Indication of synchronization signal block properties for single frequency networks
By determining and transmitting SSB information to manage beam quantities in SFNs, the method optimizes beam alignment and communication efficiency in LTE and NR systems, addressing inefficiencies in existing wireless communication systems.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- JP2022556216
- Authority / Receiving Office
- JP · JP
- Patent Type
- Patents
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Priority Date
- 2021-04-05
- Filing Date
- 2021-04-06
- Publication Date
- 2025-08-19
- Estimated Expiration
- 2041-04-06
AI Technical Summary
Existing wireless communication systems, particularly in LTE and NR, face challenges in efficiently managing synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) in single frequency networks (SFNs), leading to suboptimal beam management and communication efficiency.
The method involves determining and transmitting SSB information indicating the quantity of beams associated with each SSB, allowing UEs and base stations to monitor and steer receive beams accordingly, thereby optimizing beam management and communication efficiency.
This approach enhances beam alignment and communication efficiency in SFNs by providing precise beam management, improving signal quality and reducing interference.
Smart Images

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Abstract
Description
[Technical Field]
[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This patent application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 007,050, filed April 8, 2020, entitled "INDICATION OF SYNCHRONIZATION SIGNAL BLOCK PROPERTIES OF SINGLE FREQUENCY NETWORKS," and U.S. Non-Provisional Patent Application No. 17 / 222,661, filed April 5, 2021, entitled "INDICATION OF SYNCHRONIZATION SIGNAL BLOCK PROPERTIES OF SINGLE FREQUENCY NETWORKS," which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
[0002] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communications and to techniques and apparatus for indicating synchronization signal block properties of a single frequency network. [Background technology]
[0003] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. A typical wireless communication system may utilize multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems, and Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE / LTE-Advanced is a set of extensions to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standard promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
[0004] A wireless network may include several base stations (BSs) that can support communication for several user equipments (UEs). The UEs may communicate with the BSs via a downlink and an uplink. The "downlink" or "forward link" refers to the communication link from the BS to the UE, and the "uplink" or "reverse link" refers to the communication link from the UE to the BS. As described in more detail herein, a BS may be referred to as a Node B, gNB, access point (AP), radio head, transmit receive point (TRP), new radio (NR) BS, or 5G Node B.
[0005] The above multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunications standards to provide common protocols that enable various user equipment to communicate at city, national, regional, and even global levels. NR, sometimes referred to as 5G, is a set of extensions to the LTE mobile standard promulgated by 3GPP. NR is designed to improve spectral efficiency, reduce costs, improve service, utilize new spectrum, and better support mobile broadband Internet access by using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with cyclic prefix (CP) (CP-OFDM) on the downlink (DL) and CP-OFDM and / or SC-FDM (e.g., also known as discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM)) on the uplink (UL) to better integrate with other open standards, as well as support beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation. However, as demand for mobile broadband access continues to grow, further improvements in LTE, NR, and other radio access technologies are needed. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]
[0006] In some aspects, a method of wireless communication, implemented by a user equipment (UE), may include receiving synchronization signal block (SSB) information indicating, for each respective SSB of one or more SSBs, a quantity of beams associated with the respective SSB. The method may include monitoring the SSBs, determining one or more beams that provide the SSBs based at least in part on the SSB information, and steering one or more receive beams toward the one or more beams.
[0007] In some aspects, a method of wireless communication implemented by a base station may include determining, for each respective SSB of one or more SSBs, SSB information indicating a quantity of how many beams are associated with the respective SSB, and transmitting the SSB information to a UE.
[0008] In some aspects, a UE for wireless communication may include a memory and one or more processors operably coupled to the memory. The memory and the one or more processors may be configured to receive SSB information indicating, for each respective SSB of one or more SSBs, a quantity of beams associated with the respective SSB. The UE may monitor the SSBs, determine one or more beams that provide the SSBs based at least in part on the SSB information, and steer one or more receive beams toward the one or more beams.
[0009] In some aspects, a base station for wireless communication may include a memory and one or more processors operably coupled to the memory. The memory and the one or more processors may be configured to determine, for each respective SSB of one or more SSBs, SSB information indicative of a quantity of how many beams are associated with the respective SSB, and to transmit the SSB information to a UE.
[0010] In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may store one or more instructions for wireless communication. The one or more instructions, when executed by one or more processors of a UE, may cause the one or more processors to receive SSB information indicating, for each respective SSB of one or more SSBs, a quantity of how many beams are associated with the respective SSB, monitor the SSBs, determine one or more beams that provide the SSB based at least in part on the SSB information, and steer one or more receive beams toward the one or more beams.
[0011] In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may store one or more instructions for wireless communication that, when executed by one or more processors of a base station, may cause the one or more processors to determine, for each respective SSB of one or more SSBs, SSB information indicating a quantity of how many beams are associated with the respective SSB, and transmit the SSB information to a UE.
[0012] In some aspects, an apparatus for wireless communication may include means for receiving SSB information indicating, for each respective SSB of one or more SSBs, a quantity of how many beams are associated with the respective SSB; means for monitoring the SSBs; means for determining, based at least in part on the SSB information, one or more beams that provide the SSB; and means for steering one or more received beams toward the one or more beams.
[0013] In some aspects, an apparatus for wireless communication may include means for determining, for each respective SSB of one or more SSBs, SSB information indicating a quantity of how many beams are associated with the respective SSB, and means for transmitting the SSB information to a UE.
[0014] Aspects generally include methods, apparatus, systems, computer program products, non-transitory computer-readable media, user equipment, base stations, wireless communication devices, and / or processing systems as fully described herein with reference to the drawings, and as illustrated by the drawings and this specification.
[0015] The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of examples according to the present disclosure so that the following detailed description may be better understood. Additional features and advantages are described below. The concepts and examples disclosed may readily be used as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. Such equivalent structures do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. The nature of the concepts disclosed herein, both their organization and method of operation, together with associated advantages, will be better understood from the following description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description, and not as a definition of the limits of the claims.
[0016] While aspects and embodiments are described herein by way of illustration for several examples, those skilled in the art will appreciate that additional implementations and use cases may arise in many different configurations and scenarios. The innovations described herein may be implemented across many different platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, and packaging configurations. For example, embodiments and / or applications may arise via integrated chip embodiments and other non-modular component-based devices (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communications devices, computing devices, industrial equipment, retail / purchasing devices, medical devices, AI-enabled devices, etc.). While some examples may or may not specifically target a use case or application, a wide assortment of applicability of the described innovations may arise. Implementations may range from chip-level or modular components to non-modular, non-chip-level implementations, and even to aggregated, distributed, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) devices or systems incorporating one or more aspects of the described innovations. In some practical settings, devices incorporating the described aspects and features may also necessarily include additional components and features for implementing and practicing the claimed and described embodiments. For example, transmitting and receiving wireless signals necessarily includes several components for analog and digital purposes (e.g., hardware components including antennas, RF chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, processors, interleavers, adders / analog summers, etc.). It is intended that the innovations described herein may be practiced in a wide variety of devices, chip-level components, systems, distributed configurations, end-user devices, etc., of various sizes, shapes, and configurations.
