Identifying measurement reference signals for user equipment-initiated beam reporting
UEs in wireless communications systems utilize TRS and SSBs as measurement reference signals to overcome limitations in beam management, enabling effective UE-initiated beam reporting and improving network communication quality.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- PCT/CN2024/103024
- Authority / Receiving Office
- WO · WO
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2024-07-02
- Publication Date
- 2026-01-08
AI Technical Summary
In wireless communications systems, user equipment (UE) may not be configured to perform beam management using a tracking reference signal (TRS) when transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states of current or candidate beams are quasi co-located with the TRS, limiting effective beam reporting.
UEs are enabled to use TRS, synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), or derived channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) as measurement reference signals for current or candidate beams, with the same time domain behavior, allowing UE-initiated beam reporting based on specific event conditions.
Enables accurate and timely beam reporting by UEs, enhancing network communication quality and efficiency by utilizing TRS and SSBs as measurement reference signals, even when TCI states are QCLed with TRS.
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Figure CN2024103024_08012026_PF_FP_ABST
Abstract
Description
IDENTIFYING MEASUREMENT REFERENCE SIGNALS FOR USER EQUIPMENT-INITIATED BEAM REPORTING
[0001] FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY
[0002] The following relates to wireless communications, including identifying measurement reference signals for user equipment-initiated beam reporting.BACKGROUND
[0003] Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power) . Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA) , time division multiple access (TDMA) , frequency division multiple access (FDMA) , orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) , or discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM) . A wireless multiple-access communications system may include one or more base stations, each supporting wireless communication for communication devices, which may be known as user equipment (UE) .SUMMARY
[0004] The systems, methods, and devices of this disclosure each have several innovative aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for the desirable attributes disclosed herein.
[0005] A method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE) is described. The method may include receiving an indication of a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for a first beam associated with the UE, where a quasi co-located (QCLed) reference signal associated with the first beam is a tracking reference signal (TRS) , performing measurements of one or more reference signals associated with the first beam, where a type of the one or more reference signals is based on the QCLed reference signal associated with the first beam being the TRS, and transmitting, in response to occurrence of at least one event of a set of events, a beam report based on the measurements of the one or more reference signals.
[0006] A UE for wireless communications is described. The UE may include one or more memories storing processor executable code, and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories. The one or more processors may individually or collectively be operable to execute the code to cause the UE to receive an indication of a TCI state for a first beam associated with the UE, where a QCLed reference signal associated with the first beam is a TRS, perform measurements of one or more reference signals associated with the first beam, where a type of the one or more reference signals is based on the QCLed reference signal associated with the first beam being the TRS, and transmit, in response to occurrence of at least one event of a set of events, a beam report based on the measurements of the one or more reference signals.
[0007] Another UE for wireless communications is described. The UE may include means for receiving an indication of a TCI state for a first beam associated with the UE, where a QCLed reference signal associated with the first beam is a TRS, means for performing measurements of one or more reference signals associated with the first beam, where a type of the one or more reference signals is based on the QCLed reference signal associated with the first beam being the TRS, and means for transmitting, in response to occurrence of at least one event of a set of events, a beam report based on the measurements of the one or more reference signals.
[0008] A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communications is described. The code may include instructions executable by one or more processors to receive an indication of a TCI state for a first beam associated with the UE, where a QCLed reference signal associated with the first beam is a TRS, perform measurements of one or more reference signals associated with the first beam, where a type of the one or more reference signals is based on the QCLed reference signal associated with the first beam being the TRS, and transmit, in response to occurrence of at least one event of a set of events, a beam report based on the measurements of the one or more reference signals.
[0009] Some examples of the method, UEs, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein may further include operations, features, means, or instructions for performing measurements of one or more additional reference signals associated with one or more additional beams, where a time domain behavior of the one or more additional reference signals may be a same time domain behavior as the one or more reference signals.
[0010] In some examples of the method, UEs, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the time domain behavior of the one or more reference signals and of the one or more additional reference signals may be based on both the one or more reference signals and the one or more additional reference signals being synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) .
[0011] In some examples of the method, UEs, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, performing the measurements of the one or more reference signals and of the one or more additional reference signals may include operations, features, means, or instructions for performing the measurements at a periodicity that satisfies a threshold periodicity associated with both the one or more reference signals and the one or more additional reference signals.
[0012] Some examples of the method, UEs, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein may further include operations, features, means, or instructions for receiving an indication of the one or more reference signals and deriving one or more additional reference signals for measurement by the UE based on the indication of the one or more reference signals.
[0013] In some examples of the method, UEs, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the first beam may be a current beam used for communication by the UE.
[0014] In some examples of the method, UEs, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the first beam may be a candidate beam that may be different from a current beam used for communication by the UE.
[0015] In some examples of the method, UEs, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the type of the one or more reference signals includes TRSs, channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) , SSBs, or any combination thereof based on the QCLed reference signal associated with the first beam being the TRS.
[0016] In some examples of the method, UEs, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, the set of events includes conditions in which a first quality of a current beam used for communication by the UE may be below a first threshold, conditions in which a second quality of a candidate beam that may be different from the current beam satisfies a second threshold, conditions in which the second quality of the candidate beam may be a threshold amount above the first quality of the current beam, or any combination thereof.
[0017] Details of one or more implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, aspects, and advantages will become apparent from the description, the drawings, and the claims. Note that the relative dimensions of the following figures may not be drawn to scale.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0018] FIG. 1 shows an example of a wireless communications system that supports identifying measurement reference signals for user equipment (UE) -initiated beam reporting in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0019] FIG. 2 shows an example of a wireless communications system that supports identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0020] FIG. 3 shows an example of a process flow that supports identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0021] FIGs. 4 and 5 show block diagrams of devices that support identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0022] FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of a communications manager that supports identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0023] FIG. 7 shows a diagram of a system including a device that supports identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.
[0024] FIGs. 8 and 9 show flowcharts illustrating methods that support identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0025] In some wireless communications systems, a user equipment (UE) may be configured to perform beam reporting based on one or more triggering events, which may be referred to as UE-initiated beam reporting. For example, the UE may measure and report a quality (e.g., a signal strength, a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) ) of one or more current beams used for communication with a network entity, one or more candidate beams, or both when one or more events are triggered for UE-initiated beam reporting. The network entity may determine to communicate via one or more beams based on the report (e.g., based on respective qualities of the set of beams being above or below a threshold) . However, in some examples, one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states of the current or candidate beams may be quasi co-located (QCLed) with a tracking reference signal (TRS) , and the UE may not be configured to perform measurements for beam management using a TRS.
[0026] Accordingly, techniques described herein enable the UE to use the TRS, one or more synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) that are QCLed with the TRS, or one or more derived channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) as measurement reference signals for the current or candidate beams. In some examples, the UE may receive an indication of a reference signal (e.g., a CSI-RS or SSB) for a current beam, and may derive a reference signal (e.g., a CSI-RS or SSB) for a candidate beam based on the indicated reference signal. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE may receive an indication of a reference signal (e.g., a CSI-RS or SSB) for a candidate beam, and may derive a reference signal (e.g., a CSI-RS or SSB) for a current beam based on the indicated reference signal. In some examples, the UE may derive measurement reference signals (e.g., CSI-RSs or SSBs) for the current and candidate beams that have a same time behavior (e.g., aperiodic, periodic, semi-persistent) . In some examples, the UE may measure reference signals at a largest periodicity associated with the measurement reference signals.
[0027] Aspects of the disclosure are initially described in the context of wireless communications systems. Aspects of the disclosure are further illustrated by and described with reference to process flows, apparatus diagrams, system diagrams, and flowcharts that relate to identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting.
[0028] FIG. 1 shows an example of a wireless communications system 100 that supports identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The wireless communications system 100 may include one or more devices, such as one or more network devices (e.g., network entities 105) , one or more UEs 115, and a core network 130. In some examples, the wireless communications system 100 may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network, an LTE-A Pro network, a New Radio (NR) network, or a network operating in accordance with other systems and radio technologies, including future systems and radio technologies not explicitly mentioned herein.
[0029] The network entities 105 may be dispersed throughout a geographic area to form the wireless communications system 100 and may include devices in different forms or having different capabilities. In various examples, a network entity 105 may be referred to as a network element, a mobility element, a radio access network (RAN) node, or network equipment, among other nomenclature. In some examples, network entities 105 and UEs 115 may wirelessly communicate via communication link (s) 125 (e.g., a radio frequency (RF) access link) . For example, a network entity 105 may support a coverage area 110 (e.g., a geographic coverage area) over which the UEs 115 and the network entity 105 may establish the communication link (s) 125. The coverage area 110 may be an example of a geographic area over which a network entity 105 and a UE 115 may support the communication of signals according to one or more radio access technologies (RATs) .
[0030] The UEs 115 may be dispersed throughout a coverage area 110 of the wireless communications system 100, and each UE 115 may be stationary, or mobile, or both at different times. The UEs 115 may be devices in different forms or having different capabilities. Some example UEs 115 are illustrated in FIG. 1. The UEs 115 described herein may be capable of supporting communications with various types of devices in the wireless communications system 100 (e.g., other wireless communication devices, including UEs 115 or network entities 105) , as shown in FIG. 1.
[0031] As described herein, a node of the wireless communications system 100, which may be referred to as a network node, or a wireless node, may be a network entity 105 (e.g., any network entity described herein) , a UE 115 (e.g., any UE described herein) , a network controller, an apparatus, a device, a computing system, one or more components, or another suitable processing entity configured to perform any of the techniques described herein. For example, a node may be a UE 115. As another example, a node may be a network entity 105. As another example, a first node may be configured to communicate with a second node or a third node. In one aspect of this example, the first node may be a UE 115, the second node may be a network entity 105, and the third node may be a UE 115. In another aspect of this example, the first node may be a UE 115, the second node may be a network entity 105, and the third node may be a network entity 105. In yet other aspects of this example, the first, second, and third nodes may be different relative to these examples. Similarly, reference to a UE 115, network entity 105, apparatus, device, computing system, or the like may include disclosure of the UE 115, network entity 105, apparatus, device, computing system, or the like being a node. For example, disclosure that a UE 115 is configured to receive information from a network entity 105 also discloses that a first node is configured to receive information from a second node.
