Design for CSI report based UE initiated beam indication

Abstract

A method of providing a user equipment (UE)-initiated beam report (UIBR) to a base station (BS) in a wireless communication system comprises decoding, at a UE, configuration information from the BS, the configuration information indicating a plurality of channel state information (CSI) report occasions; determining, at the UE, to include or exclude the UIBR at each of the plurality of CSI report occasions; and encoding, at the UE, the UIBR for transmission to the BS at one of the plurality of CSI report occasions if the UE determined to include the UIBR at that CSI report occasion.

Description

DESIGN FOR CSI REPORT BASED UE INITIATED BEAM INDICATIONFIELD

[0001] Embodiments of the invention relate to wireless communications, including apparatuses, systems, and methods to facilitate UE-initiated / event-driven beam management for reducing overhead and latency in wireless communication systems.DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

[0002] Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. In recent years, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers have become increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting telephone calls, many mobile devices now provide access to the internet, email, text messaging, and navigation using the global positioning system (GPS) and are capable of operating sophisticated applications that utilize these functionalities.

[0003] Long Term Evolution (LTE) has been the technology of choice for the majority of wireless network operators worldwide, providing mobile broadband data and high-speed Internet access to their subscriber base. LTE was first proposed in 2004 and was first standardized in 2008. Since then, as usage of wireless communication systems has expanded exponentially, demand has risen for wireless network operators to support a higher capacity for a higher density of mobile broadband users. In 2015, a study of a new radio access technology began and, in 2017, a first release of Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR) was standardized.

[0004] 5G-NR, also simply referred to as NR, provides, as compared to LTE, a higher capacity for a higher density of mobile broadband users, while also supporting device-to-device, ultra-reliable, and massive machine type communications with lower latency and / or lower battery consumption. Further, NRmay allow for more flexible scheduling as compared to current LTE. Consequently, efforts are being made in ongoing developments of NR to take advantage of higher throughputs possible at higher frequencies.

[0005] Wireless communication systems provide mobility through the use of battery-powered user equipment (UEs) that communicate with network components, such as base stations that may be referred to as gNBs or gNodeBs.SUMMARY

[0006] Embodiments relate to wireless communications, and more particularly to methods of providing a user equipment (UE)-initiated beam report (UIBR) to a base station (BS) in a wireless communication system, comprising: decoding, at a UE, configuration information from the BS, the configuration information indicating a plurality of channel state information (CSI) report occasions; determining, at the UE, to include or exclude the UIBR at each of the plurality of CSI report occasions; and encoding, at the UE, the UIBR for transmission to the BS at one of the plurality of CSI report occasions if the UE determined to include the UIBR at that CSI report occasion.

[0007] Embodiments relate to wireless communications, and more particularly to methods of wireless communication performed by a base station (BS), comprising: encoding, at the BS, configuration information for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the configuration information indicating a plurality of channel state information (CSI) report occasions; monitoring, at the BS, each of the CSI report occasions for a UE-initiated beam report (UIBR) from the UE; and decoding, at the BS, the UIBR transmitted by the UE at one of the CSI report occasions.

[0008] Embodiments relate to wireless communications, and more particularly to methods of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: decoding, at the UE, configuration information transmitted by a base station (BS); determining, at the UE, a set of channel state information (CSI) processing units (CPU) that are occupied based on the configuration information; and counting the CPU for a UE initiated beam report (UIBR) regardless if the UEtransmits the UIBR or not to the BS.

[0009] The techniques described herein may be implemented in and / or used with a number of different types of devices, including but not limited to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned aerial controllers (UACs), base stations, access points, cellular phones, tablet computers, wearable computing devices, portable media players, internet of things (IOT) and any of various other computing devices.

[0010] This Summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the subject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the above-described features are merely examples and should not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subject matter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparent from the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] A better understanding of the present subject matter can be obtained when the following detailed description of various embodiments is considered in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:

[0012] FIG. 1 A illustrates an example wireless communication system according to some embodiments.

[0013] FIG. 1 B illustrates an example of a base station and an access point in communication with a user equipment (UE) device, according to some embodiments.

[0014] FIG. 2 illustrates an example block diagram of a base station, according to some embodiments.

[0015] FIG. 3 illustrates an example block diagram of a server according to some embodiments.

[0016] FIG. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a UE according to some embodiments.

[0017] FIG. 5 illustrates an example block diagram of cellular communication circuitry, according to some embodiments.

[0018] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a baseband processor architecture for a UE, according to some embodiments.

[0019] FIG. 7 illustrates an example block diagram of an interface of baseband circuitry according to some embodiments.

[0020] FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a control plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments.

[0021] FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a user plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments.

[0022] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a diagram showing Legacy CSI reporting between a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.

[0023] FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a diagram showing CSI reporting between a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.

[0024] FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a diagram showing CSI reporting occasions in relation to UE-initiated / even-driven reports in accordance with some embodiments.

[0025] FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a channel state report in accordance with some embodiments.

[0026] FIG. 14 illustrates an example of a diagram showing CSI reporting between a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments in accordance with some embodiments.

[0027] FIG. 15 illustrates an example of a diagram showing CSI reporting occasions in relation to channel state reports in accordance with some embodiments.

[0028] FIG. 16 illustrates a table showing an example of TCI indication schemesin accordance with some embodiments.

[0029] FIG. 17 is an illustration of an example of ASN.1 (Abstract Syntax Notation One) code according to some embodiments.

[0030] FIGS. 18-20 each illustrates an example method of UE-initiated / even- driven reporting according to some embodiments.

[0031] While the features described herein may be susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to be limiting to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims.DETAILED DESCRIPTIONTerms

[0032] The following is a glossary of terms used in this disclosure:

[0033] Memory Medium or Memory - Any of various types of non-transitory memory devices or storage devices. The term “memory medium” is intended to include an installation medium, e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks, or tape device; a computer system memory or random-access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; a non-volatile memory such as a Flash, magnetic media, e.g., a hard drive, or optical storage; registers, or other similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium may include other types of non-transitory memory as well or combinations thereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a first computer system in which the programs are executed, or may be located in a second different computer system which connects to the first computer system over a network, such as the Internet. In the latter instance, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer for execution. The term “memory medium” may include two or morememory mediums which may reside in different locations, e.g., in different computer systems that are connected over a network. The memory medium may store program instructions (e.g., embodied as computer programs) that may be executed by one or more processors.

[0034] Carrier Medium - a memory medium as described above, as well as a physical transmission medium, such as a bus, network, and / or other physical transmission medium that conveys signals such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals.

[0035] Programmable Hardware Element includes various hardware devices comprising multiple programmable function blocks connected via a programmable interconnect. Examples include FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), FPOAs (Field Programmable Object Arrays), and CPLDs (Complex PLDs). The programmable function blocks may range from fine grained (combinatorial logic or look up tables) to coarse grained (arithmetic logic units or processor cores). A programmable hardware element may also be referred to as "reconfigurable logic”.

[0036] Computer System (or Computer) - any of various types of computing or processing systems, including a personal computer system (PC), mainframe computer system, workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance, personal digital assistant (PDA), television system, grid computing system, or other device or combinations of devices. In general, the term "computer system" can be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combination of devices) having at least one processor that executes instructions from a memory medium.

[0037] User Equipment (UE) (or “UE Device”) - any of various types of computer systems devices which are mobile or portable and which performs wireless communications. Examples of UE devices include mobile telephones or smart phones (e.g., iPhone™, Android™-based phones), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS™, PlayStation Portable™, Gameboy Advance™, iPhone™), laptops, wearable devices (e.g., smart watch, smart glasses), PDAs, portable Internet devices, Internet of Things, music players, data storage devices, otherhandheld devices, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) (e.g., drones), UAV controllers (UACs), and so forth. In general, the term “UE” or “UE device” can be broadly defined to encompass any electronic, computing, and / or telecommunications device (or combination of devices) which is easily transported by a user and capable of wireless communication.

[0038] Base Station - The term “Base Station” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning, and at least includes a wireless communication station installed at a fixed location and used to communicate with UEs as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system, including but not limited Next Generation Node-Bs (gNB or gNodeB) in NR.

[0039] Processing Element (or Processor) - refers to various elements or combinations of elements that are capable of performing a function in a device, such as a user equipment or a cellular network device. Processing elements may include, for example: processors and associated memory, portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processor cores, processor arrays, circuits such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), programmable hardware elements such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA), as well any of various combinations of the above.

[0040] Channel - a medium used to convey information from a sender (transmitter) to a receiver. It should be noted that since characteristics of the term “channel” may differ according to different wireless protocols, the term “channel” as used herein may be considered as being used in a manner that is consistent with the standard of the type of device with reference to which the term is used. In some standards, channel widths may be variable (e.g., depending on device capability, band conditions, etc.). For example, LTE may support scalable channel bandwidths from 1.4 MHz to 20MHz. 5G NR can support scalable channel bandwidths from 5 MHz to 100 MHz in Frequency Range 1 (FR1 ) and up to 400 MHz in FR2. In other radio access technologies, WLAN channels may be 22 MHz wide while Bluetooth channels may be 1 MHz wide. Other protocols and standards may include different definitions of channels. Furthermore, some standards may define and use multiple types of channels, e.g., different channels for uplink ordownlink and / or different channels for different uses such as data, control information, etc.

[0041] Band - The term "band" has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning, and at least includes a section of spectrum (e.g., radio frequency spectrum) in which channels are used or set aside for the same purpose.

