Multi-sub-band network-controlled repeater

Abstract

Systems and methods related to a multi-sub-band Network-Controlled Repeater (NCR) and the operation thereof are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method performed by an NCR is provided. The NCR comprises an NCR Mobile Termination (NCR-MT) that operates on a first carrier associated to a first sub-band and an NCR Forward function (NCR-Fwd) that operates on the first sub-band and one or more additional sub-bands. The method is performed by the NCR for dynamically forwarding transmissions between a network node and a User Equipment (UE) configured to operate on a second carrier associated to a second sub-band from among the additional sub-bands. The method comprises receiving, from the network node, information comprising a beam indication that indicates an NCR access beam and a time resource indication that indicates a time resource, determining that the received information is associated to the second sub-band, and configuring the NCR-Fwd of the NCR to use the NCR access beam during the time resource, for the second sub-band.

Description

MULTI-SUB-BAND NETWORK-CONTROLLED REPEATERBACKGROUNDNetwork-Controlled Repeaters (NCRs)

[0001] To increase the data rate and support the increasing number of User Equipments (UEs), different methods are considered, among which network densification and millimeter wave (mmW) communications are the dominant ones. Network densification refers to the deployment of multiple access points of different types in, e.g., metropolitan areas. Particularly, it is expected that in future (small) nodes, such as relays, Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) nodes, repeaters, etc., will be densely deployed to support existing macro Base Stations (BSs) serving UEs.

[0002] During the development of 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 16 (Rel- 16) and Rel-17 specifications, IAB has been well studied as the main relaying technique in the 5thGeneration (5G) network, and the discussions continue in Rel-18 on the mobility aspects of IAB. Here, using a decode-and-forward relaying technique, the IAB node can well extend the coverage and / or increase the throughput. However, an IAB node may be a relatively complex and expensive node and therefore, depending on the deployment, alternative nodes with low complexity / cost may be desired for, e.g., blind spot removal. Here, a candidate type of network node is a Radio Frequency (RF) repeater, which simply operates to amplify-and-forward any signal that it receives. RF repeaters have been considered in the 2ndGeneration (2G), 3rdGeneration (3G), and 4thGeneration (4G) networks to supplement the coverage provided by regular full- stack cells. However, an RF repeater lacks in, e.g., accurate beamforming which may limit its efficiency in, for instance, Frequency Range 2 (FR2).With this background, a study-item was considered in 3GPP Rel-18 on Network-Controlled Repeaters (NCRs), finalized in August 2022, which is currently followed by a work-item. In one alternative, an NCR can be a normal repeater with beamforming capabilities. In this way, the NCR should be considered as a network-controlled “beam bender” when compared to a New Radio (NR) base station (i.e., a gNodeB (gNB)). As such, the NCR is logically part of the gNB for all management purposes, i.e., it can be assumed that the NCR is deployed and under the control of the network operator. The NCR is based on an amplify-and-forward relaying scheme, and it is likely to be limited to single-hop communication in stationary deployments. In other words, an NCR is an enhancement over conventional RF repeaters with the capability to receive and process Sidelink Control Information (SCI) from the network. Side control information could allow an NCR to perform an amplify-and-forward operation in a more efficient manner. Potential benefits could include, for instance, mitigation of unnecessary noise amplification, transmissions and receptions with better spatial directivity, simplified network integration, etc.

[0003] The objectives of NR NCR Work Item (WI) follow in principle the recommendations defined in 3GPP Technical Report (TR) 38.867 V18.0.0. With these recommendations, the NR NCR supports the following features:• signaling and behavior of the following side control information for controlling the NCR- Fwd: o Beamforming o Uplink (UL)-Downlink (DL) Time Division Duplexing (TDD) operation o ON-OFF information

[0004] Figure 1 gives an example of an NCR deployment. Here, the NCR consists of two principal building blocks, namely, the NCR Mobile Termination (NCR-MT) and the NCR Forwarding (NCR-Fwd). The NCR-MT is defined as a function entity to communicate with a gNB via a Control link (C-link) to enable information exchanges. The C-link is based on NR Uu interface. The NCR-Fwd is defined as a function entity to perform the amplify-and-forwarding of UL / DL RF signal between gNB and UE via backhaul link and access link. The behavior of the NCR-Fwd will be controlled according to the received side control information from gNB

[0005] The NCR is equipped with an antenna configuration, where a signal is first received in downlink (or uplink) and, after power amplification, transmitted further in downlink (or uplink). Since the NCR-Fwd module only amplifies and (analogously) beamforms the signal, no advanced digital receiver or transmitter chains are required. In its simplest architecture, different antenna modules are used for the BS- and UE-sides, i.e., the antennas targeting the gNB and UEs, respectively, whereas a more complex architecture, including self-interference cancellation, would allow for using the same antenna modules for both sides.

[0006] With signaling over the C-link shown in Figure 1, the NCR-MT module is used to exchange control and status information with a gNB that is controlling the NCR. For this, the NCR-MT module supports at least a subset of UE functions. On the BS-side, the NCR-MT module might be equipped with antennae separated from the antennae used by the NCR-Fwd module. However, in most configurations, at the BS-side, the NCR-MT and NCR-Fwd modules will share antenna configurations. Particularly, motivated by cost-efficient implementation and a unified beamforming framework for the NCR-MT and NCR-Fwd functionalities, it is beneficial to have an architecture with shared NCR-MT and NCR-Fwd antennas on the BS-side.

[0007] In general, the NCR-MT and the NCR-Fwd modules could be operating at the same, different, or overlapping frequencies. For example, the NCR-Fwd could operate at a high frequency band (FR2) and the NCR-MT could be operating at a low frequency band (FrequencyRange 1 (FR1)). However, controlling the backhaul link will be greatly simplified if the NCR-MT and NCR-Fwd operate in the same carrier.

