Beam group reporting for multi-TRP operation

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, for beam group reporting are provided. In some example embodiments, a method may be provided that includes receiving configuration information in a user equipment for configuring the user equipment to report information for beam grouping related to measurements on at least one group of channel measurement resources, selecting at least one group by the user equipment from a plurality of groups of channel measurement resources, where the selecting is based on at least one rule provided by the configuration information, and reporting information regarding the at least one group selected for beam grouping to a network. Related systems, methods, and articles of manufacture are also disclosed.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The subject matter described herein relates to wireless communications. [Background technology]

[0002] In 5G New Radio (NR), the system can function with beam-based operation in the carrier frequency range above 6 GHz as well as below 6 GHz. In this case, the transmitter and receiver may operate using spatial domain beamforming (e.g., in the analog domain, in the digital domain, or a combination of both) to cover the propagation loss for the wireless channel. Moreover, the user equipment may include multiple receive antenna panels, each antenna panel including an antenna element and / or a beamforming module. Depending on the receiving capability of the user equipment, a set of antenna panels (in the user equipment) may be used for simultaneous reception of downlinks from a network such as a gNB base station or other type of cellular base station. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In some example embodiments, a method may be provided that includes receiving, in a user equipment, configuration information for configuring the user equipment to report information for beam grouping related to measurements on at least one group of channel measurement resources, selecting, by the user equipment, at least one group from a plurality of groups of channel measurement resources, where the selecting is based on at least one rule provided by the configuration information, and reporting information regarding the at least one group selected for beam grouping to a network.

[0004] In some variations, one or more of the features disclosed herein, including the following features, may be operatively included in any feasible combination. At least one rule includes ranking a plurality of groups of channel measurement resources to determine which of the plurality of groups of simultaneously received channel measurement resources to select as at least one group. The ranking is based at least in part on one or more of the following: absolute beam group difference values ​​of the channel measurement resources, aggregated mutual information of the channel measurement resources, a number of required receive antenna panel switches that is minimized to be equal to or less than a threshold maximum number of antenna panel switches or equal to or less than a threshold latency constraint value, or a combination thereof. At least the rule includes determining, for the plurality of groups of channel measurement resources, whether a beam group difference value is within a threshold dynamic range value. At least the rule includes determining, for the plurality of groups of simultaneously received channel measurement resources, whether a signal-to-interference-plus-noise value for each of the plurality of groups of channel measurement resources is above a signal-to-interference-plus-noise threshold. The information for beam grouping includes assistance information for the network. The reporting is triggered by a request from the network. The reporting is triggered by the user equipment based on one or more conditions. The one or more conditions are provided to the user equipment by the network and / or preconfigured in the user equipment. The configuration information includes one or more of the following: information about measurement windows for multiple group channel measurement resources, an identification of the channel measurement resources, one or more conditions, and at least one rule. The one or more conditions include one or more of the following: a maximum absolute beam group difference value for the measurement window, a number of channel measurement resources simultaneously received in a group of channel measurement resources, and a maximum interference power including an interference resource identifier.The one or more conditions include a first condition, the first condition including a measured linear average SINR or a measured linear average RSRP being less than a pre-set SINR or RSRP threshold, and in response to the first condition being satisfied, reporting for the selected at least one group includes a transmit power boost for CMR. The one or more conditions include a second condition, the second condition including a measured linear average value of absolute beam group difference between maximum and minimum of SINR or RSRP being greater than a pre-set maximum allowed dynamic range, and in response to the second condition being satisfied, reporting for the selected at least one group includes a quantized dynamic range boost value. The one or more conditions include a third condition, the third condition including a measured linear average power value of the interference measurement resource for the measurement window being greater than a pre-set interference power threshold, and in response to the third condition being satisfied, reporting for the selected at least one group includes at least one resource index.

[0005] In some example embodiments, a method may be provided that includes sending configuration information to a user equipment for configuring the user equipment to report information for beam grouping regarding measurements on at least one group of channel measurement resources, the configuration information providing at least one rule such that the user equipment can select at least one group of channel measurement resources, and receiving from the equipment information regarding the at least one group selected by the user equipment based on the configuration information including the at least one rule.

[0006] The above aspects and features may be implemented in systems, devices, methods, and / or articles depending on the desired configuration. The accompanying drawings and the following description set forth details of one or more variations of the subject matter described herein. Features and advantages of the subject matter described herein will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example system including a base station and at least one user equipment including four antenna panels, according to some example embodiments. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram of the system of FIG. 1 including beam group based reporting, in accordance with some example embodiments. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 illustrates an example beam management measurement resource configuration including two separate resource sets, in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments. [Figure 4] 1 is a diagram of spatial relationships for beam management, in accordance with some example embodiments. [Diagram 5] 1 is a diagram of an example of multiple simultaneously received channel measurement resources (CMR) groups for different receive (RX) antenna panels, according to some example embodiments. [Figure 6] 1 is a diagram of an example of multiple simultaneously received channel measurement resources (CMR) groups for different receive (RX) antenna panels, according to some example embodiments. [Figure 7] FIG. 13 is an example of a flow diagram for triggering beam group assistance information, according to some example embodiments. [Figure 8] 4 is a diagram of an example of resource grouping for different channel measurement resource pairs, according to some example embodiments. [Figure 9A] FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example process for resource grouping, according to some example embodiments. [Figure 9B] 1 is a diagram of an example process for rule-based selection of at least one group of channel measurement resources, according to some example embodiments. [Figure 10A] FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example network node, according to some example embodiments. [Figure 10B] 1 is a diagram of an example apparatus, according to some exemplary embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] In the drawings, like labels are used to refer to the same or similar items.

[0009] To enable downlink (DL) channel state information (CSI) measurements for beam management (BM), support for two different CSI resource settings may be provided: non-zero power channel state information reference symbols (NZP-CSI-RS) and synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) (see, for example, 3GPP TS38.214). The time domain behavior of CSI-RS (channel state information reference signal) resources for beam management can be configured by higher layer signaling to be aperiodic, periodic, or semi-persistent. Supported NZP-CSI-RS resource element patterns and antenna port configurations for beam management may also be defined (see, for example, 3GPP TS38.214). In 5G New Radio Release 15 (as well as other subsequent releases), group-based beam reporting and user equipment reporting in non-group-based schemes may also be supported (see, for example, TS38.214, section 5.2.1.4.2).

[0010] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a system 100 including a base station 110, such as a gNB base station, and at least one user equipment 102 including four antenna panels 104A-D. In the example of FIG. 1, an example of non-beam group-based reporting at 106 using NZP-CSI-RS resources is depicted. A network, such as the base station 110, can configure channel state information (CSI) reporting with four CSI-RS resource indicators (CRIs) with Layer 1 Reference Symbol Received Power (L1-RSRP) values ​​to be reported. For ease of illustration, only two CRIs are shown. When the network configures beam reporting to be non-group-based reporting, it is not assumed that the UE simultaneously receives a reported CRI for L1-RSRP or L1-SINR (Layer 1 Signal to Interference Plus Noise Ratio) value. When a downlink transmit beam switch occurs between reported CRIs, additional time may have to be reserved to allow the UE to change its receive (RX) beam and / or receive antenna panel. As a result of the additional time required for changes, network scheduling flexibility may be limited and beam group based reporting may be used.

