Downlink signals simultaneous reception associated with arrival of angle separation

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to downlink signals simultaneous reception associated with arrival of angle separation. A method comprises transmitting, to a second apparatus, one or more downlink signals associated with a first set of beams in a first time duration; transmitting, to the second apparatus, one or more further downlink signals associated with a second set of beams in a second time duration that is different from the first time duration, wherein respective transmission configuration indicator states are associated with beams included in the sets of beams; performing respective spherical coverage tests on the second apparatus at least in the first time duration; and determining at least one common test point at least based on a plurality of test points where the second apparatus meets a spherical coverage requirement for the respective spherical coverage tests for the sets of beams.

Description

[0001] DOWNLINK SIGNALS SIMULTANEOUS RECEPTION ASSOCIATED WITH ARRIVAL OF ANGLE SEPARATION

[0002] FIELDS

[0003] Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for downlink (DL) signals simultaneous reception associated with arrival of angle (AOA) separation.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] New radio frequency range 2 (NR FR2) minimum user equipment (UE) requirements are defined with an assumption that UE is only required to receive with a single antenna panel at a time and capable to perform DL reception using a single receive (RX) beam / chain. Furthermore, the UE performance requirements are limited for DL multiple input multiple output (MIMO) rank 1 and 2 in FR2. In FR2, 4-layer MIMO reception requires beam reception from at least two directions.

[0006] SUMMARY

[0007] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: transmit, to a second apparatus, one or more downlink signals associated with a first set of beams in a first time duration; transmit, to the second apparatus, one or more further downlink signals associated with a second set of beams in a second time duration that is different from the first time duration, wherein respective transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states are associated with beams included in the first and the second set of beams; perform respective spherical coverage tests on the second apparatus at least in the first time duration; and determine at least one common test point at least based on a plurality of test points where the second apparatus meets a spherical coverage requirement for the respective spherical coverage tests for the first set of beams and second set of beams.

[0008] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: transmitting, from a first apparatus to a second apparatus, one or more downlink signals associated with a first set of beams in a first time duration; transmitting, to the second apparatus, one or more further downlink signals associated with a second set of beams in a second time duration that is different from the first time duration, wherein respective transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states are associated with beams included in the first and the second set of beams; performing respective spherical coverage tests on the second apparatus at least in the first time duration; and determining at least one common test point at least based on a plurality of test points where the second apparatus meets a spherical coverage requirement for the respective spherical coverage tests for the first set of beams and second set of beams.

[0009] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a second apparatus, one or more downlink signals associated with a first set of beams in a first time duration; means for transmitting, to the second apparatus, one or more further downlink signals associated with a second set of beams in a second time duration that is different from the first time duration, wherein respective transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states are associated with beams included in the first and the second set of beams; means for performing respective spherical coverage tests on the second apparatus at least in the first time duration; and means for determining at least one common test point at least based on a plurality of test points where the second apparatus meets a spherical coverage requirement for the respective spherical coverage tests for the first set of beams and second set of beams.

[0010] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the second aspect.

[0011] It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

[0012] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

[0015] FIG. 2 illustrates an example process of simultaneous reception according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0016] FIG. 3 illustrates an example process of simultaneous reception according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0017] FIGS. 4A-4C illustrate examples of test point identification according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0018] FIG. 5 illustrates a diagram of an overlap region of spherical coverage according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0019] FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at an apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0020] FIG. 7 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0021] FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0022] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.

[0023] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

[0025] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0026] References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

[0027] It shall be understood that although the terms “first,” “second,”..., etc. in front of noun(s) and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another and they do not limit the order of the noun(s). For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0028] As used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

[0029] As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

[0030] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and / or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0031] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

[0032] (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and / or digital circuitry) and (b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable):

[0033] (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuit(s) with software / firmware and

[0034] (ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and

[0035] (c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

[0036] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0037] As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G), 5.5G, the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and / or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

[0038] As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

[0039] The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the terms “terminal device”, “communication device”, “terminal”, “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0040] As used herein, the term “resource,” “transmission resource,” “resource block,” “physical resource block” (PRB), “uplink resource,” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other combination of the time, frequency, space and / or code domain resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0041] Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0042] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication network 100 may comprise a second apparatus 120 which may be, for example, a terminal device. In some example embodiments, the terminal device may also be discussed as a UE.

[0043] The communication network 100 may further comprise a first apparatus 110, which may be, for example, a network device. In some example embodiments, the network device may be discussed as a BS, a test equipment (TE), a gNB, or an eNB.

[0044] A serving area provided by the first apparatus 110 is called a cell. The second apparatus 120 may communicate with the first apparatus 110 within the cell 102. The cell currently serving the second apparatus 120 may be considered as a serving cell 102.

[0045] In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described with the second apparatus 120 operating as a device under test (DUT) or a terminal device and the first apparatus 110 operating as a test equipment (TE) or a network device. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other device, and operations described in connection with a network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other device.

[0046] In some example embodiments, if the second apparatus 120 is a terminal device and first apparatus 110 is a network device, a link from the first apparatus 110 to the second apparatus 120 is referred to as a downlink (DL), while a link from the second apparatus 120 to the first apparatus 110 is referred to as an uplink (UL). In DL, the first apparatus 110 is a transmitting (TX) apparatus (or a transmitter) and the second apparatus 120 is a receiving (RX) apparatus (or a receiver). In UL, the second apparatus 120 is a TX apparatus (or a transmitter) and the first apparatus 110 is a RX apparatus (or a receiver).

[0047] It is to be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices shown in FIG. 1 is given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices.

[0048] Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol(s), comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G), and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and / or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0049] As described, although beam reception from at least two directions supported by the MIMO features, no UE performance requirements have yet been specified. This is important for high-rate MIMO in FR2.