[0008] The NCR-Fwd’ s amplify-and-forward operation is controlled via the NCR-MT. The NCR-MT could also be directly responsible for the beamforming control on the access antenna side, i.e., to / from served UEs. In an alternative, the beamforming on the access antenna side is operated by the NCR-Fwd under control of the NCR-MT. On the BS side, i.e., to / from the controlling gNB, the NCR-MT could be directly responsible for the beamforming control. Here, it is important to note that the beam control of the NCR UE-side should be conducted smoothly to minimize the impact on cell-common and UE- specific signals / channels which are forwarded towards the UEs. Also, a beam arrangement including both wider and narrower beams is required to accommodate both broadcast and unicast signals.

[0009] One of the objectives of the NR NCR WI is to determine the proper beamforming behavior of the NCR at both the BS- and the UE-sides and, accordingly, specify the required signaling for the corresponding side control information exchange.Carrier Aggregation

[0010] Normally, a UE will receive and transmit data on a single carrier, a primary carrier. In Carrier Aggregation (CA), one or more additional secondary carriers are aggregated together with the primary carrier in order to support a wider transmission bandwidth.

[0011] A UE that is configured for carrier aggregation connects to a primary serving cell (PCell) on the primary carrier and one or more secondary serving cells (SCells) on one or more secondary carriers. The configured set of serving cells for a UE therefore always consists of one PCell and one or more SCells.

[0012] Radio Resource Control (RRC) connections and broadcast signaling are handled by the PCell. The PCell also decides which cells should be included among the SCell set. Finally, the PCell is responsible for measurements and UE mobility.The actual number of secondary carriers that can be allocated to the UE depends on UE capability. CA can be configured as intra-band contiguous carriers, intra-band non-contiguous carriers and inter-band contiguous carriers.

[0013] A consequence of the above responsibilities between a PCell and SCells, SCells are used for data off-loading, i.e., predominantly by using UE-specific Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). Consequently, SCells are typically scheduled dynamically, whereas PCells may be scheduled both semi-statically, semi- persistently and dynamically.SUMMARY

[0014] Systems and methods related to a multi- sub-band Network-Controlled Repeater (NCR) and the operation thereof are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method performed by an NCR is provided. The NCR comprises an NCR Mobile Termination (NCR-MT) and an NCR Forward function (NCR-Fwd) where the NCR-MT operates on a first carrier associated to a first sub-band and the NCR-Fwd operates on the first sub-band and one or more additional sub-bands. The method is performed by the NCR for dynamically forwarding transmissions between a network node and a User Equipment (UE) configured to operate on a second carrier associated to a second sub-band from among the one or more additional sub-bands. The method comprises receiving, from the network node, information comprising a beam indication that indicates an NCR access beam and a time resource indication that indicates a time resource, determining that the received information is associated to the second sub-band, and configuring the NCR-Fwd of the NCR to use the NCR access beam during the time resource, for the second sub-band. In this manner, the NCR is enabled to be utilized over multiple sub-bands or carriers, and not only on the sub-band associated with the NCR-MT’ s serving carrier.

[0015] In one embodiment, the method further comprises, prior to receiving the information, receiving, from the network node, a repeater configuration comprising any one or more of the following: information that configures the NCR with a number of sub-bands on which the NCR- Fwd operates; information that configures the NCR with sub-band frequency ranges for the first sub-band and the one or more additional sub-bands on which the NCR-Fwd operates; information that configures the NCR with sub-band bandwidths of the first sub-band and the one or more additional sub-bands on which the NCR-Fwd operates; information that configures the NCR with a sub-band numerology or subcarrier spacing of the first sub-band and the one or more additional sub-bands on which the NCR-Fwd operates; information that configures the NCR with a number of bits used for a sub-band indication included in the information received from the network node; information that configures the NCR with a sub-band index of the first sub-band associated to the first carrier; information that configures the NCR with an offset of the first carrier within the first sub-band; information that configures the NCR with a total number of NCR access beams across all of the first sub-band and the one or more additional sub-bands on which the NCR-Fwd operates; information that configures the NCR with a number of NCR access beams per sub-band; information that configures the NCR with a beam index to sub-band mapping used for determining that the received information is associated to the second sub-band; information that configures the NCR (204) with a mapping between sub-bands and carriers and / or cells; information thatconfigures the NCR (204) with a mapping between sub-bands and position of the received information in a Downlink Control Information (DCI). In one embodiment, the NCR configures the NCR-Fwd according to the received repeater configuration.

[0016] In one embodiment, the method further comprises, prior to receiving the information, receiving, from the network node, a repeater configuration comprising information that configures the NCR with time resources for dynamic beam indication.

[0017] In one embodiment, receiving the repeater configuration comprises receiving the repeater configuration via Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (0AM) and / or Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

[0018] In one embodiment, receiving the information comprising the beam indication and the time resource indication comprises receiving a DCI comprising the beam indication and the time resource indication.

[0019] In one embodiment, the first carrier is a primary carrier including a primary cell in a carrier aggregation configuration. In one embodiment, the second carrier is a secondary carrier including a secondary cell in the carrier aggregation configuration.

[0020] In one embodiment, the received information further comprises a sub-band indicator that indicates the second sub-band, and determining that the received information is associated to the second sub-band comprises determining that the received information is associated to the second sub-band based on the sub-band indicator. In one embodiment, the beam indication and the time resource indication forms a beam indication and time resource indication pair, and the received information further comprises a sub-band indication for the beam indication and time resource indication pair.

[0021] In one embodiment, the received information is comprised in a DCI that further comprises one or more additional beam indication and time resource indication pairs and an additional sub-band indication for each of the one or more additional beam indication and time resource indication pairs.

[0022] In one embodiment, receiving the information comprising the beam indication and the time resource indication comprises receiving a DCI comprising the beam indication and the time resource indication, and determining that the received information is associated to the second subband comprises determining that the beam indication and the time resource indication are associated to the second sub-band based on a position of the beam indication and the time resource indication within the DCI.

