Systems and methods for TCI state activation and codepoint to TCI state mapping

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for activating TCI states and mapping code points to TCI states. A method performed by a wireless device for activating TCI states includes one or more of: being configured to monitor multiple DCI formats having TCI fields for PDSCH reception; receiving a single MAC CE for activating TCI states and mapping the activated TCI states to TCI field code points of the DCI formats; and receiving separate MAC CEs for activating TCI states and mapping the activated TCI states to TCI field code points of each of the multiple DCI formats. Therefore, the use of separate MAC CEs allows for more flexible selection of TCI states for downlink scheduling for each DCI format. Furthermore, a definition of a default TCI state may be provided when state activation and state-to-TCI field code point mapping are provided by either a single MAC CE or different MAC CEs.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] This application claims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 63 / 007,746, filed April 9, 2020, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety.

[0002] Systems and methods are provided for Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state activation and codepoint-to-TCI state mapping. [Background technology]

[0003] The new generation of mobile wireless communication systems (5G), or New Radio (NR), will support a diverse set of use cases and a diverse set of deployment scenarios.

[0004] NR uses cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) in the downlink (i.e., from a network node, gNB, eNB, or base station to a user equipment or UE) and both CP-OFDM and discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM) in the uplink (i.e., from a user equipment (UE) to a new radio base station (gNB)). In the time domain, the NR downlink and uplink physical resources are organized into equal-sized subframes of 1 ms each. The subframes are further divided into multiple slots of equal duration.

[0005] The slot length depends on the subcarrier spacing: for a subcarrier spacing of Δf=15 kHz, there is only one slot per subframe, and each slot always consists of 14 OFDM symbols, regardless of the subcarrier spacing.

[0006] Figure 1 illustrates an NR time domain configuration with 15 kHz subcarrier spacing in accordance with some embodiments. Typical data scheduling in NR is slot-based, and Figure 1 illustrates an example in which the first two symbols include a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and the remaining 12 symbols include a Physical Data Channel (PDCH), which is either a Physical Downlink Data Channel (PDSCH) or a Physical Uplink Data Channel (PUSCH).

[0007] In NR, different subcarrier spacing values ​​are supported. The supported subcarrier spacing values ​​(also called different numerologies) are Δf = (15 × 2 α ) kHz, where α is a non-negative integer. Δf = 15 kHz is the basic subcarrier spacing also used in LTE. The slot durations for different subcarrier spacings are given in the table below: TIFF0007641986000001.tif67154

[0008] In the definition of frequency domain physical resources, the system bandwidth is divided into multiple resource blocks (RBs), each corresponding to 12 consecutive subcarriers. Common RBs (CRBs) are numbered starting with 0 from one end of the system bandwidth. A UE is configured with one or up to four bandwidth parts (BWPs), where a BWP can be a subset of RBs supported on a carrier. Thus, a BWP can start with a CRB greater than zero. All configured BWPs have a common reference, CRB 0. Thus, a UE can be configured with a narrow BWP (e.g., 10 MHz) and a wide BWP (e.g., 100 MHz), but only one BWP can be active for the UE at a given time. Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) are numbered from 0 to N-1 within a BWP (wherein the 0th PRB can be the Kth CRB, where K>0).

[0009] A basic NR physical time-frequency resource grid is shown in Figure 2, where only one resource (RB) in a 14-symbol slot is shown. One OFDM subcarrier during one OFDM symbol interval forms one resource element (RE).

[0010] Downlink transmissions may be dynamically scheduled, i.e., in each slot, the gNB transmits downlink control information (DCI) via the PDCCH about which UE data should be transmitted and on which RB the data should be transmitted in the current downlink slot. The PDCCH is typically transmitted in the first one or two OFDM symbols in each slot in NR. The UE data is carried on the PDSCH. The UE first detects and decodes the PDCCH, and after successful decoding, decodes the corresponding PDSCH based on the decoded control information in the PDCCH.

[0011] Uplink data transmissions may be dynamically scheduled using the PDCCH. Similar to the downlink, the UE first decodes the uplink grant in the PDCCH and then transmits data on the PUSCH based on the decoded control information in the uplink grant, such as modulation order, coding rate, uplink resource allocation, etc.

[0012] Currently, there is an issue: for DCI format 1_1, when the TCI field is enabled, the TCI field in DCI format 1_1 is always 3 bits (i.e. 8 code points), so the number of TCI field code points in DCI format 1_1 does not change when the TCI field is enabled in different CORESETs.

[0013] Therefore, there is a need for improved TCI state activation and improved mapping from codepoints to TCI states. Summary of the Invention

[0014] Systems and methods are provided for Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) activation and code point to TCI state mapping. In some embodiments, a method performed by a wireless device for activating a TCI state includes one or more of: being configured to monitor multiple downlink control information (DCI) formats having TCI fields for physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) reception; receiving a single medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for activating a TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to a TCI field code point of the multiple DCI formats; and receiving a separate MAC CE for activating a TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to a respective TCI field code point of the multiple DCI formats. In some embodiments, one or more of the multiple DCI formats are DCI format 1_1 and / or 1_2. Advantages may include that a TCI state for downlink scheduling may be more flexibly selected for each DCI format by using a separate MAC CE. For example, DCI format 1_2 may be used to schedule URLLC data in the downlink with one set of TCI states (e.g., one set of beams), and DCI format 1_1 may be used to schedule enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) data in the downlink with another set of TCI states (e.g., a second set of beams).

[0015] In some embodiments, a method performed by a base station to activate a TCI state includes one or more of: configuring a wireless device to monitor multiple DCI formats having a TCI field for PDSCH reception; transmitting a single MAC CE to the wireless device for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to a TCI field code point of the multiple DCI formats; and transmitting separate MAC CEs to the wireless device for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to each TCI field code point of the multiple DCI formats.

[0016] In some embodiments, if the number S of code points in the TCI field of the DCI is less than the maximum number of code points in a MAC CE activation command, the S code points are mapped to the first S code points in the MAC CE activation command.

[0017] In some embodiments, when a single activation command is used for TCI state activation / deactivation for both DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2, the default TCI state is the TCI state corresponding to the lowest TCI codepoint included in the MAC CE activation command, which includes two different TCI states.

[0018] A method for determining a mapping between codepoints and one or more TCI states for DCI format 1_2 is proposed, which includes one or more of the following: sharing the same MAC CE activation command with DCI format 1_1, activating the TCI state and using the mapping for the first S codepoints in the activation command to map to codepoints for DCI format 1_2, where S is the number of codepoints configured for DCI format 1_2 in the CORESET; and / or · sharing the same MAC CE activation command with DCI format 1_1 and using the mapping for S consecutive code points in the activation command, starting from the configured offset value; · Use separate MAC CE Activate command for DCI formats 1_2.

[0019] Furthermore, it is also proposed to determine a default TCI state for both single shared and separate MAC CE activation cases.

[0020] Various embodiments are proposed herein to address one or more of the above-mentioned problems. In some embodiments, one or more of the multiple DCI formats are DCI format 1_1 and / or 1_2. In some embodiments, activating a TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to a TCI field code point of the multiple DCI formats using a single MAC CE includes using a mapping of a subset of TCI field code points in one DCI format to a TCI field code point of another DCI format. In some embodiments, the activated TCI state mapped to the first S TCI field code points in DCI format 1_1 is mapped to a TCI field code point in DCI format 1_2, where S is, for example, the number of code points in the TCI field of DCI format 1_2. In some embodiments, the activated TCI states mapped to TCI field code points S0+1 to S0+S in DCI format 1_1 are mapped to TCI field code points in DCI format 1_2, where S is, for example, the number of code points in the TCI field of DCI format 1_2 and S0 is, for example, either a predefined, fixed or configurable value.

[0021] In some embodiments, S is determined from the upper layer parameter tci-PresentInDCI-ForDCI-Format1-2 to S=2 K where K can take one of the values ​​1, 2, or 3 set by tci-PresentInDCI-ForDCI-Format1-2.

[0022] In some embodiments, activating a TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to TCI fields and code points of a plurality of DCI formats using a single MAC CE includes one or more of: receiving a TCI state mapping to a number of code points that is greater than the number of code points in any of the plurality of DCI formats in the single MAC CE; using a mapping of a first subset of the TCI fields and code points in the MAC CE to the TCI fields and code points of the first DCI format; and using a mapping of a second subset of the TCI fields and code points in the MAC CE to the TCI fields and code points of the second DCI format.

[0023] In some embodiments, activating a TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to TCI field codepoints of multiple DCI formats using a single MAC CE includes indicating to which DCI format, among the multiple DCI formats, the TCI codepoint mapping applies, using a field in the MAC CE.

[0024] In some embodiments, different MAC CEs are used to activate TCI states and to map the activated TCI states to TCI field codepoints of multiple DCI formats.

[0025] In some embodiments, the default TCI state is defined as the TCI state that corresponds to the lowest TCI codepoint included in the MAC CE, including two different TCI states.

[0026] In some embodiments, the default TCI state is defined as the TCI state that corresponds to the lowest TCI codepoint included in one of the different MAC CEs that includes two different TCI states.

[0027] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages: Thus, advantages of some embodiments may include that a single MAC CE may be used to provide TCI state activation and TCI state to TCI field codepoint mapping for multiple downlink DCI formats, which avoids the need to introduce a separate MAC CE for each downlink DCI format.

[0028] There are also advantages associated with some other embodiments that provide TCI state activation and TCI state to TCI field codepoint mapping for multiple downlink DCI formats using different MAC CEs. The advantages may include that the TCI state for downlink scheduling may be selected more flexibly for each DCI format by using a separate MAC CE. For example, DCI format 1_2 may be used to schedule URLLC data in the downlink with one set of TCI states (e.g., one set of beams), and DCI format 1_1 may be used to schedule eMBB data in the downlink with another set of TCI states (e.g., a second set of beams).

[0029] Another advantage of the proposed solution may be that it provides for the definition of a default TCI state when the activation of TCI states and the mapping of TCI states to TCI field codepoints for multiple downlink DCI formats is provided either by a single MAC CE or by different MAC CEs. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0030] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form 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.

[0031] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates an NR time domain configuration with 15 kHz subcarrier spacing, according to some embodiments and according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0032] [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 illustrates a basic NR physical time-frequency resource grid in accordance with some other embodiments of the disclosure.

[0033] [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a cellular communication system in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented.

[0034] [Figure 4] FIG. 4 illustrates mapping of frontloaded DMRS for configuration types 1 and 2 having single-symbol DMRS and double-symbol DMRS, and for mapping type A having the first DMRS in the third symbol of a 14-symbol transmission interval, in accordance with some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0035] [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of multi-PDCCH based multi-TRP transmission using a single scheduler according to some embodiments.

[0036] [Figure 6] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of multi-PDCCH based multi-TRP transmission with independent schedulers according to some embodiments.

[0037] [Figure 7] FIG. 7 illustrates an example illustrating a relationship between TCI states and DM-RS CDM groups in a scenario in which a UE receives a PDSCH via multiple PDCCHs transmitted from different TRPs, according to some embodiments.

[0038] [Figure 8]FIG. 8 illustrates an example in which PDSCH1 is scheduled by PDCCH1 from TRP1 and PDSCH2 is scheduled by PDCCH2 from TRP2, according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0039] [Figure 9] FIG. 9 illustrates a TCI state activation / deactivation PDSCH MAC CE for a multi-DCI based PDSCH multi-TRP transmission according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0040] [Figure 10] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of NC-JT supported in NR Release 16, in which a single CW is transmitted over two TRPs, in accordance with some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0041] [Figure 11] FIG. 11 illustrates an example of multi-TRP PDSCH transmission using FDM scheme A (FDMSchemeA) in accordance with some other embodiments of the present disclosure, where the PDSCH is transmitted via TRP1 in PRG (precoding RB group) {0,2,4} and via TRP2 in PRG {1,3,5}.

[0042] [Figure 12] FIG. 12 illustrates an example of data transmission using FDM scheme B (FDMSchemeB) in which PDSCH#1 with the same TB is transmitted with PRG{0,2,4} from TRP1 and PDSCH#2 with the same TB is transmitted with PRG{1,3,5} from TRP2 in accordance with some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0043] [Figure 13] FIG. 13 shows an example of data transmission using TDM scheme A (TDMSchemeA) where PDSCH repetitions occur in minislots of four OFDM symbols within a slot.

[0044] [Figure 14] FIG. 14 illustrates an example of a PDSCH transmission using multiple DCIs with multiple TRPs according to some embodiments.

