Control messaging for multibeam communications.

Abstract

To provide some aspects including an apparatus, method and computer program product for facilitating control messaging for multi-beam communications in 5G wireless communication systems.SOLUTION: Nodes of a 5G network may generate MAC CEs to update UE with different CC settings. The MAC CEs may update a list of CCs to reduce messaging overhead and latency. For example, a MAC CE may indicate an update for a TCI state for a list of CCs. Similarly, a MAC CE may be used to update a spatial relation for an SRS resource set and / or an SRS resource corresponding to a list of CCs. A MAC CE may also be used to update multiple TCI codepoints having one or two TCI states in a multi-TRP scenario.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

[Background technology]

[0001] Various aspects may generally relate to the field of wireless communications. Summary of the Invention

[0002] Certain aspects of the present disclosure include apparatus and methods for facilitating control messaging for multi-beam communications.

[0003] In some aspects, a method for updating transmission configuration indication (TCI) status of multiple component carriers (CCs) may include identifying a TCI status update corresponding to a CC of a user equipment (UE), the CC having a serving cell ID. The method may include determining whether to update a list of CCs including the CC based on the TCI status update, and generating a medium access control element (MAC CE) including the serving cell ID and a bit value that instructs the UE to update the TCI status of the CCs in the list of CCs using the serving cell ID. Further, the method may include transmitting the MAC CE to the UE. In some aspects, the method for updating the TCI status of multiple CCs may be implemented using a wireless communication system and / or a network access node including a transceiver and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver. The at least one processor may be configured to perform elements of the method. The transceiver may communicate with the UE. In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable device may store instructions that, when executed by the at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform elements of the method.

[0004] In some aspects, the method may further include transmitting a radio resource control (RRC) message to the UE to configure the list of CCs.

[0005] In some aspects, the method may further include the bit value being indicated using a reserved bit of the MAC CE.

[0006] In some aspects, the method may further include the MAC CE including the TCI status information for updating the TCI status of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0007] In some aspects, the method may further include CORESET information for updating a TCI state of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

[0008] In some aspects, the method may further include a bit value being a most significant bit (MSB) or a least significant bit (LSB) of the TCI state ID.

[0009] In some aspects, the method may further include modifying a bit value for a TCI codepoint having multiple TCI states.

[0010] In some aspects, a method for updating spatial relationships for sounding reference signals (SRS) of multiple component carriers (CCs) may include identifying an update for spatial relationships of SRS resource sets corresponding to the CCs, where the method may include determining that the periodicity of the SRS resource sets is aperiodic or periodic. The method may include generating a medium access control element (MAC CE) including a bit value in an activation / deactivation bit field that instructs a user equipment device (UE) to update spatial relationships of CCs in a list of CCs that includes the CC. The method may include transmitting the MAC CE to the UE. In some aspects, the method for updating spatial relationships of SRS of multiple CCs may be implemented using a wireless communication system and / or a network access node including a transceiver and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver. The at least one processor may be configured to perform elements of the method. The transceiver may communicate with the UE. In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable device may store instructions that, when executed by the at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform elements of the method.

[0011] In some aspects, the method may further include resources of the SRS resource set having the same time-domain pattern.

[0012] In some aspects, the method may further include identifying a second update of the spatial relationship of the SRS resource sets corresponding to the CC. The method may further include determining that a time-domain pattern of the SRS resource sets corresponding to the second update is semi-persistent. The method may further include generating a second MAC CE including a bit value in a reserved bit field that instructs the UE to update the spatial relationship of the CC based on the second update, and transmitting the second MAC CE to the UE.

[0013] In some aspects, the bit value in the reserved bit field instructs the UE to update the spatial relationship of the CCs in the list of CCs that includes the CC.

[0014] In some aspects, the method may further include identifying a second update of a spatial relationship of an SRS resource corresponding to the CC having the SRS resource cell ID. The method may further include determining to update a list of CCs including the CC based on the update of the spatial relationship. The method may further include generating a second MAC CE including the SRS resource cell ID and a bit value that instructs the UE to update the spatial relationship of the CCs in the list of CCs using the SRS resource cell ID, and transmitting the second MAC CE to the UE.

[0015] In some aspects, the method may further include a second MAC CE having a length of 4 octets.

[0016] In some aspects, a method for configuring a transmission configuration indication (TCI) code point of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may include identifying a configuration of one or more TCI code points corresponding to a component carrier (CC) of a user equipment (UE). The method may further include determining that at least one of the one or more TCI code points has multiple TCI states. The method may further include generating a medium access control element (MAC CE) including a first value indicating a quantity of the one or more TCI code points and a second value indicating a quantity of the at least one TCI code point of the one or more TCI code points having the multiple TCI states. The method may further include updating the MAC CE to include a bit indicating the presence of the multiple TCI states for at least one of the one or more TCI code points having the multiple TCI states. The method may further include transmitting the MAC CE to the UE. In some aspects, the method for configuring a TCI code point of a PDSCH may be implemented using a wireless communication system and / or a network access node including a transceiver and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver. At least one processor may be configured to perform elements of the method. The transceiver may be in communication with the UE. In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable device may store instructions that, when executed by the at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform elements of the method.

[0017] In some aspects, the method may further include a MAC CE including a first octet of data including a bit indicating the presence of multiple TCI states and a first TCI state ID, and a second octet of data including a second TCI state ID.

[0018] In some aspects, the method may further include a second octet of data comprising a reserved bit.

[0019] In some aspects, the method may further include a bit indicating to the UE that the 8 bits of data following the first TCI state are associated with a second TCI state.

[0020] In some aspects, the method may further include updating the MAC CE to include a second bit indicating the presence of a single TCI state for one TCI codepoint of the one or more TCI codepoints.

[0021] In some aspects, the method may further include a second bit indicating to the UE that the following 7 bits of data relate to a single TCI state.

[0022] In some aspects, the method may further include the following 7 bits of data including a TCI state ID corresponding to the TCI codepoint.

[0023] In some aspects, a method for updating transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states in a user equipment (UE) of multiple component carriers (CCs) may include receiving, from a radio access node, a radio resource control (RRC) message instructing the UE to configure a list of component carriers (CCs). The method may include receiving, from the radio access node, a medium access control element (MAC CE) including serving cell IDs corresponding to component carriers (CCs) in the list and a bit value instructing the UE to update transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states of the list of CCs. The method may include, in response to identifying the bit value, identifying a list of CCs using the serving cell ID and updating the TCI states of the CCs in the list of CCs. In some aspects, the method for updating TCI states of multiple CCs may be implemented using a UE including a transceiver and at least one processor coupled to the transceiver. The at least one processor may be configured to perform elements of the method. The transceiver may be in communication with the radio access node. In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable device may store instructions that, when executed by the at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform elements of the method.

[0024] In some aspects, the method may further include the bit value being indicated using a reserved bit of the MAC CE.

[0025] In some aspects, the method may further include the MAC CE including the TCI status information for updating the TCI status of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0026] In some aspects, the method may further include CORESET information for updating a TCI state of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

[0027] In some aspects, the method may further include a bit value being a most significant bit (MSB) or a least significant bit (LSB) of the TCI state ID.

[0028] In some aspects, the method may further include modifying a bit value for a TCI codepoint having multiple TCI states. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0029] [Figure 1] 1 illustrates an example system implementing control messaging for multi-beam communications, according to some aspects. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless system of an electronic device implementing control messaging for multi-beam communication, according to some aspects. [Figure 3A] 1 illustrates a block diagram of a Medium Access Control Element (MAC CE) for updating a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state of a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), according to some aspects. [Figure 3B] 1 illustrates a block diagram of a MAC CE for updating a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), according to some aspects. [Figure 4] 1 illustrates a block diagram of a MAC CE for activation and deactivation of sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets, according to some aspects. [Figure 5] 1 illustrates a block diagram of a MAC CE for updating spatial relationships of sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, according to some aspects. [Figure 6A] 1 illustrates a block diagram of a MAC CE for configuring TCI codepoints of a PDSCH to support multi-transmit / receive point (multi-TRP) operation, according to some aspects. [Figure 6B] 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example MAC CE illustrating multiple TCI states, according to some aspects. [Figure 7]1 illustrates a flowchart for updating a TCI status of a list of component carriers (CCs) of a user equipment (UE), according to some aspects. [Figure 8A] 1 illustrates a flowchart for generating a MAC CE for updating spatial relationships of SRS resource sets with different periodicities, according to some aspects. [Figure 8B] 1 illustrates a flowchart for modifying a MAC CE to update the spatial relationship of a list of CCs, according to some aspects. [Figure 8C] 1 illustrates a flowchart for generating a MAC CE for updating spatial relationships of SRS resources, according to some aspects. [Figure 9] 1 illustrates a flowchart for configuring TCI codepoints of a PDSCH to support multi-transmit / receive point (multi-TRP) operation, according to some aspects. [Figure 10] 1 illustrates an exemplary computer system useful for implementing various aspects.

[0030] Features and advantages of the embodiments will become more apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the drawings, in which like reference numbers identify corresponding elements throughout. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and / or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the left-most digit(s) in the corresponding reference number. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0031] The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth, such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc., in order to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of the various aspects. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that various aspects of the various aspects may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In some instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various aspects with unnecessary detail. For purposes of this disclosure, "A or B" means (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0032] The present disclosure relates to communications between a node and a user equipment (UE) using 5G wireless communication protocols. The node may be, for example, a gNB or ng-eNB node. As part of the development of 5G standard specifications, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has published several documents detailing meeting memoranda and developments. One such document is known as Release 16 (Rel-16).