[0042] Automatically - refers to an action or operation performed by a computer system (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or device (e.g., circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASICs, etc.), without user input directly specifying or performing the action or operation. Thus, the term "automatically" is in contrast to an operation being manually performed or specified by the user, where the user provides input to directly perform the operation. An automatic procedure may be initiated by input provided by the user, but the subsequent actions that are performed "automatically” are not specified by the user, i.e., are not performed “manually”, where the user specifies each action to perform. For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting each field and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typing information, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is filling out the form manually, even though the computer system will update the form in response to the user actions. The form may be automatically filled out by the computer system where the computer system (e.g., software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of the form and fills in the form without any user input specifying the answers to the fields. As indicated above, the user may invoke the automatic filling of the form, but is not involved in the actual filling of the form (e.g., the user is not manually specifying answers to fields but rather they are being automatically completed). The present specification provides various examples of operations being automatically performed in response to actions the user has taken.

[0043] Approximately - refers to a value that is almost correct or exact. For example, approximately may refer to a value that is within 1 to 10 percent of the exact (or desired) value. It should be noted, however, that the actual threshold value (or tolerance) may be application dependent. For example, in some embodiments, “approximately” may mean within 0.1 % of some specified or desiredvalue, while in various other embodiments, the threshold may be, for example, 2%, 3%, 5%, and so forth, as desired or as set by the particular application.

[0044] Concurrent - refers to parallel execution or performance, where tasks, processes, or programs are performed in an at least partially overlapping manner. For example, concurrency may be implemented using “strong” or strict parallelism, where tasks are performed (at least partially) in parallel on respective computational elements, or using “weak parallelism”, where the tasks are performed in an interleaved manner, e.g., by time multiplexing of execution threads.

[0045] Information Element - a group of information that may be included within a Signaling Message or Data Flow which is sent across an interface.

[0046] rN - As used herein rN, when used in conjunction with an Information Element (IE) refers to a UE that is capable of supporting 3GPP Release N. For example, r18 denotes a UE capable of supporting 3GPP release 18. A UE that is capable of supporting a release greater than N may also be capable of supporting 3GPP Release N. A UE that is not capable of supporting 3GPP Release N may not be capable of supporting the lEs that include rN.

[0047] Various components may be described as “configured to” perform a task or tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broad recitation generally meaning “having structure that” performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the component can be configured to perform the task even when the component is not currently performing that task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors may be configured to electrically connect a module to another module, even when the two modules are not connected). In some contexts, “configured to” may be a broad recitation of structure generally meaning “having circuitry that” performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the component can be configured to perform the task even when the component is not currently on. In general, the circuitry that forms the structure corresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuits.

[0048] Various components may be described as performing a task or tasks, for convenience in the description. Such descriptions should be interpreted asincluding the phrase “configured to.” Reciting a component that is configured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not to invoke 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) interpretation for that component.

[0049] The example embodiments may be further understood with reference to the following description and the related appended drawings, wherein like elements are provided with the same reference numerals. The example embodiments relate to apparatuses, systems and method for reducing energy usage by network components, e.g., base stations in wireless communication systems.

[0050] The example embodiments are described with regard to communication between a Next Generation Node B (gNB) and a user equipment (UE). However, reference to a gNB or a UE is merely provided for illustrative purposes. The example embodiments may be utilized with any electronic component that may establish a connection to a network and is configured with the hardware, software, and / or firmware to support for reducing energy usage by network components in wireless communication systems. Therefore, the gNB or UE as described herein is used to represent any appropriate type of electronic component.

[0051] The example embodiments are also described with regard to a fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR) network that may configure a UE to support for reducing energy usage by network components in wireless communication systems. However, reference to a 5G NR network is merely provided for illustrative purposes. The example embodiments may be utilized with any appropriate type of network.

[0052] Throughout this description various information elements (lEs) are referred to by specific names. It should be understood that these names are only examples and the lEs carrying the information referred to throughout this description may be referred to by other names by various entities.Figures 1 A and 1 B: Communication Systems

[0053] FIG. 1 A illustrates a simplified example wireless communication system, according to some embodiments. It is noted that the system of FIG. 1 A is merelyone example of a possible system, and that features of this disclosure may be implemented in any of various systems, as desired.

[0054] As shown, the example wireless communication system includes a base station 102A which communicates over a transmission medium with one or more user devices 106A, 106B, etc., through 106N. Each of the user devices may be referred to herein as a “user equipment” (UE). Thus, the user devices 106 are referred to as UEs or UE devices.

[0055] The base station (BS) 102A may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or cell site (a “cellular base station”) and may include hardware that enables wireless communication with the UEs 106A through 106N.

[0056] The communication area (or coverage area) of the base station may be referred to as a “cell.” The base station 102A and the UEs 106 may be configured to communicate over the transmission medium using any of various radio access technologies (RATs), also referred to as wireless communication technologies, or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), 5G new radio (5G NR), 6G, etc. Note that if the base station 102A is implemented in the context of LTE, also referred to as the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN, it may alternately be referred to as an 'eNodeB' or ‘eNB’. Note that if the base station 102A is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternately be referred to as ‘gNodeB’ or ‘gNB’.

[0057] As shown, the base station 102A may also be equipped to communicate with a network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, a telecommunication network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN), and / or the Internet, among various possibilities). Thus, the base station 102A may facilitate communication between the user devices and / or between the user devices and the network 100. In particular, the cellular base station 102A may provide UEs 106 with various telecommunication capabilities, such as voice, SMS and / or data services.

[0058] Base station 102A and other similar base stations (such as base stations102B...102N) operating according to the same or a different cellular communication standard may thus be provided as a network of cells, which may provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to UEs 106A-N and similar devices over a geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards.

[0059] Thus, while base station 102A may act as a “serving cell” for UEs 106A- N as illustrated in FIG. 1A, each UE 106 may also be capable of receiving signals from (and possibly within communication range of) one or more other cells (which might be provided by base stations 102B-N and / or any other base stations), which may be referred to as “neighboring cells”. Such cells may also be capable of facilitating communication between user devices and / or between user devices and the network 100. Such cells may include “macro” cells, “micro” cells, “pico” cells, and / or cells which provide any of various other granularities of service area size. For example, base stations 102A-B illustrated in FIG. 1 A might be macro cells, while base station 102N might be a micro cell. Other configurations are also possible.

[0060] In some embodiments, base station 102A may be a next generation base station, e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or “gNB”. In some embodiments, a gNB may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to a NR core (NRC) network. In addition, a gNB cell may include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). In addition, a UE capable of operating according to 5G NR may be connected to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

[0061] Note that a UE 106 may be capable of communicating using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using a wireless networking (e.g., Wi-Fi) and / or peer-to-peer wireless communication protocol (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi peer-to-peer, etc.) in addition to at least one cellular communication protocol (e.g., GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1 xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc.). The UE 106 may also or alternatively be configured to communicate using one ormore global navigational satellite systems (GNSS, e.g., GPS or GLONASS), one or more mobile television broadcasting standards (e.g., ATSC-M / H or DVB-H), and / or any other wireless communication protocol, if desired. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible.

[0062] In some embodiments, the base station 102A may select a paging configuration and a PEI configuration for UEs 106. The base station 102A may encode and transmit the paging configuration and the PEI configuration to UEs 106 as part of a registration process. Using the paging configuration, UEs 106 can determine which PO and PF to monitor in a paging cycle. Using the PEI configuration, UEs 106 can determine the radio frame that carries relevant PEI.

[0063] FIG. 1 B illustrates user equipment 106 (e.g., one of the devices 106A through 106N) in communication with a base station 102 and an access point 112, according to some embodiments. The UE 106 may be a device with both cellular communication capability and non-cellular communication capability (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and so forth) such as a mobile phone, a hand-held device, a computer or a tablet, or virtually any type of wireless device.

[0064] The UE 106 may include a processor that is configured to execute program instructions stored in memory. The UE 106 may perform any of the method embodiments described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively, or in addition, the UE 106 may include a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field-programmable gate array) that is configured to perform any of the method embodiments described herein, or any portion of any of the method embodiments described herein.

[0065] The UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols or technologies. In some embodiments, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using, for example, CDMA2000 (1 xRTT 1 1 xEV-DO / HRPD I eHRPD), LTE / LTE- Advanced, or 5G NR using a single shared radio and / or GSM, LTE, LTE-Advanced, or 5G NR using the single shared radio. The shared radio may couple to a single antenna, or maycouple to multiple antennas (e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications. In general, a radio may include any combination of a baseband processor, analog RF signal processing circuitry (e.g., including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), ordigital processing circuitry (e.g., for digital modulation as well as other digital processing). Similarly, the radio may implement one or more receive and transmit chains using the aforementioned hardware. For example, the UE 106 may share one or more parts of a receive and / or transmit chain between multiple wireless communication technologies, such as those discussed above.

[0066] In some embodiments, the UE 106 may include separate transmit and / or receive chains (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As a further possibility, the UE 106 may include one or more radios which are shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, and one or more radios which are used exclusively by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, the UE 106 might include a shared radio for communicating using either of LTE or 5G NR (or LTE or IxRTTor LTE or GSM), and separate radios for communicating using each of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Other configurations are also possible.FIG. 2: Block Diagram of a Base Station (gNB)

[0067] FIG. 2 illustrates an example block diagram of a base station 102, according to some embodiments. It is noted that the base station of FIG. 2 is merely one example of a possible base station. As shown, the base station 102 may include processor(s) 204 which may execute program instructions for the base station 102. The processor(s) 204 may also be coupled to memory management unit (MMU) 240, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor(s) 204 and translate those addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 260 and read only memory (ROM) 250) or to other circuits or devices.

[0068] The base station 102 may include at least one network port 270. The network port 270 may be configured to couple to a telephone network and providea plurality of devices, such as UE devices 106, access to the telephone network as described above in Figures 1 and 2.