[0045] [Figure 15] FIG. 15 illustrates a TCI state activation / deactivation PDSCH MAC CE for a single DCI based PDSCH multi-TRP transmission according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0046] [Figure 16] FIG. 16 illustrates an example of a default TCI state for a mapping from a given code point of a TCI field to a TCI state according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0047] [Figure 17] FIG. 17 illustrates an example illustrating a default TCI state for a multi-DCI based PDSCH multi-TRP transmission according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0048] [Figure 18] FIG. 18 illustrates a method performed by a wireless device for activating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state according to some other embodiments of the disclosure.

[0049] [Figure 19] FIG. 19 illustrates a method performed by a base station for activating a TCI state according to some other embodiments of the disclosure.

[0050] [Figure 20] FIG. 20 illustrates an example showing a subset of activated TCI states mapped to TCI fields in DCI format 1_1 being mapped to code points of TCI fields in DCI format 1_2, according to some embodiments.

[0051] [Figure 21] FIG. 21 shows a second example illustrating a subset of activated TCI states mapped to TCI fields in DCI format 1_1 being mapped to code points of TCI fields in DCI format 1_2 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0052] [Figure 22] FIG. 22 is a schematic block diagram of a radio access node according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0053] [Figure 23] FIG. 23 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualized embodiment of a radio access node according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0054] [Figure 24] FIG. 24 is a schematic block diagram of a radio access node according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0055] [Diagram 25] FIG. 25 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless communication device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0056] [Figure 26] FIG. 26 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless communication device according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0057] [Figure 27] FIG. 27 illustrates that, according to an embodiment, a communications system includes a communications network, such as a 3GPP type cellular network, including an access network, such as a RAN, and a core network, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0058] [Figure 28]FIG. 28 illustrates an example implementation of a UE, a base station, and a host computer according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0059] [Figure 29] FIG. 29 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed in a communication system, according to one embodiment.

[0060] [Diagram 30] FIG. 30 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed in a communication system, according to one embodiment.

[0061] [Diagram 31] FIG. 31 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed in a communication system, according to one embodiment.

[0062] [Diagram 32] FIG. 32 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed in a communication system, according to one embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0063] The embodiments described below represent information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and to illustrate the best mode 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 are within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0064] Wireless Node: As used herein, a "wireless node" is either a wireless access node or a wireless communication device.

[0065] Radio Access Node: As used herein, a "radio access node" or "radio network node" or "radio access network node" is any node within a Radio Access Network (RAN) of a cellular communications network that operates to transmit and / or receive signals wirelessly. Some examples of radio access nodes include, but are not limited to, a base station (e.g., a New Radio (NR) base station (gNB) in a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®) fifth generation (5G) NR network, an enhanced or evolved Node B (eNB) in a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) network), a high power or macro base station, a low power base station (e.g., a micro base station, a pico base station, a Home eNB, etc.), a relay node, a network node implementing some of the functionality of a base station (e.g., a network node implementing a gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU) or a network node implementing a gNB Distributed Unit (gNB-DU)), or a network node implementing some of the functionality of some other type of radio access node.

[0066] Core Network Node: As used herein, a "core network node" is any type of node in a core network or any node that implements a core network function. Some examples of core network nodes include, for example, a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW), a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF), a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), etc. Other examples of core network nodes include nodes implementing an Access and Mobility Function (AMF), a User Plane Function (UPF), a Session Management Function (SMF), an Authentication Server Function (AUSF), a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF), a Network Exposure Function (NEF), a Network Function (NF) Repository Function (NRF), a Policy Control Function (PCF), a Unified Data Management (UDM), etc.

[0067] Communication Device: As used herein, a "communication device" is any type of device that has access to an access network. Some examples of communication devices include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, smartphones, sensor devices, meters, vehicles, home appliances, medical equipment, media players, cameras, or any type of consumer electronics, such as, for example, televisions, radios, lighting devices, tablet computers, laptops, or personal computers (PCs). A communication device can be a portable, handheld, computer-embedded, or vehicle-mounted mobile device capable of communicating voice and / or data over a wireless or wired connection.

[0068] Wireless Communication Device: One type of communication device is a wireless communication device, which may be any type of wireless device that has access to (i.e., is served by) a wireless network (e.g., a cellular network). Some examples of wireless devices include, but are not limited to, user equipment devices (UE) in a 3GPP network, machine type communication (MTC) devices, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Some examples of such wireless communication devices may be or may be embedded in a mobile phone, a smartphone, a sensor device, a meter, a vehicle, a home appliance, a medical device, a media player, a camera, or any type of consumer electronic device, such as, for example, a television, a radio, a lighting device, a tablet computer, a laptop, or a PC. A wireless communication device may be a portable, handheld, computer-embedded, or vehicle-mounted mobile device capable of communicating voice and / or data over a wireless connection.

[0069] Network Node: As used herein, a "network node" is any node that is part of the RAN or part of the core network of a cellular communications network / system.

[0070] 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.

[0071] It should be noted that although in the description herein reference may be made to the term "cell", it is important to note that, particularly with respect to 5G NR concepts, beams may be used instead of cells, and therefore the concepts described herein are equally applicable to both cells and beams.

[0072] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a cellular communication system 300 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. In the embodiments described herein, the cellular communication system 300 is a 5G system (5GS) including an NR RAN or an LTE RAN (i.e., an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) RAN), or an Evolved Packet System (EPS) including an LTE RAN. In this example, the RAN includes base stations 302-1 and 302-2, referred to as gNBs in 5G NR (e.g., LTE RAN nodes connected to a 5G Core (5GC), referred to as gn-eNBs), which control corresponding (macro) cells 304-1 and 304-2. The base stations 302-1 and 302-2 are generally referred to herein collectively as base stations 302 and individually as base stations 302. The (macro) cells 304-1 and 304-2 are generally referred to herein collectively as (macro) cells 304 and individually as macro cells 304. The RAN may also include a number of low power nodes 306-1-306-4 that control corresponding small cells 308-1-308-4. The low power nodes 306-1-306-4 may be small base stations (such as pico or femto base stations) or remote radio heads (RRHs), etc. Although not shown, one or more of the small cells 308-1-308-4 may alternatively be provided by the base station 302. The low power nodes 306-1-306-4 are generally referred to herein collectively as low power nodes 306 and individually as low power nodes 306. Similarly, the small cells 308-1-308-4 are generally referred to herein collectively as small cells 308 and individually as small cells 308. The cellular communication system 300 further includes a core network 310, which in 5GS is referred to as 5G Core (5GC). The base station 302 (and optionally the low power node 306 ) is connected to a core network 310 .

[0073] Base station 302 and low power node 306 serve wireless communication devices 312-1 through 312-5 in corresponding cells 304 and 308. Wireless communication devices 312-1 through 312-5 are generally referred to herein collectively as wireless communication devices 312 and individually as wireless communication devices 312. In the description that follows, wireless communication devices 312 are often UEs, although the disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0074] QCL and TCL states

[0075] Multiple signals may be transmitted from the same base station antenna, but from separate antenna ports, which may have the same large-scale characteristics, e.g., in terms of Doppler shift / spread, mean delay spread, or mean delay, as measured at the receiver. These antenna ports are said to be Quasi Co-Located (QCL).

[0076] The network may further signal to the terminal that the two antenna ports are QCL. If the UE knows that the two antenna ports are QCL with respect to a particular parameter (e.g., Doppler spread), the UE may estimate that parameter based on a reference signal transmitted from one of the antenna ports and use the estimate when receiving other reference signals or physical channels on the other antenna ports. Typically, the first antenna port is represented by a measurement reference signal such as a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) (known as source RS), and the second antenna port is a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) (known as target RS) for PDSCH or PDCCH reception.

[0077] For example, if antenna ports A and B are QCL with respect to average delay, the UE can estimate the average delay from the signal received from antenna port A (known as the source reference signal (RS)) and assume that the signal received from antenna port B (target RS) has the same average delay. This helps in demodulation as when trying to measure the channel using DMRS, the UE can know the characteristics of the channel in advance, which is useful for the UE to select, for example, an appropriate channel estimation filter.

[0078] Information regarding what assumptions can be made regarding the QCL is signaled from the network to the UE. In NR, four types of QCL relationships between the transmitted source RS and the transmitted target RS have been defined: Type A: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread} Type B: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread} Type C: {average delay, Doppler shift} Type D: {Spatial Rx parameters}

[0079] QCL type D was introduced to facilitate beam management with analog beamforming and is known as spatial QCL. Currently, there is no strict definition of spatial QCL, but if two transmitted antenna ports are spatially QCL, the UE may use the same Rx beam to receive them. This is useful for UEs that use analog beamforming to receive signals, because the UE needs to adjust its RX beam in a certain direction before receiving a signal. If the UE knows that a signal is spatially QCL with some other signal it has received before, it can safely use the same RX beam to receive this signal as well. Note that for beam management, the discussion is mostly centered on QCL type D, but it is also necessary to convey the type A QCL relationship for RS to the UE, so that all relevant large-scale parameters can be estimated.

[0080] Typically, this is achieved by configuring the UE with a tracking CSI-RS or a Tracking Reference Signal (TRS) for time / frequency offset estimation. To be able to use any QCL reference, the UE needs to receive it with a sufficiently good SINR. In many cases, this means that the TRS must be transmitted on the appropriate beam for a certain UE.

[0081] To introduce dynamics into beam and transmission point (TRP) selection, M TCI (Transmission Configuration Indication) states can be configured in the UE through Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, where M is up to 128 in Frequency Range 2 (FR2) and up to 8 in FR1 for PDSCH reception depending on the UE capabilities.

[0082] Each TCI state includes QCL information, i.e., one or two source DL RSs, and each source RS is associated with a QCL type. For example, a TCI state includes a pair of reference signals, each associated with a QCL type, e.g., two different CSI-RSs {CSI-RS1, CSI-RS2} are configured in a TCI state as {qcl-Type1, qcl-Type2}={Type A, Type D}. This means that the UE can derive Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread from CSI-RS1, and spatial Rx parameters (i.e., RX beam to use) from CSI-RS2.

[0083] Each of the M states in the list of TCI states may be interpreted as a list of M possible beams transmitted from the network or as a list of M possible TRPs used by the network to communicate with the UE. The M TCI states may further be interpreted as a combination of one or more beams transmitted from one or more TRPs.

[0084] A first list of available TCI states is configured for the PDSCH, and a second list of TCI states is configured for the PDCCH. Each TCI state includes a pointer, known as a TCI state ID, which points to the TCI state. The network also activates one TCI state for the PDCCH (i.e., provides the TCI for the PDCCH) and activates up to M active TCI states for the PDSCH, via a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE). The number of active TCI states that a UE supports is a UE capability, with a maximum value of 8.

[0085] Each configured TCI state contains parameters for quasi-co-located association between a source reference signal (CSI-RS or SS / PBCH) and a target reference signal (e.g., PDSCH / PDCCH DMRS port). The TCI state is also used to carry QCL information for reception of CSI-RS.

[0086] Assume that 8 active TCI states (out of a list of 64 total configured TCI states) are configured in the UE. Thus, 56 TCI states are inactive for this particular UE (but some may be active for other UEs), and the UE does not need to be prepared to have large-scale parameters estimated for them. However, the UE continuously tracks and updates the large-scale parameters for the 8 active TCI states by measuring and analyzing the source RS indicated by each TCI state. When scheduling a PDSCH to the UE, the DCI includes a pointer to one active TCI. As a result, the UE knows the large-scale parameter estimates to use when performing PDSCH DMRS channel estimation and thereby PDSCH demodulation.

[0087] DMRS

[0088] The demodulation reference signals are used for coherent demodulation of the physical layer data channels, PDSCH (DL) and PUSCH (UL), and the physical layer downlink control channel (PDCCH). The DM-RS is restricted to resource blocks carrying the associated physical layer channel and is mapped to assigned resource elements of the OFDM time-frequency grid, allowing the receiver to efficiently process time / frequency selective fading wireless channels.

[0089] The mapping of DM-RS to resource elements is configurable in terms of density in both frequency and time domains, with two mapping types in frequency domain (configuration type 1 or type 2) and two mapping types in time domain (mapping type A or type B) defining the symbol position of the first DM-RS in a transmission interval. The DM-RS mapping in the time domain can further be single-symbol based or double-symbol based, the latter meaning that the DM-RS is mapped to two adjacent symbol pairs. Furthermore, 1, 2, 3 or 4 single-symbol DM-RS and 1 or 2 double-symbol DM-RS can be configured in the UE. In scenarios with low Doppler, it may be sufficient to configure only frontloaded DM-RS (i.e., 1 single-symbol DM-RS or 1 double-symbol DM-RS), while in scenarios with high Doppler, additional DM-RSs are required.