[0023] In one embodiment, determining that the received information is associated to the second sub-band comprises determining that the received information is associated to the secondsub-band based on a mapping between beam indications and sub-bands. In one embodiment, the beam indication is a beam index from a list of beam indices, and the mapping is a periodic mapping such that every K-th beam index in the list of beam indices is associated with a K-th sub-band for a total of K sub-bands. In another embodiment, the beam indication is a beam index from a list of beam indices, the first sub-band and the one or more additional sub-bands form a set of M subbands (sub-band 1, sub-band 2, . . sub-band M), and the mapping is such that a lowest N1 beam indices from the list of beam indices are associated with sub-band 1, a second lowest N2 beam indices from the list of beam indices are associated with sub-band 2, and so on, where N1 is the number of beams for sub-band 1, N2 is the number of beams for sub-band 2, and so on.

[0024] In one embodiment, the received information is comprised in a DCI, and the DCI comprises a set of one or more beam indications including the beam indication and a set of one or more time resource indications, including the time resource indication, associated to the set of one or more beam indications. In one embodiment, determining that the received information is associated to the second sub-band comprises determining that the beam indication and the time resource indication are associated to the second sub-band based on a mapping between beam indications in the set of one or more beam indications and sub-bands. In one embodiment, the mapping is received from the network node. In another embodiment, the mapping is implicitly determined based on one or more predefined or configured rules. In one embodiment, the rule is a rule that maps different beam indication locations in the set of one or more beam indications to different sub-bands.

[0025] In one embodiment, determining that the received information is associated to the second sub-band comprises determining that the beam indication and the time resource indication are associated to the second sub-band based on the time resource indication.

[0026] In one embodiment, the sub-band operation follows a reference subcarrier spacing, SCS, or numerology.

[0027] Corresponding embodiments of an NCR are also disclosed. In one embodiment, an NCR comprises an NCR-MT configured to operate on a first carrier associated to a first sub-band and an NCR-Fwd configured to operate the first sub-band and one or more additional sub-bands. In order to enable dynamic configuration of forwarding of transmissions between a network node and a UE configured to operate on a second carrier associated to a second sub-band from among the one or more additional sub-bands, the NCR is further configured to receive, from the network node via the NCR-MT, information comprising a beam indication that indicates an NCR access beam and a time resource indication that indicates a time resource, determine that the receivedinformation is associated to the second sub-band, and configure the NCR-Fwd of the NCR to use the NCR access beam during the time resource, for the second sub-band.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

[0029] Figure 1 gives an example of a Network-Controlled Repeater (NCR) deployment;

[0030] Figure 2 illustrates a wireless system including a network node (e.g., a base station such as, e.g., a gNB), an NCR, and a number of User Equipments (UEs), in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0031] Figure 3 illustrates the operation of the network node and the NCR of Figure 2, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure

[0032] Figure 4 illustrates an example embodiment of the information received in step 302 of Figure 3, where sub-bands are related to time / beam pairs explicitly via a higher layer (e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC)) parameter positioninDCI;

[0033] Figure 5 shows an example of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0034] Figure 6 shows a UE in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0035] Figure 7 shows a network node in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0036] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] The embodiments set forth below represent information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and illustrate the best mode of practicing the embodiments. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the disclosure and will recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure.

[0038] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0039] As used herein, the term “repeater” represents a Network-Controlled Repeater (NCR) or a node with similar functionalities. Therefore, the terms repeater, network-controlled repeater, and NCR may be used interchangeably in the description provided herein.

[0040] There currently exist certain challenge(s) in regard to the use of NCRs. A common configuration in Frequency Range 2 (FR2) is that a wider frequency band is divided into multiple, smaller carriers, e.g., a frequency band having an 800 Megahertz (MHz) bandwidth is divided into eight 100 MHz sub-bands that are supported by the NCR Forwarding (NCR-Fwd). Note that, as used herein, the term “sub-band” means a subset of an entire (larger) frequency band, where this subset, or sub-band, contains a number of carriers. For example, a frequency band having an 800 MHz bandwidth could be partitioned into 2, 4, or 8 sub-bands comprising 4, 2, or 1 carrier, respectively. The sub-band partitioning is typically restricted by the NCR hardware design and, for that reason, cannot necessarily be related to the configured carrier constellation. One reason for sub-band operation of the NCR is that User Equipments (UEs) are capable of different bandwidths and enabling sub-band configuration allows operations of most UEs. In such a configuration, sub-band operation of the NCR would be beneficial since it would allow multiple UEs to be simultaneously served at different locations using different access link beams in the NCR. Hence, there is a need for systems and methods to enable dynamic sub-band configuration of an NCR based on received dynamic access beam indication.

[0041] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. Systems and methods are disclosed for sub-band configuration of an NCR.

[0042] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). Embodiments of the present disclosure enable NCR to be utilized over multiple subbands or carriers, and not only on the sub-band associated with the NCR-Mobile Termination’s (NCR-MT’s) serving carrier, as is the case in the current 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) specification. As a result, performance may be increased by multiples compared to what would otherwise be the case. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented via minimal deviations from the current 3GPP specification, in a non-critical way, allowing for simple extension for vendors who wish to take advantage of solution(s) described herein.

[0043] Figure 2 illustrates a wireless system 200 including a network node 202 (e.g., a base station such as, e.g., a gNB), an NCR 204, and a number of UEs 206-1 to 206-2, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. Note that while there are two UEs 206 (and two sub-bands) shown in the example of Figure 2, there may be any number of two or more sub-bands and any number of UEs 206 in the wireless system 200. The NCR 204 includes an NCR Mobile Termination (NCR-MT) 208 that operates to exchange control and status information with the network node 202 that controls the NCR 204 over a control-link (C-link). The C-link is provided on a first carrier frequency. The NCR 204 also includes an NCR Forwarding function (NCR-Fwd) 210 that performs an amplify-and-forward function in each of multiple sub-bands (Sub-Band 1, Sub-Band 2, . . Sub-Band NSB) under the control of the network node 202 via the NCR-MT 208, thereby amplifying and forwarding uplink and downlink transmissions between the network node 202 and the UEs 206. Note that the first carrier frequency used for the C-link may be contained within one of the sub-bands (specifically Sub-Band 1 in the example of Figure 2) supported by the NCR-Fwd 210. At least a second carrier is associated with another one of the sub-bands (specifically Sub-Band 2 in the example of Figure 2). Thus, the NCR-Fwd 210 operates on a total bandwidth that is larger than the bandwidth of the first carrier used for the C-link. In an example embodiment, the first carrier is primary carrier including a Primary Cell (PCell) in a carrier aggregation configuration, and the at least a second carrier includes at least one Secondary Cell (SCell) in the carrier aggregation configuration. Importantly, as described below, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to configuring the sub-band operation of the NCR-Fwd 210.