[0069] The network port 270 (or an additional network port) may also or alternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility related services and / or other services to a plurality of devices, such as UE devices 106. In some cases, the network port 270 may couple to a telephone network via the core network, and / or the core network may provide a telephone network (e.g., among other UE devices serviced by the cellular service provider).

[0070] In some embodiments, base station 102 may be a next generation base station, e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or “gNB”. In such embodiments, base station 102 may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to a NR core (NRC) network. In addition, base station 102 may be considered a 5G NR cell and may include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). In addition, a UE capable of operating according to 5G NR may be connected to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

[0071] The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 234, and possibly multiple antennas. The at least one antenna 234 may be configured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with UE devices 106 via radio 230. The antenna 234 communicates with the radio 230 via communication chain 232. Communication chain 232 may be a receive chain, a transmit chain or both. The radio 230 may be configured to communicate via various wireless communication standards, including, but not limited to, 5G NR, LTE, LTE-A, GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi, etc.

[0072] The base station 102 may be configured to communicate wirelessly using multiple wireless communication standards. In some instances, the base station 102 may include multiple radios, which may enable the base station 102 to communicate according to multiple wireless communication technologies. For example, as one possibility, the base station 102 may include an LTE radio for performing communication according to LTE as well as a 5G NR radio forperforming communication according to 5G NR. In such a case, the base station 102 may be capable of operating as both an LTE base station and a 5G NR base station. As another possibility, the base station 102 may include a multi-mode radio which is capable of performing communications according to any of multiple wireless communication technologies (e.g., 5G NR and Wi-Fi, LTE and Wi-Fi, LTE and UMTS, LTE and CDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.).

[0073] As described further subsequently herein, the base station 102 may include hardware and software components for implementing or supporting implementation of features described herein. The processor 204 of the base station 102 may be configured to implement or support implementation of part or all of the methods described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, the processor 204 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or a combination thereof. Alternatively (or in addition) the processor 204 of the base station 102, in conjunction with one or more of the other components 230, 232, 234, 240, 250, 260, 270 may be configured to implement or support implementation of part or all of the features described herein.

[0074] In addition, as described herein, processor(s) 204 may be comprised of one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in processor(s) 204. Thus, processor(s) 204 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of processor(s) 204. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor(s) 204.

[0075] Further, as described herein, radio 230 may be comprised of one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in radio 230. Thus, radio 230 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of radio 230. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry,etc.) configured to perform the functions of radio 230.

[0076] In some embodiments, the base station or gNB 102, and / or processors 204 thereof, can be capable of and configured to determine, for a user equipment, a paging configuration that reduces energy usage by network components, e.g., base station or gNB 102, in wireless communication systems.FIG. 3: Block Diagram of a Server

[0077] FIG. 3 illustrates an example block diagram of a server 104, according to some embodiments. It is noted that the server of FIG. 3 is merely one example of a possible server. As shown, the server 104 may include processor(s) 344 which may execute program instructions for the server 104. The processor(s) 344 may also be coupled to memory management unit (MMU) 374, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor(s) 344 and translate those addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 364 and read only memory (ROM) 354) or to other circuits or devices.

[0078] The server 104 may be configured to provide a plurality of devices, such as base station 102, and UE devices 106 access to network functions, e.g., as further described herein.

[0079] In some embodiments, the server 104 may be part of a radio access network, such as a 5G New Radio (5G NR) radio access network. In some embodiments, the server 104 may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to a NR core (NRG) network.

[0080] As described herein, the server 104 may include hardware and software components for implementing or supporting implementation of features described herein. The processor 344 of the server 104 may be configured to implement or support implementation of part or all of the methods described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, the processor 344 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit),or a combination thereof. Alternatively (or in addition) the processor 344 of the server 104, in conjunction with one or more of the other components 354, 364, and / or 374 may be configured to implement or support implementation of part or all of the features described herein.

[0081] In addition, as described herein, processor(s) 344 may be comprised of one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in processor(s) 344. Thus, processor(s) 344 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of processor(s) 344. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor(s) 344.FIG. 4: Block Diagram of a User Equipment (UE)

[0082] FIG. 4 illustrates an example simplified block diagram of a communication device 106, according to some embodiments. It is noted that the block diagram of the communication device of FIG. 4 is only one example of a possible communication device. According to embodiments, communication device 106 may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a UAV controller (UAC) and / or a combination of devices, among other devices. As shown, the communication device 106 may include a set of components 400 configured to perform core functions. For example, this set of components may be implemented as a system on chip (SOC), which may include portions for various purposes. Alternatively, this set of components 400 may be implemented as separate components or groups of components for the various purposes. The set of components 400 may be coupled (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to various other circuits of the communication device 106.

[0083] For example, the communication device 106 may include various typesof memory (e.g., including NAND flash 410), an input / output interface such as connector l / F 420 (e.g., for connecting to a computer system; dock; charging station; input devices, such as a microphone, camera, keyboard; output devices, such as speakers; etc.), the display 460, which may be integrated with or external to the communication device 106, and cellular communication circuitry 430 such as for 5G NR, LTE, GSM, etc., and short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 429 (e.g., Bluetooth™ and WLAN circuitry). In some embodiments, communication device 106 may include wired communication circuitry (not shown), such as a network interface card, e.g., for Ethernet.

[0084] The cellular communication circuitry 430 may couple (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antennas 435 and 436 as shown. The short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 429 may also couple (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antennas 437 and 438 as shown. Alternatively, the short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 429 may couple (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to the antennas 435 and 436 in addition to, or instead of, coupling (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to the antennas 437 and 438. The short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 429 and / or cellular communication circuitry 430 may include multiple receive chains and / or multiple transmit chains for receiving and / or transmitting multiple spatial streams, such as in a multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) configuration.

[0085] In some embodiments, as further described below, cellular communication circuitry 430 may include dedicated receive chains (including and / or coupled to, e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly, dedicated processors and / or radios) for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). In addition, in some embodiments, cellular communication circuitry 430 may include a single transmit chain that may be switched between radios dedicated to specific RATs. For example, a first radio may be dedicated to a first RAT, e.g., LTE, and may be in communication with a dedicated receive chain and a transmit chain shared with an additional radio, e.g., a second radio that may be dedicated to a second RAT, e.g., 5G NR, and may be incommunication with a dedicated receive chain and the shared transmit chain.

[0086] The communication device 106 may also include and / or be configured for use with one or more user interface elements. The user interface elements may include any of various elements, such as display 460 (which may be a touchscreen display), a keyboard (which may be a discrete keyboard or may be implemented as part of a touchscreen display), a mouse, a microphone and / or speakers, one or more cameras, one or more buttons, and / or any of various other elements capable of providing information to a user and / or receiving or interpreting user input.

[0087] The communication device 106 may further include one or more smart cards 445 that include SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) functionality, such as one or more UICC(s) (Universal Integrated Circuit Card(s)) cards 445. Note that the term “SIM” or “SIM entity” is intended to include any of various types of SIM implementations or SIM functionality, such as the one or more UICC(s) cards 445, one or more eUlCCs, one or more eSIMs, either removable or embedded, etc. In some embodiments, the UE 106 may include at least two SIMs. Each SIM may execute one or more SIM applications and / or otherwise implement SIM functionality. Thus, each SIM may be a single smart card that may be embedded, e.g., may be soldered onto a circuit board in the UE 106, or each SIM 410 may be implemented as a removable smart card. Thus, the SIM(s) may be one or more removable smart cards (such as UICC cards, which are sometimes referred to as “SIM cards”), and / or the SIMs 410 may be one or more embedded cards (such as embedded UICCs (eUlCCs), which are sometimes referred to as “eSIMs” or “eSIM cards”). In some embodiments (such as when the SIM(s) include an eUlCC), one or more of the SIM(s) may implement embedded SIM (eSIM) functionality; in such an embodiment, a single one of the SIM(s) may execute multiple SIM applications. Each of the SIMs may include components such as a processor and / or a memory; instructions for performing SIM / eSIM functionality may be stored in the memory and executed by the processor. In some embodiments, the UE 106 may include a combination of removable smart cards and fixed / non-removable smart cards (such as one or more eUlCC cards that implement eSIM functionality), as desired. For example, the UE 106 may comprise two embedded SIMs, two removable SIMs, ora combination of one embedded SIMs and one removable SIMs. Various other SIM configurations are also contemplated.

[0088] As noted above, in some embodiments, the UE 106 may include two or more SIMs. The inclusion of two or more SIMs in the UE 106 may allow the UE 106 to support two different telephone numbers and may allow the UE 106 to communicate on corresponding two or more respective networks. For example, a first SIM may support a first RAT such as LTE, and a second SIM 410 support a second RAT such as 5G NR. Other implementations and RATs are of course possible. In some embodiments, when the UE 106 comprises two SIMs, the UE 106 may support Dual SIM Dual Active (DSDA) functionality. The DSDA functionality may allow the UE 106 to be simultaneously connected to two networks (and use two different RATs) at the same time, or to simultaneously maintain two connections supported by two different SIMs using the same or different RATs on the same or different networks. The DSDA functionality may also allow the UE 106 to simultaneously receive voice calls or data traffic on either phone number. In certain embodiments the voice call may be a packet switched communication. In other words, the voice call may be received using voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology and / or voice over NR (VoNR) technology. In some embodiments, the UE 106 may support Dual SIM Dual Standby (DSDS) functionality. The DSDS functionality may allow either of the two SIMs in the UE 106 to be on standby waiting for a voice call and / or data connection. In DSDS, when a call / data is established on one SIM, the other SIM is no longer active. In some embodiments, DSDx functionality (either DSDA or DSDS functionality) may be implemented with a single SIM (e.g., a eUlCC) that executes multiple SIM applications for different carriers and / or RATs.