[0090] 4 shows the mapping of frontloaded DM-RS for configurations Type 1 and Type 2 with single-symbol DM-RS and double-symbol DM-RS, and for mapping Type A with the first DM-RS in the third symbol of a 14-symbol transmission interval. Types 1 and 2 differ in terms of both the mapping configuration and the number of supported DM-RS CDM groups, where Type 1 supports two CDM groups and Type 2 supports three CDM groups. The CDM groups are indicated by shading.

[0091] PDSCH transmission via multiple transmission points or panels (TRP)

[0092] In one scenario, downlink data is transmitted over multiple TRPs where different MIMO layers are transmitted over different TRPs. This is referred to as non-coherent joint transmission (NC-JT). In another scenario, different time / frequency resources may be assigned to different TRPs and one or more PDSCHs are transmitted over different TRPs. NR Release 16 specifies two methods of scheduling multi-TRP transmissions: multi-PDCCH-based multi-TRP transmissions and single-PDCCH-based multi-TRP transmissions. Multi-PDCCH-based multi-TRP transmissions and single-PDCCH-based multi-TRP transmissions may be used to serve downlink enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) traffic and downlink URLLC traffic to the UE.

[0093] Multi-PDCCH based DL data transmission via multiple transmission points (TRPs)

[0094] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of multi-PDCCH-based multi-TRP transmission using a single scheduler according to some embodiments. An example is illustrated in FIG. 5, where data is transmitted to the UE via two TRPs, each carrying one TB mapped to one codeword. If the UE has four receive antennas while each of the TRPs has only two transmit antennas, the UE may support up to four MIMO layers, but each TRP may transmit up to two MIMO layers. In this case, by transmitting data to the UE via two TRPs, the peak data rate to the UE can be increased since up to four aggregated layers from the two TRPs may be used. This is beneficial when the traffic load and therefore resource utilization is low on each TRP. In this example, a single scheduler is used to schedule data on two TRPs. One PDCCH is transmitted from each of the two TRPs in a slot, each scheduling one PDSCH. This is called a multi-PDCCH or multi-DCI scheme, where a UE receives two PDCCHs and associated two PDSCHs from two TRPs in a slot.

[0095] Figure 6 illustrates an example of a multi-PDCCH based multi-TRP transmission with independent schedulers according to some embodiments. In another scenario illustrated in Figure 6, an independent scheduler is used in each TRP. In this case, due to non-ideal backhaul, i.e., backhaul with large delay and / or delay variation comparable to the cyclic prefix length, or possibly even longer, up to several milliseconds, only loose coordination between the two schedulers may be performed.

[0096] The NR specification 3GPP TS 38.211 has the following limitations:

[0097] "The UE may assume that PDSCH DM-RSs in the same CDM group are quasi co-located with respect to Doppler shift, Doppler spread, mean delay, delay spread, and spatial Rx."

[0098] If a UE is not scheduled on all DMRS ports in a CDM group, another UE may be scheduled simultaneously using the remaining ports of that CDM group. Also, the UE may estimate the channels (and therefore the interfering signals) of other UEs to perform coherent interference suppression. This is therefore useful in MU-MIMO scheduling and UE interference suppression.

[0099] For a multi-TRP scenario where a UE receives a PDSCH via multiple PDCCHs transmitted from different TRPs, the signals transmitted from different TRPs will most likely not be quasi-co-located, since the TRPs may be spatially separated. In this case, the PDSCHs transmitted from different TRPs will have different TCI states associated with them. Furthermore, according to the above restrictions from 3GPP TS 38.211, two PDSCH DM-RSs associated with two TRPs should belong to different DM-RS CDM groups (the two PDSCH DM-RSs cannot belong to the same DM-RS CDM group, since they are not QCLs). Figure 7 illustrates an example showing the relationship between TCI states and DM-RS CDM groups in a scenario where a UE receives a PDSCH via multiple PDCCHs transmitted from different TRPs, according to some embodiments. Figure 7 illustrates an example relationship between TCI states and DM-RS CDM groups for a multi-PDCCH multi-TRP scenario. In this example, PDSCH1 is associated with TCI state p, and PDSCH2 is associated with TCI state q. PDSCH DM-RSs from different TRPs also belong to different DM-RS CDM groups since they are not quasi-collocated. In this example, the DMRS for PDSCH1 belongs to CDM group u, and the DMRS for PDSCH2 belongs to CDM group v.

[0100] For multi-PDCCH based multi-TRP operation, two CORESET pools, each associated with a TRP, need to be configured in the UE. Each CORESET pool is a collection of CORESETs that belong to the same pool. The CORESET pool index can be set to a value of 0 or 1 in each CORESET. An example is shown in Figure 8, where PDSCH1 is scheduled by PDCCH1 from TRP1, and PDSCH2 is scheduled by PDCCH2 from TRP2. The two PDSCHs may be fully, partially or non-overlapping in time and frequency. For the two DCIs in the example of Figure 8, they are transmitted in two CORESETs that belong to separate CORESET pools (i.e., DCI1 and DCI2 are transmitted in separate CORESETs that belong to CORESETPoolIndex 0 and 1, respectively).

[0101] In case of multi-DCI based PDSCH scheduling, TCI state activation and mapping of TCI fields in DCI to code points is done per CORESET pool and only a single TCI state can be mapped to a code point of TCI fields in DCI. This means that a DCI transmitted in a CORESET pool can only schedule PDSCH from its associated TRP. In Figure 9, the corresponding TCI state activation / deactivation PDSCH MAC CE is shown, where the TCI state with TCI-StateId i is i If the field is set to 1, it is activated and is mapped to the code point of the DCI Transmit Configuration Indication field. i It is deactivated when the field is set to 0. The codepoints to which the TCI states are mapped are i The field is determined by its ordinal position among all TCI states that are set to 1, i.e., iThe first TCI state with the field set to 1 shall be mapped to code point value 0, i The second TCI state with the field set to 1 shall be mapped to code point value 1, etc. The maximum number of activated TCI states is 8 per CORESET pool. Figure 9 shows the TCI state activation / deactivation PDSCH MAC CE for multi-DCI based PDSCH multi-TRP transmission (reproduced from clause 6.1.3.14 of TS 38.321).

[0102] If the field "CORESET Pool ID" is set to 1, it indicates that this MAC CE shall apply to DL transmissions scheduled by a CORESET with CORESET Pool ID = 1, otherwise this MAC CE shall apply to DL transmissions scheduled by a CORESET with no CORESET Pool ID or with CORESET Pool ID = 0. According to Table 6.2.1-1 of 3GPP TS 38.321, the Logical Channel ID (LCID) corresponding to this MAC CE is 53.

[0103] Single PDCCH based DL data transmission via multiple transmission points (TRPs)

[0104] The PDSCH may be transmitted to the UE from multiple TRPs. Different TRPs may be located at different physical locations and / or have different beams, and therefore the propagation channels may be different. To facilitate receiving PDSCH data from different TRPs or beams, the UE may be informed of two TCI states, each associated with a TRP or beam, by a single code point in the TCI field in the DCI.

[0105] FIG. 10 shows an example of NC-JT supported in NR Release 16, where a single CW is transmitted over two TRPs. FIG. 10 shows an example of PDSCH transmission over two TRPs using a single DCI, where different layers of PDSCH with a single codeword (e.g., CW0) are transmitted over two TRPs, each associated with a different TCI state. In this case, two DMRS ports, one per layer, in two CDM groups are also signaled to the UE. A first TCI state is associated with a DMRS port in the first CDM group, and a second TCI state is associated with a DMRS port in the second CDM group. This approach is often referred to as NC-JT (Non-coherent joint transmission) or scheme 1a in 3GPP discussions of NR Release 16.

[0106] Transmitting the PDSCH over multiple TRPs can also be used to improve the reliability of the PDSCH transmission for URLLC applications. In NR Release 16, several approaches are introduced, including "FDM scheme A", "FDM scheme B", "TDM scheme A" and a slot-based TDM scheme. Note that the term scheme 4 is used in the discussion including the slot-based TDM scheme in the 3GPP discussion of NR Release 16.

[0107] An example of a multi-TRP PDSCH transmission using FDM scheme A is shown in Figure 11, where the PDSCH is transmitted via TRP1 in PRG (precoding RB group) {0,2,4} and via TRP2 in PRG {1,3,5}. The transmission from TRP1 is associated with TCI state 1, while the transmission from TRP2 is associated with TCI state 2. For FDM scheme A, the transmissions from TRP1 and TRP2 do not overlap, so the DMRS port may be the same (i.e., DMRS port 0 is used for both transmissions). The PDSCH is scheduled by the PDCCH transmitted via TRP1.

[0108] 12 shows an example of data transmission using FDM scheme B, where PDSCH#1 with the same TB is transmitted on PRG{0,2,4} from TRP1, and PDSCH#2 with the same TB is transmitted on PRG{1,3,5} from TRP2. The transmission from TRP1 is associated with TCI state 1, while the transmission from TRP2 is associated with TCI state 2. For FDM scheme B, the transmissions from TRP1 and TRP2 are non-overlapping, so the DMRS ports can be the same (i.e., DMRS port 0 is used for both transmissions). Since the two PDSCHs carry the same coded data payload but have the same or different redundancy versions, the UE can perform soft combining of the two PDSCHs to achieve more reliable reception.

[0109] 13 shows an example of data transmission using TDM scheme A, where PDSCH repetitions occur in minislots of four OFDM symbols within a slot. Each PDSCH can be associated with the same or different RV. The transmission of PDSCH#1 from TRP1 is associated with a first TCI state, and the transmission of PDSCH#2 from TRP2 is associated with a second TCI state.

[0110] Figure 14 shows an example of PDSCH transmission using multi-DCI with multiple TRPs according to some embodiments. For example, multi-TRP data transmission using slot-based TDM scheme is shown in Figure 14, where four PDSCHs for the same TB are transmitted in four consecutive slots over two TRPs. Each PDSCH is associated with a different RV. The odd-numbered PDSCH transmission from TRP1 is associated with a first TCI state, and the even-numbered PDSCH transmission from TRP2 is associated with a second TCI state.

[0111] For all single PDCCH based DL multi-TRP PDSCH schemes, a single DCI transmitted from one TRP is used to schedule multiple PDSCH transmissions over two TRPs. The network configures multiple TCI states for the UE via RRC, and a new MAC CE was introduced in NR Release 16. In Figure 15, an extended PDSCH MAC CE is shown, which shows an extended TCI state activation / deactivation PDSCH MAC CE (reproduced from TS 38.321 clause 6.1.3.24) for single DCI based PDSCH multi-TRP transmission. This MAC CE can be used to map code points in the TCI field to one or two TCI states.

[0112] In this extended PDSCH MAC CE, TCI state ID i,j indicates the j-th TCI state indicated for the i-th codepoint in the TCI field of the DCI. i The field indicates whether additional TCI state is associated with the ith codepoint in the TCI field of the DCI. Thus, the TCI state ID in the MAC CE i,j and C i The TCI state ID field is used to provide a mapping of activated TCI states to codepoints of TCI fields in the DCI. i,jC further provides the activated TCI state for the PDSCH. i If the field is set to 0, one TCI state (i.e., TCI state ID) is mapped to code point i of the TCI field of the DCI. i,1 ) is present and there is an additional TCI state TCI state ID i,2 does not exist in MAC CE. If the field is set to 1, the two TCI states (i.e., TCI state ID) that are mapped to code point i of the TCI field of the DCI are i,1 and TCI state ID i,2 ) is present and an additional TCI state TCI state ID i,2 exists in the MAC CE. According to Table 6.2.1-1 of 3GPP TS 38.321, the logical channel ID (LCID) corresponding to this MAC CE is 46.

[0113] Definition of default TCI states in NR Release 15

[0114] In NR Release 15, the threshold timeDurationForQCL is reported by the UE based on the UE's capabilities. In the scheduling DCI, the UE may receive an indication of the TCI status and an indication of the time offset between reception of the DL DCI and the corresponding PDSCH.

[0115] If a TCI state is indicated in a DCI scheduling a PDSCH, the UE shall use the indicated TCI state to determine quasi-co-location of PDSCH DMRS antenna ports where the time offset between reception of the DL DCI and the corresponding PDSCH is greater than a threshold timeDurationForQCL.