[0011] To increase the flexibility of scheduling and downlink transmit beam switching, beam group-based reporting as shown in FIG. 2 may be used. FIG. 2 shows the system 100 but with a single user equipment beam group 208 and functioning using beam group-based reporting at 206 with NZP-CSI-RS resources. When beam group reporting is configured, the user equipment 102 may receive up to two CRIs simultaneously, for example, using single or multiple spatial receive filters. Because 3GPP TS38.214 Release 15 may not clearly specify whether single or multiple receive spatial filters were used, there may be some ambiguity in the network, such as the base station 110 (without reporting from the UE 102), as to whether the reported CRI can be used for multi-beam transmission with spatial multiplexing. In the example of FIG. 2, the user equipment uses a single spatial filter. Because the user equipment 102 can receive multiple CRIs with a single spatial filter, no extra time is required when a change occurs in the downlink transmit beam within the beam group 208. In this way, network / base station scheduling limitations can be reduced.

[0012] Regarding channel state information (CSI) reporting settings for beam management, group-based beam reporting and non-differential based reporting and differential based reporting for non-group beams may be supported in specifications such as TS38.214. Also, reporting formats can be reused between group-based beam reporting and non-group beam reporting schemes. In the case of differential reporting, it reduces the CSI reporting overhead by using differential encoding. For example, when the number of CRIs reported is 2 or more, differential reporting may be used. For example, a 7-bit long field may be reserved to indicate the measured L1-RSRP quantized between the maximum and minimum L1-RSRP values ​​(e.g., −140 dBm to −44 dBm), while a 4-bit long field may be reserved to indicate the L1-RSRP value differentially encoded with respect to the maximum value with a step size of 2 bits. Additionally, a network, such as base station 110, may configure up to four CRIs or four synchronization signal block resource indicators (SSB-RIs) for the reported L1-RSRP value.

[0013] In the case of beam group reporting, there may be various schemes for implementing "beam group" reporting. For example, the user equipment may report N different sets (e.g., groups or pairs), and in each group, M different beams in the group (or pair) may be simultaneously received by the user equipment. As used herein, the term "group" may refer to at least one "pair" if not more. FIG. 2 depicts two beams 177A and 177B in a beam group 208. When the user equipment simultaneously receives (via multiple antenna panels) different channel measurement resources (CMRs) for different transmit reception points (TRPs), the user equipment may identify which channel measurement resources (CMRs) it can simultaneously receive. In other words, the user equipment may need to identify how many antenna panels (and / or which antenna panels) it can use for simultaneous reception of CMRs with sufficient received signal quality.

[0014] The receiving capabilities of the user equipment may dictate how many antenna panels can be used for simultaneous reception. In practice, not all of the receiving antenna panels of the user equipment may be used for simultaneous reception. Thus, the user equipment needs to scan some, if not all, of the possible combinations of antenna panels to receive beams for the purpose of simultaneous reception. For example, if the user equipment is equipped with four antenna panels, but only two of the four panels can be used for simultaneous reception at a given time (based on channel condition measurements such as RSRP, SINR, etc.), the user equipment may perform exhaustive search and measurement across six different antenna panel combinations, including: panel #1-panel #2, panel #1-panel #3, panel #1-panel #4, panel #2-panel #3, panel #2-panel #4, and panel #3-panel #4). This search process obviously increases the processing latency, computational complexity, and power consumption in the user equipment. After the user equipment identifies the best combination for simultaneous reception of channel measurement resources (CMRs) using multiple antenna panels and receive beams, the user equipment may report the M different identified simultaneously received channel measurement resources to the network for each pair (or group) f.

[0015] There are various alternatives for beam management measurement resource configuration for channel state information reporting (see, e.g., RAN1-104e meeting). FIG. 3 illustrates a user equipment 102 including antenna panels 104A-D, according to some example embodiments. FIG. 3 also illustrates an example of a beam management (BM) measurement resource configuration including two separate resource sets K1 302A and K2 302B. Each of the resource sets includes a corresponding amount of resources (e.g., resources identified with CRI#2, CRI#4, etc.) related to TRP and CSI reporting to the network. In the example of FIG. 3, the user equipment may be configured to simultaneously receive (or may simultaneously receive) channel measurement resources (CMRs) using all or a portion of the receive antenna panels 104A-D. Moreover, the user equipment may perform beam management (BM) measurements from two different NZP-CSI-RS resource sets 302A-B, each of which may be used as a channel measurement resource (CMR) that may be simultaneously received at the UE. It is assumed that CMRs for the same NZP-CSI-RS resource set (or any other type of resource set, such as SSB) cannot be received simultaneously. CMRs (e.g., NZP-CSI-RS resources) can be configured as periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic resources. Based on measurements performed at the user equipment 102, the user equipment 102 can report N different sets (e.g., pairs or groups), where in each pair / group, M different CMRs can be received simultaneously.

[0016] In an alternative beam management approach, spatial relationships of different resources (e.g., quasi-collocation type D, QCL-type D) can be used as well. When spatial relationships are used, SSB resources are associated with different TRPs, and channel measurement resources (CMRs) / resource sets (e.g., NZP-CSI-RS) with QCL-type D associations are configured with the SSB resources. In this way, different resources transmitted from different TRPs can be identified and resources from different TRPs can be reported. In this spatial relationship approach, the user equipment can be configured to simultaneously receive different CMRs in different CMR sets, but CMRs in the same channel measurement resource set cannot be simultaneously received.

[0017] FIG. 4 illustrates a spatial relationship such as QCL-type D between SSB and NZP-CSI-RS resources for beam management according to some example embodiments. The start point of the arrow (e.g., 410 in FIG. 4) defines the resource that is the spatial source for the target resource associated with the end of the arrow (e.g., 412 in FIG. 4). For example, an NZP-CSI-RS based periodic time-frequency tracking reference signal (e.g., P-TRS) can serve as a spatial source for an aperiodic TRS (A-TRS), or another NZP-CSI-RS without repetition (e.g., for beam management (BM) procedures P1, P2 and CSI acquisition), or NZP-CSI-RS with repetition (BM P3). Similarly, an SSB resource can be configured as a spatial source for the target P-TRS, or for CSI-RS with and without repetition.

[0018] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of multiple simultaneously received candidate channel measurement resource (CMR) sets 510A-D (in this example, M=2 since the sets are groups / pairs, but again, the groups can be larger than one pair) for different receive (RX) antenna panels. In the example of FIG. 5, the user equipment can determine different simultaneously received downlink transmit (TX) beam sets, such as CMR-related pair combinations, based on the L1-RSRP. To further illustrate with an example, the user equipment can simultaneously receive channel resource indexes 2 and 10 on receive (RX) antenna panels 1 and 3, respectively (e.g., P1#2 refers to RX antenna panel 1, and #2 refers to receive channel measurement resource index 2), as shown at 510B in FIG. 5. After the user equipment calculates the possible simultaneously received channel measurement resource pairs based on the corresponding measured L1-RSRP or L1-SINR values, the user equipment knows the channel measurement resource pairs and L1-RSRP or L1-SINR values ​​for reporting to the network.