[0044] The NCR-MT 208 and the NCR-Fwd 210 may be implemented in any suitable combination of hardware and software. For example, the NCR-MT 208 may be implemented using a combination of hardware and software similar to (or the same as) that used to implement a UE (see, e.g., Figure 6 and the related description below). The NCR-Fwd 210 includes hardware (e.g., analog circuitry) for amplifying, beamforming, and forwarding (transmitting) signals received in the sub-bands on which the NCR-Fwd 210 operates. As discussed below, the NCR- Fwd 210 is configured according to control information received by the NCR-MT 208 to provide the desired beamforming during respective time resources per sub-band.

[0045] In this regard, Figure 3 illustrates the operation of the network node 202 and the NCR 204 in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. Optional steps are represented by dashed lines / boxes. As illustrated, optionally, the network node 202 sends, and the NCR-MT 208 receives, a higher layer or Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (0AM) configuration(s) or both higher layer and 0AM configuration(s), e.g., via the C-link (step 300). In one embodiment, the higher layer or 0AM configuration(s) includes information about a preferred mode of operation of the NCR 204. This configuration(s) may include one or more of the following: one or more of semi- static configurations, one or more semi-persistent configurations, and time resources for dynamic indication. The configuration(s) may be provided via, e.g., Radio ResourceControl (RRC) signaling. The semi-static and semi-persistent configurations may further include a periodicity of a pattern of time-resource / beam index pairs for semi- static and semi-persistent configurations and beam index. The time resources may indicate symbols and slots for which a dynamically indicated beam index should be applied. The semi-persistent configuration may furthermore be activated by Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE). In one example embodiment, the time resources for dynamic indication may be configured via an RRC parameter NCR-AperiodicFwdTimeResource-18, which defines a time resource (consecutive slots + symbols) an NCR beam (index) is applied. In one example embodiment, the time resources for dynamic indication may be a list of time resources, where the time resource is indexed and the NCR can be configured with a beam index and time resource index that indicates which beam to use on which time resource.

[0046] The configuration information of step 300 may further include sub-band information, allowing the NCR 204 to configure sub-band operation according to its capabilities. Such information may include any one or more of the following:• information that configures the NCR 204 with a number of sub-bands on which the NCR-Fwd 210 operates;• information that configures the NCR 204 with sub-band frequency ranges for the first sub-band and the one or more additional sub-bands on which the NCR-Fwd 210 operates,• information that configures the NCR 204 with sub-band bandwidths of the first subband and the one or more additional sub-bands on which the NCR-Fwd 210 operates;• information that configures the NCR 204 with a sub-band numerology or subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the first sub-band and the one or more additional sub-bands on which the NCR-Fwd 210 operates; o Note that the different sub-bands may operate with a different SCS / numerology. But the beam indication and the associated time resource is provided with respect to a reference SCS / numerology. For example, sub-band 1 is used to serve a UE which operates with SCS = 30khz, sub-band 2 is used to serve a UE which operates with SCS = 60khz. But the beam indication and associated time resource for both sub-band 1 and sub-band 2 are provided with a reference SCS = 60khz. In other words, the reference SCS can be used as a reference time unit to be used for all subbands, irrespective of the SCS per sub-band.• information that configures the NCR 204 with a number of bits used for a sub-band indication included in information received from the network node 202 (e.g., includedin a Downlink Control Information (DCI));• information that configures the NCR 204 with a sub-band index of the first sub-band associated to the first carrier;• information that configures the NCR 204 with an offset of the first carrier within the first sub-band;• information that configures the NCR 204 with a total number of NCR access beams across all of the first sub-band and the one or more additional sub-bands on which the NCR-Fwd 210 operates;• information that configures the NCR 204 with a number of NCR access beams per subband;• information that configures the NCR 204 with a beam index to sub-band mapping used for determining (in step 304) that (at least part of) the received information is associated to the second sub-band;• information that configures the NCR 204 with a mapping between sub-bands and carriers and / or cells;• information that configures the NCR 204 with a mapping between sub-bands and position of the received information in a DCI in which it is received.

[0047] Alternatively, or additionally, an individual mapping of beam indices to sub-band may be provided. Finally, the information may include a mapping between sub-bands and a position in DCI for which information at the provided position relates to the mapped sub-band.

[0048] Upon receiving the configuration information via the NCR-MT 208, the NCR 204 configures the NCR-Fwd 210 of the NCR 204 according to the received configuration, e.g., in terms of filters, amplifiers, frequency adjusted precoders such that beam squint between sub-bands is minimized, etc.

[0049] The NCR 204 (via the NCR-MT 208) receives, from the network node 202, information associated with a determined scheduling by the network node 202 (step 302). The information can be provided via dynamic signaling (e.g., DCI), e.g., in the case of an aperiodic scenario, via RRC and a MAC CE, e.g., in the case of a semi-persistent scenario, or via an RRC configuration, e.g., in the case of aperiodic scenario. The received information may indicate an appropriate repeater access link time resource and beam pair (also denoted herein as a “time / beam pair”) for communication with a UE 206 according to the determined scheduling. In other words, the received information includes a beam indication that indicates an NCR access beam and a time resource indication that indicates a time resource. In one case, the beam configuration may berelated to a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) index that the network node 202 may use for communication with the UE 206.