[0116] If the time offset between reception of the DL DCI and the corresponding PDSCH is less than a threshold timeDurationForQCL, the UE may assume that the PDSCH DMRS antenna port(s) is quasi-co-located with the RS(s) with respect to the QCL parameter(s) used for PDCCH quasi-co-location indication of the CORESET associated with the monitored search space having the lowest CORESET-ID in the latest slot. This assumption of quasi-co-location with the RS(s) of the CORESET having the lowest CORESET-ID is referred to in this disclosure as the "default TCI state."

[0117] If none of the configured TCI states for the serving cell of a scheduled PDSCH includes "QCL-TypeD", the UE shall derive other QCL assumptions from the TCI state indicated by the DCI for that scheduled PDSCH, regardless of the time offset between reception of the DL DCI and the corresponding PDSCH.

[0118] Definition of the default TCI state(s) in NR Release 16

[0119] In NR Release 16, a default TCI state is defined for multi-DCI and single-DCI based multi-TRP PDSCH transmission is defined.

[0120] For the single DCI based multi-TRP PDSCH transmission scheme, two default TCI states are defined. Each of the two default TCI states corresponds to a different TRP. In 3GPP TS 38.214 (V16.1.0), the two default TCI states for the single DCI based multi-TRP PDSCH transmission scheme are defined as follows:

[0121] "If the offset between reception of a DL DCI and the corresponding PDSCH is less than a threshold timeDurationForQCL, and at least one configured TCI state for the serving cell of the PDSCH includes "QCL-TypeD", and at least one TCI codepoint indicates two TCI states, the UE may assume that the DM-RS port of the PDSCH of the serving cell is quasi-co-located with the RS(s) with respect to the QCL parameter(s) associated with the TCI state corresponding to the lowest codepoint of the TCI codepoints that include two different TCI states."

[0122] Figure 16 shows an example of a default TCI state for a given codepoint to TCI state mapping of the TCI field. In this example, the lowest codepoint that contains two different TCI states is codepoint 1. Thus, the default TCI state for the single DCI based multi-TRP PDSCH scheme in this example is given by the TCI states with IDs 2 and 3.

[0123] For the multi-DCI based multi-TRP PDSCH transmission scheme, two default TCI states are also defined. Each of the two default TCI states corresponds to a different TRP. In 3GPP TS 38.214 (V16.1.0), the two default TCI states are defined for the multi-DCI based multi-TRP PDSCH transmission scheme as follows:

[0124] "For both cases where TCI-PresentInDCI is set to 'enabled' and where TCI-PresentInDCI is not configured in RRC connected mode, if the offset between reception of DL DCI and the corresponding PDSCH is less than a threshold timeDurationForQCL when the UE is configured by the higher layer parameter PDCCH-Config containing two different values ​​for CORESETPoolIndex in the ControlResourceSet, the UE may assume that the DM-RS port of the PDSCH associated with the value of CORESETPoolIndex of the serving cell is quasi-co-located with the RS(s) in the latest slot monitored by the UE, for the QCL parameter(s) used for PDCCH quasi-co-location indication of the CORESET associated with the monitored search space having the lowest CORESET-ID among multiple CORESETs configured with a value of CORESETPoolIndex that is the same as the PDCCH scheduling the PDSCH. "

[0125] Figure 17 shows an example illustrating default TCI states for multi-DCI based PDSCH multi-TRP transmission. In this example, PDSCH1 is scheduled by PDCCH1 from TRP1 via CORESET in CORESET pool 0, and PDSCH2 is scheduled by PDCCH2 from TRP2 via CORESET in CORESET pool 1. In the figure, simplified default TCI state definitions of two PDSCHs from TRP1 and TRP2 are given.

[0126] DCI Format for Downlink PDSCH Scheduling

[0127] In NR Release 15, two DCI formats (i.e., DCI format 1_0 and DCI format 1_1) for scheduling PDSCH in NR were defined. DCI format 1_0 has a smaller size than DCI format 1_1 and can be used when the UE is not fully connected to the network, while DCI format 1_1 can be used to schedule MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) transmissions with two transport blocks (TBs). The TCI field is present in DCI format 1_1 if the higher layer parameter TCI-PresentInDCI is set to "enabled" in CORESET. As specified in 3GPP TS 38.212, the TCI field when enabled contains 3 bits. The TCI field in DCI format 1_1 indicates the TCI state (one or more) that provides the source reference signal for the PDSCH DMRS port. However, in DCI format 1-0, the TCI field is not present.

[0128] In NR Release 16, a new DCI format 1_2 for DL ​​scheduling is introduced. One of the main motivations for having a new DCI format is the ability to configure a very small DCI size, which can provide some PDCCH reliability improvement without losing a lot of flexibility. Therefore, the main design goal of the new DCI format is to have a DCI with configurable sizes for some fields, including potential new fields, with a minimum DCI size targeted at a reduction of 10-16 bits compared to DCI formats 0_0 / 1_0 in Release 15.

[0129] The TCI field in DCI format 1_2 may have a size of 0, 1, 2, or 3 bits. The presence of the TCI field in DCI format 1_2 is configured per CORESET via the higher layer parameter tci-PresentInDCI-ForDCI-Format1-2. The configured value of tci-PresentInDCI-ForDCI-Format1-2 per CORESET may be either 1, 2, or 3 indicating the number of bits in the TCI field of DCI format 1_2 for that CORESET. Thus, the number of codepoints in the TCI field of DCI format 1_2 may differ between different CORESETs.

[0130] Currently, there is an issue: for DCI format 1_1, when the TCI field is enabled, the TCI field in DCI format 1_1 is always 3 bits (i.e. 8 code points), so the number of TCI field code points in DCI format 1_1 does not change when the TCI field is enabled in different CORESETs.

[0131] However, the TCI field in DCI format 1_2 is variable between 0, 1, 2 or 3 bits (i.e. 0, 2, 4 or 8 code points). Furthermore, in DCI format 1_2, it is possible that different TCI field sizes can be used for different CORESETs if tci-PresentInDCI-ForDCI-Format1-2 is set to different values ​​in different CORESETs.

[0132] In NR, a UE may be configured to monitor both DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2 for PDSCH scheduling. For example, if a UE is served with URLLC traffic that has stringent delay and reliability requirements, the UE may be scheduled in DL using format DCI format 1_2. DCI format 1_1 may be used when scheduling a UE with eMBB traffic.

[0133] The current MAC CE designs in Figures 9 and 15 work well for DCI format 1_1 where the number of codepoints in the TCI field is 8 whenever the TCI field is enabled via the TCI-PresentInDCI parameter. However, the current MAC CE designs in Figures 9 and 15 do not address the TCI state activation and TCI field / codepoint to TCI state mapping for DCI format 1_2, and the number of TCI field / codepoints for DCI format 1_2 may be different in different CORESETs.

[0134] Therefore, it is an open issue to activate the TCI state for DCI format 1_2 and to perform a mapping from TCI fields / codepoints to TCI states (especially when the UE is configured to monitor both DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2). Another related issue is how to define the default TCI state when the UE is configured to monitor both DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2 for PDSCH scheduling.

[0135] Systems and methods are provided for TCI state activation and code point to TCI state mapping. In some embodiments, a method performed by a wireless device for activating a TCI state includes one or more of: being configured to monitor multiple DCI formats having a TCI field for PDSCH reception; receiving a single medium access control MAC CE for activating a TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to a TCI field code point of the multiple DCI formats; and receiving separate MAC CEs for activating a TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to each TCI field code point of the multiple DCI formats. In some embodiments, one or more of the multiple DCI formats are DCI format 1_1 and / or 1_2. Advantages may include that a TCI state for downlink scheduling may be more flexibly selected for each DCI format by using separate MAC CEs. For example, DCI format 1_2 may be used to schedule URLLC data in the downlink using one set of TCI states (e.g., one set of beams). And DCI format 1_1 may be used to schedule eMBB data in the downlink using another set of TCI states (e.g., a second set of beams).

[0136] 18 illustrates a method performed by a wireless device for activating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state. In some embodiments, the method includes one or more of: configuring to monitor a plurality of downlink control information (DCI) formats having a TCI field for physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) reception (step 1800), receiving a single medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to a TCI field code point of the plurality of DCI formats (step 1802), and receiving a separate MAC CE for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to a respective TCI field code point of the plurality of DCI formats (step 1804).

[0137] 19 illustrates a method performed by a base station for activating a TCI state. In some embodiments, the method includes one or more of: configuring a wireless device to monitor multiple DCI formats having a TCI field for PDSCH reception (step 1900), transmitting a single MAC CE to the wireless device for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to a TCI field code point of the multiple DCI formats (step 1902), and transmitting a separate MAC CE to the wireless device for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to each TCI field code point of the multiple DCI formats (step 1904).

[0138] Thus, advantages of some embodiments may include that a single MAC CE may be used to provide TCI state activation and TCI state to TCI field codepoint mapping for multiple downlink DCI formats, which avoids the need to introduce a separate MAC CE for each downlink DCI format.

[0139] There are also advantages associated with some other embodiments that provide TCI state activation and TCI state to TCI field codepoint mapping for multiple downlink DCI formats using different MAC CEs. The advantages may include that the TCI state for downlink scheduling may be selected more flexibly for each DCI format by using a separate MAC CE. For example, DCI format 1_2 may be used to schedule URLLC data in the downlink with one set of TCI states (e.g., one set of beams), and DCI format 1_1 may be used to schedule eMBB data in the downlink with another set of TCI states (e.g., a second set of beams).

[0140] Another advantage of the proposed solution may be that it provides for the definition of a default TCI state when the activation of TCI states and the mapping of TCI states to TCI field codepoints for multiple downlink DCI formats is provided either by a single MAC CE or by different MAC CEs.

[0141] Embodiment 1 - Use of a single MAC CE for mapping activated TCI states to TCI field codepoints in both DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2.

[0142] In one embodiment, a single MAC CE is used to activate TCI states and map the activated TCI states to TCI field codepoints in both DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2. In this embodiment, the TCI states that are activated and mapped to codepoints of TCI fields in DCI format 1_2 are a subset of the TCI states that are activated and mapped to codepoints of TCI fields in DCI format 1_1.

[0143] This embodiment applies to both current MAC CEs (ie, those in FIG. 9 and FIG. 15 in this disclosure).

[0144] In particular, if K (K=1,2,3) bits are set for DCI format 1_2, then S=2 for DCI format 1_2 K These code points are the first S=2 of the MAC CE K FIG. 20 illustrates an example showing a subset of activated TCI states mapped to the TCI field in DCI format 1_1 being mapped to code points of the TCI field in DCI format 1_2 according to some embodiments. FIG. 20 illustrates an example where the TCI field in DCI format 1_2 has four code points (i.e., K=2 and S=4). In this example, the activated TCI states mapped to the first four TCI field code points in DCI format 1_1 are mapped to the TCI field code points in DCI format 1_2.

[0145] In an alternative embodiment, an offset S0 may be configured such that the activated TCI states corresponding to code points S0+1 to S0+S in DCI format 1_1 are mapped to S code points in DCI format 1_2 when the TCI field in DCI format 1_2 has S<8 code points. Here, S0 is a code point offset value that satisfies (S0+S)≦8, and may be a fixed value defined in the specification or a configurable higher layer parameter. If S0 is a configurable parameter, this configurable parameter may be configured in the CORESET in which tci-PresentInDCI-ForDCI-Format1-2 is configured. FIG. 21 illustrates a second example showing that a subset of the activated TCI states mapped to the TCI field in DCI format 1_1 are mapped to the code points of the TCI field in DCI format 1_2 according to some embodiments. FIG. 21 illustrates an example for S0=2.