[0032] In some examples, network entities 105 may communicate with a core network 130, or with one another, or both. For example, network entities 105 may communicate with the core network 130 via backhaul communication link (s) 120 (e.g., in accordance with an S1, N2, N3, or other interface protocol) . In some examples, network entities 105 may communicate with one another via backhaul communication link (s) 120 (e.g., in accordance with an X2, Xn, or other interface protocol) either directly (e.g., directly between network entities 105) or indirectly (e.g., via the core network 130) . In some examples, network entities 105 may communicate with one another via a midhaul communication link 162 (e.g., in accordance with a midhaul interface protocol) or a fronthaul communication link 168 (e.g., in accordance with a fronthaul interface protocol) , or any combination thereof. The backhaul communication link (s) 120, midhaul communication links 162, or fronthaul communication links 168 may be or include one or more wired links (e.g., an electrical link, an optical fiber link) or one or more wireless links (e.g., a radio link, a wireless optical link) , among other examples or various combinations thereof. A UE 115 may communicate with the core network 130 via a communication link 155.
[0033] One or more of the network entities 105 or network equipment described herein may include or may be referred to as a base station 140 (e.g., a base transceiver station, a radio base station, an NR base station, an access point, a radio transceiver, a NodeB, an eNodeB (eNB) , a next-generation NodeB or giga-NodeB (either of which may be referred to as a gNB) , a 5G NB, a next-generation eNB (ng-eNB) , a Home NodeB, a Home eNodeB, or other suitable terminology) . In some examples, a network entity 105 (e.g., a base station 140) may be implemented in an aggregated (e.g., monolithic, standalone) base station architecture, which may be configured to utilize a protocol stack that is physically or logically integrated within one network entity (e.g., a network entity 105 or a single RAN node, such as a base station 140) .
[0034] In some examples, a network entity 105 may be implemented in a disaggregated architecture (e.g., a disaggregated base station architecture, a disaggregated RAN architecture) , which may be configured to utilize a protocol stack that is physically or logically distributed among multiple network entities (e.g., network entities 105) , such as an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network, an open RAN (O-RAN) (e.g., a network configuration sponsored by the O-RAN Alliance) , or a virtualized RAN (vRAN) (e.g., a cloud RAN (C-RAN) ) . For example, a network entity 105 may include one or more of a central unit (CU) , such as a CU 160, a distributed unit (DU) , such as a DU 165, a radio unit (RU) , such as an RU 170, a RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) , such as an RIC 175 (e.g., a Near-Real Time RIC (Near-RT RIC) , a Non-Real Time RIC (Non-RT RIC) ) , a Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) system, such as an SMO system 180, or any combination thereof. An RU 170 may also be referred to as a radio head, a smart radio head, a remote radio head (RRH) , a remote radio unit (RRU) , or a transmission reception point (TRP) . One or more components of the network entities 105 in a disaggregated RAN architecture may be co-located, or one or more components of the network entities 105 may be located in distributed locations (e.g., separate physical locations) . In some examples, one or more of the network entities 105 of a disaggregated RAN architecture may be implemented as virtual units (e.g., a virtual CU (VCU) , a virtual DU (VDU) , a virtual RU (VRU) ) .
[0035] The split of functionality between a CU 160, a DU 165, and an RU 170 is flexible and may support different functionalities depending on which functions (e.g., network layer functions, protocol layer functions, baseband functions, RF functions, or any combinations thereof) are performed at a CU 160, a DU 165, or an RU 170. For example, a functional split of a protocol stack may be employed between a CU 160 and a DU 165 such that the CU 160 may support one or more layers of the protocol stack and the DU 165 may support one or more different layers of the protocol stack. In some examples, the CU 160 may host upper protocol layer (e.g., layer 3 (L3) , layer 2 (L2) ) functionality and signaling (e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) , service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) , Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) ) . The CU 160 (e.g., one or more CUs) may be connected to a DU 165 (e.g., one or more DUs) or an RU 170 (e.g., one or more RUs) , or some combination thereof, and the DUs 165, RUs 170, or both may host lower protocol layers, such as layer 1 (L1) (e.g., physical (PHY) layer) or L2 (e.g., radio link control (RLC) layer, medium access control (MAC) layer) functionality and signaling, and may each be at least partially controlled by the CU 160. Additionally, or alternatively, a functional split of the protocol stack may be employed between a DU 165 and an RU 170 such that the DU 165 may support one or more layers of the protocol stack and the RU 170 may support one or more different layers of the protocol stack. The DU 165 may support one or multiple different cells (e.g., via one or multiple different RUs, such as an RU 170) . In some cases, a functional split between a CU 160 and a DU 165 or between a DU 165 and an RU 170 may be within a protocol layer (e.g., some functions for a protocol layer may be performed by one of a CU 160, a DU 165, or an RU 170, while other functions of the protocol layer are performed by a different one of the CU 160, the DU 165, or the RU 170) . A CU 160 may be functionally split further into CU control plane (CU-CP) and CU user plane (CU-UP) functions. A CU 160 may be connected to a DU 165 via a midhaul communication link 162 (e.g., F1, F1-c, F1-u) , and a DU 165 may be connected to an RU 170 via a fronthaul communication link 168 (e.g., open fronthaul (FH) interface) . In some examples, a midhaul communication link 162 or a fronthaul communication link 168 may be implemented in accordance with an interface (e.g., a channel) between layers of a protocol stack supported by respective network entities (e.g., one or more of the network entities 105) that are in communication via such communication links.
[0036] In some wireless communications systems (e.g., the wireless communications system 100) , infrastructure and spectral resources for radio access may support wireless backhaul link capabilities to supplement wired backhaul connections, providing an IAB network architecture (e.g., to a core network 130) . In some cases, in an IAB network, one or more of the network entities 105 (e.g., network entities 105 or IAB node (s) 104) may be partially controlled by each other. The IAB node (s) 104 may be referred to as a donor entity or an IAB donor. A DU 165 or an RU 170 may be partially controlled by a CU 160 associated with a network entity 105 or base station 140 (such as a donor network entity or a donor base station) . The one or more donor entities (e.g., IAB donors) may be in communication with one or more additional devices (e.g., IAB node (s) 104) via supported access and backhaul links (e.g., backhaul communication link (s) 120) . IAB node (s) 104 may include an IAB mobile termination (IAB-MT) controlled (e.g., scheduled) by one or more DUs (e.g., DUs 165) of a coupled IAB donor. An IAB-MT may be equipped with an independent set of antennas for relay of communications with UEs 115 or may share the same antennas (e.g., of an RU 170) of IAB node (s) 104 used for access via the DU 165 of the IAB node (s) 104 (e.g., referred to as virtual IAB-MT (vIAB-MT) ) . In some examples, the IAB node (s) 104 may include one or more DUs (e.g., DUs 165) that support communication links with additional entities (e.g., IAB node (s) 104, UEs 115) within the relay chain or configuration of the access network (e.g., downstream) . In such cases, one or more components of the disaggregated RAN architecture (e.g., the IAB node (s) 104 or components of the IAB node (s) 104) may be configured to operate according to the techniques described herein.
[0037] In the case of the techniques described herein applied in the context of a disaggregated RAN architecture, one or more components of the disaggregated RAN architecture may be configured to support test as described herein. For example, some operations described as being performed by a UE 115 or a network entity 105 (e.g., a base station 140) may additionally, or alternatively, be performed by one or more components of the disaggregated RAN architecture (e.g., components such as an IAB node, a DU 165, a CU 160, an RU 170, an RIC 175, an SMO system 180) .
[0038] A UE 115 may include or may be referred to as a mobile device, a wireless device, a remote device, a handheld device, or a subscriber device, or some other suitable terminology, where the “device” may also be referred to as a unit, a station, a terminal, or a client, among other examples. A UE 115 may also include or may be referred to as a personal electronic device such as a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or a personal computer. In some examples, a UE 115 may include or be referred to as a wireless local loop (WLL) station, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, an Internet of Everything (IoE) device, or a machine type communications (MTC) device, among other examples, which may be implemented in various objects such as appliances, vehicles, or meters, among other examples.
[0039] The UEs 115 described herein may be able to communicate with various types of devices, such as UEs 115 that may sometimes operate as relays, as well as the network entities 105 and the network equipment including macro eNBs or gNBs, small cell eNBs or gNBs, or relay base stations, among other examples, as shown in FIG. 1.
[0040] The UEs 115 and the network entities 105 may wirelessly communicate with one another via the communication link (s) 125 (e.g., one or more access links) using resources associated with one or more carriers. The term “carrier” may refer to a set of RF spectrum resources having a defined PHY layer structure for supporting the communication link (s) 125. For example, a carrier used for the communication link (s) 125 may include a portion of an RF spectrum band (e.g., a bandwidth part (BWP) ) that is operated according to one or more PHY layer channels for a given RAT (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR) . Each PHY layer channel may carry acquisition signaling (e.g., synchronization signals, system information) , control signaling that coordinates operation for the carrier, user data, or other signaling. The wireless communications system 100 may support communication with a UE 115 using carrier aggregation or multi-carrier operation. A UE 115 may be configured with multiple downlink component carriers and one or more uplink component carriers according to a carrier aggregation configuration. Carrier aggregation may be used with both frequency division duplexing (FDD) and time division duplexing (TDD) component carriers. Communication between a network entity 105 and other devices may refer to communication between the devices and any portion (e.g., entity, sub-entity) of a network entity 105. For example, the terms “transmitting, ” “receiving, ” or “communicating, ” when referring to a network entity 105, may refer to any portion of a network entity 105 (e.g., a base station 140, a CU 160, a DU 165, a RU 170) of a RAN communicating with another device (e.g., directly or via one or more other network entities, such as one or more of the network entities 105) .
[0041] Signal waveforms transmitted via a carrier may be made up of multiple subcarriers (e.g., using multi-carrier modulation (MCM) techniques such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) ) . In a system employing MCM techniques, a resource element may refer to resources of one symbol period (e.g., a duration of one modulation symbol) and one subcarrier, in which case the symbol period and subcarrier spacing may be inversely related. The quantity of bits carried by each resource element may depend on the modulation scheme (e.g., the order of the modulation scheme, the coding rate of the modulation scheme, or both) , such that a relatively higher quantity of resource elements (e.g., in a transmission duration) and a relatively higher order of a modulation scheme may correspond to a relatively higher rate of communication. A wireless communications resource may refer to a combination of an RF spectrum resource, a time resource, and a spatial resource (e.g., a spatial layer, a beam) , and the use of multiple spatial resources may increase the data rate or data integrity for communications with a UE 115.
