i-th beam is prohibited. TIFF2026504874000103.tif8170 by half. In addition, it reduces the UE processing complexity associated with soft amplitude constraints, which may require multiple iterations, e.g., by reselecting a new set of beams, to satisfy the soft amplitude constraints.

[0069] In yet another embodiment, soft beam constraints may be applied to beams from a subset of CSI-RS resources (i.e., a subset of TRPs), and hard beam constraints may be applied to beams from the remaining CSI-RS resources. For example, N' TRP Let N' denote the number of CSI-RS resources (i.e., TRPs) to which soft beam constraints are applied. TRP For each of the CSI-RS resources, there are four beam groups configured for CBSR, and each of the four beam groups has 2N1N2 bits (i.e., each beam group has N1N2 spatial beams, with soft constraints per beam). (Two bits are included per spatial beam to set TIFF2026504874000104.tif14170). Therefore, N' TRP 2N' required to indicate soft beam constraints for CSI-RS resources TRP There are N1N2 bits. The remaining (N TRP -N' TRP ) configured CSI-RS resources (i.e., TRPs) are subject to hard beam constraints. TRP -N' TRP ) for the remaining CSI-RS resources, there are four beam groups configured for CBSR, and each of the four beam groups has N1N2 bits (i.e., each beam group has N1N2 spatial beams, with a hard constraint γ i,p,n or γ i,n ∈(0,1), one bit is included for each spatial beam. Therefore, (N TRP -N' TRP ) is needed to indicate hard beam constraints on the remaining CSI-RS resources (N TRP -N' TRP )N1N2 bits exist. In total, 2N' are needed to represent the soft and hard beam constraints in this embodiment. TRP N1N2+(N TRP -N' TRP )N1N2=(N TRP +N' TRP )N1N2 bits exist. In some embodiments, the number N' of CSI-RS resources to which soft beam constraints can be applied TRP is the UE capability and is reported as part of the UE capability report. For CSI-RS resources with soft beam constraints, a avg Since the calculation of (i, p, n, l) needs to be performed, UEs with different calculation capabilities may have N' TRP report different capability values ​​for more CSI-RS resources. avgA more capable UE that can perform the (i,p,n,l) calculations will only perform a computation on a smaller number of CSI-RS resources. avg (i,p,n,l) N' compared to a UE that cannot perform the calculation TRP report a larger ability value for

[0070] In some cases, the coverage of different beams from different TRPs may have overlap. Therefore, it may be beneficial to limit the total power / amplitude of overlapping beams, e.g., to avoid excessive interference when overlapping beams are selected simultaneously. In one embodiment, the total power of a subset of beams for a configured TRP or of a subset of configured TRPs does not exceed a configured limit. For example, let I' be a set of beams whose total power should be limited, e.g., I'={a,b}, where a and b represent two beams associated with two different CSI-RS resources. TIFF2026504874000105.tif19170where, a avg (I',p,n,l)≦γ I’,p,n , TIFF2026504874000106.tif10170

[0071] In a subsidiary embodiment, the set I' is configured in the UE, for example in a codebook configuration RRC message.

[0072] In some embodiments, CBSR is used to limit the total power of a set of beams for both polarizations.

[0073] 8 illustrates operation of a network node 800 and a UE 802 according to at least some of the embodiments described herein. The network node 800 can be a base station, such as a gNB, a network node performing part of the functionality of a base station, such as a gNB-Central Unit (CU) or a gNB-Distributed Unit (DU), or some other Radio Access Network (RAN) node. As shown, the network node 800 includes N 1N 2 CSI-RS antenna ports each with 2N1N2 CSI-RS antenna ports for CJT CSI feedback. TRP The network node 800 then transmits to the UE 802 information to configure the UE 802 with the NZP CSI-RS resources of the NZP CSI-RS (step 804). The CJT CSI includes information about the number of layers, and for each of the NZP CSI-RS resources and each layer, one or more selected SD basis vectors, one or more selected FD basis vectors, each representing a spatial beam, and information about a set of normalized coefficients and each antenna polarization, each associated with one or more pairs of SD and FD basis vectors. In addition, the network node 800 transmits to the UE 802 (step 806). A hard constraint is a beam that is either allowed or not allowed to be selected for CJT CSI. A soft constraint is the amplitude of a beam that is not allowed to exceed a threshold. In one embodiment, the soft amplitude constraint of a beam is based on one of the following: Average power of all selected FD basis vectors associated with the beam, per polarization The normalized total power of all selected FD basis vectors associated with the beam, per polarization The normalized total power of all selected FD basis vectors and the polarization associated with the beam

[0074] In one embodiment, as described above, the information for configuring the amplitude constraint in the UE 802 is TIFF2026504874000107.tif8170, TIFF2026504874000108.tif8170Identify the four beam groups, TIFF2026504874000109.tif8170 indicates the threshold for the beam of the kth (k∈(0,1,2,3)) identified beam group, where there is one bit per beam for hard constraints and two bits per beam for soft constraints. In another embodiment, the information for setting the amplitude constraints in the UE 802 as described above can be: TIFF2026504874000110.tif8170 contains the concatenated bit strings for all TRPs. Note that the constraint type (i.e., hard or soft) may be the same for all TRP / NZP CSI-RS resources or may be different for different TRP / NZP CSI-RS resources.

[0075] Optionally, the UE 802 is TRP The CJT CSI is reported according to the CBRS configuration by selecting a set of beams across the NZP CSI-RS resources (step 808).

[0076] Further explanation FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a communication system 900, according to some embodiments.

[0077] In this example, communications system 900 includes a communications network 902 including an access network 904, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 906 including one or more core network nodes 908. Access network 904 includes one or more access network nodes (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 910), such as network nodes 910A and 910B, or any other similar Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points (APs). Network nodes 910 facilitate direct or indirect connectivity of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 912A, 912B, 912C, and 912D (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 912), to the core network 906 over one or more wireless connections.

[0078] Exemplary wireless communication over a wireless connection includes sending and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, communication system 900 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals, whether via a wired or wireless connection. Communication system 900 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, wireless network, and / or other similar type system.

[0079] The UE 912 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including a wireless device configured, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network node 910 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network node 910 is configured, capable of, configured, and / or operable to communicate, directly or indirectly, with the UE 912 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the communications network 902 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration, in the communications network 902.

[0080] In the illustrated example, the core network 906 connects the network node 910 to one or more hosts, such as the host 916. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediate networks or devices. In other examples, the network node may be directly coupled to the host. The core network 906 includes another core network node (e.g., the core network node 908) structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, and therefore, those descriptions are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 908. Exemplary core network nodes include one or more of the following functions: a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), a Session Management Function (SMF), an Authentication Server Function (AUSF), a Subscription Identifier Deciphering Function (SIDF), a Unified Data Management (UDM), a Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), a Network Publishing Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0081] The host 916 may be owned or under the control of, and operated by or on behalf of, a service provider other than the operator or provider of the access network 904 and / or the communication network 902. The host 916 may host various applications to provide one or more services. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data about various ambient conditions detected by multiple UEs, analytics functions, social media, functions for controlling or possibly interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0082] Overall, the communication system 900 of FIG. 9 enables connectivity between UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system 900 may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as a particular standard, including, but not limited to, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable second, third, fourth, or fifth generation (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G) standard, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., sixth generation (6G)), a wireless local area network (WLAN) standard such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard (WiFi), and / or any low power wide area network (LPWAN) standard such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, near field communications (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or LoRa and Sigfox.

[0083] In some examples, communication network 902 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Thus, communication network 902 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices connected to communication network 902. For example, communication network 902 may provide Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs and / or providing Massive Machine-Based Communications (mMTC) / Massive Internet of Things (IoT) services to still further UEs.