[0146] To incorporate this embodiment into the MAC CE of FIG. i could be changed to the following (changes shown in bold):

[0147] T i : If a TCI state with TCI-StateId i as specified in TS 38.331[5] exists, this field indicates the activation / deactivation state of the TCI state with TCI-StateId i; otherwise, the MAC entity i The field must be ignored. i The field is set to 1 to indicate that the TCI state with TCI-StateId i is activated and is mapped to the code point of the DCI transmission configuration indication field as specified in TS 38.214 [7]. iThe field is set to 0 to indicate that the TCI state with TCI-StateId i is deactivated and is not mapped to a code point in the DCI transmission configuration indication field. i The field is determined by its ordinal position among all TCI states that are set to 1, i.e., i The first TCI state with the field set to 1 shall be mapped to code point value 0, i The second TCI state with the field set to 1 shall be mapped to code point value 1, and so on. TIFF0007641986000002.tif31167

[0148] Similarly, in this embodiment, the TCI state ID in the MAC CE in FIG. i,j This can be incorporated into the MAC CE of FIG. 15 in 3GPP TS 38.321 by changing the field descriptions for the fields as follows:

[0149] TCI State ID i,j : This field indicates the TCI state identified by TCI-StateId as specified in TS 38.331[5], i is the index of the codepoint of the DCI transmission configuration indication field as specified in TS 38.212[9], and the TCI state ID i,j indicates the j-th TCI state indicated for the i-th code point in the DCI transmission configuration indication field. The TCI code point to which the TCI state is mapped is the TCI state ID i,j It is determined by its ordinal position among all TCI codepoints that have a set of fields, i.e., the TCI status ID 0,1 and TCI status ID 0,2 The first TCI codepoint with a TCI status ID MUST be mapped to codepoint value 0. 1,1 and TCI status ID 1,2If the second TCI codepoint having the TCI status ID is not mapped to codepoint value 1, then so on. i,2 is C i Optional based on the field indication. If the number S of code points in the TCI field of DCI format 1_2 is less than the maximum number of code points in the TCI field of DCI format 1_1, the activated TCI states mapped to the first S TCI field code points in DCI format 1_1 are mapped to the TCI field code points in DCI format 1_2. The maximum number of activated TCI code points is 8, and the maximum number of TCI states mapped to a TCI code point is 2.

[0150] The main advantage of this embodiment is that existing MAC CEs can be reused by incorporating the solution of this embodiment into these existing MAC CEs, thus avoiding the need to introduce new MAC CEs.

[0151] In a variant of this embodiment, the above mapping is specified in TS 38.214 or TS 38.212 and no changes are introduced into TS 38.321, i.e. the following text is added to TS 38.214:

[0152] "If the number S of code points in the TCI field of DCI format 1_2 is less than the number of code points in the TCI field of DCI format 1_1, the activated TCI states mapped to the first S TCI field code points in DCI format 1_1 are mapped to the TCI field code points in DCI format 1_2."

[0153] Alternatively, the following text may be added to 38.214:

[0154] "If the number S of code points in the TCI field of the DCI is less than the maximum number of code points in a MAC CE Activation Command, the S code points are mapped to the first S code points in the MAC CE Activation Command."

[0155] In some embodiments, if a UE is configured with two CORESETs with different CORESET pool indices and DCI format 1_2 is enabled in one of the two CORESETs, the MAC CE of Figure 9 may be used to indicate the activated TCI state to TCI field code point mapping for DCI format 1_2 only when the MAC CE indicates the "CORESET Pool ID" corresponding to the CORESET pool index of the CORESET in which DCI format 1_2 is enabled. Consider the following example: CORESET pool index 0 is set and DCI format 1_2 is enabled, CORESET1, and / or CORESET pool index 1 is set and DCI format 1_2 is disabled, CORESET2.

[0156] In this case, if the MAC CE in FIG. 9 with "CORESET Pool ID=0" indicates a mapping from activated TCI states to TCI fields and code points, this mapping from activated TCI states to TCI fields and code points is applied to DCI format 1_2. If DCI with format 1_2 is transmitted via CORESET1, this mapping from activated TCI states to TCI fields and code points is applied to DCI with format 1_2. However, if the MAC CE in FIG. 9 with "CORESET Pool ID=1" indicates a mapping from activated TCI states to TCI fields and code points, this mapping from activated TCI states to TCI fields and code points is not applied to DCI format 1_2, since DCI format 1_2 is not enabled in CORESET2. This UE behavior may further depend on the UE having the capability to support two different CORESET pools being configured (i.e., the UE informs the gNB of this capability). If the UE does not have the capability to support two different CORESET pools, the rules allowing mapping from activated TCI states to TCI field code points for DCI format 1_2 depending on the "CORESET Pool ID" shown in the MAC CE of Figure 9 do not apply.

[0157] In one other embodiment, only one MAC CE is used to provide the mapping from TCI states to TCI field code points for DCI format 1_2. For example, in one embodiment, only the MAC CE of FIG. 9 is enabled to provide the mapping from TCI states to TCI field code points for DCI format 1_2. In this embodiment, different MAC CEs may be used to enable different TCI state to TCI field code point mappings for DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2. For example, the MAC CE of FIG. 9 may be used to provide the mapping from TCI states to TCI field code points for DCI format 1_2, while the MAC CE of FIG. 15 may be used to provide the mapping from TCI states to TCI field code points for DCI format 1_1.

[0158] Embodiment 2 - Use of a separate MAC CE for mapping activated TCI states to TCI field codepoints in DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2.

[0159] In some scenarios, it may be beneficial to activate different TCI states and map different sets of activated TCI states to TCI field codepoints of DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2. The reason for this is that DCI format 1_2 may be used to schedule URLLC data in the downlink with one set of TCI states (e.g., one set of beams) and DCI format 1_1 may be used to schedule eMBB data in the downlink with another set of TCI states (e.g., a second set of beams).

[0160] In this embodiment, a separate new MAC CE with a configuration similar to that of the MAC CE in Fig. 9 is introduced in the NR to activate a different set of TCI states (i.e., different from those activated for DCI format 1_1) and map these TCI states to the TCI field code points of DCI format 1_2. The new MAC CE is only used to activate the TCI states and map these TCI states to the TCI field code points of DCI format 1_2. The new MAC CE is assigned a new LCID from the existing LCID space specified in Table 6.2.1-1 in 3GPP TS 38.321 or from the newly introduced eLCID space in Table 6.2.1-1a in TS 38.821. The existing MAC CE in Fig. 9 (with the corresponding LCID 53) is only used to activate the TCI states and map these TCI states to the TCI field code points of DCI format 1_1. This is beneficial to activate different sets of TCI states for the two DCI formats when a multi-DCI based PDSCH multi-TRP scheme is used in a scenario.

[0161] Similarly, a new MAC CE with a similar configuration to the MAC CE in Fig. 15 can be introduced in the NR to activate a different set of TCI states (i.e., different from those activated for DCI format 1_1) and map these TCI states to the TCI field code points of DCI format 1_2. The new MAC CE is only used to activate the TCI states and map these TCI states to the TCI field code points of DCI format 1_2. The new MAC CE is assigned a new LCID from the existing LCID space specified in Table 6.2.1-1 in 3GPP TS 38.821 or from the newly introduced eLCID space in Table 6.2.1-1a in 3GPP TS 38.821-g00. The existing MAC CE in Fig. 15 (with the corresponding LCID 46) is only used to activate the TCI states and map these TCI states to the TCI field code points of DCI format 1_1. This is beneficial to activate different sets of TCI states for the two DCI formats when a single DCI based PDSCH multi-TRP scheme is used in a scenario.

[0162] EMBODIMENT 3

[0163] In order to have the flexibility to assign different TCI states to DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2, but not increase the number of MAC CEs (i.e., not introduce new MAC CEs), it is possible to extend the Release 16 MAC CE in FIG. 15 of the present disclosure.

[0164] In one embodiment, the reserved bit R in the MAC CE in Figure 15 is used to indicate which DCI format the MACC CE applies to. According to this embodiment, the R field is changed to the E field, and if the E field is set to "0", the MAC CE applies to DCI format 1_1, and if the E field is set to "1", the MAC CE applies to DCI format 1_2. The required changes to clause 6.1.3.24 of 3GPP TS 38.321 according to this embodiment are shown below with the added text in bold:

[0165] 6.1.3.24 Extended TCI state activation / deactivation for UE specific PDSCH MAC CE

[0166] The extended TCI state activation / deactivation for the UE specific PDSCH MAC CE is identified by a MAC PDU subheader with LCID as specified in Table 6.2.1-1. It has a variable size consisting of one or more of the following fields: - Serving Cell ID: This field indicates the identity of the serving cell to which the MAC CE applies. The length of the field is 5 bits; - BWP ID: This field indicates the DL BWP to which the MAC CE applies, as a codepoint of the DCI bandwidth part indicator field as specified in TS 38.212 [9]. The length of the BWP ID field is 2 bits; -C i : TCI status ID i,2 If this field is set to "1", it indicates whether an octet containing the TCI state ID is present. i,2 If this field is set to "0", then there is an octet containing the TCI state ID. i,2 There is no octet containing -TCI status ID i,j: This field indicates the TCI state identified by TCI-StateId as specified in TS 38.331[5], i is the index of the codepoint of the DCI transmission configuration indication field as specified in TS 38.212[9], and the TCI state ID i,j indicates the j-th TCI state indicated for the i-th code point in the DCI transmission configuration indication field. The TCI code point to which the TCI state is mapped is the TCI state ID i,j It is determined by its ordinal position among all TCI codepoints that have a set of fields, i.e., the TCI status ID 0,1 and TCI status ID 0,2 The first TCI codepoint with a TCI status ID MUST be mapped to codepoint value 0. 1,1 and TCI status ID 1,2 The second TCI codepoint having a TCI status ID MUST be mapped to codepoint value 1, etc. i,2 is C i Optional based on the indication in the field. The maximum number of activated TCI codepoints is 8, and the maximum number of TCI states that are mapped to a TCI codepoint is 2. TIFF0007641986000003.tif21167

[0167] In another embodiment, the maximum number of activated TCI codepoints is increased from 8 to 8+S, where S is the number of codepoints configured for DCI format 1_2. The first 8 codepoints correspond to DCI format 1_1 and the last S codepoints correspond to DCI format 1_2. In this embodiment, S can take the value 0, 2, 4 or 8. This mapping may be detailed in 3GPP TS 38.214. The necessary changes to TS 38.821 assuming the exact mapping is in TS 38.214 are shown below according to this embodiment with the added text in bold:

[0168] 6.1.3.24 Extended TCI state activation / deactivation for UE specific PDSCH MAC CE

[0169] The extended TCI state activation / deactivation for the UE specific PDSCH MAC CE is identified by a MAC PDU subheader with LCID as specified in Table 6.2.1-1. It has a variable size and consists of the following fields: - Serving Cell ID: This field indicates the identity of the serving cell to which the MAC CE applies. The length of the field is 5 bits; - BWP ID: This field indicates the DL BWP to which the MAC CE applies, as a codepoint of the DCI bandwidth part indicator field as specified in TS 38.212 [9]. The length of the BWP ID field is 2 bits; -C i : TCI status ID i,2 If this field is set to "1", it indicates whether an octet containing the TCI state ID is present. i,2 If this field is set to "0", then there is an octet containing the TCI state ID. i,2 There is no octet containing -TCI status ID i,j : This field indicates the TCI state identified by TCI-StateId as specified in TS 38.331[5], i is the index of the codepoint of the DCI transmission configuration indication field as specified in TS 38.212[9], and the TCI state ID i,j indicates the j-th TCI state indicated for the i-th code point in the DCI transmission configuration indication field. The TCI code point to which the TCI state is mapped is the TCI state ID i,j It is determined by its ordinal position among all the TCI codepoints that comprise the set of fields. TIFF0007641986000004.tif77167‐R: Reserved bit, set to '0'.

[0170] Embodiment 4: Definition of Default TCI State

[0171] In this section, a definition of the default TCI state is provided according to the extensions proposed in the first to third embodiments. Note that an activation command in the rest of this section refers to sending a MAC CE (i.e., any one of the MAC CEs proposed in the above first to third embodiments) to activate the TCI state.

[0172] A single MAC CE is used for activation of the TCI states corresponding to DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2

[0173] When a single activation command is used for TCI state activation / deactivation for both DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2, the default TCI state is the TCI state corresponding to the lowest TCI codepoint included in the MAC CE activation command, which contains two different TCI states.

[0174] More specifically, if the offset between reception of a DL DCI and the corresponding PDSCH is less than a threshold timeDurationForQCL, and at least one configured TCI state for the serving cell of the scheduled PDSCH includes “QCL-TypeD”, and at least one TCI codepoint included in the activation command indicates two TCI states, the UE may assume that the DM-RS port of the PDSCH of the serving cell is quasi-co-located with the RS(s) with respect to the QCL parameter(s) associated with the TCI state corresponding to the lowest codepoint among the TCI codepoints including two different TCI states included in the activation command.

[0175] Separate MAC CE for TCI activation for DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2

[0176] If separate activation commands are used for TCI state activation / deactivation for DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2, the default TCI state may be the TCI state corresponding to the lowest TCI codepoint included in one of the two activation commands containing two different TCI states.

[0177] More specifically, if the offset between reception of a DL DCI and the corresponding PDSCH is less than a threshold timeDurationForQCL, and at least one configured TCI state for the serving cell of the scheduled PDSCH includes “QCL-TypeD”, and at least one TCI codepoint included in at least one of the activation commands indicates two TCI states, the UE may assume that the DM-RS port of the PDSCH of the serving cell is quasi-co-located with the RS(s) with respect to the QCL parameter(s) associated with the TCI state corresponding to the lowest codepoint among the TCI codepoints including two different TCI states included in one of the activation commands.