[0033] Rel-16 makes some mention of multi-beam and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications between nodes and UEs. These communications may use multiple transmit and receive antennas to take advantage of multipath propagation. One concept to describe the relationship of these multiple beam communications is "quasi-co-location" or QCL. QCL refers to the detected relationship between multiple signals received from a transmitting antenna array. Two antenna ports may be quasi-co-located if the characteristics of the channel through which symbols on one antenna port are carried can be inferred from the channel through which symbols on the other antenna port are carried.

[0034] To provide an example of this QCL, an example will be described showing signal A being quasi-colocated with another signal B. For example, a node may use an antenna array or a common transmit / receive point (TRP) to transmit signal A and signal B from the node to a UE. These signals may be reference signals. The same spatial filter may be applied to these signals. As the signals travel from the node to the UE, they may also travel through similar channel conditions and experience similar channel characteristics. Because signal A and signal B experience similar channel characteristics, when received at the UE, the UE detects the channel characteristics experienced by signal A and then detects signal B. The channel characteristics may include, for example, Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread, and / or other channel effects. In light of these considerations, if the UE can detect one signal and identify its channel characteristics, this information can aid in the detection of the other signal. When the UE is able to perform this detection, signals A and B are said to be quasi-colocated (QCL).

[0035] To assist the UE in identifying QCL signals, transmission configuration indicator (TCI) status information may be transmitted from a node to the UE. The TCI status includes information such as QCL relationships between different reference signals and / or downlink reference signals. For example, the TCI status may be transmitted in a downlink control information (DCI) message describing the QCL relationships of a set of channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) and / or demodulation reference signals (DMRS). The TCI status information may include UE parameters for configuring QCL relationships between downlink reference signals of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and / or a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

[0036] While this TCI status information can help provide more reliable communications between the node and the UE, several issues arise when providing this information to the UE. For example, the TCI status may change, requiring the node to update the TCI status information at the UE. Similarly, the UE may need to update the TCI status information first when communicating with the node. Changes in TCI status information may apply to many different signals or reference signals and / or many different frequency blocks or component carriers (CCs). This updating becomes even more complicated in situations where there are multiple transmission / reception points (TRPs) or when multiple nodes are communicating with a particular UE. This situation can result in overhead and latency issues from the node sending many messages to the UE to update the TCI status and / or spatial relationships for different reference signals and CCs.

[0037] In view of these issues, aspects described herein reduce the amount of control messaging used to update TCI states, thereby reducing messaging overhead and latency. In particular, aspects describe using a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) to update the TCI states of a list of CCs. This update can also be applied to multi-TRP scenarios. The MAC CE also enables updating spatial relationship information for sounding reference signal (SRS) resources and / or updating different SRS resource sets with different periodicities and / or time-domain patterns. Furthermore, the MAC CE can be used to configure TCI codepoints with multiple TCI states. These MAC CE designs can be used to reduce the amount of messages and / or MAC CEs for more efficient TCI state updates and / or reduced latency.

[0038] Various aspects of these features are described with reference to the corresponding figures.

[0039] 1 illustrates an example system 100 implementing control messaging for multi-beam communications in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 1 illustrates an example system architecture 100 of a network in accordance with various aspects. The following description is provided with respect to the example system 100 operating in conjunction with LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards, as provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the example aspects are not limited in this respect, and the described aspects may be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth-generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), etc.

[0040] As shown in FIG. 1, system 100 includes a UE 110A and a UE 110B (collectively referred to as "UEs 110"). In this example, UE 110 is illustrated as a smartphone (e.g., a portable touchscreen mobile computing device capable of connecting to one or more cellular networks), but may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as a consumer electronics device, cellular phone, smartphone, feature phone, tablet computer, wearable computing device, personal digital assistant (PDA), pager, wireless handset, desktop computer, laptop computer, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-vehicle entertainment (ICE) device, instrument cluster (IC), head-up display (HUD) device, on-board diagnostics (OBD) device, dash-top mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminal (MDT), electronic engine management system (EEMS), electronic / engine control unit (ECU), electronic engine / engine control module (ECM), embedded system, microcontroller, control module, engine management system (EMS), networked or "smart" appliance, MTC device, M2M, IoT device, etc.

[0041] The UE 110 may be configured to connect, e.g., communicatively couple, to a radio access network (RAN) including RAN nodes 120A, 120B. In aspects, the RAN may be an NG RAN or a 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN such as a UTRAN or a GERAN. As used herein, terms such as “NG RAN” or “Next Generation RAN” may refer to a RAN operating in an NR or 5G system 100, and terms such as “E-UTRAN” may refer to a RAN operating in an LTE or 4G system 100. The UE 110 utilizes a respective connection (or channel) and connection, each comprising a physical communication interface or layer (described in more detail below). In some aspects, the UE 110 can communicate with one or more RAN nodes 120.

[0042] In this example, the connection is depicted as an air interface to enable a communicative coupling and may correspond to a cellular communication protocol such as a GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and / or any of the other communication protocols discussed herein. In an aspect, the UE 110 can directly exchange communication data over the ProSe interface. The ProSe interface may alternatively be referred to as an SL interface and may include one or more logical channels, including, but not limited to, a PSCCH, a PSSCH, a PSDCH, and a PSBCH.

[0043] The UE 110A may be configured to access an access point (AP) (also referred to as a “WLAN node,” “WLAN,” “WLAN termination,” “WT,” etc.). The connection may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection conforming to any IEEE 802.11 protocol, and the AP may comprise a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) router. In this example, the AP is connected to the Internet without connecting to a wireless system core network (described in further detail below), as shown. In various aspects, the UE 110A, the RAN, and the AP may be configured to utilize LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. LWA operation may involve the UE 110A in an RRC_connection configured with the RAN nodes 120A-120B to utilize LTE and WLAN radio resources. LWIP operation may involve the UE 110A using WLAN radio resources via IPsec protocol tunneling to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) transmitted over the connection. IPsec tunneling may involve encapsulating the entire original IP packet and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the IP packet's original header.

[0044] The RAN may include one or more AN or RAN nodes 120A and 120B (collectively referred to as "RAN nodes 120"). As used herein, the terms "access node," "access point," "AN," "RAN node," etc. may refer to equipment that provides wireless baseband functionality for data and / or voice connectivity between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as BSs, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNBs, NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs, TRPs, etc., and may include earth stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the terms "NG RAN node" etc. may refer to a RAN node 120 operating in an NR or 5G system 100 (e.g., a gNB), and the terms "E-UTRAN node" etc. may refer to a RAN node 120 operating in an LTE or 4G system 100 (e.g., an eNB). According to various aspects, the RAN node 120 may be implemented as one or more of a macrocell base station and / or a dedicated physical device such as a femtocell, picocell, or other similar cell having a smaller coverage area, lower user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to a macrocell.

[0045] In some aspects, all or a portion of the RAN node 120 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN and / or virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these aspects, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement RAN function splitting, such as PDCP splitting, where the RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP and other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes 120; MAC / PHY splitting, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 120; or "lower PHY" splitting, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and upper parts of the PHY layer are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP and the lower parts of the PHY layer are operated by individual RAN nodes 120. This virtualized framework allows freed processor cores of the RAN node 120 to run other virtualized applications. In some aspects, individual RAN nodes 120 may represent individual gNB-DUs connected to a gNB-CU via individual F1 interfaces (not shown in FIG. 1 ). In these implementations, the gNB-DUs may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs, and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server located within the RAN 110 (not shown) or by a server pool in a manner similar to a CRAN / vBBUP. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 120 may be next-generation eNBs (ng-eNBs), which are RAN nodes that provide E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations toward the UEs 110 and connect to the 5GC via an NG interface (described below).

[0046] In a V2X scenario, one or more of the RAN nodes 120 can be or play the role of an RSU. The term “Road Side Unit” or “RSU” may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. The RSU may be implemented in or by an appropriate RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE; an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a “UE-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an “eNB-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a “gNB-type RSU,” etc. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled to radio frequency circuits located on the roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicular UEs 110 (vUEs 110). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry for storing intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for detecting and controlling ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate in the 5.9 GHz Direct Short Range Communication (DSRC) band to provide very low-latency communications necessary for high-speed events such as collision avoidance, traffic warnings, etc. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate in the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low-latency communications as well as other cellular communication services. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and / or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Some or all of the computing device and the radio frequency circuitry of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation and may include a network interface controller for providing a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and / or a backhaul network.

[0047] Any of the RAN nodes 120 may terminate air interface protocols and may be the first point of contact for the UE 110. In some aspects, any of the RAN nodes 120 may perform various logical functions for the RAN, including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0048] In aspects, the UEs 110 may be configured to communicate with either one another or the RAN nodes 120 using OFDM communication signals over multi-carrier communication channels according to various communication technologies, including but not limited to OFDMA communication technologies (e.g., for downlink communication) or SC-FDMA communication technologies (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communication), although the scope of the aspects is not limited in this respect. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0049] In some aspects, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 120 to the UE 110, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time-frequency grid, also called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which represents the downlink physical resources within each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is common in OFDM systems, making radio resource allocation intuitive. Each column and row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit of the resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resource grid contains a number of resource blocks, which represent the mapping of a specific physical channel to resource elements. Each resource block contains a set of resource elements, which, in the frequency domain, can represent the smallest amount of resources that can currently be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels conveyed using such resource blocks.

[0050] According to various aspects, the UE 110 and the RAN node 120 communicate (e.g., transmit and receive) data over licensed media (also referred to as "licensed spectrum" and / or "licensed band") and unlicensed shared media (also referred to as "unlicensed spectrum" and / or "unlicensed band"). The licensed spectrum may include channels operating in a frequency range from about 400 MHz to about 3.8 GHz, and the unlicensed spectrum may include the 5 GHz band.