[0084] In some examples, the UE 912 is configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, the UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 904 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to a request from the access network 904. Furthermore, the UE may be configured to operate in a single or multi-radio access technology (RAT) or multi-standard mode. For example, the UE may operate with any one or a combination of Wi-Fi, New Radio (NR), and LTE, i.e., Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC), such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial RAN (E-UTRAN) NR-Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0085] In this example, a hub 914 communicates with the access network 904 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UEs 912C and / or 912D) and a network node (e.g., network node 910B). In some examples, the hub 914 may be a controller, a router, a content source, a content analyzer, or any of the other communication devices described herein with respect to UEs. For example, the hub 914 may be a broadband router that enables access to the core network 906 for the UE. As another example, the hub 914 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UE. The commands or instructions may be received from the UE, the network node 910, or may be due to executable code, scripts, processes, or other instructions in the hub 914. As another example, the hub 914 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 914 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a virtual reality (VR) headset, display, loudspeaker, or other media distribution device, the hub 914 may retrieve, via a network node, VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information, which the hub 914 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In yet another example, the hub 914 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, particularly in the case where one or more of the UEs are low energy IoT devices.

[0086] The hub 914 may have a constant / permanent or intermittent connection to the network node 910B. The hub 914 may also enable different communication schemes and / or schedules between the hub 914 and the UEs (e.g., UEs 912C and / or 912D) and between the hub 914 and the core network 906. In other examples, the hub 914 is connected to the core network 906 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 914 may be configured to connect to a machine-to-machine (M2M) service provider over the access network 904 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, a UE may establish a wireless connection with the network node 910 while still connected via a wired or wireless connection through the hub 914. In some embodiments, the hub 914 may be a dedicated hub, i.e., a hub whose primary function is to route communications from / to the UE to / from the network node 910B. In other embodiments, the hub 914 may be a non-dedicated hub, i.e., a device that is capable of operating to route communications between the UE and the network node 910B, but that is further capable of operating as a communication initiation and / or termination point for some data channels.

[0087] 10 illustrates a UE 1000 according to some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable of, set up, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smartphone, a mobile phone, a cell phone, a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless camera, a gaming console or device, a music storage device, a playback appliance, a wearable terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a tablet, a laptop computer, a laptop embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop mounted equipment (LME), a smart device, a wireless customer premises equipment (CPE), a vehicle-mounted or vehicle-embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by 3GPP, including a Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UE, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0088] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communications, for example, by implementing 3GPP standards for sidelink communications, dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE does not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates an associated device. Instead, a UE may represent a device (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller) that is intended for sale to or operation by a human user, but may not be associated with or initially associated with a particular human user. Alternatively, a UE may represent a device (e.g., a smart power meter) that is not intended for sale to or operation by an end user, but may be associated with or operated for the user's benefit.

[0089] The UE 1000 includes a processing circuit 1002 operably coupled to an input / output interface 1006, a power source 1008, a memory 1010, a communication interface 1012, and / or any other components, or any combination thereof, via a bus 1004. Some UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIG. 10. The level of integration between components may vary from UE to UE. Additionally, some UEs may include multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0090] The processing circuit 1002 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operable to execute instructions stored in the memory 1010 as a machine-readable computer program. The processing circuit 1002 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.), programmable logic together with appropriate firmware, one or more stored computer programs such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP) together with appropriate software, a general-purpose processor, or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuit 1002 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0091] In this example, the input / output interface 1006 may be configured to provide one or more interfaces to an input device, an output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of output devices include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smart card, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 1000. Examples of input devices include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a webcam, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smart card, etc. A presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor for detecting input from a user. The sensor may be, for example, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, a light sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as the input device. For example, a universal serial bus (USB) port may be used to accommodate input and output devices.

[0092] In some embodiments, the power source 1008 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources may be used, such as an external power source (e.g., an electrical outlet), a photovoltaic device, or a battery. The power source 1008 may further include power circuitry for delivering power to various portions of the UE 1000 from the power source 1008 itself and / or from an external power source via an interface such as an input circuit or a power cable. Delivering power may be for charging the power source 1008, for example. The power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification on the power from the power source 1008 to make it suitable for the respective components of the UE 1000 being powered.

[0093] The memory 1010 may be or be configured to include memory, such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrical EPROM (EEPROM), magnetic disk, optical disk, hard disk, removable cartridge, flash drive, etc. In one example, the memory 1010 includes one or more application programs 1014, such as an operating system, a web browser application, a widget, a gadget engine, or other applications, and corresponding data 1016. The memory 1010 may store any of a variety of different operating systems or combinations of operating systems for use by the UE 1000.

[0094] The memory 1010 may be configured to include several physical drive units, such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, a USB flash drive, an external hard disk drive, a thumb drive, a pen drive, a key drive, a high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, an internal hard disk drive, a Blu-ray optical disc drive, a holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, an external mini dual in-line memory module (DIMM), a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), an external micro-DIMM SDRAM, a smart card memory, such as a tamper-resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) containing one or more SIMs, such as a universal subscriber identity module (SIM) (USIM) and / or an Internet Protocol Multimedia Services Identity Module (ISIM), other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may be, for example, an embedded UICC (eUICC), an integrated UICC (iUICC), or a removable UICC, commonly known as a "SIM card." The memory 1010 may enable the UE 1000 to access, offload, or upload data, instructions, application programs, etc. stored on a temporary or non-transitory memory medium. An article of manufacture, such as an article of manufacture utilizing the communication system, may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 1010, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0095] The processing circuit 1002 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other networks using a communication interface 1012. The communication interface 1012 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 1022. The communication interface 1012 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or network node in the access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 1018 and / or a receiver 1020 suitable for providing network communication (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocation, etc.). Moreover, the transmitter 1018 and receiver 1020 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 1022) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or may alternatively be implemented separately.

[0096] In the illustrated embodiment, the communication capabilities of communication interface 1012 may include cellular communication, WiFi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communication such as Bluetooth, NFC, location-based communication such as use of a Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine location, another similar communication capability, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in accordance with one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, NR, UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP), Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Quick User Datagram Protocol Internet Connection (QUIC), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), etc.

[0097] Regardless of the type of sensor, the UE may provide an output of data captured by the UE's sensors to a network node through the UE's communications interface 1012 or via a wireless connection. Data captured by the UE's sensors may be communicated to a network node via another UE through a wireless connection. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes when reporting sensed temperature), in response to a triggering event (e.g., an alert is sent when humidity is detected), in response to a request (e.g., a user-initiated request), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0098] As another example, the UE may include an actuator, motor, or switch associated with a communications interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input, the actuator, motor, or switch may change state. For example, the UE may include a motor that adjusts a control surface or rotor of a drone in flight according to the received input, or a robotic arm that performs a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0099] When in the form of an IoT device, the UE may be a device for use in one or more application areas, including, but not limited to, urban wearable technology, augmented industrial applications, and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such IoT devices are devices that are or are embedded in a connected refrigerator or freezer, a television, a connected lighting device, an energy meter, a robotic vacuum cleaner, a voice-controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a water inundation / humidity sensor, an electric door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system such as a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for augmented reality (AR) or VR, a wearable for haptic augmentation or sensory augmentation, a water sprinkler, an animal or product tracking device, a sensor for monitoring plants or animals, an industrial robot, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and any type of medical device such as a heart rate monitor or a remote-controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an IoT device comprises, in addition to the other components described with respect to UE 1000 shown in FIG. 10, circuitry and / or software depending on the intended application of the IoT device.

[0100] As yet another particular example, in an IoT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements and transmits results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may be referred to as an MTC device in a 3GPP context. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, bus, truck, ship, airplane, or other equipment capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operating status or other functionality related to its operation.