[0050] Several enhancements to enable efficient and robust DL multi- Transmit / Receive Point (multi -TRP) / panel operation were introduced in the NR enhanced MIMO work item. However, no radio frequency (RF), radio resource management (RRM) or performance requirements were defined for FR2 UEs with simultaneousReceptionDiffTypeD-rl6 capability.

[0051] Enhanced NR FR2 UEs with multi -beam simultaneous reception and multiple RX chains can provide a meaningful performance improvement in FR2 improving both demodulation performance (4-layer DL MIMO), RRM performance and improve RF spherical coverage. Therefore, the work item NR FR2 multiRX DL is being developed, which aims to introduce the requirements for UEs capable of multi-beam / chain simultaneous DL reception on a single component carrier to achieve improved RF, RRM and UE demodulation performance.

[0052] Different implementation scenarios could be considered at the UE. Single-Transmission configuration indicator (TCI) reception on different beams has been supported via the Type I codebook, which could be achieved at the UE with either a single panel or multiple panels. Alternatively, dual TCI operation can be combined with mTRP framework even if the base station is actually deployed as a single TRP.

[0053] This work item therefore provides the requirements for both single and dual TCI assumptions to specify requirements for reception of 4-layer downlink MIMO with simultaneous reception at the UE from two different directions.

[0054] Some issues and options related to discussions on the UE performance testing are listed below:

[0055] Furthermore, some theoretical description related to the solution of the present disclosure will be listed as below.

[0056] NR cell may comprise of one or multiple TRPs. TRPs of the same cell have a common synchronization signal (SS) / physical broadcast channel (PBCH) (SSB) block which is cell specific. In multi-TRP operation, a serving cell can schedule the UE from two TRPs, providing better coverage, reliability and / or data rates for Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), and Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH).

[0057] There are two different operation modes to schedule multi-TRP PDSCH transmissions: single-downlink control information (DCI) and multi-DCI. For both modes, control of uplink and downlink operation can be done by physical layer and medium access control (MAC) layer, within the configuration provided by the radio resource control (RRC) layer. In single-DCI mode, only one TRP is responsible for the transmission of control data (PDCCH) to the UE. As a result, the UE is scheduled by the same PDCCH containing a DCI for both TRPs. On the other hand, in multi-DCI mode two TRPs are responsible for the transmission of control data to the UE. As a result, the UE is scheduled by independent DCIs from each TRP.

[0058] Additionally, there are two different operation modes for single DCI multi-TRP PDCCH, i.e., PDCCH repetition and subframe number (SFN) based PDCCH transmission. In both modes, the UE can receive two PDCCH transmissions, one from each TRP, carrying the same DCI.

[0059] In PDCCH repetition mode, the network may transmit and the UE may receive the two PDCCH transmissions carrying the same DCI from two linked search spaces each associated with a different control resource set (CORESET).

[0060] In SFN based PDCCH transmission mode, the network may transmit and the UE may receive the two PDCCH transmissions carrying the same DCI from a single search space / CORESET using different TCI states.

[0061] 3GPP defined 5G NR FR2 bands have huge bandwidths which can cater to 5G NR use cases requiring higher data rates. However, these bands are also subject to challenging propagating conditions such as high path loss, absorption from the environment, penetration losses to name a few. To overcome these, beam management procedures have been defined in 3 GPP.

[0062] Beam Management is a set of procedures to assist UE to set its receive (Rx) and transmit (Tx) beams for downlink and uplink transmissions, respectively. NR supports a hierarchical beam-based approach with the SSB beam being the root beam.

[0063] Quasi Co-location (QCL) framework used for beam indication. gNB provided beam indication information is to configure UE with information which transmit (Tx) beam is to be used for DL (and UE can select proper Rx beam) and which Rx beam is to be used for UL, so that UE’s Tx is “directed” towards used RX beam at gNB. The UE may be configured with a list of up to M TCI-State configurations within the higher layer parameter PDSCH Config to decode PDSCH according to a detected PDCCH with DCI intended for the UE and the given serving cell, where M depends on the UE capability maxNumberConfiguredTCIstatesPerCC.

[0064] Each TCI-State contains parameters for configuring a quasi-co-location relationship between one or two downlink reference signals (RS) and the demodulcation (DM)-RS ports of the PDSCH, the DM-RS port of PDCCH or the channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) port(s) of a CSI-RS resource. The quasi-co-location relationship is configured by the higher layer parameter qcl-Typel for the first DL RS, and qcl-Type2 for the second DL RS (if configured). For the case of two DL RSs, the QCL types shall not be the same, regardless of whether the references are to the same DL RS or different DL RSs.

[0065] The quasi-co-location types corresponding to each DL RS are given by the higher layer parameter qcl-Type in QCL-Info and may take one of the following values: QCL types A: Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread.

[0066] QCL types B: Doppler shift, Doppler spread

[0067] QCL types C: average delay, Doppler shift

[0068] QCL types D: Spatial Rx

[0069] The main tool for beam indication for downlink is a TCI framework. A UE may be configured with up to 128 TCI states. The gNB configures the UE via radio resource control (RRC) signaling with TCI states where each TCI states may have one or two source RSs that provide QCL parameters for the target RS-only one RS providing QCL type D per TCI state. A DL TCI chain consists of an SSB, and one or more CSI-RS resources, and the TCI state of each Reference Signal includes another Reference Signal in the same TCI chain, where the SSB can be associated with serving cell physical cell identifier (PCID) or associated with a PCID different from serving cell PCID.