[0019] If the user equipment is configured with, for example, L1-RSRP reporting, the user equipment may determine the simultaneously received CMRs for each pair (per receive antenna panel, or per group of receive antenna panels) by ordering the received CMRs in ascending L1-RSRP order. After this, the user equipment then selects the strongest channel measurement resource for each pair for reporting, such that the selected resources defining the pair (or group) are not associated with the same CMR set (e.g., NZP-CSI-RS or SSB).

[0020] If the user equipment is configured with, for example, L1-SINR reporting, the user equipment can calculate the L1-SINR for each resource in the resource pair. For example, the UE may calculate the SINR hypothesis for each resource in the resource pair by assuming that another simultaneously received CMR acts as an interfering resource. Alternatively, or additionally, the network (e.g., gNB) may explicitly configure the separate interfering resources used in the SINR hypothesis calculation. The number of possible resource combinations may be very large, thereby increasing the computational complexity and latency. Furthermore, the user equipment may assume that the interfering resource is spatially co-located (e.g., QCL type) with the intended channel measurement resource. In each pair of channel measurement resources, another simultaneously received channel measurement resource may be used as an interfering resource, so there may be a large variation between resources (in terms of L1-SINR), such as P1#2 and P3#10 shown in FIG. 6. Due to potential interference coupling of simultaneously received resources, determining the N best reporting resource pairs in terms of L1-SINR is not as straightforward as in the case of L1-RSRP. Without defining some ranking method for resource pairs / groups with L1-SINR for the reported CMR pairs, it may lead to scheduling restrictions in the network, such as the base station or TRP, of the N reported channel measurement resource pairs. This can be avoided by reporting all possible resource pairs / groups, but this may lead to significant reporting signaling overhead since all candidate pairs would be reported. For example, by configuring two different NZP-CSI-RS resource sets as channel measurement resources with 64 resources in each resource set (e.g., for 3GPP Release 16 UE capabilities), the total number of reported combinations would be 4096 different SINR values.

[0021] In some exemplary embodiments, triggering of "beam group" reporting is provided, where this triggering can be in the form of assistance information to the network. Reporting may be triggered by the network side and / or by the user equipment in the form of user equipment side event-based triggering). In some exemplary embodiments, beam group-assisted triggering can enable more dynamic operation of beam groups in the presence of multiple TRPs by facilitating more dynamic adaptation of beam group reporting parameterization. Furthermore, assistance information for beam group reporting procedures can increase the network's scheduling flexibility (e.g., enable interference awareness) and / or reduce reporting signaling overhead. In some exemplary embodiments, an enhanced beam group reporting procedure is provided for multiple transmit receive point (TRP) scenarios.

[0022] In some example embodiments, as described, network-based triggering may be provided for reporting of information for beam grouping regarding measurements on a set of channel measurement resources. This reporting may be in the form of assistance information for beam grouping. In some example embodiments, a network, such as a gNB type base station and / or other type base station, may trigger the UE to report assistance information to the network via physical layer signaling and / or multiple access channel (MAC) and / or radio resource control (RRC) level signaling. The UE then provides the assistance information report by using uplink resources (e.g., aperiodic or semi-persistent physical uplink control channel / physical uplink shared channel resources).

[0023] In some example embodiments, the network may trigger the UE to report assistance information (for configuring beam group reporting) including differentially encoded L maximum absolute beam group difference values ​​corresponding to the difference between the maximum and minimum values ​​of SINR (e.g., in the case of L1-SINR or SS-SINR, the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio of the synchronization signal) and / or the maximum and minimum values ​​of RSRP (e.g., in the case of L1-RSRP) for simultaneously received resource pairs / groups, where the differential encoding is performed at Q1 quantization level and L1 bits and is configured by the network and associated with the configured beam group assistance measurement window.

[0024] In some example embodiments, the network may trigger the UE to report information for beam group reporting (which may include the total number of beam groups / pairs) based on beam and / or interference measurements on downlink reference signal resources (e.g., NZP-CSI-RS, CSI-IM, IMR, etc.) or signal resources (e.g., SSB) within a certain window, such as a channel management resource measurement window, an aiding measurement window, etc. For example, based on beam measurements during the aiding measurement window for beam group reporting, the UE may determine how many different beam groups / pairs can be determined or selected for reporting to the network. It is assumed that the determined number of beam groups / pairs varies depending on, for example, the deployment scenario and / or mobility conditions and / or the UE's orientation and / or the UE's rotation, etc.

[0025] In some example embodiments, the network may trigger the UE to report (e.g., as assistance information) the number of simultaneously received CMRs per group / pair (which may be common to all groups or group-specific). The number of simultaneously received CMRs is assumed to vary depending on, for example, the deployment scenario and / or mobility conditions and / or UE orientation and / or UE rotation, etc.

[0026] In some example embodiments, the network may trigger the UE to report (e.g., as assistance information) the I largest / dominant interferer in terms of interference power (which may be differentially encoded) measured at the Q2 quantization level and the L2 bit associated with the resource identifier (ID) associated with the interference resource having the I largest / dominant interferer in terms of the measured interference power. The network may set the spatial source of the interference resource to be any downlink resource / signal. In other words, depending on the setting of the spatial source of the interference resource (e.g., quasi-co-located (QCL type-D) information), the UE may assume that the measured interference resource is either spatially quasi-co-located (QCL) with the channel measurement resource or not. In this way, the network can obtain further assistance information for the interference power measured from the same or different spatial directions as the channel measurement resource. The configured interference resources may be, for example, NZP-CSI-RS resources and / or Channel State Information Interference Measurement (CSI-IM) resources (IMR) and / or any other DL reference signal (e.g., NZP-CSI-RS for CSI acquisition, fine frequency and time tracking, mobility or positioning, Phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS), Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS)) or DL ​​signal (e.g., SSB). These resources may be related to the serving or neighboring cell.

[0027] In some example embodiments, the network may configure a window (e.g., a measurement window, an aiding measurement window, etc.) for one or more measurements (and / or one or more calculations) for reporting information on beam groupings. The measurement window represents a time window (e.g., a time period, a number of slots, a measurement timing configuration for measurements, etc.) within which measurements and / or calculations for beam group reporting are performed by the UE. The measurement window for beam group reporting may be configured by a higher layer of the network and / or may be configured as aperiodic, semi-persistent, or periodic in time. The time span of the measurement window for beam group reporting may be defined in terms of symbols or slots with respect to the start time of the window in terms of symbols or slots. The purpose of the aiding measurement window is to define a specific time window that allows the UE to perform measurements, calculations, and / or related reporting within the time provided by the window. Based on the reported information (e.g., measurements on a set of channel measurement resources of a beam group), the network may reconfigure the semi-statistically configured beam group reporting parameters.

