Method and apparatus for beam management reporting

Abstract

[0009] A system, method, apparatus, and computer program product for beam management (BM) reporting are provided. One method may include determining, at a UE, that a reporting configuration needs to be activated and providing, to a network, an instruction to activate the reporting configuration.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Some exemplary embodiments may generally relate to mobile or wireless communication systems such as Long-Term Evolution (LTE) or 5th Generation (5G) wireless access technology or New Radio (NR) access technology, or other communication systems. For example, certain embodiments may relate to systems and / or methods for beam management (BM) reporting, e.g., in layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) centric mobility.

Background Art

[0002] Examples of mobile or wireless telecommunications systems include Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), Long-Term Evolution (LTE) Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN), LTE Advanced (LTE-A), MultiFire, LTE-A Pro, and / or fifth-generation (5G) radio access technology or new radio (NR) access technology. 5G radio systems refer to next-generation (NG) radio systems and network architectures. 5G systems are mostly built on 5G new radio (NR), but 5G (or NG) networks can also be built on E-UTRA radio. NR is estimated to provide bit rates on the order of 10-20 Gbit / s or higher and is capable of supporting service categories such as Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra-High Reliability Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and Massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC). NR is expected to support the Internet of Things (IoT) by providing extremely wideband, ultra-robust, low-latency connectivity, and high-capacity networking. As IoT and machine-to-machine (M2M) communications become more widespread, the need for networks that meet the requirements of low power, low data rates, and long battery life will increase. Next-generation radio access networks (NG-RAN) represent the RAN for 5G, and are capable of providing radio access for both NR and LTE (and LTE Advanced). Note that in 5G, nodes capable of providing radio access functionality to user devices (i.e., similar to node B (NB) in UTRAN or evolved NB (eNB) in LTE) may be called next-generation NBs (gNBs) when built with NR radios, and next-generation eNBs (NG-eNBs) when built with E-UTRA radios. [Overview of the Initiative]

[0003] One embodiment relates to a device that may include at least one processor and at least one memory containing computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to cause the device to use at least one processor to determine that at least one reporting setting needs to be activated and to provide a network with instructions to activate at least one reporting setting.

[0004] Another embodiment relates to a method which may include determining that at least one reporting setting needs to be activated on user equipment. The method may also include providing a signal to the network to activate at least one reporting setting.

[0005] In a modified version, the method may also include receiving from a network the activation of at least one beam management reporting setting or at least one setting for a beam management reporting setting, and performing beam management reporting according to the activated at least one beam management reporting setting.

[0006] In some variations, the method may also include sending beam management reports to the network according to at least one activated beam management reporting configuration.

[0007] Another embodiment may relate to a device that includes means for determining that at least one reporting setting needs to be activated, and means for providing a network with instructions to activate at least one reporting setting.

[0008] Another embodiment relates to a device which may include at least one processor and at least one memory containing computer program code. The at least one memory and computer program code may be configured to cause the device, using at least one processor, to receive instructions from at least one user device to activate at least one reporting setting, to determine at least one beam management reporting setting which at least one user device should activate, and to signal the determined at least one beam management reporting setting to at least one user device.

[0009] Another embodiment may relate to a method which may include receiving instructions from at least one user device to activate at least one reporting setting. The method may also include determining at least one beam management reporting setting which at least one user device should activate, and signaling the determined at least one beam management reporting setting to at least one user device.

[0010] Another embodiment may relate to an apparatus that includes means for receiving instructions from at least one user device to activate at least one reporting setting, means for determining at least one beam management reporting setting that at least one user device should activate, and means for signaling the determined at least one beam management reporting setting to at least one user device.

[0011] To properly understand the example embodiment, you should refer to the attached drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0012] [Figure 1] This is a diagram illustrating an example of a downlink beam management procedure according to an embodiment. [Figure 2]This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary deployment scenario of a wireless network according to an embodiment. [Figure 3] This is a diagram illustrating an exemplary scenario for beam management reporting according to an embodiment. [Figure 4] This diagram illustrates an example of linking two resource settings to a single reporting setting identifier according to an embodiment. [Figure 5a] This is an illustrative flowchart of a method for beam management reporting according to one exemplary embodiment. [Figure 5b] This is an illustrative flowchart of a method for beam management reporting according to one exemplary embodiment. [Figure 6a] This is a block diagram illustrating an example of the apparatus according to an embodiment. [Figure 6b] This is a block diagram illustrating an example of the apparatus according to an embodiment. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0013] It will be readily apparent that the components of certain exemplary embodiments, while generally described and illustrated in the drawings herein, may be arranged and designed in a variety of different configurations. Therefore, the following detailed description of some exemplary embodiments of beam management (BM) reporting systems, methods, apparatus, and computer program products is not intended to limit the scope to any particular embodiment, but rather represents selected exemplary embodiments.

[0014] The features, structures, or characteristics of the exemplary embodiments described throughout this specification may be combined in any preferred way in one or more exemplary embodiments. For example, the use of the phrases “certain embodiments,” “several embodiments,” or other similar expressions throughout this specification refers to the fact that certain features, structures, or characteristics described in relation to a particular embodiment may be included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearance of the phrases “in certain embodiments,” “several embodiments,” “other embodiments,” or other similar expressions throughout this specification does not necessarily refer to all embodiments of the same group, and the features, structures, or characteristics described may be combined in any preferred way in one or more exemplary embodiments.

[0015] In addition, if desired, the various functions or procedures discussed below may be performed in different orders and / or simultaneously. Furthermore, if desired, one or more of the functions or procedures described may be selected or combined. Therefore, the following description should be considered illustrative of the principles and teachings of specific exemplary embodiments, and not as an limitation thereof.

[0016] Certain embodiments relate to the development of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) NR. More specifically, some embodiments may relate to establishing inter-cell mobility using beam management procedures. In multi-input multiple-output (MIMO) NRs, beam management-related objectives (including the need to support L1 / L2-centric inter-cell mobility) may include enhancements to multi-beam operation, primarily targeting frequency range 2 (FR2) but also applicable to frequency range 1 (FR1). For example, features may be identified to facilitate more efficient (lower latency and overhead) downlink (DL) / uplink (UL) beam management to support higher intra-cell and L1 / L2-centric inter-cell mobility, as well as / or to facilitate a larger number of configured transmit-setting-instruction (TCI) states. This may include a common beam for data and control transmission / reception for DL ​​and UL, a unified TCI framework for DL ​​and UL beam instruction, and / or enhancements to the signaling mechanism, improving latency and efficiency with greater use of dynamic control signaling. Furthermore, features to facilitate UL beam selection in multi-panel UEs may be identified based on UL beam indication using a unified TCI framework for fast UL panel selection, taking into account the reduction of UL coverage loss due to the maximum allowable exposure (MPE).

[0017] Beam management is a set of functions to assist the UE in setting up its receive (RX) and transmit (TX) beams for DL ​​reception and UL transmission, respectively. These functions can be broadly categorized into four categories: (1) beam indication, (2) beam acquisition, measurement, and reporting, (3) beam recovery, and (4) beam tracking and fine-tuning. Beam indication generally helps the UE properly set up its RX and TX beams for DL ​​reception and UL transmission, respectively. Beam acquisition, measurement, and reporting refers to the procedures that provide the gNB with knowledge about the DL and UL beams that are achievable for the UE. Beam recovery may be used for rapid link resetting in case of abrupt blockages, i.e., rapid realignment of the gNB and UE beams. Beam tracking and fine-tuning refers to a set of procedures for fine-tuning the gNB and UE side beams.

[0018] With regard to downlink beam management, particularly beam acquisition, measurement, and reporting, the following beam management procedures may be supported within one or more transmit / receive points (TRPs). Figure 1 illustrates an example of such a DL beam management procedure. As illustrated in the example in Figure 1, P-1 is used to enable UE measurements for different TRP Tx beams and to support TRP Tx beam / UE Rx beam selection. In beamforming at the TRP, this typically involves an intra-TRP / inter-TRP Tx beam sweep from a set of different beams. In beamforming at the UE, this typically involves a UE Rx beam sweep from a set of different beams. As further illustrated in the example in Figure 1, P-2 may be used to enable UE measurements for different TRP Tx beams and to change the inter-TRP / intra-TRP Tx beam. This may be from a set of beams smaller than that in P-1, with respect to beam fine-tuning. Note that P-2 may be a special case of P-1. As illustrated in the example in Figure 1, P-3 is used to enable UE measurements on the same TRP Tx beam, and if the UE uses beamforming, the UE Rx beam is modified.