[0070] DMRS of PDCCH or PDSCH is QCLed with the reference signal in its active TCI state and any other reference signal that is QCLed, based on the criteria for DL TCI chain, with the reference signal in the active TCI state. RAN4 agreed to use group-based beam reporting as a prerequisite for multi-Rx reception. In group-based beam reporting, the UE reports N groups / pairs (i.e. beams that can be simultaneously received) of M beams (i.e. at least 2 beams in one group). The pairing is done by the UE according to its capabilities. Group-Based Beam Reporting selects best beam pair from configured Channel measurement resources (CMR) sets based on Ll-RSRP measurements.

[0071] TCI state switch requirements for FR2 have currently only been defined for single TRP (s-TRP) and further enhanced to include requirement for unified TCI state framework. So far there are no RAN4 requirements for TCI state switch in case of multi-TRP. In 3 GPP, TCI state switch requirements will be defined for Multi-Rx chain UEs in the Multi-TRP scenario.

[0072] 3GPP defined 5G NR FR2 bands have huge bandwidths which can cater to 5G NR use cases requiring higher data rates. However, these bands are also subject to challenging propagating conditions such as high path loss, absorption from the environment, penetration losses to name a few. To overcome these, beam management procedures have been defined in 3 GPP.

[0073] The TCI framework is used in NR and is particularly useful for beam indication in FR2 scenarios where beam management procedures are used.

[0074] The requirements for TCI state active list update delay and the corresponding RRM test case are defined in RAN4 RRM requirements for single TRP.

[0075] There are two test cases currently defined, namely MAC CE based active TCI state switch and RRC based active TCI state switch.

[0076] In case of MAC-CE based TCI state switch test, the UE or a DUT is configured with two different TCI states each of which is QCL’d to two different SSBs. At the start of the test, the UE is indicated TCI 0 which is QCL to SSB 0.

[0077] The test time is divided into two test periods T1 and T2. During T1 only SSBO is transmitted and UE is using TCI 0. At the beginning of T2, the system simulator transmits SSB 1. The UE sends LI -reference signal receive power (RSRP) report with RSRP levels of SSB 0 and SSB1.

[0078] The system simulator sends a MAC-CE at slot n indicating that the UE should switch to TCI 1. The system simulator checks if the UE can receive via TCI 0 up to slot n+Tharq+3ms and via TCI 1 after slot n+Tharq+3ms + TfirstssB+ SSBprOc. Since this test is for FR2, it is an over the air test (OTA).

[0079] Spherical coverage metric denotes the percentile of total directions over which the UE is in coverage and is the ratio of the total number of test points in a 3D sphere over which the UE is able to receive and correctly decode the downlink signals transmitted by the gNB to the total number of points on the sphere.

[0080] The spherical coverage for legacy single Rx scenario can be obtained either by using the EIS results from Rx Peak Beam Search procedure or by performing a separate test for spherical coverage.

[0081] For multi-Rx work item, 2 AoA spherical coverage requirement for power class 3 device is defined as the probability to support simultaneous reception of rank 2 PDSCH. The probability is defined as the spatial average over the full sphere around the UE of the probability of any one direction to support 2 AoA reception. In the applicable test system, the probability of any one direction of the UE to support 2 AoA reception for any specific AoA separation is the ratio of the number of unique AoA pairs that include that direction and can support 2 AoA reception to the total number of verified unique AoA pairs that include that direction.

[0082] The requirement applies only for the UE’s declared orientation in the positioner of the test system. The requirement for each AoA separation condition applies only for the UE’s declared orientation in the positioner of the test system for that AoA separation. The minimum required overall probability to support 2 AoA reception for power class (PC) 3 UEs for any channel bandwidth is specified by AoA separation in Table 1 as below. The UE is required to fulfil the requirement at any one declared AoA separation. Table 1 : Spherical Coverage Requirement for Power Class 3

[0083] In the aspect of OTA, several aspects on NR MIMO including simultaneous multi-Rx chain DL reception are supported. Furthermore, enhanced test methods for the verifications of these new requirements for FR2 UE with multi-Rx chain DL receptions were defined.

[0084] For “UE RRM testing methodology for multi-Rx chain DL reception”, the principle of selecting measurement setup for UE RRM testing is to reuse measurement setup for UE RF testing as much as possible to reduce the test system complexity and test cost.

[0085] For dual TCI switching test case, 4 options are under consideration in RAN4, i.e., dual TCI switches simultaneously and the probe number for multiple AoA test system is at least 4; dual TCI switches from one probe to two probes simultaneously and the probe number for multiple AoA test system is at least 3; dual TCI switches simultaneously, but the beam directions are not changed and the probe number for multiple AoA test system is at least 2; and switching AoAs of the Rx beam from AoAl to AoA2 or vice versa during the TCI switching test and the probe number for multiple AoA test system is at least 2.

[0086] Correspondingly, for the AoA setup for FR2 RRM test cases, there are four setups defined namely:

[0087] Single AoA in Rx beam peak direction

[0088] Setup 2: Single AoA in non Rx beam peak direction

[0089] Setup 2a: Single AoA in non Rx beam peak direction without change in direction

[0090] Setup 2b: Single AoA in non Rx beam peak direction with change in direction Setup 3: 2 Ao As

[0091] Setup 4: 2 AoAs, 1 AoA in Rx beam peak direction, 1 in non Rx beam peak

[0092] Setup 4a: 2 AoAs, 1 AoA in Rx beam peak direction, 1 in non Rx beam peak without change in direction

[0093] Setup 4b: 2 AoAs, 1 Ao A in Rx beam peak direction, 1 in non Rx beam peak with change in direction

[0094] In all of these setups, the downlink signals sent from the probes align to the set of directions that the UE has passed during the spherical coverage test. Setup 3 and Setup 4 which define 2 AoAs have two active probes in the test setup but these are not defined for simultaneous reception.