[0028] In some example embodiments, beam group measurements may be performed on or with respect to various types of channel resources, examples of which include: synchronization signal block (SSB) resources; NZP-CSI-RS resources (BM, CSI acquisition, time-frequency tracking, interference); data / control demodulation reference signal (DMRS) resources; phase tracking RS (PTRS) resources; CSI-RS mobility resources (e.g., for mobility measurements); DL positioning reference signal (PRS) resources (for positioning); and / or channel state information interference measurement (CSI-IM) and / or IMR resources (e.g., for interference measurements).

[0029] In some example embodiments, triggering of reporting by the UE may be performed via Layer 1 (L1) signaling or via Medium Access Control / Radio Resource Control layer signaling (e.g., at L1 as part of the physical downlink control channel, via existing or new user-specific or group-common DCI formats, or in a MAC with a dedicated MAC CE).

[0030] In some example embodiments, user equipment event-based triggering may be provided for reporting of information for beam grouping regarding measurements on a set of channel measurement resources. As described, this reporting may be in the form of assistance information to the network.

[0031] In some example embodiments, at least one triggering condition (examples of which are described below) may be associated with a CMR within a beam group measurement window. In some example embodiments, the UE is pre-configured (and / or provisioned) with at least one triggering condition.

[0032] In some example embodiments, at least one triggering condition may be as follows: (Condition 1) If the measured linear average SINR (or RSRP) of the resource for the measurement window of the beam group is smaller than a pre-configured SINR threshold (or RSRP threshold), the UE requests a DL transmit (TX) power boost by reporting a quantized power increase value (e.g., as assistance information) for the configured channel measurement resource. For example, delta If the value of is negative, the UE may trigger a DL TX power boost request, otherwise no DL TX boost is required, which can be mathematically summarized as: P delta =averageMeasuredValue - configThreshold, if(P delta <0) DL TX power boost request is sent otherwise No DL TX power boost request is sent end, In this case, the averageMeasuredValue can be determined by calculating a linear average over the calculated SINR (or RSRP) value, and the configThreshold (SINR or RSRP value) is set by the network. The requested DL TX power boost value is P delta , which may be defined as the closest value among pre-set quantized power boost values ​​with different quantization levels, for example Q3.

[0033] In some example embodiments, at least one trigger condition may be as follows: (Condition 2) If the measured linear average value of the absolute beam group difference values ​​(as described above) of the measurement resources within the beam group assistance window is large compared to a preset maximum allowed dynamic range, the UE requests an increase in the maximum allowed dynamic range by reporting a quantized dynamic range increase value (e.g., as assistance information). For example, D delta If the value of is negative, the UE will trigger an increase in the dynamic range, otherwise it will not. This can be mathematically summarized as follows: D delta =averageMeasuredDifferenceValue - configMaxAllowedRange. if(P delta <0) A request for increased dynamic range is sent otherwise No request for increased dynamic range is sent end, In this case, the averageMeasuredDifferenceValue can be determined by calculating the linear average of the differences between the maximum and minimum SINR (or RSRP) values ​​for the resources in the pair / group, and the configMaxAllowedRange (which may be in terms of SINR or RSRP) is set by the network. For example, the required dynamic range increase is D delta , which can be defined as the closest value among the pre-set dynamic range increase values ​​with different quantization levels of Q3.

[0034] In some example embodiments, at least one trigger condition may be as follows: (Condition 3) If the measured linear average power value (as described above) of an interference measurement resource within a beam group assistance window is large compared to a pre-configured interference power threshold, the user equipment reports (e.g., as assistance information) a resource index associated with (or identifying as) the measured linear average power value that exceeds the pre-configured interference threshold.

[0035] In some example embodiments, if UL resources are not configured for beam grouping assistance reporting, the UE requests UL resources for beam grouping assistance reporting.

[0036] In some example embodiments, a resource grouping (e.g., pairing) procedure is provided for simultaneously received CMR-based (e.g., SINR, RSRP, etc.) beam reporting. In some example embodiments, the user equipment can determine resource grouping of simultaneously received CMRs. The network can configure the CMRs for measurements, such as beam grouping measurements, into one or more CMR sets. The UE can assume that there is information available (which may be explicit or implicit) regarding how different CMRs are associated between TRPs and / or gNBs. For example, in beam grouping with multi-TRP operation, the UE can assume that simultaneously received resources in a group (or pair) need to be associated with different TRPs. For example, the UE can select which group (e.g., which set of candidate channel measurement resources) should be reported to the network (e.g., as assistance information). In some example embodiments, the UE may select and / or rank which groups (e.g., pairs) of simultaneously received channel measurement resources to report to the network (e.g., as assistance information for beam group reporting or assistance information for DL / UL beam scheduling) based on at least one rule (e.g., criterion).

[0037] In some example embodiments, the beam group selection or ranking "rules" are as follows: (Rule 1) For each candidate channel measurement resource set (or pair), the user equipment selects a beam group difference value d k is the preset maximum allowable dynamic range D max Whether it is within (i.e., d k <=D max ) are compared. The beam group difference value is defined as the absolute value (e.g., abs()) of the difference between the maximum and minimum SINR values ​​of the simultaneously received resources in the pair / group. For example, for resource pair / group k, d k =abs(abs(max(SINR i=1 ,SINRi=2 ))-abs(min(SINR i=1 ,SINR i=2 ))).

[0038] In some example embodiments, the beam group selection or ranking “rules” are as follows: (Rule 2) The user equipment compares whether the calculated SINR values ​​in the candidate channel measurement resource set are above a configured SINR threshold.

[0039] In some example embodiments, the beam group selection or ranking “rules” are as follows: (Rule 3) The UE ranks the candidate set of simultaneously received channel measurement resources according to one of the following criteria / reporting rules: The absolute beam group difference values ​​associated with the groups satisfying rules 2-3 above in descending or ascending order (e.g., descending order d 3 >d 4 >d 1 >d 2 , 4 groups / pair); or Descending or ascending order of aggregated mutual information (MI) for different resources with respect to SINR within each resource group / pair (4 pairs / groups and 3 resources in each group / pair)

number

[0040] In some example embodiments, the beam group selection or ranking "rules" are as follows: (Rule 4) Using the ranked candidate set / groups (e.g., based on reporting rule 3), the UE is allowed to select only the set of candidate resource pairs / groups for which the number of required receive (RX) antenna panel switches is minimized equal to or less than the maximum antenna panel switching number set per CSI reporting instance or multiple of CSI reporting instance. Alternatively, the network sets a temporal antenna panel switching latency constraint related to RX antenna panel switching to allow the UE to select any combination of receive (RX) antenna panels and RX beams for CMR simultaneous reception that can satisfy the latency constraint set in time. Alternatively or additionally, the ranking rule may be a combination of the above mentioned rules.

[0041] In some example embodiments, the beam group selection or ranking "rules" are as follows: (Rule 5) Using the ranked candidates (e.g., based on Rule 3), the UE can select the best N resource groups / pairs to report on in one or more CSI reporting instances based on Rules 1-4.

[0042] In some example embodiments, a fallback resource grouping / pairing procedure using L1-SINR for simultaneously received CMR resources is provided. If any of the resource pairs / groups does not satisfy any of rules 1-5, the user equipment may fall back to a single gNB or transmit receiving point (TRP) mode. The user equipment may report a single best CMR (e.g., report either the L1-RSRP value or the SINR value for the best CMR, calculated assuming that the CMR is not paired with any other CMR value).