[0019] With regard to downlink beam indication, the functionality of pseudo-collocation (QCL) indication is defined. As an example of a QCL type (Type D) for receiving a specific physical signal or physical channel, the UE defines how to set the RX beam for receiving the downlink (target) physical signal or physical channel, either by setting it with a source / reference signal previously received and measured by the UE, or by the UE implicitly determining such a source / reference signal. To provide the UE with the QCL characteristics of the (received) target signal, a transmission coordination indication (TCI) framework is defined using which UE may be set TCI states, providing the UE with a source reference signal (RS) for determining the QCL characteristics. Each TCI state may include one or two source RSs that provide the UE QCL Type A, Type B, Type C, and / or Type D parameters. Different types can provide parameters such as: QCL-TypeA: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, mean delay, delay spread} QCL-TypeB: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread} • QCL-TypeC: {Doppler shift, mean delay} • QCL-TypeD: {Spatial RX parameter}.

[0020] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary deployment scenario of a wireless network. More specifically, FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary diagram of a reporting configuration scenario that may include two TRPs that transmit synchronization signals and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) blocks (SSPBCH or SSB) and / or channel state information (CSI)-reference signals (RS). These signals may be used for beam management purposes. The TRPs and the signals transmitted by the TRPs may cover a cell, a part of a cell, or one or more cells. One TRP may transmit one or more SSBs and may transmit one or more CSI-RSs. It should be noted that particular embodiments are not limited to any particular configuration or deployment, i.e., the number of SSB or CSI-RS beams or TRPs. A TRP may be identified by an identifier (ID), or a TRP may not be identified, and the TRP associated with a particular DL RS may not be explicitly visible to the UE. In the example illustrated in FIG. 2, TRP1 transmits SSB#0…#1 and CSI-RS#0..CSI-RS#3, and TRP2 transmits SSB#2 and #3 and CSI-RS#4...CSI-RS#7.

[0021] Figure 3 illustrates an exemplary scenario regarding beam management reporting. More specifically, the example of Figure 3 shows a diagram of resource / reporting configuration. In the example of Figure 3, the UE is configured with CSI-ResourceConfig-ID1 and CSI-ResourceConfig-ID1, that is, with two resource sets for beam measurement. These sets may include SSB and / or non-zero power (NZP)-CSI-RS signals. The network may configure a specific DL RS signal to be a so-called tracking reference signal (TRS). For each CSI-ResourceConfig, the network may configure one or more reporting settings, or reporting configurations (CSI-ReportConfig) associated with a specific CSI-ResourceConfig. In the example of Figure 3, the network has configured SSB and CSI-RS reporting for both CSI-ResourceConfigs. These settings can be updated by the network using radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

[0022] In the context of LTE carrier aggregation (CA) (and considered for NR), the UE can be configured to report idle-mode CA measurements to the serving cell when returning to the connected mode, as described, for example, in Section 4.9 of 3GPP TS36.133. In the context of enhanced UE power saving in 3GPP Release-17, it is proposed to provide information regarding TRS / CSI-RS settings that may be used for UEs in the CONNECTED mode.

[0023] Current beam management solutions (e.g., Release-15 and Release-16) provide support for intra-cell movement. Therefore, inter-cell mobility is handled by the RRC layer (L3 mobility), and UEs cannot be configured to report non-serving cells using the beam management framework or beam management signaling. It is now agreed that support for L1 / L2 centric mobility should be defined, requiring a new, designated signaling mechanism.

[0024] The current Release-15 / 16 signaling framework can be extended to support L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility, but beam management signaling is different from RRC-based. Typically, beam management-related beam reporting is performed on low-overhead L1 signaling, i.e., physical uplink control channels (PUCCH) / physical uplink sharing channels (PUSCH), where the network configures the UE with periodic resources for, for example, one or more reporting settings. When reporting is configured for beam management purposes, the network knows the amount of resources required to accommodate periodic or aperiodic reporting.

[0025] However, in cases where BM signaling is used for inter-cell mobility, it may not always be beneficial to report neighboring cells due to signaling overhead, for example, in cases where the UE does not detect any neighboring cells or neighboring cell reference signals (of reasonable quality) for beam management. Furthermore, in NR, in the context of secondary cell (SCell) configuration based on IDLE mode measurements, the UE needs to perform additional measurements and reporting in CONNECTED mode (based on CSI-RS) to configure appropriate DL and UL beams for the SCell.

[0026] One embodiment may relate to a method for reporting neighboring cell measurements using a BM framework. In one embodiment, if the UE has determined to activate a BM reporting configuration, the UE may trigger uplink signaling to the network. According to one embodiment, the signaling from the UE may indicate that the UE has determined that reporting conditions and / or criteria for at least one non-serving cell BM reporting have been met. In one example, serving cell and / or non-serving cell reporting configurations may be pre-configured. In certain embodiments, the signaling may be one or more of a dedicated Random Access Channel (RACH) preamble, a dedicated Scheduling Request (SR), a Normal SR, a Media Access Control (MAC) control element (CE), and / or PUCCH / PUSCH or RRC. According to some embodiments, the signaling may also be initiated if the UE has determined to activate BM reporting and has determined that the current signaling resources are insufficient to carry the information, for example, if insufficient PUCCH / PUSCH resources have been allocated by the network. Alternatively, UE may consist of periodic UL grants using MAC CE-based reporting, which could lead to similar problems.

[0027] In one embodiment, the UE may use UL signaling to indicate which cells satisfy the reporting conditions (Physical Cell Identifier (PCI) / logical cell index for a set of cells) and / or which reporting settings should be activated. These setting IDs may correspond to reporting settings for non-serving cells (or simply beam reporting settings for one or more cells, without distinction between serving and non-serving cells), and the reporting settings may correspond to resource settings for beam reporting, including one or more non-serving cell DL reference signals. More generally, according to some exemplary embodiments, the reporting settings that the UE decides to activate may be referred to as serving cell settings, non-serving cell settings, or simply settings for a particular cell. In one example, a reporting setting can be associated with a reference signal for a cell's TRP (or may be referenced using a TRP ID, or any identifier usable to reference a particular TRP, such as CORESETpoolIndex). Furthermore, in one embodiment, the UE may indicate in a serving cell beam report, such as an L1 / L2 beam report, that the UE has detected / measured one or more beams of non-serving cells that meet a threshold quality. In a particular embodiment, these beams may be associated with a configured reporting setting (corresponding to a resource set) or simply with a candidate set of cells (e.g., the UE only reports an SSB index), or, in one example, with any cell detected by the UE. In one example, the indication may be, for example, a one-bit index in the report format or an identifier in the report format. This gives the network the option to activate a non-serving cell reporting setting. The network can then determine and signal which setting the UE will activate.In one embodiment, the UE may activate non-serving cell BM reporting when it determines that the serving cell quality is below a threshold set by the network configuration and / or that neighboring cells (which may be associated with a beam management reporting configuration) are above the threshold. For example, the network may configure the UE with a new threshold such as Non-Serving-Cell-BM-Reporting-Threshold (Threshold_BMReporting). Alternatively or additionally, the UE may be configured to use, or use, a threshold set by s-MeasureConfig to determine when to activate BM reporting. In yet another alternative example, the network may configure the UE on an RRC level event such as an A3 / A4 or similar event (neighboring cell (quality) is above the threshold) to trigger activation / instruction and request the activation of BM reporting. In one example, when an RRC level event is triggered, the UE sends a measurement report or other RRC level message associated with the triggered event to the network which may indicate which network should activate a particular beam reporting configuration. In some cases, the network may configure separate RRC level measurement and / or reporting settings on the UE to report / indicate that it has measured and determined that a cell has a measurement above a threshold (cell quality in terms of RSRP / RSRQ / SINR) (which may potentially be associated with a time-to-trigger timer), or that a set of cells preconfigurable to the UE has cell quality above a threshold. Preconfigured cells may be configured by the network using measurement settings that explicitly instruct the UE to measure specific cells (for reporting purposes), or the measurement / reporting settings may be associated with cells configured using RRCReconfiguration messages as candidates for DAPS (Dual Active Protocol Stack), which is a conditional handover.In a further alternative example, the network may use RRC preconfigurations (e.g., RRCReconfiguration or other RRC messages) for one or more cells that are candidates for L1 / L2 centric mobility (e.g., mobility in which at least several steps may be performed based on L1 / L2 measurement / reporting and / or signaling). In one alternative example, the UE may determine the activation of a particular reporting setting based on the configured CSI-RS / SSB resources for the reporting setting. In an alternative example, if the UE is configured to report cells in the RRC according to embodiments herein, the UE may determine to derive cell quality using all transmitted SSBs of the cell, or the UE may be configured to determine cell quality based on a subset of SSBs. The subset may include SSBs configured for BM reporting settings. In a further example, each of the BM reporting settings may use a specific neighbor cell beam or resource setlist threshold (associated with the BM reporting setting). For example, activation occurs when at least one, all, or N (where N is the maximum number of beams reported per reporting instance) of the RSs listed in csi-RS-ResourceSetList exceed a threshold. The threshold may be set to be common to all resource lists / reporting settings, or it may be set per resource / reporting setting. Furthermore, the threshold may differ for different reporting quantities and reference signal types. For example, if a reporting setting instructs the UE to simply report the SSB for a particular resource setting, the UE may determine the activation condition based solely on the SSB. In other words, the activation condition being evaluated may be based on a configured reporting quantity, such as SSB-RSRP or CSI-RS-RSRP. Other quantities per reference signal type, such as RSRP or SINR, are not excluded.As an alternative example, the network (e.g., gNB) can activate non-serving cell BM reporting once the UE's instructions regarding pre-configured reporting conditions are met.