[0178] If both activation commands contain code points that are mapped to two TCI states, in one embodiment, one of the two activation commands may be determined by the specification. For example, the activation command of DCI format 1_1 is always selected in this case. Alternatively, one of the two activation commands may be set by higher layers.

[0179] FIG. 22 is a schematic block diagram of a radio access node 2200 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Optional functionality is represented by dashed boxes. The radio access node 2200 may be, for example, a base station 302 or 306, or a network node implementing all or part of the functionality of a base station 302 or gNB described herein. As shown, the radio access node 2200 includes a control system 2202 including one or more processors 2204 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and / or a field programmable gate array (FPGA), etc.), a memory 2206, and a network interface 2208. The one or more processors 2204 are also referred to herein as processing circuits. The radio access node 2200 may also include one or more radio units 2210 including one or more transmitters 2212 and one or more receivers 2214 each coupled to one or more antennas 2216. The radio units 2210 may be referred to as or be part of radio interface circuits. In some embodiments, the radio unit(s) 2210 are external to the control system 2202 and are connected to the control system 2202, for example, via a wired connection (e.g., optical cable). However, in some other embodiments, the radio unit(s) 2210 and potentially the antenna(s) 2216 are integrated together with the control system 2202. The one or more processors 2204 operate to provide one or more functions of the radio access node 2200 described herein. In some embodiments, the function(s) are implemented in software, for example stored in the memory 2206 and executed by the one or more processors 2204.

[0180] 23 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualized embodiment of a radio access node 2200 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. This description is equally applicable to other types of network nodes. Moreover, other types of network nodes may have similar virtualization architectures. Again, optional functionality is represented by dashed boxes.

[0181] A "virtualized" radio access node, as used herein, is an implementation of the radio access node 2200 in which at least some of the functionality of the radio access node 2200 is implemented as virtual component(s) (e.g., via virtual machine(s) running on physical processing node(s) in network(s)). As shown, in this example, the radio access node 2200 may include a control system 2202 and / or one or more radio units 2210, as described above. The control system 2202 may be connected to the radio unit(s) 2210, e.g., via optical cables or the like. The radio access node 2200 is connected to one or more processing nodes 2300 coupled to network(s) 2302 or included as part of the network(s) 1202. If present, the control system 2202 or radio unit(s) are connected to the processing node(s) 2300 via the network 2302. Each processing node 2300 includes one or more processors 2304 (eg, a CPU, an ASIC, and / or an FPGA), memory 2306, and a network interface 2308.

[0182] In this example, the functions 2310 of the radio access node 2200 described herein are implemented in one or more processing nodes 2300 or distributed in any desired manner across one or more processing nodes 2300 and the control system 2202 and / or radio unit 2210. In some particular embodiments, some or all of the functions 2310 of the radio access node 2200 described herein are implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines implemented in a virtual environment(s) hosted by the processing node(s) 2300. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, additional signaling or communication between the processing node(s) 2300 and the control system 2202 is used to perform at least some of the desired functions 2310. Notably, in some embodiments, the control system 2202 may not be included, in which case the radio unit(s) 2210 communicate directly with the processing node(s) 2300 via an appropriate network interface(s).

[0183] In some embodiments, a computer program is provided that includes instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform functions of the radio access node 2200 or a node (e.g., processing node 2300) implementing functions of one or more functions 2310 of the radio access node 2200 in a virtual environment according to any of the embodiments described herein. In some embodiments, a carrier is provided that includes the aforementioned computer program product. The carrier is either an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, or a computer readable storage medium (a non-transitory computer readable medium such as a memory).

[0184] 24 is a schematic block diagram of a radio access node 2200 according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure. The radio access node 2200 includes one or more modules 2400, each implemented in software. The module(s) 2400 provide the functionality of the radio access node 2200 described herein. This description is equally applicable to the processing node 2300 of FIG. 23 where the module 2400 is implemented in one of the processing nodes 2300 or distributed across multiple processing nodes 2300 and / or distributed across the processing node(s) 2300 and the control system 2202.

[0185] 25 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless communication device 2500 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the wireless communication device 2500 includes one or more processors 2502 (e.g., CPU, ASIC, and / or FPGA, etc.), memory 2504, and one or more transceivers 2506, each including one or more transmitters 2508 and one or more receivers 2510 coupled to one or more antennas 2512. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the transceiver(s) 2506 comprises a radio front-end circuit connected to the antenna(s) 2512 and configured to condition signals exchanged between the antenna(s) 2512 and the processor(s) 2502. The processor 2502 is also referred to herein as a processing circuit. The transceiver 2506 is also referred to herein as a radio circuit. In some embodiments, the functionality of the wireless communication device 2500 described above may be fully or partially implemented in software, for example stored in the memory 2504 and executed by the processor(s) 2502. It should be noted that wireless communication device 2500 may include additional components not shown in FIG. 25 , such as, for example, one or more user interface components (e.g., an input / output interface including a display, buttons, a touch screen, a microphone, one or more speakers, and / or the like, and / or any other components for enabling input of information into and / or output of information from wireless communication device 2500), a power source (e.g., a battery and associated power circuitry), etc.

[0186] In some embodiments, a computer program is provided that includes instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the functions of the wireless communication device 2500 in accordance with any of the embodiments described herein. In some embodiments, a carrier is provided that includes the aforementioned computer program product. The carrier is either an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, or a computer-readable storage medium (a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as a memory).

[0187] 26 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless communication device 2500 according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure. The wireless communication device 2500 includes one or more modules 2600, each implemented in software. The module(s) 2600 provide the functionality of the wireless communication device 2500 described herein.

[0188] Referring to Fig. 27, according to an embodiment, a communication system includes a communication network 2700, such as a 3GPP type cellular network, including an access network 2702, such as a wireless access network, and a core network 2704. The access network 2702 comprises a number of base stations 2706A, 2706B, 2706C, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs, or other types of wireless access points (APs), each defining a corresponding coverage area 2708A, 2708B, 2708C. Each base station 2706A, 2706B, 2706C can be connected to the core network 2704 via a wired or wireless connection 2710. A first UE 2712 located in the coverage area 2708C is configured to wirelessly connect to or be paged by the corresponding base station 2706C. A second UE 2714 in the coverage area 2708A can be wirelessly connected to the corresponding base station 2706A. In this example, multiple UEs 2712, 2714 are shown, however, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to situations where a single UE is within the coverage area or where a single UE is connected to a corresponding base station 2706.

[0189] The communication network 2700 itself is connected to a host computer 2716, which may be implemented in hardware and / or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, or as a processing resource in a server farm. The host computer 2716 may be owned or controlled by a service provider, or may be operated by or on behalf of the service provider. The connections 2718 and 2720 between the communication network 2700 and the host computer 2716 may extend directly from the core network 2704 to the host computer 2716, or may extend through an optional intermediate network 2722. The intermediate network 2722 may be a combination of one or more of a public network, a private network, or a host network, if any, the intermediate network 2722 may be a backbone network or the Internet, and in particular the intermediate network 2722 may include two or more sub-networks (not shown).

[0190] The communication system of FIG. 27 generally provides connectivity between one of the connected UEs 2712, 2714 and a host computer 2716. Such connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection 2724. The host computer 2716 and the connected UEs 2712, 2714 are configured to communicate data and / or signaling via the OTT connection 2724 using the access network 2702, the core network 2704, any intermediate networks 2722, and possibly further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. The OTT connection 2724 may be transparent in the sense that participating communication devices through which the OTT connection 2724 passes are unaware of the routing of the uplink and downlink communications. For example, the base station 2706 may not be or need not be informed of the past routing of an incoming downlink communication having data originating from a host computer 2716 that is forwarded (e.g., handed over) to an attached UE 2712. Similarly, the base station 2706 does not need to know the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication from the UE 2712 to the host computer 2716.

[0191] With reference to Fig. 28, an implementation example according to the embodiment of the UE, base station and host computer described in the previous paragraph is described below. In the communication system 2800, the host computer 2802 comprises hardware 2804 including a communication interface 2806 configured to set up and maintain wired or wireless connections with interfaces of different communication devices of the communication system 2800. The host computer 2802 further comprises a processing circuit 2808 that may have storage and / or processing capabilities. In particular, the processing circuit 2808 may include one or more programmable processors, ASICs, FPGAs, or combinations thereof (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The host computer 2802 further comprises software 2810 stored in or accessible by the host computer 2802 and executable by the processing circuit 2808. The software 2810 includes a host application 2812. The host application 2812 may be operable to provide services to a remote user, such as a UE 2814, connecting via an OTT connection 2816 that terminates at the UE 2814 and the host computer 2802. In providing services to the remote user, the host application 2812 may provide user data that is transmitted using the OTT connection 2816.

[0192] The communications system 2800 further includes a base station 2818 provided within the communications system and comprising hardware 2820 enabling communication with the host computer 2802 and the UE 2814. The hardware 2820 may include a communications interface 2822 for setting up and maintaining wired or wireless connections with interfaces of different communications devices of the communications system 2800, and a wireless interface 2824 for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection 2826 with a UE 2814 located within a coverage area (not shown in FIG. 28) served by the base station 2818. The communications interface 2822 may be configured to facilitate a connection 2828 to the host computer 2802. The connection 2828 may be direct or may pass through a core network (not shown in FIG. 28) of the communications system and / or one or more intermediate networks external to the communications system. In the embodiment shown, hardware 2820 of base station 2818 further includes processing circuitry 2830, which may include one or more programmable processors, ASICs, FPGAs, or combinations thereof (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. Base station 2818 also includes software 2832 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

[0193] The communication system 2800 further includes the UE 2814, as already mentioned. The hardware 2834 of the UE 2814 may include a wireless interface 2836 configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection 2826 with a base station serving the coverage area in which the UE 2814 is currently located. The hardware 2834 of the UE 2814 further includes a processing circuit 2838, which may include one or more programmable processors, ASICs, FPGAs, or combinations thereof (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The UE 2814 further includes software 2840 stored within or accessible to the UE 2814 and executable by the processing circuit 2838. The software 2840 includes a client application 2842. The client application 2842 may be operable to provide services to a human or non-human user via the UE 2814 with the support of the host computer 2802. At the host computer 2802, an executing host application 2812 may communicate with an executing client application 2842 via the UE 2814 and an OTT connection 2816 that terminates at the host computer 2802. In providing services to a user, the client application 2842 may receive request data from the host application 2812 and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 2816 may transport both the request data and the user data. The client application 2842 may interact with the user to generate the user data to provide.

[0194] It should be noted that the host computer 2802, base station 2818, and UE 2814 shown in Figure 28 may be similar or identical to the host computer 2716, one of the base stations 2706A, 2706B, and 2706C, and one of the UEs 2712 and 2714, respectively, of Figure 27. That is, the internal operation of these entities may be as shown in Figure 28, and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of Figure 27.

[0195] 28, an OTT connection 2816 is depicted abstractly to show communication between a host computer 2802 and a UE 2814 via a base station 2818, without explicitly referring to any intermediate devices and the exact routing of messages through those devices. The network infrastructure may determine the routing, which may be configured to be hidden from the UE 2814, or from the service provider operating the host computer 2802, or both. The network infrastructure may further determine to dynamically change the routing while the OTT connection 2816 is active (e.g., based on load considerations or network reconfiguration).

[0196] The wireless connection 2826 between the UE 2814 and the base station 2818 follows the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments may improve the performance of the OTT service provided to the UE 2814 using the OTT connection 2816 of which the wireless connection 2826 forms the final segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve, for example, data rates, latency, power consumption, etc., thereby providing advantages, for example, reduced user latency, relaxed file size limitations, better responsiveness, extended battery life, etc.

[0197] In some embodiments, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rates, latency, and other factors that one or more embodiments improve upon. Additionally, there may be an optional network capability to reconfigure the OTT connection 2816 between the host computer 2802 and the UE 2814 in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and / or the network capability to reconfigure the OTT connection 2816 may be implemented in the software 2810 and hardware 2804 of the host computer 2802, or in the software 2840 and hardware 2834 of the UE 2814, or in both. In some embodiments, a sensor (not shown) may be located at or associated with a communication device through which the OTT connection 2816 passes. The sensor may participate in the measurement procedure by providing values ​​of monitored quantities, as exemplified above, or by providing values ​​of other physical quantities from which the software 2810, 2840 may calculate or estimate the monitored quantities. Reconfiguration of the OTT connection 2816 may include message formats, retransmission configurations, preferred routing, etc., and such reconfiguration need not impact the base station 2818 and may be unknown or imperceptible to the base station 2818. Such procedures and functions are known and may be implemented in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates the host computer 2802 measuring throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. Measurements may be performed by having the software 2810 and 2840 send messages (particularly empty or "dummy" messages) using the OTT connection 2816 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.