[0017] So that the above-mentioned features of the present disclosure may be understood in detail, a more particular description of what has been briefly summarized above may be made by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, since the present description may admit of other equally effective embodiments, it should be noted that the accompanying drawings illustrate only some typical embodiments of the present disclosure and therefore should not be considered limiting of its scope. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements. [Brief explanation of the drawings]
[0018] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication network according to the present disclosure. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a base station communicating with user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, according to the present disclosure. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 illustrates an example logical architecture of a distributed radio access network, according to aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of multiple transmit receive point (TRP) communication according to the present disclosure. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of TRPs transmitting data on the same frequency resource according to the present disclosure. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a TRP transmitting synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) to a UE on a high-speed train in accordance with the present disclosure. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a beam that is not single frequency network (SFN) transparent to a UE in accordance with the present disclosure. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 illustrates an example illustrating SSB properties of an SFN according to the present disclosure. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 illustrates an example illustrating SSB properties of an SFN according to the present disclosure. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 illustrates an example illustrating SSB properties of an SFN according to the present disclosure. [Figure 11] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary process performed, for example, by a UE, in accordance with the present disclosure. [Figure 12] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary process implemented, for example, by a base station, in accordance with the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0019] Various aspects of the present disclosure are described more fully below with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to any specific structure or function presented throughout this disclosure. Rather, these aspects are intended so that this disclosure will be exhaustive and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. Based on the teachings herein, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the scope of the present disclosure encompasses any aspect of the present disclosure disclosed herein, whether implemented independently or in combination with any other aspect of the present disclosure. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects described herein. Additionally, the scope of the present disclosure encompasses apparatuses or methods practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to or other than the various aspects of the present disclosure described herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the present disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim.
[0020] Several aspects of telecommunications systems are now presented with reference to various apparatus and techniques. These apparatus and techniques are described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, modules, components, circuits, steps, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as "elements"). These elements may be implemented using hardware, software, or a combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends on the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.
[0021] It should be noted that although aspects may be described herein using terminology commonly associated with 5G or NR radio access technologies (RATs), aspects of the present disclosure may apply to other RATs, such as 3G RATs, 4G RATs, and / or RATs subsequent to 5G (e.g., 6G).
[0022] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network 100 according to the present disclosure. The wireless network 100 may be an element of or include a 5G (NR) network and / or an LTE network, among other examples. The wireless network 100 may include several base stations 110 (denoted as BS 110a, BS 110b, BS 110c, and BS 110d) and other network entities. A base station (BS) is an entity that communicates with user equipment (UE) and may also be referred to as an NR BS, Node B, gNB, 5G Node B (NB), access point, or transmit reception point (TRP). Each BS may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" can refer to the coverage area of a BS and / or the BS subsystem serving this coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.
[0023] A BS may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, and / or another type of cell. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a few kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may allow restricted access by UEs that have an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG)). A BS for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. A BS for a pico cell may be referred to as a pico BS. A BS for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS. In the example shown in FIG. 1, BS 110a may be a macro BS for macro cell 102a, BS 110b may be a pico BS for pico cell 102b, and BS 110c may be a femto BS for femto cell 102c. A BS may support one or more (e.g., three) cells. The terms "eNB," "base station," "NR BS," "gNB," "TRP," "AP," "Node B," "5G NB," and "cell" may be used interchangeably herein.
[0024] In some aspects, the cells may not necessarily be stationary, and the geographic area of the cells may move according to the location of the mobile BS. In some aspects, the BSs may be interconnected to each other and / or to one or more other BSs or network nodes (not shown) in wireless network 100 through various types of backhaul interfaces, such as direct physical connections or virtual networks using any suitable transport network.
[0025] Wireless network 100 may also include relay stations. A relay station is an entity that can receive a data transmission from an upstream station (e.g., a BS or a UE) and send the data transmission to a downstream station (e.g., a UE or a BS). A relay station may also be a UE that can relay transmissions for other UEs. In the example shown in FIG. 1, relay BS 110d may communicate with BS 110a and UE 120d to facilitate communication between macro BS 110a and UE 120d. A relay BS may also be called a relay station, a relay base station, or a relay.
[0026] Wireless network 100 may be a heterogeneous network including different types of BSs: macro BSs, pico BSs, femto BSs, and / or relay BSs. These different types of BSs may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different susceptibility to interference in wireless network 100. For example, macro BSs may have high transmit power levels (e.g., 5-40 watts), while pico BSs, femto BSs, and relay BSs may have lower transmit power levels (e.g., 0.1-2 watts).
[0027] A network controller 130 may couple to a set of BSs and provide coordination and control for these BSs. The network controller 130 may communicate with the BSs via a backhaul. The BSs may also communicate with each other directly or indirectly via wireless or wireline backhaul.
[0028] The UEs 120 (e.g., 120a, 120b, 120c) may be dispersed throughout the wireless network 100, and each UE may be fixed or mobile. A UE may also be referred to as an access terminal, terminal, mobile station, subscriber unit, station, etc. A UE may be a cellular phone (e.g., a smartphone), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a tablet, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, a medical device or equipment, a biometric sensor / device, a wearable device (smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wristband, smart jewelry (e.g., smart ring, smart bracelet)), an entertainment device (e.g., a music or video device, or satellite radio), a vehicle component or sensor, a smart meter / sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate over a wireless or wired medium.
[0029] Some UEs may be considered machine type communication (MTC) UEs or evolved or enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) UEs. MTC UEs and eMTC UEs include, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, and / or location tags that may communicate with a base station, another device (e.g., a remote device), or some other entity. A wireless node may provide, for example, connectivity for or to a network (e.g., a wide area network such as the Internet or a cellular network) via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered Internet of Things (IoT) devices and / or may be implemented as NB-IoT (narrowband Internet of Things) devices. Some UEs may be considered customer premises equipment (CPE). The UE 120 may be included within a housing that houses components of the UE 120, such as a processor component and / or a memory component. In some aspects, the processor component and the memory component may be coupled to each other. For example, a processor component (e.g., one or more processors) and a memory component (e.g., memory) may be operatively coupled, communicatively coupled, electronically coupled, and / or electrically coupled.