[0089] As shown, the SOC 400 may include processor(s) 402, which may execute program instructions for the communication device 106 and display circuitry 404, which may perform graphics processing and provide display signals to the display 460. The processor(s) 402 may also be coupled to memory management unit (MMU) 440, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor(s) 402 and translate those addresses to locations in memory (e.g.,memory 406, read only memory (ROM) 450, NAND flash memory 410) and / or to other circuits or devices, such as the display circuitry 404, short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 429, cellular communication circuitry 430, connector l / F 420, and / or display 460. The MMU 440 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or set up. In some embodiments, the MMU 440 may be included as a portion of the processor(s) 402.

[0090] As described herein, the communication device 106 may include hardware and software components for implementing the above features for a communication device 106 to communicate a scheduling profile for power savings to a network. The processor 402 of the communication device 106 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition), processor 402 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or in addition) the processor 402 of the communication device 106, in conjunction with one or more of the other components 400, 404, 406, 410, 420, 429, 430, 440, 445, 450, 460 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein.

[0091] In addition, as described herein, processor 402 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processor 402 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of processor 402. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor(s) 402.

[0092] Further, as described herein, cellular communication circuitry 430 and short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 429 may each include one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in cellular communication circuitry 430 and, similarly, one or more processing elements may be included in short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 429. Thus, cellular communication circuitry 430 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform thefunctions of cellular communication circuitry 430. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of cellular communication circuitry 430. Similarly, the short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 429 may include one or more ICs that are configured to perform the functions of short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 429. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of short to medium range wireless communication circuitry 429.

[0093] In some embodiments, the UE 106 and / or the processors 402 thereof can be configured to and / or capable of identifying, at the UE 106, paging configurations that reduce energy consumption at the UE 106 and the gNB 102.FIG. 5: Block Diagram of Cellular Communication Circuitry

[0094] FIG. 5 illustrates an example simplified block diagram of cellular communication circuitry, according to some embodiments. It is noted that the block diagram of the cellular communication circuitry of FIG. 5 is only one example of a possible cellular communication circuit. According to embodiments, cellular communication circuitry 530, which may be cellular communication circuitry 430, may be included in a communication device, such as communication device 106 described above. As noted above, communication device 106 may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet and / or a combination of devices, among other devices.

[0095] The cellular communication circuitry 530 may couple (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antennas 435a-b and 436 as shown (in FIG. 4). In some embodiments, cellular communication circuitry 530 may include dedicated receive chains (including and / or coupled to, e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly, dedicated processors and / or radios) for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE anda second receive chain for 5G NR). For example, as shown in FIG. 5, cellular communication circuitry 530 may include a modem 510 and a modem 520. Modem 510 may be configured for communications according to a first RAT, e.g., such as LTE or LTE-A, and modem 520 may be configured for communications according to a second RAT, e.g., such as 5G NR.

[0096] As shown, modem 510 may include one or more processors 512 and a memory 516 in communication with processors 512. Modem 510 may be in communication with a radio frequency (RF) front end 535. RF front end 535 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, RF front end 535 may include receive circuitry (RX) 532 and transmit circuitry (TX) 534. In some embodiments, receive circuitry 532 may be in communication with downlink (DL) front end 550, which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna 335a.

[0097] Similarly, modem 520 may include one or more processors 522 and a memory 526 in communication with processors 522. Modem 520 may be in communication with an RF front end 540. RF front end 540 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, RF front end 540 may include receive circuitry 542 and transmit circuitry 544. In some embodiments, receive circuitry 542 may be in communication with DL front end 560, which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna 335b.

[0098] In some embodiments, a switch 570 may couple transmit circuitry 534 to uplink (UL) front end 572. In addition, switch 570 may couple transmit circuitry 544 to UL front end 572. UL front end 572 may include circuitry for transmitting radio signals via antenna 336. Thus, when cellular communication circuitry 530 receives instructions to transmit according to the first RAT (e.g., as supported via modem 510), switch 570 may be switched to a first state that allows modem 510 to transmit signals according to the first RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain that includes transmit circuitry 534 and UL front end 572). Similarly, when cellular communication circuitry 530 receives instructions to transmit according to the second RAT (e.g., as supported via modem 520), switch 570 may be switched to a second state that allows modem 520 to transmit signals according to the second RAT (e.g., via atransmit chain that includes transmit circuitry 544 and UL front end 572).

[0099] As described herein, the modem 510 may include hardware and software components for implementing the above features or for time division multiplexing UL data for NSA NR operations, as well as the various other techniques described herein. The processors 512 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition), processor 512 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or in addition) the processor 512, in conjunction with one or more of the other components 530, 532, 534, 535, 550, 570, 572, 335a, 335b, and 336 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein.

[0100] In addition, as described herein, processors 512 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processors 512 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of processors 512. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processors 512.

[0101] The processors 522 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition), processor 522 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or in addition) the processor 522, in conjunction with one or more of the other components 540, 542, 544, 550, 570, 572, 335a, 335b, and 336 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein.

[0102] In addition, as described herein, processors 522 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processors 522 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of processors522. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processors 522.

[0103] In some embodiments, the processors 512, 522 can be configured for clustering PFs, POs, and PEIs during paging cycles as further described herein.FIG. 6: Block Diagram of a Baseband Processor Architecture for a UE

[0104] FIG. 6 illustrates example components of a device 600 in accordance with some embodiments. It is noted that the device of FIG. 6 is merely one example of a possible system, and that features of this disclosure may be implemented in any of various UEs, as desired.

[0105] In some embodiments, the device 600 may include application circuitry 602, baseband circuitry 604, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 606, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 608, one or more antennas 610, and power management circuitry (PMC) 612 coupled together at least as shown. The components of the illustrated device 600 may be included in a UE 106 or a RAN node 102A. In some embodiments, the device 600 may include less elements (e.g., a RAN node may not utilize application circuitry 602, and instead include a processor / controller to process IP data received from an EPC). In some embodiments, the device 600 may include additional elements such as, for example, memory / storage, display, camera, sensor, or input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device (e.g., said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device for Cloud-RAN (C- RAN) implementations).

[0106] The application circuitry 602 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 602 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupled with or may include memory / storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage to enable variousapplications or operating systems to run on the device 600. In some embodiments, processors of application circuitry 602 may process IP data packets received from an EPC.

[0107] The baseband circuitry 604 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 604 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606. Baseband processing circuity 604 may interface with the application circuitry 602 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 606. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 604A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 604B, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 604C, or other baseband processor(s) 604D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuitry 604 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors 604A-D) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 606. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 604A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory 604G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 604E. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation / demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 604 may include Fast- Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding / decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 604 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments.

[0108] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may include one ormore audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 604F. The audio DSP(s) 604F may be include elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 604 and the application circuitry 602 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

[0109] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 604 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0110] RF circuitry 606 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 606 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 606 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 608 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 604. RF circuitry 606 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 604 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 608 for transmission.

[0111] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 may include mixer circuitry 606a, amplifier circuitry 606b and filter circuitry 606c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606 may include filter circuitry 606c and mixer circuitry 606a. RF circuitry 606 may also include synthesizer circuitry 606d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry606a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 608 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 606d. The amplifier circuitry 606b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 606c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 604 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a necessity. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0112] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 606d to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 608. The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 604 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 606c.

[0113] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606a of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

[0114] In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of theembodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry 606 may include analog- to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 604 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 606.

[0115] In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0116] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 606d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 606d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0117] The synthesizer circuitry 606d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 606a of the RF circuitry 606 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 606d may be a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0118] In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a necessity. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 604 or the applications processor 602 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the applications processor 602.

[0119] Synthesizer circuitry 606d of the RF circuitry 606 may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g.,based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0120] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 606d may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 606 may include an IQ / polar converter.

[0121] FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 610, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 606 for further processing. FEM circuitry 608 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 606 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 610. In various embodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry 606, solely in the FEM 608, or in both the RF circuitry 606 and the FEM 608.

[0122] In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 608 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry may include an LNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 606). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 may include a poweramplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 606), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 610).

[0123] In some embodiments, the PMC 612 may manage power provided to the baseband circuitry 604. In particular, the PMC 612 may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMC 612 may often be included when the device 600 is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device is included in a UE. The PMC 612 may increase the power conversion efficiency while providing desirable implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.

[0124] While FIG. 6 shows the PMC 612 coupled only with the baseband circuitry 604, in other embodiments the PMC 612 may be additionally or alternatively coupled with, and perform similar power management operations for, other components such as, but not limited to, application circuitry 602, RF circuitry 606, or FEM 608.

[0125] In some embodiments, the PMC 612 may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the device 600. For example, if the device 600 is in a radio resource control_Connected (RRC_Connected) state, where it is still connected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the device 600 may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power.

[0126] If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the device 600 may transition off to an RRCJdle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 600 goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where, again, it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down at least portions of the device again. The device 600 may not receive data in this state. In order to receive data, it will transition back to an RRC_Connected state.

[0127] An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.

[0128] Processors of the application circuitry 602 and processors of the baseband circuitry 604 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the baseband circuitry 604, alone or in combination, may be used for defining clusters of PFs, POs, and PEIs during paging cycles. Accordingly, the baseband circuitry 604 can be used to encode a message for transmission between a UE and a gNB, or decode a message received between a UE and a gNB. For example, the baseband circuitry 604 can be used to encode, at the gNB, paging configurations that define clusters of PFs, POs, and PEIs. These examples are not intended to be limiting. The baseband circuitry can be used as previously described.FIG. 7: Block Diagram of an Interface of Baseband Circuitry

[0129] FIG. 7 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with some embodiments. It is noted that the baseband circuitry of FIG. 7 is merely one example of a possible circuitry, and that features of this disclosure may be implemented in any of various systems, as desired.