[0198] FIG. 29 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed in a communication system according to one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE, which may be described with reference to FIG. 27 and FIG. 28. To simplify this disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 29 are included in this section. In step 2900, the host computer provides user data. In sub-step 2902 (which may be optional) of step 2900, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 2904, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. In step 2906 (which may be optional), the base station transmits the user data carried in the host computer initiated transmission to the UE, according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 2908 (which may also be optional), the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.

[0199] FIG. 30 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed in a communication system according to one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE, which may be described with reference to FIG. 27 and FIG. 28. To simplify the disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 30 are included in this section. In step 3000 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional sub-step (not shown), the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 3002, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. The transmission may pass through a base station in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 3004 (which may be optional), the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.

[0200] FIG. 31 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed in a communication system according to one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE, which may be described with reference to FIG. 27 and FIG. 28. To simplify the disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 31 are included in this section. In step 3100 (which may be optional), the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in step 3102, the UE provides user data. In sub-step 3104 (which may be optional) of step 3100, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In sub-step 3106 (which may be optional) of step 3102, the UE executes a client application that provides the user data in response to the received input data provided by the host computer. In providing the user data, the executed client application may further take into account user input received from a user. Regardless of the particular manner in which the user data was provided, the UE initiates transmission of the user data to the host computer in sub-step 3108 (which may be optional). At step 3110 of the method, the host computer receives user data transmitted from the UE according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.

[0201] FIG. 32 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed in a communication system according to one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station, and a UE, which may be described with reference to FIG. 27 and FIG. 28. To simplify this disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 32 are included in this section. In step 3200 (which may be optional), the base station receives user data from the UE, according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 3202 (which may be optional), the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step 3204 (which may be optional), the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

[0202] Any suitable steps, methods, features, functions, or advantages disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual devices. Each virtual device may comprise several of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented using processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessors or microcontrollers, and other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), dedicated digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or more types of memory, such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, and the like. The program code stored in memory includes program instructions for implementing one or more telecommunications and / or data communication protocols and instructions for implementing one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause each functional unit to perform a corresponding function according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0203] Although the processes within the figures may indicate a particular order of operations performed by certain embodiments of the present disclosure, it should be understood that such orders are exemplary (e.g., alternative embodiments may perform operations in a different order, combine certain operations, overlap certain operations, etc.).

[0204] Embodiment

[0205] Group A Embodiments

[0206] Embodiment 1: A method performed by a wireless device for activating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, the method including one or more of: being configured to monitor multiple downlink control information (DCI) formats having a TCI field for physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) reception (1800); receiving a single medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to a TCI field code point of the multiple DCI formats (1802); and receiving separate MAC CEs for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to each TCI field code point of the multiple DCI formats (1804).

[0207] Embodiment 2: The method of embodiment 1, wherein one or more of the multiple DCI formats are DCI format 1_1 and / or 1_2.

[0208] Embodiment 3: The method of embodiment 1 or 2, wherein using a single MAC CE to activate a TCI state and map the activated TCI state to TCI field code points of multiple DCI formats includes using a mapping of a subset of TCI field code points in one DCI format to TCI field code points of another DCI format.

[0209] Embodiment 4: The method of embodiment 3, wherein the activated TCI states mapped to the first S TCI field code points in DCI format 1_1 are mapped to TCI field code points in DCI format 1_2, where S is, for example, the number of code points in the TCI field of DCI format 1_2.

[0210] Embodiment 5: A method according to embodiment 3, wherein the activated TCI states mapped to TCI field code points S0+1 to S0+S in DCI format 1_1 are mapped to TCI field code points in DCI format 1_2, where S is, for example, the number of code points in the TCI field of DCI format 1_2, and S0 is, for example, either a predefined, fixed, or configurable value.

[0211]

[0036] Embodiment 6: The method of embodiment 4 or 5, wherein S is determined from the upper layer parameter tci-PresentInDCI-ForDCI-Format1-2 to be S=2. K where K can take one of the values ​​1, 2, or 3 set by tci-PresentInDCI-ForDCI-Format1-2.

[0212] Embodiment 7: The method of embodiment 1 or 2, wherein activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to TCI fields and code points of the multiple DCI formats using a single MAC CE includes one or more of: receiving a TCI state mapping to a number of code points that is greater than the number of code points in any of the multiple DCI formats in the single MAC CE; using a mapping of a first subset of the TCI fields and code points in the MAC CE to the TCI fields and code points of the first DCI format; and using a mapping of a second subset of the TCI fields and code points in the MAC CE to the TCI fields and code points of the second DCI format.

[0213] Embodiment 8: A method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 7, wherein activating a TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to TCI field codepoints of multiple DCI formats using a single MAC CE includes indicating to which DCI format the TCI codepoint mapping applies, among the multiple DCI formats, using a field in the MAC CE.

[0214] Embodiment 9: The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 8, further comprising: activating TCI states using different MAC CEs; and mapping the activated TCI states to TCI field code points of multiple DCI formats.

[0215] Embodiment 10: The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 9, wherein the default TCI state is defined as the TCI state corresponding to the lowest code point among the TCI code points included in the MAC CE, the code point including two different TCI states.

[0216] Embodiment 11: The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 9, wherein the default TCI state is defined as the TCI state corresponding to the lowest code point among the TCI code points included in one of the different MAC CEs, the TCI state including two different TCI states.

[0217]

[0036] Embodiment 12: The method of any of the preceding embodiments, further comprising providing user data and transferring the user data to the host computer via transmission to a base station.

[0218] Group B Embodiments

[0219] Embodiment 13: A method performed by a base station for activating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, the method including one or more of: configuring a wireless device to monitor multiple downlink control information (DCI) formats having a TCI field for physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) reception (1900); transmitting a single medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) to the wireless device for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to a TCI field code point of the multiple DCI formats (1902); and transmitting a separate MAC CE to the wireless device for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to each TCI field code point of the multiple DCI formats (1904).

[0220] Embodiment 14: The method of embodiment 13, wherein one or more of the multiple DCI formats are DCI format 1_1 and / or 1_2.

[0221] Embodiment 15: The method of embodiment 13 or 14, wherein using a single MAC CE to activate a TCI state and map the activated TCI state to TCI field code points of multiple DCI formats includes using mapping of a subset of TCI field code points in one DCI format to TCI field code points of another DCI format.

[0222] Embodiment 16: The method of embodiment 15, wherein the activated TCI states mapped to the first S TCI field code points in DCI format 1_1 are mapped to TCI field code points in DCI format 1_2, where S is, for example, the number of code points in the TCI field of DCI format 1_2.

[0223] Embodiment 17: The method of embodiment 15, wherein the activated TCI states mapped to TCI field code points S0+1 to S0+S in DCI format 1_1 are mapped to TCI field code points in DCI format 1_2, where S is, for example, the number of code points in the TCI field of DCI format 1_2, and S0 is, for example, either a predefined, fixed, or configurable value.

[0224]

[0046] Embodiment 18: The method of embodiment 16 or 17, wherein S is determined from the upper layer parameter tci-PresentInDCI-ForDCI-Format1-2 to be S=2. K where K can take one of the values ​​1, 2, or 3 set by tci-PresentInDCI-ForDCI-Format1-2.

[0225] Embodiment 19: The method of embodiment 13 or 14, wherein activating a TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to TCI fields and code points of a plurality of DCI formats using a single MAC CE includes one or more of: receiving a TCI state mapping to a number of code points that is greater than the number of code points in any of the plurality of DCI formats in the single MAC CE; using a mapping of a first subset of the TCI fields and code points in the MAC CE to the TCI fields and code points of the first DCI format; and using a mapping of a second subset of the TCI fields and code points in the MAC CE to the TCI fields and code points of the second DCI format.

[0226] Embodiment 20: A method according to any of embodiments 13 to 19, wherein activating a TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to TCI field codepoints of multiple DCI formats using a single MAC CE includes indicating to which DCI format, among the multiple DCI formats, the TCI codepoint mapping applies using a field in the MAC CE.

[0227] Embodiment 21: A method according to any one of embodiments 13 to 20, further comprising activating TCI states using different MAC CEs and mapping the activated TCI states to TCI field code points of multiple DCI formats.

[0228] Embodiment 22: The method of any one of embodiments 13 to 21, wherein the default TCI state is defined as the TCI state corresponding to the lowest code point among the TCI code points included in the MAC CE, the code point including two different TCI states.

[0229] Embodiment 23: The method of any of embodiments 13 to 22, wherein the default TCI state is defined as the TCI state corresponding to the lowest code point among the TCI code points included in one of the different MAC CEs, the TCI state including two different TCI states.

[0230] Embodiment 24: The method of any of the above embodiments, further comprising obtaining user data and transferring the user data to a host computer or wireless device.

[0231] Group C Embodiments

[0232] Embodiment 25: A wireless device for activating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, the wireless device comprising: a processing circuit configured to perform the steps included in any of the embodiments of group A; and a power supply circuit configured to supply power to the wireless device.

[0233] Embodiment 26: A base station for activating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, the base station comprising: a processing circuit configured to perform the steps included in any of the embodiments of Group B; and a power supply circuit configured to supply power to the base station.

[0234] Embodiment 27: A user equipment (UE) for activating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, the UE comprising: an antenna configured to transmit and receive radio signals; a radio front-end circuit connected to the antenna and to a processing circuit and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuit; a processing circuit configured to perform the steps included in any of the embodiments of Group A; 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 supply power to the UE.

[0235] Embodiment 28: A communications system including a host computer, the host computer comprising a processing circuit configured to provide user data and a communications interface configured to transfer the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the cellular network comprising a base station having a radio interface and a processing circuit, the processing circuit of the base station being configured to perform the steps included in any of the embodiments of Group B.

[0236] Embodiment 29: The communication system of the above embodiment, further comprising a base station.

[0237] Embodiment 30: The communication system of the above two embodiments, further including a UE, the UE being configured to communicate with the base station.

[0238] Embodiment 31: A communications system according to any of the above three embodiments, wherein the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application thereby providing user data, and the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application.

[0239] Embodiment 32: A method performed in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a user equipment (UE), comprising: providing user data in the host computer; and initiating a transmission in the host computer conveying the user data to the UE via a cellular network including the base station, the base station performing the steps included in any of the embodiments of Group B.

[0240] Embodiment 33: The method of any of the above embodiments, further comprising: transmitting user data at the base station.

[0241] Embodiment 34: The method of the above two embodiments, wherein the user data is provided in the host computer by executing a host application, and the method further includes executing, in the UE, a client application associated with the host application.

[0242] Embodiment 35: A user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a base station, the UE comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to perform the methods of the above three embodiments.

[0243] Embodiment 36: A communications system including a host computer, the host computer comprising a processing circuit configured to provide user data and a communications interface configured to transfer the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a UE (user equipment), the UE comprising a base station having a wireless interface and a processing circuit, the processing circuit of the UE being configured to perform the steps included in any of the embodiments of Group A.

[0244] Embodiment 37: The communication system of the above embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a base station configured to communicate with the UE.

[0245] Embodiment 38: A communication system according to the above two embodiments, wherein the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application thereby providing user data, and the processing circuitry of the UE is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application.

[0246] Embodiment 39: A method performed in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a user equipment (UE), comprising: providing user data in the host computer; and initiating a transmission in the host computer conveying the user data to the UE via a cellular network including the base station, wherein the UE performs the steps included in any of the embodiments of Group A.

[0247] Embodiment 40: The method of any of the above embodiments, further comprising: receiving, in the UE, user data from the base station.

[0248] Embodiment 41: A communications system including a host computer having a communications interface configured to receive user data resulting from a transmission from a user equipment (UE) to a base station, the UE having a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE's processing circuitry configured to perform the steps included in any of the embodiments of Group A.

[0249] Embodiment 42: The communication system of the above embodiment, further comprising a UE.

[0250] Embodiment 43: The communication system of the above two embodiments, further comprising a base station, the base station comprising a radio interface configured to communicate with a UE, and a communication interface configured to transfer user data carried by transmissions from the UE to the base station to a host computer.

[0251] Embodiment 44: A communications system according to any of the three preceding embodiments, wherein the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, and the processing circuitry of the UE is configured to provide user data by executing a client application associated with the host computer.

