Indicating a transmission configurator indication state for a set of beams

Abstract

A method in a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a network node and determine an association of resources is described. The method includes receiving, from the network node, an indication indicating the association of one or both of one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states and one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) with one or more reference signals of a first set of reference signals. The method also includes performing one or more actions based on the indication. (FIG. 9)

Description

[0001] INDICATING A TRANSMISSION CONFIGURATOR INDICATION STATE FOR A SET OF BEAMS

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present disclosure relates to wireless communications, and in particular, to arrangements for indicating a transmission indicator configuration (TCI) state for a set of beams.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has developed and is developing standards for Fourth Generation (4G) (also referred to as Long Term Evolution (LTE)) and Fifth Generation (5G) (also referred to as New Radio (NR)) wireless communication systems. Such systems provide, among other features, broadband communication between network nodes (NNs), such as base stations, and user equipment (UE), as well as communication between network nodes and between UEs. The 3GPP is also developing standards for Sixth Generation (6G) wireless communication networks.

[0006] Beam management

[0007] Beam management procedure

[0008] In high frequency range (FR2), multiple radio frequency (RF) beams may be used to transmit and receive signals at a network node (e.g., gNB) and a UE. For each downlink (DL) beam from a network node, there is typically an associated best UE reception (Rx or RX) beam for receiving signals from the DL beam. The DL beam and the associated UE Rx beam forms a beam pair. The beam pair can be identified through a so-called beam management process in NR.

[0009] A DL beam may be typically identified by an associated DL reference signal (RS) transmitted in the beam, either periodically, semi-persistently, or aperiodically. The DL RS for the purpose can be a Synchronization Signal (SS) and Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) block (SSB) or a Channel State Information RS (CSI-RS). By measuring all the DL RSs, the UE can determine and report to the network node the best DL beam to use for DL transmissions. The network node can then transmit a burst of DL-RS in the reported best DL beam to let the UE evaluate candidate UE RX beams.

[0010] Although not explicitly stated in the NR specification, beam management has been divided into three procedures, schematically illustrated in FIG. 1. The purpose of each procedure may be as follows: P-1 : The purpose of this procedure is to find a coarse direction for the UE using wide gNB TX beam covering the whole angular sector.

[0011] P-2: The purpose of this procedure is to refine the network node transmission (TX) beam by doing a new beam search around the coarse direction found in Pl.

[0012] P-3 : This procedure is used for UE that has analog beamforming to let them find a suitable UE RX beam.

[0013] Further, P-1 is expected to utilize beams with rather large beamwidths and where the beam reference signals are transmitted periodically and are shared between all UEs of the cell. Typically reference signals to use for P-1 are periodic channel state information (CSI) reference signal (RS) or SSB. The UE then reports the N best beams to the network node and their corresponding Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) values. P-2 is expected to use aperiodic / or semi -persistent CSI-RS transmitted in narrow beams around the coarse direction found in P-1. P-3 is expected to use aperiodic or semi -persistent CSI- RSs repeatedly transmitted in one narrow network node beam. One alternative way is to let the UE determine a suitable UE RX beam based on the periodic SSB transmission. Since each SSB consists of four orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) symbols, a maximum of four UE RX beams can be evaluated during each SSB burst transmission. One benefit of using SSB instead of CSI-RS is that no extra overhead of CSI-RS transmission is needed.

[0014] Beam indication

[0015] In NR, several signals can be transmitted from different antenna ports of the same network node. These signals can have the same large-scale properties such as Doppler shift / spread, average delay spread, or average delay. These antenna ports are then said to be quasi co-located (QCL).

[0016] If the UE knows that two antenna ports are QCL with respect to a certain parameter (e.g., Doppler spread), the UE can estimate that parameter based on one of the antenna ports and apply that estimate for receiving signal on the other antenna port.

[0017] For example, there may be a QCL relation between a CSI-RS for tracking RS (TRS) and the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) downlink demodulation reference signal (DMRS). When the UE receives the PDSCH DMRS, the UE can use the measurements already made on the TRS to assist the DMRS reception.

[0018] Information about what assumptions can be made regarding QCL is signaled to the UE from the network. In NR, four types of QCL relations between a transmitted source RS and transmitted target RS were defined: Type A: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}

[0019] Type B: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}

[0020] Type C: {average delay, Doppler shift}

[0021] Type D: {Spatial Rx parameter}

[0022] QCL type D was introduced in NR to facilitate beam management with analog beamforming and is known as spatial QCL. There may be no strict definition of spatial QCL, but one understanding is that if two transmitted antenna ports are spatially QCL, the UE can use the same Rx beam to receive them. This is helpful for a UE that uses analog beamforming to receive signals, since the UE needs to adjust its RX beam in some direction prior to receiving a certain signal. If the UE knows that the signal is spatially QCL with some other signal it has received earlier, then it can safely use the same RX beam to also receive this signal.

[0023] In NR, the spatial QCL relation for a DL or UL signal / channel can be indicated to the UE by using a “beam indication”. The “beam indication” is used to help the UE find a suitable RX beam for DL reception, and / or a suitable TX beam for UL transmission. In NR, the “beam indication” for DL is conveyed to the UE by indicating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state to the UE, while in UL the “beam indication” can be conveyed by indicating a DL-RS or UL-RS as spatial relation (in NR Release (Rel) 15 / 16) or a TCI state (in NR Rel-17).

[0024] Beam management with unified TCI framework

[0025] In NR, downlink beam management is performed by conveying spatial QCL (‘Type D’) assumptions to the UE through TCI states.

[0026] In NR Rel-15 or Rel-16, for PDCCH, the network (NW) or network node configures the UE with a set of PDCCH TCI states by Radio Resource Control (RRC), and then activates one TCI state per Control Resource Set (CORESET) using Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE). For PDSCH beam management, the network node configures the UE with a set of PDSCH TCI states by RRC, and then activates up to eight TCI states by MAC CE. After activation, the network node dynamically indicates one of these activated TCI states using a TCI field in DCI when scheduling PDSCH.

[0027] Such a framework allows great flexibility for the network to instruct the UE to receive signals from different spatial directions in DL with a cost of large signaling overhead and slow beam switch. These limitations are particularly noticeable and costly when UE movement is considered. One example is that beam update using DCI can only be performed for PDSCH, and MAC CE and / or RRC is required to update the beam for other reference signal s / channels, with cause extra overhead and latency.

[0028] Furthermore, in the majority of cases, the network or network node transmits to and receive from a UE in the same direction for both data and control. Hence, using separate framework (TCI state respective spatial relations) for different channel s / signals complicates the implementations.

[0029] In 3 GPP Rel-17, a common beam framework was introduced to simplify beam management in FR2, in which a common beam represent by a TCI state may be activated / indicated to a UE, and the common beam is applicable for multiple channel s / signals such as PDCCH and PDSCH. The common beam framework is also referred to as a unified TCI state framework.

[0030] The new framework can be RRC configured in one of two modes of operation, i.e., “Joint DL / UL TCI” or “Separate DL / UL TCI”. For “Joint DL / UL TCI”, one common Joint TCI state is used for both DL and uplink (UL) signals / channels. For “Separate DL / UL TCI”, one common DL-only TCI state is used for DL channel s / signals, and one common UL-only TCI state is used for UL signals / channels.

[0031] A unified TCI state can be updated in a similar way to the TCI state update for PDSCH in Rel-15 / 16, i.e. with one of two alternatives:

[0032] • Two-stage: RRC signaling is used to configure unified TCI states in higher layer parameter PDSCH-config, and a MAC-CE is used to activate one of unified TCI states.

[0033] • Three-stage: RRC signaling is used to configure unified TCI states in PDSCH- config, a MAC-CE is used to activate up to eight unified TCI states, and a 3 -bit TCI state bitfield in DCI is used to indicate one of the activate unified TCI states.

[0034] The one activated or indicated unified TCI state will be used in subsequent both PDCCH and PDSCH transmissions until a new unified TCI state is activated or indicated.

[0035] The existing DCI formats 1 1 and 1 2 are reused for beam indication, both with and without DL assignment. For DCI formats 1 1 and 1 2 with DL assignment, Acknowledgement (ACK) and / or not ACK (NACK) of the PDSCH can be used as indication of successful reception of beam indication. For downlink control information (DCI) formats 1 1 and 1 2 without DL assignment, a new ACK / NACK mechanism analogous to that for semi -persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH release with both type-1 and type-2 hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) ACK codebook is used, where upon a successful reception of the beam indication DCI, the UE reports an ACK. When the network node indicates a TCI state change to the UE, there may be a delay for the UE to apply the indicated TCI state change. This delay is called TCI state switch delay, which can be MAC-CE based TCI state switch delay, DCI based TCI state switch delay, or RRC based TCI state switch delay, depending on the signaling (MAC-CE, DCI, or RRC) used to indicate the TCI state switch. For example, for DCI-based beam indication, the DCI based TCI state switch delay is defined as follows:

[0036] If the target TCI state is known, when a UE is configured with the higher layer parameter tci-PresentlnDCI which is set as 'enabled' for the CORESET scheduling PDSCH at slot n, UE shall be able to receive PDSCH with target TCI state of the serving cell on which TCI state switch occurs at the first slot that is after slot n+ti me Duration ForQCL, where, timeDurationForQCL is the time required by the UE to perform PDCCH reception and applying spatial QCL information received in DCI for PDSCH processing, the value of timeDurationForQCL is RRC configured for SCS of 60 kHz and 120 kHz, respectively.

[0037] Reference signal

[0038] Reference signal configurations

[0039] A CSI-RS is transmitted over each transmit (Tx) antenna port at the network node and for different antenna ports. The CSI-RS are multiplexed in time, frequency, and code domain such that the channel between each Tx antenna port at the network node and each receive antenna port at a UE can be measured by the UE. The time-frequency resource used for transmitting CSI-RS is referred to as a CSI-RS resource.

[0040] In NR, the CSI-RS for beam management is defined as a 1- or 2-port CSI-RS resource in a CSI-RS resource set where the RRC parameter “repetition” present. The following three types of CSI-RS transmissions are supported in NR:

[0041] • Periodic CSI-RS: CSI-RS is transmitted periodically in certain slots. This CSI- RS transmission is semi-statically configured using RRC signaling with parameters such as CSI-RS resource, periodicity, and slot offset.

[0042] • Semi -Persistent CSI-RS: Similar to periodic CSI-RS, resources for semi- persistent CSI-RS transmissions are semi-statically configured using RRC signaling with parameters such as periodicity and slot offset. However, unlike periodic CSI-RS, dynamic signaling may be needed to activate and deactivate the CSI-RS transmission.

[0043] • Aperiodic CSI-RS: This is a one-shot CSI-RS transmission that can happen in any slot. Here, one-shot means that CSI-RS transmission only happens once per trigger. The CSI-RS resources (i.e., the RE locations which may include subcarrier locations and OFDM symbol locations) for aperiodic CSI-RS are semi-statically configured. The transmission of aperiodic CSI-RS is triggered by dynamic signaling through PDCCH using the CSI request field in UL DCI, in the same DCI where the UL resources for the measurement report are scheduled. Multiple aperiodic CSI-RS resources can be included in a CSI-RS resource set and the triggering of aperiodic CSI-RS is on a resource set basis.

[0044] In NR, an SSB includes a pair of synchronization signals (SSs), physical broadcast channel (PBCH), and DMRS for PBCH. A SSB is mapped to four consecutive OFDM symbols in the time domain and 240 contiguous subcarriers (20 resource blocks (RBs)) in the frequency domain.

[0045] To support beamforming and beam-sweeping for SSB transmission, in NR, a cell can transmit multiple SSBs in different narrow-beams in a time multiplexed fashion. The transmission of these SSBs is confined to a half frame time interval (5 ms). It is also possible to configure a cell to transmit multiple SSBs in a single wide-beam with multiple repetitions. The design of beamforming parameters for each of the SSBs within a half frame is up to network implementation. The SSBs within a half frame are broadcast periodically from each cell. The periodicity of the half frames with SS / PBCH blocks is referred to as SSB periodicity, which may be indicated by System Information Block 1 (SIB1).