[0051] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UE 110 and the RAN node 120 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, the UE 110 and the RAN node 120 may perform one or more known medium sensing and / or carrier sensing operations to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum are unavailable or otherwise occupied before transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium / carrier sensing operations may be performed in accordance with a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0052] LBT is a mechanism by which a device (e.g., UE 110, RAN node 120, etc.) senses the medium (e.g., a channel or carrier frequency) and transmits when it senses that the medium is idle (or senses that a particular channel within the medium is unoccupied). The medium sensing operation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine the presence or absence of other signals on the channel to determine whether the channel is occupied or free. This LBT mechanism enables cellular / LAA networks to coexist with current occupied systems and with other LAA networks in unlicensed spectrum. ED may include detecting RF energy over the intended transmission band for a period of time and comparing the detected RF energy to a predetermined or configured threshold.

[0053] Typically, the currently occupying system in the 5 GHz band is a WLAN based on IEEE 802.11 technology. WLAN employs a contention-based channel access mechanism called CSMA / CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS), such as a UE 110 or an AP) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmitting. Furthermore, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions in situations where two or more WLAN nodes simultaneously sense the channel as idle and transmit. The backoff mechanism may be a randomly sampled counter within the CWS, which is exponentially incremented upon collision occurrence and reset to its minimum value upon successful transmission. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to CSMA / CA for WLAN. In some implementations, the LBT procedure for a DL or UL transmission burst containing a PDSCH or PUSCH transmission, respectively, can have an LAA contention window with a variable length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are the minimum and maximum values ​​of the CWS for LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for an LAA transmission may be 9 microseconds (μs), although the size of the CWS and MCOT (e.g., transmission burst) may be based on government regulatory requirements.

[0054] The LAA mechanism is based on the CA technology of the LTE-Advanced system. In CA, each aggregated carrier is called a CC. A CC can have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, or 20 MHz, and up to five CCs can be aggregated, resulting in a maximum aggregated bandwidth of 100 MHz. In FDD systems, the number of aggregated carriers can differ between DL and UL, and the number of UL CCs is equal to or less than the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, individual CCs can have a different bandwidth from other CCs. In TDD systems, the number of CCs and the bandwidth of each CC are typically the same for DL ​​and UL.

[0055] CA also includes individual serving cells providing individual CCs. For example, CCs in different frequency bands experience different path losses, so the coverage of the serving cells may differ. The primary serving cell, or PCell, may provide the PCC for both the UL and DL and handle RRC and NAS-related activities. Other serving cells are called SCells, and each SCell may provide a separate SCC for both the UL and DL. SCCs may be added and removed as needed, while changing the PCC may require the UE 110 to undergo handover. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in the unlicensed spectrum (called "LAA SCells"), and the LAA SCells are supported by a PCell operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configured with two or more LAA SCells, the UE may receive UL grants on the configured LAA SCells indicating different PUSCH starting positions within the same subframe.

[0056] The PDSCH carries user data and higher layer signaling to the UEs 110. The PDCCH carries, among other things, information regarding the transport format and resource allocation associated with the PDSCH channel. It may also inform the UEs 110 about the transmission format, resource allocation, and HARQ information for the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to the UEs 110A in a cell) may be performed by any of the RAN nodes 120 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 110. The downlink resource allocation information may be transmitted on the PDCCH used (e.g., assigned) for each of the UEs 110.

[0057] The PDCCH conveys control information using CCEs. Before being mapped to resource elements, PDCCH complex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets and then shuffled using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, and each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as REGs. Four quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the DCI and the channel conditions. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0058] Some aspects may use a concept for resource allocation for control channel information that is an extension of the concept described above. For example, some aspects may utilize an EPDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more ECCEs. As above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as EREGs. An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.

[0059] The RAN nodes 120 may be configured to communicate with each other via an interface. In aspects where the system 100 is an LTE system (e.g., where the core network (CN) 140 is the EPC), the interface may be an X2 interface. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 120 (e.g., two or more eNBs) that connect to the EPC and / or between two eNBs that connect to the EPC. In some implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provide a flow control mechanism for user data packets transferred over the X2 interface and may be used to communicate information regarding the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information for user data transferred from the MeNB to the SeNB, information regarding the successful sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs from the SeNB to the UE 110 for user data, information regarding PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to the UE 110, information regarding the current minimum desired buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting UE user data, etc. X2-C may provide intra-LTE access mobility functions, load management functions, and inter-cell interference coordination functions, including context transfer from source eNB to target eNB, user plane transport control, etc.

[0060] In aspects where the system 100 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., where the CN 140 is a 5GC), the interface may be an Xn interface. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 120 (e.g., two or more gNBs) that connect to 5GC, between a RAN node 120 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB that connect to 5GC, and / or between two eNBs that connect to 5GC. In some implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support / provide data transfer and flow control functions. The Xn-C may provide mobility support for the UE 110 in connected mode (e.g., CM-connected), including management and error handling functions, functions for managing the Xn-C interface, and functions for managing UE mobility in connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 120. Mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) serving RAN node 120 to the new (target) serving RAN node 120 and control of user plane tunnels between the old (source) serving RAN node 120 and the new (target) serving RAN node 120. To carry user plane PDUs, the Xn-U protocol stack may include a transport network layer built on an Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer and a UDP and / or GTP-U layer on top of the IP layer. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as the Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer built on SCTP. SCTP may reside on top of the IP layer and provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. At the transport IP layer, point-to-point transmission is used to deliver signaling PDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and / or the Xn-C protocol stack may be the same as or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0061] The RAN is shown communicatively coupled to a core network, in this aspect, core network (CN) 120. CN 140 may comprise multiple network elements 130 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UEs 110) connected to CN 140 via the RAN. Components of CN 140 may be implemented in a single physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some aspects, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-described network node functions via executable instructions stored on one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). A logical instantiation of CN 140 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of CN 140 may be referred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architecture and infrastructure may be used to virtualize one or more network functions on physical resources including a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches, or may be performed by dedicated hardware. In other words, an NFV system can be used to run a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0062] In general, the application server 150 may be an element that provides applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTSPS domain, LTEPS data services, etc.). The application server 150 may also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UE 110 via the CN 140.

[0063] In an aspect, the CN 140 may be a 5GC, and the RAN may be connected to the CN 140 via an NG interface. In an aspect, the NG interface may be divided into two parts: an NG User Plane (NG-U) interface that carries traffic data between the RAN node 120 and the UPF, and an S1 Control Plane (NG-C) interface that is a signaling interface between the RAN node 120 and the AMF.

[0064] FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of an example wireless system 200 of an electronic device implementing multi-beam control messaging. For convenience and not limitation, system 200 may be described with reference to elements of FIG. 1. System 200 may be UE 110 or RAN node 120 of FIG. 1. System 200 may include a processor 210, a transceiver 220, a communications infrastructure 230, a memory 235, and an antenna 225, which together perform operations to enable group-based beam management reporting. Transceiver 220 transmits and receives 5G wireless communication signals via antenna 225. Communications infrastructure 230 may be a bus. Memory 235 may include random access memory (RAM) and / or cache and may include control logic (e.g., computer software) and / or data. Processor 210, upon execution of computer instructions, may be configured to perform the functions described herein for group-based beam management reporting. Alternatively, the processor 210 may include its own internal memory (not shown) and / or may be "hardwired" (such as a state machine) configured to perform the functions described herein for group-based beam management reporting. The antenna 225 coupled to the transceiver 220 may include one or more antennas, antenna arrays, and / or panels (not shown), which may be of the same or different types, to enable wireless communication over a wireless network.

[0065] In some aspects, the RAN node 120 can utilize components of the radio system 200. According to some aspects, the processor 210, alone or in combination with the memory 235 and / or the transceiver 220, implements control messaging for multi-beam communication. For example, the system 200 may generate medium access control elements (MAC CEs) and transmit these MAC CEs to the UE using the transceiver 220 and / or the antennas 225. A UE receiving the MAC CEs can then update TCI state information for the communication channel. For example, these MAC CEs may update one or more component carriers (CCs) for the PDSCH and / or PDCCH. The MAC CEs may also update the spatial relationship of SRS resource sets with different periodicities. The TCI state and / or TCI code points may also be updated to support multi-TRP operation.

[0066] 3A illustrates a block diagram of a medium access control element (MAC CE) 300A for updating a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) in accordance with some aspects. As described further below, a reserved bit 302 in the MAC CE 300A may be utilized to indicate whether to update a component carrier (CC) list based on the updated TCI state. Using the reserved bit 302 may enable multiple TCI state updates for the PDSCH using a single MAC CE 300A. This MAC CE 300A design allows for simultaneous updates of multiple TCI states rather than individual updates of the TCI state using multiple MAC CEs, reducing overhead and latency.

[0067] The MAC CE 300A may be a control message transmitted from a node to a UE to provide TCI status data to the UE. As described with reference to FIG. 1, for example, the node may be a RAN node 120 and the UE may be a UE 110. The MAC CE 300A may be a bitmap organized into 8-bit octets. The MAC CE 300A may include a reserved bit 302, a serving cell ID 304, a band portion (BWP) ID 306, and octets 308, 310, and 312 indicating TCI status information. The serving cell ID 304 may be a field indicating the identity of the serving cell to which the MAC CE 300A applies. As described further below, each component carrier (CC) may correspond to its own serving cell ID 304. The serving cell ID 304 may be 5 bits long. The BWP ID 306 may indicate the downlink band portion to which the MAC CE 300A applies. The BWP ID 306 may be 2 bits long.