[0050] In some embodiments, the received information including the time resource and beam pair is received in a DCI. Further, in some embodiments, the DCI further includes an explicit subband indication associated to the time resource and beam pair. The DCI may further include one or more additional time resource and beam pairs. The same explicit sub-band indication may be valid for all of the time resource and beam pairs. Alternatively, the explicit sub-band indication may be valid for a subset of the time resource and beam pairs. As another alternative, the DCI may include a separate explicit sub-band indication for each of the time resource and beam pairs. For example, a first sub-band indication included in the DCI is associated to a first pair of beam index and time resource and so on. Note, however, that an implicit sub-band indication(s) may alternatively be used.

[0051] In some other embodiments, the received information including the time resource and beam pair is received in a DCI, where the DCI includes the time resource indication and a set of beam indications, including the aforementioned beam indication, associated to the time resource indication. The DCI may further include explicit sub-band indications that are valid for the time resource indication and the set of beam indications (e.g., a separate explicit sub-band indication for each beam indication in the set of beam indications). Alternatively, the DCI may further include a separate explicit sub-band indication for each beam indication in the set of beam indications. Note, however, that an implicit sub-band indication(s) may alternatively be used.

[0052] The NCR 204 (e.g., the NCR-MT 208) determines a sub-band that is related to the received information (step 304). Note that while the NCR-MT 208 is shown as performing step 304 in the example of Figure 3, in some implementations, the NCR-MT 208 operates to receive the information in step 302, but the NCR 204 (e.g., a controller of the NCR 204 which is not shown) performs step 304 based on the information received via the NCR-MT 208 in step 302. In one example, the determined sub-band is the second sub-band. The sub-band may be either explicitly indicated in association with the received information (e.g., in the same DCI), in which case the determination maps bits to a sub-band, or implicitly indicated by either the indicated beam (e.g., the beam index) or the indicated time resource or the location of the indications in a sequence of indications.

[0053] In some embodiments, the time resource indication and beam indication pair included in the received information are received in a DCI, where the DCI further includes one or more additional time resource indication and beam indication pairs. In the case of an explicit indication, one sub-band indication may be provided for all time resource indication and beam indication pairsincluded in the DCI. As another example, one sub-band indication is included in the DCI per time resource indication and beam indication pair.

[0054] In case of an implicit indication, different beam indications (e.g., different beam indices) or different time resource indications (e.g., different time resource indices) are associated with (e.g., mapped to) different sub-bands. It may be that the available beam indices (i.e., a list of beam indices) are partitioned on the number of sub-bands. For example, if 64 beam indices are available in total, the first 16 beam indices are associated with sub-band 1, the second 16 beam indices are associated with sub-band 2, and so on. Based on an expected different utilization of sub-bands, a bitmap mapping the beam indices to sub-bands may further be provided to the NCR 204 such that more beams are allocated to some sub-bands than others. Other partitionings are not precluded, such as periodically associating a beam index in a list of beam indices to a sub-band (e.g., every K-th Beam index in a list of indices is associated to the K-th sub-band, for a total of K sub-bands). As another example, the first sub-band and the one or more additional sub-bands form a set of M sub-bands (sub-band 1, sub-band 2, sub-band M), and a mapping is defined or configured such that a lowest N 1 beam indices from the list of beam indices are associated with sub-band 1, a second lowest N2 beam indices from the list of beam indices are associated with sub-band 2, and so on, where N1 is the number of beams for sub-band 1, N2 is the number of beams for sub-band 2, and so on. Note that Nl, N2, etc. may be the same or different values. Such mappings may be received from the network node 202 or be based on one or more predefined or configured rules. In the case of such an implicit indication, in step 304, the NCR 204 determines the sub-band that is related to the received information (e.g., to the time resource indication and the beam indication).

[0055] Similarly, implicit indication can be done with the time resource indications such that a set of configured time resources are partitioned among the sub-bands. For example, a first number of time resources may be associated with the first sub-band and so on, in a manner similar to the example partitioning of beam indices described above.

[0056] Figure 4 illustrates an example embodiment of the information received in step 302, where sub-bands are related to time / beam pairs explicitly via a higher layer (e.g., RRC) parameter positioninDCI. Each sub-band is associated with a configured parameter positioninDCI which indicates a starting bit of data comprised in the DCI that includes a number of time / beam pairs (i.e., a number of pairs of time resources (depicted as Time Resource (RSC) in Figure 4) and beam indications) to which the sub-band is associated. In the example of Figure 4, the positioninDCI associated with sub-band X indicates a starting bit of data block #1, which contains three time / beam pairs for sub-band X (i.e., a first pair formed by a beam index contained in the BeamIndex 0 data element (e.g., field) and a time resource indicated by a time resource indication contained in the Time RSC 0 data element, a second pair formed by a beam index contained in the Beam Index 1 data element and a time resource indicated by a time resource indication contained in the Time RSC 1 data element, and a third pair formed by a beam index contained in the Beam Index 2 data element and a time resource indicated by a time resource indication contained in the Time RSC 2 data element. Likewise, in the example of Figure 4, the positioninDCI associated with sub-band Y indicates a starting bit of data block #N, which contains four time / beam pairs for sub-band Y.

[0057] Note that, in some embodiments, the sub-bands referred to herein are intra-band (i.e., from the same frequency band such as, for example, 3GPP band 200), alternatively, the sub-bands can be inter-band (e.g., from different or more than one frequency band, such as, for example, 3GPP frequency bands 50 and 51 or 42 and 43). In some embodiments, the DCI may contain different numbers of time / beam pairs for different sub-bands.

[0058] Returning to Figure 3, the NCR 204 (e.g., the NCR-MT 208) configures the NCR-Fwd 210 of the NCR 204 according to the determined configurations (step 306). Note that while the NCR-MT 208 is shown as performing step 306 in the example of Figure 3, in some implementations, step 306 is performed by the NCR 204 (e.g., a controller of the NCR 204 which is not shown). The configuration of step 306 includes, for at least the second sub-band, at least a beam index to use and at least a time resource during which the configuration is applied. This way, the NCR 204 may advantageously frequency multiplex among different sub-bands (and consequently carriers) multiple UEs 206, where each UE 206 is associated with a different beam, in a same time resource.