[0030] In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed within a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a particular RAT and may operate at one or more frequencies. A RAT may also be referred to as a radio technology and / or an air interface. A frequency may also be referred to as a carrier and / or a frequency channel. Each frequency may support a single RAT within a given geographic area to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs. In some cases, NR or 5G RAT networks may be deployed.
[0031] In some aspects, two or more UEs 120 (e.g., shown as UE 120a and UE 120e) may communicate directly (e.g., without using base station 110 as an intermediary for communicating with each other) using one or more sidelink channels. For example, the UEs 120 may communicate using peer-to-peer (P2P) communication, device-to-device (D2D) communication, a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) protocol (which may include, e.g., a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) protocol or a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) protocol), and / or a mesh network. In this case, the UEs 120 may perform scheduling operations, resource selection operations, and / or other operations described elsewhere herein as being performed by base station 110.
[0032] As indicated above, Figure 1 is given as an example. Other examples may differ from the example described with respect to Figure 1.
[0033] The devices of the wireless network 100 may communicate using an electromagnetic spectrum, which may be subdivided into various classes, bands, channels, etc. based on frequency or wavelength. For example, the devices of the wireless network 100 may communicate using an operating band having a first frequency range (FR1), which may range from 410 MHz to 7.125 GHz, and / or may communicate using an operating band having a second frequency range (FR2), which may range from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are sometimes referred to as mid-band frequencies. Although portions of FR1 are higher than 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to as the “sub-6 GHz” band. Similarly, FR2 is often referred to as the “millimeter wave” band, even though it is different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz to 300 GHz), which is identified as the “millimeter wave” band by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Thus, unless otherwise specified, it should be understood that terms such as "sub-6 GHz," when used herein, can broadly refer to frequencies below 6 GHz, frequencies within FR1, and / or mid-band frequencies (e.g., greater than 7.125 GHz). Similarly, unless otherwise specified, it should be understood that terms such as "millimeter wave," when used herein, can broadly refer to frequencies within the EHF band, frequencies within FR2, and / or mid-band frequencies (e.g., less than 24.25 GHz). It is contemplated that the frequencies included in FR1 and FR2 may be modified, and the techniques described herein are applicable to those modified frequency ranges.
[0034] 2 is a diagram illustrating an example base station 110 200 in communication with a UE 120 in wireless network 100 in accordance with the present disclosure. Base station 110 may be equipped with T antennas 234a through 234t, and UE 120 may be equipped with R antennas 252a through 252r, where in general T≧1 and R≧1.
[0035] At the base station 110, the transmit processor 220 may receive data for one or more UEs from a data source 212, select one or more modulation and coding schemes (MCSs) for each UE based at least in part on a channel quality indicator (CQI) received from the UE, process (e.g., encode and modulate) the data for each UE based at least in part on the MCS selected for the UE, and provide data symbols to all UEs. The transmit processor 220 may also process system information (e.g., for semi-static resource partitioning information (SRPI)) and control information (e.g., CQI requests, grants, upper layer signaling) and may provide overhead and control symbols. The transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., cell-specific reference signals (CRS), demodulation reference signals (DMRS)) and synchronization signals (e.g., primary synchronization signals (PSS) or secondary synchronization signals (SSS)). The transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, control symbols, overhead symbols, and / or reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide T output symbol streams to T modulators (MODs) 232a through 232t. Each modulator 232 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 232 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. The T downlink signals from modulators 232a through 232t may be transmitted via T antennas 234a through 234t, respectively.
[0036] At UE 120, antennas 252a through 252r may receive downlink signals from base station 110 and / or other base stations and may provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a through 254r, respectively. Each demodulator 254 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) its received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 254 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from all R demodulators 254a through 254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate and decode) the detected symbols and provide decoded data for UE 120 to a data sink 260 and may provide decoded control and system information to controller / processor 280. The term "controller / processor" may refer to one or more controllers, one or more processors, or a combination thereof. A channel processor may determine a reference signal received power (RSRP), a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), and / or a CQI, among other examples. In some aspects, one or more components of the UE 120 may be included in a housing.
[0037] The network controller 130 may include a communication unit 294, a controller / processor 290, and a memory 292. The network controller 130 may include, for example, one or more devices in a core network. The network controller 130 may communicate with the base station 110 via the communication unit 294.
[0038] Antennas (e.g., antennas 234a-234t and / or antennas 252a-252r) may include or be contained within one or more antenna panels, antenna groups, sets of antenna elements, and / or antenna arrays, among other examples. An antenna panel, antenna group, set of antenna elements, and / or antenna array may include one or more antenna elements. An antenna panel, antenna group, set of antenna elements, and / or antenna array may include a set of coplanar antenna elements and / or a set of non-coplanar antenna elements. An antenna panel, antenna group, set of antenna elements, and / or antenna array may include antenna elements within a single housing and / or antenna elements within multiple housings. An antenna panel, antenna group, set of antenna elements, and / or antenna array may include one or more antenna elements coupled to one or more transmitting and / or receiving components, such as one or more components of FIG. 2.
[0039] On the uplink, at the UE 120, the transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from a data source 262 and control information from the controller / processor 280 (e.g., for reports including RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, and / or CQI). The transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for one or more reference signals. The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266, further processed by modulators 254a-254r (e.g., for DFT-s-OFDM, CP-OFDM), and transmitted to the base station 110. In some aspects, the modulator and demodulator (e.g., MOD / DEMOD 254) of the UE 120 may be included in a modem of the UE 120. In some aspects, the UE 120 includes a transceiver. The transceiver may include any combination of antennas 252, modulators and / or demodulators 254, MIMO detectors 256, receive processors 258, transmit processors 264, and / or TX MIMO processors 266. The transceiver may be used to implement any aspects of the methods described herein (e.g., as described with respect to FIGS. 1-12), via a processor (e.g., controller / processor 280) and memory 282.
[0040] At the base station 110, uplink signals from the UE 120 and other UEs may be received by the antenna 234, processed by a demodulator 232, detected by a MIMO detector 236, if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE 120. The receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and the decoded control information to a controller / processor 240. The base station 110 may include a communication unit 244 and communicate with the network controller 130 via the communication unit 244. The base station 110 may include a scheduler 246 to schedule the UE 120 for downlink and / or uplink communication. In some aspects, a modulator and demodulator (e.g., MOD / DEMOD 232) of the base station 110 may be included in a modem of the base station 110. In some aspects, the base station 110 includes a transceiver. The transceiver may include any combination of antennas 234, modulators and / or demodulators 232, MIMO detectors 236, receive processors 238, transmit processors 220, and / or TX MIMO processors 230. The transceiver may be used to implement any aspects of the methods described herein (e.g., as described with respect to FIGS. 1-12), via a processor (e.g., controller / processor 240) and memory 242.