[0046] The maximum number of SSBs within a half frame, denoted by L, depends on the frequency band, and the time locations for these L candidate SSBs within a half frame depends on the SCS of the SSBs. The L candidate SSBs within a half frame are indexed in an ascending order in time from 0 to L-l. By successfully detecting PBCH and its associated DMRS, a UE knows the SSB index. A cell does not necessarily transmit SS / PBCH blocks in all L candidate locations in a half frame, and the resource of the unused candidate positions can be used for the transmission of data or control signaling instead. It is up to network implementation to decide which candidate time locations to select for SSB transmission within a half frame, and which beam to use for each SSB transmission.

[0047] Measurement resource configurations

[0048] In NR, a UE can be configured with N>1 CSI reporting settings (i.e. CSI- ReportConfig), M>1 resource settings (i.e. CSI-ResourceConfig), where each CSI reporting setting is linked to one or more resource setting for channel and / or interference measurement. The CSI framework is modular, meaning that several CSI reporting settings may be associated with the same Resource Setting.

[0049] The measurement resource configurations for beam management are provided to the UE by RRC IES CSI-ResourceConfigs. One CSI-ResourceConfig may include several NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSets and / or CSI-SSB-ResourceSets.

[0050] A UE can be configured to perform measurements on CSI-RSs. Here the RRC information element (IE) non-zero power (NZP)-CSI-RS-ResourceSet is used. A NZP CSI-RS resource set contains the configuration of Ks >1 CSI-RS resources, where the configuration of each CSI-RS resource includes at least: mapping to resource elements (REs), the number of antenna ports, time-domain behavior, etc. Up to 64 CSI-RS resources can be grouped to an NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet. A UE can also be configured to perform measurements on SSBs. Here, the RRC IE CSI-SSB-ResourceSet is used. Resource sets comprising SSB resources are defined in a similar manner.

[0051] In the case of aperiodic CSI-RS and / or aperiodic CSI reporting, the network node configures the UE with ScCSI triggering states. Each triggering state contains the aperiodic CSI report setting to be triggered along with the associated aperiodic CSI-RS resource sets.

[0052] Periodic and semi-persistent Resource Settings can only comprise a single resource set (i.e. S=l) while S>=1 for aperiodic Resource Settings. This is because in the aperiodic case, one out of the S resource sets comprised in the Resource Setting is indicated by the aperiodic triggering state that triggers a CSI report.

[0053] Measurement Reporting

[0054] Three types of CSI reporting are supported in NR as follows:

[0055] • Periodic CSI Reporting on PUCCH: CSI is reported periodically by a UE.

[0056] Parameters such as periodicity and slot offset are configured semi-statically by higher layer RRC signaling from the network node to the UE.

[0057] • Semi -Persistent CSI Reporting on PUSCH or PUCCH: similar to periodic CSI reporting, semi -persistent CSI reporting has a periodicity and slot offset which may be semi-statically configured. However, a dynamic trigger from network node to UE may be needed to allow the UE to begin semi-persistent CSI reporting. A dynamic trigger from network node to UE is needed to request the UE to stop the semi -persistent CSI reporting.

[0058] • Aperiodic CSI Reporting on PUSCH: This type of CSI reporting involves a single-shot (i.e., one time) CSI report by a UE which is dynamically triggered by the network node using DCI. Some of the parameters related to the configuration of the aperiodic CSI report is semi-statically configured by RRC but the triggering is dynamic.

[0059] In each CSI reporting setting, the content and time-domain behavior of the report is defined, along with the linkage to the associated Resource Settings. The CSI-ReportConfig IE comprise the following configurations:

[0060] • reportConfigType o Defines the time-domain behavior, i.e. periodic CSI reporting, semi- persistent CSI reporting, or aperiodic CSI reporting, along with the periodicity and slot offset of the report for periodic CSI reporting.

[0061] • reportQuantity o Defines the reported CSI parameter(s) (i.e. the CSI content), such as precoding matrix index (PMI), channel quality indication (CQI), rank indication (RI), layer indication (LI), CSI-RS resource index (CRI) and Ll- RSRP. Only a certain number of combinations are possible (e.g. ‘cri-RI- PMI-CQI’ is one possible value and ‘cri-RSRP’ is another) and each value of reportQuantity could be said to correspond to a certain CSI mode.

[0062] • codebookConfig o Defines the codebook used for PMI reporting, along with possible codebook subset restriction (CBSR). Two “Types” of PMI codebook are defined in NR, Type I CSI and Type II CSI, each codebook type further has two variants each.

[0063] • reportFrequencyConfiguration o Defines the frequency granularity of PMI and CQI (wideband or subband), if reported, along with the CSI reporting band, which is a subset of subbands of the bandwidth part (BWP) which the CSI corresponds to.

[0064] • Measurement restriction in time domain (ON / OFF) for channel and interference respectively.

[0065] For beam management, a UE can be configured to report Ll-RSRP for up to four different CSLRS / SSB resource indicators. The reported RSRP value corresponding to the first (best) CRESSBRI requires seven bits, using absolute values, while the others require 4 bits using encoding relative to the first. In NR release 16, the report of Ll- SINR for beam management has already been supported.

[0066] Beam prediction One example artificial intelligence (A) and / or machine learning (ML) model currently discussed in the Al for air-interface Rel-18 comprises predicting the channel in respect to a beam for a certain time-frequency resource. The expected performance of such a predictor depends on several different aspects, for example time / frequency variation of channel due to UE mobility or changes in the environment. Due to the inherent correlation in time, frequency and the spatial domain of the channel, an ML-model can be trained to exploit such correlations. The spatial domain can comprise of different beams, where the correlation properties partly depend on how the network node antennas forms the different beams, and how UE forms the receiver beams.

[0067] The device can use such prediction ML-model to reduce its measurement related to beamforming. In NR, one can request a device to measure on a set of SSB beams or / and CSLRS beams. A stationary device typically experiences less variations in beam quality in comparison to a moving device. The stationary device can therefore save battery and reduce the number of beam measurements by instead using an ML model to predict the beam quality without an explicit measurement. It can do this, for example, by measuring a subset of the beams and predicting the rest of the beams. For example, one can with use Al measurements on a subset of beams in order to predict the best beam, which can reduce up to 75% measurement time.

[0068] A method for enabling a UE to predict future beam values may be based on historical values. Based on received device data from measurement reports, the network can learn, for example, which sequences of signal quality measurements (e.g., RSRP measurements) lead to large signal quality drop events (e.g. caused by the device turning around the corners). This learning procedure can be enabled, for example, by dividing periodically reported RSRP data into a training and prediction window.

[0069] In the example shown in FIG. 2, two UEs move and turn around the same corner. The second UE, marked by dashed line, is the first to turn around the corner and experience a large signal quality drop. The main idea is to mitigate the drop of a first UE by using learning from the first device’s experiences.

[0070] The learning can be done by feeding RSRP in ti, . . ., tninto a machine learning model (e.g. neural network), and then learn the RSRP in tn+i, tn+2. After the model is trained, the network can then predict future signal quality values, and the signal quality prediction can then be used to avoid radio-link failure, or beam failure, in the following procedures:

[0071] • Initiate inter-frequency handover. • Set handover / reselection parameters.

[0072] • Pre-emptively perform candidate beam selection to avoid beam failure.

[0073] • Change device scheduler priority, for example schedule device when the expected signal quality is good.

[0074] AI / ML based spatial beam prediction in NR

[0075] In 3 GPP NR Rel-18 study of AI / ML for PHY, one aspect was to study AI / ML based spatial beam prediction for a Set A of beams based on measurement results of Set B of beams. “Set A beams” may be referred to herein as a first set of beams, and “Set B beams” may be referred to as a second set of beams. The Set B of beams may either be a subset of the Set A of beams, or the Set A of beams may include different beams compared to the Set B of beams. For example, Set A may include narrow beams, and Set B may include wide beams). The spatial beam prediction could either be made at the network node side or at the UE side.

[0076] In addition to spatial beam prediction, another aspect was to study AI / ML based temporal beam prediction for a Set A of beams based on measurement results of Set B of beams, where the Set A of beams and Set B of beams can be the same set of beams or different set of beams. For AI / ML based temporal beam prediction, the measurement results of K (K>=1) latest measurement instances during a time window T1 of the Set B beams are used for AI / ML model input. Furthermore, one or more beams from the Set A beams will be used as AI / ML model output, where the AI / ML model output should be F predictions for F future time instances, where all F future time instances are located within a time window T2.

[0077] As the DL Tx beam is formed on the NW side in a proprietary manner, the UE may only passively measure the DL Tx beam transmission. This can, for example, be that the narrow beams are measured using CSLRS resources and the wide beams are measured using SSBs at the UE side. This may be how the UE may receive or sense the DL Tx beams.

[0078] Set B is different from Set A

[0079] FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic example of the Set A of beams and the Set B of beams. The top illustration shows all the narrow network node beams, which includes the Set A of beams, and the lower illustrations shows all the wide network node beams, which includes the Set B of beams. Further, Set B is different from Set A. Set B of beams are wide network node beams, and the Set A of beams are the narrow network node beams.

[0080] Set B is a subset of Set A FIG. 4 illustrates another example of the Set A of beams and the Set B of beams, where Set B is a subset of Set A of beams. Both Set B and Set A of beams are the narrow network node beams (e.g., gNB beams). For example, Set A includes narrow network node beams (e.g., gNB beams) and set B is subset of Set A containing some narrows beams from the network node.

[0081] The above-mentioned prediction can be based on Ll-RSRP estimates for each beam. This study item will, however, also include studying additional assistance information to help AI / ML model training and inference. For example, the network node can provide beam-shape assistance information (e.g., Tx beam shapes) to the UE. Beamshape information will enable the UE to collect and label beam management data (e.g., Ll-RSRPs) for the purpose of designing, training, and deploying spatial / temporal beam prediction for the UE-side AI / ML models.

[0082] The following list summarizes different types of potential assistance information:

[0083] • Tx and / or Rx beam shape information (e.g., Tx and / or Rx beam pattern, Tx and / or Rx beam boresight direction (azimuth and zenith angles from the array), 3dB beamwidth, etc.),

[0084] • expected Tx and / or Rx beam for the prediction (e.g., expected Tx and / or Rx angle, Tx and / or Rx beam ID for the prediction),

[0085] • UE position information,

[0086] • UE direction information,

[0087] • Tx beam usage information,

[0088] • UE orientation information.

[0089] Providing Tx and / or Rx beam shape and / or angles as assistance information for training AI / ML models may be in some cases problematic. For example, not only can there be a large signaling overhead associated with such assistance information, but also sharing such information may leak information about proprietary beamforming solutions, and, therefore, compromise performance differentiations between different network vendors. Moreover, such information may not always be well defined: A “beam” cannot always be described using a beam boresight direction and beam width. Indeed, NR specifications do not explicitly define “beams” for beam management, and, instead, use the TCI framework to enable the P1 / P2 / P3 procedures.

[0090] To help address the above problems, the network node can indicate a beam configuration identifier or beam ID to the UE. The core idea of beam IDs is that the network node associates different SSB / CSLRS beams with different beam IDs. The network node shares the beam IDs with the UE whenever the UE needs to know how the SSB / CSI-RS is beamformed. The UE does not know how the SSB / CSI-RS is beamformed, but it can safely assume that any two reference signals with the same beam ID have been beamformed in the same way. In addition, since no measurements might be performed on Set A of beams during inference, these beams might not be directly associated with a DL-RS, instead, beam IDs can be used to index the Set A of beams instead of DL-RS indexes. In this case the UE may be configured with a group of Set A beam indexes, and the UE can report one or more of these Set A beam index in a beam prediction report.

[0091] The beam ID is defined in such way that it will assume a certain configuration for the NW precoder and transmission power, enabling the device to build models for predicting the effective channel for a certain beam ID (e.g. associated with an CSLRS transmission for example). One example for designing a beamforming pattern is shown described below, where a network node can transmit ten beams, where each beam is configured to be strong in a certain direction. The UE can in such case receive ten different unique beam IDs.