[0068] Octets 308, 310, 312 may contain TCI state information indicating the activation or deactivation status of the TCI state. i ", the field may be set to '1' to indicate that the TCI state is activated and mapped to a code point specified in a downlink control information (DCI) message. If the field is set to '0', the TCI state may be deactivated and may not be mapped to a DCI message. The code point to which the TCI state is mapped may be determined by its ordinal position in the bitmap of MAC CE 300A.

[0069] Regarding the reserved bits 302, rather than being reserved for non-use, the reserved bits 302 may be used to indicate whether the MAC CE 300A updates a single CC or a list of CCs. A CC may be a frequency block assigned to a specific UE to increase the data rate. CCs may be grouped by intra-band aggregation and / or inter-band aggregation. In the case of intra-band aggregation, each CC may be in the same frequency band, while inter-band aggregation may organize each CC into different frequency bands. In the case of intra-band aggregation, the CCs may be contiguous or discontinuous within a frequency range. As mentioned above, each CC may have a corresponding serving cell ID 304.

[0070] In some aspects, when the reserved bit 302 is not set or set to a zero value, the node may indicate to the UE that the MAC CE 300A is used to update the TCI status of the CC indicated by the serving cell ID 304. Conversely, when the reserved bit 302 is set or set to a one value, the node may indicate to the UE that the MAC CE 300A is used to update a list of CCs. This list of CCs may be configured by a radio resource control (RRC) message and may correspond to the indicated serving cell ID 304. When the reserved bit 302 is set, the UE may update the TCI status information of each cell in the same list of CCs configured by the RRC message. The UE may identify the setting value of the reserved bit 302, identify the serving cell ID 304, and then update each CC in the list that includes the serving cell ID 304 in the manner indicated by octets 308, 310, and 312. In some aspects, the bit setting of the reserved bit 302 may be reversed, where a one value indicates a single CC update and a zero value indicates updating a list of CCs.

[0071] Using the MAC CE 300A in this manner may enable a node to instruct a UE to update the TCI status of multiple CCs using fewer control messages. Using the reserved bit 302 may allow for simultaneous updating of a list of CCs. This updating may help facilitate multi-beam communications and may provide flexibility for updating a single CC and / or updating multiple CCs. This updated TCI status information may assist in updating the TCI status of the PDSCH.

[0072] 3B illustrates a block diagram of a MAC CE 300B for updating a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in accordance with some aspects. Similar to the MAC CE 300A, a reserved bit in the MAC CE 300B may be used to indicate whether to update a component carrier (CC) list based on the updated TCI state. Using this reserved bit may enable updating multiple TCI states for the PDCCH using a single MAC CE 300B. This MAC CE 300B design allows for simultaneous updating of multiple TCI states rather than updating the TCI states individually using multiple MAC CEs, reducing overhead and latency.

[0073] The MAC CE 300B may be a control message transmitted from a node to a UE to provide TCI status data to the UE. As described with reference to FIG. 1, for example, the node may be the RAN node 120, and the UE may be the UE 110. The MAC CE 300B may be a bitmap organized into 8-bit octets. The MAC CE 300B may include a serving cell ID 314, CORESET IDs 316A-316B, and a TCI status ID 318. Similar to the MAC CE 300A, the serving cell ID 314 may be a field indicating the identity of the serving cell to which the MAC CE 300B applies. Each component carrier (CC) may correspond to its own serving cell ID 314. The serving cell ID 314 may be 5 bits long. The CORESET IDs 316A-316B may be the identification of the control resource set to which the MAC CE 300B applies to update the TCI status. The CORESET corresponds to the PDCCH. CORESET IDs 316A-316B may be 4 bits in length and conveyed in two octets. TCI state ID 318 may be the TCI state applicable to the CORESET identified by CORESET IDs 316A-316B. Based on octet alignment, 7 bits may be reserved for TCI state ID 318.

[0074] Although 7 bits are reserved for the TCI State ID 318, an RRC message can configure up to 64 TCI states. Because of this configuration, even though the TCI State ID 318 reserves 7 bits, only 6 bits can be used to obtain the 64 TCI states. In this way, one bit of the TCI State ID 318 can be unused. Similar to the MAC CE 300A, rather than leaving this bit unused, this bit can be used to indicate whether the list of CCs should be updated. In particular, the most significant bit (MSB) or least significant bit (LSB) of the TCI State ID 318 field can be used to indicate whether the TCI state of the list of CCs should be updated.

[0075] Similar to MAC CE 300A, when this bit is not set or set to a zero value, the node may indicate to the UE that MAC CE 300B is used to update the TCI status of the CC indicated by the serving cell ID 314. Conversely, when this bit is set or set to a one value, the node may indicate to the UE that MAC CE 300B is used to update a list of CCs. This list of CCs may be configured by a radio resource control (RRC) message and may correspond to the indicated serving cell ID 314. When the bit is set, the UE may update the TCI status information of each cell in the same list of CCs configured by the RRC message. The UE may identify the setting value of the bit, identify the serving cell ID 314, and then update each CC in the list that includes the serving cell ID 314 in the manner indicated by the six bits of TCI status ID 318. In some aspects, the bit settings of unused bits may be reversed, where a one value indicates a single CC update and a zero value indicates updating a list of CCs.

[0076] Using MAC CE 300B in this manner may enable a node to instruct a UE to update the TCI status of multiple CCs using fewer control messages. Using unused bits in TCI Status ID 318 may allow for simultaneous updating of a list of CCs. This updating may help facilitate multi-beam communications and may provide flexibility for updating a single CC and / or updating multiple CCs. This updated TCI status information may assist in updating the TCI status of the PDCCH.

[0077] In some aspects, another MAC CE may be defined to provide TCI state information for the PDSCH, including one or two TCI states. For example, this situation may be a multi-TRP scenario. In this case, the UE may be in communication with multiple nodes, which may result in the activation of two TCI states. The network may use this MAC CE to update the TCI codepoint for the PDSCH in the list of CCs. The updated TCI codepoint may be applied to the list corresponding to the serving cell ID described with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B. The application of the updated TCI codepoint may indicate that multi-TRP operation is activated and / or deactivated for the CCs in the list.

[0078] In some aspects, the updated TCI codepoint may be applied to a subset of CCs in the CC list depending on different conditions. CCs that meet one or more of these conditions may be updated. The conditions may include:

[0079] - The CC is configured with at least one CORESET that has no value for CORESETPoolIndex or has CORESETPoolIndex set to 0, and at least one CORESET that has CORESETPoolIndex set to 1.

[0080] -CC is configured with RepNum 16 in at least one entry in PDSCH-TimeDomainResourceAllocationRepSchemeEnabler.

[0081] -CC is configured with RepSchemeEnabler.

[0082] These conditions may be useful when updating the TCI state in multi-TRP operation. By using one or more of these conditions, the UE may control the updating of the TCI state even when there are multiple TCI states corresponding to a particular TCI codepoint.

[0083] 4 illustrates a block diagram of a MAC CE 400 for activation and deactivation of sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets, according to some aspects. A node may transmit the MAC CE 400 to a UE to indicate the spatial relationship for the UE to transmit SRS resource sets. The MAC CE 400 may be used to activate and / or deactivate semi-persistent (SP) SRS resource sets. The MAC CE 400 may also be configured to provide spatial relationship data for other periodicities, such as aperiodic or periodic SRS resource sets. Using the MAC CE 400, the UE can update its spatial relationship information when transmitting SRS signals to the node.

[0084] An SRS is a reference signal used in the uplink direction from a UE to a node to assist the node in obtaining channel state information (CSI) for each UE. CSI can describe how a signal propagates from a UE to a node and may account for the effects of scattering, fading, power attenuation over distance, and / or other channel factors. A node may use an SRS for resource scheduling, link adaptation, MIMO communication, and / or beam management. A UE may transmit an SRS using different periodicities. For example, the different periodicities may be "periodic," "aperiodic," and / or "semi-persistent" (SP). An SRS may be identified as an SRS resource, which may refer to the location of the SRS in the time and frequency domains in a resource grid. An SRS resource set may refer to multiple SRS resources transmitting in different symbols.

[0085] In view of this description and the SRS organization, a node may generate a MAC CE 400 to update the spatial relationships of SRS resource sets in a UE. FIG. 4 shows an example MAC CE 400 for controlling SP SRS resource sets, which may also be configured to provide spatial relationship updates for aperiodic and periodic SRS resource sets. In this manner, the MAC CE 400 may support spatial relationship updates for different periodicities. As described further below, the MAC CE 400 may also support spatial relationship updates for lists of CCs.

[0086] For the SP SRS resource set scenario, the MAC CE 400 may include an "activate or deactivate" (A / D) bit 402 used to activate or deactivate the SP SRS resource set indicated by the SP SRS resource set ID 412. The SP SRS resource set ID 412 may be 4 bits in length. The MAC CE 400 may also include an SRS resource set cell ID 408, which may indicate the identity of the serving cell or CC that includes the activated or deactivated SP SRS resource set. The SRS resource set cell ID 408 may be 5 bits in length. The MAC CE 400 may also include an SRS resource set BWP ID 410, which may indicate the uplink band portion that includes the activated or deactivated SP SRS resource set. The SRS resource set BWP ID 410 may be 2 bits in length.

[0087] The MAC CE 400 may include a SUL bit 420. This field indicates whether the MAC CE 400 applies to a NUL carrier configuration or a SUL carrier configuration. The SUL bit 420 may be set to '1' to indicate that the MAC CE 400 applies to a SUL carrier configuration. The SUL bit 420 may be set to '0' to indicate that the MAC CE 400 applies to a NUL carrier configuration.