[0028] According to one embodiment, there may be a dynamic reporting format in which the UE generates a combined serving cell beam report and a non-serving cell beam report, in which case the report may include at least one non-serving cell beam index and quality. For example, if the UE is configured to report the best beams up to N=4 in a given reporting instance (in terms of reporting volume, RSRP / RSRQ) and receives a network instruction to report non-serving cell beams, the UE may decide to modify at least one of the configured reporting settings (which may be serving cell BM reporting settings) so that up to N=2 are reported for serving cells and up to N=2 for associated non-serving cell resource settings according to the reporting settings. This can be scaled, for example, to N=2 for serving cells and N=1 per non-serving cell (up to 2 cells or 2 reporting settings for the same or different cells). This association can be made by linking a reporting setting to multiple resource settings (serving and non-serving cells, as illustrated in the example in Figure 4). More specifically, Figure 4 illustrates an example where two resource settings are linked to a single reporting setting ID. In some embodiments, the network may configure when this reporting is active, or the UE may instruct when to report using this setting.

[0029] In some embodiments, non-serving cells may include one or more cells from a set of cells pre-configured for beam management signaling-based reporting, a pre-configured cell for conditional handover (CHO), and / or one or more of any up to N cells detected by the UE.

[0030] In some embodiments, instructions or fields for configuring UE measurement and / or reporting may be included in the RRC setting (e.g., in an information element) to indicate that a resource setting associated with a reporting setting corresponds to a resource in another cell / non-serving cell / TRP. The fields may include one or more of the following: PCI (Physical Cell ID), any identifier that identifies the cell, a logical cell index, a logical index for a non-serving cell, a TRP index, and / or a BWP identifier. The fields may be included in the CSI-ResourceConfig, or in the csi-RS-ResourceSetList, or in individual CSI-RS / SSB resources in the resource list. The fields may also be included in the reporting setting (associated with the resource setting) alternatively or additionally. Based on the information provided for resource configuration and / or reporting settings, the UE may determine at least one of the following: measure and report neighboring cell (or non-serving cell / PCI / TRP, etc.) resources using beam management procedures; determine whether specific or all reporting settings should be activated; or determine whether to trigger a signal to the network indicating that specific or all reporting settings should be activated (or whether the activation conditions are met).

[0031] According to one embodiment, activating BM reporting may be triggered by another event, or by a combination of other triggers, or not (e.g., threshold-based and / or association with a specific DL signal). For example, one or more events may include when at least one beam fault instance / radio link monitoring (RLM) out-of-sync metric was provided to the upper layer by L1 (or counted by L2).

[0032] In one embodiment, if the UE determines that it is necessary to activate a BM reporting setting on a non-serving cell, the activation of a particular reporting setting may be further associated with a specific downlink reference signal of the serving cell. In other words, if a reporting setting is activated based on trigger conditions (such as cell / signal quality), the UE may further consider additional conditions on which the setting is activated based on serving cell conditions. For example, the serving cell conditions may include one of the following: an active TCI state for a PDCCH / PDSCH, an active TCI state for a PDCCH / PDSCH for a minimum / maximum control resource set (CORESET) ID, and / or a QCL source RS (CSI-RS / SSB). In one example, if the activation is based on a TCI state, the UE may consider only the activated TCI state for, for example, CORESET#0. Alternatively, the UE may consider a minimum CORESET ID other than, for example, CORESET#0. Specific non-serving cell beam reporting or simply beam reporting settings may be activated based on active TCI states, for example, when a reporting setting is configured by the network, it may be associated with a specific set of TCI states (the association may be signaled within the reporting setting).

[0033] In one embodiment, upon receiving an activation command from the network, the UE may determine which reporting settings are active. For example, the reporting activation command may be signaled using RRC, MAC CE, or Downlink Control Information (DCI). According to one embodiment, the network may signal the UE to activate a specific reporting setting or all of them. In one option, if the network signals an activation command, the network may prompt the UE to provide information, for example, which reporting settings are "enabled," which may be based on any of the conditions described herein, to indicate to the network which reporting settings are enabled. In some examples, enabled may mean providing information about reporting settings that have beam measurements above a quality threshold.

[0034] In the exemplary embodiment, the UE can be configured to report information about the TRS / CSI-RS of SCell candidates based on IDLE mode measurements, for example, when returning to / entering (RRC)CONNECTED mode. The UE may be indicated / informed by the network of potential occasions on which the network may transmit TRS / CSI-RS for connected mode users, and this information may be used by the IDLE mode UE. The IDLE mode UE may use the TRS occasions to conveniently measure the TRS, and may use the measurements for reporting purposes when entering CONNCETED mode, and may use the measurements when selecting random access resources (i.e., the TRS / CSI-RS is set on the QCL source RS, which is an SSB, and the RA resource may be associated with the SSB signal). In a further example, in random access resource selection, the UE may use the quality of one or more TRS signals to determine whether a particular SSB is considered to exceed a threshold quality level and should be considered in RA selection. In one option, when determining RA resources, the UE may prefer SSBs on which it has measured TRS (having reasonable quality / exceeding a quality threshold). The UE may report the measurement results (e.g., RSRP) and / or resource index based on all or a subset of the measured (and detected) TRS / CSI-RS resources from the selected SCell candidates, as indicated by notification signaling (e.g., in the SIB), or the UE may report the TRS for the selected cells or for the cells in which the UE initiated the RACH. The reported resources may be further selected or limited based on a set number (e.g., highest quality) or an excess threshold (e.g., for the TRS / CSI-RS resource RSRP or corresponding SSB). Reporting of TRS / CSI-RS may occur during msg.3 of the RACH procedure (or msg.A of a two-step RACH) or during / after RRC signaling in the RA procedure.

[0035] Figure 5a illustrates an illustrative flowchart of a method for BM reporting according to one exemplary embodiment. In the exemplary embodiment, the flowchart in Figure 5a may be implemented by network entities or network nodes associated with a communication system such as LTE or 5G NR. For example, in some exemplary embodiments, the network nodes implementing the method in Figure 5a may include base stations, eNBs, gNBs, and / or NG-RAN nodes.

[0036] As illustrated in the example in Figure 5a, the method may include receiving instructions in 500 from one or more UEs requesting the activation of one or more reporting settings. In one embodiment, receiving 500 may further include receiving instructions that reporting conditions and / or criteria for at least one non-serving cell BM reporting have been met. In the exemplary embodiment, instructions may be received if the UE has decided to activate a BM reporting setting. In one example, the serving cell reporting setting may be pre-configured in the UE. In certain embodiments, receiving 500 may include receiving instructions via a dedicated RACH preamble, a dedicated SR, a normal SR, a MAC CE, and / or PUCCH / PUSCH. According to some embodiments, receiving 500 may also be initiated if the UE has decided to activate BM reporting and has determined that the current signaling resources are insufficient to carry the information, such as having insufficient PUSCH resources allocated.