[0095] For multi-Rx work item, RAN4 has defined RRM delay requirements for dual to dual and dual to single TCI state switch. For example, MAC-CE based switching with s-DCI has been defined as follows.

[0096] For single DCI (sDCI), if the dual target TCI states are known, upon receiving PDSCH carrying MAC-CE active TCI state list update from a TRP at slot n, UE shall be able to receive PDCCH to schedule PDSCHs from both TRPs with the new target TCI states at the first slot that is after n+ THARQ +3Nsiotsubframe,Fl+Tok*(max (Tfirst -SSBl , Tfirst-SSB2)+ TSSB -proc ) / NR slot length.

[0097] In other words, the UE shall be able to be scheduled with DCI indicating the newly activated TCI state after this delay. The TCI state indicated in the DCI shall then be applied latest after delay timeDurationForQCL .

[0098] For sDCI, for dual TCI to single TCI state switch, when the target TCI is one of the source TCI (e.g. [RSI, RS2] to [RSI]), there is no TCI switching delay when UE is configured with Group-Based Beam Reporting (GBBR) and is NOT configured with non-GBBR.

[0099] These m-TRP TCI state switch delay RRM requirements will apply only when the UE is configured with groupBasedBeamReporting-Rl 7 and the UE can receive the target dual TCI states simultaneously.

[0100] This then implies that the UE can be accurately tested for RRM dual TCI state switch delay conformance only if it can first report beams that it can receive simultaneously. The existing Rel-15 RRM test cases for TCI state switch have been defined for single TRP (s-TRP) where there is no requirement for the UE to receive two beams simultaneously. These test cases cannot be used as is for verifying UE conformance to multi-TRP (m-TRP) RRM requirements especially when group-based reporting is required.

[0101] The RRM test cases defined currently use two probes to verify UE single TCI state switch delay conformance for s-TRP. In light of this, it is logical that, to test a dual-to- dual TCI state switch, four probes will be required.

[0102] However, since the direction and placement of the probes in the anechoic chamber during testing is fixed, the UE can receive only those beams which are within its spherical coverage.

[0103] FIG. 2 illustrates an example process of simultaneous reception according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2, assuming a multi panel UE has transmit / receive panels on opposite sides, the UE can receive from probes Pl and P4 since these beams are within the UE spherical coverage 221 and 222. Beams from Probes P2 and P3 cannot be received by the UE in this position. Hence, the UE needs to be rotated for it to report beam pair from Probes P2 and P3. However, this would result in the UE not being able to continue receiving PDSCH#1 and PDSCH#4 associated with TCI#1 (associated with beam 211) and TCI#4 (associated with beam 214) respectively when it is measuring and reporting beam pair from probes P2 and P3.

[0104] The test procedure for dual TCI state switch requires the UE to still receive TCI#1 (associated with beam 211) and TCI#4 (associated with beam 214) from probes Pl and P4 while it measures and reports beams received from probes P2 and P3.

[0105] In the present disclosure, two issues will be discussed. One is how to use multiple probes to enable UE to report more than one pair of beams that it can receive simultaneously with minimal test time and effort, and the other is How can a UE be tested for single / dual to dual TCI state switch delay conformance requirements given the limitations of the probe placement.

[0106] The present disclosure proposes a mechanism for arriving at 2 AoA for simultaneous reception. In this solution, the first apparatus 110 transmits, to a second apparatus 120, one or more downlink signals associated with a first set of beams in a first time duration and one or more further downlink signals associated with a second set of beams in a second time duration that is different from the first time duration. Respective TCI states are associated with beams included in the first and the second set of beams. The first apparatus 110 performs respective spherical coverage tests on the second apparatus at least in the first time duration and determines at least one common test point at least based on a plurality of test points where the second apparatus meets a spherical coverage requirement for the respective spherical coverage tests for the first set of beams and second set of beams.

[0107] The reference now is made to FIG. 3, which illustrates an example process of simultaneous reception according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The process as shown in FIG. 3 may involve the first apparatus 110, which may be considered as a test equipment (TE), e.g., a base station emulator or a System Simulator (SS), and a second apparatus 120, which may be considered as a device under test (DUT). In some embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may be operated as a network device or may have same or similar capabilities of the network device. The second apparatus 120 may be operated as a terminal device or may have same or similar capabilities of the network device.

[0108] As shown in FIG. 3, an anechoic chamber 310 for OTA test is setup. The second apparatus 120 and a set of fixed antenna probes 301-304 are deployed within the anechoic chamber 310. The set of fixed antenna probes 301-304 may transmit beams respectively from different directions. One or more (simulated) DL signals may be transmitted to the second apparatus 120 via one or more beams transmitted by at least one of the fixed antenna probes 301-304. It is to be understood that the number of probes shown in FIG. 3 is given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The test environment shown in FIG. 3 may include any suitable number of probes. For example, there may be three probes or five probes deployed within the anechoic chamber 310.

[0109] Each beam transmitted by the set of fixed antenna probes 301-304 may be associated with a TCI state, respectively. For example, a beam transmitted from probe 301 may be associated with TCI state #1, a beam transmitted from probe 302 may be associated with TCI state #2, a beam transmitted from probe 303 may be associated with TCI state #3, a beam transmitted from probe 304 may be associated with TCI state #4.

[0110] The test time can be divided into two sub-tests with first time duration T1 and second time duration T2, respectively. The second apparatus 120 may receive one or more DL signals associated with a first set of beams transmitted by one or more probes in set of fixed antenna probes 301-304 during the first time duration T1 and receive one or more DL signals associated with a second set of beams transmitted by one or more probes in set of fixed antenna probes 301-304 during the second time duration T2. If the first set of beams are at least partially different from the second set of beams, a TCI state switch may occur for the second apparatus 120.