[0101] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together for a single use case. For example, a first UE may be a drone or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone's speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller that operates the drone. When a user makes a change from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust a throttle on the drone (e.g., by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone's speed. The first and / or second UE may also include two or more of the functions described above. For example, a UE may include a sensor and an actuator and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuator.

[0102] 11 illustrates a network node 1100 according to some embodiments. As used herein, a network node refers to a device capable of, set up, configured, and / or operable to communicate, directly or indirectly, with UEs and / or other network nodes or devices in a communication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, APs (e.g., wireless APs), base stations (BSs) (e.g., wireless BSs, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), and NR Node Bs (gNBs)).

[0103] BSs may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated another way, their transmit power level) and may therefore be referred to as femto BSs, pico BSs, micro BSs, or macro BSs depending on the amount of coverage provided. A BS may be a relay node or a relay donor node that controls a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed wireless BS, such as a centralized digital unit and / or a remote radio unit (RRU), sometimes referred to as a remote radio head (RRH). Such RRUs may or may not be integrated with an antenna, such as an antenna-integrated radio. Portions of a distributed wireless BS may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0104] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, MSR equipment such as a multi-standard radio (MSR) BS, a network controller such as a radio network controller (RNC) or a BS controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a transmission point, a transmitting node, a multi-cell / multicast coordination entity (MCE), an operation and maintenance (O&M) node, an operation support system (OSS) node, a self-organizing network (SON) node, a positioning node (e.g., an evolved serving mobile location center (E-SMLC)), and / or a minimization drive test (MDT).

[0105] The network node 1100 includes a processing circuit 1102, a memory 1104, a communication interface 1106, and a power source 1108. The network node 1100 may be assembled from multiple physically separate components (e.g., a Node B component and an RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In some scenarios in which the network node 1100 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., a BTS component and a BSC component), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple Node Bs. In such scenarios, each unique Node B and RNC pair may, in some cases, be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 1100 may be configured to support multiple RATs. In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 1104 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., an antenna 1110 may be shared by different RATs). Network node 1100 may also include multiple sets of the various shown components for different wireless technologies, e.g., GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), or Bluetooth wireless technologies, integrated into network node 1100. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or sets of chips and other components within network node 1100.

[0106] The processing circuit 1102 may comprise one or more combinations of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, CPU, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and / or coded logic operable to provide the network node 1100 functionality, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 1100 components such as memory 1104.

[0107] In some embodiments, the processing circuit 1102 comprises a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuit 1102 includes one or more of a radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuit 1112 and a baseband processing circuit 1114. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuit 1112 and the baseband processing circuit 1114 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as a radio unit and a digital unit. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the RF transceiver circuit 1112 and the baseband processing circuit 1114 may be on the same chip or set of chips, board, or unit.

[0108] The memory 1104 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory, including, but not limited to, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, RAM, ROM, mass storage media (e.g., hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., flash drive, compact disc (CD), or digital video disc (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable, and / or computer-executable memory device that stores information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuit 1102. The memory 1104 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including applications including one or more of computer programs, software, logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions that can be executed by the processing circuit 1102 and utilized by the network node 1100. The memory 1104 may be used to store computations performed by the processing circuit 1102 and / or data received via the communications interface 1106. In some embodiments, the processing circuit 1102 and the memory 1104 are integrated.

[0109] The communication interface 1106 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between network nodes, access networks, and / or UEs. As shown, the communication interface 1106 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 1116 for sending and receiving data to and from a network, e.g., over a wired connection. The communication interface 1106 also includes radio front-end circuitry 1118, which is coupled to an antenna 1110 or, in some embodiments, may be part of the antenna 1110. The radio front-end circuitry 1118 comprises a filter 1120 and an amplifier 1122. The radio front-end circuitry 1118 may be connected to the antenna 1110 and the processing circuit 1102. The radio front-end circuitry 1118 may be configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna 1110 and the processing circuit 1102. The radio front-end circuitry 1118 may receive digital data to be sent to another network node or UE via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 1118 may convert the digital data into radio signals having appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1120 and / or amplifiers 1122. The radio signals may then be transmitted via the antenna 1110. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 1110 may collect the radio signals, which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 1118. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 1102. In other embodiments, the communication interface 1106 may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0110] In some alternative embodiments, the network node 1100 does not include a separate radio front-end circuit 1118; instead, the processing circuit 1102 includes the radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 1110. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or a portion of the RF transceiver circuitry 1112 is part of the communications interface 1106. In still other embodiments, the communications interface 1106 includes one or more ports or terminals 1116, the radio front-end circuitry 1118, and the RF transceiver circuitry 1112 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communications interface 1106 communicates with baseband processing circuitry 1114 that is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0111] The antenna 1110 may include one or more antennas or an antenna array configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 1110 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 1118 and may be any type of antenna capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data and / or signals. In some embodiments, the antenna 1110 is separate from the network node 1100 and connectable to the network node 1100 through an interface or port.

[0112] The antenna 1110, the communication interface 1106, and / or the processing circuit 1102 may be configured to perform any receiving operation and / or some obtaining operation described herein as being performed by the network node 1100. Any information, data, and / or signal may be received from a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 1110, the communication interface 1106, and / or the processing circuit 1102 may be configured to perform any transmitting operation described herein as being performed by the network node 1100. Any information, data, and / or signal may be transmitted to a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment.

[0113] The power source 1108 provides power to the various components of the network node 1100 in a form suitable for each component (e.g., at the voltage and current levels required for each respective component). The power source 1108 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry for supplying power to the components of the network node 1100 for performing the functions described herein. For example, the network node 1100 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., a power grid or an electrical outlet) via an input circuit or interface, such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to the power circuitry of the power source 1108. As a further example, the power source 1108 may comprise a power source in the form of a battery or battery pack connected to or integrated in the power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power in the event that the external power source fails.

[0114] 11 to provide certain aspects of the network node's functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, network node 1100 may include user interface devices to enable input of information into network node 1100 and output of information from network node 1100. This may enable a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node 1100.

[0115] 12 is a block diagram of a host 1200, which may be an embodiment of the host 916 of FIG. 9, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 1200 may be or comprise various combinations of hardware and / or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, a container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 1200 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0116] Host 1200 includes a processing circuit 1202 operably coupled to an input / output interface 1206, a network interface 1208, a power supply 1210, and a memory 1212 via a bus 1204. In other embodiments, other components may be included. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as FIGS. 10 and 11, and therefore, those descriptions are generally applicable to the corresponding components of host 1200.

[0117] Memory 1212 may include one or more computer programs, including one or more host application programs 1214 and data 1216, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by a UE for host 1200 or data generated by host 1200 for the UE. Embodiments of host 1200 may utilize only a subset or all of the shown components. Host application program 1214 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC), Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UE (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, and heads-up display systems). The host application program 1214 may also provide user authentication and license checks, and may periodically report health, route, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in the core network or a device on the edge of the core network. Thus, the host 1200 may select and / or direct different hosts for over-the-top (OTT) services for the UE. The host application program 1214 may support various protocols, such as HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH or MPEG-DASH), etc.

[0118] FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1300 in which functionality implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In this context, virtualizing means creating a virtual version of an apparatus or device, which may include virtualizing a hardware platform, storage devices, and networking resources. Virtualization, as used herein, may apply to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to implementations in which at least a portion of functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functionality described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 1300 hosted by one or more of the hardware nodes, such as a network node, a UE, a core network node, or a hardware computing device acting as a host. Furthermore, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require wireless connectivity (e.g., to a core network node or host), the node may be fully virtualized.