[0092] Coverage and capacity enhancement operation (CCO)

[0093] Coverage and capacity enhancement operation (CCO) is part of the SelfOrganizing Network (SON) -framework devolved in 3GPP. It refers to the improvement of the coverage and signal quality in a geographical area of the network. Examples of such operations are directing the antennas towards a certain area e.g., via tilting the antennas or via beamforming, focusing the transmitted signal in a specific direction to improve the coverage and reduce the interference in the network. The use of CCO, potentially using reinforcement learning techniques, implies dynamic adaptation of the cell coverage and quality in a certain area. This would hence require a potential UE-sided beam prediction model to adapt to such scenarios.

[0094] During inference of UE-side beam prediction (spatial and / or time domain beam prediction), the UE may be configured with a set of beam IDs associated with the Set A of beams. The UE can then use these beam IDs when reporting a predicted beam to the network.

[0095] SUMMARY

[0096] Some embodiments advantageously provide methods, systems, and apparatuses for indicating a TCI state for a set of beams or signals (e.g., reference signals), e.g., “Set A” beams. For time domain beam prediction, the UE may report one or more beams from the Set A beams for F future time instances. The network node can then respond to such beam report by for example making a simple acknowledgement to the UE, which then would mean that the UE should apply the TCI states associated with the reported beams from Set A of beams during each of the F future time instance. However, in case no TCI state has been associated with the beam IDs from Set A of beams, the UE may not know which TCI state to activate, e.g., unless legacy TCI state switching methods are used which disadvantageously introduce extra overhead and latency. Hence, how to associate Set A of beams with TCI states may be beneficial for beam indication during UE-side time domain beam prediction operation.

[0097] In addition, the UE may benefit from assistance information provided by the network side during UE-sided beam prediction. One such assistance information may be information about how to associate the Set A of beams with a TCI state or an SSB.

[0098] Furthermore, for data collection for AI / ML model training, a very large number of Set A beams may have to be swept. This large set may exceed the maximum number of CSI-RS resources that can be simultaneously configured in the specifications, in which case one would have to release resources and redefine them multiple times. However, this may create large overhead.

[0099] Some embodiments provide methods to associate TCI states / SSBs with a set of signals (e.g., Set A beams). One advantage with the proposed invention is that simple beam indication can be used for UE-sided time domain beam prediction, where the network can just acknowledge one or more of the reported beams from Set A beams and the UE will know which TCI states to apply and when.

[0100] Another advantage is that the UE can use the information as assistance information for the beam prediction. For example, if the UE knows which TCI state / SSB is associated with which beam in Set A of beams, the UE can use measurements on other signals associated with that TCI state to facilitate the beam prediction (e.g. measurements on the SSB or an associated TRS).

[0101] According to one aspect, a method implemented in a network node configured to communicate with a user equipment (UE) is described. The method includes determining an indication indicating an association of one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states and / or one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) with Set A beams and transmitting the indication to the UE.

[0102] According to another aspect, a network node configured to communicate with a user equipment (UE) is described. The network node is configured to, and / or includes a radio interface and / or processing circuitry configured to determine an indication indicating an association of one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states and / or one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs)with Set A beams and transmit the indication to the UE.

[0103] According to one aspect, a method implemented in a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a user equipment network node is described. The method includes receiving an indication indicating an association of one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states and / or one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) with Set A beams and performing one or more actions based on the indication.

[0104] According to another aspect, a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a network node is described. The UE is configured to, and / or includes a radio interface and / or processing circuitry configured to receive an indication indicating an association of one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states and / or one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) with Set A beams and perform one or more actions based on the indication.

[0105] According to one aspect, a method in a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a network node and determine an association of resources is described. The method includes receiving, from the network node, an indication indicating the association of one or both of one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states and one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) with one or more reference signals of a first set of reference signals. The method also includes performing one or more actions based on the indication.

[0106] In some embodiments, one or more actions include associating, based on the indication, one or more reference signal identifiers (IDs) corresponding to the one or more reference signals of the first set with at least one TCI state of the one or more TCI states. The one or more reference signal IDs are configured as part of a TCI state information element (IE).

[0107] In some other embodiments, the one or more reference signal IDs are indicated via Radio Resource Control (RRC).

[0108] In some embodiments, the one or more actions include obtaining, from the indication, a list of reference signal IDs associated with at least one TCI state. The list of reference signal IDs is configured as part of a TCI state IE. In some other embodiments, the indication further indicates a Quasi Co-Located (QCL) relation associated with the first set of reference signals. The QCL relation is indicated using a QCL information IE.

[0109] In some embodiments, the indication is included in one of a Channel State Information (CSI) report configuration IE, a CSI aperiodic trigger state IE, and a CSI associated report configuration information IE.

[0110] In some other embodiments, one or more actions include associating, based on the indication, one or more reference signal identifiers (IDs) corresponding to the one or more reference signals of the first set with at least one TCI state of the one or more TCI states. The one or more reference signal IDs are signaled as part of a first Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE).

[0111] In some embodiments, a first TCI state ID associated with one TCI state corresponds to a first reference signal ID and a second reference signal ID of the one or more reference signal IDs.

[0112] In some other embodiments, the indication indicates the association of the one or more SSBs with the first set of references signals by using an SSB index.

[0113] In some embodiments, the first set of reference signals includes Set A beams.

[0114] In some other embodiments, the indication indicates the first set of references signals and a second set of reference signals. The first set and the second set are defined for one or both of a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) and a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH).

[0115] In some embodiments, the second set of reference signals includes Set B beams.

[0116] In some other embodiments, the association of the one or more TCI states corresponds to associating one or more TCI state IDs of the one or more TCI states with a CSI Reference Signal (RS) resource set.

[0117] In some embodiments, the one or more actions include activating or deactivating, using a second MAC CE, one or both of the first set of reference signals and the one or more TCI states for a resource set or a downlink channel.

[0118] In some other embodiments, the one or more actions include one or more of: (A) performing UE-sided time domain reference signal prediction of one or more reference signals from the first set; (B) reporting the predicted one or more reference signals from the first set to the network node; (C) receiving from the network node an acknowledgement for the reported of the predicted one or more of references signals from the first set; (D) determining which of at least one TCI state to apply and when to apply the at least one TCI state based on the indication; (E) using the indication as assistance information for reference signal prediction; and (F) using measurements on other signals associated with one or more of: (a) at least one TCI state for reference signal prediction; (b) one or more measurements on at least one SSB; and (c) one or more measurements on a tracking reference signal (TRS).

[0119] According to another aspect, a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a network node and determine an association of resources is described. The UE is configured to perform one or more steps corresponding to any one of the embodiments implemented in the UE.

[0120] According to one aspect, a method in a network node configured to communicate with the UE and to provide an indication of an association of resources is described. The method includes determining the indication indicating the association of one or both of one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states and one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) with one or more reference signals of a first set of reference signals. The method also includes transmitting the indication to the UE.

[0121] In some embodiments, indication further indicates the association of one or more reference signal identifiers (IDs) corresponding to one or more reference signals of the first set with at least one TCI state of the one or more TCI states. The one or more reference signal IDs are configured as part of a TCI state information element (IE).

[0122] In some other embodiments, the method further includes indicating the one or more reference signal IDs via Radio Resource Control (RRC).

[0123] In some embodiments, the indication further indicates a list of reference signal IDs associated with at least one TCI state. The list of reference signal IDs is configured as part of a TCI state IE.

[0124] In some other embodiments, the indication further indicates a Quasi Co-Located (QCL) relation associated with the first set of reference signals, The QCL relation is indicated using a QCL information IE.

[0125] In some embodiments, the indication is included in one of a Channel State Information (CSI) report configuration IE, a CSI aperiodic trigger state IE, and a CSI associated report configuration information IE.

[0126] In some other embodiments, the indication further indicates the association of one or more reference signal identifiers (IDs) corresponding to the one or more reference signals of the first set with at least one TCI state of the one or more TCI states. The one or more reference signal IDs being signaled as part of a first Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE).

[0127] In some embodiments, a first TCI state ID associated with one TCI state corresponds to a first reference signal ID and a second reference signal ID of the one or more reference signal IDs.

[0128] In some other embodiments, the indication indicates the association of the one or more SSBs with the first set of references signals by using an SSB index.

[0129] In some embodiments, the first set of reference signals includes Set A beams.

[0130] In some other embodiments, the indication indicates the first set of references signals and a second set of reference signals. The first set and the second set are defined for one or both of a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) and a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH).

[0131] In some embodiments, the second set of reference signals includes Set B beams.

[0132] In some other embodiments, the association of the one or more TCI states corresponds to associating one or more TCI state IDs of the one or more TCI states with a CSI Reference Signal (RS) resource set.

[0133] In some embodiments, the method further includes causing activation or deactivation, using a second MAC CE, of one or both of the first set of reference signals and the one or more TCI states for a resource set or a downlink channel.

[0134] In some other embodiments, the method further includes acknowledging one or more reported references signals from the first set.

[0135] According to another aspect, a network node configured to communicate with the UE and to provide an indication of an association of resources is described. The network node is configured to perform one or more steps corresponding to any one of the embodiments implemented in the network node.

[0136] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0137] A more complete understanding of the present embodiments, and the attendant advantages and features thereof, will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

[0138] FIG. 1 shows example beam management processes;

[0139] FIG. 2 shows two example UEs moving on similar paths;

[0140] FIG. 3 shows an example of Set A and Set B of beams, where Set B is different from Set A;

[0141] FIG. 4 shows another example of a Set A of beams and a Set B of beams, where Set A includes narrow network node beams and set B is subset of Set A including some narrows beams from the network node;

[0142] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary network architecture illustrating a communication system according to the principles in the present disclosure;

[0143] FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a network node communicating with a UE over an at least partially wireless connection according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0144] FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a network node according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0145] FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a UE according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0146] FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a network node according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0147] FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a UE according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0148] FIG. 11 shows an example of a MAC CE where TCI states corresponding to TCI states IDs 1, 2, . . . , N are activated by the MAC CE.

[0149] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0150] Before describing in detail exemplary embodiments, it is noted that the embodiments reside primarily in combinations of apparatus components and processing steps related to indicating TCI state for a set of signals (e.g., Set A beams). Accordingly, components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout the description.

[0151] As used herein, relational terms, such as “first” and “second,” “top” and “bottom,” and the like, may be used solely to distinguish one entity or element from another entity or element without necessarily requiring or implying any physical or logical relationship or order between such entities or elements. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the concepts described herein. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes” and / or “including” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0152] In embodiments described herein, the joining term, “in communication with” and the like, may be used to indicate electrical or data communication, which may be accomplished by physical contact, induction, electromagnetic radiation, radio signaling, infrared signaling or optical signaling, for example. One having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that multiple components may interoperate and modifications and variations are possible of achieving the electrical and data communication.

[0153] In some embodiments described herein, the term “coupled,” “connected,” and the like, may be used herein to indicate a connection, although not necessarily directly, and may include wired and / or wireless connections.

[0154] The term “network node” used herein can be any kind of network node comprised in a radio network which may further comprise any of base station (BS), radio base station, base transceiver station (BTS), base station controller (BSC), radio network controller (RNC), g Node B (gNB), evolved Node B (eNB or eNodeB), Node B, multistandard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, multi -cell / multicast coordination entity (MCE), integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, relay node, donor node controlling relay, radio access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU) Remote Radio Head (RRH), a core network node (e.g., mobile management entity (MME), self-organizing network (SON) node, a coordinating node, positioning node, MDT node, etc.), an external node (e.g., 3rd party node, a node external to the current network), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), a spectrum access system (SAS) node, an element management system (EMS), etc. The network node may also comprise test equipment. The term “radio node” used herein may be used to also denote a UE such as a wireless device (WD) or a radio network node.

[0155] In some embodiments, the non-limiting terms a user equipment (UE) or wireless device (WD) are used interchangeably. The UE herein can be any type of wireless device capable of communicating with a network node or another UE over radio signals, such as wireless device (WD). The UE may also be a radio communication device, target device, device to device (D2D) UE, machine type UE or UE capable of machine to machine communication (M2M), low-cost and / or low-complexity UE, a sensor equipped with UE, Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipped (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, or a Narrowband loT (NB-IOT) device, etc.

[0156] Also, in some embodiments the generic term “radio network node” is used. It can be any kind of a radio network node which may comprise any of base station, radio base station, base transceiver station, base station controller, network controller, RNC, evolved Node B (eNB), Node B, gNB, Multi-cell / multicast Coordination Entity (MCE), IAB node, relay node, access point, radio access point, Remote Radio Unit (RRU) Remote Radio Head (RRH).