[0252] Embodiment 45: A communications system according to any of the above four embodiments, wherein the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application thereby providing requested data, and the processing circuitry of the UE is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application thereby providing user data in response to the requested data.

[0253] Embodiment 46: A method performed in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a UE (user equipment), the method including receiving, at the host computer, user data transmitted from the UE to the base station, and the UE performing the steps included in any of the embodiments of Group A.

[0254] Embodiment 47: The method of any of the above embodiments, further comprising, in the UE, providing user data to the base station.

[0255] Embodiment 48: The method of the above two embodiments, further comprising: executing, in the UE, a client application, thereby providing user data to be transmitted; and executing, in the host computer, a host application associated with the client application.

[0256] Embodiment 49: A method according to any of the above three embodiments, comprising: executing, in the UE, a client application; and receiving, in the UE, input data for the client application, the input data being provided in the host computer by executing a host application associated with the client application, wherein the user data to be transmitted is provided by the client application in response to the input data.

[0257] Embodiment 50: A communications system including a host computer having a communications interface configured to receive user data resulting from a transmission from a user equipment (UE) to a base station, the base station having a radio interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the base station being configured to perform any of the steps included in any of the embodiments of Group B.

[0258] Embodiment 51: The communication system of the above embodiment, further comprising a base station.

[0259] Embodiment 52: The communication system of the above two embodiments, further including a UE, the UE being configured to communicate with the base station.

[0260] Embodiment 53: A communications system according to any of the above three embodiments, wherein the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, and the UE is configured to provide user data received by the host computer by executing a client application associated with the host computer.

[0261] Embodiment 54: A method performed in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a UE (user equipment), the method including receiving, at the host computer, user data from the base station resulting from a transmission received by the base station from the UE, the UE performing the steps included in any of the embodiments of Group A.

[0262] Embodiment 54: The method of the above embodiment, further comprising receiving, at the base station, user data from.

[0263] Embodiment 55: The method of the above two embodiments, further comprising initiating, at the base station, transmission of the received user data to the host computer.

[0264] In this disclosure, at least some of the following abbreviations may be used. In case of inconsistency between the abbreviations, how it is used above shall prevail. If listed multiple times below, the first listing shall prevail over any subsequent listings. ·3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project 5G Fifth Generation 5GC Fifth Generation Core 5GS Fifth Generation System ·AF Application Function AMF Access and Mobility Function ·AN Access Network AP Access Point ·ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit AUSF Authentication Server Function CPU Central Processing Unit ·DN Data Network DSP Digital Signal Processor eNB Enhanced or Evolved Node B EPS Evolved Packet System E-UTRA Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access ·FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array ·gNB New Radio Base Station ·gNB-DU New Radio Base Station Distributed Unit -HSS Home Subscriber Server ·IoT Internet of Things IP Internet Protocol ·LTE Long Term Evolution MME Mobility Management Entity MTC Machine-Type Communication NEF Network Exposure Function NF Network Function ·NR New Radio ·NRF Network Function Repository Function ·NSSF Network Slice Selection Function ·OTT Over-the-Top PC Personal Computer ·PCF Policy Control Function ·P-GW Packet Data Network Gateway QoS Quality of Service RAM Random Access Memory ·RAN Radio Access Network ROM Read Only Memory RRH Remote Radio Head RTT Round Trip Time ·SCEF Service Capability Exposure Function ·SMF Session Management Function ·UDM Unified Data Management ·UE User Equipment · UPF User Plane Function

[0265] Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of the present disclosure, and all such improvements and modifications are deemed to be within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.

Claims

1. 1. A method performed by a wireless device for activating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, the method comprising: being configured (1800) to monitor a plurality of DCI (Downlink Control Information) formats, each having a TCI field for PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) reception, the TCI fields of the plurality of DCI formats being configured with different sizes; receiving 1802 a single TCI state activation command for activating a plurality of TCI states and mapping the activated TCI states to a set of code points of the TCI field for the plurality of DCI formats, where at least one code point in the set of code points is mapped to two activated TCI states; receiving separate TCI state activation commands (1804) for activating the plurality of TCI states and mapping the activated TCI states to the set of code points of the TCI field for each of the plurality of DCI formats, wherein the at least one of the code points in the set of code points is mapped to the two activated TCI states; A method comprising:

2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the single TCI state activation command is a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the plurality of DCI formats is DCI format 1_1 and / or 1_2.

4. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the single TCI state activation command for activating the plurality of TCI states and mapping the activated TCI states to the set of code points of the TCI fields for the plurality of DCI formats includes using a subset of the mappings for DCI formats having TCI fields with a fewer number of code points than the set of code points provided by the single TCI state activation command.

5. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein if the number S of code points in the TCI field of a DCI is less than a maximum number of code points provided in the single TCI state activation command, the S code points are mapped to the first S code points in the single TCI state activation command.

6. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the single TCI state activation command is used for TCI state activation / deactivation for both DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2, a default TCI state is the TCI state corresponding to the lowest codepoint among the TCI codepoints included in the single TCI state activation command, which includes two different TCI states.

7. 7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein S is determined from the higher layer parameter tci-PresentInDCI-ForDCI-Format1-2 to be S=2. K where K can take one of the values ​​1, 2, or 3, as set by tci-PresentInDCI-ForDCI-Format1-2.

8. 4. The method of claim 2 or 3, wherein activating the multiple TCI states using a single MAC CE and mapping the activated TCI states to the set of codepoints of the TCI fields for the multiple DCI formats comprises: receiving, in the MAC CE, a TCI state mapping to a number of code points that is greater than a number of code points in the TCI field in any of the plurality of DCI formats; using a mapping of a first subset of the TCI field codepoints in the MAC CE to the TCI field codepoints of a first DCI format; using a mapping of a second subset of the TCI field codepoints in the MAC CE to the TCI field codepoints of a second DCI format; A method comprising:

9. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to the TCI field codepoints of the multiple DCI formats using a single MAC CE includes indicating, using a field in the MAC CE, to which DCI formats of the multiple DCI formats a TCI codepoint mapping applies.

10. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the separate TCI state activation commands for activating the TCI states and mapping the activated TCI states to the TCI field codepoints for the multiple DCI formats comprises receiving, for each of the multiple DCI formats, one MAC CE activation command for activating the multiple TCI states and mapping the activated TCI states to the set of codepoints of the TCI fields of that DCI format.

11. 11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the default TCI state is defined as the TCI state corresponding to the lowest TCI codepoint included in a single MAC CE including two different TCI states.

12. 12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the default TCI state is defined as the TCI state corresponding to the lowest TCI codepoint included in one of the separate MAC CEs that includes two different TCI states.

13. 1. A method performed by a base station for activating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, the method comprising: Configuring a wireless device (1900) to monitor a plurality of DCI (Downlink Control Information) formats, each having a TCI field for PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) reception, the TCI fields of the plurality of DCI formats being configured with different sizes; sending (1902) a single TCI state activation command to the wireless device to activate the TCI states and map the activated TCI states to TCI field codepoints for the multiple DCI formats; sending (1904) separate TCI state activation commands to the wireless device to activate the TCI states and map the activated TCI states to the TCI field codepoints for each of the plurality of DCI formats; A method comprising:

14. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the single TCI state activation command is a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE).

15. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein one or more of the plurality of DCI formats is DCI format 1_1 and / or 1_2.

16. 16. The method of claim 13, wherein activating the TCI states and mapping the activated TCI states to the TCI field codepoints of the multiple DCI formats using a MAC CE comprises using the mapping for a subset of the TCI field codepoints in the activation command for DCI formats having TCI fields with a smaller number of codepoints than a set of codepoints provided by the single TCI activation command.

17. 17. The method of claim 13, wherein if the number S of code points in the TCI field of a DCI is less than the maximum number of code points in the single TCI state activation command, the S code points are mapped to the first S code points in the single TCI state activation command.

18. 18. The method according to claim 13, wherein when the single TCI state activation command is used for TCI state activation / deactivation for both DCI formats 1_1 and 1_2, a default TCI state is the TCI state corresponding to the lowest codepoint among the TCI codepoints included in the single TCI state activation command, which includes two different TCI states.

19. 19. The method according to claim 17 or 18, wherein S is determined from the higher layer parameter tci-PresentInDCI-ForDCI-Format1-2 to be S=2. K where K can take one of the values ​​1, 2, or 3, as set by tci-PresentInDCI-ForDCI-Format1-2.

20. 16. The method of claim 13, wherein activating the TCI states using a MAC CE and mapping the activated TCI states to code points of the TCI fields for the multiple DCI formats comprises: transmitting in the MAC CE a TCI state mapping to a number of code points that is greater than a number of code points in the TCI field in any of the plurality of DCI formats; using a mapping of a first subset of the TCI field codepoints in the MAC CE to the TCI field codepoints of a first DCI format; using a mapping of a second subset of the TCI field codepoints in the MAC CE to the TCI field codepoints of a second DCI format; A method comprising:

21. 21. The method of claim 13, wherein activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to the TCI field codepoints of the multiple DCI formats using a single MAC CE includes indicating, using a field in the MAC CE, to which DCI formats of the multiple DCI formats a TCI codepoint mapping applies.

22. 22. The method of claim 13, wherein activating the TCI states and mapping the activated TCI states to the TCI field codepoints for the multiple DCI formats using separate MAC CEs comprises receiving, for each of the multiple DCI formats, one MAC CE activation command for activating a plurality of TCI states and mapping the activated TCI states to a set of codepoints of the TCI fields of the DCI format.

23. 23. The method of claim 13, wherein the default TCI state is defined as the TCI state corresponding to the lowest TCI codepoint included in a single MAC CE that includes two different TCI states.

24. 23. The method of any one of claims 13 to 22, wherein the default TCI state is defined as the TCI state corresponding to the lowest TCI codepoint included in one of the separate MAC CEs that includes two different TCI states.

25. A wireless device (2500) for activating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, comprising: Configuring (1800) to monitor a plurality of DCI (Downlink Control Information) formats having a TCI field for PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) reception, the TCI fields of the plurality of DCI formats being configured with different sizes; receiving (1802) a single Medium Access Control (MAC) CE (Control Element) for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to TCI field codepoints of the multiple DCI formats; receiving a separate MAC CE for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to the TCI field codepoint of each of the plurality of DCI formats (1804); 23. A wireless device configured to:

26. 26. The wireless device (2500) of claim 25, further configured to perform a method according to any one of claims 2 to 12.

27. A wireless device (2500) for activating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, comprising: One or more transmitters (2508); One or more receivers (2510); a processing circuit (2502) associated with the one or more transmitters (2508) and the one or more receivers (2510), the processing circuit (2502) configured to: being configured (1800) to monitor a plurality of DCI (Downlink Control Information) formats having a TCI field for PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) reception; receiving (1802) a single Medium Access Control (MAC) CE (Control Element) for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to TCI field codepoints of the multiple DCI formats; receiving a separate MAC CE for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to the TCI field codepoint of each of the plurality of DCI formats (1804); 23. A wireless device configured to:

28. 28. The wireless device (2500) of claim 27, wherein the processing circuit (2502) is further configured to cause the wireless device (2500) to perform a method according to any one of claims 2 to 12.

29. A base station (2200) for activating a TCI (Transmission Configuration Indicator) state, comprising: Configuring a wireless device to monitor a plurality of DCI (Downlink Control Information) formats having a TCI field for PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) reception (1900); sending (1902) to the wireless device a single Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to TCI field codepoints of the multiple DCI formats; transmitting (1904) a separate MAC CE to the wireless device for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to the TCI field codepoint of each of the plurality of DCI formats; A base station configured to execute the above steps.

30. 30. The base station (2200) of claim 29, further configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 14 to 24.

31. A base station (2200) for activating a TCI (Transmission Configuration Indicator) state, comprising: One or more transmitters (2212); One or more receivers (2214); a processing circuit (2204) associated with the one or more transmitters (2212) and the one or more receivers (2214), the processing circuit (2204) being configured to: Configuring a wireless device to monitor a plurality of DCI (Downlink Control Information) formats having a TCI field for PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) reception (1900); sending (1902) to the wireless device a single Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to TCI field codepoints of the multiple DCI formats; transmitting (1904) a separate MAC CE to the wireless device for activating the TCI state and mapping the activated TCI state to the TCI field codepoint of each of the plurality of DCI formats; A base station configured to execute the above steps.

32. 32. The base station (2200) of claim 31, wherein the processing circuit (2204) is further configured to cause the base station (2200) to perform a method according to any one of claims 14 to 24.

Images