[0111] In this situation, three types of tests are to be performed based on the scenario shown in FIG. 3, namely Single to dual TCI state switch, Dual to dual TCI state switch, and Dual to single TCI state switch.

[0112] The UE spherical coverage for a certain AoA may be measured as part of the spherical coverage tests. As per UE conformance testing for EIS spherical coverage, the UE needs to meet 50th percentile of the CCDF of EIS measured over the full sphere (for single Rx scenario). Taking the points where the UE meets the EIS requirements at this AoA and the corresponding UE position as reference, similar points where the UE will meet the spherical coverage requirements at different AoA can be calculated mathematically. In an alternative embodiment, the test points of one position are combined with test points with an angular offset 0.

[0113] The points obtained during the test where the UE meets the spherical coverage will be compared with the points obtained after mathematical calculation. When the pairs of AoAs are adjacent, there will be more common points on the spherical grid where the UE meets the spherical coverage requirements for both AoAs. Identifying these common points and ensuring the UE is maintained at any one of these positions where the UE can simultaneously receive multi-RX DL from one of the two beam pairs will enable the System simulator to use at least three or more test probes for conformance testing of, for example, single to dual TCI switch test case, dual to dual TCI switch test case. This test method enables efficient use of the test setup with minimal test effort and time. During the first time duration Tl, the second apparatus 120 may be tested for a first spherical coverage requirement (e.g., single-Rx spherical coverage requirement) with initial test probe (before TCI switch) in single-to-dual TCI switch test case or may be tested for a first spherical coverage requirement (e.g., multi-Rx spherical coverage requirement) with initial test probe pair (before TCI switch) in dual-to-dual TCI switch test case. Alternatively, results of existing single-Rx and multi-Rx tests can be re-used.

[0114] During the second time duration T2, the second apparatus 120 may be tested for multi- Rx spherical coverage requirements with target test probe pair (after TCI switch) in single-to-dual TCI switch test case or may be tested for multi-Rx spherical coverage requirements with target test probe pair (after TCI switch) in dual-to-dual TCI switch test case.

[0115] In some embodiments, a single probe may be used to represent single TCI state before switch and a pair of probes may be used to represent TCI state pair after switch. That is, in this case, a downlink signals associated with a single beam may be transmitted from the single probe to the second apparatus 120 in the first time duration and further downlink signals associated with a pair of beams may be transmitted from the pair of probes to the second apparatus 120 in the second time duration.

[0116] The first apparatus 110 then may perform a single-Rx RF spherical coverage test on the second apparatus 120 with the probe representing single TCI state before switch (e.g., in the first time duration) and record a first set of test points where the second apparatus 120 passes the test, which means the second apparatus meets the single-Rx spherical coverage requirement at the first set of test points.

[0117] The first apparatus 110 then may perform a multi-Rx RF spherical coverage test on the second apparatus 120 with the pair of probes representing duel TCI states (i.e., TCI state pair) after switch (e.g., in the second time duration) and record a second set of test points where the second apparatus 120 passes the test, which means the second apparatus meets the multi-Rx spherical coverage requirement at the second set of test points.

[0118] Then the first set of test points and the second set of test points may be converted to a common reference coordinate system. The first apparatus 110 may determine a third set of test points, based on the converted first and second set of test points, which are common to both the converted first and second set of test points and identify the at least one common test point from the third set of test points.

[0119] In some other embodiments, a first pair of probes may be used to represent a first TCI state pair before switch and a second pair of probes may be used to represent a second TCI state pair after switch. That is, in this case, downlink signals associated with a first pair of beams may be transmitted from the first pair of probes to the second apparatus 120 in the first time duration and further downlink signals associated with a second pair of beams may be transmitted from the second pair of probes to the second apparatus 120 in the second time duration.

[0120] As an option, two probe, e.g., probe 301 and 302 may be used for the first time duration, i.e., before TCI state switch and other two probes, e.g., probe 303 and 304 may be used for the second time duration, i.e., after TCI state switch. As another option, two probes, e.g., probes 301 and 302 may be used for the first time duration, i.e., before TCI state and two probes, e.g., probes 302 and 303 may be used for the second time duration, i.e., after TCI state switch. The probe 302 may be reused in the second time duration of this case.

[0121] The first apparatus 110 then may perform a multi -Rx RF spherical coverage test on the second apparatus 120 with the probe representing the first TCI state pair before switch (e.g., in the first time duration) and record a first set of test points where the second apparatus 120 passes the test, which means the second apparatus meets the multi -Rx spherical coverage requirement at the first set of test points.

[0122] The first apparatus 110 then may perform a multi -Rx RF spherical coverage test on the second apparatus 120 with the pair of probes representing second TCI state pair (i.e., TCI state pair) after switch (e.g., in the second time duration) and record a second set of test points where the second apparatus 120 passes the test, which means the second apparatus meets the multi-Rx spherical coverage requirement at the second set of test points.

[0123] It is also possible that the first apparatus 110 may derive the second set of test points where the second apparatus 120 pass the multi-Rx RF spherical coverage test with the pair of probes (e.g., the second pair of beams) representing second TCI state pair by using mathematical analysis / extrapolation. For example, the first apparatus 110 may determine a second set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for a second spherical coverage test (after switch) associated with the second pair of beams based on the first set of test points and respective angular offsets between the pair of first beams and the second pair of beams.

[0124] Then the first set of test points and the second set of test points may be converted to a common reference coordinate system. The first apparatus 110 may determine a third set of test points, based on the converted first and second set of test points, which are common to both the converted first and second set of test points and identify the at least one common test point from the third set of test points.