[0088] Now, the "C" bit 418 and other octets will be described. The MAC CE 400 may also include a "C" bit 418, which may indicate whether the octets containing the resource serving cell ID field(s) 430, 436 and resource BWP ID field(s) 428, 434 are present. If this field is set to "1", the octets containing the resource serving cell ID field(s) 430, 436 and resource BWP ID field(s) 428, 434 are present. If this field is set to "0", they are not present and the resource ID i The resources indicated in fields 414, 426 may be located on the serving cell and BWP indicated by SRS resource set cell ID 408 and SRS resource set BWP ID 410.

[0089] The 'F' bit 406, 422 may indicate the type of resource used as the spatial relationship of the SRS resource. F0 may refer to the first SRS resource in the resource set, F1 may refer to the second SRS resource, and so on. The 'F' bit 406 may be set to '1' to indicate that the NZP CSI-RS resource index is used. The 'F' bit 406 may be set to '0' to indicate that the SSB index or the SRS resource index is used.

[0090] The resource ID fields 414, 426 may include an identifier of the resource used in the spatial relationship derivation for SRS resource i. The resource ID fields 414, 426 may indicate a particular reference signal to use. For example, resource ID 0 may refer to the first SRS resource in a resource set. F i If F is set to '0' and the first bit of the Resource ID field is set to '1', the remaining fields contain the SSB index. i is set to '0' and the first bit of the field is set to '0', the remaining fields contain the SRS-ResourceId. The resource ID field 414, 426 may be 7 bits in length.

[0091] The resource serving cell ID fields 430, 436 may indicate the identity of the serving cell in which the resources used for spatial relationship derivation of SRS resource "i" are located. The field length may be 5 bits. The resource BWP ID fields 428, 434 may contain the BWP-ID of the uplink band portion in which the resources are used for spatial relationship derivation of SRS resource "i". The field length may be 2 bits.

[0092] The MAC CE 400 may also include reserved bits 404, 416, which may be used to support different SRS resource set periodicities and / or to indicate whether to update the spatial relationship of the CC list.

[0093] For example, in some aspects, the SP SRS resource set ID field 412 may be used to indicate the periodicity and / or time-domain pattern of the SRS resource set. For example, four bits of the SP SRS resource set ID field 412 may indicate that the MAC CE 400 can be used to update a periodic, aperiodic, or semi-persistent SRS resource set, rather than being limited to only the semi-persistent case. The MAC CE 400 may further include an indication of whether to update a specific CC indicated by the cell ID 408 of the SRS resource set or to update a list of CCs.

[0094] If the SP SRS resource set ID field 412 indicates that the SRS resource set is aperiodic or periodic, the UE may ignore the "A / D" bit 402. That is, the "A / D" bit 402 may not indicate the activated or deactivated SRS resource set corresponding to the SP SRS resource set ID field 412. Instead, the "A / D" bit 402 may be used to indicate whether a spatial relationship update should be applied to the cell ID 408 of a particular SRS resource set or to a list of CCs in the same list of CCs as the indicated cell. This list update may be similar to that described with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B. In some aspects, the reserved bits 404, 416 may be used instead of the "A / D" bit 402 to indicate whether a particular CC or a list of CCs should be updated. In either case, however, the MAC CE 400 may be used to update the spatial relationship of multiple SRS resource sets.

[0095] In aspects where the SP SRS resource set ID field 412 indicates that the SRS resource set is semi-persistent, the "A / D" bit 402 may have a value, in which case the reserved bits 404, 416 may be used to indicate whether a specific CC or a list of CCs should be updated.

[0096] In some aspects, when the MAC CE 400 is used to update the list of CCs, the SRS resource spatial relationship is updated when the corresponding SRS resource sets have the same time-domain pattern. For example, in some cases, the CCs may have different time-domain patterns. In this case, the spatial relationship may not be applied to update the list of CCs. If the CCs in the list have the same periodicity and / or time-domain pattern as indicated from the SP SRS Resource Set ID field 412, the MAC CE 400 may apply to the list of CCs. However, in some cases, due to differences in time-domain patterns, updates to beams may be desired on a per-resource level.

[0097] FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a MAC CE 500 for updating spatial relationships of sounding reference signal (SRS) resources according to some aspects. As described above, some scenarios may benefit from updating an SRS resource set, while some other scenarios may benefit from updating individual SRS resources. For example, updating a specific SRS resource may enable identifying a resource to update a specific beam for that resource. The MAC CE 500 may be a control message that provides this type of resource-level update. The MAC CE 500 may provide more precise resource updates. The MAC CE 500 may still be used to indicate whether the spatial relationship should be updated for a specific CC or a list of CCs. In some aspects, the first 16 bits of the MAC CE 500 may indicate a specific SRS resource, and the second 16 bits may indicate the updated beam information. The MAC CE 500 may be four octets in length.

[0098] In particular, MAC CE 500 may include reserved bits 502, 506, 508, which may be used to indicate whether the spatial relationship update is for a CC specified by SRS resource cell ID 510 or whether the spatial relationship update is for a list of CCs. The update of the list of CCs may occur in a manner similar to that described with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B. Similar to FIG. 4, SRS resource cell ID 510 may refer to the cell in which the SRS resource is located. SRS resource cell ID 510 may correspond to a specific resource rather than indicating an SRS resource set. Similarly, SRS resource BWP ID 512 may correspond to the BWP in which the SRS resource is located. SRS resource ID 514 may be an identification SRS-ResourceID configured by an RRC message. SUL 510 may be similar to SUL 420 described with reference to FIG. 4. The SRS resource cell ID 510, the SRS resource BWP ID 512, and / or the SRS resource ID 514 may be used to allow the UE to identify the specific SRS resource being updated by the MAC CE 500.

[0099] The 'C' bit 504 may also be similar to the 'C' bit 418 described with reference to FIG. 4. In particular, the 'C' bit 504 may indicate whether the following two octets of bit information are present. In the MAC CE 500, these two octets may provide information about the specific resource to be updated. For example, the resource ID 516 may be similar to the resource IDs 414, 426 described with reference to FIG. 4. The resource ID 516 may be an ID of the resource used for the spatial relationship update. For example, the resource ID 516 may indicate a specific beam to be used. The resource serving cell ID 522 may be a cell ID in which the resources for the spatial relationship are located. The resource BWP ID 518 may indicate a BWP ID in which the resources for the spatial relationship are located.

[0100] The use of MAC CE 500 can allow for specific updates of resources rather than resource sets. MAC CE 500 can provide more flexibility in updating spatial relationships. MAC CE 500 can also be used to update spatial relationships of lists of CCs to reduce messaging overhead and / or lower latency.

[0101] 6A illustrates a block diagram of a MAC CE 600A for configuring the TCI codepoints of a PDSCH to support multi-transmit / receive point (multi-TRP) operation, according to some aspects. As previously mentioned, a multi-TRP scenario may occur when a UE communicates with two or more antenna arrays or nodes. In this case, each TCI codepoint may include one or two TCI states. In this manner, the MAC CE 600A supports multi-TRP operation and provides control messaging for configuring the TCI codepoints of a PDSCH.

[0102] Similar to the MAC CE described above, the MAC CE 600A may include reserved bits 602A, 604A, and 614A. The reserved bits 602A, 604A, and 614A may be used to indicate whether the TCI state should be updated for a CC or a list of CCs. The MAC CE 600A may include a serving cell ID 616A and a BWP ID 620A, which may be similar to the serving cell ID 304 and BWP ID 306 described with reference to FIG. 3A. The MAC CE 600A may include a number of TCI codepoints field 618A, which may be three bits to indicate the number "M." These three bits may be used to indicate up to eight TCI codepoints or may indicate a number of TCI codepoints from one to eight. The M value may provide this number. However, each of the TCI codepoints may have either one or two TCI states. To obtain this information, the MAC CE 600A may include a field 622A that may indicate the number of TCI codepoints with two TCI states. The field 622A may be a count of the number of “C_i” bit values ​​606, 610 that have a non-zero value, such as being set as a “1” value. If a “C_i” bit value 606, 610 has a “1” value, the corresponding TCI codepoint may have two TCI states. For example, “C_i” may indicate whether a second TCI state should be used for TCI codepoint “i.”

[0103] MAC CE 600A may include TCI state ID(0,1) 624 and TCI state ID(0,2) 626 to illustrate an example where "C_0" 606 has two TCI states. TCI state ID(0,1) 624 may be the first TCI state for TCI codepoint "0", while TCI state ID(0,2) 626 may be the second TCI state for TCI codepoint "0". Reserved bits 608 may be included to preserve the octet configuration of MAC CE 600A.

[0104] Similarly, MAC CE 600A may include TCI state ID (M-1,1) 628 and TCI state ID (M-1,2) 630 to illustrate an example where "C_(M-1)" 610 has two TCI states. TCI state ID (M-1,1) 628 may be the first TCI state for TCI codepoint "M-1," while TCI state ID (M-1,2) 630 may be the second TCI state for TCI codepoint "M-1." Reserved bits 612 may be included to preserve the octet configuration of MAC CE 600A.

[0105] The use of MAC CE 600A may provide flexibility to accommodate TCI codepoints with one or two TCI states. Using the "C_i" bits 606, 610, the UE may be able to decode the octet to determine whether one or two TCI states are updated. Also, using reserved bits 602A, 604A, or 614A, list updates for CCs may still be provided to reduce overhead and latency.

[0106] 6B illustrates a block diagram of an example MAC CE 600B illustrating multiple TCI states, according to some aspects. MAC CE 600B may be an example aspect of MAC CE 600A. Like MAC CE 600A, MAC CE 600B may include reserved bits 602B, 604B, 614B, as well as a serving cell ID 616B and a BWP ID 620B. MAC CE 600B may provide an example with example values ​​for fields 618B and 622B.