[0059] Figure 5 shows an example of a communication system 500 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. In the example, the communication system 500 includes a telecommunication network 502 that includes an access network 504, such as a Radio Access Network (RAN), and a core network 506, which includes one or more core network nodes 508. The access network 504 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 510A and 510B (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 510), or any other similar Third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP Access Points (APs). Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 502 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. AnORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 502 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 502, including one or more network nodes 510 and / or core network nodes 508.

[0060] Examples of an ORAN network node include an Open Radio Unit (O-RU), an Open Distributed Unit (O-DU), an Open Central Unit (O-CU), including an O-CU Control Plane (O- CU-CP) or an O-CU User Plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non- real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an Al, Fl, Wl, El, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 510 facilitate direct or indirect connection of User Equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 512A, 512B, 512C, and 512D (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 512) to the core network 506 over one or more wireless connections.

[0061] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 500 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 500 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0062] The UEs 512 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 510 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 510 arearranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 512 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 502 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 502.

[0063] In the depicted example, the core network 506 connects the network nodes 510 to one or more hosts, such as host 516. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 506 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 508) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 508. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-Concealing Function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0064] The host 516 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than a network operator or provider of the access network 504 and / or the telecommunication network 502, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 516 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.As a whole, the communication system 500 of Figure 5 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system 500 may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable Second, Third, Fourth, or Fifth Generation (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G) standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., Sixth Generation (6G)); Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards(WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC), ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0065] In some examples, the telecommunication network 502 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunication network 502 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 502. For example, the telecommunication network 502 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / massive Internet of Things (loT) services to yet further UEs.

[0066] In some examples, the UEs 512 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 504 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 504. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-Radio Access Technology (RAT) or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of WiFi, New Radio (NR), and LTE, i.e. being configured for Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC), such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial RAN (E-UTRAN) NR - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).In the example, the access network 504 also includes an NCR 514 that operates to amplify and forward uplink and downlink transmissions between, in this example, the network node 510B and the UEs 512C and 512D. In the context of the present disclosure, the NCR 514 corresponds to the NCR 204 described above, the network node 510B corresponds to the network node 202 described above, and the UEs 512C and 512D correspond to the UEs 206. As such, the details regarding the operation of the network node 202 and the NCR 204 are equally appliable here to the NCR 514 and the network node 510B.

[0067] Figure 6 shows a UE 600 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), wireless camera, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, Laptop Embedded Equipment (LEE), Laptop Mounted Equipment(LME), smart device, wireless Customer Premise Equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3GPP, including a Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UE, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0068] A UE may support Device-to-Device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3 GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), Vehicle-to- Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), or Vehicle- to-Everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0069] The UE 600 includes processing circuitry 602 that is operatively coupled via a bus 604 to an input / output interface 606, a power source 608, memory 610, a communication interface 612, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 6. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0070] The processing circuitry 602 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 610. The processing circuitry 602 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or Digital Signal Processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 602 may include multiple Central Processing Units (CPUs).

[0071] In the example, the input / output interface 606 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 600. Examples of an inputdevice include a touch- sensitive or presence- sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0072] In some embodiments, the power source 608 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 608 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 608 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 600 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 608. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 608 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 600 to which power is supplied.

[0073] The memory 610 may be or be configured to include memory such as Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Erasable PROM (EPROM), Electrically EPROM (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 610 includes one or more application programs 614, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 616. The memory 610 may store, for use by the UE 600, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0074] The memory 610 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, High Density Digital Versatile Disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, Holographic Digital Data Storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM), Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as a tamper resistant module in the form of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) including one or more Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs), such as a Universal SIM (USIM) and / or Internet Protocol Multimedia Services Identity Module (ISIM), other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or aremovable UICC commonly known as a ‘SIM card.’ The memory 610 may allow the UE 600 to access instructions, application programs, and the like stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system, may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 610, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0075] The processing circuitry 602 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 612. The communication interface 612 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 622. The communication interface 612 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 618 and / or a receiver 620 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 618 and receiver 620 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., the antenna 622) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0076] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 612 may include cellular communication, WiFi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short- range communications such as Bluetooth, NFC, location-based communication such as the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, NR, UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP), Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Quick User Datagram Protocol Internet Connection (QUIC), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0077] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 612, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0078] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0079] A UE, when in the form of an loT device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application, and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a television, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or VR, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 600 shown in Figure 6.

[0080] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship, an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0081] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust thethrottle on the drone (e.g., by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0082] Figure 7 shows a network node 700 in accordance with some embodiments. The network node 700 is an example embodiment of the network node 202 and the network nodes 510. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, APs (e.g., radio APs), Base Stations (BSs) (e.g., radio BSs, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), NR Node Bs (gNBs)), and O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O- CU).

[0083] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node), and / or Remote Radio Units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such RRUs may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a Distributed Antenna System (DAS).

[0084] Other examples of network nodes include multiple Transmission Point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, Multi-Standard Radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as Radio Network Controllers (RNCs) or BS Controllers (BSCs), Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, Multi-Cell / Multicast Coordination Entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0085] The network node 700 includes processing circuitry 702, memory 704, a communication interface 706, and a power source 708. The network node 700 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and an RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 700 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may beshared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 700 may be configured to support multiple RATs. In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 704 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 710 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 700 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 700, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within the network node 700.

[0086] The processing circuitry 702 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, CPU, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 700 components, such as the memory 704, to provide network node 700 functionality.

[0087] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 702 includes a System on a Chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 702 includes one or more of Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 712 and baseband processing circuitry 714. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 712 and the baseband processing circuitry 714 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of the RF transceiver circuitry 712 and the baseband processing circuitry 714 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0088] The memory 704 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, RAM, ROM, mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD), or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable, and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 702. The memory 704 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 702 and utilized by the network node 700. The memory 704 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 702 and / or any data received via the communicationinterface 706. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 702 and the memory 704 are integrated.