[0037] In one embodiment, receiving 500 may include receiving instructions on which cells the reporting conditions are met (PCI / logical cell index for a pair of cells) and / or which reporting setting should be activated (setting ID corresponding to a non-serving cell). Additionally, in one embodiment, receiving 500 may include receiving instructions that the UE has detected, in any combination or individually, the following: a non-serving cell with quality above a threshold level or a serving cell below a threshold level, or one or more resources associated with a particular reporting setting (which may be associated with a particular cell or TRP) having a quality level above a threshold level. The threshold level may be a quality / quantity threshold such as RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, SSB-RSRP, CSI-RS-RSRP. The threshold may be for a pair of individual beams (DL RS) or for cell quality. In certain embodiments, these beams may be associated with a configured reporting configuration (resource set) or simply with a candidate set of cells (for example, the UE only reports the SSB index), or, in one example, with any cell detected by the UE. In one example, the indication may be, for example, a 1-bit index in the report format.

[0038] In one embodiment, the method of Figure 5a may also include activating a non-serving cell BM reporting setting in 510. In some embodiments, the non-serving cell may include one or more cells from a set of cells pre-configured for beam management signaling-based reporting, cells pre-configured for conditional handover (CHO), and / or any up to N cells detected by the UE. In one embodiment, the method may also include determining or deciding in 520 which of the BM reporting settings the UE should activate, and in 530 signaling the BM reporting setting that has been determined to be activated to the UE.

[0039] In one embodiment, the UE may activate non-serving cell BM reporting if it determines that the quality of a serving cell falls below a threshold in the network configuration. For example, in this embodiment, signaling 530 may include configuring the UE with a new threshold such as Non-Serving-Cell-BM-Reporting-Threshold(Threshold_BMReporting). Alternatively or additionally, in one embodiment, signaling 530 may include configuring the UE to use a threshold set by s-MeasureConfig to determine when to activate BM reporting. Alternatively or additionally, in one embodiment, a specific neighbor cell beam threshold may be used for each BM reporting configuration if, for example, at least one of the RSs enumerated in csi-RS-ResourceSetList exceeds a threshold. In one embodiment, when the UE's instructions for a pre-configured reporting condition are met, activating 510 may include achieving the activation of non-serving cell BM reporting.

[0040] In one embodiment, the method may also include receiving a BM report from the UE in accordance with the BM reporting settings at 540. According to one embodiment, receiving at 540 may include receiving a dynamic report in which the UE generates a combined serving cell beam report and a non-serving cell beam report, in which case the report may include at least one non-serving cell beam index and quality. For example, if the UE is configured to report the best beams up to N=4 in a certain reporting instance and is instructed to report non-serving cell beams, the UE may decide to change the serving cell reporting settings so that up to N=2 are reported for serving cells and up to N=2 are reported for associated non-serving cell resource settings. In one embodiment, the association may be made by linking the reporting settings to multiple resource settings (serving cells and non-serving cells). In some embodiments, the method may include setting when this dynamic reporting is active and instructing the UE to use this setting to report.

[0041] According to one embodiment, activating BM reporting 510 may be triggered by another event, or may be accompanied by a combination of other triggers (e.g., threshold-based and / or association with a specific DL signal). For example, one or more events may include when at least one beam fault instance / radio link monitoring (RLM) out-of-sync metric was provided to the upper layer by L1 (or counted by L2).

[0042] In some embodiments, signaling 530 may include sending a reporting activation command using, for example, RRC, MAC CE, or DCI. According to one embodiment, the reporting activation command may signal the UE to activate a specific reporting setting or all of them. In one embodiment, the signaling of the activation command may cause the UE to provide information, for example, which of the reporting settings are “enabled,” which may be based on any of the conditions described herein, and can indicate an enabled reporting setting. In some embodiments, the effectiveness index may provide information about reporting settings that have beam measurements above a quality threshold.

[0043] In the exemplary embodiment, the method may include configuring the UE to report information about the SCell candidate's TRS / CSI-RS based on the IDLE mode measurement when returning to, for example, CONNECTED mode. This may include reporting the measurement results (e.g., RSRP) and / or resource index based on all or a subset of the measured (and detected) TRS / CSI-RS resources informed in the notification from the selected SCell candidate. The reported resources may be further selected or limited based on a set number (e.g., highest quality) or an excess threshold (e.g., TRS / CSI-RS resource RSRP or corresponding SSB).

[0044] Figure 5b illustrates an illustrative flowchart of a method for BM reporting according to one exemplary embodiment. In a particular exemplary embodiment, the flowchart in Figure 5b may be implemented by a network entity or network node associated with a communication system such as LTE or 5G NR. For example, in some exemplary embodiments, the network entity implementing the method in Figure 5b may include an UE, a mobile station, a mobile device, an IoT device, and the like.

[0045] In one embodiment, the method in Figure 5b may include determining in 550 whether one or more reporting settings should or need to be activated. According to one embodiment, the method may also include providing a signal in 555 to the network requesting the activation of a reporting setting. In one embodiment, providing 555 may include signaling the network to indicate that it has been determined that reporting conditions and / or criteria for at least one non-serving cell BM reporting have been met. For example, in one embodiment, providing 555 may be triggered when it is determined that a BM reporting setting should be activated. In one example, the serving cell reporting settings may be pre-configured. In a particular embodiment, providing 555 may include one or more of a dedicated RACH preamble, a dedicated SR, a normal SR, a MAC CE, and / or PUCCH / PUSCH. In some embodiments, specific UL signals (such as RACH preambles (CFRA / CBRA), dedicated SRs for reporting settings, normal SRs, dedicated SRs, sounding reference signals (SRS), etc.) may be specifically associated with one or more reporting settings (e.g., specific to reporting settings for a particular cell, TRP, etc.). In one example, a signal or any instruction may correspond to one, more, or all non-serving cell reporting settings. Based on the decision of which setting to activate, the UE may trigger uplink signaling based on the configured associations. In some cases, the UE may decide which setting to activate based on RRC level events (e.g., based on cell quality measurements as described herein and configured events, if any), and may decide to trigger an instruction using a UL signal or a UL message as described in various embodiments.According to some embodiments, providing 555 may also be initiated when the UE determines that it wants to activate BM reporting and that the current signaling resources are insufficient to carry the information, for example, when insufficient PUSCH resources are allocated by the network.

[0046] In one embodiment, providing 555 may include providing instructions on which cells the reporting conditions are met (PCI / logical cell indices for a set of cells) and / or which reporting settings should be activated (setting IDs corresponding to non-serving cells). Furthermore, in one embodiment, providing 555 may include providing instructions that the UE has detected one or more beams of non-serving cells with signal quality above a threshold level in a serving cell beam report, e.g., an L1 / L2 beam report (RSRP / RSRQ / SINR). In a particular embodiment, these beams may be associated with a configured reporting setting (resource set) or simply a candidate set of cells (e.g., the UE only reports SSB indices), or, in one example, with any cell detected by the UE. In one example, the instructions may be, for example, a 1-bit indicator in the report format.

[0047] According to one embodiment, the method in Figure 5b may also include, in 560, receiving instructions to activate at least one BM reporting setting, and in 570, performing BM reporting according to the activated at least one BM reporting setting. In one embodiment, performing 570 may also include, if the UE determines that the quality of the serving cell falls below a threshold in the network setting, performing non-serving cell BM reporting. For example, the network may configure the UE with a new threshold such as Non-Serving-Cell-BM-Reporting-Threshold(Threshold_BMReporting). Alternatively or additionally, the UE may be configured to use or use a threshold configured by s-MeasureConfig to determine when to activate BM reporting. Alternatively or additionally, a specific neighbor cell beam threshold may be used for each of the BM reporting settings, for example, if at least one of the RSs enumerated in csi-RS-ResourceSetList exceeds a threshold. In one alternative example, receiving 560 when the UE's instructions for pre-configured reporting conditions are met may include receiving the activation of non-serving cell BM reporting.

[0048] According to one embodiment, the method may also include, in 580, sending at least one BM report to the network according to the activated BM reporting settings. In one embodiment, sending 580 may include providing a dynamic report generated using a combined serving cell beam report and a non-serving cell beam report, in which case the report may include at least one non-serving cell beam index and quality. For example, if a UE is configured to report the best beams up to N=4 in a reporting instance and receives a network instruction to report non-serving cell beams, the UE may decide to change the serving cell reporting settings so that up to N=2 are reported for serving cells and up to N=2 for associated non-serving cell resource settings. This may be scaled, for example, to N=2 for serving cells and N=1 per non-serving cell (up to 2 cells). This association can be made by linking the reporting settings to multiple resource settings (serving cells and non-serving cells). In some embodiments, the method may include instructing the network when to use this setting to perform reporting.

[0049] According to one embodiment, determining whether the BM reporting setting should be activated 550 may be triggered by another event, or by a combination of other triggers (e.g., threshold-based and / or association with a specific DL signal). For example, one or more events may include when at least one beam fault instance / radio link monitoring (RLM) out-of-sync metric was provided to the upper layer by L1 (or counted by L2).