[0119] An application 1302 (which may alternatively be referred to as a software instance, a virtual appliance, a network function, a virtual node, a virtual network function, etc.) is run in the virtualized environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0120] Hardware 1304 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by the hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices described herein, such as network interfaces, input / output interfaces, etc. Software is executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1306 (also referred to as hypervisors or VM monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 1308A and 1308B (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1308), and / or implement any of the functions, features, and / or benefits described with respect to some embodiments described herein. Virtualization layer 1306 may present to VMs 1308 a virtual operating platform that appears to be networking hardware.

[0121] VMs 1308 may comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interfaces, and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1306. Different embodiments of virtual appliance 1302 instances may be implemented on one or more of VMs 1308, and the implementations may be done in different ways. Hardware virtualization is referred to in some contexts as network functions virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry-standard high-volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which may be located in data centers and customer premises equipment.

[0122] In the context of NFV, VM 1308 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if those programs were running on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each VM 1308 and the portion of hardware 1304 on which it runs, whether hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with other ones of VMs 1308, form a separate virtual network element. Further, in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling a particular network function running in one or more VMs 1308 on hardware 1304 and corresponds to application 1302.

[0123] The hardware 1304 may be implemented in a standalone network node with general or specific components. The hardware 1304 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware 1304 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g., as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes cooperate and are managed via a management and orchestration 1310 that, among other things, oversees the lifecycle management of the application 1302. In some embodiments, the hardware 1304 is coupled to one or more radio units, each including one or more transmitters and one or more receivers, which may be coupled to one or more antennas. The radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with virtual components to provide a virtual node with wireless capabilities, such as a RAN or BS. In some embodiments, some signaling may be provided using a control system 1312, which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes and the radio units.

[0124] 14 shows a communication diagram of a host 1402 communicating with a UE 1406 via a network node 1404 over a partial wireless connection, according to some embodiments. Exemplary implementations according to various embodiments of a UE (such as UE 912A of FIG. 9 and / or UE 1000 of FIG. 10), a network node (such as network node 910A of FIG. 9 and / or network node 1100 of FIG. 11), and a host (such as host 916 of FIG. 9 and / or host 1200 of FIG. 12) described in the previous paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIG. 14.

[0125] Similar to host 1200, an embodiment of host 1402 includes hardware such as a communications interface, processing circuitry, and memory. Host 1402 also includes software stored on or accessible by host 1402 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide services to a remote user, such as a UE 1406 connecting via an OTT connection 1450 extending between UE 1406 and host 1402. In providing services to the remote user, the host application may provide user data that is transmitted using the OTT connection 1450.

[0126] The network node 1404 includes hardware that enables the network node 1404 to communicate with the host 1402 and the UE 1406 over a connection 1460. The connection 1460 may be direct or may pass through one or more other intermediate networks, such as a core network (similar to the core network 906 of FIG. 9 ) and / or one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, the intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0127] The UE 1406 includes hardware and software stored on or accessible by the UE 1406 and executable by the UE's processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific "app," which, with the support of the host 1402, may be operable to provide services to a human or non-human user via the UE 1406. An executing host application on the host 1402 may communicate with an executing client application via an OTT connection 1450 that terminates at the UE 1406 and the host 1402. In providing services to the user, the UE's client application may receive request data from the host application and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 1450 may transfer both request data and user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate user data that the UE's client application provides to the host application through the OTT connection 1450.

[0128] The OTT connection 1450 may extend via a connection 1460 between the host 1402 and a network node 1404 and via a wireless connection 1470 between the network node 1404 and the UE 1406 to provide connectivity between the host 1402 and the UE 1406. The connections 1460 and wireless connections 1470 over which the OTT connection 1450 may be provided are depicted abstractly to show communication between the host 1402 and the UE 1406 via the network node 1404, without explicit reference to intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages through these devices.

[0129] As an example of transmitting data over the OTT connection 1450, in step 1408, the host 1402 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 1406. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with the UE 1406 sharing data with the host 1402 without explicit human interaction. In step 1410, the host 1402 initiates a transmission carrying the user data toward the UE 1406. The host 1402 may initiate the transmission in response to a request sent by the UE 1406. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 1406 or by the operation of a client application executing on the UE 1406. The transmission may proceed via the network node 1404 in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Thus, in step 1412, the network node 1404 transmits the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the host 1402 to the UE 1406, in accordance with the teachings of embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 1414, the UE 1406 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executing on the UE 1406 associated with the host application executed by the host 1402.

[0130] In some examples, the UE 1406 executes a client application that provides user data to the host 1402. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to data received from the host 1402. Thus, in step 1416, the UE 1406 may provide the user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from a user via an input / output interface of the UE 1406. Regardless of the particular manner in which the user data is provided, the UE 1406 initiates transmission of the user data towards the host 1402 via the network node 1404 in step 1418. In step 1420, in accordance with the teachings of embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 1404 receives the user data from the UE 1406 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 1402. In step 1422, the host 1402 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 1406.

[0131] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of the OTT service provided to the UE 1406 using the OTT connection 1450 of which the radio connection 1470 forms the final segment.

[0132] In an exemplary scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by host 1402. As another example, host 1402 may process audio and video data that may have been retrieved from UEs for use in creating maps. As another example, host 1402 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicular congestion (e.g., controlling traffic signals). As another example, host 1402 may store surveillance video uploaded by UEs. As another example, host 1402 may store or control access to media content, such as video, audio, VR or AR, that host 1402 may broadcast, multicast, or unicast to UEs. As other examples, host 1402 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time-critical electrical loads to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams, etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing, and / or transmitting data.

[0133] In some examples, measurement procedures may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rates, latency, and other factors that one or more embodiments improve upon. There may further be optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1450 between the host 1402 and the UE 1406 in response to fluctuations in the measurement results. The measurement procedures and / or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 1450 may be implemented in software and hardware in the host 1402 and / or the UE 1406. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 1450 passes, and the sensors may participate in the measurement procedures by providing values ​​of the monitored quantities exemplified above or other physical quantities from which software can calculate or estimate the monitored quantities. Reconfiguration of the OTT connection 1450 may include message formats, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc., and the reconfiguration need not directly change the operation of the network node 1404. Such procedures and functionality may be known and practiced in the art. In some embodiments, the measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. by the host 1402. The measurements may be implemented in software causing messages, particularly empty or "dummy" messages, to be sent using the OTT connection 1450 while monitoring propagation time, errors, etc.

[0134] While the computing devices (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) described herein may include the depicted combinations of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It should be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software required to perform the tasks, features, functions, and methods disclosed herein. The determining, calculating, obtaining, or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, transforming the obtained information to other information, comparing the obtained or transformed information to information stored in a network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained or transformed information and as a result of the processing making a decision. Moreover, while a component is illustrated as a single box located within a larger box or nested within multiple boxes, in reality the computing device may comprise multiple different physical components that make up the single depicted component, and functionality may be partitioned among the separate components. For example, a communications interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of those components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communications interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functionality of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware, and computationally intensive functionality may be implemented in hardware.

[0135] In some embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by a processing circuit executing instructions stored in a memory, which in some embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuit without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hardwired manner. In any of these particular embodiments, the processing circuit may be configured to perform the described functionality, regardless of whether or not it executes instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuit alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole and / or by end users and wireless networks generally.