[0042] The time intervals for the network entities 105 or the UEs 115 may be expressed in multiples of a basic time unit which may, for example, refer to a sampling period of Ts=1 / (Δfmax·Nf) seconds, for which Δfmax may represent a supported subcarrier spacing, and Nf may represent a supported discrete Fourier transform (DFT) size. Time intervals of a communications resource may be organized according to radio frames each having a specified duration (e.g., 10 milliseconds (ms) ) . Each radio frame may be identified by a system frame number (SFN) (e.g., ranging from 0 to 1023) .
[0043] Each frame may include multiple consecutively-numbered subframes or slots, and each subframe or slot may have the same duration. In some examples, a frame may be divided (e.g., in the time domain) into subframes, and each subframe may be further divided into a quantity of slots. Alternatively, each frame may include a variable quantity of slots, and the quantity of slots may depend on subcarrier spacing. Each slot may include a quantity of symbol periods (e.g., depending on the length of the cyclic prefix prepended to each symbol period) . In some wireless communications systems, such as the wireless communications system 100, a slot may further be divided into multiple mini-slots associated with one or more symbols. Excluding the cyclic prefix, each symbol period may be associated with one or more (e.g., Nf) sampling periods. The duration of a symbol period may depend on the subcarrier spacing or frequency band of operation.
[0044] A subframe, a slot, a mini-slot, or a symbol may be the smallest scheduling unit (e.g., in the time domain) of the wireless communications system 100 and may be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI) . In some examples, the TTI duration (e.g., a quantity of symbol periods in a TTI) may be variable. Additionally, or alternatively, the smallest scheduling unit of the wireless communications system 100 may be dynamically selected (e.g., in bursts of shortened TTIs (sTTIs) ) .
[0045] Physical channels may be multiplexed for communication using a carrier according to various techniques. A physical control channel and a physical data channel may be multiplexed for signaling via a downlink carrier, for example, using one or more of time division multiplexing (TDM) techniques, frequency division multiplexing (FDM) techniques, or hybrid TDM-FDM techniques. A control region (e.g., a control resource set (CORESET) ) for a physical control channel may be defined by a set of symbol periods and may extend across the system bandwidth or a subset of the system bandwidth of the carrier. One or more control regions (e.g., CORESETs) may be configured for a set of the UEs 115. For example, one or more of the UEs 115 may monitor or search control regions for control information according to one or more search space sets, and each search space set may include one or multiple control channel candidates in one or more aggregation levels arranged in a cascaded manner. An aggregation level for a control channel candidate may refer to an amount of control channel resources (e.g., control channel elements (CCEs) ) associated with encoded information for a control information format having a given payload size. Search space sets may include common search space sets configured for sending control information to UEs 115 (e.g., one or more UEs) or may include UE-specific search space sets for sending control information to a UE 115 (e.g., a specific UE) .
[0046] A network entity 105 may provide communication coverage via one or more cells, for example a macro cell, a small cell, a hot spot, or other types of cells, or any combination thereof. The term “cell” may refer to a logical communication entity used for communication with a network entity 105 (e.g., using a carrier) and may be associated with an identifier for distinguishing neighboring cells (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID) , a virtual cell identifier (VCID) ) . In some examples, a cell also may refer to a coverage area 110 or a portion of a coverage area 110 (e.g., a sector) over which the logical communication entity operates. Such cells may range from smaller areas (e.g., a structure, a subset of structure) to larger areas depending on various factors such as the capabilities of the network entity 105. For example, a cell may be or include a building, a subset of a building, or exterior spaces between or overlapping with coverage areas 110, among other examples.
[0047] A macro cell generally covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by the UEs 115 with service subscriptions with the network provider supporting the macro cell. A small cell may be associated with a network entity 105 operating with lower power (e.g., a base station 140 operating with lower power) relative to a macro cell, and a small cell may operate using the same or different (e.g., licensed, unlicensed) frequency bands as macro cells. Small cells may provide unrestricted access to the UEs 115 with service subscriptions with the network provider or may provide restricted access to the UEs 115 having an association with the small cell (e.g., the UEs 115 in a closed subscriber group (CSG) , the UEs 115 associated with users in a home or office) . A network entity 105 may support one or more cells and may also support communications via the one or more cells using one or multiple component carriers.
[0048] In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., MTC, narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) , enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) ) that may provide access for different types of devices.
[0049] In some examples, a network entity 105 (e.g., a base station 140, an RU 170) may be movable and therefore provide communication coverage for a moving coverage area, such as the coverage area 110. In some examples, coverage areas 110 (e.g., different coverage areas) associated with different technologies may overlap, but the coverage areas 110 (e.g., different coverage areas) may be supported by the same network entity (e.g., a network entity 105) . In some other examples, overlapping coverage areas, such as a coverage area 110, associated with different technologies may be supported by different network entities (e.g., the network entities 105) . The wireless communications system 100 may include, for example, a heterogeneous network in which different types of the network entities 105 support communications for coverage areas 110 (e.g., different coverage areas) using the same or different RATs.
[0050] The wireless communications system 100 may be configured to support ultra-reliable communications or low-latency communications, or various combinations thereof. For example, the wireless communications system 100 may be configured to support ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) . The UEs 115 may be designed to support ultra-reliable, low-latency, or critical functions. Ultra-reliable communications may include private communication or group communication and may be supported by one or more services such as push-to-talk, video, or data. Support for ultra-reliable, low-latency functions may include prioritization of services, and such services may be used for public safety or general commercial applications. The terms ultra-reliable, low-latency, and ultra-reliable low-latency may be used interchangeably herein.
[0051] In some examples, a UE 115 may be configured to support communicating directly with other UEs (e.g., one or more of the UEs 115) via a device-to-device (D2D) communication link, such as a D2D communication link 135 (e.g., in accordance with a peer-to-peer (P2P) , D2D, or sidelink protocol) . In some examples, one or more UEs 115 of a group that are performing D2D communications may be within the coverage area 110 of a network entity 105 (e.g., a base station 140, an RU 170) , which may support aspects of such D2D communications being configured by (e.g., scheduled by) the network entity 105. In some examples, one or more UEs 115 of such a group may be outside the coverage area 110 of a network entity 105 or may be otherwise unable to or not configured to receive transmissions from a network entity 105. In some examples, groups of the UEs 115 communicating via D2D communications may support a one-to-many (1: M) system in which each UE 115 transmits to one or more of the UEs 115 in the group. In some examples, a network entity 105 may facilitate the scheduling of resources for D2D communications. In some other examples, D2D communications may be carried out between the UEs 115 without an involvement of a network entity 105.
[0052] The core network 130 may provide user authentication, access authorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and other access, routing, or mobility functions. The core network 130 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) or 5G core (5GC) , which may include at least one control plane entity that manages access and mobility (e.g., a mobility management entity (MME) , an access and mobility management function (AMF) ) and at least one user plane entity that routes packets or interconnects to external networks (e.g., a serving gateway (S-GW) , a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (P-GW) , or a user plane function (UPF) ) . The control plane entity may manage non-access stratum (NAS) functions such as mobility, authentication, and bearer management for the UEs 115 served by the network entities 105 (e.g., base stations 140) associated with the core network 130. User IP packets may be transferred through the user plane entity, which may provide IP address allocation as well as other functions. The user plane entity may be connected to IP services 150 for one or more network operators. The IP services 150 may include access to the Internet, Intranet (s) , an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) , or a Packet-Switched Streaming Service.
[0053] The wireless communications system 100 may operate using one or more frequency bands, which may be in the range of 300 megahertz (MHz) to 300 gigahertz (GHz) . Generally, the region from 300 MHz to 3 GHz is known as the ultra-high frequency (UHF) region or decimeter band because the wavelengths range from approximately one decimeter to one meter in length. UHF waves may be blocked or redirected by buildings and environmental features, which may be referred to as clusters, but the waves may penetrate structures sufficiently for a macro cell to provide service to the UEs 115 located indoors. Communications using UHF waves may be associated with smaller antennas and shorter ranges (e.g., less than one hundred kilometers) compared to communications using the smaller frequencies and longer waves of the high frequency (HF) or very high frequency (VHF) portion of the spectrum below 300 MHz.
[0054] The wireless communications system 100 may utilize both licensed and unlicensed RF spectrum bands. For example, the wireless communications system 100 may employ License Assisted Access (LAA) , LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) RAT, or NR technology using an unlicensed band such as the 5 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band. While operating using unlicensed RF spectrum bands, devices such as the network entities 105 and the UEs 115 may employ carrier sensing for collision detection and avoidance. In some examples, operations using unlicensed bands may be based on a carrier aggregation configuration in conjunction with component carriers operating using a licensed band (e.g., LAA) . Operations using unlicensed spectrum may include downlink transmissions, uplink transmissions, P2P transmissions, or D2D transmissions, among other examples.
[0055] A network entity 105 (e.g., a base station 140, an RU 170) or a UE 115 may be equipped with multiple antennas, which may be used to employ techniques such as transmit diversity, receive diversity, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications, or beamforming. The antennas of a network entity 105 or a UE 115 may be located within one or more antenna arrays or antenna panels, which may support MIMO operations or transmit or receive beamforming. For example, one or more base station antennas or antenna arrays may be co-located at an antenna assembly, such as an antenna tower. In some examples, antennas or antenna arrays associated with a network entity 105 may be located at diverse geographic locations. A network entity 105 may include an antenna array with a set of rows and columns of antenna ports that the network entity 105 may use to support beamforming of communications with a UE 115. Likewise, a UE 115 may include one or more antenna arrays that may support various MIMO or beamforming operations. Additionally, or alternatively, an antenna panel may support RF beamforming for a signal transmitted via an antenna port.