[0041] The controller / processor 240 of the base station 110, the controller / processor 280 of the UE 120, and / or any other component of FIG. 2 may implement one or more techniques associated with indicating synchronization signal block (SSB) properties of a single frequency network (SFN), as described in more detail elsewhere herein. For example, the controller / processor 240 of the base station 110, the controller / processor 280 of the UE 120, and / or any other component of FIG. 2 may perform or direct the operation of, for example, process 1100 of FIG. 11, process 1200 of FIG. 12, and / or other processes as described herein. The memory 242 and the memory 282 may store data and program codes for the base station 110 and the UE 120, respectively. In some aspects, the memory 242 and / or the memory 282 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores one or more instructions (e.g., code and / or program code) for wireless communication. For example, the one or more instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the base station 110 and / or the UE 120 (e.g., immediately or after being compiled, converted, and / or interpreted), may cause the one or more processors, the UE 120, and / or the base station 110 to perform or direct operations of, for example, process 1100 of FIG. 12, process 1200 of FIG. 12, and / or other processes as described herein. In some aspects, executing the instructions may include running the instructions, converting the instructions, compiling the instructions, and / or interpreting the instructions, among other examples.
[0042] In some aspects, UE 120 may include means for receiving SSB information indicating, for each respective SSB of one or more SSBs, a quantity of beams associated with the respective SSB, means for monitoring the SSBs, means for determining one or more beams that provide the SSB based at least in part on the SSB information, and / or means for directing one or more received beams toward the one or more beams.
[0043] In some aspects, the base station 110 may include means for determining, for each respective SSB of one or more SSBs, SSB information indicating a quantity of how many beams are associated with the respective SSB and / or means for transmitting the SSB information to the UE. In some aspects, such means may include one or more components of the base station 110 described with respect to FIG. 2, such as the antennas 234, the DEMOD 232, the MIMO detector 236, the receive processor 238, the controller / processor 240, the transmit processor 220, the TX MIMO processor 230, and / or the MOD 232.
[0044] 2. Although the blocks of FIG. 2 are illustrated as distinct components, the functionality described above with respect to the blocks may be implemented with a single hardware component, a software component, or a combination of components, or with various combinations of components. For example, the functionality described with respect to the transmit processor 264, the receive processor 258, and / or the TX MIMO processor 266 may be performed by or under the control of the controller / processor 280. In some aspects, such means may include one or more components of the UE 120 described with respect to FIG. 2, such as the controller / processor 280, the transmit processor 264, the TX MIMO processor 266, the MOD 254, the antennas 252, the DEMOD 254, the MIMO detector 256, and / or the receive processor 258.
[0045] As indicated above, Figure 2 is given as an example. Other examples may differ from those described with respect to Figure 2.
[0046] FIG. 3 illustrates an example logical architecture of a distributed radio access network (RAN) 300 according to an aspect of the present disclosure.
[0047] The 5G access node 305 may include an access node controller 310. The access node controller 310 may be a central unit (CU) of the distributed RAN 300. In some aspects, a backhaul interface to a 5G core network 315 may terminate at the access node controller 310. The 5G core network 315 may include a 5G control plane component 320 and a 5G user plane component 325 (e.g., a 5G gateway), and the backhaul interface for one or both of the 5G control plane and the 5G user plane may terminate at the access node controller 310. Additionally or alternatively, a backhaul interface to one or more neighbor access nodes 330 (e.g., another 5G access node 305, an LTE access node, etc.) may terminate at the access node controller 310.
[0048] The access node controller 310 may include one or more TRPs 335 and / or communicate with them (e.g., via an F1-Control (F1-C) interface and / or an F1-User (F1-U) interface). The TRPs 335 may be distributed units (DUs) of the distributed RAN 300. In some aspects, the TRPs 335 may correspond to the base stations 110 described above with respect to FIG. 1. For example, different TRPs 335 may be included in different base stations 110. Additionally or alternatively, multiple TRPs 335 may be included in a single base station 110. In some aspects, the base station 110 may include a CU (e.g., the access node controller 310) and / or one or more DUs (e.g., one or more TRPs 335). In some cases, the TRPs 335 may be referred to as cells, panels, antenna arrays, arrays, etc.
[0049] The TRP 335 may be connected to a single access node controller 310 or to multiple access node controllers 310. In some aspects, dynamic configuration of separated logical functions may exist within the architecture of the distributed RAN 300. For example, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and / or a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer may be configured to terminate at the access node controller 310 or at the TRP 335.
[0050] In some aspects, multiple TRPs 335 may transmit communications (e.g., the same or different communications) during the same transmission time interval (TTI) (e.g., slot, minislot, subframe, symbol, etc.) or different TTIs using different quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships (e.g., different spatial parameters, different transmit configuration indicator (TCI) states, different precoding parameters, different beamforming parameters). In some aspects, a TCI state may be used to indicate one or more QCL relationships. The TRPs 335 may be configured to serve traffic to the UE 120 individually (e.g., using dynamic selection) or together (e.g., using joint transmission with one or more other TRPs 335).
[0051] As indicated above, Figure 3 is given as an example. Other examples may differ from the example described with respect to Figure 3.
[0052] 4 is a diagram illustrating an example 400 of multi-TRP communication (sometimes referred to as multi-panel communication) according to the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, multiple TRPs 405 may communicate with the same UE 120. The TRPs 405 may correspond to the TRPs 335 described above with respect to FIG. 3.
[0053] Multiple TRPs 405 (denoted as TRP A and TRP B) may communicate with the same UE 120 in a coordinated manner (e.g., using coordinated multipoint transmission, etc.) to improve reliability, increase throughput, etc. The TRPs 405 may coordinate such communications over an interface between the TRPs 405 (e.g., a backhaul interface, an access node controller 310). The interface may have lower latency and / or higher capacity when the TRPs 405 are co-located at the same base station 110 (e.g., when the TRPs 405 are different antenna arrays or panels of the same base station 110), and may have higher latency and / or lower capacity (compared to co-location) when the TRPs 405 are located at different base stations 110. Different TRPs 405 may communicate with the UE 120 using different QCL relationships (e.g., different TCI states), different DMRS ports, and / or different layers (e.g., of multi-layer communications).