[0136] Some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are as follows:

[0137] Group A Embodiments

[0022] Embodiment 1: A method implemented by a user equipment (UE) (802), the method comprising receiving from a network node (800) N antennas each having 2N1N2 CSI-RS antenna ports for coherent joint transmission (CJT) channel state information (CSI) feedback. TRP receiving (804) information to configure a UE (802) with non-zero power (NZP) channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources from the network node (800), wherein the CSI includes information about the number of layers, and for each of the NZP CSI-RS resources and each layer, one or more selected spatial domain (SD) basis vectors, one or more selected frequency domain (FD) basis vectors, each representing a spatial beam, and a set of normalized coefficients and information about each antenna polarization, each associated with a pair of one or more SD and FD basis vectors; TRPand receiving (806) information that configures, in the UE (802), amplitude constraints on a subset of spatial vectors or beams associated with each of the NZP CSI-RS resources.

[0138] Embodiment 2: The method of embodiment 1, wherein the amplitude constraints include hard constraints and / or soft constraints where the amplitude of the beam is not allowed to exceed a threshold, where the threshold for hard constraints is either 1 (i.e., no constraint) or zero (i.e., the beam is prohibited), and where the threshold for soft constraints can be between zero and 1.

[0139] Embodiment 3: The method of embodiment 1 or 2, wherein the amplitude of the beam in each layer is one of the following: (a) the average amplitude of the coefficients associated with the beam and layer in one polarization over the selected FD basis vector; (b) the amplitude corresponding to the normalized total power of the coefficients associated with the beam and layer in one polarization with respect to the maximum total power of the coefficients associated with all selected beams and layers in one polarization per NZP CSI-RS resource among all of the NZP CSI-RS resources; or (c) the amplitude corresponding to the normalized total power of the coefficients associated with the beam and layer with respect to the maximum total power of the coefficients associated with all selected beams and layers per NZP CSI-RS resource among all of the NZP CSI-RS resources.

[0140] Embodiment 4: The constraint type of the amplitude constraint is N TRP 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the NZP CSI-RS resources are identical for all of the NZP CSI-RS resources.

[0141] Embodiment 5: The constraint type of the amplitude constraint is N TRP 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the NZP CSI-RS resources are different for different resources.

[0142] Embodiment 6: N TRPFor a subset of beams associated with each of the NZP CSI-RS resources, information for configuring an amplitude constraint in the UE (802) is TIFF2026504874000111.tif8170, TIFF2026504874000112.tif8170Identify the four beam groups, TIFF2026504874000113.tif8170A method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 5, wherein the method indicates a threshold value for a beam in the kth (k∈(0,1,2,3)) identified beam group.

[0143] Embodiment 7: The method of embodiment 6, wherein there is one bit per beam for hard constraints and two bits per beam for soft constraints.

[0144] Embodiment 8: N TRP The information for setting amplitude constraints on the UE (802) for a subset of beams associated with each of the NZP CSI-RS resources is TRP For all NZP CSI-RS resources of TIFF2026504874000114.tif8170 contains a concatenation of bit strings, TIFF2026504874000115.tif8170Identify the four beam groups for the nth NZP CSI-RS resource, TIFF2026504874000116.tif8170A method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 5, further comprising indicating a threshold value for a beam of a k-th (k∈(0,1,2,3)) identified beam group of an n-th NZP CSI-RS resource.

[0145] Embodiment 9: N TRP receiving (806) information to configure the UE (802) with amplitude constraints for a subset of beams associated with each of the NZP CSI-RS resources via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling; TRP9. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 8, comprising receiving (806) information for setting amplitude constraints on a UE (802) for a subset of beams associated with each of the NZP CSI-RS resources.

[0146] Embodiment 10: N TRP 10. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 9, further comprising: selecting a set of beams across the NZP CSI-RS resources of the NZP CSI-RS resource, and reporting CJT CSI according to received information regarding amplitude constraints on the subset of beams (808).

[0147]

[0023] Embodiment 11: The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 10, further comprising providing user data and forwarding the user data to the host via transmission to the network node.

[0148] Group B Embodiments

[0033] Embodiment 12: A method implemented by a network node (800), the method comprising: transmitting N antennas with 2N1N2 CSI-RS antenna ports each for coherent joint transmission (CJT) channel state information (CSI) feedback; TRP transmitting (804) to a user equipment (UE) (802) information to configure the UE (802) with N non-zero power (NZP) channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources, wherein the CSI includes information about the number of layers, and for each of the NZP CSI-RS resources and each layer, one or more selected spatial domain (SD) basis vectors, one or more selected frequency domain (FD) basis vectors, each representing a spatial beam, and a set of normalized coefficients and information about each antenna polarization, each associated with one pair of the one or more SD and FD basis vectors; TRPand transmitting (806) information to a user equipment (UE) (802) that configures the UE (802) with amplitude constraints for a subset of spatial vectors or beams associated with each of the NZP CSI-RS resources.

[0149] Embodiment 13: The method of embodiment 12, wherein the amplitude constraints include hard constraints and / or soft constraints in which the amplitude of the beam is not allowed to exceed a threshold, where the threshold for hard constraints is either 1 (i.e., no constraint) or zero (i.e., the beam is prohibited), and the threshold for soft constraints can be between zero and 1.

[0150] Embodiment 14: The method of embodiment 12 or 13, wherein the amplitude of the beam in each layer is one of the following: (a) the average amplitude of the coefficients associated with the beam and layer in one polarization over the selected FD basis vector; (b) the amplitude corresponding to the normalized total power of the coefficients associated with the beam and layer in one polarization with respect to the maximum total power of the coefficients associated with all selected beams and layers in one polarization per NZP CSI-RS resource among all of the NZP CSI-RS resources; or (c) the amplitude corresponding to the normalized total power of the coefficients associated with the beam and layer with respect to the maximum total power of the coefficients associated with all selected beams and layers per NZP CSI-RS resource among all of the NZP CSI-RS resources.

[0151] Embodiment 15: The constraint type of the amplitude constraint is N TRP 15. The method of any one of embodiments 12 to 14, wherein the NZP CSI-RS resources are identical for all of the NZP CSI-RS resources.

[0152] Embodiment 16: The constraint type of the amplitude constraint is N TRP 15. The method according to any one of embodiments 12 to 14, wherein the NZP CSI-RS resources are different for different resources.

[0153] Embodiment 17: N TRP For a subset of beams associated with each of the NZP CSI-RS resources, information for configuring an amplitude constraint in the UE (802) is TIFF2026504874000117.tif8170, TIFF2026504874000118.tif8170Identify the four beam groups, TIFF2026504874000119.tif8170A method according to any one of embodiments 12 to 16, wherein the method indicates a threshold value for a beam in the kth (k∈(0,1,2,3)) identified beam group.

[0154] Embodiment 18: The method of embodiment 17, wherein there is one bit per beam for hard constraints and two bits per beam for soft constraints.

[0155] Embodiment 19: N TRP The information for setting amplitude constraints on the UE (802) for a subset of beams associated with each of the NZP CSI-RS resources is TRP For all NZP CSI-RS resources of TIFF2026504874000120.tif8170 contains a concatenation of bit strings, TIFF2026504874000121.tif8170Identify the four beam groups for the nth NZP CSI-RS resource, TIFF2026504874000122.tif8170A method according to any one of embodiments 12 to 16, wherein the method indicates a threshold value for a beam of a k-th (k∈(0,1,2,3)) identified beam group of an n-th NZP CSI-RS resource.

[0156] Embodiment 20: N TRPtransmitting (806) information to the UE (802) to set amplitude constraints for a subset of beams associated with each of the NZP CSI-RS resources via radio resource control (RRC) signaling; TRP 20. The method of any one of embodiments 12 to 19, comprising transmitting (806) information to the UE (802) to set amplitude constraints for a subset of beams associated with each of the NZP CSI-RS resources.

[0157] Embodiment 21: The method of any one of embodiments 12 to 20, further comprising obtaining user data and forwarding the user data to a host or user equipment.