[0157] Note that although terminology from one particular wireless system, such as, for example, 3GPP LTE and / or New Radio (NR), may be used in this disclosure, this should not be seen as limiting the scope of the disclosure to only the aforementioned system. Other wireless systems, including without limitation Wide Band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), may also benefit from exploiting the ideas covered within this disclosure.

[0158] Note further, that functions described herein as being performed by a UE or a network node may be distributed over a plurality of UEs and / or network nodes. In other words, it is contemplated that the functions of the network node and UE described herein are not limited to performance by a single physical device and, in fact, can be distributed among several physical devices.

[0159] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. It will be further understood that terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

[0160] Referring again to the drawing figures, in which like elements are referred to by like reference numerals, there is shown in FIG. 5 a schematic diagram of a communication system 10, according to an embodiment, such as a 3 GPP -type cellular network that may support standards such as LTE and / or NR (5G), which comprises an access network 12, such as a radio access network (RAN) 12, and a core network 14. The access network 12 comprises a plurality of network nodes 16a, 16b, 16c (referred to collectively as network nodes 16), such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 18a, 18b, 18c (referred to collectively as coverage areas 18). Each network node 16a, 16b, 16c is connectable to the core network 14 over a wired or wireless connection 20. A first user equipment (UE) 22a located in coverage area 18a is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding network node 16a. A second UE 22b in coverage area 18b is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding network node 16b. While a plurality of UEs 22a, 22b (collectively referred to as user equipments 22) are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole UE is in the coverage area or where a sole UE is connecting to the corresponding network node 16. Note that although only two UEs 22 and three network nodes 16 are shown for convenience, the communication system may include many more UEs 22 and network nodes 16.

[0161] Also, it is contemplated that a UE 22 can be in simultaneous communication and / or configured to separately communicate with more than one network node 16 and more than one type of network node 16. For example, a UE 22 can have dual connectivity with a network node 16 that supports LTE and the same or a different network node 16 that supports NR. As an example, UE 22 can be in communication with an eNB for LTE / E-UTRAN and a gNB for NR / NG-RAN.

[0162] A network node 16 is configured to include a node management unit 24 which is configured to perform any step and / or task and / or process and / or method and / or feature described in the present disclosure, e.g., network node functions. A user equipment 22 is configured to include a UE management unit 26 which is configured to perform any step and / or task and / or process and / or method and / or feature described in the present disclosure, e.g., UE functions.

[0163] Further, any of the radio access network 12 (and / or its components such as network nodes 16 and / or UEs 22) and / or core network 14 may be in communication with any other network such as a cloud network. Although not shown, core network 14 may include one or more network nodes 16 (and / or UEs 22).

[0164] Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE 22 and network node 16 discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIG. 6.

[0165] The communication system 10 includes a network node 16 provided in a communication system 10. Network node 16 includes hardware 28 enabling it to communicate with the UE 22. The hardware 28 may include a radio interface 30 for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection 32 with a UE 22 located in a coverage area 18 served by the network node 16. The radio interface 30 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more RF transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and / or one or more RF transceivers. The radio interface 30 includes an array of antennas 34 to radiate and receive signal(s) carrying electromagnetic waves. In some embodiments, radio interface 30 may be configured for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless / wired connection with other network nodes 16.

[0166] In the embodiment shown, the hardware 28 of the network node 16 further includes processing circuitry 36. The processing circuitry 36 may include a processor 38 and a memory 40. In particular, in addition to or instead of a processor, such as a central processing unit, and memory, the processing circuitry 36 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and / or control, e.g., one or more processors and / or processor cores and / or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and / or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 38 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and / or read from) the memory 40, which may comprise any kind of volatile and / or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and / or buffer memory and / or RAM (Random Access Memory) and / or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and / or optical memory and / or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

[0167] Thus, the network node 16 further has software 42 stored internally in, for example, memory 40, or stored in external memory (e.g., database, storage array, network storage device, etc.) accessible by the network node 16 via an external connection. The software 42 may include application 44 which may include software application configured to provide application functions, such as a functions associated with a service provided to UE 22.

[0168] The software 42 may be executable by the processing circuitry 36. The processing circuitry 36 may be configured to control any of the methods and / or processes described herein and / or to cause such methods, and / or processes to be performed, e.g., by network node 16. Processor 38 corresponds to one or more processors 38 for performing network node 16 functions described herein. The memory 40 is configured to store data, programmatic software code and / or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software 42 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 38 and / or processing circuitry 36, causes the processor 38 and / or processing circuitry 36 to perform the processes described herein with respect to network node 16. For example, processing circuitry 36 of the network node 16 may include a node management unit 24 which is configured to perform any step and / or task and / or process and / or method and / or feature described in the present disclosure, e.g., network node functions.

[0169] The communication system 10 further includes the UE 22 already referred to. The UE 22 may have hardware 46 that may include a radio interface 48 configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection 32 with a network node 16 serving a coverage area 18 in which the UE 22 is currently located. The radio interface 48 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more RF transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and / or one or more RF transceivers. The radio interface 48 includes an array of antennas 50 to radiate and receive signal(s) carrying electromagnetic waves.

[0170] The hardware 46 of the UE 22 further includes processing circuitry 52. The processing circuitry 52 may include a processor 54 and memory 56. In particular, in addition to or instead of a processor, such as a central processing unit, and memory, the processing circuitry 52 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and / or control, e.g., one or more processors and / or processor cores and / or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and / or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 54 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and / or read from) memory 56, which may comprise any kind of volatile and / or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and / or buffer memory and / or RAM (Random Access Memory) and / or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and / or optical memory and / or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

[0171] Thus, the UE 22 may further comprise software 58, which is stored in, for example, memory 56 at the UE 22, or stored in external memory (e.g., database, storage array, network storage device, etc.) accessible by the UE 22. The software 58 may be executable by the processing circuitry 52. The software 58 may include an application 60. The application 60 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the UE 22 and / or be configured to provide application client functions, e.g., associated with application 44.

[0172] The processing circuitry 52 may be configured to control any of the methods and / or processes described herein and / or to cause such methods, and / or processes to be performed, e.g., by UE 22. The processor 54 corresponds to one or more processors 54 for performing UE 22 functions described herein. The UE 22 includes memory 56 that is configured to store data, programmatic software code and / or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software 58 and / or the application 60 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 54 and / or processing circuitry 52, causes the processor 54 and / or processing circuitry 52 to perform the processes described herein with respect to UE 22. For example, the processing circuitry 52 of the user equipment 22 may include UE management unit 26 which is configured to perform any step and / or task and / or process and / or method and / or feature described in the present disclosure, e.g., UE functions.

[0173] In some embodiments, the inner workings of the network node 16 and UE 22 may be as shown in FIG. 6 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of FIG. 5.

[0174] The wireless connection 32 between the UE 22 and the network node 16 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. More precisely, the teachings of some of these embodiments may improve the data rate, latency, and / or power consumption and thereby provide benefits such as reduced user waiting time, relaxed restriction on file size, better responsiveness, extended battery lifetime, etc. In some embodiments, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve.

[0175] Although FIGS. 5 and 6 show various “units” such as node management unit 24 and UE management unit 26 as being within a respective processor, it is contemplated that these units may be implemented such that a portion of the unit is stored in a corresponding memory within the processing circuitry. In other words, the units may be implemented in hardware or in a combination of hardware and software within the processing circuitry.

[0176] FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a network node 16. One or more blocks described herein may be performed by one or more elements of network node 16 such as by one or more of processing circuitry 36 (including the node management unit 24), processor 38, and / or radio interface 30. Network node 16 such as via processing circuitry 36 and / or processor 38 and / or radio interface 30 is configured to determine (Block SI 00) an indication indicating an association of one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states and / or one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) with Set A beams and transmit (Block SI 02) the indication to the UE.

[0177] In some embodiments, the method further includes associating a set A beam identifier (ID) with a TCI state of the one or more TCI states by configuring the set A beam ID as part of a TCI state information element (IE), the associated set A beam ID being included in the indication.

[0178] In some other embodiments, the method further includes determining a list of set A beam IDs is associated with a TCI state by configuring the list of set A beam IDs as part of a TCI state IE, the list being included in the indication.

[0179] In some embodiments, the indication further indicates a set A beam IDs associated with a TCI state as a range of values.

[0180] In some other embodiments, a set A beam IDs associated with a TCI state is indicated dynamically via a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE).

[0181] FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a UE 22 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. One or more blocks described herein may be performed by one or more elements of UE 22 such as by one or more of processing circuitry 52 (including the UE management unit 26), processor 54, and / or radio interface 48. UE 22 such as via processing circuitry 52 and / or processor 54 and / or radio interface 48 is configured to receive (Block S 138) an indication indicating an association of one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states and / or one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) with Set A beams and perform (Block S140) one or more actions based on the indication.

[0182] In some embodiments, the method further includes one or both of: (A) associating, based on the indication, a set A beam identifier (ID) with a TCI state of the one or more TCI states, the set A beam ID being configured as part of a TCI state information element (IE); and (B) when the set A beam ID is configured in a TCI state, assuming that the set A beam ID is associated with that TCI state and / or a ‘tci-Stateld’ corresponding to the TCI state.

[0183] In some other embodiments, wherein the method further includes one or both of: (A) obtaining, from the indication, a list of set A beam IDs is associated with a TCI state by configuring the list of set A beam IDs as part of a TCI state IE; and (B) when the list of set A beam IDs is configured in the TCI state, assuming that the list of set A beam IDs is associated with the TCI state and / or the ‘tci-Stateld’ corresponding to the TCI state.

[0184] In some embodiments, the indication further indicates a set A beam IDs associated with a TCI state as a range of values.

[0185] In some other embodiments, a set A beam IDs associated with a TCI state are indicated dynamically via a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE).

[0186] In some embodiments, the one or more actions include one or more of performing UE-sided time domain beam prediction, triggering the network node to acknowledge one or more of the reported beams from Set A beams, determining which TCI states to apply and when, using the indication as assistance information for beam prediction, and using measurements on other signals associated with a TCI state to facilitate the beam prediction and / or measurements on an SSB or an associated tracking reference signal (TRS).

[0187] FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a UE 22 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. One or more blocks described herein may be performed by one or more elements of UE 22 such as by one or more of processing circuitry 52 (including the UE management unit 26), processor 54, and / or radio interface 48. UE 22 such as via processing circuitry 52 and / or processor 54 and / or radio interface 48 is configured to receive (Block SI 08), from the network node, an indication indicating the association of one or both of one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states and one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) with one or more reference signals of a first set of reference signals. UE 22 is also configured to perform (Block SI 10) one or more actions based on the indication.

[0188] In some embodiments, one or more actions include associating, based on the indication, one or more reference signal identifiers (IDs) corresponding to the one or more reference signals of the first set with at least one TCI state of the one or more TCI states. The one or more reference signal IDs are configured as part of a TCI state information element (IE).

[0189] In some other embodiments, the one or more reference signal IDs are indicated via Radio Resource Control (RRC).

[0190] In some embodiments, the one or more actions include obtaining, from the indication, a list of reference signal IDs associated with at least one TCI state. The list of reference signal IDs is configured as part of a TCI state IE.

[0191] In some other embodiments, the indication further indicates a Quasi Co-Located (QCL) relation associated with the first set of reference signals. The QCL relation is indicated using a QCL information IE.

[0192] In some embodiments, the indication is included in one of a Channel State Information (CSI) report configuration IE, a CSI aperiodic trigger state IE, and a CSI associated report configuration information IE.

[0193] In some other embodiments, one or more actions include associating, based on the indication, one or more reference signal identifiers (IDs) corresponding to the one or more reference signals of the first set with at least one TCI state of the one or more TCI states. The one or more reference signal IDs are signaled as part of a first Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE).

[0194] In some embodiments, a first TCI state ID associated with one TCI state corresponds to a first reference signal ID and a second reference signal ID of the one or more reference signal IDs.

[0195] In some other embodiments, the indication indicates the association of the one or more SSBs with the first set of references signals by using an SSB index.

[0196] In some embodiments, the first set of reference signals includes Set A beams.