[0050] In one embodiment, when it is determined that a BM reporting setting for a non-serving cell should be activated, a specific reporting setting may be activated, in which case this specific reporting setting may be further associated with a specific downlink reference signal of the serving cell. For example, if a reporting setting is activated based on a trigger condition, it may be determined which setting is activated based on a serving cell condition. For example, the serving cell condition may include one of the following: an active TCI state for PDCCH / PDSCH, an active TCI state for PDCCH / PDSCH for the lowest / highest control resource set (CORESET) ID, and / or a QCL source RS (CSI-RS / SSB). A specific non-serving cell reporting setting may be activated based on an active TCI state, and for example, when a reporting setting is set by the network, it may be associated with a specific set of TCI states (the association may be signaled within the reporting setting).

[0051] In one embodiment, the method may include determining which reporting settings are active upon receiving an activation command from the network. For example, the reporting activation command may be signaled using RRC, MAC CE, or Downlink Control Information (DCI). According to one embodiment, the network may signal to the UE to activate a particular reporting setting or all of them. In one option, if the network signals an activation command, the method may further include providing information, such as information on which reporting settings are “enabled,” which may be based on any of the conditions described herein, to indicate to the network which reporting settings are enabled. In some examples, enabled may refer to providing information about reporting settings that have beam measurements above a quality threshold.

[0052] In the exemplary embodiment, the method may include reporting information about the SCell candidate's TRS / CSI-RS to the network based on the IDLE mode measurements, for example, when returning to CONNECTED mode. This may include reporting the measurement results (e.g., RSRP) and / or resource index based on all or a subset of the measured (and detected) TRS / CSI-RS resources informed in the notification from the selected SCell candidate. The reported resources may be further selected or limited based on a set (highest quality) number or an excess threshold (e.g., TRS / CSI-RS resource RSRP or corresponding SSB).

[0053] Figure 6a illustrates an example of the device 10 according to an embodiment. In one embodiment, the device 10 may be a node, host, or server in or serving a communication network. For example, the device 10 may be a satellite, base station, node B, evolved node B (eNB), 5G node B, or access point, next-generation node B (NG-NB or gNB), and / or WLAN access point, and may be associated with a radio access network such as an LTE network, 5G, or NR. In the exemplary embodiment, the device 10 may be or include an NG-RAN node, an LTE eNB, a 5G gNB, etc.

[0054] It should be understood that in some exemplary embodiments, the device 10 may be a standalone device in which the server and wireless nodes communicate with each other via a wireless path or via a wired connection, or it may be configured as an edge cloud server as a distributed computing system located in the same entity in which the server and wireless nodes communicate via a wired connection. For example, in an exemplary embodiment in which the device 10 represents a gNB, it may be configured as a central unit (CU) and distributed unit (DU) architecture that partitions the gNB functionality. In such an architecture, the CU may be a logical node that includes gNB functions such as user data transfer, mobility control, wireless access network sharing, positioning, and / or session management. The CU may control the operation of the DU over a fronthaul interface. The DU may be a logical node that includes a subset of gNB functions, depending on the functional partitioning choice. It should be noted that those skilled in the art will understand that the device 10 may include components or features not shown in Figure 6a.

[0055] As shown in the example in Figure 6a, the device 10 may include a processor 12 for processing information and executing instructions or operations. The processor 12 may be any type of general-purpose or special-purpose processor. In fact, examples of processors 12 include one or more of general-purpose computers, special-purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and processors based on multicore processor architectures. Although Figure 6a shows a single processor 12, multiple processors may be used according to other exemplary embodiments. For example, in certain embodiments, the device 10 may include two or more processors that can form a multiprocessor system capable of supporting multiprocessing (for example, in this case, processor 12 may represent a multiprocessor). In some embodiments, the multiprocessor system may be tightly coupled (for example, to form a computer cluster) or loosely coupled.

[0056] The processor 12 may perform functions associated with the operation of the device 10, such as precoding antenna gain / phase parameters, encoding and decoding individual bits that form communication messages, formatting information, and overall control of the device 10, and includes processes related to the management of communication resources.

[0057] The device 10 may further include (internal or external) memory 14, or may be coupled to memory 14, which may be coupled to a processor 12 for storing information and instructions that can be executed by the processor 12. Memory 14 may be one or more memories of any type appropriate for the local application environment and may be implemented using any appropriate volatile or non-volatile data storage technology such as semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory, and / or removable memory. For example, memory 14 can consist of random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), static storage devices such as magnetic or optical disks, hard disk drives (HDDs), or any other type of non-temporary machine-readable or computer-readable media in any combination. Instructions stored in memory 14 may include program instructions or computer program code that, when executed by the processor 12, cause the device 10 to perform the tasks described herein.

[0058] In one embodiment, the device 10 may further include, or be coupled to, (internal or external) drives or ports configured to accept and read external computer-readable storage media, such as optical discs, USB drives, flash drives, or any other storage media. For example, the external computer-readable storage media may store computer programs or software for execution by the processor 12 and / or the device 10.

[0059] In some embodiments, the device 10 may also include, or be coupled to, one or more antennas 15 for sending and receiving signals and / or data to and from the device 10. The device 10 may further include, or be coupled to, a transceiver 18 configured to send and receive information. The transceiver 18 may include, for example, a plurality of radio interfaces that can be coupled to the antennas 15. In certain embodiments, the radio interface may support a plurality of radio access technologies, including one or more of GSM, NB-IoT, LTE, 5G, WLAN, Bluetooth, BT-LE, NFC, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Ultra Wideband (UWB), MulteFire, etc. According to exemplary embodiments, the radio interface may include components such as filters, converters (e.g., digital-to-analog converters), mappers, and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) modules for generating symbols for transmission, for example, over one or more downlinks, and for receiving symbols (e.g., over uplinks).

[0060] Therefore, the transceiver 18 may be configured to modulate information into a carrier waveform for transmission by the antenna 15 for further processing by other elements of the device 10, and to demodulate the information received via the antenna 15. In other exemplary embodiments, the transceiver 18 may be capable of directly transmitting and receiving signals or data. Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, the device 10 may include input and / or output devices (I / O devices).

[0061] In one embodiment, memory 14 may store software modules that, when executed by processor 12, provide functionality. These modules may include, for example, an operating system that provides operating system functionality for device 10. Memory may also store one or more functional modules, such as applications or programs, to provide additional functionality for device 10. The components of device 10 may be implemented in hardware or as any suitable combination of hardware and software.

[0062] According to some embodiments, the processor 12 and memory 14 may be included in or form part of a processing circuit or control circuit. In addition, in some embodiments, the transceiver 18 may be included in or form part of a transceiver circuit.

[0063] As used herein, the term “circuit” may refer to hardware-only circuit implementations (e.g., analog and / or digital circuits), combinations of hardware circuits and software, combinations of analog and / or digital hardware circuits and software / firmware, any part of a hardware processor with software (including digital signal processors) that works together to cause a device (e.g., device 10) to perform various functions, and / or hardware circuits and / or processors, or parts thereof, that use software for operation, but the software may not be present if it is not required for operation. As a further example, as used herein, the term “circuit” also covers implementations of a mere hardware circuit or processor (or more processors), or a part of a hardware circuit or processor and its accompanying software and / or firmware. The term “circuit” may also cover, for example, baseband integrated circuits in a server, cellular network node or device, or other computing or network device.

[0064] As described above, in certain embodiments, the device 10 may be a network node or RAN node, such as a base station, access point, node B, eNB, gNB, or WLAN access point. For example, in some embodiments, the device 10 may be configured to perform one or more processes depicted in either a flowchart or signaling diagram described herein, such as the process illustrated in Figure 5a or Figure 5b. In some embodiments, as discussed herein, the device 10 may be configured to perform procedures related to BM reporting, for example, in L1 / L2 centric mobility.

[0065] In one embodiment, the device 10 may be controlled by memory 14 and processor 12 to receive instructions from one or more UEs and request the activation of one or more reporting settings. For example, in one embodiment, the device 10 may be controlled by memory 14 and processor 12 to receive an instruction that reporting conditions and / or criteria for at least one non-serving cell BM reporting have been met. In an exemplary embodiment, an instruction may be received if the UE has decided to activate a BM reporting setting. In one example, the serving cell reporting setting may be pre-configured by the UE. In certain embodiments, the device 10 may be controlled by memory 14 and processor 12 to receive instructions via a dedicated RACH preamble, a dedicated SR signal, a normal SR, a MAC CE, and / or PUCCH / PUSCH. According to some embodiments, the reception of instructions may also be initiated if the UE has decided to activate BM reporting and has determined that the current signaling resources are insufficient to carry the information, such as because insufficient PUSCH resources have been allocated.