[0130] As discussed above, the baseband circuitry 604 of FIG. 6 may comprise processors 604A-604E and a memory 604G utilized by said processors. Each of the processors 604A-604E may include a memory interface, 704A-704E, respectively, to send / receive data to / from the memory 604G.

[0131] The baseband circuitry 604 may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries / devices, such as a memory interface 712 (e.g., an interface to send / receive data to / from memory external to the baseband circuitry 604), an application circuitry interface 714 (e.g., an interface to send / receive data to / from the application circuitry 602 of FIG. 6), an RF circuitryinterface 716 (e.g., an interface to send / receive data to / from RF circuitry 606 of FIG. 6), a wireless hardware connectivity interface 718 (e.g., an interface to send / receive data to / from Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components), and a power management interface 720 (e.g., an interface to send / receive power or control signals to / from the PMC 612.FIG. 8: Control Plane Protocol Stack

[0132] FIG. 8 is an illustration of a control plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments. In this embodiment, a control plane 800 is shown as a communications protocol stack between the UE 106a (or alternatively, the UE 106b), the RAN node 102A (or alternatively, the RAN node 102B), and the mobility management entity (MME) 621 .

[0133] The PHY layer 801 may transmit or receive information used by the MAC layer 802 over one or more air interfaces. The PHY layer 801 may further perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers, such as the RRC layer 805. The PHY layer 801 may still further perform error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of the transport channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna processing.

[0134] The MAC layer 802 may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC service data units (SDUs) from one or more logical channels onto transport blocks (TB) to be delivered to PHY via transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or more logical channels from transport blocks (TB) delivered from the PHY via transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), and logical channelprioritization.

[0135] The RLC layer 803 may operate in a plurality of modes of operation, including: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC layer 803 may execute transfer of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transfers, and concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers. The RLC layer 803 may also execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, and perform RLC re-establishment.

[0136] The PDCP layer 804 may execute header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP Sequence Numbers (SNs), perform insequence delivery of upper layer PDUs at re-establishment of lower layers, eliminate duplicates of lower layer SDUs at re-establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data, control timerbased discard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

[0137] The main services and functions of the RRC layer 805 may include broadcast of system information (e.g., included in Master Information Blocks (MIBs) or System Information Blocks (SIBs) related to the non-access stratum (NAS)), broadcast of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE and E-UTRAN (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of point to point Radio Bearers, security functions including key management, inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. Said MIBs and SIBs may comprise one or more information elements (lEs), which may each comprise individual data fields or data structures.

[0138] The UE 601 and the RAN node 102A may utilize a Uu interface (e.g., an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising the PHY layer 801 , the MAC layer 802, the RLC layer 803, the PDCP layer 804, and the RRC layer 805.

[0139] The non-access stratum (NAS) protocols 806 form the highest stratum of the control plane between the UE 601 and the MME 621. The NAS protocols 806 support the mobility of the UE 601 and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE 601 and the P-GW 623.

[0140] The S1 Application Protocol (S1 -AP) layer 815 may support the functions of the S1 interface and comprise Elementary Procedures (EPs). An EP is a unit of interaction between the RAN node 102A and the network 100. The S1 -AP layer services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services and non UE- associated services. These services perform functions including, but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

[0141] The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP / IP layer) 814 may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 102A and the MME 621 based, in part, on the IP protocol, supported by the IP layer 813. The L2 layer 812 and the L1 layer 81 1 may refer to communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) used by the RAN node and the MME to exchange information.

[0142] The RAN node 102A and the MME 621 may utilize an S1 -MME interface to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer 81 1 , the L2 layer 812, the IP layer 813, the SCTP layer 814, and the S1 -AP layer 815.FIG. 9: User Plane Protocol Stack

[0143] FIG. 9 is an illustration of an example of a user plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments. In this embodiment, a user plane 900 is shown as a communications protocol stack between the UE 106A (or alternatively,the UE 106B or 106N), the RAN node 102A (or alternatively, the RAN node 102B), the S-GW 622, and the P-GW 623. The user plane 900 may utilize at least some of the same protocol layers as the control plane 800. For example, the UE 601 and the RAN node 102A may utilize a Uu interface (e.g., an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the PHY layer 801 , the MAC layer 802, the RLC layer 803, the PDCP layer 804.

[0144] The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol for the user plane (GTP-U) layer 904 may be used for carrying user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. The user data transported can be packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example. The UDP and IP security (UDP / IP) layer 903 may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication on the selected data flows. The RAN node 102A and the S-GW 622 may utilize an S1 -U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer 81 1 , the L2 layer 812, the UDP / IP layer 903, and the GTP-U layer 904. The S-GW 622 and the P-GW 623 may utilize an S5 / S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer 811 , the L2 layer 812, the UDP / IP layer 903, and the GTP- U layer 904. As discussed above with respect to FIG. 8, NAS protocols support the mobility of the UE 106 and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP 813 connectivity between the UE 106 and the P-GW 623.

[0145] For the remainder of this disclosure, references to base station (gNB) and user equipment (UE) are assumed to refer to base station (gNB) 102 and user equipment (UE) 106, respectively, even though specific reference numerals may be omitted.FIG. 10: Legacy Beam Management and Reporting (TCI and CSI)

[0146] Beam management is one of the key enabling technologies employed in 5G new radio (NR) systems. NR beam management includes the following important components, beam indication, beam measurement and report, and beamfailure recovery.

[0147] In terms of beam indication, NR may use indicators transmitted by a base station to a UE, including a transmission configuration indicator (TCI). TCI is an indicator used to convey specific transmission configuration parameters from the base station to the UE. TCI may include parameters such as Quasi-collocation reference resource, power control related information. TCI allows the UE to properly decode the transmitted signal by configuring its receiver parameters accordingly. TCI is often included in control signaling messages exchanged between the base station and user equipment. TCI is crucial for efficient resource allocation, dynamic scheduling, and ensuring compatibility between different devices and network configurations.

[0148] The most current 3GPP Releases support a unified TCI (uTCI) framework. Under uTCI, a single set of TCI states are used to indicate the beams for multiple channel / signals for both DL and UL in one of two modes. The first mode is “Joint TCI” meaning that one joint TCI can be applied to both UL and DL channel / signal. The second mode is “Separate TCI” meaning that DL TCI is used for DL beam indication and UL TCI is used for UL beam indication. The table 1600 in FIG. 16 depicts uTCI configurations under Schemes 1 , 1 or 2, or 2.

[0149] In addition, uTCI supports two schemes of TCI state indication. In Scheme 1 , common TCI indication for multiple channels / signals: (1 ) the common TCI is always applied to dedicated PDCCH / PDSCH / PUCCH / PUSCH, (2) the common TCI can be optionally applied to aperiodic CSI-RS for BM / CSI, SRS for CB / NCB / AS / BM, (3) whether the common TCI is applied to the channels / signals is configured by RRC. In Scheme 2, dedicated TCI indication for one channel / RS: (1 ) this scheme is applied to the signals that the common TCI indication (Scheme 1 ) is not applied to, and (2) reuse 3GPP Release 16 signaling to provide the TCI indication for such channel / signal. Table 1600 in FIG. 16 shows these relationships.

[0150] For 3GPP Release 17 uTCI framework, for “Joint TCI” mode, up to 128 TCI-State configured in a dl-OrJointTCI-StateList-r17 information element (IE) perPDSCH-Config. For “Separate TCI” mode, for DL uTCI: up to 128 TCI-State configured in a dl-OrJointTCI-StateList-r17 IE per PDSCH-Config and for UL uTCI: up to 64 TCI-UL-State-r17 configured in a ul-TCI-StateList-r17 IE per BWP- UplinkDedicated.

[0151] In terms of beam management and report, channel state information (CSI) plays a crucial role. A base station can configure a UE to report CSI, including when to report CSI, how to report CSI, and what CSI parameters for the UE to measure and report back to the base station. CSI provides feedback to the base station about the characteristics of a beam between the UE and the base station. To assist the UE in calculating the CSI parameters, a base station may provide a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). Various configuration options enable the CSI-RS to be sent on multiple ports with various scheduling options such as periodic, semi persistent, and aperiodic. Using the CSI-RS, the UE determines the CSI parameters, which may include a channel quality indicator (CQI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), and rank indicator (Rl). The UE transmits the CSI parameters in a CSI report to the base station. The base station utilizes the CSI report to optimize communication with the UE. For example, with CSI, the base station can adapt its transmission parameters to maximize the quality of the received signal, leading to improved data rates, reliability, and spectral efficiency.

[0152] Referring to FIG. 10, there is shown a diagram 1000 of an overview of CSI reporting framework under Legacy 3GPP Release. The base station first configures the UE with a CSI-ReportConfig message. The UE uses the channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) to measure the CSI parameters, such as CQI, the PMI, and the Rl (alternatively, the UE may use other reference signals, such as demodulation reference signals (DMRS) in the synchronization signal (SS) physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) as the reference signal for certain measurements). The UE can send a CSI-Report message to the base station with the parameters in a CSI reporting occasion. Upon receiving the CSI parameters, the base station can use the measurements in the CSI-Report to schedule downlink data transmissions (such as modulation scheme, code rate, number of transmission layers, and MIMO precoding) accordingly.