[0125] Different embodiments associated with the dual to-dual TCI switch test case will be further described with respect to FIGS. 4A-4C. FIGS. 4A-4C illustrate examples of test point identification according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4A, the Probe Pl (e.g., probe 301) is located at 0° offset from the reference coordinate system and the Probe P2 (e.g., probe 302) is located at 30° offset from the reference coordinate system.

[0126] Therefore, the probes Pl and P2 together may form a set / pair of two test probes with 30° AoA separation and may be used for the conformance test of UEs which declare 30° AoA separation as their choice for the multi-Rx RF conformance test during the first time duration Tl. Once the multi-Rx RF spherical coverage test is performed, a first set of test points on the 3D sphere where the second apparatus 120 meets or exceeds the spherical coverage requirements are noted.

[0127] During the second time duration T2, the probe Pl (e.g., probe 301) is inactive while the probe P2 (e.g., probe 302) is active. Furthermore, another probe P3 (e.g., probe 303), which is located at the 60° offset from the reference coordinate system is active. Therefore, the AoA separation between the active probes P2 and P3 will still be 30°, but the probes P2 and P3 transmitting at 30° and 60° will be taken as reference probes as shown in FIG. 4B. Thereafter, the points where the second apparatus 120 passes the multi -Rx spherical coverage requirements may be identified. This can be done in two alternate ways:

[0128] As the first option, a second set of test points may be identified by performing a “second” RF spherical coverage test while the test probe pair ‘P2’ and ‘P3’ are active. This option may give the accurate set of points where the spherical coverage is met when probes P2 and P3 are simultaneously active.

[0129] As the second option, a second set of test points where RF spherical coverage is met may be identified or predicted, when the test probe pair ‘P2’ and ‘P3’ are active, by mathematical extrapolation and / or simulation result analysis.

[0130] Furthermore, the spherical coverage "pass" points with ‘P2’ and ‘P3’ simultaneously active are calculated as an “fixed” offset from the spherical coverage “pass” points which were obtained during first time duration Tl.

[0131] The advantage of this method is that the test time to identify the best UE orientation for dual TCI to dual TCI switch test case will be equal to the multi-Rx spherical coverage test. This means that no additional time is required to identify the required UE orientation. In this case, the accuracy may depend on the simulation assumptions and / or on the other factors, e.g., beam peak direction of each probe should lie on the test grid points, all probes should lie on the same plane.

[0132] As illustrated in FIG. 4C, the point nl identified during first time duration Tl as a point where the second apparatus 120 passes the spherical coverage test will be offset by A in second time duration T2.

[0133] FIG. 5 illustrates a diagram of an overlap region of spherical coverage according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 5, the area 501 refers to spherical coverage points obtained with Probes P2 and P3, the area 502 refers to spherical coverage points obtained with Probes Pl and P2 and the area 503 refers to spherical coverage points which overlap. Having obtained the test points where the second apparatus 120 passes the spherical coverage in first time duration Tl and second time duration T2, the test points which overlap between the two are identified, which may be observed according to FIG. 5. The UE position at these points is identified and the UE position within this subset which is common for a point where it passes the spherical coverage test during first time duration T1 and second time duration T2 is used for subsequent testing with Group based beam reporting using all three probes.

[0134] It is to be understood that the embodiments as described above may be applicable for UE declared ‘other’ AoA separation pairs / offsets, e.g., 60°, 90°, and 120°. For 90° and / or 120° AoA separation, the proposed test method is also applicable for 4 test probes scenarios with only change is that two active probes before dual TCI switch will be different from the two active probes after the dual TCI switch. For example, Probes ‘ 1’ and ‘2’ will be active before dual TCI switch whereas probes ‘3’ and ‘4’ will be active after the dual TCI switch.

[0135] As described, the present disclosure proposes a method using which the optimal UE orientation(s) can be determined, for single / dual TCI to dual TCI switch test case when using at least three or more test probes, where the UE can receive the simultaneous multi-RX DL transmission from two TCI pairs (two TCI pairs may either have one common TCI state or both TCI states can be different).

[0136] In this case, results of RF spherical coverage tests of both single-Rx and multi-Rx may be used to determine the UE orientation / test point for single-to dual TCI switch test case. Alternatively, results of multi-Rx RF spherical coverage test and mathematical analysis / extrapolation may be used to determine the UE orientation / test point for dual- to-dual TCI switch test case. The mathematical analysis / extrapolation determines, based on at least the positions of the initial and target test probe(s) inside the test chamber, an offset value / factor for azimuth and / or elevation directions (e.g., delta_phi and / or delta theta) to extrapolate the multi-Rx RF spherical coverage test results with active initial probes to multi-Rx RF spherical coverage test results with active target probes.

[0137] Both the results are compared to identify the set of test points / UE orientations at which the UE is in simultaneous spherical coverage for both scenarios, i.e., before TCI switch and after TCI switch.

[0138] According to the solution of the present disclosure, the UE is enabled to report Ll-RSRP measurement of both beam (pairs) that it can receive simultaneously when group-based beam reporting is enabled without any interruption in the test procedure.

[0139] FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example method 600 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 600 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

[0140] At block 610, the first apparatus 110 transmits, to a second apparatus, one or more downlink signals associated with a first set of beams in a first time duration.

[0141] At block 620, the first apparatus 110 transmits, to the second apparatus, one or more further downlink signals associated with a second set of beams in a second time duration that is different from the first time duration, wherein respective transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states are associated with beams included in the first and the second set of beams.

[0142] At block 630, the first apparatus 110 performs respective spherical coverage tests on the second apparatus at least in the first time duration.

[0143] At block 640, the first apparatus 110 determines at least one common test point at least based on a plurality of test points where the second apparatus meets a spherical coverage requirement for the respective spherical coverage tests for the first set of beams and second set of beams.