[0066] In one embodiment, the device 10 may be controlled by memory 14 and processor 12 to receive instructions on which cells meet reporting conditions (PCI / logical cell indices for a set of cells) and / or which reporting settings should be activated (setting IDs corresponding to non-serving cells). Additionally, in one embodiment, the device 10 may be controlled by memory 14 and processor 12 to receive instructions that the UE has detected non-serving cell (or cell) beams that exceed a quality threshold in a UE reporting serving cell beams, for example, in an L1 / L2 beam report. In certain embodiments, these beams may be associated with a configured reporting setting (resource set) or simply a candidate set of cells (e.g., the UE only reports SSB indices), or, in one example, with any cell detected by the UE. In one example, the instructions may be, for example, a 1-bit index in the report format.

[0067] In one embodiment, the device 10 may be controlled by memory 14 and processor 12 to activate non-serving cell BM reporting settings. In some embodiments, non-serving cells may include one or more cells from a set of cells pre-configured for beam management signaling-based reporting, cells pre-configured for conditional handover (CHO), and / or any up to N cells detected by the UE. In one embodiment, the device 10 may be controlled by memory 14 and processor 12 to determine or decide which of the BM reporting settings the UE should activate and signal the UE which BM reporting setting has been determined to be activated.

[0068] In one embodiment, the UE may activate non-serving cell BM reporting if it determines that the quality of a serving cell falls below a threshold in the network configuration. For example, in this embodiment, the device 10 may be controlled by the memory 14 and the processor 12 to configure the UE with a new threshold such as Non-Serving-Cell-BM-Reporting-Threshold (Threshold_BMReporting). Alternatively or additionally, in one embodiment, the device 10 may be controlled by the memory 14 and the processor 12 to configure the UE to use a threshold set by s-MeasureConfig to determine when to activate BM reporting. Alternatively or additionally, in one embodiment, a specific neighbor cell beam threshold may be used for each BM reporting configuration if, for example, at least one of the RSs enumerated in csi-RS-ResourceSetList exceeds a threshold. In one embodiment, the device 10 may be controlled by the memory 14 and the processor 12 to activate non-serving cell BM reporting when the UE's instructions for a pre-configured reporting condition are met.

[0069] In one embodiment, the device 10 may be controlled by memory 14 and processor 12 to receive at least one BM report from the UE according to the BM reporting settings. According to one embodiment, the device 10 may be controlled by memory 14 and processor 12 to receive a dynamic report from the UE which generates a combined serving cell beam report and a non-serving cell beam report, in which case the report may include at least one non-serving cell beam index and quality. For example, if the UE is configured to report the best beams up to N=4 in a reporting instance and is instructed to report non-serving cell beams, the UE may decide to change the serving cell reporting settings so that up to N=2 are reported for serving cells and up to N=2 are reported for associated non-serving cell resource settings. In one embodiment, the association can be made by linking the reporting settings to a plurality of resource settings (serving cells and non-serving cells). In some embodiments, the device 10 may be controlled by memory 14 and processor 12 to set when this dynamic reporting is active, or it may receive instructions from the UE to use this setting to report.

[0070] According to one embodiment, the activation of BM reporting may be triggered by another event, or may be accompanied by or accompanied by a combination of other triggers (e.g., threshold-based and / or association with a specific DL signal). For example, one or more events may include when at least one beam fault instance / radio link monitoring (RLM) out-of-sync metric was provided to the upper layer by L1 (or counted by L2).

[0071] In one embodiment, the device 10 may be controlled by memory 14 and processor 12 to send reporting activation commands using, for example, RRC, MAC CE, or DCI. According to one embodiment, the reporting activation command may signal the UE to activate a specific reporting setting or all of them. In one embodiment, the signaling of the activation command may cause the UE to provide information, for example, which of the reporting settings are "enabled," which may be based on any of the conditions described herein, and which reporting settings are enabled. In some embodiments, the effectiveness index may provide information about reporting settings that have beam measurements above a quality threshold.

[0072] In the exemplary embodiment, the device 10 is controlled by memory 14 and processor 12 and may be configured to report information about the TRS / CSI-RS of the SCell candidate based on the IDLE mode measurements when returning to, for example, CONNECTED mode. This may include reporting the measurement results (e.g., RSRP) and / or resource index based on all or a subset of the measured (and detected) TRS / CSI-RS resources informed in the notification from the selected SCell candidate. The reported resources may be further selected or limited based on a set number (e.g., highest quality) or an excess threshold (e.g., TRS / CSI-RS resource RSRP or corresponding SSB).

[0073] Figure 6b illustrates an example of the apparatus 20 according to another embodiment. In one embodiment, the apparatus 20 may be a node or element in a communication network, or may be associated with such a network, and may be, for example, a UE, a mobile device (ME), a mobile station, a mobile device, a stationary device, an IoT device, or other device. As described herein, the UE may be alternatively referred to as, for example, a mobile station, a mobile device, a mobile unit, a mobile device, a user device, a subscriber terminal, a wireless terminal, a tablet, a smartphone, an IoT device, a sensor, or an NB-IoT device. As an example, the apparatus 20 may be implemented in, for example, a wireless handheld device, a wireless plug-in accessory, etc.

[0074] In some exemplary embodiments, the device 20 may include one or more processors, one or more computer-readable storage media (e.g., memory, storage devices, etc.), one or more radio access components (e.g., modems, transceivers, etc.), and / or a user interface. In some embodiments, the device 20 may be configured to operate using one or more radio access technologies, such as GSM, LTE, LTE-A, NR, 5G, WLAN, WiFi, NB-IoT, Bluetooth, NFC, MultiFire, and / or any other radio access technologies. It should be noted that those skilled in the art will understand that the device 20 may include components or features not shown in Figure 6b.

[0075] As shown in the example in Figure 6b, the device 20 may include, or be coupled to, a processor 22 for processing information and executing instructions or operations. The processor 22 may be any type of general-purpose or special-purpose processor. In fact, examples of processors 22 include one or more of general-purpose computers, special-purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and processors based on multicore processor architectures. Although Figure 6b shows a single processor 22, multiple processors may be used according to other exemplary embodiments. For example, it should be understood that in certain embodiments, the device 20 may include two or more processors that can form a multiprocessor system capable of supporting multiprocessing (for example, in this case, the processor 22 may represent a multiprocessor). In some embodiments, the multiprocessor system may be tightly coupled (for example, to form a computer cluster) or loosely coupled.

[0076] The processor 22 may perform functions associated with the operation of the device 20, some non-limiting examples of which include precoding antenna gain / phase parameters, encoding and decoding individual bits that form communication messages, formatting information, and overall control of the device 20, as well as processes related to managing communication resources.

[0077] The device 20 may further include (internal or external) memory 24, or may be coupled to memory 24, which may be coupled to a processor 22 for storing information and instructions that can be executed by the processor 22. Memory 24 may be one or more memories of any type appropriate for the local application environment and may be implemented using any appropriate volatile or non-volatile data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory, and / or removable memory. For example, memory 24 can consist of random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), static storage devices such as magnetic or optical disks, hard disk drives (HDDs), or any other type of non-temporary machine-readable or computer-readable media in any combination. Instructions stored in memory 24 may include program instructions or computer program code that, when executed by the processor 22, cause the device 20 to perform the tasks described herein.

[0078] In one embodiment, the device 20 may further include, or be coupled to, (internal or external) drives or ports configured to accept and read external computer-readable storage media, such as optical discs, USB drives, flash drives, or any other storage media. For example, the external computer-readable storage media may store computer programs or software for execution by the processor 22 and / or the device 20.

[0079] In some embodiments, the device 20 may also include, or be coupled to, one or more antennas 25 for receiving downlink signals and / or transmitting from the device 20 over the uplink. According to a particular embodiment, the device 20 may further include a transceiver 28 configured to send and receive information. In one example, the transceiver 28 may also include a radio interface (e.g., a modem) coupled to the antenna 25. In some embodiments, the radio interface may support multiple radio access technologies, including one or more of GSM, LTE, LTE-A, 5G, NR, WLAN, NB-IoT, Bluetooth, BT-LE, NFC, RFID, UWB, etc. In further exemplary embodiments, the radio interface may include other components such as filters, converters (e.g., digital-to-analog converters), symbol demappers, signal shaping components, and inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) modules for processing symbols such as OFDMA symbols carried over the downlink or uplink.