[0158] Group C Embodiments Embodiment 22: A user equipment comprising a processing circuit configured to perform any of the steps recited in any one of the embodiments of Group A, and a power supply circuit configured to supply power to the processing circuit.

[0159] Embodiment 23: A network node comprising a processing circuit configured to perform any of the steps recited in any one of the embodiments of Group B, and a power supply circuit configured to supply power to the processing circuit.

[0160] Embodiment 24: A user equipment (UE) comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive radio signals; and a radio front-end circuit connected to the antenna and a processing circuit and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuit, wherein the processing circuit is configured to perform any of the steps described in any one of the embodiments of Group A; and the UE further comprising: an input interface connected to the processing circuit and configured to enable input of information to the UE to be processed by the processing circuit; an output interface connected to the processing circuit and configured to output information from the UE processed by the processing circuit; and a battery connected to the processing circuit and configured to provide power to the UE.

[0161] Embodiment 25: A host configured to operate in a communication system for providing over-the-top (OTT) services, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the UE comprising a communications interface and processing circuitry, the communications interface and processing circuitry of the UE configured to perform any of the steps set forth in any one of the embodiments of Group A to receive user data from the host.

[0162]

[0082] Embodiment 26: The host of embodiment 25, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit user data from the host to the UE.

[0163] Embodiment 27: The host of embodiments 25 and 26, wherein the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application to thereby provide user data, and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

[0164] Embodiment 28: A method implemented by a host operating in a communication system further including a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method including providing user data for the UE and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the UE performs any of the operations described in any one of the embodiments of Group A to receive the user data from the host.

[0165] Embodiment 29: The method of embodiment 28, further comprising: executing, at the host, a host application associated with the client application executing on the UE to receive user data from the UE.

[0166] Embodiment 30: The method of embodiment 29, further comprising: in the host, sending input data to a client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, and the user data being provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.

[0167] Embodiment 31: A host configured to operate in a communication system for providing over-the-top (OTT) services, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the UE comprising a communications interface and processing circuitry, the communications interface and processing circuitry of the UE configured to perform any of the steps set forth in any one of the embodiments of Group A to transmit the user data to the host.

[0168]

[0082] Embodiment 32: The host of embodiment 31, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit user data from the UE to the host.

[0169] Embodiment 33: A host as described in embodiments 31 and 32, wherein the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application to thereby provide user data, and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

[0170] Embodiment 34: A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system further including a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method including receiving, at the host, user data transmitted by the UE to the host via the network node, and the UE performing any of the steps described in any one of the embodiments of Group A to transmit the user data to the host.

[0171] Embodiment 35: The method of embodiment 34, further comprising: executing, at the host, a host application associated with the client application executing on the UE to receive user data from the UE.

[0172] Embodiment 36: The method of embodiment 35, further comprising: at the host, sending input data to a client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, and the user data being provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.

[0173] Embodiment 37: A host configured to operate in a communication system for providing over-the-top (OTT) services, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a network node in a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the network node having a communications interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations described in any one of the embodiments of Group B to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

[0174] Embodiment 38: The host of embodiment 37, wherein processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application that provides user data, and the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application to receive transmissions of user data from the host.

[0175] Embodiment 39: A method implemented in a host configured to operate in a communication system further including a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method including providing user data for the UE and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, the network node performing any of the operations described in any one of the embodiments of Group B to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

[0176]

[0082] Embodiment 40: The method of embodiment 39, further comprising: transmitting, at the network node, user data provided by the host for the UE.

[0177] Embodiment 41: The method of embodiment 39 or 40, wherein the user data is provided by executing a host application in the host that interacts with a client application running on the UE, and the client application is associated with the host application.

[0178] Embodiment 42: A communications system configured to provide over-the-top services, the communications system comprising a host, the host comprising processing circuitry configured to provide user data for a user equipment (UE), the user data relating to the over-the-top services, and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network node for transmission to the UE, the network node having a communications interface and processing circuitry, the network interface configured to perform any of the operations described in any one of the embodiments of Group B to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

[0179] Embodiment 43: The communication system of embodiment 42, further comprising a network node and / or user equipment.

[0180] Embodiment 44: A host configured to operate in a communication system for providing over-the-top (OTT) services, the host comprising: a processing circuit configured to initiate reception of user data; and a network interface configured to receive user data from a network node in a cellular network, the network node having a communication interface and a processing circuit, the processing circuit of the network node configured to perform any of the operations described in any one of the embodiments of Group B to receive user data from a user equipment (UE) for the host.

[0181] Embodiment 45: A host as described in embodiments 43 and 44, wherein the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application thereby to provide user data, and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

[0182] Embodiment 46: The host of embodiment 44 or 45, wherein initiating the reception of user data includes requesting the user data.

[0183] Embodiment 47: A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system further including a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method including initiating, at the host, reception of user data from the UE, the user data originating from a transmission received by the network node from the UE, and the network node performing any of the steps described in any one of the embodiments of Group B to receive the user data from the UE for the host.

[0184]

[0082] Embodiment 48: The method of embodiment 47, further comprising, at the network node, transmitting the received user data to the host.

[0185] Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of the present disclosure, and all such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a user equipment (UE) (802), the method comprising: 2N each for Coherent Joint Transmission (CJT) Channel State Information (CSI) feedback from the network node (800) １ N ２ receiving (804) configuration information for configuring the UE (802) with a plurality of non-zero power (NZP) channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources with N CSI-RS antenna ports; １ and N ２ receiving (804) configuration information for configuring the UE (802), wherein receiving (806) from the network node (800) codebook subset constraint (CBSR) information for one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, which configures the UE (802) with amplitude constraints on a subset of space vectors or beams per NZP CSI-RS resource; reporting CSI to the network node based on the configuration information and the CBSR information (808), wherein the CSI comprises: Information about the number of layers and a subset of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources; and one or more selected spatial domain (SD) basis vectors or beam information for each of the subset of NZP CSI-RS resources; and reporting (808) CSI comprising, for each of said number of layers, one or more selected frequency domain (FD) basis vectors and, per antenna polarization, a set of normalized coefficients each associated with one of said one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams and one of said one or more selected FD basis vectors or beams, wherein said one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams are unconstrained beams or satisfy said amplitude constraint; A method comprising:

2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the amplitude constraint is a hard constraint, and a space vector or beam is either allowed or prohibited in a CSI report in a hard constraint.

3. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein, for each beam or spatial vector in the subset of spatial vectors or beams for which an amplitude constraint is configured in the UE for each of the one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, the CBSR information that configures the amplitude constraint in the UE indicates whether there is no amplitude constraint for the beam or spatial vector or that the beam or spatial vector is prohibited.

4. The subset of space vectors or beams is O １ O ２ From the beam group, each １ N ２ and four beam groups each containing adjacent space vectors or beams of O １ = 4, and N ２ > 1 is O ２ = 4, N ２ = 1 is O ２ 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

5. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein, for each beam or spatial vector in one of the four beam groups set for codebook subset restriction, the CBSR information that sets the amplitude restriction on the UE (802) consists of only one bit indicating whether the beam or spatial vector is prohibited.

6. the CBSR information setting an amplitude constraint on the UE (802) for the subset of beams associated with each of the one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources is Including, Identify four beam groups, The method of claim 1 , wherein the amplitude constraints for the beams of the kth (kε(0, 1, 2, 3)) identified beam group are indicated.

7. N beams, each associated with one beam of the k-th identified beam group １ N ２ 7. The method of claim 6, comprising a bit, wherein a bit value of 0 indicates that the corresponding beam is prohibited and a bit value of 1 indicates that the corresponding beam is allowed, or vice versa.