[0056] The network entities 105 or the UEs 115 may use MIMO communications to exploit multipath signal propagation and increase spectral efficiency by transmitting or receiving multiple signals via different spatial layers. Such techniques may be referred to as spatial multiplexing. The multiple signals may, for example, be transmitted by the transmitting device via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Likewise, the multiple signals may be received by the receiving device via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Each of the multiple signals may be referred to as a separate spatial stream and may carry information associated with the same data stream (e.g., the same codeword) or different data streams (e.g., different codewords) . Different spatial layers may be associated with different antenna ports used for channel measurement and reporting. MIMO techniques include single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO) , for which multiple spatial layers are transmitted to the same receiving device, and multiple-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) , for which multiple spatial layers are transmitted to multiple devices.
[0057] Beamforming, which may also be referred to as spatial filtering, directional transmission, or directional reception, is a signal processing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or a receiving device (e.g., a network entity 105, a UE 115) to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam, a receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device. Beamforming may be achieved by combining the signals communicated via antenna elements of an antenna array such that some signals propagating along particular orientations with respect to an antenna array experience constructive interference while others experience destructive interference. The adjustment of signals communicated via the antenna elements may include a transmitting device or a receiving device applying amplitude offsets, phase offsets, or both to signals carried via the antenna elements associated with the device. The adjustments associated with each of the antenna elements may be defined by a beamforming weight set associated with a particular orientation (e.g., with respect to the antenna array of the transmitting device or receiving device, or with respect to some other orientation) .
[0058] A network entity 105 or a UE 115 may use beam sweeping techniques as part of beamforming operations. For example, a network entity 105 (e.g., a base station 140, an RU 170) may use multiple antennas or antenna arrays (e.g., antenna panels) to conduct beamforming operations for directional communications with a UE 115. Some signals (e.g., synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) may be transmitted by a network entity 105 multiple times along different directions. For example, the network entity 105 may transmit a signal according to different beamforming weight sets associated with different directions of transmission. Transmissions along different beam directions may be used to identify (e.g., by a transmitting device, such as a network entity 105, or by a receiving device, such as a UE 115) a beam direction for later transmission or reception by the network entity 105.
[0059] Some signals, such as data signals associated with a particular receiving device, may be transmitted by a transmitting device (e.g., a network entity 105 or a UE 115) along a single beam direction (e.g., a direction associated with the receiving device, such as another network entity 105 or UE 115) . In some examples, the beam direction associated with transmissions along a single beam direction may be determined based on a signal that was transmitted along one or more beam directions. For example, a UE 115 may receive one or more of the signals transmitted by the network entity 105 along different directions and may report to the network entity 105 an indication of the signal that the UE 115 received with a highest signal quality or an otherwise acceptable signal quality.
[0060] In some examples, transmissions by a device (e.g., by a network entity 105 or a UE 115) may be performed using multiple beam directions, and the device may use a combination of digital precoding or beamforming to generate a combined beam for transmission (e.g., from a network entity 105 to a UE 115) . The UE 115 may report feedback that indicates precoding weights for one or more beam directions, and the feedback may correspond to a configured set of beams across a system bandwidth or one or more sub-bands. The network entity 105 may transmit a reference signal (e.g., a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) , a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) ) , which may be precoded or unprecoded. The UE 115 may provide feedback for beam selection, which may be a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) or codebook-based feedback (e.g., a multi-panel type codebook, a linear combination type codebook, a port selection type codebook) . Although these techniques are described with reference to signals transmitted along one or more directions by a network entity 105 (e.g., a base station 140, an RU 170) , a UE 115 may employ similar techniques for transmitting signals multiple times along different directions (e.g., for identifying a beam direction for subsequent transmission or reception by the UE 115) or for transmitting a signal along a single direction (e.g., for transmitting data to a receiving device) .
[0061] A receiving device (e.g., a UE 115) may perform reception operations in accordance with multiple receive configurations (e.g., directional listening) when receiving various signals from a transmitting device (e.g., a network entity 105) , such as synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals. For example, a receiving device may perform reception in accordance with multiple receive directions by receiving via different antenna subarrays, by processing received signals according to different antenna subarrays, by receiving according to different receive beamforming weight sets (e.g., different directional listening weight sets) applied to signals received at multiple antenna elements of an antenna array, or by processing received signals according to different receive beamforming weight sets applied to signals received at multiple antenna elements of an antenna array, any of which may be referred to as “listening” according to different receive configurations or receive directions. In some examples, a receiving device may use a single receive configuration to receive along a single beam direction (e.g., when receiving a data signal) . The single receive configuration may be aligned along a beam direction determined based on listening according to different receive configuration directions (e.g., a beam direction determined to have a highest signal strength, highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) , or otherwise acceptable signal quality based on listening according to multiple beam directions) .
[0062] The wireless communications system 100 may be a packet-based network that operates according to a layered protocol stack. In the user plane, communications at the bearer or PDCP layer may be IP-based. An RLC layer may perform packet segmentation and reassembly to communicate via logical channels. A MAC layer may perform priority handling and multiplexing of logical channels into transport channels. The MAC layer also may implement error detection techniques, error correction techniques, or both to support retransmissions to improve link efficiency. In the control plane, an RRC layer may provide establishment, configuration, and maintenance of an RRC connection between a UE 115 and a network entity 105 or a core network 130 supporting radio bearers for user plane data. A PHY layer may map transport channels to physical channels.
[0063] In some examples of the wireless communication system 100, a UE 115 may be configured to perform UE-initiated beam reporting by performing one or more measurements of beams (e.g., current beams used by the UE 115 for communication with a network entity 105, candidate beams to which the UE 115 may switch from the current beam) . In some examples, the current beams, the candidate beams, or both may be QCLed with a TRS.
[0064] According to techniques described herein, the UE 115 may use the TRS, one or more SSBs that are QCLed with the TRS, or one or more derived CSI-RSs as measurement reference signals of the current or candidate beams. In some examples, the UE 115 may receive an indication of a reference signal (e.g., a CSI-RS or SSB) for a current beam, and may derive a reference signal (e.g., a CSI-RS or SSB) for a candidate beam based on the indicated reference signal. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 115 may receive an indication of a reference signal (e.g., a CSI-RS or SSB) for a candidate beam, and may derive a reference signal (e.g., a CSI-RS or SSB) for a current beam based on the indicated reference signal. In some examples, the UE 115 may derive measurement reference signals (e.g., CSI-RSs or SSBs) for the current and candidate beams that have a same time behavior (e.g., aperiodic, periodic, semi-persistent) . In some examples, the UE 115 may measure reference signals at a largest periodicity (e.g., maximum periodicity for measurement, maximum periodicity configured for reference signals) associated with the measurement reference signals.
[0065] FIG. 2 shows an example of a wireless communications system 200 that supports identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The wireless communications system 200 may implement or may be implemented by aspects of the wireless communications system 100. For example, the wireless communications system 200 may be implemented by a UE 115 (e.g., a UE 115-a) or a network entity 105 (e.g., a network entity 105-a, a network entity 105-b) , which may be examples of the corresponding devices as described with reference to FIG. 1.
[0066] In some examples of the wireless communications system 200, a UE 115-a may operate in a cell 205-a (e.g., a first active serving cell associated with a first PCI) of a network entity 105-a. The UE 115-a may receive signaling from the network entity 105-a via a downlink channel 215 and may transmit signaling to the network entity 105-a via an uplink channel 220. The UE 115-a may communicate with the network entity 105-a using one or more beams 210 (e.g., a beam 210-a, a beam 210-b, a beam 210-c) . Each of the beams 210 may be associated with a TCI state.
[0067] In some examples, the network entity 105-a may configure the UE 115-a with one or more beams 210 for communication with the network entity 105-a. For example, the network entity 105-a may transmit a control message (e.g., a MAC-control element (MAC-CE) or RRC message) including an indication of one or more activated TCI states (e.g., activated unified TCI states) that define one or more beams via with the UE 115-a may communicate with the network entity 105-a. The network entity 105-a may transmit a control message (e.g., DCI, MAC-CE) indicating a unified TCI state of the activated unified TCI states defining a beam 210 for the UE 115-a to use to communicate with the network entity 105-a. As described herein, a unified TCI state may be a TCI state that is applied to multiple channels (e.g., for uplink and downlink channels) , and the unified TCI state may refer to a joint TCI state (e.g., for both uplink and downlink channels / reference signals) , an uplink TCI state (e.g., for uplink channels / reference signals) , or a downlink TCI state (e.g., for downlink channels / reference signals) .
[0068] In some examples, however, the indicated unified TCI state may be associated with a first beam 210-a that is a lower beam quality (e.g., a lower signal strength, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) , reference signal received power (RSRP) , or signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) ) than one or more other beams 210. The one or more other beams 210 may be beams associated with the cell 205-a of the network entity 105-a (e.g., the beam 210-b, the beam 210-c) . As described herein, the indicated unified TCI state may be the unified TCI state applicable at least for UE-specific physical downlink shared channel (PUSCH) or physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) (e.g., for single-TRP (sTRP) operations) .
[0069] In some examples, for inter-cell multi-TRP (mTRP) communications, the UE 115-a may communicate with one or more additional network entities 105 (e.g., a network entity 105-b associated with an additional active cell 205-b) . In such examples, the one or more other beams 210 may be beams 210 associated with the network entity 105-b (e.g., a beam 210-e, a beam 210-d) . In such examples, the UE 115-a may experience a relatively lower quality of communications using the beam 210-a associated with the indicated unified TCI state than using the one or more other beams of the network entity 105-b.
[0070] In some examples, the network entity 105-a may indicate for the UE 115-a to perform a beam reporting procedure. That is, the network entity 105-a may transmit a message indicating for the UE 115-a to measure a quality of one or more beams (e.g., beams indicated by the message) and to transmit a report of the measured beam qualities. In some examples (e.g., for inter-cell mTRP beam management) , the network entity 105-a may indicate a resource set (e.g., a CSI-SSB-ResourceSet) for beam quality measurements (e.g., L1-RSRP measurements) including a set of SSB indices. The UE 115-a may therefore measure and report qualities of each beam 210 associated with the indicated SSB indices.
[0071] The network entity 105-a may accordingly configure the UE 115-a to communicate via a beam 210 with a relatively higher quality than the beam 210-a associated with the indicated unified TCI state. However, such network-initiated beam reporting may result in relatively increased overhead and latency as compared to UE-initiated, event-driven beam reporting. That is, UE-initiated beam reporting may result in relatively faster beam switching than network-initiated beam reporting.