[0080] For example, the transceiver 28 may be configured to modulate information into a carrier waveform for transmission by the antenna 25 for further processing by other elements of the device 20, and to demodulate the information received via the antenna 25. In other exemplary embodiments, the transceiver 28 may be capable of directly transmitting and receiving signals or data. Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, the device 20 may include input and / or output devices (I / O devices). In certain embodiments, the device 20 may further include a user interface, such as a graphical user interface or a touchscreen.

[0081] In one embodiment, memory 24 stores software modules that, when executed by processor 22, provide functionality. These modules may include, for example, an operating system that provides operating system functionality for the device 20. Memory may also store one or more functional modules, such as applications or programs, to provide additional functionality for the device 20. The components of the device 20 may be implemented in hardware or as any suitable combination of hardware and software. According to the exemplary embodiment, the device 20 may optionally be configured to communicate with the device 10 via a wireless or wired communication link 70, according to any wireless access technology such as NR.

[0082] According to some embodiments, the processor 22 and / or memory 24 may be included in or form part of a processing circuit or control circuit. In addition, in some embodiments, the transceiver 28 may be included in or form part of a transceiver circuit.

[0083] As discussed above, according to some embodiments, the device 20 may be, for example, a UE, a mobile device, a mobile station, an ME, an IoT device, and / or an NB-IoT device. According to certain embodiments, the device 20 may be controlled by memory 24 and a processor 22 to perform functions associated with the exemplary embodiments described herein. For example, in some embodiments, the device 20 may be configured to perform one or more processes depicted in either a flowchart or signaling diagram described herein, such as the process illustrated in Figure 5a or Figure 5b. In certain embodiments, the device 20 may include or represent a UE, and may also be configured to perform procedures relating to BM reporting, for example, in L1 / L2 centric mobility.

[0084] In certain embodiments, the device 20 may be controlled by memory 24 and processor 22 to determine whether or not a reporting setting should be activated. In some embodiments, the device 20 may be controlled by memory 24 and processor 22 to provide a signal to the network requesting the activation of the reporting setting. For example, in some embodiments, the device 20 may be controlled by memory 24 and processor 22 to signal or transmit a signal to the network to indicate that it has been determined that reporting conditions and / or criteria for at least one non-serving cell BM reporting have been met. For example, in one embodiment, providing a signal may be triggered when the device 20 determines that it should activate the BM reporting setting. In one example, the serving cell reporting setting may be pre-configured. In certain embodiments, providing a signal may be done via one or more of a dedicated RACH preamble, a dedicated SR signal, a normal SR, a MAC CE, and / or PUCCH / PUSCH. According to some embodiments, providing instructions may also be initiated when the device 20 determines that it wants to activate BM reporting and that the current signaling resources are insufficient to carry the information, for example, when insufficient PUSCH resources are allocated by the network.

[0085] In one embodiment, the instruction to the network may include instructions for which cells the reporting conditions are met (a PCI / logical cell index for a set of cells) and / or which reporting setting should be activated (a setting ID corresponding to a non-serving cell). Furthermore, in one embodiment, the instruction may include, in a report where the device 20 reports serving cell beams, e.g., an L1 / L2 beam report, that the device 20 has detected one or more beams of non-serving cells (or simply cells with one or more beams exceeding the quality threshold). The quality threshold may be an RSRP / RSRQ threshold and may be set by the network. In certain embodiments, these beams may be associated with a set reporting setting (resource set) or simply a candidate set of cells (e.g., the UE only reports an SSB index), or, in one example, with any cell detected by the device 20. In one example, the instruction may be, for example, a 1-bit index in the report format.

[0086] According to one embodiment, the device 20 may be controlled by memory 24 and processor 22 to receive instructions to activate at least one BM reporting setting and perform BM reporting according to the activated BM setting. In one embodiment, the device 20 may be controlled by memory 24 and processor 22 to perform non-serving cell BM reporting if the device 20 determines that the quality of the serving cell falls below a threshold in the network setting. For example, the network may configure the device 20 with a new threshold such as Non-Serving-Cell-BM-Reporting-Threshold(Threshold_BMReporting). Alternatively or additionally, the device 20 may be configured to use a threshold set by s-MeasureConfig to determine when to activate BM reporting. Alternatively or additionally, a specific neighbor cell beam threshold may be used for each of the BM reporting settings, for example, if at least one of the RSs enumerated in csi-RS-ResourceSetList exceeds a threshold. In one alternative example, the device 20 may be controlled by memory 24 and processor 22 to receive activation of non-serving cell BM reporting when, for example, instructions for the device 20 regarding pre-configured reporting conditions are met.

[0087] In one embodiment, the device 20 may be controlled by memory 24 and processor 22 to provide or transmit to the network at least one BM report according to the activated BM reporting settings. According to one embodiment, the device 20 may be controlled by memory 24 and processor 22 to provide a dynamic report generated using a combined serving cell beam report and a non-serving cell beam report, in which case the report may include at least one non-serving cell beam index and quality. For example, if the device 20 is configured to report the best beams up to N=4 in a reporting instance and receives a network instruction to report non-serving cell beams, the device 20 may decide to change the serving cell reporting settings so that up to N=2 are reported for serving cells and up to N=2 for the associated non-serving cell resource settings. This may be scaled, for example, to N=2 for serving cells and N=1 per non-serving cell (up to 2 cells). This association can be achieved by linking the reporting settings to multiple resource settings (serving cells and non-serving cells). In some embodiments, the device 20 may be controlled by memory 24 and processor 22 to instruct the network when to use this setting to perform reporting.

[0088] According to one embodiment, the decision that the BM reporting setting should be activated may be triggered by another event, or by a combination of other triggers, or not (e.g., threshold-based and / or association with a specific DL signal). For example, one or more events may include when at least one beam fault instance / radio link monitoring (RLM) out-of-sync metric was provided to the upper layer by L1 (or counted by L2).

[0089] In one embodiment, if it is determined that a BM reporting setting for a non-serving cell should be activated, the device 20 may, controlled by memory 24 and processor 22, activate a specific reporting setting that may be further associated with a specific downlink reference signal of the serving cell. For example, if a reporting setting is activated based on a trigger condition, it may be determined which setting is activated based on a serving cell condition. For example, the serving cell condition may include one of the following: an active TCI state for PDCCH / PDSCH, an active TCI state for PDCCH / PDSCH for the lowest / highest control resource set (CORESET) ID, and / or a QCL source RS (CSI-RS / SSB). A specific non-serving cell reporting setting may also be activated based on an active TCI state, for example, when a reporting setting is set by the network, it may be associated with a specific set of TCI states (the association may be signaled within the reporting setting).

[0090] In one embodiment, the device 20, controlled by memory 24 and processor 22, may determine which reporting settings are active upon receiving an activation command from the network. For example, the reporting activation command may be signaled using RRC, MAC CE, or downlink control information (DCI). According to one embodiment, the network may signal the device 20 to activate a specific reporting setting or all of them. In one option, if the network signals an activation command, the device 20, controlled by memory 24 and processor 22, may provide information such as which reporting settings are "enabled," which may be based on any of the conditions described herein, to indicate the enabled reporting settings to the network. In some examples, enabled may refer to providing information about reporting settings that have beam measurements above a quality threshold.

[0091] In the exemplary embodiment, the device 20, controlled by memory 24 and processor 22, may report information about the SCell candidate's TRS / CSI-RS to the network based on the IDLE mode measurements when returning to, for example, CONNECTED mode. This may include reporting the measurement results (e.g., RSRP) and / or resource index based on all or a subset of the measured (and detected) TRS / CSI-RS resources informed in the notification from the selected SCell candidate. The reported resources may be further selected or limited based on a set number (e.g., highest quality) or an excess threshold (e.g., TRS / CSI-RS resource RSRP or corresponding SSB).

[0092] Further embodiments may provide means for carrying out any of the functions, steps, or procedures described herein. For example, one embodiment may relate to an apparatus that includes means for receiving instructions from one or more UEs requesting the activation of one or more reporting settings, means for determining at least one BM reporting setting that the UE should activate, and means for signaling the determined at least one BM reporting setting to the UE.

[0093] As another example, one embodiment may involve a device that includes means for determining that one or more reporting settings need to be activated, and means for providing a network with instructions requesting the activation of the reporting settings. In some embodiments, the device may also include means for receiving the activation of at least one beam management reporting setting from the network, and means for performing beam management reporting in accordance with the activated at least one beam management reporting setting.