[0153] Another mechanism under Legacy 3GPP is CSI resource counting. As explained above, a base station may transmit reference signals to UEs in order for UEs to perform beam measurements. For example, the UE may be configured to receive and report on a periodic CSI-RS. However, the UE may have a limited number of resources for processing the CSI. These processing resources of the UE may be referred to as CSI processing units (CPUs). Conventional scheduling techniques may allow the UE to “count” CPU occupancy to prevent the base station from over configuring the UE with CSI. For example, the number of occupied CPUs may be an accumulated number (or aggregated number) of occupied CPUs for configured CSI operations. The UE may perform a number of CSI operations based on the determined number of CPUs. For example, the base station may configure the UE to perform the number of CSI operations and may refrain from configuring additional CSI operations if an additional CSI operation will require more CPUs than are available at the UE. That is, the number of CSI operations configured for a UE by a base station may use up to a total number of CPUs in the CPU pool at the UE.

[0154] One drawback to the current CSI reporting framework is that the network, e.g., base station, configures the UE to repeatedly report CSI at defined CSI reporting occasions. Because of its configuration, the UE is configured to report as directed by the base station even if no report is necessary. This is disadvantageous because of the overhead at both the base station and the UE to generate and process CSI reports. In addition, the information communicated in the CSI-Report increases the amount of overhead and reduces the amount of data that can be communicated between the UE and the BS. Under the current CSI framework, the UE has no choice but to generate a CSI report for each CSI reporting occasion as configured by the base station. Another drawback to the current CSI reporting framework is that a UE may not be able to timely report changes in beam quality if there are insufficient CSI reporting occasions configured by the base station. This can cause increased beam failures and latency issues in the communication of data between the UE and the BS.

[0155] It would therefore be an improvement in the art for a new CSI reportingframework that allows the UE to choose to provide a beam report at each CSI reporting occasion configured by a base station. That is, it would be an improvement to provide a new channel state reporting framework that allows a UE to provide UE-initiated / event-driven beam management information to a base station.FIGS. 1 1 - 17: Novel Beam Reporting Configurations and Procedure

[0156] According to some embodiments, a variety of approaches may be considered for the adaptation of beam measurement and reporting to reduce overhead and latency. In an embodiment, the present disclosure provides a user equipment initiated / event-driven beam report (UIBR) encoded and transmitted from a UE to a base station. The UIBR can indicate beam parameters of a reference signal as measured by the UE. For example, the UIBR can indicate one or more parameters of a reference signal, such as Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or Signal-to-lnterference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR). In an embodiment, the UIBR may report parameters for multiple beams. In some embodiments, a UE can dynamically choose to provide an UIBR depending on one or more events or conditions monitored by the UE. That is, the UIBR may be initiated by the UE independently of the base station based on events or conditions monitored by the UE.

[0157] Referring now to FIG. 1 1 , in an embodiment of the present disclosure, a diagram 1100 shows that a base station (gNB) may encode and transmit channel state configuration information (CSCI) to a UE. In an embodiment, the CSCI of the present disclosure may be the same as or different from CSI configurations specified by under Legacy specifications, e.g., 3GPP Release 18 (CSI- ReportConfig). However, it will be appreciated that in some embodiments, the CSCI of the present disclosure may differ from Legacy CSI configurations to accommodate the features described herein.

[0158] The CSCI may indicate a schedule of channel state (CS) report occasions to the UE. In an embodiment, the CS report occasions configured by thebase station may be one of periodic, semi persistent, or aperiodic. In an embodiment, the CS report occasions may be configured with the same as channel state information (CSI) report occasions configured under Legacy specifications, e.g., 3GPP Release 18 (reportConfigType - periodic, semipersistent, aperiodic). To be clear, in an embodiment, CS report occasions according to the present disclosure may be configured identically to, or differently from, Legacy CSI report occasions.

[0159] The CSCI of the present disclosure may further indicate to the UE the parameters to measure. These parameters may be the same as or different than the parameters configured by Legacy CSI configurations (reportQuantity). These parameters may include one or more of RSRP, or SINR.

[0160] In an embodiment, the CSCI may further explicitly indicate a channel measurement resource (CMR) that identifies the resource (e.g. reference signal (RS)) from which the UE is to measure the parameters. That is, the CMR refers to the specific physical resources allocated for measuring the channel state information. In an embodiment, the CSCI may indicate, as CMR, one or more of: a list of uTCI state, a list of synchronization signal (SS) physical broadcast channel (PBCH) blocks (SSBs), or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0161] In the case where CMR is configured as a list of uTCI state, for “Joint TCI” mode, the list of uTCI state is chosen from a list provided by the base station (e.g., the dl-OrJointTCI-StateList-r17 IE per the PDSCH-Config IE). For “Separate TCI mode”, the list can be chosen from (1 ) only DL uTCI (e.g., the dl-OrJointTCI- StateList-r17 IE per the PDSCH-Config IE), (2) DL uTCI or UL uTCI (i.e., the ul- TCI-StateList-r17 IE per BWP-UplinkDedicated IE), but not a mixture of DL uTCI and UL unified TCI, or (3) a mixture of DL uTCI and UL uTCI. In an embodiment, the list of uTCI states can be selected from (1 ) only medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE) activated uTCI states, or (2) all radio resource control (RRC) configured uTCI states.

[0162] In the case where CMR is configured as a list of SSBs, SSBs can be configured with a different Physical Cell Identity (PCI) from the serving cell.

[0163] In an embodiment, the CSCI may not explicitly indicate a CMR to the UE. In this case, the CMR is implicitly configured by the UE as one or more of the following (1 ) all the MAC-CE activated uTCI states, or (2) all the RRC configured uTCI states. For “Joint TCI” mode, the list of uTCI state can be chosen from a list provided by the base station (e.g., the dl-OrJointTCI-Statel_ist-r17 IE per the PDSCH-Config IE). For “Separate TCI mode”, the list can be chosen from (1 ) only DL uTCI (e.g., the dl-OrJointTCI-StateList-r17 IE per the PDSCH-Config IE), (2) DL uTCI or UL uTCI (i.e., the ul-TCI-Statel_ist-r17 IE per the BWP-UplinkDedicated IE), but not a mixture of DL uTCI and UL unified TCI, or (3) a mixture of DL uTCI and UL uTCI.

[0164] In an embodiment, when uTCI state is used as a CMR, and two quasi- co-located (QCL) sources (QCL-Info) are configured by TCI-State as shown in the ASN.1 code 1700 shown in FIG. 17, then two options are available. Under option 1 , only the QCL source (QCL-Info) with qcl-Type of “typeD” is used for beam measurement. Under option 2, both QCL sources are used for beam measurement.

[0165] In an embodiment, the CSCI may further explicitly indicate the events / conditions monitored by a UE and the events or conditions that can trigger encoding and transmission of a UIBR by the UE. In an embodiment, a UE monitored event / condition may determine if a different uTCI state has a greater measured quality than an active TCI state. In an embodiment, the measured quality may need to be greater than a quality threshold. In an embodiment, a UE monitored event / condition may determine if the quality of the active TCI state is below a quality threshold. For both of the foregoing embodiments, each of the UE monitored event / condition may be measured on multiple occasions, i.e., the event / condition may need to be met for multiple consecutive times to trigger the UIBR. In an embodiment, any quality threshold values may be configured by the CSCI or another IE or pre-configured (hardcoded) at the UE. In an embodiment, quality measurements may consider one or both of the following: Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or Signal-to-lnterference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR).

[0166] In an embodiment, the CSCI may further explicitly indicate to the UE thatgroup-based beam reporting is allowed. In an embodiment, a pair of beams, i.e., uTCI state, can be reported in the UIBR. In an embodiment, the UE reported pair of beams can be used to receive simultaneously, and transmit simultaneously. In an embodiment, the UE can report two pairs of beams, one pair of beams can be used to receive simultaneously only, and the other pair of beams can be used to transmit simultaneously only. In an embodiment, the UE reported pair of beams can be used to receive simultaneously only. In an embodiment, the UE reported pair of beams can be used to transmit simultaneously only. Alternatively, one pair of beams may be used, with one beam used to transmit signals from the UE and one beam used to receive signals at the UE.

[0167] In an embodiment, only a single beam or a single pair of beams can be reported in the UIBR. In an embodiment, up to N, e.g., N = 4 beams or pairs of beams can be reported.

[0168] In an embodiment, the CSCI may further explicitly indicate to the UE that a capability index (Capabilityindex) IE can be reported together in the UIBR with each reported beam. In an embodiment, the CSCI may further explicitly indicate to the UE that a capability index (Capabilityindex) IE cannot be reported together in the UIBR with each reported beam. In an embodiment, the capability index (Capabilityindex) IE indicates the maximum number of SRS ports.

[0169] In an embodiment, the CSCI may further explicitly indicate to the UE that beam quality can be reported together with each reported beam. In an embodiment, the CSCI may further explicitly indicate to the UE that beam quality cannot be reported together with each reported beam. In an embodiment, beam quality can be used to configure the UE to measure one or both of the following: RSRP or SINR.

[0170] In an embodiment, the UE may be pre-configured (hard coded) with any of the CSCI identified above to eliminate the need for the base station to configure the UE in some or all instances. It will be appreciated that pre-configuring the UE with CSCI saves overhead resources and improves latency.

[0171] As shown in FIG. 11 , once configured by the base station, the UE mayindependently monitor and detect events and conditions related to beam quality that may need to be reported to the base station. In response to detecting an event / condition, the UE may encode and transmit a UE-initiated / event-driven beam report (UIBR) to the base station at one of an upcoming CS report occasions. In an embodiment, the UIBR can be carried by the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), and is can be communicated using Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. In an embodiment, the UIBR can also be carried by the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), and can be activated / deactivated by a Medium Access Control - Control Element (MAC-CE). In an embodiment, the UIBR can be carried by the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), and can be triggered by Downlink Control Information (DCI).