[0043] FIG. 7 depicts an example of a flow diagram including a base station, such as a gNB base station 110, and a user equipment 102, in accordance with some example embodiments.

[0044] At 702, a network such as the gNB 110 may send an indication or message to the user equipment 102 to enable or trigger the UE to provide beam grouping assistance information reporting according to some example embodiments. Moreover, the gNB may indicate to the user equipment a type of event reporting of beam grouping assistance information. For example, the UE may be triggered or enabled to report L maximum absolute beam group difference values ​​associated with an assistance measurement window for beam group reporting, one or more CMRs simultaneously received per group / pair, and / or I maximum interference power with an interference resource identifier (ID) (e.g., an identifier identifying a channel resource in the UE's cell or a neighboring cell) as assistance information to the network. Moreover, the gNB may set a measurement window for performing measurements for the assistance information in the user equipment 102.

[0045] The triggering at 702 may be achieved via Layer 1 (L1) signaling, medium access control, or radio resource control (RRC) layer signaling (e.g., at L1 as part of the physical downlink control channel, via existing or new user-specific or group-common DCI formats, or in the MAC with a dedicated MAC control element).

[0046] At 705, the user equipment 102 may include at least one trigger condition related to the CMR during the assisted measurement window for beam group reporting. The at least one trigger condition may be predefined (e.g., by a standard such as a 3GPP specification) and / or may be set at least in part by the network. Examples of trigger conditions are described above with respect to conditions 1-3 and are summarized in Table 1 below.

[0047] [Table 1]

[0048] At 710, the user equipment 102 provides beam grouping assistance information according to some example embodiments. If condition 1 is triggered, the user equipment includes a quantized power boost value as part of the assistance information reporting. If condition 2 is triggered, the assistance information reporting includes a quantized dynamic range boost value. And if condition 3 is triggered, the assistance information reporting includes a resource index associated with a measured linear average power value above a pre-configured interference threshold.

[0049] In some example embodiments, user equipment event-based triggering may be provided for beam grouping assistance information reporting. For example, two resource sets, e.g., two NZP-CSI-RS resource sets, may be configured as channel measurement resource (CMR) sets with multiple resources in each set. In the example of FIG. 3, K1 resources 302A are configured in the first set and K2 resources 302B are configured in the second set. Moreover, some of the examples described herein include channel state information (CSI) reporting configuration with SINR grouping (e.g., reportQuantity=cri-SINR-grouping, deltaMax=D max , and sinrTh=x).

[0050] When a user equipment is configured with a reporting grouping (e.g., cri-SINR-grouping), the user equipment may determine candidate concurrent reception channel measurement resources from channel measurement resource sets corresponding to different channel measurement resource sets and receive (RX) antenna panels depending on the capabilities of the user equipment.

[0051] FIG. 8 shows an example of a resource grouping procedure of different candidate channel measurement resource sets 810A-D (corresponding to N=2 pairs in this example) to be simultaneously received at the UE and evaluated for reporting to the network along with channel state information such as L1-SINR, RSRP, etc. Based on the possible channel measurement resource pairs from two different resource sets (e.g. K1 and K2 as described above), the user equipment can calculate, for example, a SINR value for each possible resource pair combination by using another channel measurement resource from the different resource set as an interference resource for the SINR calculation. As a result, four different candidate resource sets 810A-D are shown in FIG. 8. In the example of FIG. 8, the resource pairs / groups marked with a cross (e.g. the cross in 810A and 810) are disqualified CMR sets based on one or more rules (e.g. rules 1-5 described above) for beam group reporting to the network.

[0052] For example, to avoid network scheduling limitations and reduce reporting signaling overhead, resource pair ranking criteria / rules (e.g., cri-SINR-grouping, deltaMax, and / or sinrTh parameters) may be configured to simultaneously define ranking and reporting of resource pairs for group-based reporting. The higher layer configured cri-SINR-grouping parameter may define that the UE shall perform beam grouping reporting so that multiple resources can be received simultaneously from different resource sets. The higher layer configured parameter deltaMax may define the maximum allowed power difference of a beam group between L1-SINR / RSRP values ​​associated with resources in a pair / group. The higher layer configured parameter sinrTh may define a particular SINR threshold used as a criterion for reporting. When the user equipment is configured with ranking criteria / rules (e.g., one or more of Rules 1-5 above), the user equipment may perform the process depicted in FIG. 9A.

[0053] In 902, the user equipment calculates, for each candidate pair, such as pair #1, pair #2, etc. 810A-DD, a beam group difference d between the maximum and minimum values ​​in the pair. k For example, in pair #3 810C (FIG. 8), the user equipment calculates the beam group difference as d 3 Calculate as follows.

[0054] At 904, for each candidate pair, the user equipment compares whether the calculated beam group difference values ​​from 902 are within a threshold dynamic range value, such as a pre-configured maximum allowed dynamic range Dmax, i.e., dk<=Dmax. The user equipment may also compare whether the calculated SINR values ​​within the pair / group are above a threshold SINR value, such as the configured SINRth value=x899 in FIG. 8.

[0055] At 906, the user equipment then ranks the groups such as pair #1, pair #2, etc. 810-D according to another rule, such as absolute beam group difference value. At 908, the user equipment can then select the N=2 best resource group for reporting, where the candidate resource pairs / groups satisfy the ranking condition or rule (e.g., in descending / ascending order of absolute beam group difference value associated with groups that satisfy rules 2-3 as described above). In the example of FIG. 8, the crossed resource pairs / groups 810A and 810C are not eligible for reporting to the network, as explained.

[0056] Thus, in the examples of Figures 8 and 9, the UE's reporting of candidate beam groups / pairs is based on the selection of such beam groups / pairs that satisfy one or more rules for selection. In this example, the one or more rules result in the selection of pair 810B and 810D in the beam group report being sent to the network, but pairs 810A and 810C are not included in the beam group report. In other words, the UE selects which beam groups / pairs to report to the network.

[0057] For example, in the case of differential encoding of N different resource groups / pairs using L1-SINR, a single reference resource is set as a reference point for differential encoding. For example, the SINR value of the resource associated with the strongest resource group (based on the above ranking of groups / pairs) acts as a reference value for SINR difference between resources in all N resource groups / pairs, is calculated, and differential encoding is determined. Alternatively, multiple reference resources are set as reference points for differential encoding. In each group, the resource with the strongest SINR value is selected as a reference value for SINR difference, and differential encoding within the group is determined. For example, when N groups / pairs are set, N different reference resources are selected for differential encoding. Two sub-options are possible. The first sub-option is to not differentially encode the SINR of the maximum channel measurement resource in each pair. The second sub-option is to differentially encode the SINR of all maximum channel measurement resources except the best pair. The maximum channel measurement resource of the best pair acts as a reference for the maximum channel measurement resource of the other pairs. The SINR of the maximum channel measurement resource in each pair (other than the best pair) is differentially coded relative to the maximum CMR of the best pair.

[0058] FIG. 9B is a diagram of an example process for rules-based selection of a set of CMRs to be reported to a network, according to some example embodiments.