[0094] Therefore, certain exemplary embodiments achieve several technical improvements, enhancements, and / or advantages over existing technical processes and constitute improvements at least to the technical field of radio network control and management. For example, certain embodiments provide a method for beam management reporting in L1 / L2 centric mobility. In one embodiment, a method is provided for reporting neighboring cell measurements using a beam management framework. Thus, the use of certain exemplary embodiments improves the functionality of communication networks and their nodes, such as base stations, eNBs, gNBs, and / or UEs or mobile stations.

[0095] In some exemplary embodiments, the functionality of any of the methods, processes, signaling diagrams, algorithms, or flowcharts described herein can be implemented by software and / or computer program code or a portion of code stored in memory or other computer-readable or tangible media, and can be executed by a processor.

[0096] In some exemplary embodiments, the device may be included in or associated with at least one software application, module, unit, or entity (including additional or updated software routines) which is configured as an arithmetic operation or as part of a program and executed by at least one arithmetic processor. A program, also referred to as a program product or computer program, which includes software routines, applets, and macros, may be stored on any device-readable data storage medium and may include program instructions for performing a particular task.

[0097] A computer program product may include one or more computer executable components configured to perform several exemplary embodiments when the program is executed. One or more computer executable components may be at least one piece of software code or part of code. Modifications and configurations for implementing the functionality of the exemplary embodiments may be implemented as routines, which may be implemented as additional or updated software routines. In one example, the software routines may be downloaded to the device.

[0098] For example, software or computer program code or a portion of code may be in source code form, object code form, or some intermediate form, and may be stored in some kind of carrier, distribution medium, or computer-readable medium, which can be any entity or device capable of carrying the program. Such carriers may include, for example, recording media, computer memory, read-only memory, optoelectronic and / or electrical carrier signals, telecommunication signals, and / or software distribution packages. Depending on the processing power required, the computer program may run on a single electronic digital computer or be distributed across multiple computers. The computer-readable medium or computer-readable storage medium may be a non-temporary medium.

[0099] In other exemplary embodiments, functionality can be performed by hardware or circuitry included in the device, for example, through the use of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable gate arrays (PGAs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or any other combination of hardware and software. In yet another exemplary embodiment, functionality may be implemented as signals, such as intangible means that can be carried by electromagnetic signals and downloaded from the Internet or other networks.

[0100] According to the exemplary embodiments, the apparatus, such as a node, device, or corresponding component, may be configured as a circuit, computer, or microprocessor, or as a chipset, such as a single-chip computer element, and may include at least one memory for providing storage capacity used for arithmetic operations and / or an arithmetic processor for performing arithmetic operations.

[0101] Those skilled in the art will readily understand that the exemplary embodiments discussed above may be practiced using different sequences of procedures and / or hardware elements in configurations different from those disclosed. Therefore, while several embodiments have been described based on these exemplary embodiments, those skilled in the art will see certain modifications, variations, and alternative constructions, while remaining within the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments.

Claims

1. It is a device, At least one processor, At least one memory containing computer program code and Equipped with, The at least one memory and computer program code are used by the at least one processor to provide the device with at least Determine that at least one reporting setting needs to be activated, To provide the network with instructions to activate at least one reporting setting. It is configured to perform the following: In providing the aforementioned instructions, the at least one memory and computer program code are further configured to cause the at least one processor to signal the device, at least the network, that at least one reporting criterion for non-serving cell beam management reporting is met. The determination that the reporting setting needs to be activated is triggered by at least one event, the at least one event including when at least one beam fault instance or radio link monitoring (RLM) out-of-sync indicator was provided to the upper layer by Layer 1 (L1), The apparatus further comprises the at least one memory and computer program code, which are configured to cause the apparatus to use the at least one processor to transmit an instruction to the apparatus that, at least in a Layer 1 (L1) / Layer 2 (L2) beam report, the apparatus has detected a non-serving cell beam that exceeds a quality threshold, or a cell associated with a beam reporting setting that has a quality exceeding a threshold.

2. The at least one memory and computer program code are used by the at least one processor to provide the device with at least The network receives at least one activation of a beam management reporting setting, or at least one setting for a beam management reporting setting. Perform beam management reporting according to the at least one activated beam management reporting setting. The apparatus according to claim 1, further configured to perform the following.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are further configured to cause the apparatus to transmit beam management reports to at least the network in accordance with the activated at least one beam management reporting setting, using the at least one processor.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the beam management report includes a dynamic report comprising a combined serving cell beam report and a non-serving cell beam report, the dynamic report comprising at least one non-serving cell beam index and quality.

5. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are further configured to cause the apparatus to use the at least one processor to receive, at least, a threshold setting from the network used to determine when to activate the beam management reporting.

6. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are further configured to cause the apparatus to receive reporting activation commands that signal the apparatus to activate at least one or more specific beam management reporting settings or all beam management reporting settings, using the at least one processor.

7. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are further configured to cause the apparatus to signal at least the instruction via at least one of a dedicated random access channel (RACH) preamble, a dedicated reference signal, a normal reference signal, a media access control (MAC) control element (CE), or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) / physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or radio resource control (RRC).

8. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein at least one of a specific uplink signal, a dedicated scheduling request for a reporting setting, a normal scheduling request, a dedicated scheduling request, or a sounding reference signal is associated with at least one reporting setting.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are further configured to cause the apparatus to use the at least one processor to transmit at least one instruction to which cells the reporting criteria are met, or to transmit an instruction to which of the reporting settings should be activated.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the beam is associated with at least one of the configured reporting settings, the candidate cell set, or any cell detected by the apparatus.

11. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the instruction includes a one-bit index.

12. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the instruction includes a radio resource control (RRC) measurement report.

13. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the at least one memory and computer program code are further configured to cause the apparatus to receive, at least, a setting for reporting information regarding the tracking reference signal (TRS) / channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS) of a secondary cell candidate based on idle mode measurements when the apparatus returns to connected mode.

14. It is a method, It is necessary to determine that at least one reporting setting must be activated on the user's device, This includes providing the network with instructions to activate the at least one reporting setting, If the aforementioned instructions are provided, the method further includes signaling to the network that at least one reporting criterion for non-serving cell beam management reporting is met, The determination that the reporting setting needs to be activated is triggered by at least one event, the at least one event including when at least one beam fault instance or radio link monitoring (RLM) out-of-sync indicator was provided to the upper layer by Layer 1 (L1), A method further comprising sending an instruction in a Layer 1 (L1) / Layer 2 (L2) beam report that the user equipment has detected a non-serving cell beam or a cell associated with a beam reporting setting having a quality above a threshold.

15. The network receives at least one activation of a beam management reporting setting, or at least one setting for a beam management reporting setting. Perform beam management reporting according to the at least one activated beam management reporting setting. The method according to claim 14, further comprising:

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising transmitting a beam management report to the network in accordance with the at least one activated beam management reporting setting.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the beam management report includes a dynamic report comprising a combined serving cell beam report and a non-serving cell beam report, the dynamic report comprising at least one non-serving cell beam index and quality.

18. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 17, further comprising receiving from the network a threshold setting used to determine when to activate the beam management reporting.

19. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 18, further comprising receiving a reporting activation command that signals the user device to activate one or more specific beam management reporting settings or all beam management reporting settings.

20. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 19, further comprising signaling the instruction via at least one of a dedicated random access channel (RACH) preamble, a dedicated reference signal, a normal reference signal, a media access control (MAC) control element (CE), or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) / physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) or radio resource control (RRC).

21. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 20, wherein at least one of a specific uplink signal, a dedicated scheduling request for a reporting setting, a normal scheduling request, a dedicated scheduling request, or a sounding reference signal is associated with the at least one reporting setting.

22. The method according to claim 14, further comprising sending an instruction on which cells the reporting criteria are met, or an instruction on which of the reporting settings should be activated.

23. The method according to claim 14, wherein the beam is associated with at least one of the configured reporting settings, the candidate set of cells, or any cell detected by the user device.

24. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 23, wherein the instruction includes a one-bit index.

25. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 23, wherein the instruction includes a radio resource control (RRC) measurement report.

26. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 25, further comprising receiving a setting to report information regarding the tracking reference signal (TRS) / channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS) of a secondary cell candidate based on idle mode measurements when the user device returns to connected mode.

27. A computer-readable medium storing program instructions for performing the method according to any one of claims 14 to 26.

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