[0144] In some example embodiments, the first set of beams comprise at least one first beam each being associated with a fixed angular offset from the origin of a reference coordinate system and the second set of beams comprise at least one second beam each being associated with a fixed angular offset from the origin of the reference coordinate system, and wherein the respective angular offsets related to at least one first beam are different from respective angular offsets related to the at least one second beam or are partially same with the respective angular offsets related to the at least one second beam.

[0145] In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: performing a first spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the first time duration based on a transmitted downlink signal associated with the single first beam; performing a second spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the second time duration based on further transmitted downlink signals associated with the pair of second beams; and determining a first set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the first spherical coverage test and a second set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the second spherical coverage test.

[0146] In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: performing a first spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the first time duration based on transmitted downlink signals associated with the pair of first beams; performing a second spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the second time duration based on further transmitted downlinks associated with the pair of second beams; and determining a first set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the first spherical coverage test and the second set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the second spherical coverage test.

[0147] In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: performing a first spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the first time duration based on transmitted downlink signals associated with the pair of first beams; performing a second spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the second time duration based on a transmitted downlink signal associated with the single second beam; and determining a first set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the first spherical coverage test and the second set of test points where the first apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the second spherical coverage test.

[0148] In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: performing a first spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the first time duration based on transmitted downlink signals associated with the pair of first beams; determining a first set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the first spherical coverage test; and determining a second set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for a second spherical coverage test associated with the second set of beams based on the first set of test points and respective angular offsets between the pair of first beams and the second set of beams.

[0149] In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: determining a third set of test points by converting the first and the second sets of test points to a common reference coordinate system; and determining the at least one common test point from the third set of test points which is common to both the converted first and second set of test points.

[0150] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a test equipment or a network device, and the second apparatus comprises a device under test or a terminal device. (The method claims, MPF apparatus claims, and CRM claim will be drafted based on the above apparatus claims after they are approved.)

[0151] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 600 (for example, the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 600. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

[0152] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a second apparatus, one or more downlink signals associated with a first set of beams in a first time duration; means for transmitting, to the second apparatus, one or more further downlink signals associated with a second set of beams in a second time duration that is different from the first time duration, wherein respective transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states are associated with beams included in the first and the second set of beams; means for performing respective spherical coverage tests on the second apparatus at least in the first time duration; and means for determining at least one common test point at least based on a plurality of test points where the second apparatus meets a spherical coverage requirement for the respective spherical coverage tests for the first set of beams and second set of beams.

[0153] In some example embodiments, the first set of beams comprise at least one first beam each being associated with a fixed angular offset from the origin of a reference coordinate system and the second set of beams comprise at least one second beam each being associated with a fixed angular offset from the origin of the reference coordinate system, and wherein the respective angular offsets related to at least one first beam are different from respective angular offsets related to the at least one second beam or are partially same with the respective angular offsets related to the at least one second beam.

[0154] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for performing a first spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the first time duration based on a transmitted downlink signal associated with the single first beam; means for performing a second spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the second time duration based on further transmitted downlink signals associated with the pair of second beams; and means for determining a first set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the first spherical coverage test and a second set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the second spherical coverage test.

[0155] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for performing a first spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the first time duration based on transmitted downlink signals associated with the pair of first beams; means for performing a second spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the second time duration based on further transmitted downlinks associated with the pair of second beams; and means for determining a first set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the first spherical coverage test and the second set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the second spherical coverage test.

[0156] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for performing a first spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the first time duration based on transmitted downlink signals associated with the pair of first beams; means for performing a second spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the second time duration based on a transmitted downlink signal associated with the single second beam; and means for determining a first set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the first spherical coverage test and the second set of test points where the first apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the second spherical coverage test. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for performing a first spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the first time duration based on transmitted downlink signals associated with the pair of first beams; means for determining a first set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the first spherical coverage test; and means for determining a second set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for a second spherical coverage test associated with the second set of beams based on the first set of test points and respective angular offsets between the pair of first beams and the second set of beams.

[0157] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining a third set of test points by converting the first and the second sets of test points to a common reference coordinate system; and means for determining the at least one common test point from the third set of test points which are common to both the converted first and second set of test points.

[0158] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a test equipment or a network device, and the second apparatus comprises a device under test or a terminal device. (The method claims, MPF apparatus claims, and CRM claim will be drafted based on the above apparatus claims after they are approved.)

[0159] FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a device 700 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 700 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first apparatus 110 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 700 includes one or more processors 710, one or more memories 720 coupled to the processor 710, and one or more communication modules 740 coupled to the processor 710.

[0160] The communication module 740 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 740 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 740 may include at least one antenna. The processor 710 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 700 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

[0161] The memory 720 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 724, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and / or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random-access memory (RAM) 722 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

[0162] A computer program 730 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 710. The instructions of the program 730 may include instructions for performing operations / acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 730 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 724. The processor 710 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 730 into the RAM 722.

[0163] The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 730 so that the device 700 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 6. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0164] In some example embodiments, the program 730 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 700 (such as in the memory 720) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 700. The device 700 may load the program 730 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 722 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0165] FIG. 8 shows an example of the computer readable medium 800 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 800 has the program 730 stored thereon.

[0166] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0167] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non- transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0168] Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

[0169] In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

[0170] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0171] Further, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination. Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A first apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: transmit, to a second apparatus, one or more downlink signals associated with a first set of beams in a first time duration; transmit, to the second apparatus, one or more further downlink signals associated with a second set of beams in a second time duration that is different from the first time duration, wherein respective transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states are associated with beams included in the first and the second set of beams; perform respective spherical coverage tests on the second apparatus at least in the first time duration; and determine at least one common test point at least based on a plurality of test points where the second apparatus meets a spherical coverage requirement for the respective spherical coverage tests for the first set of beams and second set of beams.

2. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first set of beams comprise at least one first beam each being associated with a fixed angular offset from the origin of a reference coordinate system and the second set of beams comprise at least one second beam each being associated with a fixed angular offset from the origin of the reference coordinate system, and wherein the respective angular offsets related to at least one first beam are different from respective fixed angular offsets related to the at least one second beam or are partially same with the respective fixed angular offsets related to the at least one second beam. .

3. The first apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first set of beams comprises a single first beam and the second set of beams comprise a pair of second beams, and wherein the first apparatus is caused to: perform a first spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the first time duration based on a transmitted downlink signal associated with the single first beam; perform a second spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the second time duration based on further transmitted downlink signals associated with the pair of second beams; and determine a first set of test points where the second apparatus meets the sphericalcoverage requirement for the first spherical coverage test and a second set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the second spherical coverage test.

4. The first apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first set of beams comprises a pair of first beams and the second set of beams comprise a pair of second beams, and wherein the first apparatus is caused to: perform a first spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the first time duration based on transmitted downlink signals associated with the pair of first beams; perform a second spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the second time duration based on further transmitted downlinks associated with the pair of second beams; and determine a first set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the first spherical coverage test and the second set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the second spherical coverage test.

5. The first apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first set of beams comprises a pair of first beams and the second set of beams comprise a single second beam, and wherein the first apparatus is caused to: perform a first spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the first time duration based on transmitted downlink signals associated with the pair of first beams; perform a second spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the second time duration based on a transmitted downlink signal associated with the single second beam; and determine a first set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the first spherical coverage test and the second set of test points where the first apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the second spherical coverage test.

6. The first apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first set of beams comprises a pair of first beams, and wherein the first apparatus is caused to: perform a first spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the first time duration based on transmitted downlink signals associated with the pair of first beams; determine a first set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the first spherical coverage test; anddetermine a second set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for a second spherical coverage test associated with the second set of beams based on the first set of test points and respective angular offsets between the pair of first beams and the second set of beams.

7. The first apparatus of any of claims 3-6, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: determine a third set of test points by converting the first and the second sets of test points to a common reference coordinate system; and determine the at least one common test point from the third set of test points.

8. The first apparatus any of claims 1-7, wherein the first apparatus comprises a test equipment or a network device, and the second apparatus comprises a device under test or a terminal device.

9. A method comprising: transmitting, from a first apparatus to a second apparatus, one or more downlink signals associated with a first set of beams in a first time duration. transmitting, to the second apparatus, one or more further downlink signals associated with a second set of beams in a second time duration that is different from the first time duration, wherein respective transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states are associated with beams included in the first and the second set of beams. performing respective spherical coverage tests on the second apparatus at least in the first time duration. determining at least one common test point at least based on a plurality of test points where the second apparatus meets a spherical coverage requirement for the respective spherical coverage tests for the first set of beams and second set of beams.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first set of beams comprise at least one first beam each being associated with a fixed angular offset from the origin of a reference coordinate system and the second set of beams comprise at least one second beam each being associated with a fixed angular offset from the origin of the reference coordinate system, and wherein the respective angular offsets related to at least one first beam are different from respective fixed angular offsets related to the at least one second beam or are partially same with the respective fixed angular offsets related to the at least one second beam. .

11. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein the first set of beams comprises a single first beam and the second set of beams comprise a pair of second beams, and wherein the method further comprising: performing a first spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the first time duration based on a transmitted downlink signal associated with the single first beam; perform a second spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the second time duration based on further transmitted downlink signals associated with the pair of second beams; and determining a first set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the first spherical coverage test and a second set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the second spherical coverage test.

12. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein the first set of beams comprises a pair of first beams and the second set of beams comprise a pair of second beams, and wherein the method further comprising: performing a first spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the first time duration based on transmitted downlink signals associated with the pair of first beams; performing a second spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the second time duration based on further transmitted downlinks associated with the pair of second beams; and determining a first set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the first spherical coverage test and the second set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the second spherical coverage test.

13. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein the first set of beams comprises a pair of first beams and the second set of beams comprise a single second beam, and wherein the method further comprising: performing a first spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the first time duration based on transmitted downlink signals associated with the pair of first beams; performing a second spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the second time duration based on a transmitted downlink signal associated with the single second beam; and determining a first set of test points where the second apparatus meets the sphericalcoverage requirement for the first spherical coverage test and the second set of test points where the first apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the second spherical coverage test.

14. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein the first set of beams comprises a pair of first beams, and the method further comprising: performing a first spherical coverage test on the second apparatus in the first time duration based on transmitted downlink signals associated with the pair of first beams; determining a first set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for the first spherical coverage test; and determining a second set of test points where the second apparatus meets the spherical coverage requirement for a second spherical coverage test associated with the second set of beams based on the first set of test points and respective angular offsets between the pair of first beams and the second set of beams.

15. The method of any of claims 11-14, further comprising: determining a third set of test points by converting the first and the second sets of test points to a common reference coordinate system; and determining the at least one common test point from the third set of test points.

16. A first apparatus comprising: means for transmitting, to a second apparatus, one or more downlink signals associated with a first set of beams in a first time duration; means for transmitting, to the second apparatus, one or more further downlink signals associated with a second set of beams in a second time duration that is different from the first time duration, wherein respective transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states are associated with beams included in the first and the second set of beams; means for performing respective spherical coverage tests on the second apparatus at least in the first time duration; and means for determining at least one common test point at least based on a plurality of test points where the second apparatus meets a spherical coverage requirement for the respective spherical coverage tests for the first set of beams and second set of beams.

17. A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon forcausing an apparatus at least to perform the method of any of claims 9-15.

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