[0172] Referring to FIG. 12, with reference to FIG. 11 , there is shown a diagram 1200 depicting plurality of CS report occasions that allow the UE to communicate the UIBR to the base station. The base station may configure the plurality of CS report occasions with the CSCI encoded and transmitted to the UE. In an embodiment, the CS report occasions are one of periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic. In an embodiment, the CS report occasions are one of PUSCH or PUCCH occasions. In an embodiment, the UE may choose to provide the UIBR or not at each CSI report occasions based on the determination of a UE event / condition. For example, when the UE detects an event or condition that may impact beam management, the UE can encode and transmit the UIBR to the base station in the next available CS report occasion.

[0173] As explained above, in an embodiment, the CSCI may indicate the event / condition monitored by a UE that can trigger encoding and transmission of a UIBR. In an embodiment, a UE monitored event / condition may determine if a different uTCI state has a greater measured quality than an active TCI state. In an embodiment, the measured quality may need to be greater than a quality threshold. In an embodiment, a UE monitored event / condition may determine if the quality of the active TCI state is below a quality threshold. For both of the foregoing embodiments, each of the UE monitored event / condition may be measured on multiple occasions, i.e., the event / condition may need to be met for multipleconsecutive times to trigger the UIBR. In an embodiment, any quality threshold values may be configured by the CSCI or pre-configured (hardcoded) at the UE. In an embodiment, quality measurements may consider one or both of the following: Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) or Signal-to-lnterference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR). In an embodiment, the event / condition monitored by a UE by be implicitly indicated or pre-configured at the UE.

[0174] Referring now to FIG. 13, there is depicted an exemplary block diagram 1300 of a channel state report (CSR) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In an embodiment, the CSR may comprise a Part 1 and a Part 2. Part 1 indicates if Part 2 contains the UIBR. For example, Part 1 may contain the minimum number of bits to indicate if the UIBR is included or excluded in Part 2. In an embodiment, a “0” in Part 1 indicates that the UIBR is excluded from Part 2, while a “1 ” indicates that the UIBR is carried in Part 2. Of course, other indicators may be used to indicate the inclusion or exclusion of the UIBR.

[0175] Referring now to FIGS. 14 and 15, with reference to FIG. 13, a diagram 1400 shows that once configured by the base station by CSCI, the UE may independently monitor and detect events and conditions related to a CMR. In response to detecting an event / condition, the UE may encode and transmit a UE- initiated / event-driven beam report (UIBR) as part of a CSR (e.g., in Part 2) to the base station at one of an upcoming CS report occasions, as illustrated in the exemplary block diagram 1500 of FIG. 15. If an event / condition is not detected, the base station still encodes and transmits the CSR, but without the UIBR.Novel CSI Resource Counting

[0176] As explained above, UEs may have a limited number of resources for processing CSI. These processing resources of the UE may be referred to as CSI processing units (CPUs). UEs, and base stations, may “count” CPU occupancy to prevent the base station from over configuring the UE. The number of occupied CPUs may be an accumulated number (or aggregated number) of occupied CPUs for configured CSI operations. In an embodiment, CPUs may be estimated basedon certain parameters, include algorithm complexity, number of antennas (CSI-RS resource / port), modulation scheme, UE processing capabilities, and resource allocation (CPU cycles and memory). In an embodiment, the present disclosure may utilize Legacy processes and methods for determining CPU as is known in the art.

[0177] The UE may be configured to perform a limited number of CSI operations based on the determined number of CPUs. For example, the base station may configure the UE to perform the number of CSI operations and may refrain from configuring additional CSI operations if an additional CSI operation will require more CPUs than available. That is, the number of CSI operations required by a base station may use up to a total number of CPUs in the CPU pool at the UE.

[0178] According to some embodiments, a UE may not report UIBR at every scheduled CS reporting occasions as described above. Nevertheless, the CPU is counted by the UE for the UIBR even though it is not provided to the base station. In another embodiment, the CPU is only counted if the UIBR is provided to the base station by the UE.

[0179] When the UIBR is counted, various options are available under the present disclosure, including: (1 ) CPU is counted based on the explicit or implicit CMR configuration in the corresponding CSI-ReportConfig (when two QCL sources (QCL-Info) are configured for the unified TCI state, see FIG. 17 and related discussion, above), (2) CPU counting is reported as UE capability, or (3) CPU is counted with the fixed value, e.g., 1 .

[0180] In terms of active CSI-RS resource / port counting, various options are available under the present disclosure, including: (1 ) CSI-RS resource / port is counted regardless whether UE reports the beam or not, or (2) CSI-RS resource / port is counted only when UE reports the beam.

[0181] In terms of the CSI-RS resource / port, various options are available under the present disclosure, including: (1 ) CSI-RS resource / port is counted based on the explicit or implicit CMR configuration in the corresponding CSI-ReportConfig (when two QCL source (QCL-Info) are configured for the unified TCI state, seeFIG. 17 and related discussion, above), (2) CSI-RS resource / port is reported as UE capability, or (3) CSI-RS resource / port is counted with the fixed value, e.g., 1 .

[0182] In terms of the CSI-RS resource / port, various options are available under the present disclosure, including: (1 ) CSI-RS resource / port is counted only in the slot that it is transmitted, or (2) CSI-RS resource / port is counted even in the slot that it is not transmitted. For aperiodic CSI-RS, the CSI-RS resource / port is counted starting from the end of the PDCCH containing the request and ending at the end of the scheduled PUSCH containing the report associated with this aperiodic CSI-RS. For semi-persistent CSI-RS, the CSI-RS resource / port is counted starting from the end of when the MAC-CE activation command is applied, and ending at the end of when the MAC-CE deactivation command is applied. For periodic CSI-RS, the CSI-RS resource / port is counted starting when the periodic CSI-RS is configured by RRC, and ending when the periodic CSI-RS configuration is released by RRC.

[0183] In terms of CSI priority, various options are available under the present disclosure, including: (1 ) the UE-initiated / event-driven beam report has the same priority as CSI reports carrying “L1 -RSRP” or “L1 -SINR”, (2) the UE-initiated / event- driven beam report has the same priority as CSI reports not carrying “L1 -RSRP” or “L1 -SINR”, or (3) the UE-initiated / event-driven beam report has the higher priority than CSI reports carrying “L1 -RSRP” or “L1-SINR”.FIGS. 18-20: Flow charts for UE-lnitiated / Event-Driven Beam Management

[0184] FIG. 18 illustrates a flow chart 1800 of an example of a method of providing a user equipment (UE)-initiated beam report (UIBR) to a base station (BS) in a wireless communication system. At step 1802, the UE decodes configuration information from the BS, the configuration information indicating a plurality of channel state information (CSI) report occasions. At step 1804, the UE determines to include or exclude the UIBR at each of the plurality of CSI report occasions. At step 1806, the UE encodes the UIBR for transmission to the BS at one of the plurality of CSI report occasions if the UE determined to include theUIBR at that CSI report occasion.

[0185] FIG. 19 illustrates a flow chart 1900 of an example of a method of wireless communication performed by a base station (BS). At step 1902, the base station encodes configuration information for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the configuration information indicating a plurality of channel state information (CSI) report occasions. At step 1904, the base station monitors each of the CSI report occasions for a UE-initiated / event-driven beam (UIBR) from the UE. At step 1906, the base station decodes the UIBR transmitted by the UE at one of the CSI report occasions.

[0186] FIG. 20 illustrates a flow chart 2000 of an example of a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE). At step 2002, the UE decodes configuration information transmitted by a base station (BS). At step 2004, the UE determines a set of channel state information (CSI) processing units (CPU) that are occupied based on the configuration information. At step 2006, the UE counts the CPU for a UE-initiated / event-driven beam report (UIBR) regardless if the UE transmits the UIBR or not to the BS.Examples of Systems, Apparatuses, and Methods

[0187] The following examples pertain to specific technology embodiments and point out specific features, elements, or actions that can be used or otherwise combined in achieving such embodiments.

[0188] Example 1 is directed to a method of providing a user equipment (UE)- initiated beam report (UIBR) to a base station (BS) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: decoding, at a UE, configuration information from the BS, the configuration information indicating a plurality of channel state information (CSI) report occasions; determining, at the UE, to include or exclude the UIBR at each of the plurality of CSI report occasions; and encoding, at the UE, the UIBR for transmission to the BS at one of the plurality of CSI report occasions if the UE determined to include the UIBR at that CSI report occasion.