8. the CBSR information that sets amplitude constraints on the UE (802) for the subset of beams associated with each of the one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources is: Contains bit string concatenation, Identifying four beam groups of the nth NZP CSI-RS resource; 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising indicating an amplitude constraint for a beam of the kth (k∈(0, 1, 2, 3)) identified beam group of the nth NZP CSI-RS resource.

9. N each associated with one beam in the k-th identified beam group of the n-th NZP CSI-RS resource. １ N ２ The method of claim 8 , including a bit.

10. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the amplitude constraints include hard constraints and / or soft constraints where the amplitude of the beam is not allowed to exceed a threshold, where in hard constraints the threshold is either 1 (i.e., no constraint) or zero (i.e., the beam is prohibited), and where in soft constraints the threshold can be between zero and 1.

11. 11. The method of claim 1 or 10, wherein the amplitude of a beam is optionally evaluated at each layer, and the amplitude of a beam at each layer is defined as one of: (a) the average amplitude of the coefficients associated with the beam and the layer in one antenna polarization over the selected FD basis vector; (b) an amplitude corresponding to a normalized total power of the coefficients associated with the beam and the layer in one antenna polarization with respect to a maximum total power of the coefficients associated with all selected beams and the layers in one antenna polarization, per NZP CSI-RS resource among all of the subsets of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources; or (c) an amplitude corresponding to a normalized total power of the coefficients associated with the beam and the layer in both antenna polarizations with respect to a maximum total power of coefficients associated with all selected beams and the layers per NZP CSI-RS resource among all of the subsets of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein a constraint type of the amplitude constraint is the same for all of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources.

13. 12. The method of claim 1, wherein a constraint type of the amplitude constraint is different for different resources of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources.

14. The information for configuring the UE (802) with an amplitude constraint for a subset of beams associated with each of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources is Including, Identify four beam groups, 14. The method of claim 1, further comprising indicating a threshold value for the beams of the kth (k∈(0,1,2,3)) identified beam group.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein there is one bit per beam for the hard constraint and two bits per beam for the soft constraint.

16. The information for configuring the UE (802) with an amplitude constraint for a subset of beams associated with each of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources is: Contains bit string concatenation, Identifying four beam groups of the nth NZP CSI-RS resource; 14. The method of claim 1, further comprising indicating a threshold for a beam of the kth (k∈(0,1,2,3)) identified beam group of the nth NZP CSI-RS resource.

17. 17. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving (806) the information for configuring the UE (802) with amplitude constraints for a subset of beams associated with each of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources comprises receiving (806) the information for configuring the UE (802) with amplitude constraints for a subset of beams associated with each of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

18. A user equipment (UE) (802) adapted to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

19. A user equipment (UE) (802; 1000), a communication interface (1012) comprising a transmitter (1018) and a receiver (1020); a processing circuit (1002) associated with said communication interface (1012); The processing circuit (1002) is configured to transmit to the UE (802; 1000): o 2N each for Coherent Joint Transmission (CJT) Channel State Information (CSI) feedback from the network node (800) １ N ２ receiving (804) configuration information for configuring the UE (802) with a plurality of non-zero power (NZP) channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources with N CSI-RS antenna ports; １ and N ２ receiving (804) configuration information for configuring the UE (802), wherein receiving (806) from the network node (800) Codebook Subset Constraint (CBSR) information for one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, which configures the UE (802) with amplitude constraints on a subset of space vectors or beams per NZP CSI-RS resource; reporting CSI to the network node based on the configuration information and the CBSR information (808), wherein the CSI comprises: information about the number of layers and a subset of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources; and - one or more selected spatial domain (SD) basis vectors or beam information for each of the subset of NZP CSI-RS resources; and reporting CSI (808) that includes, for each of the number of layers, one or more selected frequency domain (FD) basis vectors and, for each antenna polarization, a set of normalized coefficients each associated with one of the one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams and one of the one or more selected FD basis vectors or beams, wherein the one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams are unconstrained beams or satisfy the amplitude constraint; A user equipment (UE) (802; 1000) configured to perform the following:

20. 20. The UE of claim 19, wherein the amplitude constraint is a hard constraint, and a space vector or beam is either allowed or prohibited in a CSI report in a hard constraint.

21. 20. The UE of claim 19, wherein, for each beam or spatial vector in the subset of spatial vectors or beams for which an amplitude constraint is configured in the UE for each of the one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, the CBSR information that configures the amplitude constraint in the UE indicates whether there is an amplitude constraint for the beam or spatial vector or that the beam or spatial vector is prohibited.

22. The subset of space vectors or beams is O １ O ２ From the beam group, each １ N ２ and four beam groups each containing adjacent space vectors or beams of O １ = 4, and N ２ > 1 is O ２ = 4, N ２ = 1 is O ２ 22. The method of any one of claims 19 to 21, wherein =1.

23. 23. The UE of claim 22, wherein, for each beam or spatial vector in one of the four beam groups set for codebook subset restriction, the CBSR information that sets the amplitude restriction on the UE (802) consists of only one bit indicating whether the beam or spatial vector is prohibited.

24. the CBSR information setting an amplitude constraint on the UE (802) for the subset of beams associated with each of the one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources is Including, Identify four beam groups, 22. The UE of claim 19, wherein the UE indicates an amplitude constraint for a beam of the kth (k∈(0, 1, 2, 3)) identified beam group.

25. N beams, each associated with one beam of the k-th identified beam group. １ N ２ 25. The UE of claim 24, comprising a bit, wherein a bit value of 0 indicates that a corresponding beam is prohibited and a bit value of 1 indicates that the corresponding beam is allowed, or vice versa.

26. the CBSR information that sets amplitude constraints on the UE (802) for the subset of beams associated with each of the one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources is: Contains bit string concatenation, Identifying four beam groups of the nth NZP CSI-RS resource; 22. The UE of claim 19, wherein the UE indicates an amplitude constraint for a beam of the kth (k∈(0, 1, 2, 3)) identified beam group of the nth NZP CSI-RS resource.

27. N NZP CSI-RS resources, each associated with one beam in the k-th identified beam group of the n-th NZP CSI-RS resource. １ N ２ 27. The UE of claim 26, comprising a bit.

28. A method implemented by a network node (800), said method comprising: 2N respectively for Coherent Joint Transmission (CJT) Channel State Information (CSI) feedback １ N ２ transmitting (804) to a user equipment (UE) (802) configuration information for configuring the UE (802) with a plurality of non-zero power (NZP) channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources with N CSI-RS antenna ports; １ and N ２ transmitting (804) to the UE (802) configuration information for configuring the UE (802), wherein transmitting (806) codebook subset constraint (CBSR) information for one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources to the UE (802), configuring the UE (802) with amplitude constraints on a subset of space vectors or beams per NZP CSI-RS resource; receiving (808) CSI from the UE (802) based on the configuration information and the CBSR information, wherein the CSI comprises: Information about the number of layers and a subset of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources; and one or more selected spatial domain (SD) basis vectors or beam information for each of the subset of NZP CSI-RS resources; and receiving 808 CSI including, for each of the number of layers, one or more selected frequency domain (FD) basis vectors and, for each antenna polarization, a set of normalized coefficients each associated with one of the one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams and one of the one or more selected FD basis vectors or beams, wherein the one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams are unconstrained beams or satisfy the amplitude constraint; A method comprising:

29. 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the amplitude constraint is a hard constraint, and a space vector or beam is either allowed or prohibited in a CSI report in a hard constraint.

30. 29. The method of claim 28, wherein, for each beam or spatial vector in the subset of spatial vectors or beams for which an amplitude constraint is configured at the UE for each of the one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, the CBSR information that configures the amplitude constraint at the UE indicates whether there is no amplitude constraint for the beam or spatial vector or that the beam or spatial vector is prohibited.