[0197] In some other embodiments, the indication indicates the first set of references signals and a second set of reference signals. The first set and the second set are defined for one or both of a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) and a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH).

[0198] In some embodiments, the second set of reference signals includes Set B beams.

[0199] In some other embodiments, the association of the one or more TCI states corresponds to associating one or more TCI state IDs of the one or more TCI states with a CSI Reference Signal (RS) resource set.

[0200] In some embodiments, the one or more actions include activating or deactivating, using a second MAC CE, one or both of the first set of reference signals and the one or more TCI states for a resource set or a downlink channel.

[0201] In some other embodiments, the one or more actions include one or more of: (A) performing UE-sided time domain reference signal prediction of one or more reference signals from the first set; (B) reporting the predicted one or more reference signals from the first set to the network node; (C) receiving from the network node an acknowledgement for the reported of the predicted one or more of references signals from the first set; (D) determining which of at least one TCI state to apply and when to apply the at least one TCI state based on the indication; (E) using the indication as assistance information for reference signal prediction; and (F) using measurements on other signals associated with one or more of: (a) at least one TCI state for reference signal prediction; (b) one or more measurements on at least one SSB; and (c) one or more measurements on a tracking reference signal (TRS).

[0202] FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an exemplary process in a network node 16. One or more blocks described herein may be performed by one or more elements of network node 16 such as by one or more of processing circuitry 36 (including the node management unit 24), processor 38, and / or radio interface 30. Network node 16 such as via processing circuitry 36 and / or processor 38 and / or radio interface 30 is configured to determine (Block SI 12) the indication indicating the association of one or both of one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states and one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) with one or more reference signals of a first set of reference signals.

[0203] Network node 16 is also configured to transmit (Block SI 14) the indication to the UE 22.

[0204] In some embodiments, indication further indicates the association of one or more reference signal identifiers (IDs) corresponding to one or more reference signals of the first set with at least one TCI state of the one or more TCI states. The one or more reference signal IDs are configured as part of a TCI state information element (IE).

[0205] In some other embodiments, the method further includes indicating the one or more reference signal IDs via Radio Resource Control (RRC).

[0206] In some embodiments, the indication further indicates a list of reference signal IDs associated with at least one TCI state. The list of reference signal IDs is configured as part of a TCI state IE.

[0207] In some other embodiments, the indication further indicates a Quasi Co-Located (QCL) relation associated with the first set of reference signals, The QCL relation is indicated using a QCL information IE.

[0208] In some embodiments, the indication is included in one of a Channel State Information (CSI) report configuration IE, a CSI aperiodic trigger state IE, and a CSI associated report configuration information IE.

[0209] In some other embodiments, the indication further indicates the association of one or more reference signal identifiers (IDs) corresponding to the one or more reference signals of the first set with at least one TCI state of the one or more TCI states. The one or more reference signal IDs being signaled as part of a first Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE).

[0210] In some embodiments, a first TCI state ID associated with one TCI state corresponds to a first reference signal ID and a second reference signal ID of the one or more reference signal IDs.

[0211] In some other embodiments, the indication indicates the association of the one or more SSBs with the first set of references signals by using an SSB index.

[0212] In some embodiments, the first set of reference signals includes Set A beams.

[0213] In some other embodiments, the indication indicates the first set of references signals and a second set of reference signals. The first set and the second set are defined for one or both of a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) and a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH).

[0214] In some embodiments, the second set of reference signals includes Set B beams.

[0215] In some other embodiments, the association of the one or more TCI states corresponds to associating one or more TCI state IDs of the one or more TCI states with a CSI Reference Signal (RS) resource set.

[0216] In some embodiments, the method further includes causing activation or deactivation, using a second MAC CE, of one or both of the first set of reference signals and the one or more TCI states for a resource set or a downlink channel.

[0217] In some other embodiments, the method further includes acknowledging one or more reported references signals from the first set.

[0218] Having described the general process flow of arrangements of the disclosure and having provided examples of hardware and software arrangements for implementing the processes and functions of the disclosure, the sections below provide details and examples of arrangements for a method for indicating TCI state for Set A beams.

[0219] Although the terminology ‘beam’ is used throughout the present disclosure, other alternative terminology may be used in 3GPP specifications to describe ‘beam’. Such alternative terminology equivalent to ‘beam’ include ‘spatial domain filter’, ‘spatial filter’, etc. Similarly, the use of terminologies ‘Tx beam’ (or ‘Rx beam’) in this disclosure is non-limiting; other alternative terminology may be used in 3 GPP specifications in place of ‘Tx beam’ or ‘Rx beam’. Such alternative terminology equivalent to ‘Tx (or Rx) beam’ include ‘spatial domain transmit (or receive) filter’, ‘spatial domain filter for transmission (or reception)’, ‘Tx (or Rx) spatial filter’, ‘spatial Tx (or Rx) filter’, etc.

[0220] In some embodiments, the term “Set A beams” is used and may refer to a set of signals such as reference signals or beams, or any other type of signals. Similarly, the term “Set B beams” is used and may refer to a set of signals such as reference signals or beams, or any other type of signals. In some embodiments, the term “association of resources” is used and may refer to association of signals (e.g., reference signals, Set A beams, Set B beams, etc.) with other resources (e.g., SSBs) and states (e.g., TCI states), etc.

[0221] Association part of the TCI state IE

[0222] In one embodiment, a set A beam identifier (ID) is associated with a TCI state by configuring the set A beam ID as part of the TCI state information element (IE). In a nonlimiting first example, a change introduced to the TCI-State IE specified in 3 GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.331 V17.6.0 in order to form an association between a set A beam ID and a TCI state. In some embodiments, when a set A beam ID is configured in a TCI state, the UE 22 may assume that the set A beam ID is associated with that TCI state and / or the ‘tci-Stateld’ corresponding to that TCI state. This means that when the set A beam corresponding to the set A beam ID is indicated as a predicted beam at a future time instance, the UE 22 may assume that the reference signal with the reference signal ID (i.e., either ‘NZP-CSI-RS-Resourceld’ or ‘SSB-Index’) with qcl-Type set to ‘typeD’ in the associated TCI state is used as the spatial QCL source reference signal for that set A beam. That is the set A beam transmitted by the network node 16 at the future time instance is received with the same Rx beam as the one used to receive spatial QCL source reference signal.

[0223] The following is the first nonlimiting example of associating a Beam ID from Set A with a TCI state.

[0224] TCI-State information element

[0225] - ASN1 START

[0226] - TAG-TCI-STATE-START

[0227] TCI-State ::= SEQUENCE { tci-Stateld TCI-Stateld, qcl-Typel QCL-Info, qcl-Type2 QCL-Info

[0228] OPTIONAL, — Need R

[0229] [[ additionalPCI-rl7 AdditionalPCIIndex-r 17

[0230] OPTIONAL, - Need R pathlossReferenceRS-Id -rl7 PathlossReferenceRS-Id-rl7

[0231] OPTIONAL, - Cond JointTCIl ul-powerControl-r 17 Uplink-powerControlId-r 17 OPTIONAL - Cond JointTCI ]]

[0232] [[

[0233] SetAbeamID-rl9 INTEGER (L.maxNrofSetAbeams), OPTIONAL, — Need R

[0234] QCL-Info ::= SEQUENCE { cell ServCelllndex OPTIONAL,

[0235] — Need R bwp-Id BWP-Id

[0236] OPTIONAL, - Cond CSI-RS-Indicated referencesignal CHOICE { csi-rs NZP-CSI-RS-Resourceld, ssb SSB-Index

[0237] }, qcl-Type ENUMERATED {typeA, typeB, typeC, typeD},

[0238] }

[0239] - TAG-TCI-STATE-STOP

[0240] - ASN1STOP

[0241] In another embodiment, a list of set A beam identifiers (IDs) is associated with a TCI state by configuring the list of set A beam IDs as part of the TCI state IE. In a nonlimiting second example, a change is introduced to the TCI-State IE specified in 3GPP TS 38.331 V17.6.0 in order to form an association between a list of set A beam IDs and a TCI state. When a list of set A beam IDs is configured in a TCI state, the UE 22 may assume that the list of set A beam IDs is associated with that TCI state and / or the ‘tci- Stateld’ corresponding to that TCI state. This means that when any one of the set A beams corresponding to one of the set A beam IDs in the list of set A beam IDs is indicated as a predicted beam at a future time instance, the UE 22 may assume that the reference signal with the reference signal ID (i.e., either ‘NZP-CSI-RS-Resourceld’ or ‘SSB-Index’) with qcl-Type set to ‘typeD’ in the associated TCI state is used as the spatial QCL source reference signal for that set A beam. That is, the set A beam, corresponding to one of the set A beam IDs in the list of set A beam IDs, transmitted by the network at the future time instance is received with the same Rx beam as the one used to receive spatial QCL source reference signal.

[0242] Although the Set A beam IDs is described as being associated with a TCI state, the embodiments are not limited as such (e.g., as in the second example), and the Set A, association, and / or TCI may be signaled as a list of integer values. For example, in an alternative embodiment, the Set A beam IDs associated with a TCI state may be signaled as a range of values to reduce the signaling overhead. Some examples of this reduced signaling overhead are provided below:

[0243] • In one example, instead of signaling a list of set A beam IDs, the first set A beam ID and last set A beam ID may be signaled within a TCI state. If the first set A beam ID is 3 and the last set A beam ID is 7, then set A beam IDs may be associated with the TCI state.

[0244] In another example, instead of signaling a list of set A beam IDs, the first set A beam ID, the interval between two successive set A beam IDs, and the last set A beam ID may be signaled within a TCI state. If the first set A beam ID is 3, the interval between two successive set A beam IDs is 2, and the last set A beam ID is 7, then set A beam IDs may be associated with the TCI state.

[0245] The following is the second example of associating a list of Beam IDs from Set A with a TCI state:

[0246] TCI-State information element

[0247] - ASN1 START

[0248] - TAG-TCI-STATE-START

[0249] TCI-State ::= SEQUENCE { tci-Stateld TCI-Stateld, qcl-Typel QCL-Info, qcl-Type2 QCL-Info

[0250] OPTIONAL, — Need R

[0251] [[ additionalPCI-rl 7 AdditionalPCIIndex-r 17

[0252] OPTIONAL, - Need R pathlossReferenceRS-Id-rl7 PathlossReferenceRS-Id-rl7

[0253] OPTIONAL, - Cond JointTCIl ul-powerControl-r 17 Uplink-powerControlId-r 17 OPTIONAL - Cond JointTCI

[0254] [[

[0255] ListsetAbeamID-rl9 SEQUENCE (SIZE

[0256] (l...maxNrofSetAbeamsPerTCIState)) INTEGER (L.maxNrofSetAbeams), OPTIONAL, — Need R

[0257] ]]

[0258] QCL-Info ::= SEQUENCE { cell ServCelllndex OPTIONAL,

[0259] — Need R bwp-Id BWP-Id

[0260] OPTIONAL, - Cond CSLRS-Indicated referencesignal CHOICE { csi-rs NZP-CSI-RS-Resourceld, ssb S SB -Index

[0261] }, qcl-Type ENUMERATED {typeA, typeB, typeC, typeD},

[0262] - TAG-TCI-STATE-STOP

[0263] - ASN1STOP

[0264] In another embodiment, the set A beam ID(s) associated with a TCI state are indicated dynamically via a MAC CE. For example, when TCI state A with ID A is activated in a MAC CE, another one or more fields in the MAC CE can provide the set A beam IDs associated with TCI state A. FIG. 11 shows an example of a MAC CE where TCI states corresponding to TCI states IDs 1, 2, . . ., N are activated by the MAC CE. In this example: two Set A Beam IDs (e.g., Set A Beam 101,0 and Set A Beam IDi ) are associated with TCI state with TCI state ID 1 two Set A Beam IDs (e.g., Set A Beam ID2,o and Set A Beam ID2,I) are associated with TCI state with TCI state ID 2

[0265] • two Set A Beam IDs (e.g., Set A Beam IDN,O and Set A Beam IDN,I) are associated with TCI state with TCI state ID N

[0266] Although two Set A Beam IDs may be associated with each activated TCI state in the example of FIG. 11, this embodiment is non-limiting, and any number of Set A Beam IDs can be associated with each activated TCI state in the MAC CE. This embodiment may be useful when the beams in Set B are changing and there is a need to dynamically associate each activated TCI state with one or more Set A Beam IDs.