[0089] The communication interface 706 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between a network node, access network, and / or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 706 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 716 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 706 also includes radio front-end circuitry 718 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 710. The radio front-end circuitry 718 comprises filters 720 and amplifiers 722. The radio front-end circuitry 718 may be connected to the antenna 710 and the processing circuitry 702. The radio front-end circuitry 718 may be configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna 710 and the processing circuitry 702. The radio front-end circuitry 718 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 718 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of the filters 720 and / or the amplifiers 722. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 710. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 710 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 718. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 702. In other embodiments, the communication interface 706 may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0090] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 700 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 718; instead, the processing circuitry 702 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 710. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 712 is part of the communication interface 706. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 706 includes the one or more ports or terminals 716, the radio front-end circuitry 718, and the RF transceiver circuitry 712 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 706 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 714, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0091] The antenna 710 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 710 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 718 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 710 is separate from the network node 700 and connectable to the network node 700 through an interface or port.

[0092] The antenna 710, the communication interface 706, and / or the processing circuitry 702 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operationsdescribed herein as being performed by the network node 700. Any information, data, and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 710, the communication interface 706, and / or the processing circuitry 702 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node 700. Any information, data, and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment.

[0093] The power source 708 provides power to the various components of the network node 700 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 708 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 700 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 700 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid or an electricity outlet) via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 708. As a further example, the power source 708 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0094] Embodiments of the network node 700 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 7 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 700 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 700 and to allow output of information from the network node 700. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 700. In some embodiments providing a core network node, such as core network node 108 of FIG. 5, some components, such as the radio front-end circuitry 718 and the RF transceiver circuitry 712 may be omitted.

[0095] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 800 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices, and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtualcomponents executed by one or more Virtual Machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtualization environments 800 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, a UE, a core network node, or a host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment 800 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface. Virtualization may facilitate distributed implementations of a network node, a UE, a core network node, or a host.

[0096] Applications 802 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment 800 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0097] Hardware 804 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, an input / output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 806 (also referred to as hypervisors or Virtual Machine Monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 8O8A and 8O8B (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 808), and / or perform any of the functions, features, and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 806 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 808.

[0098] The VMs 808 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking, or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 806. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 802 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 808, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as Network Function Virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers and customer premise equipment.

[0099] In the context of NFV, a VM 808 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 808, and that part of the hardware 804 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separatevirtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 808 on top of the hardware 804 and corresponds to the application 802.

[0100] The hardware 804 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. The hardware 804 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware 804 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g., such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 810, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of the applications 802. In some embodiments, the hardware 804 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 812 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0101] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions, and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining, or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0102] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

[0103] Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of the present disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method performed by a Network-Controlled Repeater, NCR, (204) comprising an NCR Mobile Termination, NCR-MT, (208) and an NCR Forward function, NCR-Fwd, (210) where the NCR-MT (208) operates on a first carrier associated to a first sub-band and the NCR-Fwd (210) operates on the first sub-band and one or more additional sub-bands, the method performed by the NCR (204) for dynamically forwarding transmissions between a network node (202) and a User Equipment, UE, (206) configured to operate on a second carrier associated to a second sub-band from among the one or more additional sub-bands, the method comprising: receiving (302), from the network node (202), information comprising a beam indication that indicates an NCR access beam and a time resource indication that indicates a time resource; determining (304) that the received information is associated to the second sub-band; and configuring (306) the NCR-Fwd (210) of the NCR (204) to use the NCR access beam during the time resource, for the second sub-band.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to receiving (302) the information, receiving (300), from the network node (202), a repeater configuration comprising any one or more of the following:• information that configures the NCR (204) with a number of sub-bands on which the NCR-Fwd (210) operates;• information that configures the NCR (204) with sub-band frequency ranges for the first sub-band and the one or more additional sub-bands on which the NCR-Fwd (210) operates,• information that configures the NCR (204) with sub-band bandwidths of the first subband and the one or more additional sub-bands on which the NCR-Fwd (210) operates;• information that configures the NCR (204) with a sub-band numerology or subcarrier spacing of the first sub-band and the one or more additional sub-bands on which the NCR-Fwd (210) operates;• information that configures the NCR (204) with a number of bits used for a sub-band indication included in the information received from the network node (202);• information that configures the NCR (204) with a sub-band index of the first sub-band associated to the first carrier;• information that configures the NCR (204) with an offset of the first carrier within the first sub-band;• information that configures the NCR (204) with a total number of NCR access beamsacross all of the first sub-band and the one or more additional sub-bands on which the NCR-Fwd (210) operates;• information that configures the NCR (204) with a number of NCR access beams per sub-band;• information that configures the NCR (204) with a beam index to sub-band mapping used for determining (304) that the received information is associated to the second sub-band;• information that configures the NCR (204) with a mapping between: (i) sub-bands and (ii) carriers and / or cells;• information that configures the NCR (204) with a mapping between sub-bands and position of the received information in a Downlink Control Information, DCI.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the NCR (204) configures the NCR-Fwd (210) according to the received repeater configuration.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to receiving (302) the information, receiving (300), from the network node (202), a repeater configuration comprising information that configures the NCR (204) with time resources for dynamic beam indication.

5. The method of any of claims 2 to 4, wherein receiving (300) the repeater configuration comprises receiving (300) the repeater configuration via Operations, Administration, and Maintenance, 0AM, and / or Radio Resource Control, RRC, signaling.

6. The method of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein receiving (302) the information comprising the beam indication and the time resource indication comprises receiving a downlink control information, DCI, comprising the beam indication and the time resource indication.

7. The method of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the first carrier is a primary carrier including a primary cell in a carrier aggregation configuration.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second carrier is a secondary carrier including a secondary cell in the carrier aggregation configuration.

9. The method of any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the received information further comprises asub-band indicator that indicates the second sub-band, and determining (304) that the received information is associated to the second sub-band comprises determining (304) that the received information is associated to the second sub-band based on the sub-band indicator.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the beam indication and the time resource indication forms a beam indication and time resource indication pair, and the received information further comprises a sub-band indication for the beam indication and time resource indication pair.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the received information is comprised in a downlink control information, DCI, that further comprises one or more additional beam indication and time resource indication pairs and an additional sub-band indication for each of the one or more additional beam indication and time resource indication pairs.