[0189] Example 2 includes the method of Example 1 , wherein encoding theUIBR further comprises encoding, at the UE, a channel state (CS) report for transmission to the BS at each of the plurality of CSI report occasions, the CS report having a first part and a second part, the first part indicating if the second part contains the UIBR, and the second part optionally containing the UIBR. Example 3 includes the methods of Examples 1 or 2, further comprising generating, at the UE, the UIBR. Example 4 includes the methods of Examples 1 , 2, or 3, wherein determining, at the UE, to include or exclude the UIBR at each of the plurality of CSI report occasions further comprises: determining if a quality of an inactive transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state is greater than a quality of an active TCI state for the UE. Example 5 includes the method of Example 4, wherein the inactive TCI state is a unified TCI state. Example 6 includes the method of Examples 1 , 2, or 3, wherein determining, at the UE, to include or exclude the UIBR at each of the plurality of CSI report occasions further comprises: determining if a quality of an active TCI state for the UE is below a quality threshold. Example 7 includes the method of Examples 4, 5, or 6, wherein the quality of the active TCI state is determined based on one or both of reference signal received power (RSRP) and signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). Example 8 includes the method of any of the preceding Examples, wherein the UIBR reports beam measurements for more than one beam. Example 9 includes the method of any of the preceding Examples, wherein the plurality of CSI report occasions is one of periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic. Example 10 includes the method of any of the preceding Examples, wherein the configuration information further explicitly indicates channel measurement resources (CMR). Example 1 1 includes the method of Example 10, wherein the CMR is one or more of: a list of unified transmission configuration indicator (uTCI) state, a list of SSBs, or a CSI resource signal (CSI-RS). Example 12 includes the method of any of the preceding Examples, wherein the configuration information does not explicitly configure channel measurement resources (CMR). Example 13 includes the method of claim 12, wherein the CMR is implicitly configured at the UE as one or more of: all medium access control - control element (MAC-CE) activated unified transmission configuration indicator (uTCI) states, or all radio resource control (RRC) configured uTCI states. Example 14 includes the method of any of the preceding Examples,wherein when a transmission configuration indicator (uTCI) state is used as a measurement resource, and two quasi co location (QCL) sources (QCL-Info) are configured, then only a QCL source (QCL-Info) with QCL-Type of “typeD” is used for measurement, or both of the QCL sources are used for measurement. Example 15 includes the method of any of the preceding Examples, wherein the UIBR comprises a single beam report or a group-based beam report. Example 16 includes the method of Example 15, wherein the group-based beam report reports one of a single pair of beams, up to four beams, or two pairs of beams. Example17 includes the methods of Example 15 or 16, wherein a Capabilityindex information element (IE) is reported for each reported beam in the UIBR. Example18 includes the method of any of the preceding Examples, wherein a beam quality is reported for each reported beam in the UIBR. Example 19 includes the method of Example 18, wherein the beam quality is based on one or both of a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR).

[0190] Example 20 includes a method of wireless communication performed by a base station (BS), comprising: encoding, at the BS, configuration information for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the configuration information indicating a plurality of channel state information (CSI) report occasions; monitoring, at the BS, each of the CSI report occasions for a UE-initiated beam report (UIBR) from the UE; and decoding, at the BS, the UIBR transmitted by the UE at one of the CSI report occasions.

[0191] Example 21 includes the method of Example 20, wherein the plurality of CSI report occasions is one of periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic. Example 22 includes the method of Example 20, wherein the configuration information explicitly indicates a channel measurement resource (CMR). Example 23 includes the method of Example 22, wherein the CMR is one or more of a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, an SSB, or a CSI resource signal (CSI-RS). Example 24 includes the method of Example 20, wherein the configuration information does not explicitly indicate a channel measurement resources (CMR). Example 25 includes the method of Example 20, wherein the UIBR comprises a group-based beam report.

[0192] Example 26 includes a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: decoding, at the UE, configuration information transmitted by a base station (BS); determining, at the UE, a set of channel state information (CSI) processing units (CPU) that are occupied based on the configuration information; and counting the CPU for a UE initiated beam report (UIBR) regardless if the UE transmits the UIBR or not to the BS.

[0193] Example 27 includes the method of Example 26, wherein the CPU for a beam is counted based on an explicit or implicit channel measurement resources (CMR) configuration in the configuration information. Example 28 includes the method of Example 26, wherein a CSI reference signal resource / port is counted regardless if the UE transmits the UIBR or not to the BS. Example 29 includes the method of Example 26, wherein a CSI reference signal resource / port is counted based on an explicit or implicit channel measurement resources (CMR) configuration in the configuration information. Example 30 includes the method of Example 26, wherein a CSI reference signal resource / port is counted only in a slot that it is transmitted. Example 31 includes the method of Example 26, wherein the UIBR has a same priority as CSI reports carrying “L1 -RSRP” or “L1 -SINR”.

[0194] Example 31 includes an apparatus configured to cause a user equipment (UE) to perform any of the methods of Examples 1 -19 and 26-31. Example 33 includes a baseband processor configured to perform one or more of the methods Examples 1 to 31. Example 34 includes an apparatus configured to cause a base station (BS) to perform any of the methods of Examples 20-25. Example 35 includes a computer program product, comprising computer instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, perform any of the operations or methods described herein.

[0195] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be realized in any of various forms. For example, some embodiments may be realized as a computer- implemented method, a computer readable memory medium, or a computer system. Other embodiments may be realized using one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. Still other embodiments may be realized using one or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs.

[0196] In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium may be configured so that it stores program instructions and / or data, where the program instructions, if executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method, e.g., any of the method embodiments described herein, or, any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or, any combination of such subsets.

[0197] In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE 106) may be configured to include a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium, where the memory medium stores program instructions, where the processor is configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory medium, where the program instructions are executable to implement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or, any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or, any combination of such subsets). The device may be realized in any of various forms.

[0198] Any of the methods described herein for operating a user equipment (UE) may be the basis of a corresponding method for operating a base station, by interpreting each message / signal X received by the UE in the downlink as message / signal X transmitted by the base station, and each message / signal Y transmitted in the uplink by the UE as a message / signal Y received by the base station.

[0199] Although the embodiments above have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:1 . A method of providing a user equipment (UE)-initiated beam report (UIBR) to a base station (BS) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: decoding, at a UE, configuration information from the BS, the configuration information indicating a plurality of channel state information (CSI) report occasions; determining, at the UE, to include or exclude the UIBR at each of the plurality of CSI report occasions; and encoding, at the UE, the UIBR for transmission to the BS at one of the plurality of CSI report occasions if the UE determined to include the UIBR at that CSI report occasion.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein encoding the UIBR further comprises encoding, at the UE, a channel state (CS) report for transmission to the BS at each of the plurality of CSI report occasions, the CS report having a first part and a second part, the first part indicating if the second part contains the UIBR, and the second part optionally containing the UIBR.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, further comprising generating, at the UE, the UIBR.

4. The method of claims 1 , 2, or 3, wherein determining, at the UE, to include or exclude the UIBR at each of the plurality of CSI report occasions further comprises: determining if a quality of an inactive transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state is greater than a quality of an active TCI state for the UE.

5. The method of claim of claim 4, wherein the inactive TCI state is a unified TCI state.

6. The method of claims 1 , 2, or 3, wherein determining, at the UE, to include or exclude the UIBR at each of the plurality of CSI report occasions further comprises: determining if a quality of an active TGI state for the UE is below a quality threshold.

7. The method of claims 4, 5 or 6, wherein the quality of the active TCI state is determined based on one or both of reference signal received power (RSRP) and signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR).

8. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the UIBR reports beam measurements for more than one beam.

9. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the plurality of CSI report occasions is one of periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic.

10. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the configuration information further explicitly indicates channel measurement resources (CMR).1 1 . The method of claim 10, wherein the CMR is one or more of: a list of unified transmission configuration indicator (uTCI) state, a list of synchronization signal (SS) physical broadcast channel (PBCH) blocks (SSBs), or a CSI reference signal (CSI-RS).

12. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the configuration information does not explicitly configure channel measurement resources (CMR).

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the CMR is implicitly configured at the UE as one or more of: all medium access control - control element (MAC-CE) activated unified transmission configuration indicator (uTCI) states, or all radio resource control (RRC) configured uTCI states.

14. The method of any of the proceeding claims, wherein when a transmission configuration indicator (uTCI) state is used as a measurement resource, and two quasi co location (QCL) sources (QCL-Info) are configured, then only a QCL source (QCL-Info) with QCL-Type of “typeD” is used for measurement, or both of the QCL sources are used for measurement.

15. The method of any of the proceeding claims, wherein the UIBR comprises a single beam report or a group-based beam report.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the group-based beam report reports one of a single pair of beams, up to four beams, or two pairs of beams.

17. The method of claims 15 or 16, wherein a Capabilityindex information element (IE) is reported for each reported beam in the UIBR.

18. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein a beam quality is reported for each reported beam in the UIBR.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the beam quality is based on one or both of a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR).

20. A method of wireless communication performed by a base station (BS), comprising: encoding, at the BS, configuration information for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the configuration information indicating a plurality of channel state information (CSI) report occasions; monitoring, at the BS, each of the CSI report occasions for a UE-initiated beam report (UIBR) from the UE; and decoding, at the BS, the UIBR transmitted by the UE at one of the CSI report occasions.21 . The method of claim 20, wherein the plurality of CSI report occasions is one of periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the configuration information explicitly indicates a channel measurement resource (CMR).

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the CMR is one or more of a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, a synchronization signal (SS) physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB), or a CSI reference signal (CSI-RS).

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the configuration information does not explicitly indicate a channel measurement resources (CMR).

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the UIBR comprises a group- based beam report.

26. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: decoding, at the UE, configuration information transmitted by a base station (BS); determining, at the UE, a set of channel state information (CSI) processing units (CPU) that are occupied based on the configuration information; and counting the CPU for processing a UE initiated beam report (UIBR) regardless if the UE transmits the UIBR or not to the BS.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the CPU for a beam is counted based on an explicit or implicit channel measurement resources (CMR) configuration in the configuration information.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein a CSI reference signal resource / port is counted.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein a CSI reference signal resource / port is counted based on an explicit or implicit channel measurement resources (CMR) configuration in the configuration information.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein a CSI reference signal resource / port is counted only in a slot that it is transmitted.31 . The method of claim 26, wherein the UIBR has a same priority as CSI reports carrying “L1 -RSRP” or “L1 -SINR”.

32. An apparatus configured to cause a user equipment (UE) to perform any of the methods of claims 1-19 and 26-31 .

33. A baseband processor configured to perform one or more of the methods claims 1 to 31 .

34. An apparatus configured to cause a base station (BS) to perform any of the methods of claims 20-25.

35. A computer program product, comprising computer instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, perform any of the operations or methods described herein.

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