[0054] In a first multi-TRP transmission mode (e.g., mode 1), a single physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may be used to schedule downlink data communications for a single physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). In this case, multiple TRPs 405 (e.g., TRP A and TRP B) may transmit communications to the UE 120 on the same PDSCH. For example, a communication may be transmitted using a single codeword with different spatial layers for different TRPs 405 (e.g., one codeword maps to a first set of layers transmitted by a first TRP 405 and a second set of layers transmitted by a second TRP 405). As another example, a communication may be transmitted using multiple codewords, where different codewords are transmitted by different TRPs 405 (e.g., using different sets of layers). In either case, the different TRPs 405 may use different QCL relationships (e.g., different TCI states) for different DMRS ports corresponding to different layers. For example, a first TRP 405 may use a first QCL relationship or a first TCI state for a first set of DMRS ports corresponding to a first set of layers, and a second TRP 405 may use a second (different) QCL relationship or a second (different) TCI state for a second (different) set of DMRS ports corresponding to a second (different) set of layers. In some aspects, a TCI state in downlink control information (DCI) (e.g., transmitted on a PDCCH, such as DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1, etc.) may indicate a first QCL relationship (e.g., by indicating a first TCI state) and a second QCL relationship (e.g., by indicating a second TCI state). The first and second TCI states may be indicated using a TCI field in the DCI. In general, the TCI field can indicate a single TCI state (for single-TRP transmission) or multiple TCI states (for multi-TRP transmission as discussed herein) in this multi-TRP transmission mode (e.g., mode 1).
[0055] In a second multi-TRP transmission mode (e.g., mode 2), multiple PDCCHs may be used to schedule downlink data communications for multiple corresponding PDSCHs (e.g., one PDCCH for each PDSCH), where a first PDCCH may schedule a first codeword to be transmitted by the first TRP 405, and a second PDCCH may schedule a second codeword to be transmitted by the second TRP 405. Furthermore, a first DCI (e.g., transmitted by a first TRP 405) may schedule a first PDSCH communication associated with a first set of DMRS ports having a first QCL relationship (e.g., indicated by a first TCI state) to the first TRP 405, and a second DCI (e.g., transmitted by a second TRP 405) may schedule a second PDSCH communication associated with a second set of DMRS ports having a second QCL relationship (e.g., indicated by a second TCI state) to the second TRP 405. In this case, a DCI (e.g., having DCI format 1_0, DCI format 1_1) may indicate a corresponding TCI state for the TRP 405 corresponding to the DCI. The TCI field of the DCI indicates the corresponding TCI state (e.g., the TCI field of the first DCI indicates the first TCI state, and the TCI field of the second DCI indicates the second TCI state).
[0056] As indicated above, Figure 4 is given as an example. Other examples may differ from the example described with respect to Figure 4.
[0057] FIG. 5 illustrates example TRPs 500, 502, and 504 transmitting data on the same frequency resource in accordance with the present disclosure.
[0058] FIG. 5 shows an example 500 of a TRP transmitting an SSB on a transmit (Tx) beam to a UE. The UE may be on a high-speed train (HST). A base station (e.g., a gNB) may indicate to the UE that the PDCCH and PDSCH are QCL'd with the beam that provides the SSB. In other words, a UE on the HST may expect the PDCCH and PDSCH on the same transmit beam that provides the SSB. The UE may steer its receive beam to the transmit beam from the TRP. This may include aligning the beam configuration (spatial filter) with the transmit beam from the TRP.
[0059] In some aspects, multiple TRPs may transmit the same data over the same time and / or frequency resources. For example, the data may be transmitted in an SFN, where a single frequency is used for each of multiple beams from multiple TRPs. As shown in FIG. 5 and by reference numeral 502, both the first TRP and the second TRP may transmit the same SSB (SSB1) to a UE on an HST using the same frequency beam. However, the UE does not know whether SFN is being used. For example, the UE does not know whether SSB1 (and PDCCH / PDSCH) is provided from one beam or two beams. This scenario may be referred to as a transparent SFN.
[0060] 5 and by reference numeral 504, to a UE on the HST, a first TRP may transmit a first SSB (SSB1) and a second TRP may transmit a second SSB (SSB2). In this scenario, the gNB may indicate that the PDCCH and PDSCH are QCL'd with a first beam providing SSB1 and a second beam providing SSB2. This scenario may be referred to as a non-transparent SFN.
[0061] As noted above, Figure 5 provides some examples. Other examples may differ from those described with respect to Figure 5.
[0062] FIG. 6 illustrates example TRPs 600, 602, and 604 transmitting SSBs to a UE on an HST in accordance with the present disclosure.
[0063] FIG. 6 shows an example 600 of SSB mapping for multiple TRPs along a railway line for HST. For example, each TRP may transmit different SSBs (SSB1-SSB7) on beams pointed in different directions. The order of the beams for the SSBs is the same from one TRP to the next. At the first TRP boundary, TRP1 is transmitting SSB7 toward the UE, and TRP2 is transmitting SSB1 toward the UE. The SSBs are not the same, so the pattern in example 600 is not suitable for SFN or there is little benefit from using SFN.
[0064] 6 shows an example 602 of reverse-order SSB mapping for multiple TRPs along a line for HST. As shown by example 602, the beam order for TRP1 is SSB1 to SSB7, the beam order for TRP2 is SSB7 to SSB1, and the beam order for TRP3 is SSB1 to SSB7. At the first TRP boundary, TRP1 is transmitting SSB7 toward the UE, and TRP2 is also transmitting SSB7 toward the UE. At the second TRP boundary, TRP2 may transmit SSB1 toward the UE, and TRP3 may also transmit SSB1 toward the UE. Because a UE may receive the same SSB from two beams, the SFN may be used for the TRP boundary.
[0065] 6 shows an example 604 of reverse-order SSB mapping in which multiple identical beams are located in the center region. As shown by example 604, the beam order for TRP1 and the beam order for TRP2 are the same, but multiple beams transmitting the same SSB (SSB3) are located in the center region of each TRP. This may increase the chances that a UE will receive the SSB from multiple beams.
[0066] As noted above, Figure 6 provides some examples. Other examples may differ from those described with respect to Figure 6.
[0067] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example beam 700 that is SFN transparent to a UE in accordance with the present disclosure.
[0068] Figure 7 shows an SSB transmitted on one beam from one TRP compared to an SSB transmitted on two SFN beams from two TRPs. Although the SSB may be transmitted on two SFN beams, if the SFN is completely transparent (unknown) to the UE, the UE may not be able to distinguish whether the SSB is received on one beam or multiple SFN beams. In other words, the UE cannot take advantage of any benefits that can be gained from receiving the SSB on multiple beams.