[0267] Association part of the QCL state IE

[0268] In one alternative embodiment, the set A beams QCL relation are indicated as part of the QCL-Info IE. In this embodiment, the IE is extended to support that a reference signal can be predicted and not measured. The UE 22 can also receive the beam ID for a measured beam in this alternative, enabling the UE 22 to use such information as part of its model inference (set B beams). This information would typically be part of qcl-Typel but could also be part of type2 in case the UE 22 is collecting data for training / monitoring the beam prediction model. The following is an example association.

[0269] - ASN1 START

[0270] - TAG-TCI-STATE-START

[0271] TCI-State ::= SEQUENCE { tci-Stateld TCI-Stateld, qcl-Typel QCL-Info, qcl-Type2 QCL-Info OPTIONAL, - Need R

[0272] QCL-Info ::= SEQUENCE { cell ServCelllndex OPTIONAL, - Need R bwp-Id BWP-Id OPTIONAL, - Cond CSI-RS-

[0273] Indicated referencesignal CHOICE { csi-rs NZP-CSI-RS-Resourceld, ssb SSB -Index

[0274] SetA-beamIDs

[0275] Sequence(SIZE(l : :MaxSetABeamIDs) of Beam-ID),

[0276] }, qcl-Type ENUMERATED {typeA, typeB, typeC, typeD},

[0277] SetB-beamID Integer, — Cond

[0278] SetA-beamIDs

[0279] Beam-ID { beamID

[0280] Integer, Optional beamIDinterval, beamIDrange Optional, — Cond beamID beamIDrange { startID, Integer stopID, Ingeger,

[0281] - TAG-TCI-STATE-STOP

[0282] - ASN1STOP

[0283] Association part of the CSI-ReportConfig IE

[0284] In one alternative embodiment, the association between a TCI state and a Set A beam is configured in CSI-ReportConfig IE, e.g., as specified in 3GPP TS 38.331 V17.6.0. In one embodiment, a list of TCI states is introduced, where each TCI state in the list of TCI states is associated with one beam in the Set A of beams (associated with that CSI-ReportConfig IE). In one related embodiment, the TCI state on location X in the list of TCI states is associated with the beam in Set A of beams with beam ID = X. In one example, the list of TCI states may be associated with a CSI-ReportConfig IE. One benefit with this solution is that the association between Set A of beams and TCI states is configured per report setting, which means that the network can configured multiple different Report settings with different association between Set A of beams and TCI states and trigger the Report setting that matches the current SSB / TCI state configuration of the base station (which could be useful for example if the base station perform cell shaping by changing the SSB beam shapes). In one example for a UE 22 with 4 Set A beams (beaml,beam2,beam3 and beam4), the highlighted parameter “qcl-info-setA-beams” can e.g. be [TCI state ID1, TCI state ID1, TCI state ID2, TCI state ID2], which then could mean that beaml and beam2 from Set A are QCL with TCI state 1, and that beam3 and beam4 from Set A are QCL with TCI state 2.

[0285] The following is another example where a list of TCI states is configured and associated with Set A of beams in an CSI-ReportConfig IE (or Report setting)

[0286] - ASNISTART

[0287] - TAG-CSI-REPORTCONEIG-START

[0288] CSI-Reportconfig ::= SEQUENCE ) reportconfigld CSI-ReportConfigld, qcl-info-SetA-beams SEQUENCE (SIZE(l..m maxNrofSetA beams)) OF TCI-Stateld

[0289] },

[0290] Association part of the CSI-AperiodicTriggerState IE

[0291] In another alternative embodiment, for aperiodic beam prediction reports, the association between a TCI state and a Set A beam is configured in CSL AperiodicTriggerState IE, or CSI-AssociatedReportConfiglnfo IE, as specified in TS 38.331. In one alternative embodiment, a list of TCI states is introduced, where each TCI state in the list of TCI states is associated with one beam in the Set A of beams (associated with that CSI-AperiodicTriggerState IE / CSI-AssociatedReportConfiglnfo IE). In one related embodiment, the TCI state on location X in the list of TCI states is associated with the beam in Set A of beams with beam ID = X. In an example, the list of TCI state may be associated with CSI-AperiodicTriggerState IE / CSI-AssociatedReportConfiglnfo IE. One benefit with this solution is that the association between Set A of beams and TCI states is configured per aperiodic trigger state, which means that the network can configured multiple different aperiodic trigger states with different association between Set A of beams and TCI states, and trigger the aperiodic trigger state that matches the current SSB / TCI state configuration of the base station (which could be useful for example if the base station perform cell shaping by changing the SSB beam shapes).

[0292] The following is the example where a list of TCI states is configured and associated with Set A of beams in an CSI-AssociatedReportConfiglnfo IE. - ASN1 START

[0293] - TAG-CSI-APERIODICTRIGGERSTATELIST-START

[0294] CSI-AperiodicTriggerStateList : := SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrOfCSI- AperiodicTriggers)) OF CSI-AperiodicTriggerState

[0295] CSI-AperiodicTriggerState ::= SEQUENCE { associatedReportConfiglnfoList SEQUENCE (SIZE(l..maxNrofReportConfigPerAperiodicTrigger)) OF CSI- AssociatedReportConfiglnfo,

[0296] CSI-AssociatedReportConfiglnfo ::= SEQUENCE { reportConfigld CSI-ReportConfigld, qcl-info-SetA-beams SEQUENCE (SIZE(l..m maxNrofSetA beams)) OF TCI-Stateld

[0297] }

[0298] - TAG-CSI-APERIODICTRIGGERSTATELIST-STOP

[0299] - ASN1STOP

[0300] In one embodiment, instead of directly configuring a link between the Set A beams and TCI states (as shown in the previous embodiments), the Set A beams is associated with SSBs (this may, for example, be implemented by changing “TCI state ID” to “SSB index” (i.e. SSBRI)).

[0301] Association of the PDSCH

[0302] In another alternative embodiment, the list of Set A beams and the list of Set B beams are defined for PDSCH. With the list of TCI states defined for Set A and Set B, the corresponding beams are indexed. Thus, using such lists of TCI states, the CSI-RS measurement and reporting configurations can refer to those TCI states via the qcl-info IE).

[0303] One example of the signaling is shown below, where the network node 16 semi- statically provides to the UE 22 with the Set A and Set B configurations via the RRC signaling of PDSCH configuration.

[0304] Similar to the existing configuration of tci-StatesToAddModList, setA-tci- StatesToAddModList and setB-tci-StatesToAddModList provide a list of Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) states indicating a transmission configuration which includes QCL-relationships between the DL RSs in one RS set and the PDSCH DMRS ports (see TS 38.214

[0019] , clause 5.1.5). If unifiedTCI-StateType is configured for the serving cell, no element in this list is configured.

[0305] - ASN1 START

[0306] - TAG-PDSCH-CONFIG-START

[0307] PDSCH-Config ::= SEQUENCE ) tci-StatesToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE(L.maxNrofTCI-States))

[0308] OF TCI-State OPTIONAL, - Need N tci-StatesToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE(L.maxNrofTCI-States))

[0309] OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, - Need N setA-tci-StatesToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE(l..maxNrof-

[0310] SetA-TCI-States)) OF TCI-State OPTIONAL, — Need N setA-tci-StatesToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE(l..maxNrof-

[0311] SetA-TCI-States)) OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, — Need N setB-tci-StatesToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE(l..maxNrof-

[0312] SetB-TCI-States)) OF TCI-State OPTIONAL, — Need N setB-tci-StatesToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE(l..maxNrof-

[0313] SetB-TCI-States)) OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, — Need N dl-OrJointTCI-StateList-rl7 CHOICE { explicitlist SEQUENCE { dl-OrJointTCI-StateToAddModList-rl7 SEQUENCE (SIZE

[0314] (L.maxNrofTCI-States)) OF TCI-State

[0315] OPTIONAL, - Need N dl-OrJointTCI-StateToReleaseList-rl7 SEQUENCE (SIZE

[0316] (L.maxNrofTCI-States)) OF TCI-Stateld

[0317] OPTIONAL, - Need N dl-OrJoint-SetA-TCI-StateToAddModList-r!7 SEQUENCE (SIZE (L.maxNrof-SetA-TCI-States)) OF TCI-State

[0318] OPTIONAL, — Need N dl-OrJoint-SetA-TCI-StateToReleaseList-r!7 SEQUENCE (SIZE (l..maxNrof-SetA-TCI-States)) OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, - Need N dl-OrJoint-SetB-TCI-StateToAddModList-r!7 SEQUENCE (SIZE (L.maxNrof-SetB-TCI-States)) OF TCI-State OPTIONAL, — Need N dl-OrJoint-SetB-TCI-StateToReleaseList-r!7 SEQUENCE (SIZE (L.maxNrof-SetB-TCI-States)) OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL - Need N

[0319] }, unifiedTCI-StateRef-rl7 ServingCellAndBWP-Id-rl7

[0320] } OPTIONAL, — Need R

[0321] In one variation of the above, Set A or Set B reuses the existing list of TCI-states, thus only configuration of one set need to be added. For example, if Set A reuses the existing list of TCI-states, then only the configuration of Set B is added to the PDSCH configuration as shown below.

[0322] - ASN1 START

[0323] - TAG-PDSCH-CONFIG-START

[0324] PDSCH-Config ::= SEQUENCE { tci- StatesTo AddModLi st SEQUENCE (SIZE(1..maxNrofFCI- States))

[0325] OF TCI-State OPTIONAL, - Need N tci - StatesToRel easeLi st SEQUENCE (SIZE(1..maxNrofFCI-States))

[0326] OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, - Need N setB-tci-StatesToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE(l..maxNrof-

[0327] SetB-TCI-States)) OF TCI-State OPTIONAL, — Need N setB-tci-StatesToReleaseList SEQUENCE (SIZE(l..maxNrof-

[0328] SetB-TCI-States)) OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, — Need N dl -Or J ointT CI- StateLi st-r 17 CHOICE { explicitlist SEQUENCE { dl-OrJointTCI-StateToAddModList-rl7 SEQUENCE (SIZE (E.maxNrofTCI-States)) OF TCI-State OPTIONAL, - Need N dl-OrJointTCI-StateToReleaseList-rl7 SEQUENCE (SIZE (L.maxNrofTCI-States)) OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, - Need N dl-OrJoint-SetB-TCI-StateToAddModList-r!7 SEQUENCE (SIZE

[0329] (L.maxNrof-SetB-TCI-States)) OF TCI-State OPTIONAL, - Need N dl-OrJoint-SetB-TCI-StateToReleaseList-r!7 SEQUENCE (SIZE (L.maxNrof-SetB-TCI-States)) OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL - Need N }, unifiedTCI-StateRef-rl7 ServingCellAndBWP-Id-rl7

[0330] }

[0331] OPTIONAL, — Need R

[0332] In another embodiment, the list of Set A beams and Set B beams are defined for PDCCH. The beams for PDCCH can be the same as, or different from, those of PDSCH, depending on the configuration. The beams for PDCCH are defined via the lists of TCI states for the corresponding CORESET. As an example shown below, network node 16 provides to the UE 22 the Set A and Set B of the CORESET semi-statically via the RRC signalling.

[0333] For setA-tci-StatesPDCCH-ToAddList, it provides a subset of the TCI states defined in pdsch-Config, either with tci-StatesToAddModList (or setA-tci- StatesToAddModList. if signaled) or dl-OrJointTCI-StateList (or dl-OrJoint-SetA-TCI- StateToAddModList. if signaled), included in the BWP-DownlinkDedicated corresponding to the serving cell and to the DL bandwidth part (BWP) to which the ControlResourceSet belong to. They are used for providing QCL relationships between the DL RS(s) in one RS Set (TCI-State) and the PDCCH DMRS ports. The network configures at most maxNrof- SetA-TCI-States entries.

[0334] For setB-tci-StatesPDCCH-ToAddList, it provides a subset of the TCI states defined in pdsch-Config, either with setB-tci-StatesToAddModList or dl-OrJoint-SetB- TCI-StateToAddModList, included in the BWP-DownlinkDedicated corresponding to the serving cell and to the DL BWP to which the ControlResourceSet belong to. They are used for providing QCL relationships between the DL RS(s) in one RS Set (TCLState) and the PDCCH DMRS ports. The network configures at most maxNrof-SetB-TCI-States entries.