[0072] Accordingly, techniques described herein may enable the UE 115-a to initiate beam reporting (e.g., for inter-or intra-cell beam management) , which may result in relatively faster beam switching and therefore decreased latency, decreased overhead, and increased quality of communications in the wireless communications system 200. In some examples, the network entity 105-a may transmit a beam report event configuration to the UE 115-a indicating one or more events to trigger the UE 115-a to initiate a beam reporting procedure. The beam report event configuration may be included in a RRC message, a MAC-CE message, or a DCI message.
[0073] The one or more events may be based on measurements of quality (e.g., (e.g., a signal strength, a L1-RSRP, an SNR, a L1-SINR) of beams 210, which may be based on measurements of one or more measurement reference signals associated with the beams 210 (e.g., a current beam 210-a used for communication by the UE 115-a with the network entity 105-a, one or more candidate beams 210 that may be used by the UE 115-a for communication with the network entity 105-a or the network entity 105-b) .
[0074] In some examples, the measurement reference signal for the current beam 210-a may be a QCLed reference signal that is associated with an indicated TCI state (e.g., with QCL Type D in examples in which multiple QCLed reference signals are associated with the indicated TCI state) or an SSB that is QCLed with the QCLed reference signal. In some examples, the network entity 105-a may indicate whether the measurement reference signal for the current beam 210-a is the QCLed reference signal or the SSB that is QCLed with the QCLed reference signal. In some examples, the measurement reference signals for the candidate beams 210 (e.g., new beams, such as the beam 210-b, the beam 210-c, the beam 210-d, or the beam 210-e) may be indicated (e.g., configured) for the UE 115-a by the network entity 105-a, derived from QCLed reference signals associated with the activated TCI states, or derived from one or more QCLed reference signals associated with TCI states in a subset of a TCI state list (e.g., a configured subset of an RRC-configured list of TCI states) .
[0075] In some aspects, the one or more events may include an event in which a quality of the current beam 210-a is worse than a first threshold, an event in which a quality of one or more of the candidate beams 210 is greater than a second threshold, an event in which the quality of one or more candidate beams 210 is a third threshold amount better (e.g., higher) than the quality of the current beam 210-a, or some combination of events described herein. The events described herein are illustrative examples, and the beam report event configuration may indicate one or more additional or alternative events to trigger the UE 115-a to perform UE-initiated beam reporting.
[0076] Upon satisfaction of a condition or trigger associated with the event (e.g., one or more beam qualities meeting the associated threshold) , the UE 115-a may transmit a beam report 230 to the network entity 105-a. The beam report 230 may indicate the one or more current beams, the one or more additional beams, respective qualities associated with the one or more current beams and the one or more additional beams, one or more beams 210 preferred for communication by the UE 115-a, and the like.
[0077] In some examples, the current beam 210-a or one or more of the candidate beams 210 may be QCLed with a TRS (e.g., and may not be QCLed with one or more other reference signals) . In such examples, the UE 115-a may use a reference signal with a reference signal type that is based on the QCLed reference signal being a TRS.
[0078] For example, in some aspects, the UE 115-a may support use of the TRS as a measurement reference signal for the current beam 210-a or for the candidate beams 210. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 115-a may support use of a CSI-RS derived from the TRS as the measurement reference for the current beam 210-a or for the candidate beams 210. For example, the CSI-RS may serve as a QCLed reference signal of the TRS. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 115-a may support use of a SSB derived from the TRS (e.g., an SSB that is QCLed with the TRS) as the measurement reference for the current beam 210-a or for the candidate beams 210. In some examples, the UE 115-a may indicate the measurement reference signals (e.g., the TRS, the derived CSI-RS, the derived SSB) via the beam report 230.
[0079] In some examples, the UE 115-a may use the TRS, SSB, or CSI-RS as the measurement reference signal based on receiving an indication from the network entity 105-a or based on a rule defined in a technical specification or standard. In some examples, if an SSB is enabled as a measurement reference signal, the UE 115-a may use the SSB as the measurement reference signal for one or more of the current beam 210-a or candidate beams 210. If an SSB is not enabled as a measurement reference signal, the UE 115-a may use the TRS or the CSI-RS (e.g., based on an indication from the network entity 105-a or based on a rule defined in a technical specification or standard) .
[0080] In some examples, the UE 115-a may derive multiple measurement reference signals for the current beam 210-a and the candidate beams 210. The multiple measurement reference signals may have one or more different parameters. For example, the multiple measurement reference signals may have different time domain behaviors. That is, one or more of the multiple measurement reference signals may be periodic, aperiodic, or semi-persistent, or may be periodic with different periodicities.
[0081] In some aspects, if the UE 115-a is enabled to implicitly derive a respective reference signal for measurement of the candidate beams 210 for a UE-initiated beam report 230, and if the respective derived reference signals have different time domain behaviors, the UE 115-a may fallback to using one or more SSBs as the measurement reference signals for the candidate beams 210. For example, the UE 115-a may use SSBs with a same time domain behavior for measurement of each candidate beam 210.
[0082] In some examples, the UE 115-a may derive a first CSI-RS (e.g., a semi-persistent or aperiodic CSI-RS) for a first candidate beam 210 and a second CSI-RS (e.g., a periodic CSI-RS) for a second candidate beam 210. In such examples, the UE 115-a may further derive an additional periodic CSI-RS for the first candidate beam 210 (e.g., a periodic CSI-RS that is QCLed with the first CSI-RS) . The UE 115-a may measure the second CSI-RS and the additional periodic CSI-RS at a periodicity that is based on a largest (e.g., maximum) periodicity of the derived CSI-RSs. For example, if the second CSI-RS has a larger periodicity than the additional periodic CSI-RS, the UE 115-a may measure the second CSI-RS and the additional periodic CSI-RS at the periodicity of the second CSI-RS (e.g., and vice-versa) .
[0083] In some examples, for the UE-initiated beam report 230, the UE 115-a may receive a measurement reference signal configuration 225 (e.g., an explicit configuration) of measurement reference signals for the candidate beams 210 and may derive a measurement reference signal for the current beam 210-a based on an SSB or QCLed reference signal of an indicated TCI state (e.g., a TCI state of the current beam 210-a) . In such examples, the UE 115-a may derive the SSB or QCLed reference signal for the current beam 210-a based on the measurement reference signals configured for the candidate beams 210. For example, if the measurement reference signals configured for the candidate beams 210 are SSBs, the UE 115-a may derive an SSB for use as the measurement reference signal for the current beam 210-a. If the measurement reference signals configured for the candidate beams 210 are CSI-RSs, the UE 115-a may derive a CSI-RS for use as the measurement reference signal for the current beam 210-a.
[0084] Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 115-a may receive a measurement reference signal configuration 225 (e.g., an explicit configuration) of a measurement reference signal for the current beam 210-a based on an SSB or QCLed reference signal of the indicated TCI state and may derive measurement reference signals for the candidate beams 210 based on an SSB or QCLed reference signal associated with one or more activated or configured TCI states (e.g., TCI states of the candidate beams 210) . In such examples, the UE 115-a may derive the SSBs or QCLed reference signals for the candidate beams 210 based on the measurement reference signal configured for the current beam 210-a. For example, if the measurement reference signal configured for the current beam 210-a is an SSB, the UE 115-a may derive SSBs for use as the measurement reference signals for the candidate beams 210. If the measurement reference signal configured for the current beam 210-a is a CSI-RS, the UE 115-a may derive CSI-RSs for use as the measurement reference signals for the candidate beams 210.
[0085] FIG. 3 shows an example of a process flow 300 that supports identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The process flow 300 may implement or may be implemented by aspects of the wireless communications system 100 or the wireless communications system 200. For example, the process flow 300 may be implemented by a UE 115 (e.g., a UE 115-b) or a network entity 105 (e.g., a network entity 105‐c) , which may be examples of the corresponding devices as described with reference to FIGs. 1 and 2.
[0086] In the following description of the process flow 300, the operations between the UE 115‐b and the network entity 105‐c may occur in a different order than the example order shown and, in some examples, may be performed by one or more different devices other than those shown as examples. Some operations also may be omitted from the process flow 300, and other operations may be added to the process flow 300. Further, although some operations or signaling may be shown to occur at different times for discussion purposes, these operations may actually occur at the same time.
[0087] At 305, the UE 115-b may receive, from the network entity 105-c, an indication of TCI states associated with one or more beams. For example, the UE 115-b may receive indications of one or more configured TCI states that the UE 115-b may use (e.g., via an RRC message) . Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 115-b may receive an indication of one or more activated TCI states of the one or more configured TCI states (e.g., via a MAC-CE message) . In some examples, the network entity 105-c may indicate, to the UE 115-b, an indicated TCI state of the one or more activated TCI states corresponding to a current beam that the UE 115-b may use for communication with the network entity 105-b. As described herein, the current beam and one or more candidate beams (e.g., beams of the network entity 105-c or of one or more other network entities 105 which the UE 115-b may switch to) may be beams that are formed according to the configured TCI states, the activated TCI states, the indicated TCI state, or any combination thereof. One or more of the current beams and the one or more candidate beams may be QCLed with a TRS.
[0088] In some examples, at 310, the UE 115-b may receive, from the network entity 105-c, an indication of one or more reference signals (e.g., measurement reference signals for beam management) . For example, the UE 115-b may receive an indication of reference signals associated with the current beam or reference signals associated with the candidate beams. In some examples, the indicated reference signals may be TRSs, SSB, or CSI-RSs. For example, one or more of the current beam and the candidate beams may be QCLed with a TRS. The network entity 105-c may indicate for the UE 115-b to use the TRS, an SSB that is QCLed with the TRS, or a CSI-RS that is QCLed with the TRS as a measurement reference signal.
[0089] In some examples, at 315, the UE 115-b may derive one or more reference signals (e.g., measurement reference signals for beam management) . For example, if the UE 115-b received an indication of a measurement reference signal associated with the current beam, the UE 115-b may derive one or more reference signals associated with the candidate beams. Additionally, or alternatively, if the UE 115-b received an indication of measurement reference signals associated with the candidate beams, the UE 115-b may derive one or more reference signals associated with the current beams.
[0090] In some examples, the UE 115-b may derive the one or more reference signals based on the indicated reference signals (e.g., or one or more other reference signals associated with the candidate beams) . For example, if the indicated reference signals are CSI-RSs, the UE 115-b may derive one or more additional CSI-RSs. If the indicated reference signals are SSBs, the UE 115-b may derive one or more additional SSBs.