[0107] For example, the MAC CE 600B may indicate an "M" value of "4" using a number of bits in the TCI codepoint field 618B, which may be similar to field 618A described with reference to FIG. 6A. Similarly, the MAC CE 600B may indicate a value of "2" in field 622B, which may be similar to field 622A, to indicate the number of codepoints having two TCI states. In this case, the UE may know the number of octets that follow in the remaining transmission. In particular, the UE may identify that two of the TCI codepoints have two TCI states and therefore use four octets. The UE may use the "M" value to identify the remaining two TCI codepoints, each with one TCI state that uses one octet. With this information, the UE may anticipate receiving six octets. The UE may then identify the value of each "C_i" 632, 634, 638, and 640 to determine whether a particular TCI codepoint corresponds to one TCI state or two TCI states.

[0108] To further illustrate this example, "C_0" 632 may be a zero value, which may indicate a single TCI state. TCI State ID(0,1) 644 may then provide state information for that TCI codepoint. Identifying "C_0" 632 as a zero value allows the UE to identify the following 7 bits as associated with a single TCI state. "C_1" 634 may be a one value, which may indicate the presence of two TCI states. In this manner, TCI State ID(1,1) 646 and TCI State ID(1,2) 648 may provide information for two TCI states. Reserved bit 636 may be used to maintain the octet structure of MAC CE 600B. Identifying "C_1" 634 as a one value allows the UE to identify the following 15 bits as associated with two TCI states. "C_1" 634 may be a one value, which may indicate the presence of two TCI states. The UE may continue to identify "C_2" as having a zero value and indicating a single TCI state. TCI State ID(2,1) 650 may then provide state information for that TCI codepoint. For "C_3" 640, the UE may identify a value of 1 and may identify two TCI states. TCI State ID(3,1) 652 and TCI State ID(3,2) 654 may provide information for the two TCI states. Reserved bits 642 may be used to maintain the octet structure of MAC CE 600B.

[0109] FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart 700 for updating a TCI status of a component carrier (CC) list of a user equipment (UE), according to some aspects. In some aspects, a network, such as the core network 140, the network element 130, the application server 150, the node 120, and / or the radio system 200, may perform the flowchart 700. In some aspects, the RAN node 120 may use the flowchart 700 to generate and transmit a MAC CE to a UE. Although the flowchart 700 will be described with reference to the RAN node 120, the flowchart 700 is not limited to that example aspect. The flowchart 700 may be performed on any computing device, such as the computer system described with reference to FIG. 10 and / or a computer system, which may include hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions executing on a processing device), or a combination thereof.

[0110] It should be understood that not all steps are required to practice the disclosure provided herein. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, some steps may be performed simultaneously or in a different order than that shown in FIG.

[0111] At 702, the RAN node 120 can identify an update to a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state corresponding to a component carrier (CC) of the user equipment (UE) 110, where the CC has a serving cell ID. This update can be an update to a beam or QCL signal. For example, the UE 110 can have an assumption of the QCL relationship between different reference signals. The RAN node 120 can update this assumption and provide an updated definition for the QCL assumption. In this manner, the RAN node 120 can provide an initial definition of the TCI state and / or update an existing definition at the UE 110.

[0112] The update may also affect one or more CCs. Similarly, the updated TCI state may be applicable to the PDSCH and / or the PDCCH. In some aspects, the PDSCH update may occur in a multi-TRP scenario where a TCI codepoint has one or two TCI states. In this case, a subset of CCs in the list of CCs may be updated.

[0113] At 704, the RAN node 120 may determine whether to update the list of CCs, including the CC, based on the update of the TCI status. This list of CCs may have been previously configured by a radio resource control (RRC) message and may correspond to the indicated serving cell ID. For example, the RRC may have previously configured TCI-related parameters. The RAN node 120 may have previously sent an RRC message to the UE 110 to configure the list of CCs. The update of the TCI status information may be applicable to other CCs in the list, including the CC corresponding to the serving cell ID.

[0114] At 706, the RAN node 120 may determine whether to update the list of CCs at the UE 110. If the list of CCs is not updated and the RAN node 120 intends to update the CC corresponding to the serving cell ID, the RAN node 120 may generate a medium access control control element (MAC CE) at 708. This MAC CE may include the serving cell ID and a first bit value that instructs the UE 110 to update the TCI state of the CC using the serving cell ID. The first bit value may be a zero value, for example. The MAC CE may also include TCI state information for updating the TCI state at the UE 110. The RAN node 120 may then transmit the MAC CE to the UE 110 at 712. The UE 110 may then update the CC corresponding to the serving cell ID using the TCI state information included in the MAC CE.

[0115] Returning to 706, the RAN node 120 may determine that the list of CCs should be updated. In this case, the RAN node 120 may generate a MAC CE that includes the serving cell ID and a second bit value that instructs the UE 110 to update the TCI status of the CCs in the list that includes the CC's serving cell ID. In this way, the UE 110 may update the CC corresponding to the serving cell ID as well as other CCs on the list configured by the RRC message. The MAC CE may also include TCI state information for updating the TCI status at the UE 110. This MAC CE may then provide TCI updates for multiple CCs, which may reduce messaging overhead. At 712, the RAN node 120 may transmit the MAC CE to the UE 110.

[0116] The MAC CE generated from flowchart 700 may be similar to MAC CEs 300A and 300B described above with reference to Figures 3A and 3B. For example, MAC CE 300A may be used to update the TCI status of the PDSCH, while MAC CE 300B may be used to update the TCI status of the PDCCH. Other values ​​may be included in the MAC CE, as described above with reference to Figures 3A and 3B.

[0117] As mentioned above, MAC CE may also be used in multi-TRP operation. Similarly, MAC CE may be applied to situations where the list of CCs includes the identified CC. In some aspects, the subset of CCs may be updated based on some conditions, as mentioned above.

[0118] In some aspects, flowchart 900 may be performed one or more times in response to changes in the TCI codepoint. For example, the TCI state may be updated using a first MAC CE, but then updated again with a second MAC CE. Similarly, the second MAC CE may correspond to an update of the same TCI state or a different TCI state. Thus, the aspects described with respect to flowchart 900 are not limited to a single MAC CE.

[0119] 8A illustrates a flowchart 800A for generating a MAC CE to update the spatial relationship of SRS resource sets with different periodicities and / or time domain patterns, according to some aspects. FIG. 8B illustrates a flowchart 800B for modifying a MAC CE to update the spatial relationship of a list of CCs, according to some aspects.

[0120] In some aspects, a network, such as core network 140, network element 130, application server 150, node 120, and / or radio system 200, may perform flowcharts 800A and 800B. In some aspects, RAN node 120 may use flowcharts 800A and 800B to generate and transmit a MAC CE to a UE. While flowcharts 800A and 800B are described with reference to RAN node 120, flowcharts 800A and 800B are not limited to that example aspect. Flowcharts 800A and 800B may be performed on any computing device, such as the computer system described with reference to FIG. 10 and / or a computer system, which may include hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions executing on a processing device), or a combination thereof.

[0121] It should be understood that not all steps are required to practice the disclosure provided herein. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, some steps may be performed simultaneously or in a different order than that shown in Figures 8A and 8B.

[0122] At 802, the RAN node 120 may identify an update to the spatial relationship of a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource set corresponding to a component carrier (CC). The SRS spatial relationship may be an update to one or more uplink signals transmitted by the UE 110 to the RAN node 120.

[0123] At 804, the RAN node 120 may determine whether the time domain pattern of the SRS resource set is semi-persistent. For example, the time domain pattern and / or periodicity of the SRS resource set may be semi-persistent, aperiodic, or periodic. If the time domain pattern is determined to be not semi-persistent at 806, the RAN node 120 may generate a semi-persistent MAC CE, such as MAC CE 400, using an “activate / deactivate” bit field to specify whether to update a list of CCs that includes the CC based on the updated spatial relationship. The “A / D” field may be an unused bit field. Because the “A / D” field is not used for periodic or aperiodic SRS resource set updates, this bit may be used to indicate whether the spatial relationship update is intended for the indicated CC or for a list of CCs that corresponds to the same CC list as the indicated CC.

[0124] If the SRS resource set is determined to be semi-persistent at 806, the RAN node 120 may generate a MAC CE, such as MAC CE 400, using a reserved bit field to specify whether to update the list of CCs based on the updated spatial relationships at 810. Since the "A / D" field is used in semi-persistent SRS resource set scenarios, this bit may not be available. In this way, the reserved bit can be used for this indication.

[0125] At 812, the RAN node 120 may determine whether to update the list of CCs, including the CCs, based on the updated spatial relationships. Updating this list may result in less messaging overhead. However, in some aspects, the time-domain pattern of the elements of the SRS resource set remains the same. At 814, the RAN node 120 may determine whether to update the list of CCs. If the list should not be updated, at 816, the RAN node 120 may modify the MAC CE to indicate that a bit field that instructs the UE 110 to update the spatial relationships of the CCs includes a first bit value. The MAC CE may also include values ​​of the SP SRS resource set ID and resource ID information for updating the SRS resource set at the UE 110. At 820, the RAN node 120 may transmit the MAC CE to the UE 110.

[0126] Returning to 814, if the RAN node 120 determines that the list of CCs should be updated based on the updated spatial relationships, then at 818, the RAN node 120 may modify the MAC CE to include a second bit value in a bit field that instructs the UE 110 to update the spatial relationships of the CCs in the list of CCs. This list of CCs may have been previously configured by a radio resource control (RRC) message and may correspond to the cell IDs of the indicated SRS resource sets. The MAC CE may also include resource ID information for updating the SRS resource sets at the UE 110.