[0335] If followUnifiedTCI-State is set to enabled, for PDCCH reception on this CORESET, the UE 22 applies the "indicated" DL only TCI or joint TCI.

[0336] ControlResourceSet ::= SEQUENCE { controlResourceSetld ControlResourceSetld, tci-StatesPDCCH-ToAddList SEQUENCE(SIZE (L.maxNrofFCI-

[0337] StatesPDCCH)) OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, - Cond NotSIB-initialBWP tci-StatesPDCCH-ToReleaseList SEQUENCE(SIZE (1. maxNrofTCI-

[0338] StatesPDCCH)) OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, - Cond NotSIB-initialBWP setA-tci-StatesPDCCH-ToAddList SEQUENCE(SIZE (L.maxNrof-

[0339] SetA-TCI-StatesPDCCH)) OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, - Cond NotSIB-initialBWP setA-tci-StatesPDCCH-ToReleaseList SEQUENCE(SIZE (L.maxNrof-

[0340] SetA-TCI-StatesPDCCH)) OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, - Cond NotSIB-initialBWP setB-tci-StatesPDCCH-ToAddList SEQUENCE(SIZE (L.maxNrof-

[0341] SetB-TCI-StatesPDCCH)) OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, - Cond NotSIB-initialBWP setB-tci-StatesPDCCH-ToReleaseList SEQUENCE(SIZE (L.maxNrof-

[0342] SetB-TCI-StatesPDCCH)) OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, - Cond NotSIB-initialBWP tci-PresentlnDCI ENUMERATED {enabled}

[0343] OPTIONAL, - Need S

[0344] [[ followUnifiedTCI-State-rl7 ENUMERATED {enabled}

[0345] OPTIONAL — Need R

[0346] ]]

[0347] }

[0348] In one variation of the above, Set A or Set B reuses the existing list of TCLstates, thus only configuration of one set need to be added. For example, if Set A reuses the existing list of TCI-states, then only the configuration of Set B is added to the CORESET configuration as included below.

[0349] ControlResourceSet ::= SEQUENCE } controlResourceSetld ControlResourceSetld, tci-StatesPDCCH-ToAddList SEQUENCE(SIZE (L.maxNrofTCI- StatesPDCCH)) OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, - Cond NotSIB-initialBWP tci-StatesPDCCH-ToReleaseList SEQUENCE(SIZE (1. maxNrofTCI- StatesPDCCH)) OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, - Cond NotSIB-initialBWP setB-tci-StatesPDCCH-ToAddList SEQUENCE(SIZE (L.maxNrof- SetB-TCI-StatesPDCCH)) OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, - Cond NotSIB-initialBWP setB-tci-StatesPDCCH-ToReleaseList SEQUENCE(SIZE (L.maxNrof- SetB-TCI-StatesPDCCH)) OF TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, - Cond NotSIB-initialBWP tci-PresentlnDCI ENUMERATED {enabled}

[0350] OPTIONAL, - Need S

[0351] [[ followUnifiedTCI-State-rl7 ENUMERATED {enabled}

[0352] OPTIONAL — Need R

[0353] ]]

[0354] }

[0355] In one alternative embodiment, the TCI association can be changed for an entire CSLRS resource set at once, e.g., previous TCI association for the CSI-RS resource set is thus overwritten. Through such reconfiguration, the “same” beams can effectively and efficiently be “reused” with new beam directions, thereby avoiding a large set of resource configuration IES to be transmitted. Each CSLRS resource within the resource set would typically be used / correspond to one Set A beam. Hence, if all beams are given the same TCI association (as in the example below), the resource set is preferably used by the gNB to sweep several similar Set A beam directions (within the beam width of one SSB beam).

[0356] The following is an example where a TCI association is changed simultaneously for all beams in a resource set.

[0357] - ASN1 START

[0358] - TAG-NZP-CSI-RS-RESOURCESET-TCI-START

[0359] NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet-TCI ::= SEQUENCE { nzp-CSLResourceSetld NZP-CSLRS-ResourceSetld, qcl -InfoP eri odi cC S I-RS - TCI-Stateld OPTIONAL, - Cond Periodic qcl-Info TCI-Stateld

[0360] }

[0361] - TAG-NZP-CSI-RS-RESOURCESET-TCI-STOP

[0362] - ASN1STOP

[0363] Further, the following is an example where a TCI association is changed simultaneously for all beams in a resource set.

[0364] - ASN1 START

[0365] - TAG-NZP-CSI-RS-RESOURCESET-TCI-START

[0366] NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet-TCI ::= SEQUENCE { nzp-CSLResourceSetld NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSetld, qcl-InfoPeriodicCSI-RS SEQUENCE (SIZE(l..maxNrofNZP-CSI-

[0367] RS-ResourcesPerSet)) OF TCI-Stateld

[0368] OPTIONAL, — Cond Periodic qcl-Info SEQUENCE (SIZE(l..maxNrofAP-

[0369] CSI-RS-ResourcesPerSet)) OF TCI-Stateld

[0370] OPTIONAL — Cond Aperiodic

[0371] }

[0372] - TAG-NZP-CSI-RS-RESOURCESET-TCI-STOP

[0373] - ASN1STOP

[0374] - TAG-CSLAPERIODICTRIGGERSTATELIST-STOP

[0375] - ASN1STOP

[0376] There may be at least two variants of this embodiment. In one variant, the TCI association applies to (i.e. changes / updates) the NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet, i.e. any time the NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet is referred to in a measurement or reporting configuration, the TCI association applies, but not if any other NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet containing the same NZP-CSI-RS-Resource is referred to. In the other variant, the TCI association applies directly to (i.e. changes / updates) the individual resources in the NZP-CSI-RS- ResourceSet, meaning that if the same NZP-CSI-RS-Resourceld is referred to in some other NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet, it applies also when the resource is used in that NZP- CSI-RS-ResourceSet.

[0377] In one sub-embodiment, the choice between the two variants is determined by an extra element in NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet-TCI. In another sub-embodiment, the extra element is instead part of NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSet setup. In yet another version, a new type of resource set is introduced in the specifications (e.g. NZP-CSI-RS-TCIResourceSet ), where the new type has an ID and can contain resources similar to an existing NZP-CSI- RS-ResourceSet, but where the new type has a different default for the choice of variant (or the new type only supports one variant and the existing type

[0378] In another embodiment, “resource set” in the preceding embodiments is replaced by “resource setting”, i.e. the TCI association for all resources is a resource setting an be set efficiently simultaneously (without having to repeat the TCI association for each resource).

[0379] MAC CE for activation or deactivation of Set A beams

[0380] For DL signal / channel, MAC CE can be used to activate or deactivate the TCI states for CSI-RS / CSI-IM resource set, or PDSCH and PDCCH. The MAC subheader carries the information on the TCI states Activation / Deactivation.

[0381] CSI-RS / CSI-IM

[0382] For CSI-RS / CSI-IM, the MAC CE is:

[0383] • SP CSI-RS / CSI-IM Resource Set Activation / Deactivation MAC CE.

[0384] When Set A and Set B are defined for AI / ML based beam prediction, the TCI state IDs in this MAC CE refers to those associated with Set B beams, i.e., those that are used for CSI measurements. Thus gNB need to indicate to the UE 22 this information using one of the following methods:

[0385] (a) Using RRC information fields to indicate that the SP CSI-RS / CSI- IM Resource Set is activated / deactivated for Set B for AI / ML based beam management, whenever Set B is configured; or

[0386] (b) Using a MAC CE field to indicate whether the TCI state IDs correspond to the Set B configured by RRC signaling. This is useful when Set B is provided in addition to an existing list of TCI states (which does not differentiate Set A vs Set B); or

[0387] (c) Define a new MAC CE, together with a new logical channel ID (LCID), for signaling the Set B TCI states for SP CSLRS and / or CSLIM.

[0388] PDSCH and PDCCH For PDSCH or PDCCH reception, the following MAC CEs are defined:

[0389] • For PDSCH: o TCI States Activation / Deactivation for UE-specific PDSCH MAC CE o Enhanced TCI States Activation / Deactivation for UE-specific PDSCH MAC CE

[0390] • For PDCCH: o TCI State Indication for UE-specific PDCCH MAC CE o Enhanced TCI States Indication for UE-specific PDCCH MAC CE

[0391] When Set A and Set B are defined for AI / ML based beam prediction, the TCI state IDs in the MAC CEs for PDSCH or PDCCH refer to those associated with Set A beams, i.e., those that are used for PDSCH or PDCCH reception. Thus network node 16 may indicate to the UE 22 this information using one of the following methods:

[0392] • Using RRC information fields to indicate that the TCI states ID in the PDSCH or PDCCH related MAC CE is associated with Set A for AI / ML based beam management, whenever Set A is configured; or

[0393] • Using a MAC CE field to indicate whether the TCI state IDs correspond to the Set A configured by RRC signaling. This is useful when Set A is provided in addition to an existing list of TCI states (which does not differentiate Set A vs Set B); or

[0394] • Define a new MAC CE, together with a new logical channel ID (LCID), for signaling the TCI states associated with Set A for PDSCH or PDCCH.

[0395] The following is a nonlimiting list of example embodiments.

[0396] Embodiment Al . A method implemented in a network node configured to communicate with a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: determining an indication indicating an association of one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states and / or one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) with Set A beams; and transmitting the indication to the UE.

[0397] Embodiment A2. The method of Embodiment Al, wherein the method further includes: associating a set A beam identifier (ID) with a TCI state of the one or more TCI states by configuring the set A beam ID as part of a TCI state information element (IE), the associated set A beam ID being included in the indication.

[0398] Embodiment A3. The method of any one of Embodiments Al and A2, wherein the method further includes: determining a list of set A beam IDs is associated with a TCI state by configuring the list of set A beam IDs as part of a TCI state IE, the list being included in the indication.

[0399] Embodiment A4. The method of any one of Embodiments A1-A3, wherein the indication further indicates a set A beam IDs associated with a TCI state as a range of values.

[0400] Embodiment A5. The method of any one of Embodiments A1-A4, wherein a set A beam IDs associated with a TCI state is indicated dynamically via a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE).

[0401] Embodiment Bl. A network node configured to communicate with a user equipment (UE), the network node configured to, and / or comprising a radio interface and / or processing circuitry configured to: determine an indication indicating an association of one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states and / or one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) with Set A beams; and transmit the indication to the UE.

[0402] Embodiment B2. The network node of Embodiment Bl, wherein the network node is further configured to: associate a set A beam identifier (ID) with a TCI state of the one or more TCI states by configuring the set A beam ID as part of a TCI state information element (IE), the associated set A beam ID being included in the indication.

[0403] Embodiment B3. The network node of any one of Embodiments Bl and B2, wherein the network node is further configured to: determine a list of set A beam IDs is associated with a TCI state by configuring the list of set A beam IDs as part of a TCI state IE, the list being included in the indication.

[0404] Embodiment B4. The network node of any one of Embodiments B1-B3, wherein the indication further indicates a set A beam IDs associated with a TCI state as a range of values.

[0405] Embodiment B5. The network node of any one of Embodiments B1-B4, wherein a set A beam IDs associated with a TCI state is indicated dynamically via a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE).

[0406] Embodiment Cl . A method implemented in a user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a user equipment network node, the method comprising: receiving an indication indicating an association of one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states and / or one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) with Set A beams; and performing one or more actions based on the indication.

[0407] Embodiment C2. The method of Embodiment Cl, wherein the method further includes one or both of: associating, based on the indication, a set A beam identifier (ID) with a TCI state of the one or more TCI states, the set A beam ID being configured as part of a TCI state information element (IE); and when the set A beam ID is configured in a TCI state, assuming that the set A beam ID is associated with that TCI state and / or a ‘tci-Stateld’ corresponding to the TCI state.

[0408] Embodiment C3. The method of any one of Embodiments Cl and C2, wherein the method further includes one or both of: obtaining, from the indication, a list of set A beam IDs is associated with a TCI state by configuring the list of set A beam IDs as part of a TCI state IE; and when the list of set A beam IDs is configured in the TCI state, assuming that the list of set A beam IDs is associated with the TCI state and / or the ‘tci-Stateld’ corresponding to the TCI state.