12. The method of any of claims 1 to 8, wherein: receiving (302) the information comprising the beam indication and the time resource indication comprises receiving a downlink control information, DCI, comprising the beam indication and the time resource indication; and determining (304) that the received information is associated to the second sub-band comprises determining (304) that the beam indication and the time resource indication are associated to the second sub-band based on a position of the beam indication and the time resource indication within the DCI.

13. The method of any of claims 1 to 8, wherein determining (304) that the received information is associated to the second sub-band comprises determining (304) that the received information is associated to the second sub-band based on a mapping between beam indications and sub-bands.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the beam indication is a beam index from a list of beam indices, and the mapping is a periodic mapping such that every K-th beam index in the list of beam indices is associated with a K-th sub-band for a total of K sub-bands.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein: the beam indication is a beam index from a list of beam indices; the first sub-band and the one or more additional sub-bands form a set of M sub-bands(sub-band 1, sub-band 2, sub-band M); and the mapping is such that a lowest N1 beam indices from the list of beam indices are associated with sub-band 1, a second lowest N2 beam indices from the list of beam indices are associated with sub-band 2, and so on, where N1 is the number of beams for sub-band 1, N2 is the number of beams for sub-band 2, and so on.

16. The method of any of claims 1 to 8, wherein: the received information is comprised in a downlink control information, DCI; and the DCI comprises a set of one or more beam indications including the beam indication and a set of one or more time resource indications, including the time resource indication, associated to the set of one or more beam indications.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein determining (304) that the received information is associated to the second sub-band comprises determining (304) that the beam indication and the time resource indication are associated to the second sub-band based on a mapping between beam indications in the set of one or more beam indications and sub-bands.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the mapping is received from the network node (202).

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the mapping is implicitly determined based on one or more predefined or configured rules.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the rule is a rule that maps different beam indication locations in the set of one or more beam indications to different sub-bands.

21. The method of any of claims 1 to 8, wherein determining (304) that the received information is associated to the second sub-band comprises determining (304) that the beam indication and the time resource indication are associated to the second sub-band based on the time resource indication.

22. The method of any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the sub-band operation follows a reference subcarrier spacing, SCS, or a numerology.

23. A Network-Controlled Repeater, NCR, (204) comprising:an NCR Mobile Termination, NCR-MT, (208) configured to operate on a first carrier associated to a first sub-band; and an NCR Forward function, NCR-Fwd, (210) configured to operate the first sub-band and one or more additional sub-bands; wherein, in order to enable dynamic configuration of forwarding of transmissions between a network node (202) and a User Equipment, UE, (206) configured to operate on a second carrier associated to a second sub-band from among the one or more additional sub-bands, the NCR (204) is further configured to: receive (302), from the network node (202) via the NCR-MT (208), information comprising a beam indication that indicates an NCR access beam and a time resource indication that indicates a time resource; determine (304) that the received information is associated to the second subband; and configure (306) the NCR-Fwd (210) of the NCR (204) to use the NCR access beam during the time resource, for the second sub-band.

24. The NCR of claim 23, wherein the received information comprising the beam indication and the time resource indication is comprised in a downlink control information, DCI.

25. The NCR of claim 23 or 24, wherein the received information further comprises a subband indicator that indicates the second sub-band, and the NCR-MT (208) determines that the received information is associated to the second sub-band based on the sub-band indicator.

26. The NCR of claim 25, wherein the beam indication and the time resource indication form a beam indication and time resource indication pair, and the received information further comprises a sub-band indication for the beam indication and time resource indication pair.

27. The NCR of claim 23, wherein the received information is comprised in a downlink control information, DCI, that further comprises one or more additional beam indication and time resource indication pairs and an additional sub-band indication for each of the one or more additional beam indication and time resource indication pairs.

28. The NCR of any of claims 23 to 27, wherein: the received information comprising the beam indication and the time resource indicationis comprised in a downlink control information, DCI; and the NCR (204) is further configured to determine that the received information is associated to the second sub-band based on a position of the beam indication and the time resource indication within the DCI.

29. The NCR of any of claims 23 to 27, wherein the NCR (204) is configured to determine that the received information is associated to the second sub-band based on a mapping between beam indications and sub-bands.

30. The NCR of claim 29, wherein the beam indication is a beam index from a list of beam indices, and the mapping is a periodic mapping such that every K-th beam index in the list of beam indices is associated with a K-th sub-band for a total of K sub-bands.

31. The NCR of claim 29, wherein: the beam indication is a beam index from a list of beam indices; the first sub-band and the one or more additional sub-bands form a set of M sub-bands (sub-band 1, sub-band 2, sub-band M); and the mapping is such that a lowest N1 beam indices from the list of beam indices are associated with sub-band 1, a second lowest N2 beam indices from the list of beam indices are associated with sub-band 2, and so on, where where N1 is the number of beams for sub-band 1, N2 is the number of beams for sub-band 2, and so on.

32. The NCR of any of claims 23 to 27, wherein: the received information is comprised in a downlink control information, DCI; and the DCI comprises a set of one or more beam indications including the beam indication and a set of one or more time resource indications, including the time resource indication, associated to the set of one or more beam indications.

33. The NCR of claim 32, wherein the NCR-MT (208) is configured to determine (304) that the received information is associated to the second sub-band based on a mapping between beam indications in the set of one or more beam indications and sub-bands.

34. The NCR of claim 33, wherein the mapping is received from the network node (202).

35. The NCR of claim 33, wherein the mapping is implicitly determined based on one or more predefined or configured rules.

36. The NCR of claim 35, wherein the rule is a rule that maps different beam indication locations in the set of one or more beam indications to different sub-bands.

37. The NCR of any of claims 23 to 27, wherein the NCR-MT (208) is configured to determine that the received information is associated to the second sub-band based on the time resource indication.

38. The NCR of any of claims 23 to 27, wherein the sub-band operation follows a reference subcarrier spacing, SCS, or numerology.

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