[0069] For example, in typical operation (shown on the left side of FIG. 7 ), a UE may determine a receive beam associated with a transmit beam of an SSB from one TRP. The UE may use the transmit beam from one TRP to estimate the channel and / or determine the Doppler shift (negative or positive). In operation with two TRPs (shown on the right side of FIG. 7 ), each TRP may transmit an SSB on a transmit beam. However, if the UE does not know that the SSB is associated with two transmit beams, the UE may follow typical operation. That is, the UE may point a receive beam toward one of the transmit beams, which may not be the better of the two transmit beams. The UE may therefore miss an opportunity to improve communication with the TRP. This missed opportunity may be more noticeable for UEs on HSTs. By not taking advantage of opportunities for improved communication, the UE may waste power, processing resources, and signaling resources.
[0070] As noted above, Figure 7 is given as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to Figure 7.
[0071] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example 800 illustrating SSB properties of an SFN in accordance with the present disclosure.
[0072] FIG. 8 illustrates two transmit beams from two TRPs in a semi-transparent SFN. In some aspects, a gNB may provide SSB information to a UE indicating that a particular SSB may be received from one beam, two beams, three beams, or more. For multiple beams, the SSB information may indicate whether the beams are from the same or different TRPs. In this manner, the UE may determine from the SSB information whether the SSB is received from multiple transmit beams. As a result, the UE may, for example, steer one receive beam toward the stronger of the two transmit beams or steer two receive beams toward the two transmit beams. The UE may estimate the channel and / or determine the Doppler shift from each beam and improve decoding performance using parameters estimated separately from the two beams. As a result, the SSB and the QCL-enhanced PDCCH and / or PDSCH may be received with greater gain and less degradation. With better communication, greater gain, and less degradation, the UE saves power, processing resources, and signaling resources.
[0073] As noted above, Figure 8 is given as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to Figure 8.
[0074] 9 is a diagram illustrating an example 900 illustrating SSB properties of an SFN in accordance with the present disclosure. Figure 9 illustrates a base station (BS) 910 (e.g., such as the BS 110 shown in Figures 1 and 2) and a UE 920 (e.g., such as the UE 120 shown in Figures 1 and 2) that may communicate with each other. The UE 920 may be on an HST that passes through multiple TRPs. Each TRP may transmit one or more beams. One or more of the beams may be SFN beams.
[0075] As indicated by reference numeral 930, the BS 910 may determine, for each SSB of one or more SSBs, SSB information indicating how many beams are associated with the respective SSB. FIG. 9 shows example SSB information 935 that may correspond to the SSB beam ordering shown in example 604 of FIG. 6. The SSB information 935 indicates SSB information for multiple SSBs (SSB1-SSB5). For example, SSB1 is associated with two beams from different TRPs; SSB2 is associated with one beam; SSB3 is associated with three beams from the same TRP; SSB4 is associated with one beam; and SSB5 is associated with two beams from different TRPs.
[0076] As indicated by reference numeral 940, the BS 910 may transmit SSB information to the UE 920. In some aspects, the BS 910 may transmit the SSB information via system information or a radio resource control (RRC) message. The SSB information may include one or more bits indicating the amount of beams for each SSB. For example, one bit may indicate whether there is one beam or multiple beams for the SSB. In some aspects, multiple bits may be used to indicate how many beams are associated with the SSB. In some aspects, the SSB information may indicate a wide beam, a narrow beam, or a combination thereof.
[0077] As noted above, Figure 9 is given as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to Figure 9.
[0078] Figure 10 is a diagram illustrating an example 1000 illustrating SSB properties of an SFN in accordance with the present disclosure. Figure 10 shows a UE 920 on an HST traversing multiple TRPs following an SSB beam ordering similar to the beam ordering shown in example 604 of Figure 6. The UE 920 received SSB information from a BS 910 as described in connection with Figure 9.
[0079] As indicated by reference numeral 1005, the UE 920 may monitor SSBs. While monitoring the SSBs, the UE 920 may receive one or more SSBs, such as SSB1 through SSB5. Each SSB received by the UE 920 may be from one beam or multiple beams. The multiple beams may be from multiple TRPs. As indicated by reference numeral 1010, the UE 920 may determine one or more beams that provide a particular SSB based at least in part on the SSB information received from the BS 910. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, the HST is at the boundary between TRP2 and TRP3. The UE 920 on the HST may receive SSB5. The UE 920 may determine from the SSB information (e.g., SSB information 935 in FIG. 9) that SSB5 is associated with two beams from different TRPs. The UE 920 may thus determine that there are two transmit beams that provide SSB5: one beam from TRP2 and one beam from TRP3.
[0080] In some aspects, the UE 920 may estimate the channel and / or determine the Doppler shift for each beam. The UE 920 may determine which beam has a larger gain, a more accurate channel estimate, and / or a smaller Doppler shift. As indicated by reference numeral 1015, the UE 920 may steer a receive beam toward such a beam. In some aspects, the UE 920 may steer one receive beam toward one of the transmit beams and another receive beam toward the other transmit beam. As a result, the UE 920 may receive improved communication via the corresponding PDCCH and / or PDSCH. The UE 920 may also receive improved communication via the physical uplink channel and / or improved reference signal.
[0081] As noted above, Figure 10 is given as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to Figure 10.
[0082] 11 illustrates an example process 1100, performed by, for example, a UE, in accordance with the present disclosure. The example process 1100 is an example in which a UE (e.g., the UE 120 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, or the UE 920 shown in FIGS. 9 and 10) performs operations associated with indicating SSB properties of an SFN.
[0083] 11, in some aspects, process 1100 may include receiving SSB information indicating, for each respective SSB of one or more SSBs, a quantity of how many beams are associated with the respective SSB (block 1110). For example, the UE (e.g., using receive processor 258, transmit processor 264, controller / processor 280, memory 282) may receive SSB information indicating, for each respective SSB of one or more SSBs, a quantity of how many beams are associated with the respective SSB, as described above.
[0084] 11, in some aspects, the process 1100 may include monitoring the SSB (block 1120). For example, the UE (e.g., using the receive processor 258, the transmit processor 264, the controller / processor 280, and the memory 282) may monitor the SSB as described above.
[0085] 11, in some aspects, process 1100 may include determining one or more beams to provide the SSB based at least in part on the SSB information (block 1130). For example, the UE (e.g., using receive processor 258, transmit processor 264, controller / processor 280, memory 282) may determine one or more beams to provide the SSB based at least in part on the SSB information, as described above.
[0086] 11, in some aspects, process 1100 may include steering one or more receive beams toward one or more beams (block 1140). For example, the UE (e.g., using receive processor 258, transmit processor 264, controller / processor 280, memory 282) may steer one or more receive beams toward one or more beams, as described above.
[0087] Process 1100 may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described below and / or with respect to one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.
[0088] In a first aspect, the quantity indicates two or more beams, the SSB information indicates whether the two or more beams are from the same TRP or different TRPs, and determining the one or more beams includes determining the two or more beams based at least in part on whether the two or more beams are from the same TRP or different TRPs.