[0127] Upon receiving the MAC CE, UE 110 may identify a corresponding bit that indicates whether the list of CCs should be updated. Depending on the indicated value, UE 110 may identify a particular CC to update and / or a list of CCs to update.

[0128] FIG. 8C illustrates a flowchart 800C for generating a MAC CE to update spatial relationships of SRS resources, according to some aspects. In some aspects, a network, such as the core network 140, the network element 130, the application server 150, the node 120, and / or the radio system 200, may perform the flowchart 800C. In some aspects, the RAN node 120 may use the flowchart 800C to generate and transmit a MAC CE to a UE. While the flowchart 800C will be described with reference to the RAN node 120, the flowchart 800C is not limited to that example aspect. The flowchart 800C may be performed on any computing device, such as the computer system described with reference to FIG. 10 and / or a computer system, which may include hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions executed on a processing device), or a combination thereof.

[0129] It should be understood that not all steps are required to practice the disclosure provided herein. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, some steps may be performed simultaneously or in a different order than that shown in FIG. 8C.

[0130] At 822, the RAN node 120 can identify an update to the spatial relationship of sounding reference signal (SRS) resources corresponding to a component carrier (CC) of the user equipment (UE) 110, where the CC has an SRS resource cell ID. This update can be for a specific resource rather than a resource set. As such, flowchart 800C can be used to update a specific beam identified using the SRS resource cell ID described with reference to FIG. 5.

[0131] At 824, the RAN node 120 may determine whether to update a list of CCs that includes the CC based on the spatial relationship update. This list of CCs may have been previously configured by a radio resource control (RRC) message and may correspond to the indicated SRS resource ID. The spatial relationship information update may be applicable to other CCs in the list, including the CC that corresponds to the SRS resource ID.

[0132] At 826, the RAN node 120 may determine whether the list of CCs should be updated at the UE 110. If the list of CCs is not updated and the RAN node 120 intends to update the CC corresponding to the SRS resource cell ID, the RAN node 120 may generate a medium access control (MAC CE) at 828. This MAC CE may include the SRS resource cell ID and a first bit value that instructs the UE 110 to update the spatial relationship of the CCs using the SRS resource cell ID. Other values, such as an SRS resource BWP ID and / or an SRS resource ID, may also help identify the SRS resource. Values ​​such as the resource ID, resource serving cell ID, and / or resource BWP ID may indicate an updated SRS spatial relationship. The first bit value may, for example, be a zero value. The MAC CE may be similar to the MAC CE 500 described with reference to FIG. 5. The RAN node 120 may then transmit the MAC CE to the UE 110 at 832. UE 110 may then use the resource ID included in the MAC CE to update the CC corresponding to the SRS resource cell ID.

[0133] Returning to 826, the RAN node 120 may determine that the list of CCs should be updated. In this case, the RAN node 120 may generate a MAC CE that includes the SRS resource cell ID and a second bit value that instructs the UE 110 to update the spatial relationships of the CCs in the list of CCs using the SRS resource cell ID. In this way, the UE 110 may update the CC corresponding to the SRS resource cell ID as well as other CCs on the list configured by the RRC message. This MAC CE may then provide spatial relationship updates for multiple CCs, which may reduce messaging overhead. At 832, the RAN node 120 may transmit the MAC CE to the UE 110.

[0134] In some aspects, flowcharts 800A, 800B, and / or 800C may be performed one or more times in response to changes to the SRS resource set or resources. For example, the SRS resource set may be updated using a first MAC CE, but then updated again with a second MAC CE. Similarly, the second MAC CE may correspond to an update to a particular resource in the resource set. In this manner, the aspects described with respect to flowcharts 800A, 800B, and / or 800C are not limited to a single MAC CE.

[0135] FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart 900 for configuring a TCI code point of a PDSCH to support multi-transmit / receive point (multi-TRP) operation, according to some aspects. In some aspects, a network, such as core network 140, network element 130, application server 150, node 120, and / or radio system 200, may perform flowchart 700. In some aspects, RAN node 120 may use flowchart 900 to generate and transmit a MAC CE to a UE. While flowchart 900 will be described with reference to RAN node 120, flowchart 900 is not limited to that exemplary aspect. Flowchart 900 may be executed on any computing device, such as the computer system described with reference to FIG. 10, and / or may include hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions executing on a processing device), or a combination thereof.

[0136] It should be understood that not all steps are required to practice the disclosure provided herein. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, some steps may be performed simultaneously or in a different order than that shown in FIG.

[0137] At 902, the RAN node 120 may identify a configuration of one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) code points corresponding to a component carrier (CC). This identification may indicate that a multi-TRP scenario may exist. The RAN node 120 may generate a MAC CE that configures the TCI code points of the PDSCH.

[0138] At 904, the RAN node 120 may determine that at least one of the one or more TCI codepoints has multiple TCI states. For example, a TCI codepoint may have two TCI states. In this case, the codepoint may communicate with multiple TRPs. However, other codepoints may still have one TCI state.

[0139] At 906, the RAN node 120 may generate a MAC CE including a first value indicating a quantity of one or more TCI codepoints and a second value indicating a quantity of at least one of the one or more TCI codepoints having multiple TCI states. This MAC CE may be similar to MAC CE 600A and / or 600B described with reference to Figures 6A and 6B. The first and second values ​​may indicate to the UE 110 the number of bits and / or octets to expect for the remaining bits of the MAC CE.

[0140] At 908, the RAN node 120 may update the MAC CE to include, for at least one of the one or more TCI codepoints having multiple TCI states, a first octet of data including a bit indicating the presence of multiple TCI states and a first TCI state ID, and a second octet of data including a reserved bit and a second TCI state ID. In this manner, the MAC CE can use two octets for two TCI state IDs. In some aspects, a bit in the first octet may indicate that a particular codepoint has two TCI states. When the UE 110 receives the MAC CE and identifies this bit, the UE 110 can recognize that the next octet represents data for the second TCI state corresponding to the codepoint. At 910, the RAN node 120 may transmit the MAC CE to the UE 110.

[0141] In some aspects, flowchart 900 may be performed one or more times in response to changes in the TCI state. For example, the TCI state may be updated using a first MAC CE, but then updated again later with a second MAC CE. Similarly, the second MAC CE may correspond to an update of the same TCI state or a different TCI state. Thus, the aspects described with respect to flowchart 700 are not limited to a single MAC CE.

[0142] Figure 10 illustrates an exemplary computer system useful for implementing various aspects. Various aspects can be implemented using one or more well-known computer systems, such as, for example, computer system 1000 illustrated in Figure 10. One or more computer systems 1000 can be used, for example, to implement any of the aspects discussed herein, as well as combinations and subcombinations thereof.

[0143] Computer system 1000 may include one or more processors (also referred to as central processing units or CPUs), such as processor 1004. Processor 1004 may be connected to a communication infrastructure or bus 1006.

[0144] The computer system 1000 may also include user input / output equipment 1003 , such as a monitor, keyboard, pointing device, etc., that communicates with a communications infrastructure 1006 via a user input / output interface 1002 .

[0145] One or more of the processors 1004 may be a graphics processing unit (GPU). In one aspect, a GPU may be a processor that is a specialized electronic circuit designed to process mathematically intensive applications. A GPU may have a parallel structure that is effective for parallel processing of large blocks of data, such as mathematically intensive data common in computer graphics applications, images, video, etc.

[0146] The computer system 1000 may also include a main or primary memory 1008, such as random access memory (RAM). The main memory 1008 may include one or more levels of cache. The main memory 1008 may store control logic (i.e., computer software) and / or data.

[0147] The computer system 1000 may also include one or more secondary storage devices or memories 1010. The secondary memory 1010 may include, for example, a hard disk drive 1012 and / or a removable storage device or drive 1014. The removable storage drive 1014 may be a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tape drive, a compact disk drive, an optical storage device, a tape backup device, and / or any other storage device / drive.

[0148] The removable storage drive 1014 can interact with a removable storage unit 1018. The removable storage unit 1018 includes a computer-usable or computer-readable storage device having computer software (control logic) and / or data stored thereon. The removable storage unit 1018 may be a floppy disk, magnetic tape, compact disk, DVD, optical storage disk, and / or any other computer data storage device. The removable storage drive 1014 can read from and / or write to the removable storage unit 1018.

[0149] Secondary memory 1010 may also include other means, media, or other techniques that allow computer programs and / or other instructions and / or data to be accessed by computer system 1000. Such means, media, or other techniques may include, for example, removable storage unit 1022 and interface 1020. Examples of removable storage unit 1022 and interface 1020 may include program cartridges and cartridge interfaces (such as those found in video game devices), removable memory chips (such as EPROMs or PROMs) and associated sockets, memory sticks and USB ports, memory cards and associated memory card slots, and / or any other removable storage unit and associated interface.

[0150] Computer system 1000 may further include a communications or network interface 1024. Communications interface 1024 may enable computer system 1000 to communicate and interact with any combination of external devices, external networks, external entities, etc. (individually and collectively designated by reference numeral 1028). For example, communications interface 1024 may enable computer system 1000 to communicate with external or remote devices 1028 over communications path 1026, which may be wired and / or wireless (or a combination thereof) and may include any combination of a LAN, a WAN, the Internet, etc. Control logic and / or data may be communicated to and from computer system 1000 via communications path 1026.

[0151] Computer system 1000 may also be a personal digital assistant (PDA), a desktop workstation, a laptop or notebook computer, a netbook, a tablet, a smartphone, a smartwatch or other wearable, a device, part of the Internet of Things, and / or an embedded system, or any combination thereof, to name a few non-limiting examples.