[0091] The UE 115-b may derive the one or more reference signals based on a time domain behavior (e.g., aperiodic, periodic, semi-persistent) of the one or more other reference signals. For example, if the one or more reference signals include one or more SSBs, the UE 115-b may derive one or more additional SSBs for use as measurement reference signals with a same time domain behavior as the SSBs. Additionally, or alternatively, if the one or more reference signals include one or more CSI-RSs, the UE 115-b may derive one or more additional CSI-RSs for use as measurement reference signals with a same time domain behavior as the CSI-RSs. In some examples, if the one or more CSI-RSs and the one or more additional CSI-RSs have different periodicities, the UE 115-b may measure the reference signals at a periodicity that is a greatest periodicity of if the one or more CSI-RSs and the one or more additional CSI-RSs.
[0092] At 320, the UE 115-b may perform measurements of one or more reference signals associated with the current beam, the candidate beams, or both. For example, the UE 115-b may measure one or more TRSs, CSI-RSs, or SSBs associated with the current beam, the candidate beams, or both. In some examples, the measured reference signals may include the indicated reference signals, the derived reference signals, or both. A type of reference signal of the one or more reference signals (e.g., TRS, SSB, or CSI-RS) may be based on one or more of the current beam or the candidate beams being QCLed with the TRS.
[0093] In some examples, at 325, the UE 115-b may identify a trigger event of a set of events that trigger the UE 115-b to transmit a beam report for UE-initiated beam management. In some examples, the trigger event may include one or more of a first quality (e.g., an RSRP, a SNR, a SINR) of the current beam being below a first threshold, a second quality of one or more of the candidate beams being above a second threshold, or the second quality of the one or more of the candidate beam being threshold amount above the first quality of the current beam.
[0094] At 330, the UE 115-b may transmit a beam report in response to identifying the trigger event. The beam report may indicate the measurements of the reference signals (e.g., the RSRP, SNR, or SINR) , indications of the measured reference signals (e.g., the derived reference signals) , one or more beams that are preferred for communication by the UE 115-b, and the like.
[0095] FIG. 4 shows a block diagram 400 of a device 405 that supports identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The device 405 may be an example of aspects of a UE 115 as described herein. The device 405 may include a receiver 410, a transmitter 415, and a communications manager 420. The device 405, or one or more components of the device 405 (e.g., the receiver 410, the transmitter 415, the communications manager 420) , may include at least one processor, which may be coupled with at least one memory, to, individually or collectively, support or enable the described techniques. Each of these components may be in communication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses) .
[0096] The receiver 410 may provide a means for receiving information such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting) . Information may be passed on to other components of the device 405. The receiver 410 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.
[0097] The transmitter 415 may provide a means for transmitting signals generated by other components of the device 405. For example, the transmitter 415 may transmit information such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting) . In some examples, the transmitter 415 may be co-located with a receiver 410 in a transceiver module. The transmitter 415 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.
[0098] The communications manager 420, the receiver 410, the transmitter 415, or various combinations or components thereof may be examples of means for performing various aspects of identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting as described herein. For example, the communications manager 420, the receiver 410, the transmitter 415, or various combinations or components thereof may be capable of performing one or more of the functions described herein.
[0099] In some examples, the communications manager 420, the receiver 410, the transmitter 415, or various combinations or components thereof may be implemented in hardware (e.g., in communications management circuitry) . The hardware may include at least one of a processor, a digital signal processor (DSP) , a central processing unit (CPU) , an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a microcontroller, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof configured as or otherwise supporting, individually or collectively, a means for performing the functions described in the present disclosure. In some examples, at least one processor and at least one memory coupled with the at least one processor may be configured to perform one or more of the functions described herein (e.g., by one or more processors, individually or collectively, executing instructions stored in the at least one memory) .
[0100] Additionally, or alternatively, the communications manager 420, the receiver 410, the transmitter 415, or various combinations or components thereof may be implemented in code (e.g., as communications management software or firmware) executed by at least one processor (e.g., referred to as a processor-executable code) . If implemented in code executed by at least one processor, the functions of the communications manager 420, the receiver 410, the transmitter 415, or various combinations or components thereof may be performed by a general-purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, an ASIC, an FPGA, a microcontroller, or any combination of these or other programmable logic devices (e.g., configured as or otherwise supporting, individually or collectively, a means for performing the functions described in the present disclosure) .
[0101] In some examples, the communications manager 420 may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receiving, obtaining, monitoring, outputting, transmitting) using or otherwise in cooperation with the receiver 410, the transmitter 415, or both. For example, the communications manager 420 may receive information from the receiver 410, send information to the transmitter 415, or be integrated in combination with the receiver 410, the transmitter 415, or both to obtain information, output information, or perform various other operations as described herein.
[0102] The communications manager 420 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. For example, the communications manager 420 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving an indication of a TCI state for a first beam associated with the UE, where a quasi co-located reference signal associated with the first beam is a tracking reference signal. The communications manager 420 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing measurements of one or more reference signals associated with the first beam, where a type of the one or more reference signals is based on the quasi co-located reference signal associated with the first beam being the tracking reference signal. The communications manager 420 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for transmitting, in response to occurrence of at least one event of a set of events, a beam report based on the measurements of the one or more reference signals.
[0103] By including or configuring the communications manager 420 in accordance with examples as described herein, the device 405 (e.g., at least one processor controlling or otherwise coupled with the receiver 410, the transmitter 415, the communications manager 420, or a combination thereof) may support techniques for identifying reference signals for UE-initiated beam management, which may result in more efficient utilization of communication resources related to deriving QCLed measurement reference signals.
[0104] FIG. 5 shows a block diagram 500 of a device 505 that supports identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The device 505 may be an example of aspects of a device 405 or a UE 115 as described herein. The device 505 may include a receiver 510, a transmitter 515, and a communications manager 520. The device 505, or one or more components of the device 505 (e.g., the receiver 510, the transmitter 515, the communications manager 520) , may include at least one processor, which may be coupled with at least one memory, to support the described techniques. Each of these components may be in communication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses) .
[0105] The receiver 510 may provide a means for receiving information such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting) . Information may be passed on to other components of the device 505. The receiver 510 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.
[0106] The transmitter 515 may provide a means for transmitting signals generated by other components of the device 505. For example, the transmitter 515 may transmit information such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting) . In some examples, the transmitter 515 may be co-located with a receiver 510 in a transceiver module. The transmitter 515 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.
[0107] The device 505, or various components thereof, may be an example of means for performing various aspects of identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting as described herein. For example, the communications manager 520 may include a TCI state indication manager 525, a reference signal measurement manager 530, a beam report manager 535, or any combination thereof. The communications manager 520 may be an example of aspects of a communications manager 420 as described herein. In some examples, the communications manager 520, or various components thereof, may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receiving, obtaining, monitoring, outputting, transmitting) using or otherwise in cooperation with the receiver 510, the transmitter 515, or both. For example, the communications manager 520 may receive information from the receiver 510, send information to the transmitter 515, or be integrated in combination with the receiver 510, the transmitter 515, or both to obtain information, output information, or perform various other operations as described herein.
[0108] The communications manager 520 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The TCI state indication manager 525 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving an indication of a TCI state for a first beam associated with the UE, where a quasi co-located reference signal associated with the first beam is a tracking reference signal. The reference signal measurement manager 530 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing measurements of one or more reference signals associated with the first beam, where a type of the one or more reference signals is based on the quasi co-located reference signal associated with the first beam being the tracking reference signal. The beam report manager 535 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for transmitting, in response to occurrence of at least one event of a set of events, a beam report based on the measurements of the one or more reference signals.
[0109] FIG. 6 shows a block diagram 600 of a communications manager 620 that supports identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The communications manager 620 may be an example of aspects of a communications manager 420, a communications manager 520, or both, as described herein. The communications manager 620, or various components thereof, may be an example of means for performing various aspects of identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting as described herein. For example, the communications manager 620 may include a TCI state indication manager 625, a reference signal measurement manager 630, a beam report manager 635, or any combination thereof. Each of these components, or components or subcomponents thereof (e.g., one or more processors, one or more memories) , may communicate, directly or indirectly, with one another (e.g., via one or more buses) .
[0110] The communications manager 620 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The TCI state indication manager 625 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving an indication of a TCI state for a first beam associated with the UE, where a quasi co-located reference signal associated with the first beam is a tracking reference signal. The reference signal measurement manager 630 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing measurements of one or more reference signals associated with the first beam, where a type of the one or more reference signals is based on the quasi co-located reference signal associated with the first beam being the tracking reference signal. The beam report manager 635 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for transmitting, in response to occurrence of at least one event of a set of events, a beam report based on the measurements of the one or more reference signals.
[0111] In some examples, the reference signal measurement manager 630 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing measurements of one or more additional reference signals associated with one or more additional beams, where a time domain behavior of the one or more additional reference signals is a same time domain behavior as the one or more reference signals.
[0112] In some examples, the time domain behavior of the one or more reference signals and of the one or more additional reference signals is based on both the one or more reference signals and the one or more additional reference signals being synchronization signal blocks.
[0113] In some examples, to support performing the measurements of the one or more reference signals and of the one or more additional reference signals, the reference signal measurement manager 630 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing the measurements at a periodicity that satisfies a threshold periodicity associated with both the one or more reference signals and the one or more additional reference signals.
[0114] In some examples, the reference signal measurement manager 630 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving an indication of the one or more reference signals. In some examples, the reference signal measurement manager 630 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for deriving one or more additional reference signals for measurement by the UE based on the indication of the one or more reference signals.
[0115] In some examples, the first beam is a current beam used for communication by the UE. In some examples, the first beam is a candidate beam that is different from a current beam used for communication by the UE.
[0116] In some examples, the type of the one or more reference signals includes tracking reference signals, channel state information reference signals, synchronization signal blocks, or any combination thereof based on the quasi co-located reference signal associated with the first beam being the tracking reference signal.
[0117] In some examples, the set of events includes conditions in which a first quality of a current beam used for communication by the UE is below a first threshold, conditions in which a second quality of a candidate beam that is different from the current beam satisfies a second threshold, conditions in which the second quality of the candidate beam is a threshold amount above the first quality of the current beam, or any combination thereof.