[0409] Embodiment C4. The method of any one of Embodiments C1-C3, wherein the indication further indicates a set A beam IDs associated with a TCI state as a range of values.

[0410] Embodiment C5. The method of any one of Embodiments C1-C4, wherein a set A beam IDs associated with a TCI state are indicated dynamically via a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE).

[0411] Embodiment C6. The method of any one of Embodiments C1-C5, wherein the one or more actions include one or more of: performing UE-sided time domain beam prediction; triggering the network node to acknowledge one or more of the reported beams from Set A beams; determining which TCI states to apply and when; using the indication as assistance information for beam prediction; and using measurements on other signals associated with a TCI state to facilitate the beam prediction and / or measurements on an SSB or an associated tracking reference signal (TRS). Embodiment DI . A user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a network node, the UE configured to, and / or comprising a radio interface and / or processing circuitry configured to: receive an indication indicating an association of one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states and / or one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) with Set A beams; and perform one or more actions based on the indication.

[0412] Embodiment D2. The UE of Embodiment DI, wherein the UE is further configured to one or both of associate, based on the indication, a set A beam identifier (ID) with a TCI state of the one or more TCI states, the set A beam ID being configured as part of a TCI state information element (IE); and when the set A beam ID is configured in a TCI state, assuming that the set A beam ID is associated with that TCI state and / or a ‘tci-Stateld’ corresponding to the TCI state.

[0413] Embodiment D3. The UE of any one of Embodiments DI and D2, the UE is further configured to one or both of obtain, from the indication, a list of set A beam IDs is associated with a TCI state by configuring the list of set A beam IDs as part of a TCI state IE; and when the list of set A beam IDs is configured in the TCI state, assume that the list of set A beam IDs is associated with the TCI state and / or the ‘tci-Stateld’ corresponding to the TCI state.

[0414] Embodiment D4. The UE of any one of Embodiments D1-D3, wherein the indication further indicates a set A beam IDs associated with a TCI state as a range of values.

[0415] Embodiment D5. The UE of any one of Embodiments D1-D4, wherein a set A beam IDs associated with a TCI state are indicated dynamically via a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE).

[0416] Embodiment D6. The UE of any one of Embodiments D1-D5, wherein the one or more actions include one or more of performing UE-sided time domain beam prediction; triggering the network node to acknowledge one or more of the reported beams from Set A beams; determining which TCI states to apply and when; using the indication as assistance information for beam prediction; and using measurements on other signals associated with a TCI state to facilitate the beam prediction and / or measurements on an SSB or an associated tracking reference signal (TRS).

[0417] As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the concepts described herein may be embodied as a method, data processing system, computer program product and / or computer storage media storing an executable computer program. Accordingly, the concepts described herein may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects all generally referred to herein as a “circuit” or “module.” Any process, step, action and / or functionality described herein may be performed by, and / or associated to, a corresponding module, which may be implemented in software and / or firmware and / or hardware. Furthermore, the disclosure may take the form of a computer program product on a tangible computer usable storage medium having computer program code embodied in the medium that can be executed by a computer. Any suitable tangible computer readable medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD-ROMs, electronic storage devices, optical storage devices, or magnetic storage devices.

[0418] Some embodiments are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of methods, systems and computer program products. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer (to thereby create a special purpose computer), special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions / acts specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks.

[0419] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable memory or storage medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function / act specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks.

[0420] The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions / acts specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks.

[0421] It is to be understood that the functions / acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the operational illustrations. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality / acts involved. Although some of the diagrams include arrows on communication paths to show a primary direction of communication, it is to be understood that communication may occur in the opposite direction to the depicted arrows.

[0422] Computer program code for carrying out operations of the concepts described herein may be written in an object oriented programming language such as Python, Java® or C++. However, the computer program code for carrying out operations of the disclosure may also be written in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

[0423] Many different embodiments have been disclosed herein, in connection with the above description and the drawings. It will be understood that it would be unduly repetitious and obfuscating to literally describe and illustrate every combination and subcombination of these embodiments. Accordingly, all embodiments can be combined in any way and / or combination, and the present specification, including the drawings, shall be construed to constitute a complete written description of all combinations and subcombinations of the embodiments described herein, and of the manner and process of making and using them, and shall support claims to any such combination or subcombination.

[0424] Abbreviations that may be used in the preceding description include: 3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project 5G Fifth Generation

[0425] ACK Acknowledgement

[0426] Al Artificial Intelligence

[0427] CORESET Control Resource Set

[0428] CSI Channel State Information

[0429] CSLRS CSI Reference Signal

[0430] DCI Downlink Control Information

[0431] DL Downlink

[0432] DMRS Downlink Demodulation Reference Signals

[0433] FR2 Frequency Range 2

[0434] HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request

[0435] ID Identity gNB gNodeB

[0436] MAC Medium Access Control

[0437] MAC-CE MAC Control Element

[0438] ML Machine Learning

[0439] NR New Radio

[0440] NW Network

[0441] OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0442] PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel

[0443] PCI Physical Cell Identity

[0444] PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0445] PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0446] QCL Quasi co-located

[0447] RB Resource Block

[0448] RRC Radio Resource Control

[0449] RSRP Reference Signal Received Power scs Subcarrier Spacing

[0450] SINR Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio

[0451] SSB Synchronization Signal Block

[0452] RL Reinforcement Learning

[0453] RS Reference Signal

[0454] Rx Receiver

[0455] TCI Transmission configuration indication Tx Transmitter

[0456] UE User Equipment

[0457] UL Uplink

[0458] It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein are not limited to what has been particularly shown and described herein above. In addition, unless mention was made above to the contrary, it should be noted that all of the accompanying drawings are not to scale. A variety of modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings and following claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method in a user equipment, UE, (22) configured to communicate with a network node (16) and determine an association of resources, the method comprising: receiving (SI 08), from the network node (16), an indication indicating the association of: one or both of: one or more transmission configuration indication, TCI, states; and one or more synchronization signal blocks, SSBs; with one or more reference signals of a first set of reference signals; and performing (SI 10) one or more actions based on the indication.

2. The method of Claim 1, wherein one or more actions include: associating, based on the indication, one or more reference signal identifiers, IDs, corresponding to the one or more reference signals of the first set with at least one TCI state of the one or more TCI states, the one or more reference signal IDs being configured as part of a TCI state information element, IE.

3. The method of Claim 2, wherein the one or more reference signal IDs are indicated via Radio Resource Control, RRC.

4. The method of any one of Claims 1-3, wherein the one or more actions include: obtaining, from the indication, a list of reference signal IDs associated with at least one TCI state, the list of reference signal IDs being configured as part of a TCI state IE.

5. The method of any one of Claims 1-4, wherein the indication further indicates a Quasi Co-Located, QCL, relation associated with the first set of reference signals, the QCL relation being indicated using a QCL information IE.

6. The method of any one of Claims 1-5, wherein the indication is included in one of: a Channel State Information, CSI, report configuration IE; a CSI aperiodic trigger state IE; and a CSI associated report configuration information IE.

7. The method of Claim 1, wherein one or more actions include: associating, based on the indication, one or more reference signal identifiers, IDs, corresponding to the one or more reference signals of the first set with at least one TCI state of the one or more TCI states, the one or more reference signal IDs being signaled as part of a first Medium Access Control, MAC, Control Element, CE.

8. The method of any one of Claims 1-7, wherein a first TCI state ID associated with one TCI state corresponds to a first reference signal ID and a second reference signal ID of the one or more reference signal IDs.

9. The method of any one of Claims 1-8, wherein the indication indicates the association of the one or more SSBs with the first set of references signals by using an SSB index.

10. The method of any one of Claims 1-9, wherein the first set of reference signals includes Set A beams.

11. The method of any one of Claims 1-10, wherein the indication indicates the first set of references signals and a second set of reference signals, the first set and the second set being defined for one or both of a Physical Downlink Shared Channel, PDSCH, and a Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH.

12. The method of Claim 11, wherein the second set of reference signals includes Set B beams.

13. The method of any one of Claims 1-12, wherein the association of the one or more TCI states corresponds to associating one or more TCI state IDs of the one or more TCI states with a CSI Reference Signal, RS, resource set.

14. The method of any one of Claims 1-13, wherein the one or more actions include activating or deactivating, using a second MAC CE, one or both of the first set of reference signals and the one or more TCI states for a resource set or a downlink channel.

15. The method of any one of Claims 1-14, wherein the one or more actions include one or more of: performing UE-sided time domain reference signal prediction of one or more reference signals from the first set; reporting the predicted one or more reference signals from the first set to the network node (16); receiving from the network node (16) an acknowledgement for the reported of the predicted one or more of references signals from the first set; determining which of at least one TCI state to apply and when to apply the at least one TCI state based on the indication; using the indication as assistance information for reference signal prediction; and using measurements on other signals associated with one or more of: at least one TCI state for reference signal prediction; one or more measurements on at least one SSB; and one or more measurements on a tracking reference signal, TRS.

16. A user equipment, UE, (22) configured to communicate with a network node (16) and determine an association of resources, the UE (22) being configured to perform one or more steps corresponding to any one of Claims 1-15.

17. A method in a network node (16) configured to communicate with the UE (22) and to provide an indication of an association of resources, the method comprising: determining (SI 12) the indication indicating the association of: one or both of: one or more transmission configuration indication, TCI, states; and one or more synchronization signal blocks, SSBs; with one or more reference signals of a first set of reference signals; and transmitting (SI 14) the indication to the UE (22).

18. The method of Claim 17, wherein indication further indicates the association of one or more reference signal identifiers, IDs, corresponding to one or more reference signals of the first set with at least one TCI state of the one or more TCI states, the one or more reference signal IDs being configured as part of a TCI state information element, IE.

19. The method of Claim 18, wherein the method further includes: indicating the one or more reference signal IDs via Radio Resource Control, RRC.

20. The method of any one of Claims 17-19, wherein the indication further indicates a list of reference signal IDs associated with at least one TCI state, the list of reference signal IDs being configured as part of a TCI state IE.

21. The method of any one of Claims 17-20, wherein the indication further indicates a Quasi Co-Located, QCL, relation associated with the first set of reference signals, the QCL relation being indicated using a QCL information IE.

22. The method of any one of Claims 17-21, wherein the indication is included in one of: a Channel State Information, CSI, report configuration IE; a CSI aperiodic trigger state IE; and a CSI associated report configuration information IE.

23. The method of Claim 17, wherein indication further indicates the association of one or more reference signal identifiers, IDs, corresponding to the one or more reference signals of the first set with at least one TCI state of the one or more TCI states, the one or more reference signal IDs being signaled as part of a first Medium Access Control, MAC, Control Element, CE24. The method of any one of Claims 17-23, wherein a first TCI state ID associated with one TCI state corresponds to a first reference signal ID and a second reference signal ID of the one or more reference signal IDs.

25. The method of any one of Claims 17-24, wherein the indication indicates the association of the one or more SSBs with the first set of references signals by using an SSB index.

26. The method of any one of Claims 17-25, wherein the first set of reference signals includes Set A beams.

27. The method of any one of Claims 17-26, wherein the indication indicates the first set of references signals and a second set of reference signals, the first set and the second set being defined for one or both of a Physical Downlink Shared Channel, PDSCH, and a Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH.

28. The method of Claim 27, wherein the second set of reference signals includes Set B beams.

29. The method of any one of Claims 17-28, wherein the association of the one or more TCI states corresponds to associating one or more TCI state IDs of the one or more TCI states with a CSI Reference Signal, RS, resource set.

30. The method of any one of Claims 17-29, wherein the method further includes: causing activation or deactivation, using a second MAC CE, of one or both of the first set of reference signals and the one or more TCI states for a resource set or a downlink channel.

31. The method of any one of Claims 17-30, wherein the method further includes: acknowledging one or more reported references signals from the first set.

32. A network node (16) configured to communicate with a user equipment, UE, (22) and to provide an indication of an association of resources, the network node (16) being configured to perform one or more steps corresponding to any one of Claims 17-31.

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