[0089] In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, the SSB information indicates a first beam for the SSB and a second beam for the SSB from different TRPs, and steering the one or more receive beams toward the one or more beams includes steering the first receive beam toward the first beam and steering the second receive beam toward the second beam.
[0090] In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first and second aspects, the process 1100 includes determining one or more of a channel estimate or a Doppler shift for each of two or more beams.
[0091] In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to third aspects, the quantity is indicated by one or more bits.
[0092] In a fifth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first to fourth aspects, the SSB information indicates whether each beam corresponding to each SSB is a wide beam or a narrow beam.
[0093] In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to fifth aspects, the one or more beams include one or more SFN beams.
[0094] 11 illustrates example blocks of process 1100, in some aspects process 1100 may include additional, fewer, different, or differently ordered blocks compared to the blocks illustrated in FIG 11. Additionally or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of process 1100 may be performed in parallel.
[0095] 12 illustrates an example process 1200, performed by, for example, a base station, in accordance with the present disclosure. The example process 1200 is an example in which a base station (e.g., BS 110 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, BS 910 shown in FIG. 9) performs operations associated with indicating SSB properties of an SFN.
[0096] 12, in some aspects, process 1200 may include determining, for each respective SSB of one or more SSBs, SSB information indicating a quantity of how many beams are associated with the respective SSB (block 1210). For example, the base station (e.g., using transmit processor 220, receive processor 238, controller / processor 240, memory 242) may determine, for each respective SSB of one or more SSBs, SSB information indicating a quantity of how many beams are associated with the respective SSB, as described above.
[0097] 12, in some aspects, process 1200 may include transmitting the SSB information to the UE (block 1220). For example, the base station (e.g., using transmit processor 220, receive processor 238, controller / processor 240, memory 242) may transmit the SSB information to the UE, as described above.
[0098] Process 1200 may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described below and / or with respect to one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.
[0099] In a first aspect, transmitting the SSB information includes transmitting the SSB information via one or more of a system information or a radio resource control message.
[0100] In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, the quantity indicates two or more beams and the SSB information indicates whether the two or more beams are from the same TRP or different TRPs.
[0101] In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first and second aspects, the quantity is indicated by one or more bits.
[0102] In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to third aspects, the SSB information indicates whether each beam corresponding to each SSB is a wide beam or a narrow beam. The beam may include one or more SFN beams.
[0103] 12 illustrates example blocks of process 1200, in some aspects process 1200 may include additional, fewer, different, or differently ordered blocks compared to the blocks illustrated in FIG 12. Additionally or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of process 1200 may be performed in parallel.
[0104] The above disclosure provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations may be made in light of the above disclosure or may be acquired from practice of the embodiments.
[0105] The following provides a summary of some aspects of the disclosure.
[0106] Aspect 1: A method of wireless communication implemented by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving SSB information indicating, for each respective SSB of one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), a quantity of beams associated with each SSB; monitoring the SSBs; determining, based at least in part on the SSB information, one or more beams that provide the SSBs; and steering one or more received beams toward the one or more beams.
[0107] Aspect 2: The method of aspect 1, wherein the quantity indicates two or more beams, the SSB information indicates whether the two or more beams are from the same transmit receiving point (TRP) or different TRPs, and determining the one or more beams includes determining the two or more beams based at least in part on whether the two or more beams are from the same TRP or different TRPs.
[0108] Aspect 3: The method of aspect 2, wherein the SSB information indicates a first beam for SSB and a second beam for SSB from different TRPs, and the step of steering one or more receiving beams toward the one or more beams includes steering the first receiving beam toward the first beam and steering the second receiving beam toward the second beam.
[0109] Aspect 4: The method of aspect 2, further comprising determining one or more of a channel estimate or a Doppler shift for each of the two or more beams.
[0110] Embodiment 5: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 4, wherein the quantity is indicated by one or more bits.
[0111] Aspect 6: The method of any one of aspects 1 to 5, wherein the SSB information indicates whether each beam corresponding to each SSB is a wide beam or a narrow beam.
[0112] Embodiment 7: The method of any of embodiments 1-6, wherein the one or more beams include one or more single frequency network (SFN) beams.
[0113] Aspect 8: A method of wireless communication implemented by a base station, comprising: determining, for each respective synchronization signal block (SSB) of one or more SSBs, SSB information indicating a quantity of how many beams are associated with each SSB; and transmitting the SSB information to a user equipment (UE).
[0114] Aspect 9: The method of aspect 8, wherein transmitting the SSB information includes transmitting the SSB information via one or more of a system information or a radio resource control message.
[0115] Embodiment 10: The method of embodiment 8 or 9, wherein the quantity indicates two or more beams and the SSB information indicates whether the two or more beams are from the same transmit receiving point (TRP) or different TRPs.
[0116] Embodiment 11: The method of any of embodiments 8 to 10, wherein the quantity is indicated by one or more bits.
[0117] Aspect 12: The method of any one of aspects 8 to 11, wherein the SSB information indicates whether each beam corresponding to each SSB is a wide beam or a narrow beam.
[0118] Aspect 13: An apparatus for wireless communication in a device, the apparatus comprising: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to perform a method of one or more of aspects 1 to 12.
[0119] Aspect 14: A device for wireless communication comprising a memory and one or more processors coupled to the memory, wherein the memory or the one or more processors are configured to implement a method of one or more of aspects 1 to 12.
[0120] Aspect 15: An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising at least one means for performing the method of one or more of aspects 1 to 12.
[0121] Aspect 16: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication, the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to perform a method of one or more of aspects 1-12.
[0122] Aspect 17: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions for wireless communication, the set of instructions including one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a device, cause the device to perform a method of one or more of Aspects 1-12.
[0123] The term "component," as used herein, shall be construed broadly as hardware, firmware, and / or a combination of hardware and software. Software shall be construed broadly to mean, among other examples, instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, threads of execution, procedures, and / or functions, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. As used herein, a processor is implemented in hardware, firmware, and / or a combination of hardware and software.
[0124] It will be apparent that the systems and / or methods described herein may be implemented in various forms of hardware and / or combinations of hardware and software. The actual dedicated control hardware or software code used to implement these systems and / or methods is not limiting of the aspects. Thus, the operation and behavior of the systems and / or methods have been described herein without reference to specific software code. It should be understood that software and hardware may be designed to implement the systems and / or methods based at least in part on the description herein.
[0125] As used herein, "meeting a threshold" can refer to a value being greater than the threshold, greater than or equal to the threshold, less than the threshold, less than or equal to the threshold, equal to the threshold, not equal to the threshold, etc., depending on the context.