[0152] The computer system 1000 may be a client or server accessing or hosting any application and / or data via any delivery paradigm, including, but not limited to, remote or distributed cloud computing solutions; local or on-premise software ("on-premise" cloud-based solutions); an "as a service" model (e.g., Content as a Service (CaaS), Digital Content as a Service (DCaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (DaaS), Framework as a Service (FaaS), Backend as a Service (BaaS), Backend as a Service (MBaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), etc.); and / or a hybrid model including any combination of the foregoing examples or other service or delivery paradigms.

[0153] Any applicable data structures, file formats, and schemas in computer system 400 may be derived from standards, including JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Yet Another Markup Language (YAML), Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML), Wireless Markup Language (WML), MessagePack, XML User Interface Language (XUL), or any other functionally similar representation, alone or in combination. Alternatively, proprietary data structures, formats, or schemas may be used exclusively or in combination with known or open standards.

[0154] In some aspects, tangible, non-transitory devices or articles of manufacture comprising tangible, non-transitory computer-usable or readable media having control logic (software) stored thereon may also be referred to herein as computer program products or program storage devices. This includes, but is not limited to, computer system 1000, main memory 1008, secondary memory 1010, removable storage units 1018 and 1022, and tangible articles of manufacture embodying any combination of the foregoing. Such control logic, when executed by one or more data processing devices (e.g., computer system 1000), can cause such data processing devices to operate as described herein.

[0155] Based on the teachings contained herein, it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art how to make and use aspects of the present disclosure using data processing devices, computer systems and / or computer architectures other than those shown in Figure 10. In particular, aspects may operate using software, hardware, and / or operating system implementations other than those described herein.

[0156] It is understood that it is the Detailed Description section, and not the Summary and Abstract sections, that is intended to be used to interpret the claims. Other sections may describe one or more exemplary aspects contemplated by the inventors, but are not all-inclusive and therefore are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure or the appended claims in any way.

[0157] While this disclosure describes exemplary aspects for exemplary fields and applications, it should be understood that the disclosure is not limited thereto. Other aspects and variations thereon are possible and are within the scope and spirit of the disclosure. For example, without limiting the generality of this paragraph, aspects are not limited to the software, hardware, firmware, and / or entities shown in the figures and / or described herein. Moreover, aspects (whether or not explicitly described herein) have significant utility for fields and applications beyond the examples described herein.

[0158] Aspects have been described herein with the help of functional building blocks that illustrate the implementation of certain functions and their relationships. The boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for convenience of description. Alternative boundaries may be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships (or their equivalents) are appropriately performed. Furthermore, different aspects may execute functional blocks, steps, operations, methods, etc. using an order different from that described herein.

[0159] References herein to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “exemplary embodiment,” or similar phrases indicate that while the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, all embodiments may not necessarily include that particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Furthermore, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, if a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, incorporating such feature, structure, or characteristic into other embodiments would be within the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art, whether or not explicitly mentioned or described herein. Furthermore, some embodiments may be described using the terms “coupled” and “connected,” along with their derivatives. These terms are not necessarily intended as synonyms for each other. For example, some embodiments may be described using the terms “connected” and / or “coupled” to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. However, “coupled” may mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but still cooperate and / or interact with each other.

[0160] The breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary aspects, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

[0161] As noted above, aspects of the present technology may include collecting and using data available from various sources, for example, to improve or enhance functionality. This disclosure contemplates that, in some cases, this collected data may include personal information data that uniquely identifies or can be used to contact or locate a particular person. Such personal information data may include demographic data, location-based data, phone numbers, email addresses, Twitter IDs, addresses, data or records regarding a user's health or fitness level (e.g., vital sign measurements, medication information, exercise information), birth date, or any other identifying or personal information. This disclosure recognizes that the use of such personal information data in the present technology may be for the user's benefit.

[0162] This disclosure contemplates that entities involved in the collection, analysis, disclosure, transmission, storage, or other use of such personal information data will adhere to robust privacy policies and / or privacy practices. Specifically, such entities should implement and consistently use privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or government requirements for maintaining the strict confidentiality of personal information data. Such policies should be easily accessible to users and should be updated as data collection and / or use changes. Personal information from users should be collected for the entity's lawful and legitimate use and should not be shared or sold except for those lawful uses. Furthermore, such collection / sharing should only be carried out after the user's informed consent is obtained. Furthermore, such entities should consider taking all necessary measures to protect and secure access to such personal information data and to ensure that others with access to the personal information data adhere to their privacy policies and procedures. Furthermore, such entities may be able to undergo third-party assessments to demonstrate their adherence to widely accepted privacy policies and practices. Furthermore, policies and practices should be tailored to the specific types of personal data collected and / or accessed and should comply with applicable laws, regulations, and standards, including jurisdiction-specific considerations. For example, in the United States, the collection of or access to certain health data may be governed by federal and / or state laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), while health data in other countries may be subject to other regulations and policies and should be addressed accordingly. Therefore, different privacy practices should be maintained in each country with respect to different types of personal data.

[0163] Notwithstanding the foregoing, the present disclosure also contemplates aspects that allow a user to selectively prevent use of or access to personal information data. That is, the present disclosure contemplates that hardware and / or software elements may be provided to prevent or block access to such personal information data. For example, the present technology may be configured to allow a user to select to "opt in" or "opt out" of participating in the collection of personal information data, e.g., during registration for a service or at any time thereafter. In addition to providing "opt-in" and "opt-out" options, the present disclosure contemplates providing notice regarding the access or use of personal information. For example, the user may be notified upon downloading an app that will access the user's personal information data, and then again immediately before the app accesses the user's personal information data.

[0164] Furthermore, it is the intent of this disclosure that personal information data should be managed and handled in a manner that minimizes the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use. Risk can be minimized by limiting data collection and deleting data when it is no longer needed. Additionally, and where applicable in certain health-related applications, data anonymization can be used to protect user privacy. De-identification can be facilitated, where appropriate, by removing certain identifiers (e.g., date of birth, etc.), controlling the amount or specificity of data stored (e.g., collecting location data at a city level rather than an address level), controlling how data is stored (e.g., aggregating data across users), and / or other methods.

[0165] Thus, while the present disclosure may broadly cover the use of personal information data to implement one or more various disclosed aspects, the present disclosure also contemplates that various aspects may be implemented without requiring access to such personal information data, i.e., various aspects of the present technology are not rendered inoperable by the absence of all or a portion of such personal information data.

Claims

1. 1. A method for a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving a medium access control element (MAC CE) from an access node; determining a serving cell based on the MAC CE; determining a list of cells based on a radio resource control (RRC) message; determining that the serving cell is in a list of cells; updating transmission configuration indicator (TCI) status information of cells in the list of cells, wherein the MAC CE indicates whether to update the TCI status information of the serving cell or update the TCI status information of the cells in the list of cells; A method comprising:

2. determining that the serving cell is in the list of cells; receiving the RRC message from the access node; determining, based on the RRC message, that the list of cells includes the serving cell; The method of claim 1 further comprising:

3. determining that the list of cells includes the serving cell; determining a component carrier (CC) corresponding to the serving cell; determining a list of CCs based on the RRC message; determining that the list of CCs includes the CC; determining that the list of CCs corresponds to the list of cells; The method of claim 2 further comprising:

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein updating the TCI status information of cells in the list of cells is based on an indication bit in the MAC CE.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the indication bit is a reserved bit in the MAC CE.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the MAC CE includes the TCI state information.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the TCI status information is for a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH).

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the MAC CE includes a serving cell ID of the serving cell.

9. Memory and a processor coupled to the memory; an apparatus comprising: receiving a medium access control element (MAC CE) from the access node; determining a serving cell based on the MAC CE; determining a list of cells based on a radio resource control (RRC) message; determining that the serving cell is in a list of cells; updating transmission configuration indicator (TCI) status information of the cells in the list of cells, wherein the MAC CE indicates whether to update the TCI status information of the serving cell or update the TCI status information of the cells in the list of cells; The apparatus is configured to:

10. To determine that the serving cell is in the list of cells, the processor: receiving the RRC message from the access node; determining, based on the RRC message, that the list of cells includes the serving cell; The apparatus of claim 9 further configured to:

11. To determine that the list of cells includes the serving cell, the processor: determining a component carrier (CC) corresponding to the serving cell; determining a list of CCs based on the RRC message; determining that the list of CCs includes the CC; determining that the list of CCs corresponds to the list of cells; The apparatus of claim 10 further configured to:

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to update the TCI status information of a cell in the list of cells based on an indication bit in the MAC CE.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the indication bit is a reserved bit in the MAC CE.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the MAC CE includes the TCI state information.

15. 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the TCI status information is for a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH).

16. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the MAC CE includes a serving cell ID of the serving cell.

17. When executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), the UE is caused to: receiving a medium access control element (MAC CE) from an access node; determining a serving cell based on the MAC CE; determining a list of cells based on a radio resource control (RRC) message; determining that the serving cell is in a list of cells; updating transmission configuration indicator (TCI) status information of cells in the list of cells, wherein the MAC CE indicates whether to update the TCI status information of the serving cell or update the TCI status information of the cells in the list of cells; A non-transitory computer readable medium (CRM) comprising instructions for performing operations including:

18. determining that the serving cell is in the list of cells; receiving the RRC message from the access node; determining, based on the RRC message, that the list of cells includes the serving cell; 20. The non-transitory CRM of claim 17, further comprising:

19. determining that the list of cells includes the serving cell; determining a component carrier (CC) corresponding to the serving cell; determining a list of CCs based on the RRC message; determining that the list of CCs includes the CC; determining that the list of CCs corresponds to the list of cells; 20. The non-transient CRM of claim 18, further comprising:

20. 18. The non-transient CRM of claim 17, wherein updating the TCI status information of a cell in the list of cells is based on an indication bit in the MAC CE.

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