[0118] FIG. 7 shows a diagram of a system 700 including a device 705 that supports identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The device 705 may be an example of or include components of a device 405, a device 505, or a UE 115 as described herein. The device 705 may communicate (e.g., wirelessly) with one or more other devices (e.g., network entities 105, UEs 115, or a combination thereof) . The device 705 may include components for bi-directional voice and data communications including components for transmitting and receiving communications, such as a communications manager 720, an input / output (I / O) controller, such as an I / O controller 710, a transceiver 715, one or more antennas 725, at least one memory 730, code 735, and at least one processor 740. These components may be in electronic communication or otherwise coupled (e.g., operatively, communicatively, functionally, electronically, electrically) via one or more buses (e.g., a bus 745) .
[0119] The I / O controller 710 may manage input and output signals for the device 705. The I / O controller 710 may also manage peripherals not integrated into the device 705. In some cases, the I / O controller 710 may represent a physical connection or port to an external peripheral. In some cases, the I / O controller 710 may utilize an operating system such as MS- MS- OS / or another known operating system. Additionally, or alternatively, the I / O controller 710 may represent or interact with a modem, a keyboard, a mouse, a touchscreen, or a similar device. In some cases, the I / O controller 710 may be implemented as part of one or more processors, such as the at least one processor 740. In some cases, a user may interact with the device 705 via the I / O controller 710 or via hardware components controlled by the I / O controller 710.
[0120] In some cases, the device 705 may include a single antenna. However, in some other cases, the device 705 may have more than one antenna, which may be capable of concurrently transmitting or receiving multiple wireless transmissions. The transceiver 715 may communicate bi-directionally via the one or more antennas 725 using wired or wireless links as described herein. For example, the transceiver 715 may represent a wireless transceiver and may communicate bi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. The transceiver 715 may also include a modem to modulate the packets, to provide the modulated packets to one or more antennas 725 for transmission, and to demodulate packets received from the one or more antennas 725. The transceiver 715, or the transceiver 715 and one or more antennas 725, may be an example of a transmitter 415, a transmitter 515, a receiver 410, a receiver 510, or any combination thereof or component thereof, as described herein.
[0121] The at least one memory 730 may include random access memory (RAM) and read-only memory (ROM) . The at least one memory 730 may store computer-readable, computer-executable, or processor-executable code, such as the code 735. The code 735 may include instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor 740, cause the device 705 to perform various functions described herein. The code 735 may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory or another type of memory. In some cases, the code 735 may not be directly executable by the at least one processor 740 but may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled and executed) to perform functions described herein. In some cases, the at least one memory 730 may include, among other things, a basic I / O system (BIOS) which may control basic hardware or software operation such as the interaction with peripheral components or devices.
[0122] The at least one processor 740 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices (e.g., one or more general-purpose processors, one or more DSPs, one or more CPUs, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs) , one or more neural processing units (NPUs) (also referred to as neural network processors or deep learning processors (DLPs) ) , one or more microcontrollers, one or more ASICs, one or more FPGAs, one or more programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic, one or more discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof) . In some cases, the at least one processor 740 may be configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller. In some other cases, a memory controller may be integrated into the at least one processor 740. The at least one processor 740 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., the at least one memory 730) to cause the device 705 to perform various functions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting) . For example, the device 705 or a component of the device 705 may include at least one processor 740 and at least one memory 730 coupled with or to the at least one processor 740, the at least one processor 740 and the at least one memory 730 configured to perform various functions described herein.
[0123] In some examples, the at least one processor 740 may include multiple processors and the at least one memory 730 may include multiple memories. One or more of the multiple processors may be coupled with one or more of the multiple memories, which may, individually or collectively, be configured to perform various functions described herein. In some examples, the at least one processor 740 may be a component of a processing system, which may refer to a system (such as a series) of machines, circuitry (including, for example, one or both of processor circuitry (which may include the at least one processor 740) and memory circuitry (which may include the at least one memory 730) ) , or components, that receives or obtains inputs and processes the inputs to produce, generate, or obtain a set of outputs. The processing system may be configured to perform one or more of the functions described herein. For example, the at least one processor 740 or a processing system including the at least one processor 740 may be configured to, configurable to, or operable to cause the device 705 to perform one or more of the functions described herein. Further, as described herein, being “configured to, ” being “configurable to, ” and being “operable to” may be used interchangeably and may be associated with a capability, when executing code 735 (e.g., processor-executable code) stored in the at least one memory 730 or otherwise, to perform one or more of the functions described herein.
[0124] The communications manager 720 may support wireless communications in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. For example, the communications manager 720 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for receiving an indication of a TCI state for a first beam associated with the UE, where a QCLed reference signal associated with the first beam is a tracking reference signal. The communications manager 720 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for performing measurements of one or more reference signals associated with the first beam, where a type of the one or more reference signals is based on the QCLed reference signal associated with the first beam being the tracking reference signal. The communications manager 720 is capable of, configured to, or operable to support a means for transmitting, in response to occurrence of at least one event of a set of events, a beam report based on the measurements of the one or more reference signals.
[0125] By including or configuring the communications manager 720 in accordance with examples as described herein, the device 705 may support techniques for identifying reference signals for UE-initiated beam management, which may result in improved communication reliability, reduced latency, and more efficient utilization of communication resources.
[0126] In some examples, the communications manager 720 may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receiving, monitoring, transmitting) using or otherwise in cooperation with the transceiver 715, the one or more antennas 725, or any combination thereof. Although the communications manager 720 is illustrated as a separate component, in some examples, one or more functions described with reference to the communications manager 720 may be supported by or performed by the at least one processor 740, the at least one memory 730, the code 735, or any combination thereof. For example, the code 735 may include instructions executable by the at least one processor 740 to cause the device 705 to perform various aspects of identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting as described herein, or the at least one processor 740 and the at least one memory 730 may be otherwise configured to, individually or collectively, perform or support such operations.
[0127] FIG. 8 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 800 that supports identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of the method 800 may be implemented by a UE or its components as described herein. For example, the operations of the method 800 may be performed by a UE 115 as described with reference to FIGs. 1 through 7. In some examples, a UE may execute a set of instructions to control the functional elements of the UE to perform the described functions. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE may perform aspects of the described functions using special-purpose hardware.
[0128] At 805, the method may include receiving an indication of a TCI state for a first beam associated with the UE, where a QCLed reference signal associated with the first beam is a tracking reference signal. The operations of 805 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 805 may be performed by a TCI state indication manager 625 as described with reference to FIG. 6.
[0129] At 810, the method may include performing measurements of one or more reference signals associated with the first beam, where a type of the one or more reference signals is based on the QCLed reference signal associated with the first beam being the tracking reference signal. The operations of 810 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 810 may be performed by a reference signal measurement manager 630 as described with reference to FIG. 6.
[0130] At 815, the method may include transmitting, in response to occurrence of at least one event of a set of events, a beam report based on the measurements of the one or more reference signals. The operations of 815 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 815 may be performed by a beam report manager 635 as described with reference to FIG. 6.
[0131] FIG. 9 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 900 that supports identifying measurement reference signals for UE-initiated beam reporting in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of the method 900 may be implemented by a UE or its components as described herein. For example, the operations of the method 900 may be performed by a UE 115 as described with reference to FIGs. 1 through 7. In some examples, a UE may execute a set of instructions to control the functional elements of the UE to perform the described functions. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE may perform aspects of the described functions using special-purpose hardware.
[0132] At 905, the method may include receiving an indication of a TCI state for a first beam associated with the UE, where a QCLed reference signal associated with the first beam is a TRS. The operations of 905 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 905 may be performed by a TCI state indication manager 625 as described with reference to FIG. 6.
[0133] At 910, the method may include performing measurements of one or more reference signals associated with the first beam, where a type of the one or more reference signals is based on the QCLed reference signal associated with the first beam being the TRS. The operations of 910 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 910 may be performed by a reference signal measurement manager 630 as described with reference to FIG. 6.
[0134] At 915, the method may include performing measurements of one or more additional reference signals associated with one or more additional beams, where a time domain behavior of the one or more additional reference signals is a same time domain behavior as the one or more reference signals. The operations of 915 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 915 may be performed by a reference signal measurement manager 630 as described with reference to FIG. 6.
[0135] At 920, the method may include transmitting, in response to occurrence of at least one event of a set of events, a beam report based on the measurements of the one or more reference signals. The operations of 920 may be performed in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 920 may be performed by a beam report manager 635 as described with reference to FIG. 6.
[0136] The following provides an overview of aspects of the present disclosure:
[0137] Aspect 1: A method for wireless communications at a UE, comprising: receiving an indication of a TCI state for a first beam associated with the UE, wherein a QCLed reference signal associated with the first beam is a TRS; performing measurements of one or more reference signals associated with the first beam, wherein a type of the one or more reference signals is based at least in part on the QCLed reference signal associated with the first beam being the TRS; and transmitting, in response to occurrence of at least one event of a set of events, a beam report based at least in part on the measurements of the one or more reference signals.
[0138] Aspect 2: The method of aspect 1, further comprising: performing measurements of one or more additional reference signals associated with one or more additional beams, wherein a time domain behavior of the one or more additional reference signals is a same time domain behavior as the one or more reference signals.
[0139] Aspect 3: The method of aspect 2, wherein the time domain behavior of the one or more reference signals and of the one or more additional reference signals is based at least in part on both the one or more reference signals and the one or more additional reference signals being SSBs.
[0140] Aspect 4: The method of aspect 2, wherein the time domain behavior of the one or more reference signals and of the one or more additional reference signals is based at least in part on the one or more reference signals and the one or more additional reference signals being CSI-RSs, wherein performing the measurements of the one or more reference signals and of the one or more additional reference signals comprises: performing the measurements at a periodicity that satisfies a threshold periodicity associated with both the one or more reference signals and the one or more additional reference signals.
[0141] Aspect 5: The method of any of aspects 1 through 4, further comprising: receiving an indication of the one or more reference signals; and deriving one or more additional reference signals for measurement by the UE based at least in part on the indication of the one or more reference signals.
[0142] Aspect 6: The method of any of aspects 1 through 5, wherein the first beam is a current beam used for communication by the UE.
[0143] Aspect 7: The method of any of aspects 1 through 5, wherein the first beam is a candidate beam that is different from a current beam used for communication by the UE.