[0126] Although particular combinations of features are recited in the claims and / or disclosed herein, these combinations do not limit the disclosure of various aspects. Indeed, many of these features may be combined in ways not specifically recited in the claims and / or disclosed herein. While each dependent claim listed below may depend directly on only one claim, the disclosure of various aspects includes each dependent claim in combination with every other claim in the claim set. As used herein, a phrase referring to "at least one of" a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. By way of example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to encompass a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and abc, as well as combinations having multiple identical elements (e.g., aa, aaa, aab, aac, abb, acc, bb, bbb, bbc, cc, and ccc, or any other order of a, b, and c).
[0127] No element, act, or instruction used herein should be construed as critical or required unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the articles "a" and "an" include one or more items and may be used interchangeably with "one or more." Furthermore, as used herein, the article "the" includes one or more items referred to with the article "the" and may be used interchangeably with "one or more." Furthermore, as used herein, the terms "set" and "group" include one or more items (e.g., related items, unrelated items, or a combination of related and unrelated items) and may be used interchangeably with "one or more." When only one item is intended, the phrase "only one" or similar language is used. Also, as used herein, terms such as "has," "have," and "having" are intended to be open-ended terms. Furthermore, the phrase "based on" is intended to mean "based at least in part on," unless expressly stated otherwise. Also, as used herein, the term "or" is intended to be inclusive when used consecutively and may be used interchangeably with "and / or" unless expressly stated otherwise (e.g., when used in combination with "either" or "only one of"). [Explanation of symbols]
[0128] 100 Wireless Networks 110 BS, base station 110a BS, Macro BS 110b BS 110c BS 110d BS, relay BS 120 UE 120b UE 120c UE 120d UE 120e UE 130 Network Controller 212 Data Sources 220 Transmit Processor 230 Transmit (TX) Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) Processor 232 Modulator (MOD), Demodulator, DEMOD 234 Antenna 236 MIMO detector 238 Receive Processor 239 Data Sink 240 Controllers / Processors 242 memory 244 communication unit 246 Scheduler 252 Antenna 254 Demodulator (DEMOD), Modulator, MOD 256 MIMO detector 258 Receive Processor 260 Data Sink 262 Data Sources 264 Transmit Processor 266 TX MIMO Processor 280 Controller / Processor 282 memory 290 Controller / Processor 292 memory 294 Communication Unit 300 Distributed Radio Access Network (RAN) 305 5G access nodes 310 Access Node Controller 315 5G Core Network 320 5G Control Plane Components 325 5G User Plane Components 330 Neighbor Access Nodes 335 TRP 405 TRP 910 Base Station (BS) 920 UE
Claims
1. A user equipment (UE) for wireless communications, comprising: Memory and and one or more processors operably coupled to the memory, wherein the memory and the one or more processors: receiving synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) information indicating, for each SSB of a plurality of SSBs, how many beams are associated with each SSB, the SSB information further indicating, if two or more beams are associated with an SSB, whether the two or more beams are from the same transmit receiving point (TRP) or different TRPs; monitoring the plurality of SSBs to receive SSBs; determining one or more beams that provide the SSB based at least in part on the SSB information; and and steering one or more receive beams toward the one or more beams.
2. 10. The UE of claim 1, wherein the quantity indicates two or more beams by one or more bits, the SSB information indicates whether the two or more beams are from the same transmit reception point (TRP) or different TRPs, the SSB information further indicates whether each beam corresponding to each SSB is a wide beam or a narrow beam, and the memory and the one or more processors are configured to determine two or more beams based at least in part on whether the two or more beams are from the same TRP or different TRPs.
3. 3. The UE of claim 2, wherein the SSB information indicates a first beam for the SSB and a second beam for the SSB from different TRPs, and the memory and the one or more processors are configured to steer a first receive beam toward the first beam and a second receive beam toward the second beam.
4. 3. The UE of claim 2, wherein the memory and the one or more processors are further configured to determine one or more of a channel estimate or a Doppler shift for each of the two or more beams.
5. 10. The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more beams include one or more single frequency network (SFN) beams.
6. 1. A base station for wireless communications, comprising: Memory and and one or more processors operably coupled to the memory, wherein the memory and the one or more processors: determining, for each respective synchronization signal block (SSB) of a plurality of SSBs, SSB information indicating a quantity of beams associated with each SSB, the SSB information further indicating, if two or more beams are associated with an SSB, whether the two or more beams are from the same transmit receiving point (TRP) or different TRPs; and transmitting the SSB information to a user equipment (UE).
7. 7. The base station of claim 6, wherein the memory and the one or more processors are configured to transmit the SSB information via one or more of a system information or a radio resource control message.
8. The base station of claim 6, wherein the quantity indicates two or more beams by one or more bits, the SSB information indicates whether the two or more beams are from the same transmit receiving point (TRP) or different TRPs, and the SSB information further indicates whether each beam corresponding to each SSB is a wide beam or a narrow beam.
9. 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) information indicating, for each respective SSB of a plurality of SSBs, a quantity of how many beams are associated with the respective SSB; monitoring the plurality of SSBs to receive SSBs; determining one or more beams that provide the SSB based at least in part on the SSB information, the SSB information further indicating, if more than one beam is associated with an SSB, whether the two or more beams are from the same transmit receiving point (TRP) or different TRPs; and steering one or more receive beams towards said one or more beams.
10. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the quantity indicates two or more beams by one or more bits, the SSB information indicates whether the two or more beams are from the same transmit receiving point (TRP) or different TRPs, the SSB information further indicates whether each beam corresponding to each SSB is a wide beam or a narrow beam, and determining the one or more beams includes determining the two or more beams based at least in part on whether the two or more beams are from the same TRP or different TRPs.
11. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the SSB information indicates a first beam for the SSB and a second beam for the SSB from different TRPs, and wherein steering the one or more receive beams toward the one or more beams includes steering a first receive beam toward the first beam and steering a second receive beam toward the second beam.
12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising determining one or more of a channel estimate or a Doppler shift for each of the two or more beams.
13. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more beams include one or more single frequency network (SFN) beams.
14. 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a base station, comprising: determining, for each respective synchronization signal block (SSB) of one or more SSBs, SSB information indicating a quantity of beams associated with the respective SSB, the SSB information further indicating, if two or more beams are associated with an SSB, whether the two or more beams are from the same transmit receiving point (TRP) or different TRPs; and transmitting the SSB information to a user equipment (UE).
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the quantity indicates two or more beams by one or more bits, the SSB information indicates whether the two or more beams are from the same transmit receiving point (TRP) or different TRPs, and the SSB information further indicates whether each beam corresponding to each SSB is a wide beam or a narrow beam.
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