[0059] According to some example embodiments, at 910, the UE may receive configuration information that configures the user equipment to report information for beam grouping related to measurements on at least one group of channel measurement resources. For example, the network (e.g., gNB) may provide the UE with configuration information, such as information regarding measurement windows for multiple group channel measurement resources, identification of the channel measurement resources, one or more conditions for triggering reporting to the network, and / or at least one rule for selecting a group.

[0060] According to some example embodiments, the UE may select at least one group from the multiple groups of channel measurement resources based on at least one rule provided by the configuration information at 915. The groups of channel measurement resources may be received simultaneously (e.g., at approximately the same time, such as within a time period of the cyclic prefix) on multiple antenna panels at the user equipment.

[0061] Referring to Figure 8, the UE may perform one or more measurements (and / or calculations) on groups of CMRs. In the example of Figure 8, SINR measurements / calculations are performed on: a first group of CMRs 810A, such as an interference signal of CMR#2 and SINR (here CMR#7) at antenna panel 1 (P1) and an interference signal of CMR#7 and SINR (here CMR#2) at antenna panel #3; a second group of CMRs 810B, such as an interference signal of CMR#2 and SINR (here CMR#10) at antenna panel 1 (P1) and an interference signal of CMR#10 and SINR (here CMR#2) at antenna panel #3; a third group of CMRs 810C, such as an interference signal of CMR#6 and SINR (here CMR#7) at antenna panel 1 (P1) and an interference signal of CMR#7 and SINR (here CMR#6) at antenna panel #3; and similarly for group 810B. Based on one or more of the rules (e.g., rules 1-5 above), the UE can select which constellation to report to the network. For example, the UE can select the best N constellation (corresponding to 810B and 810D in this example) based on a SINR threshold and / or other types of rules to report to the network.

[0062] According to some example embodiments, at 920, the UE may report information regarding at least one group selected for beam grouping to the network. With reference to FIG. 8, the UE may report the N best groups of CMR resources, e.g., groups 810B and 810D (this reporting may also include CSI measurements, such as L1-SINR). The network may configure the UE as to what should be reported (e.g., the number of CMR groups, such as best N, which is 2 in this example, the CSI (if any) to be reported, etc.).

[0063] 10A is a block diagram of a network node 1000 according to some example embodiments. The network node 1000 may be configured to provide one or more network side nodes or functions, such as a base station (e.g., gNB, eNB, etc.), disclosed herein, such as sending configuration information to a user equipment for configuring the user equipment to report information for beam grouping regarding measurements on at least one group of channel measurement resources, the configuration information providing at least one rule for allowing the user equipment to select at least one group of channel measurement resources, and receiving information from the equipment regarding the at least one group selected by the user equipment based on the configuration information including the at least one rule.

[0064] The network node 1000, according to some example embodiments, may include a network interface 402, a processor 420, and a memory 1004. The network interface 1002 may include a wired and / or wireless transceiver to enable access to other nodes, including base stations, other network nodes, the Internet, other networks, and / or other nodes. The memory 1004 may comprise volatile and / or non-volatile memory containing program code that, when executed by the at least one processor 1020, implements, among other things, the processes disclosed herein with respect to the network node.

[0065] 10B is a block diagram of an apparatus 10 according to some example embodiments. The apparatus 10 may represent a user equipment or other type of similar user-side node or element. The user equipment may be configured to receive configuration information for configuring the user equipment to report information for beam grouping related to measurements on at least one group of channel measurement resources in the user equipment, select at least one group from a plurality of groups of channel measurement resources by the user equipment, where the selection is based on at least one rule provided by the configuration information, and report information regarding the at least one group selected for beam grouping to the network.

[0066] The device 10 may include at least one antenna 12 in communication with a transmitter 14 and a receiver 16. Alternatively, the transmitting and receiving antennas may be separate. The device 10 may also include a processor 20 configured to provide signals to the transmitter and receive signals from the receiver, and to control the functions of the device. The processor 20 may be configured to control the functions of the transmitter and receiver by enabling control signaling over electrical leads to the transmitter and receiver. Similarly, the processor 20 may be configured to control other elements of the device 10 by enabling control signaling over electrical leads connecting the processor 20 to other elements, such as a display or memory. Processor 20 may be embodied in a variety of ways, including, for example, circuitry, at least one processor core, one or more microprocessors with digital signal processors, one or more microprocessors without digital signal processors, one or more coprocessors, one or more multi-core processors, one or more controllers, processing circuitry, one or more computers, various other processing elements including integrated circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc.), or combinations thereof. Thus, although illustrated as a single processor in FIG. 10B, in some example embodiments processor 20 may include multiple processors or processor cores.

[0067] The device 10 may operate with one or more air interface standards, communication protocols, modulation types, access types, etc. Signals transmitted and received by the processor 20 include signaling information according to the applicable cellular system air interface standard and / or any number of different wireline or wireless networking technologies, including, but not limited to, Wi-Fi, Wireless Local Access Network (WLAN) technologies, such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, 802.16, 802.3, ADSL, DOCSIS, etc. Additionally, such signals may include voice data, user generated data, user requested data, etc.

[0068] For example, device 10 and / or a cellular modem therein may operate according to various first generation (1G) communication protocols, second generation (2G or 2.5G) communication protocols, third generation communication protocols, fourth generation (4G) communication protocols, fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) communication protocols (e.g., Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)), and the like. For example, device 10 may operate according to 2G wireless communication protocols IS-136, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) IS-95, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), and the like. Additionally, for example, device 10 may operate according to 2.5G wireless communication protocols General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), and the like. Additionally, for example, device 10 may operate according to Universal Mobile Telecommunications (UMTS) IS-95, ... The device 10 may operate according to 3G wireless communication protocols such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), etc. The device 10 may further operate according to 3.9G wireless communication protocols such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), etc. Additionally, for example, the device 10 may operate according to 4G wireless communication protocols such as LTE Advanced, 5G, etc., as well as similar wireless communication protocols that may be subsequently developed.

[0069] It should be understood that the processor 20 can include circuitry for implementing the audio / visual and logic functions of the device 10. For example, the processor 20 may comprise a digital signal processor device, a microprocessor device, an analog-to-digital converter, a digital-to-analog converter, and the like. The control and signal processing functions of the device 10 can be allocated among such devices according to their respective capabilities. The processor 20 may further comprise an internal voice coder (VC) 20a, an internal data modem (DM) 20b, and the like. Furthermore, the processor 20 may include functionality for operating one or more software programs, which may be stored in memory. In general, the processor 20 and the stored software instructions may be configured to cause the device 10 to perform actions. For example, the processor 20 may operate a connectivity program, such as a web browser. The connectivity program enables the device 10 to transmit and receive web content, such as location-based content, according to protocols such as Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and the like.