[0144] Aspect 8: The method of any of aspects 1 through 7, wherein the type of the one or more reference signals comprises TRSs, CSI-RSs, SSBs, or any combination thereof based at least in part on the QCLed reference signal associated with the first beam being the TRS.
[0145] Aspect 9: The method of any of aspects 1 through 8, wherein the set of events comprises conditions in which a first quality of a current beam used for communication by the UE is below a first threshold, conditions in which a second quality of a candidate beam that is different from the current beam satisfies a second threshold, conditions in which the second quality of the candidate beam is a threshold amount above the first quality of the current beam, or any combination thereof.
[0146] Aspect 10: A UE for wireless communications, comprising one or more memories storing processor-executable code, and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to perform a method of any of aspects 1 through 9.
[0147] Aspect 11: A UE for wireless communications, comprising at least one means for performing a method of any of aspects 1 through 9.
[0148] Aspect 12: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communications, the code comprising instructions executable by one or more processors to perform a method of any of aspects 1 through 9.
[0149] It should be noted that the methods described herein describe possible implementations. The operations and the steps may be rearranged or otherwise modified and other implementations are possible. Further, aspects from two or more of the methods may be combined.
[0150] Although aspects of an LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NR system may be described for purposes of example, and LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NR terminology may be used in much of the description, the techniques described herein are applicable beyond LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NR networks. For example, the described techniques may be applicable to various other wireless communications systems such as Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) , Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi) , IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) , IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM, as well as other systems and radio technologies not explicitly mentioned herein.
[0151] Information and signals described herein may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.
[0152] The various illustrative blocks and components described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performed using a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, a CPU, a graphics processing unit (GPU) , a neural processing unit (NPU) , an FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor but, in the alternative, the processor may be any processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration) . Any functions or operations described herein as being capable of being performed by a processor may be performed by multiple processors that, individually or collectively, are capable of performing the described functions or operations.
[0153] The functions described herein may be implemented using hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented using software executed by a processor, the functions may be stored as or transmitted using one or more instructions or code of a computer-readable medium. Other examples and implementations are within the scope of the disclosure and appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, functions described herein may be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or combinations of any of these. Features implementing functions may also be physically located at various positions, including being distributed such that portions of functions are implemented at different physical locations.
[0154] Computer-readable media includes both non-transitory computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one location to another. A non-transitory storage medium may be any available medium that may be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, non-transitory computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) , flash memory, compact disk (CD) ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other non-transitory medium that may be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of instructions or data structures and that may be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer or a general-purpose or special-purpose processor. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL) , or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of computer-readable medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include CD, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD) , floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc. Disks may reproduce data magnetically, and discs may reproduce data optically using lasers. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of computer-readable media. Any functions or operations described herein as being capable of being performed by a memory may be performed by multiple memories that, individually or collectively, are capable of performing the described functions or operations.
[0155] As used herein, including in the claims, “or” as used in a list of items (e.g., a list of items prefaced by a phrase such as “at least one of” or “one or more of” ) indicates an inclusive list such that, for example, a list of at least one of A, B, or C means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C) . Also, as used herein, the phrase “based on” shall not be construed as a reference to a closed set of conditions. For example, an example step that is described as “based on condition A” may be based on both a condition A and a condition B without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In other words, as used herein, the phrase “based on” shall be construed in the same manner as the phrase “based at least in part on. ”
[0156] As used herein, including in the claims, the article “a” before a noun is open-ended and understood to refer to “at least one” of those nouns or “one or more” of those nouns. Thus, the terms “a, ” “at least one, ” “one or more, ” and “at least one of one or more” may be interchangeable. For example, if a claim recites “a component” that performs one or more functions, each of the individual functions may be performed by a single component or by any combination of multiple components. Thus, the term “a component” having characteristics or performing functions may refer to “at least one of one or more components” having a particular characteristic or performing a particular function. Subsequent reference to a component introduced with the article “a” using the terms “the” or “said” may refer to any or all of the one or more components. For example, a component introduced with the article “a” may be understood to mean “one or more components, ” and referring to “the component” subsequently in the claims may be understood to be equivalent to referring to “at least one of the one or more components. ” Similarly, subsequent reference to a component introduced as “one or more components” using the terms “the” or “said” may refer to any or all of the one or more components. For example, referring to “the one or more components” subsequently in the claims may be understood to be equivalent to referring to “at least one of the one or more components. ”
[0157] The term “determine” or “determining” encompasses a variety of actions and, therefore, “determining” can include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (such as via looking up in a table, a database, or another data structure) , ascertaining, and the like. Also, “determining” can include receiving (e.g., receiving information) , accessing (e.g., accessing data stored in memory) , and the like. Also, “determining” can include resolving, obtaining, selecting, choosing, establishing, and other such similar actions.
[0158] In the appended figures, similar components or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a second label that distinguishes among the similar components. If just the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the second reference label or other subsequent reference label.
[0159] The description set forth herein, in connection with the appended drawings, describes example configurations and does not represent all the examples that may be implemented or that are within the scope of the claims. The term “example” used herein means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration” and not “preferred” or “advantageous over other examples. ” The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing an understanding of the described techniques. These techniques, however, may be practiced without these specific details. In some figures, known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the described examples.
[0160] The description herein is provided to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be apparent to a person having ordinary skill in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
Claims
A user equipment (UE) , comprising:one or more memories storing processor-executable code; andone or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:receive an indication of a transmission configuration indicator state for a first beam associated with the UE, wherein a quasi co-located reference signal associated with the first beam is a tracking reference signal;perform measurements of one or more reference signals associated with the first beam, wherein a type of the one or more reference signals is based at least in part on the quasi co-located reference signal associated with the first beam being the tracking reference signal; andtransmit, in response to occurrence of at least one event of a set of events, a beam report based at least in part on the measurements of the one or more reference signals.The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:perform measurements of one or more additional reference signals associated with one or more additional beams, wherein a time domain behavior of the one or more additional reference signals is a same time domain behavior as the one or more reference signals.The UE of claim 2, wherein the time domain behavior of the one or more reference signals and of the one or more additional reference signals is based at least in part on both the one or more reference signals and the one or more additional reference signals being synchronization signal blocks.The UE of claim 2, wherein the time domain behavior of the one or more reference signals and of the one or more additional reference signals is based at least in part on the one or more reference signals and the one or more additional reference signals being channel state information reference signals, and wherein, to perform the measurements of the one or more reference signals and of the one or more additional reference signals, the one or more processors are individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:perform the measurements at a periodicity that satisfies a threshold periodicity associated with both the one or more reference signals and the one or more additional reference signals.The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:receive an indication of the one or more reference signals; andderive one or more additional reference signals for measurement by the UE based at least in part on the indication of the one or more reference signals.The UE of claim 1, wherein the first beam is a current beam used for communication by the UE.The UE of claim 1, wherein the first beam is a candidate beam that is different from a current beam used for communication by the UE.The UE of claim 1, wherein the type of the one or more reference signals comprises tracking reference signals, channel state information reference signals, synchronization signal blocks, or any combination thereof based at least in part on the quasi co-located reference signal associated with the first beam being the tracking reference signal.The UE of claim 1, wherein the set of events comprises conditions in which a first quality of a current beam used for communication by the UE is below a first threshold, conditions in which a second quality of a candidate beam that is different from the current beam satisfies a second threshold, conditions in which the second quality of the candidate beam is a threshold amount above the first quality of the current beam, or any combination thereof.A method for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE) , comprising:receiving an indication of a transmission configuration indicator state for a first beam associated with the UE, wherein a quasi co-located reference signal associated with the first beam is a tracking reference signal;performing measurements of one or more reference signals associated with the first beam, wherein a type of the one or more reference signals is based at least in part on the quasi co-located reference signal associated with the first beam being the tracking reference signal; andtransmitting, in response to occurrence of at least one event of a set of events, a beam report based at least in part on the measurements of the one or more reference signals.The method of claim 10, further comprising:performing measurements of one or more additional reference signals associated with one or more additional beams, wherein a time domain behavior of the one or more additional reference signals is a same time domain behavior as the one or more reference signals.The method of claim 11, wherein the time domain behavior of the one or more reference signals and of the one or more additional reference signals is based at least in part on both the one or more reference signals and the one or more additional reference signals being synchronization signal blocks.The method of claim 11, wherein the time domain behavior of the one or more reference signals and of the one or more additional reference signals is based at least in part on the one or more reference signals and the one or more additional reference signals being channel state information reference signals, wherein performing the measurements of the one or more reference signals and of the one or more additional reference signals comprises:performing the measurements at a periodicity that satisfies a threshold periodicity associated with both the one or more reference signals and the one or more additional reference signals.The method of claim 10, further comprising:receiving an indication of the one or more reference signals; andderiving one or more additional reference signals for measurement by the UE based at least in part on the indication of the one or more reference signals.The method of claim 10, wherein the first beam is a current beam used for communication by the UE.The method of claim 10, wherein the first beam is a candidate beam that is different from a current beam used for communication by the UE.The method of claim 10, wherein the type of the one or more reference signals comprises tracking reference signals, channel state information reference signals, synchronization signal blocks, or any combination thereof based at least in part on the quasi co-located reference signal associated with the first beam being the tracking reference signal.The method of claim 10, wherein the set of events comprises conditions in which a first quality of a current beam used for communication by the UE is below a first threshold, conditions in which a second quality of a candidate beam that is different from the current beam satisfies a second threshold, conditions in which the second quality of the candidate beam is a threshold amount above the first quality of the current beam, or any combination thereof.A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communications, the code comprising instructions executable by one or more processors to cause a user equipment (UE) to:receive an indication of a transmission configuration indicator state for a first beam associated with the UE, wherein a quasi co-located reference signal associated with the first beam is a tracking reference signal;perform measurements of one or more reference signals associated with the first beam, wherein a type of the one or more reference signals is based at least in part on the quasi co-located reference signal associated with the first beam being the tracking reference signal; andtransmit, in response to occurrence of at least one event of a set of events, a beam report based at least in part on the measurements of the one or more reference signals.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to cause the UE to:perform measurements of one or more additional reference signals associated with one or more additional beams, wherein a time domain behavior of the one or more additional reference signals is a same time domain behavior as the one or more reference signals.
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