31. The subset of space vectors or beams is O １ O ２ From the beam group, each １ N ２ and four beam groups each containing adjacent space vectors or beams of O １ = 4, and N ２ > 1 is O ２ = 4, N ２ = 1 is O ２ 31. The method of any one of claims 28 to 30, wherein =1.

32. 32. The method of claim 31 , wherein, for each beam or spatial vector in one of the four beam groups configured for codebook subset constraints, the CBSR information that sets the amplitude constraint on the UE (802) consists of only one bit indicating whether the beam or spatial vector is prohibited.

33. the CBSR information setting an amplitude constraint on the UE (802) for the subset of beams associated with each of the one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources is Including, Identify four beam groups, 31. The method of claim 28, wherein the method indicates amplitude constraints for beams in the kth (k∈(0, 1, 2, 3)) identified beam group.

34. N beams, each associated with one beam of the k-th identified beam group. １ N ２ 34. The method of claim 33, comprising a bit, wherein a bit value of 0 indicates that the corresponding beam is prohibited and a bit value of 1 indicates that the corresponding beam is allowed, or vice versa.

35. the CBSR information that sets amplitude constraints on the UE (802) for the subset of beams associated with each of the one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources is: Contains bit string concatenation, Identifying four beam groups of the nth NZP CSI-RS resource; 31. The method of claim 28, further comprising indicating an amplitude constraint for a beam of the k-th (k∈(0, 1, 2, 3)) identified beam group of the n-th NZP CSI-RS resource.

36. N NZP CSI-RS resources, each associated with one beam in the k-th identified beam group of the n-th NZP CSI-RS resource. １ N ２ 36. The method of claim 35, comprising:

37. 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the amplitude constraints include hard constraints and / or soft constraints where the amplitude of the beam is not allowed to exceed a threshold, where in hard constraints the threshold is either 1 (i.e., no constraint) or zero (i.e., the beam is prohibited), and where in soft constraints the threshold can be between zero and 1.

38. 38. The method of claim 28 or 37, wherein the amplitude of a beam is optionally evaluated at each layer, and the amplitude of a beam at each layer is defined as one of: (a) the average amplitude of the coefficients associated with the beam and the layer in one polarization over the selected FD basis vector; (b) an amplitude corresponding to a normalized total power of the coefficients associated with the beam and the layer in one polarization with respect to a maximum total power of the coefficients associated with all selected beams and the layers in one polarization per NZP CSI-RS resource among all of the subsets of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources; or (c) an amplitude corresponding to a normalized total power of the coefficients associated with the beam and the layer in both antenna polarizations with respect to a maximum total power of coefficients associated with all selected beams and the layers per NZP CSI-RS resource among all of the subsets of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources.

39. 39. The method of any one of claims 28, 37 or 38, wherein the constraint type of the amplitude constraint is the same for all of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources.

40. 39. The method of claim 28, 37, or 38, wherein a constraint type of the amplitude constraint is different for different ones of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources.

41. The information for configuring the UE (802) with an amplitude constraint for a subset of beams associated with each of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources is Including, Identify four beam groups, 41. The method of claim 28, or any one of claims 37 to 40, indicating a threshold value for a beam in the kth (k∈(0, 1, 2, 3)) identified group of beams.

42. 42. The method of claim 41, wherein there is one bit per beam for the hard constraint and two bits per beam for the soft constraint.

43. The information for configuring the UE (802) with an amplitude constraint for a subset of beams associated with each of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources is: Contains bit string concatenation, Identifying four beam groups of the nth NZP CSI-RS resource; 41. The method of claim 28, or any one of claims 37 to 40, indicating a threshold for a beam of the kth (k∈(0, 1, 2, 3)) identified beam group of the nth NZP CSI-RS resource.

44. 44. The method of claim 28, wherein transmitting (806) the information for setting amplitude constraints to the UE (802) for a subset of beams associated with each of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources comprises transmitting (806) the information for setting amplitude constraints to the UE (802) for a subset of beams associated with each of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

45. A network node (800) adapted to implement the method according to any one of claims 28 to 44.

46. A network node (800; 1100), a communication interface (1106); a processing circuit (1102) associated with said communication interface (1106); and the processing circuit (1102) is configured to transmit to the network node (800; 1100): o 2N for Coherent Joint Transmission (CJT) Channel State Information (CSI) feedback respectively １ N ２ transmitting (804) to a user equipment (UE) (802) configuration information for configuring the UE (802) with a plurality of non-zero power (NZP) channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources with N CSI-RS antenna ports; １ and N ２ transmitting (804) to the UE (802) configuration information for configuring the UE (802), wherein transmitting (806) to the UE (802) Codebook Subset Constraint (CBSR) information for one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, configuring the UE (802) with amplitude constraints on a subset of space vectors or beams per NZP CSI-RS resource; receiving (808) from said UE (802) CSI based on said configuration information and said CBSR information, said CSI comprising: information about the number of layers and a subset of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources; and - one or more selected spatial domain (SD) basis vectors or beam information for each of the subset of NZP CSI-RS resources; and receiving CSI (808), the CSI including, for each of the number of layers, one or more selected frequency domain (FD) basis vectors and, for each antenna polarization, a set of normalized coefficients each associated with one of the one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams and one of the one or more selected FD basis vectors or beams, wherein the one or more selected SD basis vectors or beams are unconstrained beams or satisfy the amplitude constraint; A network node (800; 1100) configured to perform the following.

47. 47. The network node (800) of claim 46, wherein the amplitude constraint is a hard constraint, and a space vector or beam is either allowed or prohibited in a CSI report in a hard constraint.

48. 47. The network node (800) of claim 46, wherein, for each beam or spatial vector in the subset of spatial vectors or beams for which an amplitude constraint is configured at the UE for each of the one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources, the CBSR information that configures the amplitude constraint at the UE indicates whether there is an amplitude constraint for the beam or spatial vector or that the beam or spatial vector is prohibited.

49. The subset of space vectors or beams is O １ O ２ From the beam group, each １ N ２ and four beam groups each containing adjacent space vectors or beams of O １ = 4, and N ２ > 1 is O ２ = 4, N ２ = 1 is O ２ 49. The method of any one of claims 46 to 48, wherein =1.

50. 50. The network node (800) of claim 49, wherein, for each beam or spatial vector in one of the four beam groups configured for codebook subset constraints, the CBSR information that sets the amplitude constraint on the UE (802) consists of only one bit indicating whether the beam or spatial vector is prohibited.

51. the CBSR information setting an amplitude constraint on the UE (802) for the subset of beams associated with each of the one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources is Including, Identify four beam groups, 49. A network node (800) according to any one of claims 46 to 48, indicating amplitude constraints for beams of the kth (k∈(0, 1, 2, 3)) identified beam group.

52. N beams, each associated with one beam of the k-th identified beam group. １ N ２ 52. The network node (800) of claim 51, comprising a bit, wherein a bit value of 0 indicates that the corresponding beam is prohibited and a bit value of 1 indicates that the corresponding beam is allowed, or vice versa.

53. the CBSR information that sets amplitude constraints on the UE (802) for the subset of beams associated with each of the one or more of the plurality of NZP CSI-RS resources is: Contains bit string concatenation, Identifying four beam groups of the nth NZP CSI-RS resource; 49. The network node (800) of claim 46, wherein the network node (800) indicates an amplitude constraint for a beam of the kth (k∈(0,1,2,3)) identified beam group of the nth NZP CSI-RS resource.

54. N NZP CSI-RS resources, each associated with one beam in the k-th identified beam group of the n-th NZP CSI-RS resource. １ N ２ 54. The network node (800) of claim 53, comprising a bit.

Images