[0070] The device 10 may also include a user interface, including, for example, an earphone or speaker 24, a ringer 22, a microphone 26, a display 28, a user input interface, etc., which may be operatively coupled to the processor 20. The display 28 may include a touch-sensitive display on which a user may touch and / or gesture to make selections, input values, etc., as described above. The processor 20 may also include user interface circuitry configured to control at least one function of one or more elements of the user interface, such as the speaker 24, the ringer 22, the microphone 26, the display 28, etc. The processor 20 and / or the user interface circuitry comprising the processor 20 may be configured to control at least one function of one or more elements of the user interface through computer program instructions, e.g., software and / or firmware, stored in memory accessible to the processor 20, e.g., the volatile memory 40, the non-volatile memory 42, etc. The device 10 may include a battery for powering various circuits associated with a mobile terminal, such as circuitry for providing mechanical vibration as a detectable output. The user input interface may include devices such as a keypad 30 (which may be a virtual keyboard presented on the display 28 or an externally connected keyboard) and / or other input devices that enable the apparatus 20 to receive data.

[0071] As shown in FIG. 10B, the device 10 may also include one or more mechanisms for sharing and / or obtaining data. For example, the device 10 may include a short-range radio frequency (RF) transceiver and / or interrogator 64, so that it may share data with and / or obtain data from electronic devices according to RF techniques. The device 10 may include other short-range transceivers, such as an infrared (IR) transceiver 66, a Bluetooth™ (BT) transceiver 68 operating using Bluetooth™ wireless technology, a wireless universal serial bus (USB) transceiver 70, a Bluetooth™ Low Energy transceiver, a ZigBee transceiver, an ANT transceiver, a cellular device-to-device transceiver, a wireless local area link transceiver, and / or any other short-range wireless technology. The device 10, and in particular the short-range transceiver, may transmit data to and / or receive data from nearby electronic devices, such as within 10 meters of the device. The apparatus 10, which includes a Wi-Fi or wireless local area networking modem, can also transmit data to and / or receive data from electronic devices according to various wireless networking techniques, including WLAN techniques such as 6LoWpan, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi low power, IEEE 802.11 techniques, IEEE 802.15 techniques, IEEE 802.16 techniques, etc.

[0072] The device 10 may include memory such as a subscriber identity module (SIM) 38, a removable user identity module (R-UIM), an eUICC, a UICC, etc., which may store information elements related to a mobile subscriber. In addition to the SIM, the device 10 may include other removable and / or fixed memories. The device 10 may include a volatile memory 40 and / or a non-volatile memory 42. For example, the volatile memory 40 may include random access memory (RAM), including dynamic and / or static RAM, on-chip or off-chip cache memory, etc. The non-volatile memory 42, which may be embedded and / or removable, may include, for example, read-only memory, flash memory, magnetic storage devices such as hard disks, floppy disks, magnetic tapes, optical disk drives and / or media, non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), etc. Similar to the volatile memory 40, the non-volatile memory 42 may include a cache area for temporary storage of data. At least a portion of the volatile and / or non-volatile memory may be embedded in the processor 20. The memory may store one or more software programs, instructions, information, data, etc. that may be used by the device to perform the operations disclosed herein.

[0073] The memory may include an identifier, such as an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) code, that can uniquely identify the device 10. The memory may include an identifier, such as an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) code, that can uniquely identify the device 10. In an example embodiment, the processor 20 may be configured using computer code stored in memory 40 and / or 42 to implement the operations disclosed herein with respect to the UE (e.g., one or more of the processes, calculations, etc. disclosed herein, including the process in FIG. 3).

[0074] Some of the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented in software, hardware, application logic, or a combination of software, hardware, and application logic. The software, application logic, and / or hardware may reside in, for example, memory 40, controller 20, or electronic components. In some exemplary embodiments, the application logic, software, or instruction set is maintained in any of a variety of conventional computer-readable media. In the context of this document, a "computer-readable storage medium" may be any non-transitory medium capable of containing, storing, communicating, propagating, or transporting instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer or data processor circuitry. Computer-readable media may include non-transitory computer-readable storage media, which may be any medium capable of containing or storing instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer.

[0075] Without being limiting to the scope, interpretation, or application of the claims set forth below, one or more technical effects of the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein may be more dynamic adaptation of beam group reporting and / or more dynamic operation of beam grouping in the presence of multiple TRPs by facilitating increased network scheduling flexibility and reduced reporting signaling overhead.

[0076] The subject matter described herein can be embodied in a system, an apparatus, a method, and / or an article depending on the desired configuration. For example, the base station and user equipment (or one or more components therein) and / or the processes described herein can be implemented using one or more of the following: a processor executing program code, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), an embedded processor, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and / or a combination thereof. These various embodiments may include embodiments in one or more computer programs executable and / or interpretable on a programmable system including at least one programmable processor, such processors may be special purpose or general purpose and may be coupled to receive data and instructions from and transmit data and instructions to a storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device. These computer programs (also known as programs, software, software applications, applications, components, program code, or code, etc.) include machine instructions for a programmable processor and can be executed in a high-level procedural and / or object-oriented programming language and / or in an assembly / machine language. As used herein, the term "computer-readable medium" refers to any computer program product, machine-readable medium, computer-readable storage medium, apparatus, and / or device (e.g., magnetic disk, optical disk, memory, programmable logic device (PLD)) used to provide machine instructions and / or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machine instructions. Similarly, systems that may include a processor and a memory coupled to the processor are also described herein. The memory may include one or more programs that cause the processor to perform one or more of the operations described herein.

[0077] Although only some variations have been described in detail above, other modifications or additions are possible. In particular, further features and / or variations may be realized in addition to those described herein. Moreover, the above-described embodiments may be directed to various combinations and subcombinations of the disclosed features and / or combinations and subcombinations of some further features disclosed above. Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.

[0078] If desired, the various features discussed herein may be performed in different orders and / or simultaneously with each other. Furthermore, if desired, one or more of the above-mentioned features may be optional or combined. Although some various aspects of the embodiments are set forth in the independent claims, some other aspects of the embodiments include other combinations of features from the described embodiments and / or the dependent claims with features of the independent claims, not just the combinations explicitly set forth in the claims. It should also be noted that although exemplary embodiments are described herein above, these descriptions should not be viewed in a limiting sense. Rather, there are several variations and modifications that can be made without departing from the scope of some of the embodiments as defined in the appended claims. Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. The term "based on" includes "based at least on". The use of the phrase "such as" means "for example, such as", unless otherwise indicated.

Claims

1. receiving, at a user equipment, configuration information for configuring the user equipment to report information for beam grouping related to measurements on at least one group of channel measurement resources; selecting, by the user equipment, at least one group from a plurality of groups of channel measurement resources, the selecting being based on at least one rule provided by the configuration information; reporting information regarding the at least one group selected for the beam grouping to a network; Including, The method, wherein the at least one rule includes ranking the multiple groups of simultaneously received channel measurement resources to determine which of the multiple groups of simultaneously received channel measurement resources to select as the at least one group.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ranking is based at least in part on one or more of the following: absolute beam group difference values ​​of the channel measurement resources, aggregated mutual information of the channel measurement resources, a number of required receive antenna panel switches that is minimized to be below a threshold maximum number of antenna panel switches, or below a threshold latency constraint value, or a combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the at least one rule includes determining whether a beam group difference value for the plurality of groups of channel measurement resources is within a threshold dynamic range value.

4. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one rule includes determining, for the multiple groups of simultaneously received channel measurement resources, whether a signal to interference plus noise value for each of the multiple groups of channel measurement resources is above a signal to interference plus noise threshold.

5. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the information about the beam grouping comprises assistance information for the network.

6. The method of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the reporting is triggered by a request from the network.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the reporting is triggered by the user equipment based on one or more conditions and / or the one or more conditions are provided to the user equipment by the network and / or pre-configured in the user equipment.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the configuration information includes one or more of the following: information regarding measurement windows for the plurality of groups of channel measurement resources, an identification of the channel measurement resources, the one or more conditions, and the at least one rule.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more conditions include one or more of the following: a maximum absolute beam group difference value for the measurement window, a number of channel measurement resources simultaneously received in the group of channel measurement resources, and a maximum interference power including an interference resource identifier.

10. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more conditions include a first condition, the first condition comprising a measured linear average signal to interference plus noise or a measured linear average reference symbol received power being less than a pre-configured signal to interference plus noise threshold or a reference symbol received power threshold, and wherein in response to the first condition being satisfied, the reporting for the selected at least one group comprises a transmit power boost for the channel measurement resources.

11. The method of any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the one or more conditions include a second condition, the second condition including a measured linear average value of absolute beam group difference between maximum and minimum of signal to interference plus noise or reference symbol received power being greater than a preset maximum allowed dynamic range, and the reporting for the selected at least one group in response to the second condition being satisfied includes a quantized dynamic range increase value.

12. 10. The method of claim 8 or 9, wherein the one or more conditions include a third condition, the third condition including a measured linear average power value of an interference measurement resource for the measurement window being greater than a pre-configured interference power threshold, and wherein the reporting for the at least one selected group in response to the third condition being satisfied includes at least one resource index.

13. An apparatus comprising: At least one processor; at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code being transmitted by the at least one processor to the device; receiving configuration information for configuring the device to report information for beam grouping related to measurements on at least one group of channel measurement resources; selecting at least one group from a plurality of groups of channel measurement resources, said selecting being based on at least one rule provided by the configuration information; reporting information regarding the at least one group selected for the beam grouping to a network; at least one memory configured to cause Equipped with 22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the at least one rule includes ranking the plurality of groups of simultaneously received channel measurement resources to determine which of the plurality of groups of simultaneously received channel measurement resources to select as the at least one group.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the ranking is based at least in part on one or more of the following: absolute beam group difference values ​​of the channel measurement resources, aggregated mutual information of the channel measurement resources, a number of required receive antenna panel switches that is minimized to be below a threshold maximum number of antenna panel switches or below a threshold latency constraint value, or a combination thereof.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 or 14, wherein the at least one rule comprises determining whether a beam group difference value for the plurality of groups of channel measurement resources is within a threshold dynamic range value.

16. 16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one rule includes determining, for the multiple groups of simultaneously received channel measurement resources, whether a signal to interference plus noise value for each of the multiple groups of channel measurement resources is above a signal to interference plus noise threshold.

17. The apparatus of any one of claims 13 to 16, wherein the information about the beam grouping comprises assistance information for the network.

18. The apparatus of any one of claims 13 to 17, wherein the reporting is triggered by a request from the network.

19. The device according to any one of claims 13 to 18, wherein the reporting is triggered by the device based on one or more conditions and / or the one or more conditions are provided to the device by the network and / or pre-configured in the device.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the configuration information includes one or more of the following: information regarding measurement windows for the plurality of groups of channel measurement resources, an identification of the channel measurement resource, the one or more conditions, and the at least one rule.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the one or more conditions include one or more of the following: a maximum absolute beam group difference value for the measurement window, a number of channel measurement resources simultaneously received in the group of channel measurement resources, and a maximum interference power including an interference resource identifier.

22. 22. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more conditions include a first condition, the first condition comprising a measured linear average signal to interference plus noise or a measured linear average reference signal received power being less than a pre-configured signal to interference plus noise threshold or a reference signal power threshold, and wherein in response to the first condition being satisfied, the reporting for the selected at least one group comprises a transmit power boost for the channel measurement resources.

23. The apparatus of any one of claims 13 to 22, wherein the one or more conditions include a second condition, the second condition including a measured linear average value of absolute beam group difference between maximum and minimum of signal to interference plus noise or reference signal received power being greater than a preset maximum allowed dynamic range, and wherein in response to the second condition being satisfied, the reporting for the selected at least one group includes a quantized dynamic range increase value.

24. 10. The apparatus of claim 8 or 9, wherein the one or more conditions include a third condition, the third condition including a measured linear average power value of an interference measurement resource for the measurement window being greater than a pre-configured interference power threshold, and wherein the reporting for the at least one selected group in response to the third condition being satisfied includes at least one resource index.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing program code, the program code, when executed by at least one processor, receiving, at a user equipment, configuration information for configuring the user equipment to report information for beam grouping related to measurements on at least one group of channel measurement resources; selecting, by the user equipment, at least one group from a plurality of groups of channel measurement resources, the selecting being based on at least one rule provided by the configuration information; reporting information regarding the at least one group selected for the beam grouping to a network; This may result in actions including A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising program code, wherein the at least one rule includes ranking the multiple groups of channel measurement resources to determine which of the multiple groups of simultaneously received channel measurement resources to select as the at least one group.

26. In a network node, sending configuration information to a user equipment for configuring the user equipment to report information for beam grouping related to measurements on at least one group of channel measurement resources, the configuration information providing at least one rule for the user equipment to select the at least one group of channel measurement resources from a plurality of groups of channel measurement resources; receiving from the device information regarding the at least one group selected by the user equipment based on the configuration information including the at least one rule; Including, The method, wherein the at least one rule includes ranking the multiple groups of simultaneously received channel measurement resources to determine which of the multiple groups of simultaneously received channel measurement resources to select as the at least one group.

27. An apparatus in a network node, comprising: At least one processor; at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code being transmitted by the at least one processor to the device; sending configuration information to a user equipment for configuring the user equipment to report information for beam grouping related to measurements on at least one group of channel measurement resources, the configuration information providing at least one rule for the user equipment to select the at least one group of channel measurement resources from a plurality of groups of channel measurement resources; receiving from the device information regarding the at least one group selected by the user equipment based on the configuration information including the at least one rule; at least one memory configured to cause Equipped with 22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the at least one rule includes ranking the plurality of groups of simultaneously received channel measurement resources to determine which of the plurality of groups of simultaneously received channel measurement resources to select as the at least one group.

28. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium in a network node, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising program code, the program code being executed by at least one processor. sending configuration information to a user equipment for configuring the user equipment to report information for beam grouping related to measurements on at least one group of channel measurement resources, the configuration information providing at least one rule for the user equipment to select the at least one group of channel measurement resources from a plurality of groups of channel measurement resources; receiving from the device information regarding the at least one group selected by the user equipment based on the configuration information including the at least one rule; This may result in actions including A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising program code, wherein the at least one rule includes ranking the multiple groups of channel measurement resources to determine which of the multiple groups of simultaneously received channel measurement resources to select as the at least one group.

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